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A Daughter’s Journey

I tell people that my daughter, Jalila, is my angel on earth. She took care of me while I was battling breast cancer. She became my rock. She was the first one I told that I had breast cancer. She … Continue reading →
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Letting Go

“Spirit of life and love; spirit of holding on; spirit of letting go: help us to attune to what our lives whisper to us—both the sweet words of commitment and the sweet words of release. Help us to know whether it’s a time to hold tightly, or a time to let go. Help us to … Continue reading Letting Go
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Yet another holy book

Rodney Kennedy, in an opinion piece on Baptist News Global, says: “I’m attempting to wrap my mind around the idea of a former Army general telling me I should preach from the U.S. Constitution. I mention this only because Michael Flynn has been occupying American pulpits, recommending the Constitution as a second holy book for … Continue reading "Yet another holy book"
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Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 17, 2022

TWH – October is in full swing and so is the annual deluge of stories in the news about Witches and occult practices. The closer the wheel turns to Samhain, the Days of the Dead, and secular Halloween celebrations, the flow of stories and articles will likely increase. The current popularity of magical practices continues to permeate the mainstream pop culture of movies and series on television and streaming services. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 17, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.
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Extreme Poverty is On the Rise—We Must Not Let This Trend Continue

On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we renew our call for urgent action to combat extreme deprivation and inequality around the globe.
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A few autumn views of Logan’s Meadow nature reserve and the Cambridge Museum of Technology

A few autumn views of Logan’s Meadow nature reserve and the Cambridge Museum of Technology Taken with a Fujifilm X100V Just click on the photo to enlarge it Straight out of camera using the  C201   and Acros Dark  recipe by Marcel Fraij
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The Not Exactly Zen Wisdom of Abba John the Dwarf

      I first heard of John the Dwarf when reading Thomas Merton’s Wisdom of the Desert Fathers. This book was enormously important to me, and remains so. Merton’s selection and his translation of the texts emphasize the echoes of a spirituality akin to the early Chan masters of China. Later I would read […]
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The True Story Behind the Classic Labor Film Salt of the Earth

In reel life and in real life--women were the heroes of the mid-20th Century Southwestern mine strike made famous in the film  Salt of the Earth . When workers went on strike against the Empire Zinc Corporation in Grant County , New Mexico on October 17, 1950 it may have seemed like just another action in almost 60 years of struggle by hard rock minersand allied workers in the West.   But the bitter strike, which dragged on for 14 more months took place against a backdrop of anti-communist hysteria, government suppression, racism, and gender discrimination would likely be forgotten today except that it was documented in a classic film that had its own epic battle to see the light of day. Almost everyone called the strikers Mexicans and...
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Can You See Me?

I have read or listened to several books by Margaret Atwood about futuristics societies where the decisions for many are made by a very few. Opinions are not allowed and those who are brave enough to have a thought and … Continue reading →
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Drawing Nearer to the Divine

In the Torah reading known as the Akedah, G-d calls on Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac upon an altar. This story is troublesome for many Unitarian Universalists, because of our uneasy relationship with the concept of sacrifice as a demonstration of devotion to a higher power, which is often how the story is … Continue reading Drawing Nearer to the Divine
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U.S. Must Improve Central American Minors Program

New report confirms UUSC research on in-country refugee processing program.
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Archeologists may have found legendary temple to Poseidon

Archeologists have uncovered the foundations of a temple to Poseidon attested to in Strabo's Geography. Continue reading Archeologists may have found legendary temple to Poseidon at The Wild Hunt.
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Weekly Bread #192

I think I broke my bike. It has been making weird clunking sounds that get louder every time I use it. Today I heard something fall inside below the pedals. No worries, I ordered another bike from Costco which should be here within the week. This one still works, but given how loud it is […]
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The Fall of Tenochtitlan

