Friday, 18 May 2012, 09:19 pm PDT
Unitarian Universalism: The Institution of Spiritual Freedom
A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization
Featured Ministers
Getting It Wrong
This info arrived in my inbox a couple days ago: cases of getting it way wrong: "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy! " -Drillers who Ed... [read more]
Lake Chalice
Nothing is More Powerful than a Made-Up Mind
Another eccentric billionaire is in the news -- this Ricketts guy wants to buy the election for Romney by funding an ad campaign recycling every racist suspicion of Obama. There must a whole... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Inward/Outward Events and Life
First, here is a link to my brief park dedication words this past Saturday: The Miracle Among the Ruins reflection http://www. turleyok. blogspot. com/2012/05/park-dedication-words-for-today-mira... [read more]
Planting God Communities
Beyond Military Borders — Homily at PSWD-UUA District Assembly 2012
I have received multiple requests for copies of the homily that I presented at the UUA Pacific Southwest District Assembly this year, and instead of continuing to email it out, I thought I would pu... [read more]
Celestial Lands
Alabama’s Shame Deepens
Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight,... [read more]
A Unitarian Universalist Minister in Mississippi
See all blogs entries from A Unitarian Universalist Minister in Mississippi
Mother's Day Prayer
Let us open ourselves widely to Life, and share a few moments of quiet attention… {silence} We call upon the Hopi Earth-Mother, Tuuwaqatsi, and Cybele, the Magna Mater; we think of Parvati, p... [read more]
the yes church
Apparently Breasts Are Provacative
This week's Time Magazine cover of a woman breast-feeding her 3-year-old son sure has a lot of people talking. My own feelings about the Time cover are conflicted. On one hand, I thi... [read more]
Rev. Cyn
Longing or Gratitude
The other night I watched TV for the first time in a long time. Â No anti-boob-tube righteousness in that hiatus . . . I've been busy. Â But I did get a break the other night, and I tuned in Myt... [read more]
A Minister’s Musings
Living Compassion with Robert Gonzales
Just dropped Robert Gonzales off at the Albany Airport to catch a 6am flight back to Portland, OR. Â My wife Philomena and I brought him back from a three day Living Compassion retreat with him at... [read more]
timesunion.com
Spring mending-time – a meditation on the value of maintaining walls
Stone wall at Frost's farm in Derry, NHReadings: Psalm 16 and Mending Wall by Robert Frost (Youtube link below)A poster which has appeared on our own noticeboard from time to time says: “Unitari... [read more]
Caute
The Great Home-Brewed Emerging Frontier
This talk is from May 6, 2012 at Westside UU Church in Fort Worth, TX. Â I speak about what Unitarian Universalists can learn and what we can contribute to developments in Evangelical Christianity... [read more]
Sunflower Chalice
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
I never really believed in Hell, but had I been taught that hell was real from childhood, I would no doubt have believed in it fo... [read more]
A Jersey Girl in Kentucky
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
I never really believed in Hell, but had I been taught that hell was real from childhood, I would no doubt have believed in it fo... [read more]
A Jersey Girl In Kentucky
Homily: "Different, Unique, Diverse, Inclusive" (Delivered 5-6-12)
I want to begin by mentioning one particular poem by Billy Collins, the former US poet laureate and a favorite poet of many members of this church. In his exquisite poem Litany, Collins stri... [read more]
RevThom
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Book of Revelation
On August 23 of the year 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy erupted with a deafening roar. It shook the earth, sheets of fire shot up out of the crater, molten lava rained down, and it killed ... [read more]
Thousand Voices
She Adopts A Beagle
High-maintenance, the lady at the shelter says. I’ve heard that one before. Bad on a leash. What self-respecting creature would be good on a leash? He is standing at my knees, his entire flan... [read more]
PeaceBang
Strangely Silent Years
March on Media: Part II in an Ongoing Series on the  Place of Technology in Our Lives Once upon a time, when a mariachi band or barbershop quartet or stray female vocalist stepped into the subway... [read more]
The Reverend Dr.
