by Rev Michelle Scott-Huffman Rev. Jan Christian, Congregational Life Staff for the Pacific Western Region of the UUA wrote: “Establishing and maintaining Beloved Community depends on establishing and maintaining covenantal relationships. The covenant is our sacred promise of meaningful relationship, which we mutually develop by inquiring into our deeply held Read more
by Jaimee McGuire Dust of Snow by AJ Fox Our opening words today are Do Not Be Alone Right Now, by Rev Karen G Johnston. Do not be alone right now. Gather together. Gathering together grows courage: in ourselves and in others who see the numbers swelling. It is a Read more
by Rev Michelle Scott-Huffman An exploration of the many ways we practice love, especially those that build Beloved Community. As Love Moves Outward Activity Our Director of Religious Education, AJ Fox, shared this meditation on love as part of the Valentine’s Day service on February 14th, 2021. It was partially Read more
The Beloved Community [is] not a goal or destination, and it was not any kind of idealistic, Christian utopian dream, but instead a way of being – spiritually, politically, economically, emotionally, intellectually. Beloved Community is an attitude, an orientation of the heart; it’s a disciplined understanding of your own relationship to other people, to everyone else on the planet, to every living thing. If you are religious, this is a religious discipline, and it goes by many names. If you are seeking spiritual wholeness, spiritual balance, it is a spiritual discipline. If you are an ethical humanist, it is a deliberate moral stance. It is a daily practice, a spiritual politics, that requires inclusivity, nonviolence, and the hard discipline of radical hospitality. It requires love, agape…
by Michael Rodrigues Jr, Mike Brown, Monica McNeal, and Susanne Bounds Our Chalice Lighting words are from Fulgence Ndagijamana in Lifting Our Voices: Readings in the Living Tradition: When strangers meet, endless possibilities emerge…Each is called to serve something larger than the self.Today, this morning, let’s light the chalice:for opennessesfor Read more
by Rev Michelle Scott-Huffman Our opening words are “It begins now in the imagination” by Rev. Gretchen Haley. It starts hereIn this momentIn this breathYou feel risingIn your chestThis beat building between usThe healing, the hunger, the hopeThe courage, the calling, the commitment The drawing outof a new dayIt begins Read more
Guest speaker, Rob Blevins, shares about the incredibly imaginative process of shifting the Discovery Center’s mission and resources to meet the needs of the community at the onset of COVID and the ways they are continuing to shift to meet newly identified needs. Our opening words today are a celebration Read more
by Rev Michelle Our Opening words today are “There is Room Here for You” by Mary Edes If God is your strength and companionand prayer the means of centering your thoughts,There is room for you here. If the teachings of the Buddha give youclarity and calm in the midst of Read more
by Colleen Appel “Maybe our most important work is to re-imagine imagination,” writes Scott Tayler about this month’s Soul Matters theme. Colleen Appel asked congregants to submit images and six word descriptions about what they imagine for 2021 and pulled them together in this Sunday’s message. View the special slideshow Read more
by Rev Michelle Scott-Huffman A fresh look at the Christmas story in conversation with the traditions that surrounded Jesus of Nazareth at his birth. Our Opening words today are Winter Solstice, by Rebecca Parker Perhapsfor a momentthe typewriters will stop clicking,the wheels stop rollingthe computers desist from computing,and a hush Read more