Courage
March 2011
“What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage!”—The Cowardly Lion
Articles
Spiritual Courage
Many years ago I learned this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay: “The courage that my mother had/ Went with her, and is with her still: Rock from New England quarried;/ Now granite in a granite hill… Read more »
Finding the Blessing
I was standing beside a small mountain waterfall at a Shinto shrine in the mountains outside Nagoya during my first visit to Japan. Read more »
Never Too Late
Bravery is a choice. It is a decision to enter into the fray no matter how illogical and crazy things are. Even as our friends, family and common sense recommend that we stay away. Read more »
From Your Minister
As I have held the idea of courage in my mind, preparing to write this column, I have seen and heard it all around me. Read more »
REsources For Living
Isabel, who is ten years old, gave us permission to share this essay that she wrote on courage, the theme of this month’s Quest. Read more »
Courage
We may never know when we will be asked to prove ourselves or if the next plane trip will test our capacity for heroism. Read more »
Courage
“What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage!”—The Cowardly Lion Read more »
Love
February 2011
“Tell me who you love and I’ll tell you who you are.”—Louisiana Creole Proverb
Articles
Friend
Friend by Kim K. Crawford Harvie, Senior Minister, Arlington Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts Water, shelter, food … and a friend. A friend can save your life. Rev. Dan Kane was cooking, I was washing, and what happened next was definitely my fault, although he says “we” broke it. Drying on the counter was a hand-painted platter that Dan ...Read more »
Standing on the Side of Love
Standing on the Side of Love by Elizabeth Lerner Maclay, Parish Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, Maryland May 28th, 2008 was a beautiful day. Tim and I were away on a scuba diving vacation. We went diving that morning and he seemed especially tender in the boat as we were riding back to shore. I ...Read more »
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places Most of us look for love in only the most obvious places, and as a result, most of us come away disappointed. It’s as if we are still grade school kids, counting valentines as a measure of what matters. The love that matters is not typically the subject ...Read more »
Love First
Love First What we need is a revolution in our values, a revolution that turns our attention more reverently and responsibly to the interdependent, relational character of life. What we need is a spiritual and practical revolution that embodies love for neighbor and for the world through sustaining structures of care and responsibility…. Loving our neighbor implicates ...Read more »
From Your Minister
From Your Minister by Meg Riley Senior Minister, Church Of The Larger Fellowship In a book I read years ago, called The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis describes the ancient Greeks’ understanding of love. I think that there are probably dozens of kinds of love—I have been wishing for a new word just to describe how I feel about ...Read more »
REsources for Living
REsources For Living by Lynn Ungar, Minister For Lifespan Learning, Church Of The Larger Fellowship What with Valentine’s Day being in February, we decided that this issue of Quest should be on the theme of love. It’s a topic with plenty of room for things to say. For instance, back in 1986 Whitney Houston released a song ...Read more »
Love Dogs
Love Dogs by Rumi One night a man was crying, “Allah, Allah!” His lips grew sweet with the praising, until a cynic said, “So! I have heard you calling out, but have you ever gotten any response?” The man had no answer for that. He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep. He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls, in a thick, green ...Read more »
Change
January 2011
“Every intersection in the road of life is the opportunity to make a decision.”—Duke Ellington
Articles
Apple Eyes
Friends, we may not be political analysts or economic experts, but I think this focus on and worry about limits is dominating our own attention and energy, too. And frankly I don’t see us handling it all that well. Or rather, I should say, I don’t see anyone helping us understand what we are caught ...Read more »
Born Again… and Again… and Again
It is fashionable these days to view New Year’s resolutions with cynicism. After all, we know very well that year after year our best intentions go unrealized. Still, I view the whole custom of New Year’s resolutions with sympathy and even with delight. They are an opportunity for us to express our often latent but ...Read more »
The Heat Wave
The facility in which I’m incarcerated is a tightly-packed, poorly maintained, old building, with no air-conditioning in the southern housing units where I’m located. A heat wave lasting over a week with high humidity and triple-digit temperatures causes a degree of suffering, especially for older and ill inmates, that I’m sure would cause a public ...Read more »
From Your Minister
Last summer I was in Ely, Minnesota, a small town at the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, millions of acres of wild land. I was in the combination sporting goods/book store. Standing in line, I could see a sign that said something like, “We think this book is so important that we are ...Read more »
REsources for Living
I think I deserve to be congratulated. For the first time ever, I have actually kept a New Year’s resolution. Yep, from the first of January 2010 right through to January 2011 I have consistently and diligently followed through with my resolution. This, in the face of the fact that hardly anybody ever actually does ...Read more »
Burning the Old Year
Letters swallow themselves in seconds. Notes friends tied to the doorknob, transparent scarlet paper, sizzle like moth wings, marry the air. Read more »
Change
“Every intersection in the road of life is the opportunity to make a decision.”—Duke Ellington Read more »
Spiritual Reflection Posts
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