135: Risk is Real with Black Lives of UU
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Leslie MacFadyen and Carlton Smith join The VUU to talk about their Movement for Black Lives Session at GA2016. How do we connect the desire to show up for racial justice with the reality of risk? The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Tom Schade, Aisha Hauser, and Hank Pierce. The VUU airs Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode first aired March 17, 2016.
134: Cheryl Walker and the UUMA
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Rev. Cheryl Walker joins the VUU to talk about the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. The VUU airs on Thursdays at 11 am ET and is hosted by Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Tom Schade, Hank Pierce, Aisha Hauser, and Bob LaVallee. This episode first aired March 10, 2016.
133: Going Forward Together: The UUA Covenanting Task Force
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David Miller and Elizabeth Mount join The VUU to discuss the work of the UUA Covenanting Task Force as they imagine where UU might go if the movement shared a common mission and relationship. The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Tom Schade, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Joanna Fontaine Crawford. It airs on Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode first aired March 3, 2016.
Beautiful and Broken
A mosaic is a kind of artwork that is made by creating a picture out of pieces of pottery. It’s a way that something broken can turn into something beautiful.
One way to play with the idea of a mosaic is to draw an abstract picture, full of color and shapes, but not necessarily of a particular thing like a cat or a robot. Then cut the picture up. Break it on purpose. Then glue the pieces onto a piece of construction paper, leaving just a little gap between each piece.
You will create a new, and maybe surprising, piece of art by taking the original drawing apart and putting it back together in a different form.
Whole, Not Broken
Christopher Reeve had everything going for him. He was handsome and athletic and famous for playing Superman in the movies. He had a lovely family and plenty of money that he’d made as a movie star. Really, things could hardly have been better.
Until he was in a horse bock riding accident that damaged his spine and left him paralyzed below his neck. He couldn’t move his hands or feet, let alone play a superhero who could jump tall buildings in a single bound. He was, in a profound way, broken.
But in many other ways, he was deeply whole. He had a family who loved him and believed in him. And he found in his Unitarian Universalism a reminder that one way we can build wholeness for ourselves is by doing what we can to build wholeness for others.
So Christopher and his wife Dana dedicated themselves to trying to make life better for other people who had spinal cord injuries. They raised money to help people get things they needed like ramps and vans that could carry wheelchairs. And they raised money for research that might help people with spinal cord injuries.
Christopher Reeve eventually died from the complications of living with his injury, but his living taught a lot of people about what can be whole when things get broken.
Did You Know?
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You can keep up with the many online events that the CLF offers through our website calendar. Read more →
The Unbroken
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There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness
out of which blooms the unshatterable. Read more →
Brokenness
March 2016
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. —Ernest Hemingway
Articles
Brave Love
Adorning almost every Protestant church is a cross—inside, outside, over the altar, in the vestibule, in the minister’s office, and sometimes many stories high on top of the building. Read more »
Try to Praise the Mutilated World
What must it have been like for folks living through World War I, 1914–1918? The horror of that war is still something I struggle to understand. Read more »
An Apology
In the January 2015 “Transformation” edition of Quest, I had a sermon titled “Transformation vs. Acceptance.” In that sermon I gave passing mention to Jane Rzepka for the concepts I was writing about. Read more »
Human Feelings of Brokenness
We often feel so alone and isolated in our very human feelings of brokenness. Read more »
Broken
Have you ever come to a place in your life where everything is broken? Not only that, but broken by you? Read more »
Midori and the E Strings
When Midori Goto was three years old her grandmother gave her a 1/16 violin for her birthday. Her mother and grandmother sensed that music was one of her gifts, and they were right. Read more »
From Your Minister
According to some folks, everything wrong in this world is because of one disobedient woman who listened to a snake. She just had to eat that apple, and then everything that was whole became broken. We were all doomed. Read more »
REsources for Living
One of the most important lesson we learn—and try to teach our kids—is that when something goes wrong or breaks, we need to take a deep breath and figure out how to fix it. Read more »
Did You Know?
You can keep up with the many online events that the CLF offers through our website calendar. Read more »
The Unbroken
There is a brokenness out of which comes the unbroken, a shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable. Read more »
Brokenness
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” —Ernest Hemingway Read more »
132: Two Who Dared: The Sharps and the Holocaust
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John Crestwell and Bill Schulz talk with The VUU crew about the upcoming documentary on The Sharps, UUs who helped save thousands of refugees during WWII. The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Tom Schade, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Joanna Fontaine Crawford. It airs on Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode first aired February 25, 2016.
