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How We Belong

How We Belong

You can’t be a Unitarian Universalist and believe anything you want.

A Alex Jensen
Who Cares?

Who Cares?

In our modern age of apathy and egoism, there is cause for hope whenever people care about something beyond themselves. But there is more to being human than feeling deeply, for we risk becoming impassioned fools. Our minds must conspire with our hearts. We should care enough to think—and think...

J Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Reflection on Bipolar Disorder

Reflection on Bipolar Disorder

About The Author: The author is a member of a Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation reflects on living with bipolar disorder. I have chosen to share my experience in a safe place—a place of acceptance, a place where we share joys and sorrows. Some might say, “Some things shouldn't be talked...

A Anonymous
Futility Refuted

Futility Refuted

There is no such thing as a lasting peace, a tranquility that will persist forever, a final resting place for the lion and the lamb. We yearn for the completion of our task, the fulfillment of our striving, the consummation of our journey. And this longing sows the seeds of our defeat....

J Jeffrey A. Lockwood
The Gift

The Gift

Our Subaru Forester was sliding sideways down Interstate 80 at fifty miles per hour. My wife, Nan, had gingerly switched to the left-hand lane to avoid a truck that was overturned on the right shoulder, but no amount of experience, skill, or caution could overcome our car’s mass and momentum on a...

J Jeffrey A. Lockwood
To Ask is to Give

To Ask is to Give

A voice screeched gate assignments through a nerve-jangling public address system. Even if the announcements had been in English, I doubt that I’d have been able to make sense of them. But whatever was being broadcast to the cavernous waiting area of the Moscow airport prompted mobs of people to...

J Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Kindness

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness....

N Naomi Shihab Nye
Psalm 23

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his name sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for...

To Serve the People

To Serve the People

To worship God is nothing other than to serve the people. It does not need rosaries, prayer carpets, or robes. All peoples are members of the same body, created from one essence. If fate brings suffering to one member The others cannot stay at rest.

S Saadi Shirazi
It Matters What We Believe

It Matters What We Believe

Some beliefs are like walled gardens. They encourage exclusiveness, and the feeling of being especially privileged. Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies. Some beliefs are like shadows, clouding children's days and fears of unknown calamities. Other beliefs...

S Sophia Lyon Fahs
My Heart is Moved by All I Cannot Save

My Heart is Moved by All I Cannot Save

My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world. #463, Singing the Living Tradition Original source: From Dream of a Common Language (1978)...

A Adrienne Rich
Living on Borrowed Time

Living on Borrowed Time

The more we try to say precisely what is in our hearts, the more we find that we are speaking for multitudes of strangers the world over. The deeper we get down to our own fundamentals, the more deeply we represent those of other people. Like all human beings, I live on borrowed time....

J Jack Mendelsohn
Extremists of Justice

Extremists of Justice

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish truth....

M Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Network of Mutuality

A Network of Mutuality

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. There are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted....

M Martin Luther King, Jr.
Are You What You Eat?

Are You What You Eat?

On a deeper level, do we consider what we are eating and whether its origins are compatible with our personal values? Since the beginning of time, dietary practices have been incorporated into the religious practices of humanity....

G Gerri Kennedy
Food for Thought: UU Values and Sustainable Food

Food for Thought: UU Values and Sustainable Food

I remember back to the 50’s and 60’s when, once a week, my mother would don her shirtwaist, climb into the family car, and make her way to the A&P. How did she choose her groceries then? In our family, in New England and a long way from the fertile, productive valleys of California, proximity...

V Vicky Talbert
Mind the Mules: Theology and Justice in the Food Chain

Mind the Mules: Theology and Justice in the Food Chain

I grew up on my family farm in the southern part of Illinois. There was nothing about it that was a golden age. And I’m NOT nostalgic about the good old days. I don’t like carrying water from the well out back. I don’t like going to an outhouse at 4 a.m. in the snow. I don’t like the wasps...

D David Breeden
To Risk

To Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk exposing our true self. To place our ideals—our dreams—before the crowd is to risk loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk despair. To try is to...

Let Our Table Stand Like an Altar

Let Our Table Stand Like an Altar

I [do not] mean to present myself as some kind of bodhisattva of compassion. However, in my better moments—at least in my more conscious moments—while I’m eating, I do try to imagine the lives and even the deaths of the creatures who nourish me. I try to think of the freedom and exhilaration...

L Lillian Nye
Telling

Telling

What you risk telling your story: You will bore them. Your voice will break, your ink spill and stain your coat. No one will understand, their eyes become fences. You will park yourself forever on the outside, your differentness once and for all revealed, dangerous. The names you give to yourself...

