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What do you think of when you hear the word grace? Maybe a dancer who moves with elegance and ease, the picture of smooth and graceful motion. Read more →
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That the CLF hosts a weekly chat show called The VUU? Read more →
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It was my good fortune to grow up in the midst of human graciousness. I am reminded of my father, whose practice when visiting Mexico was to patronize street vendors and bargain up. Read more →
Hosea Ballou was born in 1771, and grew up in a Baptist family who believed that people were sinful, and should live in fear of a punishing God.
But when he was a teenager, Hosea started questioning the beliefs he was raised with. If God loves us, why would God want to punish us?
If God is like a father to us, what father would want his children to be punished for all eternity?
Hosea became a Universalist, and preached the good news that what God wants is for us to be happy, and to build our happiness through being kind to others.
When someone asked Ballou how God could show such grace even to people who were bad, he responded by asking: If your child falls down and gets all filthy, and you wash them and get them clean clothes, do you love your child because they are now clean, or did you clean your child because you love them?
Hosea, and Universalists to come after him, believed in a God of grace who loves everyone just as they are.
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An overachiever’s high-stress lifestyle was causing a whole complex of stress-related issues: migraines, backaches, heart palpitations, and climbing blood pressure. Alarmed, her doctor told her she needed to slow down and learn to relax. Read more →
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My youngest sister Beth was very talented physically. When she was seven she could roller skate across the basement, up the stairs, down the steep driveway and the steeper hill of the road with perfect balance and grace. But she was very shy. Read more →
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If you enjoy the ways in which Monthly Quest gets you thinking, come join the conversation on Facebook—search for the CLF Quest Monthly Theme Discussion Group. Read more →
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It’s no secret that the CLF is willing to try new things and risk mistakes to reach more people with a Unitarian Universalist message of hope, love, and justice. Read more →
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Each day I am newly reminded of my unworthiness: a dozen thoughts misspoken; another day when the good I do falls so far short of the good that I could do; myriad small interchanges, moments of sharing that strain to the breaking point my desire to be generous, helpful, and kind; months of careful work lost by a moment’s impatience, a careless word. Read more →
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The reason I’ve been able to
produce so much
is that I’m not a perfectionist—
I’m an imperfectionist. Read more →
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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.