I had the honor of spending this week with a dozen youth who chose to spend the first week of August in New Orleans. So you already know that they are brave. You should also know that they are leaders and followers, conveners and collaborators, organizers and educators. But this isn’t a note about nouns. This is a note about verbs. Unitarian Universalist Verbs. My colleague, Rev. Paul, showed up (consistently, faithfully) this week wearing these verbs around his neck:... Read more
When the storm comes in a bird sits on a limb in the suddenly solidly still humid air. I watch weather radar, listening to a child scream nearby– is it joy or fear? I raise a glass of ale brought to me all the way from London. I read the storm warnings with interest, large hail; damaging winds . . . Is this another storm that I will weather? Sometimes yes; sometimes no; prognosis: probable. I raise a glass of... Read more
It’s been almost a week now, but I’m still internalizing the seismic change taking place in Minnesota. Love is the Law! It all began at midnight on August 1… Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak presided over forty six weddings at City Hall in the wee hours of Thursday, August 1, beginning at 12:01 AM. By turns laughing and crying, he said over and over that these couples were now lawfully married. Watching those weddings of total strangers, I cried several times... Read more
At 7:44am, one year ago today, our Little Bean finally came out into the world, with what felt distinctly like a “plop!” From that moment on, things have felt like they are both, at one-and-the-same-time, in slow motion, and speeding by. The first six months sometimes included what felt like the longest days I have ever known. I remember watching the clock, breaking up the hours in my mind into half hour segments until my partner and co-Mama would get... Read more
Human religions have always been built upon foundations of the best available science of the time. Sometimes that science said that the middle earth sat in a large tree. Sometimes science said the earth sat on a turtle’s back. Ezekiel knew that the earth had four corners and was held up by pillars–heavens above, Sheol below. Upon these foundations, human beings built views of how the world worked. An important reason that I became a Unitarian Universalist many years ago... Read more
In his story of a man with a sneering wife, Sufi master Rumi begins: A special guest was coming to visit and the man worked 200 days to earn the price for the quality lamb kabob he wished to serve this guest. On the appointed day, the man bought the meat and brought it home for his wife to cook and then went to fetch the guest. While he was gone, the wife cooked the kabob and ate every bite... Read more
“It was all God’s plan.” George Zimmerman In the United States, God loves white and violent, it seems; loves what’s inhuman, it looks. Look at His plan working as it does. In the US, God loves those laws that fill the jails, that fill the pockets of the rich, it appears. Just look. He– yes, must be a He–gives a vindictive wink and nod to the violent, as long as it’s Christian. In the United States, God likes the way... Read more
Beloveds, let us have a common vocabulary. In the midst of the conversation on race prompted by the verdict of the Zimmerman trial, allow me to point us toward the 4 I’s of Oppression, spelled out clearly here by YouthBuild USA: – https://youthbuild.org/sites/youthbuild.org/files/Four%20Is.pdf Ideological, Institutional, Interpersonal, and Internalize Oppression. Recognize that racism operates on many levels in this country. If you do not know this, please take the time to learn about it before joining loudly in the conversation. This matters. Let us... Read more
I do not love hot weather. I do not love intense humidity and stepping out into the outside world and feeling myself gasp. And, for better and for worse, I live in Washington D.C., where this is how it is in July and August. On the other hand, my grandmother turned 90 years old this year. I hear that the summer right now in the Portland (Oregon) area is beautiful, and that she and the many people that I love... Read more
I pledge to follow The earth’s gentle curve As I go; I pledge to breathe only air as I am able; I pledge to breathe often; I pledge to eat of the earth; Nothing other shall pass my lips. I pledge to wend along the ways, Trodding earth, never air, Clouds and sun above, What rocks are there under foot. I pledge to see as best I can in bright sun; I pledge to squint as I am able in... Read more
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