For those in Arizona...

We light a candle for our fellow UU's and protestors that sit in jail tonight in Arizona. We also light a candle for those that will be arrested with little press and fanfare - those whose rights are jeopardized and unrecognized. We light a candle that each voice raised in hope will make a difference, just enough of a difference to dowse the voice of hate...the voice of oppression...and the power of apathy.

As UU's we live our values in the world, because we can do no less. Rise up, speak out, and be the change in the world. We can do no less and there is a need for so much.

The spiritual practice of moving

I had imagined that moving was going to be rigorous and would pull all those lazy scholar muscles that have not been in use during seminary. Moving has also moved my mind. It has moved my social location. It has moved my imagination and even my dreams. This has been wonderful and disorienting, sad and exciting. Humans are such a bundle of contradictions.

Boxes are piled to the ceiling around my head and the accomplishment of the day is having a clean kitchen counter. The spiritual accomplishment is a sense of cleaning out. I am cleaning out old things. I am reviewing old letters. I am letting go and holding on. There this tug of new and old and it feels right. It feels like positive growth.

Bless these changes. Bless my hands for lifting and carrying and letting go. Bless all those who make this possible.

The Question of Salvation....

Since Unitarian Universalism does not approach faith from a foundational set of truths, I believe the concept of salvation can be observed in the practice and values of the community. It is witnessed by the life of faith community, how it worships, how the community is self-governed, and how the community carries its faith into the world. Unitarian Universalism is a faith community that upholds the tenets of interdependence and the inherent worth of every person in word and in practice. Unitarian Universalist congregations are highly covenanted communities. While the individual faith and life journey is upheld, it is upheld within the idea of a world community that rises or falls together. There is a recognition of intimate interconnectedness to the whole of life and the importance of each individual that makes the whole. The seventh principle of Unitarian Universalism is the respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. This makes an argument for remodeling a salvation framework that is not individual, but based on the interrelatedness and ultimately the interdependence of the community.


A sermon on the topic -