What it Means

Last updated on: June 26, 2013 at 11:36 am By Lynn Ungar

Today the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and declared that the proponents of California’s Prop 8 had no standing to argue against Judge Walker’s ruling that Prop 8 was unconstitutional. What these rulings mean in the real world seems pretty straightforward. Same-sex couples can finally resume getting married in California. Same-sex couples who are legally married in states that allow their unions will be entitled to the full federal benefits of marriage. For me, as someone... Read more

They Walk Into the Place Where (a reflection on immigration)

Last updated on: June 20, 2013 at 6:03 am By David Breeden

They walk into the place carrying a bandana, carrying a balaclava, carrying a bordada made by abuela. They walk into the place that burns the soles of huaraches, the soles of tennis shoes into twisted rubber. They walk into the place carrying an extra tee shirt. An extra dress for a hija. They walk into the land carrying cheese crackers and Red Bull and cheap cell phones. They walk into the place where money is god. They walk into the... Read more

When Worlds Collide

Last updated on: June 19, 2013 at 3:56 pm By Lynn Ungar

I had an interesting conversation with a friend the other day about a controversy in her church. A member raised the question to the congregation about what their policy should be about bringing guns to church. This was not a question that had ever crossed my friend’s mind in the course of many years of church-going in Chicago, but she’s in another part of the country now, and the question is real. And, if you’ll forgive the pun, loaded. There... Read more

Doing It All…A Little Bit.

Last updated on: June 14, 2013 at 2:20 pm By Rev. Heather Rion Starr

I am going to have to go back to work eventually. I mean, two women and a baby can’t make ends meet on one part-time income in Washington D.C. forever, even with a lot of family and denominational support. I’ve been aware of this since before R was born, thinking about it, trying to figure out what form, type, schedule, and mode of working would fit me well with our new Lives With Baby. Before R was born, I was... Read more

Here, In This Flow

Last updated on: June 13, 2013 at 5:57 am By David Breeden

The turtles go out of their water this time of year, slow on roadways, slow to mating somewhere, or slow to dates with car tires. No, there’s no enlightenment– there’s no one there. (That’s Buddhism 101 each day teaches.) No, there’s no virtue– there’s no one there. Only being. Lost in this movement I rub the cat’s head, a black cat, a warm, cloudy morning. There’ no cat. There’s no I. There’s only purring, this congeries of movement to movement–... Read more

A People of Promise

Last updated on: June 10, 2013 at 7:49 am By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

We are all in this together, beloveds. All of creation is ultimately and intimately relational. Our faith is grounded in and continuously points us toward relationship. Covenants, promises about how we will be in relationship, cannot be made by one’s self. There are no solitary covenants – only communal ones. It may surprise a few of you to learn that the Principles and Purposes Unitarian Universalists often speak of are part of congregational covenants. We covenant to affirm and promote... Read more

Into the Summer Daze

Last updated on: June 6, 2013 at 9:56 pm By Rev. Heather Rion Starr

We want summer to be leisurely. We want it to be restful. We want it to involve sandals, long meandering days, the sound of ice cubes clinking in a glass, a steady stream of lemonade or ice tea. We don’t, usually, want it to involve more to-do lists and travel details than the winter holidays. And most of us don’t want it to fly by, though we all acknowledge that it does. What is just one of your hopes for... Read more

Our Place in the Alhambra

Last updated on: December 29, 2014 at 1:46 pm By David Breeden

1. Go ahead, climb up the Alhambra brick– taxis can’t come here, and the effort it takes is only as much as you have in mind. 2. How often we’ve fallen for another algorithm for bliss, the snake oil shill of camphor shadows. Enough. The book is there now, a shining blossom, big as a magnolia bloom. Blank. To be written. Yes, we think–at last I’m back to myself. Climb there too. The beautiful street vendors are selling therefores. The... Read more

Courage

Last updated on: June 5, 2013 at 4:14 pm By Lynn Ungar

I expect by now you’ve heard the story: seen the pictures of the people bludgeoned by water cannons, the dog in a gas mask, the sufi dervish whirling in the street with deliberate disregard for the danger of his surroundings. It started simply enough. A group of people decided to sit in to protest a public park being razed in order to put in one more shopping mall. A group of people, young and old, decided that they had had... Read more