L Laura Hershey
This Is the Landscape

This Is the Landscape

So reads the doormat of conditional welcome: Here will pass the en-abled, blessed be their less complicated bodies. They will be able to hustle up a flight of stairs, decipher the PA, endure fluorescent lights, and follow long, thick, complicated words....

J Julia Watts Belser
Who Am I Not to Be Blessed?

Who Am I Not to Be Blessed?

In moonlit shadows, At the edge of night-darkened oak trees I see it. Across sunny pathways, In the buzzing of insects, amongst the flowering forest greenery, I hear it. From the touch of ones loved, The embraces of those gone before me, I feel it....

C Chris Jimmerson
What is the Meaning of Winter Solstice?

What is the Meaning of Winter Solstice?

Happy Winter Solstice! Today is the morning after the longest night and shortest day of the year. Today is the beginning of the Waxing Half of the year, from now until the Summer Solstice the day will lengthen and night will shorten....

E Elizabeth Dale
Unison Reading on Our Heritage

Unison Reading on Our Heritage

For those who came before us, may our gratitude be long and lasting. For those who come after us, may we be the strong stewards of our commitments. May each of us know the immortality of the larger frame revealed through community....

L Leslie Takahashi
Yes, I Want To Live In A Welfare State!

Yes, I Want To Live In A Welfare State!

For years now, my conservative friends have asked me, “Do you really want to live in a welfare state?” I’ve thought about it and I’ve decided: Yes, I do. I want to live in a welfare state! If we define “welfare” in the original meaning of the word, “the condition of being or getting...

P Paul Stephan Dodenhoff
The Young People in the Church

The Young People in the Church

From "The Young People in the Church," September 20, 1902 What is our idea of a church? Are we simply a mutual admiration society, meeting from Sunday to Sunday to congratulate ourselves that we are not so bigoted as other people, and sigh because they are not emancipated?...

M Marion Shutter
Let the Alleluias Rise Up

Let the Alleluias Rise Up

Every year, the same conundrum: How do we find our way into Easter when, for us, the most important part about Jesus of Nazareth is his teachings, rather than his death? Like many traditional holidays, it must have some meaning to us beyond its commercial trappings. But what is that meaning,...

E Ellen Cooper
Eight Epitaphs

Eight Epitaphs

I. THE CYNIC I was the town cynic whose life was choked out By a hidden disease of the heart That I knew was there in my chest But never told. And I carried it around with me And quoted verses to the people I met About the vanity and absurdity of it all And made them weep. If only they could have...

J Joshua Leach
In Our Time Together

In Our Time Together

As we gather here together May we be attentive one to another. May we listen carefully, may we freely speak. May we be respectful of one another. May we be serious, yet not somber. May we be light of heart And full of good cheer. As we gather here together May we work toward common goals....

B Betty Jo Middleton
Credo for New Apostles

Credo for New Apostles

I believe in One God: That is, the heaven we make on earth. And in all the prophets and saviors, the begotten children of all people, Born under every banner and tribe, nation and state, parcel and plot, Whose suffering, struggles, and wisdom free me from injustice, And lift me up so that I, too,...

E Eliot Brian Chenowith
We Give Thanks for Need

We Give Thanks for Need

We give thanks for the needs of our community that remind us of our common humanity. We give thanks for the needs of humanity that help us grow into the compassion of the Buddha, the love of Jesus, and the charity of Mohammed....

C Claudia A Ramisch
What Do Our Children Need on Sunday Morning?

What Do Our Children Need on Sunday Morning?

They need to light a candle, and have a quiet moment to enjoy its mystery. They need to sing a song, to hear their own voice and other voices joined together, and to feel the feelings that are stirred by music....

L Lowell Brook
Mother's Day Proclamation

Mother's Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, "Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. "Our sons shall not be...

J Julia Ward Howe
A Litany of Wholeheartednes

A Litany of Wholeheartednes

Because there have been times when shame has crushed our ability to be wholehearted We let go of who we ought to be and embrace who we are. Because we have not always had the courage to be imperfect We let go of who we ought to be and embrace who we are....

D Dawn Skjei Cooley
We Are Not Guests

We Are Not Guests

Am I a guest here. Here in this House. Are you? Are we guests here. Here in this House. And, whose House do we inhabit? In the small world of our lives the borders between us: easements, fences, gates, hedges—serve to delineate, to separate us. To remind us of where my property begins and ends.

