Radical Hospitality
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Read more →Be grateful for whatever comes,because each has been sent as a guide from beyond. —Rumi
From Your Minister
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One of my favorite books as a kid was The Boxcar Children, in which four siblings, whose parents were simply and completely absent, took care of themselves and each other. Read more →
REsources for Living
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I admit it. I am a total flirt when it comes to babies and toddlers. I love coaxing a smile from the baby in front of me in a grocery line. Read more →
The CLF Invites GA Delegates
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Would you like to represent the CLF at General Assembly (GA)? The CLF is entitled to 22 delegates at the UUA’s General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, June 22-26, 2016. Read more →
Did You Know?
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…that you can find resources for UU families on the CLF Family Quest page. Read more →
Hospitality
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Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Read more →
Hospitality
February 2016
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. —Hebrews 13:2
Articles
The Fragile Art of Hospitality
Mechthild of Magdeburg, a thirteenth-century mystic, once asked, “How shall we live?” Her answer provides a mantra of hospitality: “Be welcoming to all.” Read more »
Called to Hospitality
What does it mean to a Unitarian Universalist to be called to hospitality? And what or who is calling us? Read more »
Welcoming What We Do Not Want
It was a sunny spring day, and I was getting into my car in a sprawling parking lot when the phone rang. Read more »
Radical Hospitality
It is hard to invite in all that comes, especially when it’s sickness, disability, or death. Read more »
From Your Minister
One of my favorite books as a kid was The Boxcar Children, in which four siblings, whose parents were simply and completely absent, took care of themselves and each other. Read more »
REsources for Living
I admit it. I am a total flirt when it comes to babies and toddlers. I love coaxing a smile from the baby in front of me in a grocery line. Read more »
The CLF Invites GA Delegates
Would you like to represent the CLF at General Assembly (GA)? The CLF is entitled to 22 delegates at the UUA’s General Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, June 22-26, 2016. Read more »
Did You Know?
Did you know that you can find resources for UU families on the CLF Family Quest page. Read more »
Hospitality
Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Read more »
Hospitality
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” —Hebrews 13:2 Read more »
Wishing for Something New
Many people make resolutions for the New Year of things that they plan to do differently. And many people break those resolutions before the week is out because they didn’t really want to make those changes to begin with. So it helps to start with a resolution that you DO want, not that you think you SHOULD want.
What is one thing that you really, really hope is part of your year to come? Write it down and put it in a jacket pocket. Now you have the year to figure out how to make your wish come true.
An Unexpected Second Chance
John Murray was a Universalist who certainly took starting fresh to heart. Tragedy struck for Murray when his wife and young son died, and then he was put in jail because he was unable to pay his bills.
“A Dutch Ship Running on to a Rocky Coast” Matthieu van Plattenberg
In 1770 he felt able to make a totally fresh start, so he got on a ship and headed for the New World, North America. Unfortunately, the ship got stuck just off the shore of New Jersey, when they were trying to get to New York.
But Murray agreed to go on shore and try to find directions and supplies. He ended up on the doorstep of a man named Thomas Potter, who greeted him as the Universalist preacher that Potter had been waiting for!
Well, Murray didn’t have plans to be a Universalist preacher—that wasn’t the fresh start he had in mind. He wanted to go on to New York. But he agreed that if they didn’t get the wind the boat needed to sail on, that he would preach on Sunday about Universalism’s message of an absolutely loving God.
Well the wind didn’t pick up, and Murray did preach, and he ended up making a fresh start by marrying Potter’s daughter and becoming a traveling preacher, spreading the good news of God’s love all over New England.
