Gratitude is a decision to focus on the best of a situation. When you make that choice, you see the best first. It doesn’t mean ignoring that bad things do happen; it is about putting them in perspective and not letting worry steal the moment.
A Meditation for Veterans’ Day
It’s been said that no one returns home from war without scars of some kind. It is also said that a person’s family serves, too, in a fashion by giving up peace of mind and the presence of their loved one. Those are years a parent, a spouse, or a child can never get back.
Community Ministry: A Calling is Still a Job
Monday was Labor Day; a day for remembering the struggles that have shaped the quality of life that we enjoy and created the American Dream. We tried to share things over the long weekend to support that frame of mind. Unitarian Universalism aspires towards a more just and compassionate world. While we live in a […]
The Beloved Community Will Be Built on the Legacy of Labor
Labor day is a secular holiday, but a Humanist one. It should be recognized by Unitarian Universalists as part of the ongoing development of our faith; Labor day is fundamentally tied to our values and the Principles of the UUA. Labor Day isn’t just a day off. It is a day to celebrate people who […]
Gratitude for Our Diverse Sources
It sometimes seems like Unitarian Universalism is chaotic; that we might actually be too diverse. Can it be that there are too many voices trying to be heard? Indeed, how we navigate that can be tricky, because we are blessed with many perspectives, all of them valuable. The I Am UU project holds that our […]
Having Hope in Hope
Destruction and chaos are simpler, faster, than coordination and creation. It takes moments to tear something apart compared to what it takes to build it. One person can do a tremendous amount of damage. But, for every person intent on doing that kind of harm, there are hundreds preparing to mitigate it; to control the […]
This Little Light of Ours
There are a lot of Unitarian Universalists who seem to think that no good comes from telling people about liberal religion. Their actions indicate that they don’t want people to know about their church and its saving message. I’ve read, many times, “if someone is a good fit for Unitarian Universalism, they’ll just find their […]
Heaven, If We Can Build It
“Religious liberalism affirms the moral obligation to direct one’s effort toward the establishment of a just and loving community.” ~ James Luther Adams While many UUs believe that there might be, even must be, life after death, the heaven we all commit to is here on Earth. The name we’ve been calling that heaven for […]
Memorial Day: A Sacred, Secular Holiday
In the United States, our military is commanded by civilian leadership, with the elected President as the Commander and Chief of all our armed forces. All of our military operations are under the collective (if indirect) control of the citizenry; all service members carry out orders with our implied consent. We are, collectively, responsible for […]
Anger and Action in the Face of Injustice
We are angry. With good reason, we are upset and hurt and angry. Anger can be an appropriate response to violence, to injustice, and to those peddling fear and bad information. Some people will tell you that anger is a negative emotion, but I don’t believe that. Anger is not bad. It is how we […]