Displaying 1 - 17 of 17
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This is my favorite thing about seaweed: it feels so much like my neurodiverse brain.Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 20, 2024 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Acceptance, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Honesty, Imagination, Nature, Personal Stories, Self-Care, Worship -
We need to summon the courage to cross the bridge...Reading | By Danya Ruttenberg | November 15, 2023 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Blame, Courage, Forgiveness, Judaism, Personal Stories, Relationships, Responsibility, Trust, WorshipWeb, Worship -
Self-compassion was one of the best gifts I gave myself.Reflection | By DanaLee Simon | September 6, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Acceptance, Change, Earth, Healing, Nature, Patience, Personal Stories, Self-Respect, Stewardship, Worship -
When we become fully aware of our limited time on earth we can still leave behind flowers and songs.Reflection | By Tania Márquez | May 17, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Beauty, Death, Indigenous American, International, Personal Stories, Worship -
Dear Creative Life Force, the infinite healing power of creativity is the best gift you've given to us.Reflection | By Erica Shadowsong | September 15, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Creativity, Direct Experience, Family, Identity, Personal Stories, Self-Respect, Worship -
People move places for jobs, relations, opportunities, escape, hindering our ability to put down new roots. And yet, we carry a constancy: the still, quiet voice within.Reflection | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | June 6, 2018 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Change, Choice, Connections, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Home, Humanism, Nature, Personal Stories, Searching, Secular, Wonder -
This Lamentation is for two voices: one white, and one person of color/indigenous (POCI). Both voices invite people to repeat a refrain several times: white voices say, “So much has been lost,” and voices of color say, “Beloved, you must not be defensive when you hear our hurt.” The latter,...Responsive Reading | By Erika Hewitt, Rebekah Savage | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Grief, History, Humanism, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
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Diverse. Multicultural. Inclusive. Welcoming. If I made a list of every single Unitarian Universalist congregation I have served, visited or worshipped at, they would have a few things in common—including the use of these words. Perhaps on the front of the Order of Service?...Reading | By Carol Thomas Cissel | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Health, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism -
Joy Unspeakable is not silent, it moans, hums, and bends to the rhythm of a dancing universe…. For our free African ancestors, joy unspeakable is drum talk… For enslaved Africans during the Middle Passage, joy unspeakable is the surprise of living one more day… For Africans in bondage in the...Reading | By Kimberly Quinn Johnson | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Community, Direct Experience, Joy, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Spiritual Practice, Unitarian Universalism -
When I started attending a UU church, I was excited by the promise of worship that would draw from the arts, science, nature, literature and a multitude of voices. Indeed, some of the voices that Unitarian Universalists hear in worship each week belong to Thoreau, Emerson, Ballou, and others....Reading | By Connie Simon | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Direct Experience, Identity, Inclusion, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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“Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.” —Alice Walker I had finally begun to relax—a bit. We were en route to Pennsylvania. My friend, a formal part of our “framily,” was visiting. We decided a visit to a crayon factory was the perfect winter outing for toddlers. The day was clear...Reflection | By Robin Tanner | March 1, 2017 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Atheism, Conflict, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Faith, Humanism, Humility, Personal Stories, Searching, Secular, Wisdom -
An awakening passed through the whole theatre, and as if touched by some invisible hand, the people stood, clapped, shouted with joy, laughed, and wept… It was blessed to be connected to—no, to be a part of a community—a people. —Volker Kühn, in his essay about a cabaret performance during...Reflection | By Sean Parker Dennison | December 14, 2016 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Arts & Music, Community, History, Personal Stories, Power, Responsibility, Self-Respect, Suffering, Tradition -
Don’t speak to me of “healing” racism, or “wounded souls” or the “painful hurt” until you are willing to feel the scars on my great-great-grandmother Laury’s back. Don’t speak to me of “values” or “justice” or “righting wrongs” until you are able to feel the heartache...Reading | By Adam Lawrence Dyer | May 17, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Direct Experience, Healing, Identity, Justice, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Secular, Shame -
One of the potential spiritual lessons of sports comes in its ability to connect people—to each other as well as to a team of strangers. Not too long ago, I was in a workshop in which we were discussing “peak experiences,” those mystical, transcendent experiences of what Abraham Maslow would...Reading | By Michael J. Tino | April 5, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Awe, Connections, Direct Experience, Personal Stories, Playfulness, Secular, Teamwork, Unity, Wonder -
Dear Liberal Allies, You and I learned very different things in very different ways. If you didn’t live an experience, then step aside. We students of color, gay students, trans* students, children of immigrants and refugees knew this stuff before our professors told us what to call it....Reading | By Trungles | March 30, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Growth, Identity, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Multiculturalism, Personal Stories, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, Suffering
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At age twenty, I had the fortune of traveling the world. Through a study abroad program, I journeyed to awe-inspiring destinations like India, Cuba, and South Africa. In the process, I witnessed extreme poverty, global wealth, power disparity, and the effects of war and militarism—all while...Reading | By Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: America, Change, Direct Experience, Globalism, Living Our Faith, Personal Stories, Privilege, Transformation, Young Adults -
The first time my heart felt broken, I went to church. When my mom died, I went to church. When I failed a class, I went to church. When I failed a friend, I went to church. When I felt like I’d failed at life, I went to church. I didn’t go asking for forgiveness. I didn’t go asking for...Reading | By Kenny Wiley | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Death, God, Individualism, Mothers, Personal Stories, Relationships