We Do Not Fear People Whose Stories We Know…

Last updated on: October 22, 2012 at 4:46 pm By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

Back before the Twin Towers fell and the Pentagon was attacked by plane, before there was a US Department of Homeland Security, way back when ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was known as the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service,) – a lifetime ago and yet still less than fifteen years have passed – I served as a Legal Tech for an immigration law firm in Washington, DC. I was a twenty-something white woman, with southern working class roots and a damned fine Midwestern liberal... Read more

Fireworks

Last updated on: October 21, 2012 at 9:21 am By Meg Riley

Truth be told, I don’t feel like writing a blog this morning. I just feel like watching Katy Perry and an 11 year old autistic girl named Jodi DiPiazza perform Perry’s song, “Fireworks,” over and over. Having watched it about eight times now—and forced everyone who has been near my Iphone or computer to do the same these past couple of days—I still get weepy each time and feel as if I’ve seen a glimpse of The Holy. (And yes,... Read more

Love Is the Spirit of This Church

Last updated on: October 18, 2012 at 9:17 am By Evan Keely

“Love is the spirit of this church, and service is its law.” So begins a well-beloved passage adapted from the words of the Rev. James Vila Blake, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Evanston, Illinois. These words are often spoken in the life of our faith. Several of the congregations I’ve served spoke them communally every week as part of their worship. When we say certain words or phrases over and over again, there are several possible effects. One is that... Read more

What Isn’t Said

Last updated on: October 18, 2012 at 12:03 pm By Lynn Ungar

You know what I find most fascinating about this week’s presidential debate? What they didn’t talk about. There was a lengthy back and forth about energy policy and who would drill where and who would get the most oil out of US public lands, but no mention whatsoever about climate change. There was some discussion of clean energy technologies in terms of jobs and economics, but never in terms of the urgent issue of climate. How is it that what... Read more

The Connection of Church and State

Last updated on: October 10, 2012 at 2:12 pm By Lynn Ungar

I am a big fan of the separation of church and state. I do not believe that it is appropriate for the government to privilege any religion, or impose any set of religious beliefs on its citizens. I don’t think that anyone’s religious views should be allowed to determine who may or may not get married. I don’t think that anyone’s religious views should be allowed to determine laws around abortion or access to contraception. I don’t think that we... Read more

Thoughts on Death and Lasagna

Last updated on: October 7, 2012 at 9:05 pm By Meg Riley

Last night, as I lay dozing on the couch, I awakened with a start at 10:30 and jumped up. It was time, I suddenly knew, to make a pan of lasagna for a family where a death was imminent. Right now. Not in the morning, as I had planned. Now. As I went into the kitchen to layer the ingredients into the pan, a sense of peace and well being came over with me. I knew without a doubt that... Read more

Endurance

Last updated on: October 5, 2012 at 7:08 pm By Evan Keely

“The manner in which one endures what must be endured is more important than the thing that must be endured.” Dean Acheson (attrib.) We are accustomed to regard a person’s circumstances when we consider his or her level of suffering. Certainly certain conditions are more conducive to despair than others. Inmates in a concentration camp, survivors of a cataclysmic tsunami or a person trapped in a horribly abusive relationship can hardly be blamed for succumbing to hopelessness and nihilism.... Read more

That’s What Bearing Witness Is…

Last updated on: October 5, 2012 at 8:14 pm By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

Let go of what you know and honor what exists Son, that’s what bearing witness is Daughter, that’s what bearing witness is ~ David Shannon Bazan, Bearing Witness Less than 15 miles away from the city of New Orleans as the crow flies – or 25 miles if you drive along the every curving Mississippi River – there is a parish (county) called Plaquemines. From the town of Braithwaite to White Ditch, water flowed in over top the river levee... Read more

Be Here Later, or Be There Now?

Last updated on: September 29, 2012 at 10:05 pm By Meg Riley

I finally cleaned the back yard the other day, a task I had spent several months avoiding. In fact, in about 90 minutes, I accomplished something that I had actively avoided for at least sixteen hours. I calculate those hours from the time I spent staring out the kitchen window, cursing the mess and myself for not cleaning up the mess. So you might be wondering what finally propelled me to do it? Was it a guest coming, someone I... Read more