Forrest Church's spiritual odyssey
IDEAS: Biography reveals moving model for spiritual growth. [read more]
Ideas from UU World
A Trail of Beauty and of Tears
A TRAIL OF BEAUTY AND OF TEARSRev. Kit Ketcham, with Jarina Moss, April 29, 2012 In February, I spoke to you on the topic of current civil rights issues in America, mentioning sev... [read more]
Ms. Kitty’s Saloon and Road Show
Earth Day: Finding Hope in Troubled Times
Dear friends, Happy Earth Day! Here’s the sermon I gave this weekend. I hope you will all stay hopeful and focused out there–it is not too late to make the changes we need to protect th... [read more]
Drink from the Stream
Who do you recognize on Earth Day?
As a parent, Earth Day is a chance to bring out the environmentalist in my kids. I love all the people caring for the earth, improving their individual habits, and drawing special attention to the ... [read more]
RadicalHapa
Odds & Ends
A fabric intervention
Thursday morning at Hancock Fabrics. ME: Ooooh! Look! 60" wide rayon challis! MOM: No, no, NO. ME: It's feathers! Brightly colored feathers of different shapes and sizes! MOM: AndÂ... [read more]
Educated & Poor
Response to TUMC: Religious Leaders Stand With LGBT People of Faith
I'm pleased to tell you that today the Religious Institute, a multi-faith organization dedicated to sexual health, education and justice, issued a statement regarding The United Methodist Churchâ€... [read more]
Sexuality and Religion: What’s the Connection?
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"Replenishment" Or "My Pond is Back"
In September, I visited my favorite pond to discover it was, for the most part, gone. Dried up, from the drought. A field where fish used to swim. It's back. Almost to overflowing. In some areas, ... [read more]
The Journey
What's Your Real Religion?
Take the Test
UU News
A sad development in funding scandal, and other news
Fiscal agent kills himself after funds loss Steven E. Clapp, the head of Christian Community Inc. , was found dead on May 15 in what has now been ruled a suicide. Clapp and his nonprofit were recen... [read more]
UU’s In the Media
Motherhood in the media, culture wars, and more UU blogging
Motherhood in the media The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum responds to Time magazine’s provocative cover photo, which shows a mother breastfeeding her three-year-old son, and to its “Are you mom enou... [read more]
the interdependent web
Contribution To Church Denied Deductibility For Inadequate Receipt
In Durden v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, (T. C. , May 17, 2012), the U. S. Tax Court denied a $25,171 tax deduction for contributions to the Nevertheless Community Church made in 2007 by... [read more]
Religion Clause
High-Profile Allies in the Abortion War
A recent opinion piece in USA Today is a move toward wider support in the medical community for abortion providers. [read more]
Beacon Broadside
UUA Names Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden, Utah a Breakthrough Congregation
Congratulations to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden, Utah, for being the newest Breakthrough Congregation! Each year the UUA’s Office of Growth Strategies recognizes a handful o... [read more]
Unitarian Universalist Association: Top Stories
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Featured Podcasts
Rethinking Heaven, Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister All Souls Tulsa, May 6, 2012
Unity Church-Unitarian of Saint Paul, MN
See all podcast episodes from Unity Church-Unitarian of Saint Paul, MN
Immigration as a Moral Issue by Rev. Bruce Marshall at Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church
22 April 2012- Every year, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) holds a general assembly to discuss issues that concern its members and society. This year, in the wake of the passage... [listen to the episode]
DMUUC Message
A Home for Love
A Home for Love -- Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker April 29,2012 at 11:00 am [listen to the episode]
First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco Podcast
See all podcast episodes from First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco Podcast
Foolish Love
i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who ... [listen to the episode]
UU Church of Berkeley
The Laughing River: A service for all ages
Sermons from First Unitarian Society of Madison
See all podcast episodes from Sermons from First Unitarian Society of Madison
"Now is the Time: Stewardship Sunday" - April 10, 2011
Come celebrate the gift of our beloved community as we reflect on what this moment in our congregational history calls us to do. We'll also have a child dedication at this service. [listen to the episode]
Bull Run Unitarian Universalists
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Featured Blog Posts
L'Hôte: anti-racism as social sorting
L'Hôte: anti-racism as social sorting: "I felt more hopeful for the end of racism when opposing racism was an end and not a means. " [read more]
it’s all one thing
