Friday, 03 September 2010, 04:36 pm PDT
Featured Ministers
That’s a Good Question!
I just received an excellent question on the 7 Super Sermons of UU section of this website. Katie Stein Sather writes, “I wonder what other sermons by women you might include? ” Great Q... [read more]
Sunflower Chalice
Theodore Parker on NPR
Last night there was a piece on NPR discussing Theodore Parker’s rhetorical influence on Martin Luther King, Jr. Parker’s bicentennial is this year. I plan to do at least a sermon on h... [read more]
The Latest Form of Infidelity
Suicide is Painless: Or, Cain's Question
A few days ago I received a note from a friend about a friend of hers who is dealing with chronic pain and wanted my view on suicide, and whether it is a sin. I said that sin is not really a term o... [read more]
Monkey Mind
Fear
We were talking about some matter of church politics today, doesn’t matter what, when the subject of fear came up. Some sense of fear seems to be driving some people, we decided. But why? We ... [read more]
Yet Another Unitarian Universalist
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Having a Goal
Me, when pressed I can hold still for long periods of time. .. [read more]
Monkey Mind
Hawking speaks out of turn
Stephen Hawking writes that "It is not necessary to invoke God [to] set the universe going," in an excerpt from his new book, as reported in a BBC News story. I might agree with him ... [read more]
the yes church
It’s all about religious tolerance
Joe Volk of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) just sent out an email message encouraging all Quakers to “state publicly that you stand with our brothers and sisters in the ... [read more]
Yet Another Unitarian Universalist
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Undercover
Back in March, the Onion A. V. Club began a weekly feature called "Undercover" and yesterday was the final installment in the feature. How it worked was that the folks at the A. V. C... [read more]
RevThom
Sacred Promises
We practice theme-based ministry in my congregation at Pathways UU Church. Our monthly theme for September will be Covenant. One of my mentors, the Rev. Dr. Thomas D. Wintle defined covenant as ... [read more]
Sunflower Chalice
why us, why now.
Beck's rally was the "Waterworld of white self-pity," according to Christopher Hitchens' column at slate. com. He compares the U. S. "Tea Parties" to the nativist mov... [read more]
the yes church
The Miracle and The Mission and More
http://turleyok. blogspot. com/2010/08/yes-miracles-among-ruins-we-did-it. html Thanks for all who supported, donated, prayed, shared. We made a big missional leap today, and even bigger ones are j... [read more]
Planting God Communities
The Tulsa World article about Miracle Among The Ruins, and more
Here is the link to the story about our community and our Miracle Among The Ruins project for Tulsa North and Turley area that ran in the Tulsa World yesterday. http://www. tulsaworld. com/news/art... [read more]
Planting God Communities
Theodore Parker, radical theologian
IDEAS: 2010 is the bicentennial of the most influential Unitarian minister who ever lived. [read more]
Ideas from UU World
Phoenix Reflections: One Month Later
One month ago this morning, I was in Phoenix, Arizona, sitting inside a church on the other side of the pulpit for a change. It was six in the morning, temperatures had already reached past the 80s... [read more]
Returning . . .
Harry Potter, You-know-who, and Unitarian Universalists
Here is the story for all ages and the homily I delivered on 29 August 2010 to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tuscaloosa, AL. “Harry Potter: The Boy That Lived” A story for all ... [read more]
A Unitarian Universalist Minister in Mississippi
See all blogs entries from A Unitarian Universalist Minister in Mississippi
Lecture: Unitarian Universalism & Theories of Faith Development
For this lecture, I am indebted to several of my gracious colleagues, Jonalu Johnstone, Roger Kuhrt, and Anne Anderson, for sending me resources on James Fowler. I am further indebted to Dennis Ha... [read more]
RevThom
We saw it along the roadside...
