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Rev. Eric Cherry joins The VUU to discuss organizing UU engagement with the global refugee crisis. The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley and Joanna Fontaine Crawford and airs on Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode originally aired on September 10, 2015.
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The VUU Team returns from summer vacation to talk with Quo Vadis Breaux and Deanna Vandiver of The Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice Renewal. The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley and Joanna Fontaine Crawford and airs on Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode originally aired on September 3, 2015.
Rev. Rob Eller-Isaacs wrote a ritual of forgiveness for Unitarian Universalists, based on the Jewish Yom Kippur service. In this ritual, everyone repeats: “I forgive myself and I forgive you. We begin again in love.”
When someone hurts us, or we hurt others, the goal is not only that the person who was hurt forgives, we also need to forgive ourselves, and to start over in love. For those times when someone hurts you, or you hurt someone else, you might want to keep this in your pocket: “I forgive myself and I forgive you. We begin again in love.”
September 2015
“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly.”―Henri J.M. Nouwen
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One thing is certain, each one of us will be given opportunity after opportunity to practice forgiveness towards ourselves and others over the course of our lives. Read more →
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That the CLF offers resources on our website for children, families and religious educators? Check out the Family Quest page. Read more →
This month, as we think about forgiveness, we honor Universalist minister Adin Ballou (not to be confused with his earlier Universalist ancestor Hosea Ballou).
Adin Ballou came to believe that his religion called him to practice peace in all things, following the message of Jesus, who said that if someone slaps your cheek, that rather than hitting back it is better to offer your other cheek to be slapped.
Adin founded a community called Hopedale, which was based on these principles of radical peace and non-violence.
One day a man came to Hopedale, hungry and homeless. They offered him food and a place to stay the night. Later that night two young girls heard noises downstairs and went to investigate. They saw feet sticking out from the couch, and a bag full of dishes and candlesticks!
They called their parents down, and quickly determined that the feet belonged to the man they had fed and sheltered. The parents called in their community leader, Adin Ballou, who helped the man out from under the couch. The man explained that he was desperate, with no food or job, and he figured that if he was caught stealing he would be sent to jail, where at least he would be able to eat. Instead of sending the man to jail, Adin not only forgave the man, he even invited the him to join their community, and to make a home with them!
July/August 2015
“In honor of Lorraine Dennis’s 15 years as Executive Director of the CLF, we asked her to choose some favorite pieces to share with us before she retires at the end of the summer. This issue, then, is a special “Lorraine’s Choice” edition.
“Stars,” by Namoli Brennet
Lyrics:
Maybe we’re just one of a million tiny galaxies
Hurtling on towards some unrevealed destiny
Maybe we’re somebody’s unfinished symphony
Maybe we’re the defenders of the indefensible
Just trying to make sense of the incomprehensible
And what if we, what if we are
What if we, what if we are
Stars
Maybe we’re the victims of reincarnation
Maybe we’re the phantoms of manifestation
Maybe we’re just here to fix our mistakes again
Maybe we’re planets like Venus and Saturn
Surrounded by gases and protons and atoms
And what if we, what if we are
What if we, what if we are
Only stars
Maybe this world is just thinner than it seems
Maybe we’re all partners in the same lucid dream, yeah
Well maybe we’re vapors, and maybe we’re just steam
Maybe we’re creatures of habit and malice
That pale in the light of aurora borealis
And what if we, what if we are
What if we, what if we are
Only stars
Only stars
in the dark
just a
spark
Maybe we’re just lucky and blest to bear witness
to the flashing of this meteor, the tale of this comet
Maybe we’re cursed, and maybe we’re fortunate
Maybe we just go on our milky white way
Maybe we get to stay
And what if we, what if we are
What if we, what if we are
Stars
From the album Chrysanthemum, available here for download.
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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.