2021 marked the 500th anniversary of the Conquest of Mexico and the fall of the Aztec Empire. Its capital, Tenochtitlan, was a spectacular city, a jewel in the center of Mexico that Hernán Cortés claimed to have conquered easily. Since those who win wars usually write history, it has taken centuries to unearth the truth about that conquest, and to reveal the complex array of human ambitions, greed, and sacrifice on both sides. Join us on Sunday, October 16, for a glimpse into the past and a greater understanding of the human desire for wealth and power, and the bravery of those who resist it. Sherry Hardage was a long time member of the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos. Over two decades she gave numerous sermons and Forum presentations. ...
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Thinking of Noah Webster, His Wonderful Dictionary, & the Mysteries of Multicausality

        I was a High School dropout. When I worked at Wahrenbrock’s Bookstore in San Diego, I spent several years taking classes at San Diego’s Evening College. While I was really only following my nose and taking what seemed interesting, somehow it mapped pretty nicely the lower division courses for an English […]
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Cory Lovell: A fond farewell

For the last 15 months I had to pleasure to serve as one of your ministers in an intern and resident capacity. The Board of Trustees, All Souls Ministry Team, and I had hoped we might receive special permission from the UUA to continue my tenure here beyond what current nationwide denominational policy guidelines allow. This exception, sadly, was not granted. The post Cory Lovell: A fond farewell appeared first on BeyondBelief.
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The Problem With Common Sense

Voltaire said “common sense is not so common.” But another problem with common sense is taking something that’s generally true and assuming it’s universally true – and then using that to force people into boxes where they don’t fit.
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The Biggest Hoax—The Cardiff Giant

  By an astonishing coincidence a professional photographer just happened to be on hand when the Giant was raised from the ground in Cardiff, New York. Americans have always loved and fallen for hoaxes , fakes , and frauds.   They are an enduring part of our culture and folklore.   It was all pretty harmless until one ran for President and went off the rails.   Take the inventions of Parson Weems in his alleged biography of George Washington that gave us the cherry tree story, tossing the dollar across the Potomac, and the vision at Valley Forge—all entirely fictitious but amazingly still taught in American elementary schools. There were literary hoaxes as crude as Davey Crocket ’ s boasting or as bold as Edgar Allan Poe ’ s Ba...
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Resentment

Sometimes I find myself feeling confused and burdened by the word sacrifice, especially when it comes to family. The lines between enabling my children and setting loving boundaries are blurry. -Beth Murray (CLF) When have you sacrificed or compromised your own personal needs to do something that might be helpful for another family member? When … Continue reading Resentment
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All-Ages Worship (16 October 2022)

Please join us this Sunday at 11:00 AM for “Sharing Our Experience of This Religious Movement” with Gale Gucker, Steve Caldwell, and Bennett Upton. Join us to hear two former congregational board presidents and a trainer of teachers in the UUA/UCC Our Whole Lives Comprehensive Sexuality Education Curriculum speak on their experience with Unitarian Universalism … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (16 October 2022)"
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No Adult Religious Education Class on 16 October 2022 — Classes resume 23 October 2022

There will be no adult religious education class this Sunday (16 October 2022). We will return at 9:00 AM on Sunday, 23 October 2022 continuing our WhUU Dat? series by exploring and discussing readings from the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide.
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Children and Youth Religious Education for 16 October 2022

For 16 October 2022, both classes will have a regular classroom session. The Pre K – 5th Grade Class will continue Toolbox of Faith discussing power, represented by the hammer, which can be used to build or to destroy. The Middle and High School Class will play a game of UU Jeopardy and also plan … Continue reading "Children and Youth Religious Education for 16 October 2022"
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Zoom Lunch Now on Tuesdays (18 October 2022)

Please join us next Tuesday (18 October 2022) at 12 noon for our weekly Zoom lunch. Bring your lunch and meet up with your All Souls friends, have lunch, and just catch up.
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Meditation with Larry Androes (15 October 2022)