as we rounded the bend, going toward my driveway. At first I wasn't sure how big it was, its splayed legs leaning against the raised curb, its eyes silvery in the headlights, and I was afraid it ... [read more]
Ms. Kitty’s Saloon and Road Show
Site Moving to Wordpress
This author can now be accessed through http://politywonk. wordpress. com. At some point, when I figure out how, I will move some of these old posts over there. Right now, there's just a tho... [read more]
PolityWonk
Examining Different Sides of the Park51 issue
Have a look at the official web site of the Park 51 Cordoba Project and read their FAQ about the project along with their responses to the controversy. The Unitarian Universalist Association and t... [read more]
timesunion.com
Singing The Journey
Singing The Journey Rev. Dr. Michael Tino Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Westchester – August 22, 2010 © 2010 Michael James Tino This week’s service departed f... [read more]
The Arc of the Universe
In a slump....
when it comes to blogging. I just can't get inspired by much of anything right now. I'm in the throes of planning for the new church year, which means meetings (covenant of right relations, sci... [read more]
Ms. Kitty’s Saloon and Road Show
The Root of It All
by Rev. Colin Bossen, August 22, 2010 Once there was a village whose residents called themselves the sun worshippers. They lived under a massive umbrella that shielded them from the sun. The u... [read more]
The Latest Form of Infidelity
Pet Peeve: The claim Unitarian Universalists can believe whatever
I have a pet peeve. As a Unitarian Universalist minister I get annoyed when Unitarian Universalists spread false messages about our faith. A false message that I hear often and from seasoned... [read more]
A Unitarian Universalist Minister in Mississippi
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The Myth of The One
Rev Wik has been on hiatus for a while. I've been on one of those metaphoric motorcycle trips into the back country, ridiing the blue highways of my soul trying to figure a few things out. I... [read more]
A Minister’s Musings
You're Invited!
Today's sermon is about inviting friends and family to come to church with us. This is something that I think is hard for a lot of people in my congregation, warm and welcoming as they are. As a s... [read more]
Drink from the Stream
Read Frank Rich on Park51
A member of my congregation sent me a link to this opinion piece by Frank Rich that reviews the back story on the 51 Park Avenue Islamic cultural center. No one had any objection to Park 51 unti... [read more]
timesunion.com
Complexity vs Simplicty and Shared Responsibility
Great thread on intra-British racism in response to my last post. My reading list just got longer. I would add one question for us to contemplate:Does the will-to-power manifest itsel... [read more]
PolityWonk
#47 Men, please get as mad as hell!
When women have gotten the right to vote or to divorce or to inherit property or to have legal protection from rape, it’s because men have agreed to change the law of the land. A few forward-t... [read more]
The Naked Theologian: stripped-down theology
See all blogs entries from The Naked Theologian: stripped-down theology
Mosque at Ground Zero, Part 2
In my last post, I argued that it is arguably a mosque that is being proposed by Park 51 to be built on Park Ave near "Ground Zero," although it is not only or even primarily a mosque... [read more]
Rev. Cyn
"Mosque" at "Ground Zero"
I've been in ministry nine years this August. This means I started my ministry in August 2001, and was about a month in when the attacks of September 11, 2001 happened. Like many peo... [read more]
Rev. Cyn
Being Different About Indifference
We talked long into the humid summer evening about what was so different about Unitarianism. He reminded me that we have led the way on immigrant rights in opposing the new law in Arizona, which we... [read more]
Rev. John Morehouse
Back in the Valley of Shadows
No, I am not Job but I think we are related. Last week my erudite, generous, beyond energetic, gentle uncle decided that he had nothing to offer the world and so he left us. He was a Princeton man,... [read more]
Auspicious Jots
Climate Change Books
Just the other day I got another request to post a bibliography of some of my climate change readings and recommendations. Below is the list of books along with some comments. If you're going to ... [read more]
Calling Ministers - Examining and interviewing for UU ministry
See all blogs entries from Calling Ministers - Examining and interviewing for UU ministry
The Sources of Our Faith: Earth-Centered Traditions
