We are the Universe exploring itself; the remains of dead stars being reminded of their glory and living on into the future. We have reached a seemingly singular level of awareness and capacity for wonder, but that alone does not explain our success as a species. Humanity is part of something which is bigger than […]
In his Ware lecture, Bryan Stevenson warned us that we could not have the impact on the world that we aspire to unless we were willing to be uncomfortable. We must get close to the people who are suffering, we must change how we think and talk about the circumstances and conditions that create injustice, […]
I want to start at the end of this story, because it really does set the mood for what I want you to take away from this post. We have to start, not from where we were or where we wish to be, but from where we are. I spent last week in New Orleans. […]
To Unitarian Universalists across the US and the World, My name is Thomas Earthman, and I am the founder and administrator of the I Am UU project. Currently, that is some claim to fame in a fairly small circle. What I am hoping is that I can make it a path to greater acceptance of […]
Unitarian Universalism is currently viewed as a noun; it is a non-pysical thing. What if we started treating as a verb? What if we practiced Unitarian Universalism; worked at it individually and in teams? Some other religious movements have already started trying to reimagine “god” as a verb. The Bible, after all, does say that […]
The I Am UU community is diverse. You all, who make up our community, include leaders at all levels as well people who do not really identify as UU but like what we post. We have to guess that many of you are less knowledgeable than you would like to be, or ought to be, […]
We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. – Elie Wiesel Silence encourages the tormentor. If we allow bigotry to go unrebuked, then we are emboldening the bigot. It is not enough to be tolerant and open-minded yourself if our goal is to make the […]
The I Am UU project has always been a lay ministry; a grassroots effort not tied directly to any one congregation, not overseen by the UUA, not even curated by an ordained minister. That much is very unlikely to change. Something exciting has changed, though. The UUA is moving to recognize ministry as something more […]
Unitarian Universalism is dedicated to a world that is just, compassionate, and equitable. That has never come about by accident. People fight their whole lives to see the world get better on any one of those points. They come together and build movements and organizations to do the work better. They knew that if we […]
It is Martin Luther King day once again. We stop to celebrate the life and commitment of whom many of us consider to be a modern-day prophet. I want us to reflect on prophets and what the prophetic voice is. I will be taking an excerpt from a recent sermon I gave called “The Prophetic […]