Please join us on Saturday (15 October 2022) at 10:30 AM for our weekly meditation group with Larry Androes. This is a sitting Buddhist meditation including a brief introduction to mindfulness meditation, 20 minutes of sitting, and followed by a weekly teaching. The group is free and open to all. For more information, contact Larry … Continue reading "Meditation with Larry Androes (15 October 2022)"
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Column: Bite-Sized Witchcraft

This might seem like a no-brainer, but the simple art of having a schedule can make the difference between a Witch-Craft and merely a Witch-Interest. Continue reading Column: Bite-Sized Witchcraft at The Wild Hunt.
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Recalling the Zen Master Sengcan & His Song of Faith and Mind

      As I understand it within the Japanese tradition today, the 15th of October, is marked as the day in the year 606, when Jianzhi Sengcan returned to that mystery from which all of us come and, as with that ancient venerable, to which all of us return. In our Zen traditions Sengcan […]
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Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier Went Up Up and Away in His Beautiful Balloon

                                     Montgolfier Brothers hot air balloon with specifications after the demonstration flight for Louis XVI. On October 15, 1783 Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier became the first human being to leave the surface of the Earth and rise in the air in a man-made contraption.  And what a contraption!  The enormous hot air balloon that Étienne and his brother Joseph-Michel Montgolfier constructed was seventy-five feet tall and about fifty feet in diameter with a 60,000 cubic foot capacity.  It was elaborately decorated in gold and deep blue with Fleur-de-lis , signs of the Zodiac, and suns emblazoned with the face of Louis XVI interlaced with the royal monogram.  The balloon rose in the mor...
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Mutual Flourishing

Are there ways we limit ourselves by assuming that sacrifice is necessary? Can we see mutual flourishing as our sacred goal, instead of believing that we must suffer to be righteous? -Rose Gallogly (CLF) How can you center mutual flourishing over sacrifice today?
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UPLIFT Action Launch Recording & Opportunities to Take Action Together

We are so excited to organize with Unitarian Universalists like you who are committed to promoting LGBTQIA+, Gender, and Reproductive Justice.  With the sacred right to bodily autonomy being attacked on multiple fronts, our presence as people of faith is critical to lives all around the country.  Fueled by the joy that is this prophetic and powerful community, it’s time for all of us to take action together!  You can find more opportunities to learn & act together at the Side With Love Action Center, but here are some highlights from our launch party from October 13, 2022. View the webinar View the slides Don’t forget to sign up for the UPLIFT Action Newsletter so you can continue to get more updates about ways to connect and take...
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Sunday, October 16 ~ Courage to Love ~ 10:30 a.m.

“Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?” – James Baldwin   Sunday, October 16, 2022, 10:30 a.m. Courage To Love Led by Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann   In honor of LGBTQIA+ History Month, join us this Sunday, Oct. 16, as Rev. Alice reflects on both historic and current   [ … ] The post Sunday, October 16 ~ Courage to Love ~ 10:30 a.m. appeared first on Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson.
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Dr Ambedkar and his Vision for a Buddhism Relevant to our Times

        Today, on the 14th of October, in 1965, Dr B. R. Ambedkar shook India when he converted to Buddhism. I try to note this occasion as it rolls by in the calendar. Partially because he deserves to be celebrated. But, also to let people who might not otherwise be aware of […]
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Sobibór Death Camp and a Case of Impossible Resistance and Escape

A rare photo of the Sobibór camp--a vest pocket operation compared to the industrial scale of the Auschwitz camps, but ruthlessly efficient. It has always chapped my ass to hear people who don’t know what the hell they are talking aboutwonder aloud about why “there was no resistance” when the Nazis rounded up Jews and other “undesirables” or in the labor and extermination camps.  First, it is another example of blaming the victim, that always popular parlor game.  And secondly it doesn’t take into account the information that Jews had—early on even they could not imagine industrial scale murder and genocide, a term that had not yet even been conceived—or the overwhelming, highly organized force arrayed against them.  ...
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Finding Our Heart of Courage