Here's the sermon I gave today, the last of a series on the six "Sources of Our Faith" found in the Unitarian Universalist Association's Purposes & Principles statement. One of ... [read more]
Drink from the Stream
Faith in the Marvels
PODCAST COMING SOON! Having faith in supernatural miracles isn’t a tenet today of our commonly held faith. Yet, the word “faith” is still used by religious orthodoxy as a bludgeon... [read more]
Bytes of Grass
Life after "The Help"
My cousin Fern (second of 4 Marjories) and her family's maid, Mitty in 1983. I am guessing that Fern's relationship with Mitty was much like the children in The Help. My (great) Aunt Madge... [read more]
A Jersey Girl in Kentucky
Letter from a Phoenix Jail
Those of you who know my saga know I never made it to Phoenix last week, so this letter is in spirit and not in body. Still, I felt compelled to preach on this subject to the congre... [read more]
The Arc of the Universe
The welcome table
IDEAS: How the hospitality of progressive churches cultivates forgiveness and justice. [read more]
Ideas from UU World
A Tale of Two Forests
I just left the Maine coast where our family has a summer cabin. The trip was elegantly restful. The mornings were spent reading, writing and, after breakfast, repairing the old cabin... [read more]
Rev. John Morehouse
Ghost Bicycle
Two Ghost Bicycles have appeared in my life, both on the same street, my major commuting street, about five miles apart. Ghost bicycles commemorate bicyclists killed or severely injured, usu... [read more]
iMinister
A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf says I need a room of my own. I think a nap, a loft, a secretary, a nanny and a well-stocked bar could be more helpful. If I had a room of my own, I'd just fill it with all those bo... [read more]
Auspicious Jots
Taking a break from blogging during August
It's August and I'm going to take a bit of a break from blogging during August so Susanna and I can do some generalised and relaxed hanging out at the 'Lazy B Ranch' here in sunny (we hope) Cam... [read more]
Caute
A Vision of the Holy
PODCAST COMING SOON! This summer my head has been buzzing with some of the big questions: What is it that holds me in a grasp of longing to connect with something larger than myself? What is the or... [read more]
Bytes of Grass
One Step Backward Taken – the therapeutic value of fear
Last week I looked at how we might honestly use Jesus' memorable teaching, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life' (John 8:1... [read more]
Caute
Unchurched, Underchurched, and Dechurched
In yesterday’s post, I suggested that there is no “mother lode of churchgoers somewhere out there just waiting to call themselves Unitarian Universalists,” which begs the followi... [read more]
Phil’s Little Blog on the Prairie
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The Flushing Sound You Hear
Lately I’ve been thinking that I should start all of my presentations (in person or online) with the following sound effect: click here. It’s the sound of a toilet flushing. And that... [read more]
Phil’s Little Blog on the Prairie
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Not All Who Wander Are Lost
I’ve been on a path far from the circles of Unitarian Universalists the past 3 years. Today I was out and about wearing a T-Shirts I bought off a C*UUYAN (young adult ministry) Steering Co... [read more]
RadicalHapa
BEYOND 28 FLAVORS: Ice Cream Theology
Part of the joy—and perhaps the lure—of simple living is that you choose to manage only what lies within the scope of your actual capabilities and not to live under the pretext of unlimited ass... [read more]
A Jersey Girl in Kentucky
The Four Thoreaus and You
Many of the Unitarians and Universalists who came after Henry David Thoreau struggled with his model and message. To them it was by no means clear what Walden meant for our spiritual movement, even... [read more]
Thousand Voices
#46 Hikers on Pilgrim Routes: A Cautionary Tale
No longer content to hike the Appalachian trail or climb Denali, devout secularists have turned their sights on pilgrim routes. One such route is the Way of St. James which wends through rugged ... [read more]
The Naked Theologian: stripped-down theology
See all blogs entries from The Naked Theologian: stripped-down theology
A Religion of Abundance: Unitarian Universalism
“The world has need of your theology,” said prominent Harvard theologian Diana Eck last year to one of our sister congregations in New York City. “In a world divided by race, and by religion ... [read more]
Thousand Voices
Get mad at Girlfriend, Kill a bunch of people.