A Alicia R. Forde
Every Third Thursday

Every Third Thursday

Every third Tuesday, I am a Buddhist I empty my mind and lighten my heart And try to let go of attachments Every other Friday, I am a Christian. I look for the least of these And try to love God and my neighbor The full moon of the month finds me Wiccan; I honor the dual nature of God And find my...

J Joanna Fontaine Crawford
Litany of Spring

Litany of Spring

As we gather to celebrate In this time of beginnings In the season of birth and rebirth, We hear the heart beat of Mother Earth With the spring time comes the blossoming of the plants A time of exploration and creation And the emerging patterns of life We hear the heart beat of Mother Earth Let u...

A Addae Ama Kraba
Title Poems from "Singing The Journey"

Title Poems from "Singing The Journey"

Singing the Journey uses our Six Sources as organizing themes, as shown in the sections of the Table of Contents. “The Living Tradition we share draws from many sources,” so come with me now on a short spiritual romp through these six sections as I draw only from the song titles in each section...

J Jaco ten Hove
The Happy Accident

The Happy Accident

The tale I am about to tell is a based on a true story. It is a tale woven from the stories of those who remember. It is a tale of wayward travels, a tale of the stranded tourist. Some of the people who recounted the events described it as a Happy Accident....

C Carie J Johnsen
Marginal Wisdom

Marginal Wisdom

Reader 1: They teach us to read in black and white. Reader 2: Truth is this—the rest is false. Reader 3: You are whole—or broken. Reader 2: Who you love is acceptable—or not. Reader 1: My life tells its truth in many hues. Reader 2: We are taught to think in "either/or"s Reader 1: I believe...

L Leslie Takahashi
Hello, My Name Is . . .

Hello, My Name Is . . .

When we introduce ourselves to another person, we usually extend our hand and summarize ourselves with one word, usually our name. "Hello, my name is Naomi…" These are the kinds of face-to-face greetings that initiate relationships, that open our hearts and act as a bridge of connection from one...

N Naomi King
Offering Call For A Community Seeking Change

Offering Call For A Community Seeking Change

We know there is great abundance in our world: a great abundance of suffering—of people homeless, hungry, frightened, lonely, in danger, sick, exhausted, and wondering when this abundant suffering shall cease. We know there is great abundance in our world: a great abundance of love—of people...

N Naomi King
We Are a Rainbow People

We Are a Rainbow People

Somos una gente del arco iris. We are a rainbow people. The rainbow is an arc of light brilliantly displaying all the colors of the visible spectrum, all the colors that combine to make the astounding beauty of our world, all the colors that combine to reflect the astounding diversity of human...

N Naomi King
A Day!

A Day!

Litany Response: “A Day!” Do we really apprehend what a day is? Do we feel its importance? Do we know its capacity? A day! It has risen upon us from the great depth of eternity, girt round with wonder; emerging from the womb of darkness; a new creation of Life and Light spoken into being by the...

N Naomi King
Nurture This Precious Light

Nurture This Precious Light

How shall we begin to live out our free faith? Nurture this precious light. When we do, we are beacons of freedom creating a safe place to rest, explore, and innovate. Nurture this precious light!...

N Naomi King
Open Our Hearts With Love

Open Our Hearts With Love

When the world’s violence shatters the joy of a moment We pause and reach out for the hands that remain We open our hearts with love. When despair rises as a monster from the deep and drags down one of our own, our answer is that We open our hearts with love....

N Naomi King
When We Seek Wisdom

When We Seek Wisdom

"When we seek wisdom," says one Native American spiritual leader, "we go up on the hill and talk to the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka. Four days and four nights, without food and water. And we listen. And God speaks." Roy Phillips, minister of the Unitarian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, writes about...

J John A. Buehrens
How To Discuss The Truth

How To Discuss The Truth

How to discuss the truth that some men love men, and some women, women, and some, both, with the children in the church school and church home? Nonchalantly. Without drum-rolls. Without tip-toe preparations. Without calculating and predicting to the nth degree. With candor. With open ears. With...

M Mark Belletini
Simply Cherish The Earth

Simply Cherish The Earth

Regardless of our differences, there are a host of affirmations that we embrace as the basis for our faith. Whatever we think the holy may be, Creation itself is holy. We make no distinctions between the natural and the supernatural, the secular and the sacred. We simply cherish the earth and all...

W William F. Schulz
Share the Wealth

Share the Wealth

Unitarian Universalists are proud of themselves for doing nothing to seek converts to their faith. A person’s religion is a private inward thing, it is said, and we should in no way seek to influence another person to choose our way in religion. The underlying principle here is respect for the...

R Roy Phillips
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