The Heart as the seat of feelings is the root etymology of the word Courage. That is to have a deep feeling that moves us to protect someone or something. Who or what the someone or something is sometimes conditioned … Continue reading →
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Prayer for Artists

Prayer for Artists - Week of October 17, 2022 Lover of Creativity, receive a few words for the artists: offer inspiration in every day and every twist and turn of life, opportunities to create and to be compensated fairly for creating, to imagine and to live from one’s imagination. Open...
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22 Fall Week 4: Music Memories

Click here for Mary Rose Muti's personal story of "Music Memories"
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Goals and Dreams

Have you ever given up something you wanted for the idea of something better? When we set goals, we can’t see all of the possibilities of ways it will not go as planned. It’s hard to let go, but often times it is because there are better options we never dreamed of. We have a … Continue reading Goals and Dreams
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CHRISTIAN ZEN TEACHERS: A List in Progress

      CHRISTIAN ZEN TEACHERS  A List in Progress October 13, 2022 The following is a list of people who I have identified at least tentatively as authorized Zen teachers in some generally acknowledged lineage who also in some significant way consider themselves Christian. I am soliciting corrections and additions to this list. For […]
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Reports of being “fairy led” from Pagans

Pagans share their magical experiences that folklore would describe as being "fairy-led." Continue reading Reports of being “fairy led” from Pagans at The Wild Hunt.
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The Climate Crisis: Imagining a Bold Path Forward

UUSC President Mary Katherine Morn attended three UUSC-sponsored side events during the United Nations’ General Assembly week in New York City in mid-September. Below is her account of the panel discussions.
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Iconic MacIntosh Rain Slicker Makes its Bow

The Gorton's Fisherman is the most famous Mac model in the U.S. On October 12, 1823 Charles Macintosh, a 53 year old Scott, sold the first of his breakthrough new raincoats, sure to be a hitin the soggy British Isles.  He was a clerk as a young man who dabbled with science on the side.  By the age of twenty, he set himself up in business as a manufacturer of chemicals.  His inventive mind developed dozens of new products and processesmaking him a very successful man.  But Macintosh really hit pay dirt with his experiments with naphtha, a volatile light weight by product of tar manufactured from coal.  He discovered that India rubber could be made soluble in naphtha.  This led to the application on coat fabrics with the rubbe...
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The Speech

Because our high school principal detested boring speeches at graduations, the valedictorian and salutatorian did not automatically deliver graduation speeches. Instead everyone in the National Honor Society wrote a speech. Once submitted, speeches were  assigned a number to remove any … Continue reading →
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Shape

“The word sacrifice might be too much mess for some of us, too tainted by oppression and coercion. What matters more is that we are willing to live our lives in the shape of what is being asked, not hope that what we are asked to do will fit the shape of our lives.” -Elizabeth … Continue reading Shape
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Asters

For the past month and a half, I’ve been looking for flowers in the aster tribe (Tribe Astereae). I’ve always liked asters. I don’t know why. There’s something about the off-white and pale lavender colors that gets to me. I guess it’s a kind of spiritual experience when I see asters in bloom. Whatever “spiritual” … Continue reading "Asters"
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Recording for Green Sanctuary Team Meeting: Engaging Marginalized Communities

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the amazing presentation on Engaging Marginalized Communities with Rev. Ranwa Hammamy at the last Green Sanctuary Team Meeting. If you missed it, you can watch the video of the meeting here and download the slides here . Green Sanctuary Team Meetings Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion. 10/19/22 - Congregational Engagement on Climate Justice with Michael Hughes, UU Fellowship of Corvallis, OR 11/16/22 -  Blueprint for Climate Action Teams - Mary Rodgers, Phil We...
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New-York Historical Society to host program on Queer Witchcraft

The New-York History Museum & Library to host "Reckoning with History: Queer Witchcraft Today" this Friday. Continue reading New-York Historical Society to host program on Queer Witchcraft at The Wild Hunt.
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Embracing Possibility in Times of Change

A worship video collection about living faithfully during in-between times Continue reading "Embracing Possibility in Times of Change"
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Letting Go in Love

Ndidi Achebe My vet said, “She's telling you thank you for letting her go.” Continue reading "Letting Go in Love"
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Trunk or Treat is Almost Here!

