Kick-Off a Great 2016 With the Best of Blue Boat 2015!

By Ted Resnikoff

ALL MY BEST TO YOU AND YOURS

In case you missed some – or all – of our recent social media blast campaign #BBTOP10of15 of the 10 most read stories of 2105 on The Blue Boat, we've compiled the list here: 10. Adulthood – Spiritually Guided

Less than a year ago when we announced that Becoming: A Spiritual Guide for Navigating Adulthood, edited by Kayla Parker, was available for free thanks to generous donors, we were out-of-stock in less than a month! But don't worry – this meditation and reflection manual, crafted with Unitarian Universalist young adults in mind is available – has been republished, and can be purchased at the UUA Bookstore.

9. Hanging On By Their Faith

Despite the record summer heat in Portland, Oregon this year, activists suspended themselves above the Willamette River in an attempt to block Shell Oil drilling operations in the Artic Sea. Unitarian Universalist seminarian Elizabeth Mount put her life on the line in the name of faith and for our earth. Read how this suspenseful story ended.

8. Coming to Terms With My Transracial Adoption

2015 Multicultural Leadership School* alumna Ellie Brown shares her story of transracial adoption, pilgrimage to China hoping to learn about her birth family, and her call to create a campus group students at #VirginiaCommonwealthUniversity supporting adoptees and those who have been through foster care. Read how Ellie's search transformed her life. (*now known as THRIVE)

7. Deeply Religious But Not Church-y

Leading into a well-attended Emerging Ministries workshop at General Assembly 2015, Rev. Annie Gonzalez Milliken wrote a two-part series about Unitarian Universalist(UU) emerging ministries started by UU young adults. Here, in part two, @RevAnnieGM examines UU Young Adults deep desire for religious community and connection even while not necessarily wanting church.

6. Help UU Young Adults Find Each Other!

@RevAnnieGM followed up her exploration of #UU #EmergingMinistries with a reminder that there are better ways of finding Unitarian Universalist young adults in the wild than staring at strangers’ tattoos wondering if it's a chalice or a fiery cup – The Hub Map! Read the story and go the The Hub for young adult Unitarian Universalists.

5. 5 Ways to Support Youth in Your Congregation

@Bart Frost, Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) contributed a six-part series analyzing the surprising results of a survey completed by 351 youth who visited the UUA during the 2014-2015 school year. Looking for ways to support youth in your congregation? Here are 5 surefire ways to grow your youth ministry programs!

4. God is Weeping, Screaming, Holding, Calling

The day after the racially motivated terror attack on parishioners at Emmanuel AME in Charleston, SC, @RevAnnieGM lifted up the grief that we all felt as people of faith, reminding us that God (the Holy, the Divine, Love) calls us build a different world. A world where violence like this shooting, the attack on Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, CO, the terror attack in San Bernadino,CA, and other acts of intolerance no longer happen. It may not be easy, and there will be more grief to suffer, but we are called to it, and we must not give up.

3. Why Unitarian Universalist Youth Ministry Sucks

Jennica Davis-Hockett (@JennicaSDH), Leadership Development Associate for Youth Ministry at the UUA, posted a satirical and purposefully Clickbait view about how UU Youth Ministry is terrible, horrible, and really, really bad. Check it out for the humor, and to learn why it actually really, really matters (and the captions are on point!)

2. Can Unitarian Universalists Really Believe Anything?

.@JennicaSDH followed up her hit take on "why UU Youth Ministry Sucks" with this post declaring that Unitarian Universalists(UU) cannot believe just anything – and that we don't need to believe anything or everything because what we DO believe is pretty darned spot-on for spiritual and temporal guidance. This post struck a chord in about 10,000 readers! Whether you missed it the first time around or not – read it again! Refresh your understanding of UU theology for a fresh start to 2016 today!

1. Spiritual Practices for White Discomfort

.@RevAnnieGM wrote this post – not only the most viewed of 2015, but the most viewed post EVER on The Blue Boat – more than our home page! And it is not a surprise: this post not only strikes a chord, it breaks new ground describing the spiritual work people of different faiths and background can do, to then overcome the injustice which sows division and rends our society – together. Read by more than 15,000 people, re-posted by the United Church of Christ, the Quakers, and EveryDayFeminism, read and share these Spiritual Practices for White Discomfort!