From this morning’s President’s welcome: Rev. Diana told us that Easter is the most difficult day for a UU minister. If that’s true – and I have no doubt it is – then I think perhaps the Fourth of July is the most difficult day for a UU lay person. We grow up bathed in patriotism: we’re taught to salute the flag and say the pledge of allegiance, to sing The Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America, to wave... Read more

Jeff Weiss from the Dallas Morning News was on hand for yesterday’s Summer SolstiCelebration and this article ran in today’s paper. Jeff’s a good guy (I got to know him via e-mail when the DMN Religion Blog was in full swing) and I talked to him for several minutes before we started. He asked some good questions about what we were doing and why – I like the one exchange he used in the article: How authentic is the invocation... Read more

photo from The Daily Mail The Times reports that there were 36,500 people at Stonehenge for yesterday morning’s Summer Solstice Sunrise. Sadly, the sun remained hidden behind the clouds. Here’s another report from The Daily Mail, with more and bigger pictures. As much as I’d like to see a Solstice sunrise at Stonehenge, with those crowds I’m not sorry I wasn’t there! Read more

From yesterday’s President’s Welcome: Happy Summer Solstice! Summer officially began this morning at 12:45. Last night was the shortest night of the year, and today is the longest day. This is as far north as the sun will rise on the horizon – for the next few days it will appear to stand still, then it will start rising a little farther south each day, and the days will begin getting shorter. Well, that’s interesting, John, but what does that... Read more

CUUPS will be repeating our Egyptian Summer Solstice Ritual as the opening ceremony of the Earth Rhythms Summer SolstiCelebration at noon at White Rock Lake on Saturday, July 27. Summer SolstiCelebration “We are all one under the Sun”June 27, Saturday – noon to 10 pmBath House Cultural Center building & grounds521 E. Lawther, Dallas, TX 75218 ~ off Northcliff & Buckner Blvd.map: http://www.bathhousecultural.com/ festival info: http://www.earthrhythms.org/ ~ 214-261-5599 Earth Rhythms is proud to announce the return of Summer SolstiCelebration, the... Read more

Here’s a piece from yesterday’s USA Today that explores more of the biology of religion. It’s by Andrew Newberg, associate professor of radiology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of the new book How God Changes Your Brain. His studies show that spiritual practices, such as meditation and prayer … reveal significant improvements in memory, cognition and compassion while simultaneously reducing anxiety, depression, irritability and stress (even when done in a non-theological context). One might come to... Read more

I’m not going to post everything I say as part of my President’s Welcome and Announcements on Sunday mornings, but sometimes I will. Here’s what I had to say this morning: Robert Wuthnow is Director of the Center for the Study of American Religion at Princeton University and author of the book Christianity in the 21st Century: Reflections on the Challenges Ahead. In that book, he said “Instead of being a reaction to fundamentalism, liberal religion needs to become a... Read more

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Our power went out Wednesday evening about 7:00 and didn’t come back on till a little before midnight last night. No major damage, but we’re going to have to throw out everything in the refrigerator. And I didn’t sleep much on Wednesday night. For all my good Pagan love of nature, I have NO romanticized dreams about living about living in a “simpler time.” I LIKE technology, and I have NO desire to live in Texas without air conditioning! Read more