Beauty
June 2018
You are imperfect; permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful. ―Amy Bloom
Articles
Beauty as Well as Bread
For many years, I spent most Monday evenings in the basement of All Souls Church in New York City, where their fellowship hall, nicknamed “Friendship Hall,” was transformed into a dining room for over 300 guests. Read more »
Loving Ugly
Have you ever been worshipped? I’m not talking about the “bring offerings to an altar built in your name” kind of worship—although if you do happen to have offerings of chocolate, I’m open. Read more »
Inner Beauty
I entered prison in 1989 and did not care about beauty. I hadn’t for many years. I did not seek it, didn’t even pay attention to it. Read more »
Do You Find Beauty
Do you find beauty—even inspiration—in the words that you find in Quest each month? Read more »
From Your Minister
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 »
REsources for Living
The saying goes that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” What is beautiful to one person might very well do nothing for another. Read more »
Audio Recordings
You can listen to audio recordings of Quest Monthly, read back issues or get electronic versions of the text to share with friends (and much more) at questformeaning.org Read more »
Aching Beauty
What to do with beauty? or joy, for that matter— in the midst of tragedy, of violence, of cruelty? Read more »
Beauty
You are imperfect; permanently and inevitably flawed. And you are beautiful. ―Amy Bloom Read more »
Freedom
May 2018
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. ―Audre Lorde
Articles
Freedom From. Freedom To
Every spring at Stonewall Farm in Keene, New Hampshire—and at other dairy farms throughout northern New England—there’s a festival to celebrate the season. Read more »
Free and Responsible
Free and responsible. I would venture to say that freedom is the most cherished religious value for Unitarian Universalists. Read more »
Freedom of Association
One of the gifts of a free society is that of freedom of association—we choose how we will come together, and to what ends. Read more »
Free on the Inside
What is freedom? Is it an ideal, concept or right? Why are there so many people who are locked up inside themselves? Read more »
From Your Minister
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 »
REsources for Living
You don’t have to spend very long on social media before it becomes clear that while everyone is in favor of freedom and responsibility, people mean very different things by those words. Read more »
Did You Know?
You can listen to audio recordings of Quest Monthly, read back issues or get electronic versions of the text to share with friends (and much more) at questformeaning.org Read more »
Freedom
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. ―Audre Lorde Read more »
Miracles
April 2018
A miracle is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. —Frederick Buechner
Articles
God, Jesus and the Tooth Fairy
My first conversation with my granddaughter Phoenix regarding the tooth fairy happened in a larger conversation about religion in general. Read more »
Notice of Annual Meeting
Per Article VII, Sections 1 and 2, of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) Bylaws, the 45th Annual Meeting will be held via video/telephone conference call and screen sharing on June 11, 2018 at 8:00pm ET. Read more »
The Miracle of Life
The miracle that I would like to share is the miracle of life, and what it means to me to be truly alive. Read more »
A UU View of Miracles
I have several dozen books about Unitarian Universalism in my home office. I looked through them all, and only three have any kind of entry in their index or table of contents for “miracles.” Read more »
Ordinary Miracles
I love a magic show, because the magician appears to do the impossible. But I also know that they deal in illusion and use specially-designed props. Read more »
From Your Minister
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. Read more »
REsources for Living
I’ve always loved the line from Alice Through the Looking Glass in which the Red Queen declares, “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” Read more »
Our Own Miracles
Sometimes we make our own miracles. Consider, for example, the existence of the CLF, a church without walls, available around the world, at any hour of the night or day, to anyone who comes seeking connection, compassion and spiritual growth. Read more »
Did You Know?
You can listen to audio recordings of Quest Monthly, read back issues or get electronic versions of the text to share with friends (and much more) at Quest for Meaning. Read more »
Miracles
A miracle is when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. —Frederick Buechner Read more »
Evil
March 2018
The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. -Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn
Articles
The Spiritual Force to Combat Evil
It was six years into my time at a previous settlement that it happened. I’d fallen in love with the congregation, with its can-do attitude, its involvement in the community, its history of justice work and its music. Read more »
On the Origin and Nature of Good and Evil
We human beings are shaped and molded by the stories we tell one another, including those we tell our children. Read more »
Overcoming Evil
I have always loved houses of worship, even when I was “unchurched,” so when I learned that the fourth largest Christian church in the world—the Cathedral of St. John the Divine—was in New York City, of course I had to visit. Read more »
From Your Minister
I’ve attended ceremonies in a number of religious communities to welcome in new babies. Read more »
REsources for Living
Not so terribly long ago the U.S. was shocked and horrified when a man used multiple high-powered rifles and vast quantities of ammunition to shoot out of his hotel window at the crowd below as they attended a country music festival. Read more »
CLF Helps Members
Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other. —Eric Burdon Read more »
Did You Know?
