Spontaneous Me Walt Whitman Spontaneous me, Nature, The loving day, the mounting sun, the friend I am happy with, The arm of my friend hanging idly over my shoulder, The hill-side whiten’d with blossoms of the mountain ash, The same, late in autumn—the hues of red, yellow, drab, purple, and light and dark green,The rich coverlid of the grass—animals and birds—the private untrimm’d bank— the primitive apples—the pebble-stones, Beautiful dripping fragments—the negligent list of one after another, as I happen... Read more

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Mystical experience seems to offer the only hope for an ecumenical meeting of the world religions. In general, mystics understand one another very well, even when forms of expression differ. There is an affinity between Parmenides, Plato, Eckhart, Nicholas of Cusa, and John of the Cross, to mention but a few names. Authentic mystical experience preaches the truth, even if the forms of the preaching differ greatly. Mystics place hardly any emphasis on the precise wording of their formulations. Words,... Read more

Your Score: Pooh You scored 12 Ego, 10 Anxiety, and 14 Agency! “What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?” “Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best?” and then he hadto stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a verygood thing to do, there was a moment just before you began toeat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t knowwhat it was called. You scored as Pooh! ABOUT POOH: Pooh is a bear... Read more

Thomas Jefferson’s significance in our country’s history is incalculable. It is hard to picture a document more important to the development of modern democracy than the Declaration of Independence. While the facts of it speak to the cancer present at the birth of this nation, our relatively recent collective knowledge of Jefferson’s conflicted complicity with the whole of the slavery system, also contains much we need to hold in our hearts. There is no pure person. There is no one... Read more

On this day in 1612 Edward Wightman was burned at the stake for heresy. While there would be a few more executions in England for heresy this would be the last time the horror of the stake would be used. The litany of his theological crimes was long. He repudiated, a number of conventionally held theological views but principally and most scandalously infant baptism and the Trinity. At his trial these opinions were found to be “heretical, execrable, and unheard... Read more

thank you Worst Horse! Read more

KEITH C. MUNSON 1922 – 2008 It is with a sense of loss that UURMaPA and the UUA inform you of the death of the Reverend Keith C. Munson. He died February 5, 2008 from pneumonia contracted while he was hospitalized after a fall. He was 85. Mr. Munson was born on November 1, 1922 to J. Ray and Aletha Munson in Presque Isle, Maine. He graduated from Tufts University in 1944 and from the Crane Theological School of Tufts... Read more

When I spent my sabbatical last year as minister-in-residence at Meadville Lombard, our Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago I met two seminarians who were in process of preparing for the military chaplaincy. I found I admired both of them, considerably. And, one of them, David Pyle, has become a friend. David maintains a fascinating blog which I follow. This post is mainly a pointer to his most recent entry, “Unitarian Universalism and Military Chaplaincy.” But also a thought or two... Read more

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