It's a common formula. It happened today, here in Albuquerque. It happens a lot. Here are some of the most infamous. .which is to say, the ones where more than two people died. T... [read more]
iMinister
The Fourth and the Thirteenth
It's the Fourth of July: "Independence Day" for this land of my birth, raising, and residence -- this country that created me. My attitudes, assumptions, habits of thought are so tho... [read more]
Lake Chalice
Evil, Evil, Evil
Scott Reoder, who murdered one of the few U. S. doctors who performed late-term abortions, used his sentencing hearing as a forum to espouse his views in an effort to justify his crime, arguing tha... [read more]
Faith Talk
Disabled?
Disability researcher and health writer, Marsha Saxton, wrote an article called “Born and Unborn,” objecting to pre-natal testing that might lead to aborting fetuses for detected disabilities. ... [read more]
Faith Talk
Note to CNN: Gary and Tony Have a Church Home!
It was so interesting to watch the latest installment in CNN‘s In America documentary series. “Gary and Tony Have a Baby” is the story of two men who choose to enlarge their fa... [read more]
Rev Rose
Twitter quick tip: Set profile image before following
If you are going to launch a new Twitter account for your congregation, make sure you set a profile image. You should have something other than the default little twitter bird before you start f... [read more]
UU PLANET Ministry and Media
10 tips for producing your own church welcome videos
Now that we’ve hit the end of the church year, it is a great time to start thinking about whether you would like to add a welcome video to your website in the Fall. Start thinking now so y... [read more]
UU PLANET Ministry and Media
Arizona GA Game Changer
The letter sent from UUA President Morales and the national Boycott Arizona movement asking us to come to Phoenix in 2012 for our regularly scheduled, business-as-usual GA and go through a “t... [read more]
RadicalHapa
The Benefits of a Classical Education
When I was in college I took two semesters of Latin. I knew that I was intending to be an ordained minister, and somehow I thought that it would be useful to know this ancient language. I w... [read more]
A Minister’s Musings
Stage Coach II
Let’s look at the word itself, “Stagecoach. ” It’s a coach – that is, a conveyance for carrying us along – and, in particular, a conveyance for carrying us along between stages on a lon... [read more]
Lake Chalice
On losing my vision
Today is Friday. On Monday, I will have the cataract in my right eye removed. In its place, a plastic lens will be placed in my eye. The surgeon tells me she will be correcting... [read more]
MACRO MICRO AND VICE VERSA
I don't mourn its passing
Youngstown, Ohio is featured in this month's Inc. magazine. Youngstown! The city with poisoned air, in the heart of the Steel Valley. Famous for nearly a hundred unsolved bombing murders (which... [read more]
MACRO MICRO AND VICE VERSA
Unruly verdure
This spring my garden has finally grown into what it was meant to be- an unruly mess of green. There are maybe 4 plants back there that i bought at a nursery, all the rest have lived here longer t... [read more]
Carrots and Ginger
Prayer and Meditation
Last week federal judge, the Honorable Barbara Crabb, declared the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. According to an Associated Press article by Todd Richmond, Crabb wrote. ““It is b... [read more]
Rev. Thomas Perchlik
What local is
While we were in California we did a lot of grocery shopping- a couple of conventional groceries, some high end groceries, and 2 green groceries. I had decided to try to buy things that were local... [read more]
Carrots and Ginger
Ethnic UUs
To be a Unitarian Universalist we say you must be a active member of a UU Church. Except, according to recent Pew Center polling, people who call themselves UU but are not part of a church outnu... [read more]
Rev. Thomas Perchlik
I Should Have Thunk It: Creationists & Deniers
Ever have one of those moments when you either literally or metaphorically hit your forehead with the palm of your hand thinking "Of course! " When I saw this blog post (link) by Ste... [read more]
Calling Ministers - Examining and interviewing for UU ministry
See all blogs entries from Calling Ministers - Examining and interviewing for UU ministry
new blog location
I've now moved my blog to a personal website: Rev Ricky. com. Click on "blog" from the menu on the welcome page. You will be able to comment on blog posts, subscribe with an RSS f... [read more]
One More Step
February music
I made a new year’s resolution this year to write a new piece of music every month. Before I became a minister I worked in Human Resources with AIDS Project Los Angeles. And before that I was a... [read more]
One More Step
Call to Worship for Christmas Eve
Time to turn off the cell phones. Time to put the pagers on stun. It’s even time to put a piece of duct tape on the face of your watch. It’s Christmas Eve and time is sta... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Keeping the X in Xmas
Are we to be Wise Ones, with our eyes fixed on the star in the inky night sky, always looking up, each riding on our own camel, swaying under the starry sky? Or are we to be shepherds, a band of ... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Note to Garrison Keillor: Chillax!!!