You can listen to audio recordings of Quest Monthly, read back issues or get electronic versions of the text to share with friends (and much more) at www.questformeaning.org Read more »
The Individual Who…
The individual who wishes to have an answer to the problem of evil has need, first and foremost, of self-knowledge—that is, in the utmost possible knowledge of their own wholeness. Read more »
Evil
The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. —Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn Read more »
Earth
February 2018
There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. —Marshall McLuhan
Articles
Noah’s Ark
Those of you who went to Sunday school or Hebrew school when you were kids may have happy images in your head of Noah and the Ark… Read more »
To Praise the Earth
We gather to praise the Earth, to honor the soil, the sea, the swimmers and crawlers, the four-leggeds and the winged ones… Read more »
Dear Mother Earth
Dear Mother Earth, You are the great Earth, you are Terra, you are Gaia; you are this infinitely beautiful blue planet. Read more »
I am a Denizen of the Earth
On Christmas Day, 1832, Ralph Waldo Emerson, newly resigned from the burdensome constraints of ministry, rather impulsively boarded a freighter bound for Malta. He had declared in writing: “I will not see with others’ eyes…. I would be free.” Read more »
Strives to Inspire
The CLF strives to inspire all to embrace the power of purpose and love here on earth. Read more »
A Sacred Act
How do we live in honorable relationship with the other beings who share our planet? Read more »
The Way Your Dog Lies Down
Lie down on the grass with your dog the way your dog lies down… Read more »
The CLF Invites GA Delegates
Would you like to represent the Church of the Larger Fellowship at General Assembly (GA) this summer? Read more »
From Your Minister
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 »
REsources for Living
It is, I strongly believe, well worth it to make a direct, intensive study of earth-centered spirituality. Read more »
Did You Know?
That you can participate in CLF worship live on Sundays at 8pm Eastern, or archived anytime? Read more »
From dust thou art, and to dust returneth.
I’ve never been quite comfortable with the dryness of this expression. Read more »
Resistance
January 2018
Whenever you see a board up with “Trespassers will be prosecuted,” trespass at once. —Virginia Woolf
Articles
Awake in the Dark
I have been lying awake in the dark a lot lately. I lie there, really hoping to go back to sleep, wishing there was some way to forget what I know. But the darkness keeps calling me. Read more »
Resistors and Capacitors
Our CLF community around the world is full of “resistors” and “capacitors”: people committed to resisting injustice and people committed to increasing the capacity of individuals and communities to respond with compassion and love in a difficult world. Read more »
Disobeying Herod
While we tend to think of the Three Wise Men as part of the Christmas story, Epiphany—a holiday honoring the visitation of the Magi—is celebrated in January. Read more »
Resistance as Prophecy
One of the most powerful images I have encountered to describe the symbolic location of the prophet is Richard Rohr’s concept of living on the outside edge of the inside. Read more »
From Your Minister
There are many ways to resist. Some folks are in the streets or other strategic places, engaged in direct actions to shut down oppressive systems, and that kind of resistance is getting a lot of attention these days—for good reason! Read more »
REsources for Living
One of the important ways of understanding this month’s theme of resistance is in terms of resisting injustice, or fighting back against the powers of evil, like the Resistance in the Star Wars movies. Read more »
Did You Know
…that you can read blog posts from our ministers Meg and Lynn, as well as other UUs, on our website at www.clfuu.org? Read more »
When Resistance is Futile
The term resistance is a highly charged word for any prisoner. Read more »
Resistance
Whenever you see a board up with “Trespassers will be prosecuted,” trespass at once. —Virginia Woolf Read more »
Giving and Receiving
December 2017
The essence of [a] gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. —Robin Wall Kimmerer
Articles
The Master Plan
I know the master plan of the universe. Really, I do! I did not figure it out all by myself. Read more »
Giving and Receiving
In this season of giving and receiving, we hope that you feel that you have received something substantial from the CLF. Read more »
The Gift is in the Asking
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been visiting with someone, sitting down with them in their home or at their bedside, and after a while they say to me: I didn’t want to admit that I needed help. Read more »
Generosity First
In Thailand, children’s first exposure to Buddhism—after they’ve learned the gesture of respect—is in giving. Read more »
From Your Minister
When I was in third grade, I found the perfect present for Mrs. Graham, my favorite elementary school teacher. Read more »
REsources for Living
Christmas is the time of giving, of generosity and welcome. And Santa Claus embodies all of our hopes and expectations around receiving and abundance. Or does he? Read more »
Did You Know?
