From Your Minister
Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:29 — 5.9MB)
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When I was a kid, it seemed like magic. My mother would take a piece of fabric and somehow bewitch it, so that it became a shirt, or a pair of shorts, or a dress for me to wear. Read more →
From Your Minister
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Years ago, I directed the UUA’s Washington Office. It was a challenging time in U.S. history, marked by the passage of the civil-rights-denying Patriot Act, pompous patriotic righteousness about the need to attack Iraq, support for fundamentalist Christian-style “family values,” and endless attacks on vulnerable communities. Read more →
From Your Minister
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When my child Jie was 4, we were waiting in line at the post office behind a very dark-skinned man who wore a kufi cap, tunic and pants of a colorful African fabric featuring oranges, yellows and reds. My child looked up at him in wonder. “You’re beautiful!” Jie declared. Read more →
From Your Minister
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I love poking around and discovering old words which are new to me. One word that surfaced from my reflections on freedom is the Old English frith, which is related to the words for both friend and free. Read more →
From Your Minister
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Through the years I have heard people use the word miracle to describe things that I would assign other names: good luck, good medicine, pure chance, hard work. Overall, I’m with the everything is a miracle camp, one of those people who use the word often and mean it.
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Changing Perspectives
Weekly Message from Meg
Living Life as a Blessing
Weekly Message from Meg
A Place for Exploration
Weekly Message from Meg
I hope you know how much I love ministry with the CLF, and how blessed I feel every single day to have been passed this leadership mantle. As minister emerita Jane Rzepka said to me early on, “CLF is a great sandbox to play in!”
One of the aspects of CLF I love the most is that we are a learning environment, constantly taking in new information and experiences to shape how we might do ministry. Every time I read a new book about management or transformational change, I think, HEY! WE DO THAT! I mean our agility, our attention to mission more than tactics, our willingness to try experiments, even knowing they might fail.
Our learning fellows are absolutely central to creating this learning environment. They arrive from many places and stages of life, with dreams and longings for ministry that defy convention. Some are seminarians seeking ordination, others are living their calls in other ways. In this time when conventional congregations are struggling to remain relevant, they imagine new ways to reach out with the saving message of Unitarian Universalism. As I listen to the testimonies they’ve been sharing these last few weeks about their time at CLF, I hear over and over their gratitude to have had a setting where they could lift up their vision of ministry with support, and without fear of judgment.
You’ve probably noticed that we’ve been asking you money for the learning fellows program. You may have also noticed that the number of learning fellows we have with us varies greatly from year to year. All of that is determined by funding! If you value the diverse voices and visions that come through for a year or two and provide creative leadership, I hope you’ll make a donation of any size to help us out!
From Your Minister
Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:20 — 5.8MB)
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I’ve attended ceremonies in a number of religious communities to welcome in new babies. Read more →
From Your Minister
Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:50 — 6.3MB)
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I have described in earlier columns the deep and abiding joy I felt when I began to read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass. Read more →
