Our seventh principle affirms the interdependent web of all existence. Often, we consider this principle through the lens of a human-centered ecology, or as humans at the center of an interdependent web, human agents or observers within nature. But by putting the focus on ourselves, as a particular species or as individuals, we misunderstand the … Continue reading On Love and Interdependence – On YouTube!
In a sermon near the beginning of the pandemic, we explored the ways that many of us have experienced the ongoing COVID crisis as a form of “ambiguous loss.” Dr. Pauline Boss coined this term, ambiguous loss, back in the 1970s, to describe a kind of loss in which there is either a physical absence … Continue reading Ambiguous Loss (Part II)
400 years ago, in the fall of 1621, a group of religious dissenters from England had just made it through a time of terrible hardship in a place they called Plymouth. The truth was that they wouldn’t have made it all if not for the help of an original inhabitant of the land, a Native … Continue reading What We Bring to the Table
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, we’ve increased our virtual communication and decreased our in-person (embodied, incarnate) interaction with others. We’ve grown accustomed to seeing one another in “fragmented” ways — as faces without noses and mouths, or as floating heads in Zoom boxes. Even as children are vaccinated and new COVID treatments emerge, making … Continue reading Covenant Incarnate
“Covenant and commitment, not comfort, should be the binding fabrics of UU congregations… Our faith communities are not just available for those who fit in most easily or who make so much trouble no one is willing to challenge them. New generations have even more … lack of tolerance for this sort of culture and … Continue reading Conflict
“We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring Teachers. Now our minds … Continue reading How to Build a House (Power With vs Power Over)
“In an age when so many struggle to find meaning, a community formed through a set of commonly held beliefs can form a stronger bond than one formed through antipathy towards rejected beliefs (p.14).” — Widening the Circle of Concern (2020 Report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change) The theological roots of Unitarian Universalism … Continue reading Heretics! (Theology of Freedom)
The delta variant is keeping us from meeting together in person, but it can’t keep us from celebrating our community! Our church goes on. Today, we celebrate the beginning of a new church year with ritual. At our annual Ingathering service, we come together as a family of travelers reuniting after our many separate journeys. … Continue reading Ingathering/Water Ceremony (Theology of Relationship)
The last several years of pandemic and social polarization have exposed frayed places and holes in the fabric of church-business-as-usual. This is true across congregations and faith traditions. Though shared ministry existed before these times, it has emerged as a powerful antidote to congregational and denominational splintering. However, our cultural norms (Western and UU) and … Continue reading ‘When Hope is Hard to Find, We Take Care of Us: Shared Ministry as Mutual Aid”
