REsources for Living
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What is justice? That seems like a reasonable question for a month when justice is our theme. We know that Unitarian Universalists think that justice is important. Read more →
The Resting Place (Excerpt)
Broken Expectations
When I was a kid, my family called me the count. Whenever I was bored, I would count things. I counted all the lights in the sanctuary of my church, all the cars going the other way on the road, and all the birds eating stale bread off our deck. I would occasionally announce to my family, “there are 11 birds out there.” They would smile, look knowingly at each other, and tell me that was nice.
I wonder if my announcements changed them at all. I wonder if it influenced how they saw the single sparrow, when I announced there were 10 just like it fluttering nearby. At the time, I was so excited at my ability to gather this data that I felt compelled to announce it to anyone who happened to be nearby. I never thought about the effect I could have on the people around me by announcing the results of my count.
I am having a spiritual crisis. I am losing my grip on my expectations. At first, I thought my life had become too segregated; I was simply surrounded by too many people like me. But I think the problem is deeper.
Welcoming Color in a World of White
I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Typically it is a very white place. In winter snow’s continually falling all around and piling up everywhere. Wherever I go there’s white faces and white talk.
Minnesotans are a pretty moderate, rule-following people. When you stop at an intersection cars get into fights about who goes last. Minnesota has good parks, fine schools, great bike paths, and lots of co-ops. All in all it’s a pretty nice place.
It’s just so goddamn homogeneous!
Living Faith in the Light of Racism
American racism is still with us—in our minds, hearts, and souls. In every sphere, in every place, in every corner of every role that constitutes who I am, the tentacles of race and racism infiltrates. I am focusing specifically on racism because of a particular class discussion that chipped away at the edges of my soul. But make no mistake; it is certainly not the only “ism” grinding at the edges of our souls. If there is any area in my life where I struggle most to have faith or to live out my faith, it is in the area of racial healing.
My soul feels at times to be a sculpture of sorts. And there have been times when my soul has painfully cracked.
You Are the Light of the World
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“Make of yourself a light,” said the Buddha upon his death. Like Jesus, he knew that he was light, and people were drawn to him. And they both knew, I think, that that was beside the point. Read more →
Hope: The Theology of Despair
Hope and Sorrow
From Your Minister
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According to Joshua Friedman, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago, “All the visible world that we see around us is just the tip of the iceberg.”
An article in Science News Magazine says that 70% of the universe is “a mysterious entity known as dark energy that pervades all of space, pushing it apart at an ever-faster rate.” Read more →
REsources for Living
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Have you seen the musical Into the Woods? It’s a Broadway show in which a variety of storybook characters—Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack (of the Beanstalk), etc.—meet up together in an adventure in the woods, which ends with the kind of happily-ever-after weddings and wealth and long-awaited babies that you expect from the end of a fairy tale.