Reserve your spot for the Trunk or Treat today!
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Unitarian Universalists embrace eco-friendly funeral options

Elaine McArdle Wrapped in a simple linen shroud, the outline of her body obvious to family gathered at the cemetery, the Rev. Judy Welles was placed on a pine board, gently lowered into a hole in the ground, and covered with straw and soil. No casket, no embalming, no cement vault. Just the natural return of her body to the earth at River View Cemetery in Portland, Oregon, which—like a growing number of cemeteries around the United States—is offering the option of “green” burials.
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Back to Kindergarten

I resumed my weekly  Kindergarten classes this morning and we made tops. I started the lesson with teaching the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise, a bit of information essential to understanding the use of a hand crank drill for decorating the tops with colored pencil and markers. Turn the crank clockwise while holding the  chuck and the chuck tightens to hold the stem of the top. Turn the crank counter-clockwise while holding the chuck and the chuck loosens so the stem of the top can be removed.  Is that too advanced a concept for Kindergarten students to understand? Not when it's called to their attention and they can observe it for themselves. If the concept is over their heads at this point in time, they'll have a...
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Letting Go

The many-colored transformations of autumn plants remind me of the beauty in the spiritual practice of letting go. As the leaves let go of their green chlorophyl, so their deep colors are revealed. When I feel encumbered by heavy memories, mistakes, failures. When I feel regret for things undone, unsung, I pray in this way. […]
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The Courage of Relationships

The Pathway of Courage Bob Patrick October 2022 The Courage of Relationships Relation is the essence of everything that exists.  Meister Ekhart Individualism is embedded in the American psyche. We want our own space, our own time, our hamburgers our … Continue reading →
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The Riot on the USS Kitty Hawk Was a War Within a War

The Navy's super carrier  USS Kitty Hawk  at sea in the early '70's. Note —It seems like Navy week here at the blog. Fifty years ago on October 12, 1972 less than two days after the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk sailed from the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines and just hours before the ship was set to launch air operations against North Vietnam as part of Operation Linebacker, a race riot broke out on board the ship.  As many as half of the Black sailors on board rampagedthrough parts of the ship assaulting White shipmates after a confrontation with on board Marine Corps guards.  The disturbance died down by morning after the personal intervention of Captain Marland Townsend and Executive Officer (XO) Commander Ben...
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Paganism and the Rise of the Nones

A new report from Pew says that in 50 years, the religiously unaffiliated may outnumber Christians in the United States. What does that mean for us as Pagans, now and in the future?
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I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.

        Edith Louisa Cavell was a British nurse. When the First World War began she already had an illustrious career and a nurse and educator, principally working in Belgium. At that time she was matron of a hospital in Saint-Gilles. She served all without regard to their nationality or status. But Cavell […]
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Coming Out

During October, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, aromantic (LGBTQIAA+) communities celebrate Pride Month. On October 11, we specifically celebrate Coming Out Day as a way to honor those who are able to be true to themselves, their families, friends, and co-workers about who they are and whom they love. -Lori Stone (CLF) Today, … Continue reading Coming Out
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Reading list: Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge

Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge by Vic Glover (Native Voices, 2004) is one of the best American spiritual memoirs I’ve read. In a series of linked essays, Glover talks about what it’s like to live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, covering everything from commodity foods to reservations roads to the cars … Continue reading "Reading list: Keeping Heart on Pine Ridge"
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Wednesday Photo: The spire of All Saints’ Church, Cambridge at sunset