That the CLF’s Worthy Now website offers education and opportunities for those involved in prison ministry? Read more »
Giving and Receiving
The essence of gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. —Robin Wall Kimmerer Read more »
Blessing
November 2017
You were not just blessed for yourself, you were blessed to be a blessing to others. ―Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
Articles
To Be a Blessing
I love my job. I love driving to the hospital each morning, having no idea of what will happen that day—who I’ll meet, what I’ll do, whether there will be triumphs or tragedies, joy or heartbreak, setbacks, small signs of progress or holding patterns. Read more »
Bless One Another
What does it mean to bless one another? Is it an invitation to the divine? Is it an expression of good wishes? Read more »
A Father’s Blessing
I have not forgotten—nor will I forget until all memory fades—the day, the moment, in which my father and I parted. Read more »
Calling on Wholeness
I decided early on in my work as a minister that if someone asked me to bless something, I would say yes whenever humanly possible. Read more »
From Your Minister
Blessings exist independently of time, in the land of the eternal. I know this most concretely in my garden. Read more »
Nominating Committee Seeks Leaders
The CLF’s Nominating Committee seeks members to run for positions beginning June 2018. Read more »
REsources for Living
Lots of people, UU and otherwise, say a blessing before eating together. And for Thanksgiving it’s even more common. Read more »
Did You Know?
That the CLF’s Worthy Now website offers education and opportunities for those involved in prison ministry? Read more »
Buddy
She arrived early Monday morning: homeless, forlorn-looking, carried by the maintenance worker who had found her. Read more »
Blessing
You were not just blessed for yourself, you were blessed to be a blessing to others. ―Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha Read more »
Vulnerability
October 2017
We are at our most powerful the moment we no longer need to be powerful. ―Eric Micha’el Leventhal
Articles
Sacred Vulnerability
Vulnerability is the core of all emotions and feelings. To feel is to be vulnerable. Read more »
Sustenance During Vulnerability
One of the things that can sustain us in our moments of greatest vulnerability is belonging to a community that we can trust to support us and give us the spiritual resources to continue on. Read more »
The Shadow Side of Vulnerability
During a sabbatical in the UK a few years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting a British Unitarian minister named Jane at a ministers’ retreat. I liked her instantly. Read more »
The Difficult Gifts of Vulnerability
I’m a grown man. I’m doing time for the second time around in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In other words, I’m not new to this thing. Read more »
A Hazardous Country
I like the comfort I find when I’m able to be vulnerable. That comfortable space, though, is not easy to find, and from within a prison it may not be the best thing to be vulnerable. Read more »
From Your Minister
Who are the most vulnerable people you know—both individually and because they hold identities which are marginalized and dismissed by powers and principalities? Read more »
REsources for Living
What do you choose to do even though it makes you feel vulnerable? Do you speak up in class or in a meeting? How about if you’re not entirely sure you have the right answer? Read more »
Inhabiting Vulnerability
Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition, or something we can arrange to do without; vulnerability is not a choice. Read more »
Vulnerability
October 2017 edition of Quest Monthly – We are at our most powerful the moment we no longer need to be powerful. ―Eric Micha’el Leventhal Read more »
Resilience
September 2017
If your heart is broken, make art with the pieces. ―Shane L. Koyczan
Articles
Riding the Waves
Ten adults face a layoff, a messy divorce, a big mistake, serious health problems, etc. You know, all the stuff of life that launches any of us into unwelcome, uncomfortable, inevitable change. Read more »
A Community of Support
One of the elements that creates resilience in our lives is knowing that we can count on a community that will both support us throughout our spiritual journey and call us toward a vision of who we can become. Read more »
Resilience as a Spiritual Strength
One thing I’ve learned about the word “resilience” is that it initially came from the field of metallurgy, describing how certain metals when heated will lose their shape, but when cooled can amazingly recover their original form, resiliently. Read more »
Stronger in the Broken Places
A famous rabbi once said the truth will set you free. Trouble is, the truth is truth, whether we like it or not. The truth is that we will all break in this life. That’s how we learn to recover. Read more »
Observations at Southwest Atlanta Nature Preserves
Stunning in their endurance, despite chain saws and sewage spills, mounds of old tires, garbage, plastic bottles that blanket creek banks… Read more »
From Your Minister
Times that are hard require more spiritual practice for me. This past year, I’ve been hard at work strengthening my spiritual systems to create more resilience. For me, stronger resilience requires building flexibility, love, agility, and willingness. Read more »
REsources for Living
You know those little, colorful, ultra-bouncy Super Balls? That’s what comes to mind when I think of the word “resilience.” People and other beings who are resilient bounce back when they get dropped. Read more »
Did You Know?
…that congregations and individuals are welcome to share material from Quest Monthly, provided credit is given? Read more »
I Began to Ask Each Time
I began to ask each time: “What’s the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?” Read more »
Spiritual Reflection Posts
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