Braver/Wiser
Braver/Wiser
Braver/Wiser
Worship
Life is full of hard edges and complicated choices. Braver/Wiser gives you weekly message of courage and compassion for life as it is. Every Wednesday we deliver an original written reflection by a contemporary religious leader, and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism. Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!
-
Even When...
As a hospital chaplain, I often listen to painful stories. We call it compassionate presence, but I may be crying inside. When words fail, I pray and sing.By Yuri Yamamoto | 6/12/2019 -
Honk If You Love
If justice is to be realized, our voices must speak loudly—even boisterously—of love.By Lindasusan Ulrich | 6/5/2019 -
Everyone for Everyone
People of color—and other marginalized people—can’t just want things to be different. It has to be everyone wanting things to be different for everyone.By Rayla D. Mattson | 5/29/2019 -
Feeding Ourselves and Each Other
The stone soup story isn’t about selfish people. It’s about people who thought they were powerless.By Liz James | 5/22/2019 -
Where the Real Growth Happens
When we can gently hold things steady, change comes from within; that’s where the real growth happens.By Alix Klingenberg | 5/15/2019 -
Becoming Ourselves
Who are you going to be, today? And tomorrow? Who are we all becoming, together?By Amanda Poppei | 5/8/2019 -
Indiscriminate Tastes
It's hard to feel gratitude for something when you're focusing on what’s wrong with it.By Kat Liu | 5/1/2019 -
Inviting Our True Attention
I call the tall bush on my back patio “Burning Bush” because in autumn its leaves are a fiery red. All winter long I overlooked three uninhabited nests inside of it. For months and months I could have perceived—but didn’t—what was in plain sight. ...By Karen G. Johnston | 4/24/2019 -
Brilliant Collisions
We can’t always predict which choices will wind up having a huge impact on us, whether it's bringing home a stuffed animal or taking a particular train to Oxford Circus.By Lindasusan Ulrich | 4/17/2019 -
A Different Kind of Peace
Sometimes people show up fully and be with me. And sometimes they cannot, even if they really care about me and want to help.By Misha Sanders | 4/10/2019 -
Try Again Tomorrow
When I internalize cultural messages about the definitions of success or failure—or anything, really—I undermine my own sense of self-worth.By Helen Rose | 4/3/2019 -
Downrange of Mystery
A haircut, a cup of coffee, or just an honest “How are you?” can be transformed into a powerful moment between two people living in a hard world.By Rebekah Savage | 3/27/2019 -
God Manifest
I saw a woman surrounded by the pressures to conform to adulthood, being the adult she always wanted to be when she was a child. She was as God made her, not who everyone else wanted her to be.By Nathan Ryan | 3/20/2019 -
Another Human Miracle
What could you accomplish this week if you knew you had a ground team wishing you well? Who are the other explorers around you, needing a word of encouragement that would mean so much coming from you?By Monica Dobbins | 3/13/2019 -
This Is What We Do Here
Despite being warmly welcomed over and over by the greeters, by the family sitting behind me, and by the lead pastor, I couldn’t shake that “guest” feeling.By Erika A. Hewitt | 3/6/2019 -
Trying Something Different
Over the years, I’ve built up an impressive array of tools for meetings: I-statements, being assertive, and all of that stuff. What I could improve on, though, is knowing when to switch tools.By Liz James | 2/27/2019 -
Your Soul's Address
It is deeply spiritual work to learn to treat ourselves with compassion; to learn to see ourselves, if only in moments, the same way we look at something or someone we find beautiful: a newborn baby, the ocean, a sunset.By Elea Kemler | 2/13/2019 -
Here. Now. You.
Outside of the meditation hall, we plan for the future and think of the past. But so often we replay past regrets and worry about future events to the point where we’re no longer present in the present.By Kat Liu | 2/6/2019 -
Where the Action Is
Love without justice is not love. Compassion without deeds is not compassion. Faith without action is not faith. And religion without politics is not religion. In my view, people of faith are not entitled to avoid politics for the sake of a short-lived spiritual high.By James Gertmenian | 1/30/2019 -
Finding Our Way Out
Surrender is the last thing, often the only thing, available. And so we give ourselves to it. We fear it is our end. Sometimes—with grace or luck—we find it is our liberation.By Karen G. Johnston | 1/23/2019
Pages
Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!
For more information contact braverwiser@uua.org.