  Taken with a Fujifilm X-T2 Just click on the photo to enlarge it   This photo was taken in August during this year’s crazily hot summer. It shows the spire of the now redundant  All Saints’ Church on Jesus Lane in Cambridge. The church is a remarkable building that was built in the 1860s according to the plans of George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), and the excellent Churches Conservation Trust website describes it, rightly I think, as being “a triumph of Victorian art and design.” For those interested, you can read a pdf copy of the guidebook at this link. Whenever I see such a fine religious building as this no longer in use it does set me wondering once again about the future of formal forms of the Christian religion in ...
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Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct 11th

This morning we put a pack of postcards in the mail to voters in Georgia. We know that some of you have written letters and postcards, too… hundreds, maybe thousands of them. One of the powerful things about #UUtheVote is that there are lots of ... read more . The post Co-Ministers’ Colloquy – Oct 11th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.
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Greening Halloween

Options for reducing the impact of holidays and seasonal celebrations requires a bit of thought and planning but a variety options exist. Continue reading Greening Halloween at The Wild Hunt.
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Religious Education – Oct 11th

K-3 Wonderful Welcome: will meet on Sunday, 10/16! K-3rd grade Children will begin in the Great Hall with their families and stay through the Story for All Ages, when they will join their teachers and head to their classroom in the church hallway, next to ... read more . The post Religious Education – Oct 11th appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.
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Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic

The Adult Faith Development Team is proud to announce the exhibit Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic. The exhibit opens Sunday, September 25th, following the worship service. Nearly 20 members of the congregation will share their artwork, photography, textiles and ... read more . The post Creativity in Quarantine: UUSS Art and Craftwork from the COVID 19 Pandemic appeared first on Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady.
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2022 Auction Donation Deadline Extended

Help us reach our goal of $10,000 by donating an item or event today!
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Freeing My Mind

I was born in 1964. I’m the last of the baby boomers. Times were different back then. There was no such thing as being woke. No one was politically correct. Man hadn’t even walked on the moon yet and there … Continue reading →
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Coffee with Death

      Death and I are old friends. Okay, maybe not friends. Or, only in our contemporary sense that has become so attenuated that it has little practical meaning. We’re more acquaintances, a sturdy term, for that much larger circle of people we know, but aren’t friends in the increasingly intimate sense that word […]
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Two autumn views of Cambridge

Two autumn views of  Cambridge Both taken with a Fuji X100V and are straight out of camera using the  C201   recipe by Marcel Fraij  Just click on a photo to enlarge Christ’s Pieces Midsummer Common
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Only One Currently Commissioned Navy Ship Has Sunk an Enemy—Old Ironsides

U.S.S. Constitution  in 1803 and the wars against the Barbary Pirates. Note —From the better late than never file…<p> As of October 6, 2015 the U.S.S. Constitution became the only commissioned war ship in the U.S. Navy ever to have sunk an enemy craftin combat.  That’s right, the 228 year old 44 gun, square rigged frigate is the only member of the fleet with such a distinction. The Constitution actually did it twice during the War of 1812.  In addition to taking other British warships and merchantmen as prizes she engaged and sank the H.M.S. Guerriere in a famous engagement on August 19, 1812.  In that engagement the two ships’ riggingbecame ensnared as they exchanged fire at point blank range.  The Guerriere was demasted an...
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The Dream of the Perfect Plan

It was February 1990, when the South African president Frederick Willem de Klerk made a shocking announcement: he would be releasing Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison, and he would legalize Mandela’s political party and all other opposition parties for … Continue reading →
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Colonization

We celebrate indigenous people today in order to reject a worldview that centers and normalizes the European colonization of much of the world. And yet, most of us cannot escape a life deeply rooted in that colonization. Even as we seek to decolonize our minds and our lives, many of us live on stolen lands. … Continue reading Colonization
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Sunday-only calendar for 2023

By request — and for the 15th year! — I am renewing the Sunday-only calendar, useful for church planning. Get it, and the background, at the original post from 2008.
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Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 10, 2022

