Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:37 — 5.2MB)
Subscribe: More
Years ago, a therapist told me that people would rather feel absolutely anything besides helplessness. Read more →
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:17 — 1.2MB)
Subscribe: More
To all members of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, Unitarian Universalist Read more →
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:59 — 4.6MB)
Subscribe: More
Many, many years ago I visited the palm reader’s booth at a Renaissance Faire. The palm reader studied my hand for a minute or two, and then pronounced: “You have a lot of creative energy.” Read more →
Podcast: Download (Duration: 0:12 — 192.6KB)
Subscribe: More
…that the CLF has its own talk show? Catch The VUU Thursday mornings on YouTube live, or watch the archived version on YouTube at your convenience. Read more →
Podcast: Download (Duration: 0:51 — 813.1KB)
Subscribe: More
Your house has 1000 rooms.
Every closet, drawer, cupboard,
box and bin opens up
onto another world. Read more →
April 2017
Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous. —Bill Moyers
Podcast: Download (Duration: 55:41 — 51.0MB)
Subscribe: More
Alison Miller is the last of the three candidates for UUA President to join The VUU in March. Throughout our conversation, Alison emphasizes the UUA’s need to invest in growth and to make institutional changes.
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, Michael Tino and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. Tom Schade joins as special host for this week’s episode. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
Many of you who are involved with social media know that over the past few days, a painful conversation has been taking place about the white supremacy which is evident at the national UUA headquarters and indeed throughout our religious movement.
As leaders entrusted with the care of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), we have been witnessing the conversation carefully and wondering what, if anything, we need to say. Ultimately, we feel the need to speak out to our members and friends, and particularly to the people of color who have joined the CLF as a last resort in Unitarian Universalism, after experiencing marginalization or being discounted in bricks and mortar congregations. We do not want you to feel marginalized or discounted at CLF, and yet we harbor no illusions that we are made of different DNA than other historic UU institutions.
And so we’ll say three things: First, we applaud the breaking of silences and the direct communication which is taking place now, particularly by people of color. We know that there is risk in breaking silence, and we see these voices as voices of love. We pray that this moment will provide opportunities and motivation for necessary changes to come in all of the institutions that make up our religious movement, including CLF.
Second, we understand that it is the responsibility of white Unitarian Universalists in all of our institutions to examine our practices and see their impact, to listen without getting stuck in defensiveness as people of color point out where we fail to be conscious in our work, and to keep moving towards justice, knowing that we will do all of this imperfectly.
Third, we witness and grieve the pain that people of color in our movement have carried historically and continue to carry because of the lack of consciousness and courage of white people. Religious institutions should be places of healing and transformation, not one more place to need healing from.
With deep awareness of our own imperfections as individuals and as a congregation, we vow to keep trying, keep listening, keep evolving.
Rev. Meg Riley
Senior Minister
Arif Mamdani
Incoming Board Chair
Podcast: Download (Duration: 55:47 — 51.1MB)
Subscribe: More
Jeanne Pupke joins us as the second of three candidates for UUA President who will be on The VUU in March. Throughout our conversation, Jeanne emphasizes collaboration and active listening as foundational to her leadership style.
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, Michael Tino and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. Tom Schade joins as special host for this week’s episode. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:22 — 52.5MB)
Subscribe: More
Lena K. Gardner and Dr. Takiyah Amin of the Black Lives of UU organizing collective talk about the profound experience at the inaugural BLUU Convening, held March 9-12, 2017 in New Orleans. Learn more about BLUU at http://www.blacklivesuu.com/.
Show notes: Faithify campaign for The UU Global Majorities Collective, a new project by DRUUM (Diverse and Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries)
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, Michael Tino and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
Can you give $5 or more to sustain the ministries of the Church of the Larger Fellowship?
If preferred, you can text amount to give to 84-321
Quest for Meaning is a program of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, the CLF creates global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act.