Eaton: New book reveals more about Obama’s rise - Southtown Star
Fran Eaton's review of Edward Klein's The Amateur Eaton: New book reveals more about Obama’s rise - Southtown Star In a few short paragraphs, we’re able to link Wright, President Obama, ... [read more]
Pfarrer Streccius
It's So Easy
It's so easy to fall in love. It's so easy to fall in love. People tell me love's for fools. So, here I go, breaking all the rules. It seems so easy,Oh so doggone easy,It seems so easy. Where yo... [read more]
Comrade Kevin’s Chrestomathy
Tokenism in Government Prayer Fails Again
In the long-simmering battle over the inclusion of (largely Christian) prayers at the beginning of government meetings, an assumption held sway that a written policy of pluralistic inclusion would ... [read more]
The Wild Hunt
Today is Ascension
Later. What? It’s Wednesday? Long week. Tomorrow is Ascension. Long-time readers know that I love the feast of the Ascension, when Christ took leave from his followers and figuratively lifted... [read more]
Boy in the Bands
On Raising an Atheist (and an Agnostic): Part II
Last week, I mused about my younger son’s atheism and my older son’s agnosticism, both which came to light after years of my own questioning and movements into and out of churches. (He... [read more]
Finding My Ground
Compulsory Schooling – The Hammer of Educational Equality
Other than paying taxes and attending school when you are young, a human being pretty much decides for themselves how they are going to make a living and lead their life. I understand the taxes par... [read more]
Lefty Parent- Living and Parenting Without The Rule Book
See all blog entries from Lefty Parent- Living and Parenting Without The Rule Book
Universalist Convocations 2012
UPCOMING 2012 UNIVERSALIST CONVOCATIONS MARK REVITALIZATION OF KEY RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTIN AMERICA TODAY Historic Site to Host National Gatheringof Universa... [read more]
SC Universalist
New Plaid Shoes
Today is my birthday! ! I love birthdays. Since everyone is working or at school, I have planned, a la The Muppet Show, a "Me Party"! I am super excited for it. I woke up to br... [read more]
Everyday Unitarian
More on Fear & Gratitude
There are lots of external reasons I might be having trouble finding a job - not least, Wisconsin's continued employment hemorrhage under Scott Walker that keeps us mired in the worst of the reces... [read more]
Wandering Monk, Reluctant Gyrovague
See all blog entries from Wandering Monk, Reluctant Gyrovague
Bring Your Mind Home
Wednesdays are hump day, hard day. My energy is drained and weak by evening, especially with the challenges of the office. But I look forward on Wednesdays to morning meditation. ... [read more]
UU Intersections
A Humanist Approach to Death
[a talk presented to the Concord Area Humanists on May 2, 2012]A few weeks ago I found myself at a funeral where no doctrine of the afterlife was preached. No one assured us that the deceased was w... [read more]
Free and Responsible Search
A no good, very bad week
It’s been a less than lovely week in the life of me. Â I’ll survive and I’ll get over it, but man alive. Â It all hits at once. Â Unfortunately, it all decided to hit around my... [read more]
Spirituality and Sunflowers
She Adopts A Beagle
High-maintenance, the lady at the shelter says. I’ve heard that one before. Bad on a leash. What self-respecting creature would be good on a leash? He is standing at my knees, his entire flan... [read more]
The manic mind of the minister
keep learning...
My blogging has been pretty sparse over the past couple of months (Bill, if you are reading this, thanks for asking after me. ) I plan to talk a bit about why this has been so over the next couple ... [read more]
Boston Unitarian
How Does A Person Of Color Prove That They Are American?
Since the Supreme Court heard arguments about SB1070 yesterday, I thought of this question: How does a person of color prove that they are an American? I’m black and can speak fairly reasonab... [read more]
east of midnight
Matsch, Dreck und Kinder
Kinder lieben Matsch und Dreck, insbesondere meine. Und was soll man sagen, der Frühling ist die perfekte Zeit dafür. Das Wetter wird wärmer und verlockt nach draußen zu gehen. Meine beiden Rac... [read more]
reason and reverence
Why Is The Sercret Service "Scandal" A "Scandal?"
Grown men had sex. I'm shocked! They had sex with prostitutes. I'm even more shocked! C'mon now people. This country is involved in armed conflict in one of the most desolate places in the world... [read more]
It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere
Happy Pascha!
This year, Easter and Passover happen to coincide in the modern Jewish and Western calendars. They don't always, but it's a helpful reminder of the oft-underemphasized reality that on hist... [read more]
the Socinian
Of Deepities, the Gambler, and UU
Deepity is a term coined by Daniel Dennett in his 2009 speech to the American Atheists Institution conference. It refers to a statement that has (at least) two meanings; one that is true but trivia... [read more]