In this week's Pagan Community Notes, Indigenous People's Day in the US, a statue of Éiriu destroyed in Ireland, Moai damaged on Rapa Nui and more news. Continue reading Pagan Community Notes: Week of October 10, 2022 at The Wild Hunt.
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Safe Haven 18th Annual Hike

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An early autumn walk along the River Cam from Cambridge through Ditton Meadows to Fen Ditton

An early autumn walk along the River Cam from Cambridge  through Ditton Meadows to Fen Ditton All photos taken with a Fuji X100V and are straight out of camera (except for the occasional crop) using the C202  and Acros Dark recipes by Marcel Fraij  Just click on a photo to enlarge   And one photo taken on Stourbridge Common on the way back home
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Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Tribal Responses to Land Loss

In honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day, UUSC reflects on how climate change loss and damage perpetuates the colonial campaign to erase Indigenous communities.
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Material symmetry

Temple Grandin has an article in the Atlantic in which she challenges educators to spend far less time on Algebra and far more time making things. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/against-algebra/671643/ The essay is adapted from her new book, Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions. Folks rationalize teaching algebra in that it is considered useful in development of higher thinking skills. The hauntingly abstract equal sign in which formulas on one side are to "equal" formulas on the other need, for which kids see no direct application needs to be preceded by the concrete application of a thing I'm calling "material symmetry. "One side of an object frames its opposit...
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Indigenous Peoples Day Widens Lead Over Columbus Celebration but Lost Navigator Hangs On

  The cultural, ethnic, and moral tug of warbetween the official American holiday Columbus Day and an insurgent Indigenous Peoples Day has taken over new dimensions in the years of Black Lives Matter protests which widened to include other persecuted and endangered minorities and then the stifling, isolating Coronavirus pandemic.   The Indigenous celebrations continued to gather momentum as more municipalities , school districts , states, and other jurisdictions dropped the old holiday for the new observance .   In 2020 as BLM activists began pulling down Confederate monuments, Native Americans and their allieswere inspired to do the same to the arch symbol of colonialist oppression , the alleged Great Navigator .   Several monuments...
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How Wolves Save Rivers

What I love so much about this short video entitled, “How Wolves Save Rivers” is how the release of these ‘predators’ absolutely changes a dying wilderness into a green, growing, thriving with life kind of place that seems to embrace … Continue reading →
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Community

We are not always in a position to give our all. But there are moments when we know what we can offer is exactly what is needed for a particular moment in time. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) What gift can you offer to your community?
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Pietas builds a new temple to Apollo in Italy

Pietas, the Religio Romana organization, has built a new temple to Apollo in Taranto, Italy. Continue reading Pietas builds a new temple to Apollo in Italy at The Wild Hunt.
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Sustainability: Do we Have to? (Spoiler: Yes!)

Yes, our Human Race will somehow have to learn to live sustainably on the planet. Only the How?, and How Many?, and Who?, and at what cost? are up in the air. And also the attitudes and resiliances with which we are going to approach whatever comes.
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Weekly Bread #191

Maybe it’s because Halloween is coming, but I have hiked this trail scores of times and never noticed this terrified looking tree. Is it pointing the way to safety from the goblins that are behind us? Or is it warning me not to go ahead because there will be monsters lurking around the next bend? […]
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Long Before Ken Burns Bruce Catton Put the Civil War on the Coffee Table

Bruce Catton in front of the Michigan home where he was born. You know you have stumbled on to the blog of a history geek when you find not just antiquarian trivia but posts about historians—notorious drudgeswhose personal biographies do not typically make gripping reading.  Over the several years I have been committing these posts, I have made entries on one English historian, Edward Gibbon of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire fame—“Another fat, square book, eh, Mr. Gibbon?  Scribble, Scribble. Scribble!” said King George III.  But mostly I have taken note of American historians of the American experience.  Among them have been Frances Parkman, the virtual founder of serious American history; Henry Adams, detailed chr...
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The Four Great Draculas