матраци Image via Wikipedia I really was planning to stay out of the Garrison Keillor blogfest; I always knew he disliked UUs, and I only listened to Prair... [read more]
Rev Rose
New Court, New Jester
Eight months? Eight months? Really? The stage is empty for eight months. That is truly a pathetic showing-- or non-showing, I guess-- even for the regularly irregular jester. My apologies to the co... [read more]
UU Jester
UU convicted of littering while supplying humanitarian aid
Title: uuworld. org : uu convicted of littering while supplying humanitarian aid You try and do something nice, and what do you get for your trouble? The threat of a $10k fine and a year in jail. C... [read more]
Rev. Daniel’s Blog
How my congregation voted for Morales and Hallman
At our annual congregational meeting, members looked over the two single page sheets the UUA provided in the last meeting, one for each presidential candidate. Last month's newsletter article from... [read more]
Rev. Daniel’s Blog
Time To Stop Being Polite About Gay Marriage
Here’s a link to a post by Haven Kimmel. It talks about the 14th amendment and ensuring equal rights for everyone. Below is a sample. And for those of you who “weren’t raised that way,... [read more]
Just Wondering
oh, how the world still dearly loves a cage...
Maude (Ruth Gordon) in the amazing movie Harold and Maude says a few things worth quoting and one of them is to say something like the "zoos are crowded, prisons are overflowing, oh how the ... [read more]
help create peace now...
Untaming the Good Samaritan
What follows is the text of a sermon I’ve delivered twice. I usually don’t post my sermons here anymore, but this story played such a large part in my own decision to leave Christianity... [read more]
Just Wondering
a new era...
What an inspiring week it has been! As I watched and listened to President Obama, the words of so many people echoed in my mind. .. "I never thought it would happen in my lifetime. I never t... [read more]
help create peace now...
7 and 1/4 inches per day
Meditation delivered at the services on January 18th, 2009. Today, I’d like to suggest something specific for our meditation. Quiet your minds, settle your bodies, and open your hearts. Today’... [read more]
UU Jester
Beyond Black & White
We can rebirth our country. Indeed we are blessed to have these powerful brains. We can create a new reality, new myths to live by on what it means to be truly human. And we can absolutely chang... [read more]
Rev. John Crestwell
Ingathering Sunday
Last Sunday was Ingathering Sunday at First Unitarian Church of Wilmington. Let me say, it was impressive. It was probably the most fun I have ever had at Church either as a minister or as a lay pe... [read more]
Kuan Yin’s Chalice
I am Back...
Today feels like the first day of school! I am officially the Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Church of Wilmington Delaware. Let me tell you, I wrote that on the bottom of an e-mail this aft... [read more]
Kuan Yin’s Chalice
Review of the Large Church Conference in Louisville, KY, March 13 – 16, 2008 Loehr to Sinkford
Since the annual SXSW music and film festival in Austin, TX is one of my annual pilgrimages, I was much chagrined that it fell precisely on the Large Conference dates. Thankfully, part of Austin s... [read more]
The Rev’s Review
YOU WERE MADE FOR SO MUCH MORE!
You are an innovator, and just as this expansive, growing universe creates each and everyday, you have the capacity to expand beyond your present place to a much more purposed existence. You can ov... [read more]