There have been over 200 portrayals of Dracula in movies and TV. I don’t know how many of them I’ve seen, but it’s a lot. I’ve seen good Draculas, bad Draculas, and everything in between. Four of them stand out above all the rest.
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Sacrificial Atonement

Theologians Rebecca Parker and Rita Nakashima Brock examine the harm done by the Christian theology of redemptive suffering in their book Proverbs of Ashes.  Many Christian theologies are based in a particular view of redemptive suffering—that the suffering of Christ on the cross was mandated by God to atone for the sins of humanity. This understanding … Continue reading Sacrificial Atonement
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Protest songs

At the end of August, “The Ongoing History of Protest Music” website had a blog post titled “A Month of Protest.” The first song they featured was “Black AF,” by Crystal Axis, an Afropunk band from Kenya. (Before you crank up the sound be aware that, like a lot of punk rock, “Black AF” is … Continue reading "Protest songs"
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Column: Jack of the Lantern

Now, everyone knows a Jack tale. There’s the one about the beanstalk, sure, and most have heard a story or two about him in one of his many run-ins with the devil. The details change, but the man is the same. Continue reading Column: Jack of the Lantern at The Wild Hunt.
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All-Ages Worship (9 October 2022)

Please join us this Sunday (9 October 2022) at 11:00 AM for “Hidden Wholeness” with Rev. Barbara Jarrell and Barbara Deger. As we reflect on the past year, the service will include a ritual to release the things which no longer serve. You will have an opportunity to write these things on paper and release … Continue reading "All-Ages Worship (9 October 2022)"
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Cats—The Musical Not Every Other Facebook Post—Opened on Broadway

Some of the original Broadway cast of Cats. When Cats opened on Broadway Forty years ago on October 8, 1982 at the Winter Garden Theatre it was already a sensation in London ’ s West End.   It opened during an era when the creative energy seemed drained from American musical theater, and a string of grand spectacle British productions, many with operatic overtones, was establishing domination on the Great White Way. It opened with high expectations, but no one expected that it would run for 7,493 performances—then a record and still the fourth longest run in Broadway history.   It lasted so long that the show originally lauded as ground-breaking and fresh, became the butt of David Letterman jokes and required sophisticated New York...
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No Adult Religious Education Class on 9 and 16 October 2022 — Classes resume 23 October 2022

There will be no adult religious education class this Sunday (9 October 2022) or next Sunday (16 October 2022). We will return at 9:00 AM on Sunday, 23 October 2022 continuing our WhUU Dat? series by exploring and discussing readings from the Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide.
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Children and Youth Religious Education for 9 October 2022

For 9 October 2022, both classes will have a brief lesson in their separate classrooms before joining together to continue work on the mural in the Middle and High School classroom.
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Tiny seeds and tiny words of love, freedom and justice. Scatter them.

A short  “ thought for the day” offered to the Cambridge Unitarian Church as part of the Sunday Service of Mindful   Meditation  (Click on this link to hear a recorded version of the following piece) —o0o— Jesus’ teaching — a teaching deeply rooted, remember, in the 8th-century Jewish prophetic tradition of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Micah — centres on the left-behind poor of his own time. Despite evidence to the contrary, he was able to proclaim, and live and die, by the belief that: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:20-21). Alas, since Jesus’ day, evidence to the contra...
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Caregivers

Caregivers showing up is an exceptional example of love. They could be a parent, guardian, child, or stranger. They commit to giving their time and energy to the care of another person, often with minimal thanks and acknowledgment. They are heroes who aid in the survival of others. -JeKaren Olaoya (CLF) Thank a caregiver today.
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Review: Our Troth Vol. 3 is a hefty toolbox to forge the faith

Lyonel Perabo reviews the newly released volume of The Troth's mammoth work, Our Troth, 3rd Edition, which focuses on Heathen living. Continue reading Review: Our Troth Vol. 3 is a hefty toolbox to forge the faith at The Wild Hunt.
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