The mechanics of the Mobius strip are mysterious, but its message clear: whatever is inside us continually flows outward to help form, or deform, the world — and whatever is outside us continually flows inward to help form, or deform, our lives. — Parker Palmer, Quaker educator and spiritual...

Say your truth - kindly, but fully and completely. Live your truth - gently, but totally and consistently. Change your truth easily and quickly when your experience brings you new clarity. — Neale Donald Walsch, author of the series "Conversations with God" In Today's Workshop... We talked about...

A covenanted free church is a body of individuals who have freely made a profoundly simple promise, a covenant: We pledge to walk together in the spirit of mutual love. The spirit of love is alone worthy of our ultimate, our religious loyalty....

It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. — Audre Lorde, writer, poet, and activist In Today's Workshop... We explored issues of identity, tolerance, and intolerance. We learned about the historical and theological...

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. — Nelson Mandela, former South African President, anti-apartheid activist, and advocate of democracy In Today's Workshop... We learned about the historic struggle for...

My religious superstitions gave place to rational ideas based on scientific facts, and in proportion, as I looked at everything from a new standpoint, I grew more and more happy, day by day. — Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 19th century Unitarian suffragist and author of The Woman's Bible In Today's...

I walked through my house in the dark, found my piano, and that was my prayer: May I not drop out. It was not written, but prayed. I knew more than anything that I wanted to continue in faith with the movement. — Carolyn McDade, about the night she wrote "Spirit of Life" In Today's Workshop... We...

In the depths of my soul There where lies the source of my strength, Where the divine and the human meet, There, quiet your mind, quiet, quiet. Outside let lightning reign, Horrible darkness frighten the world. But from the depths of your own soul From that silence will rise again God's flower.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. — 1 John 4:7-8 In Today's Workshop... We explored the Unitarian Universalist theology of love. We did this by first looking at...

Our religious education nurtures both roots and wings; the roots of community and shared values, and the wings of the free mind and creative spirit. — Rev. Pat Hoertdoerfer, "Education for Religion as Relationship" In Today's Workshop......

I was humbled, I was confounded, I saw clearly, that I had been all my life expecting good fruit from corrupt trees, grapes on thorns, and figs on thistles, I suspected myself, I had lost my standing, I was unsettled, perturbed and wretched. — John Murray (founder of American Universalism) on...

To me, migration means movement. There was conflict and struggle. But out of the struggle came a kind of power and even beauty. 'And the migrants kept coming.' is a refrain of triumph over adversity. If it rings true for you today, then it must still strike a chord in our American experience. —...

A poem is never finished, only abandoned. — Paul Valery, French critic and poet DURING TODAY'S SESSION... We reviewed the experiences of the Poetry Slam, fund-raiser, and Choral Reading. We evaluated the overall program. REFLECTION QUESTION: Which poems from the program were your favorites and...

A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits. — Robert Heinlein DURING TODAY'S SESSION... POETRY SLAM! REFLECTION QUESTION: How does your experience with the Poetry Slam compare to other performances of which you have been a part? EXPLORE THE TOPICS FURTHER WITH FAMILY AND...

A goal without a plan is just a wish. — Antoine de Saint-Exupery DURING TODAY'S WORKSHOP... We continued planning for the Poetry Slam. What I need to do before our next meeting is ____________________________. What I need to bring to our next meeting is _____________________________. REFLECTION...

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe DURING TODAY’S WORKSHOP… We discussed the difference between reading poetry and hearing it. We started our...

Well, that's the trick: the sudden unexpectedness inside the overknown. — Heather McHugh DURING TODAY’S WORKSHOP… We discussed how our lives are balanced between the individual self and the self in community.. We created recipe cards that attempt to describe our complex lives. REFLECTION...

Identity would seem to be the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self, in which case, it is best that the garment be loose, a little like the robes of the desert, through which one's nakedness can always be felt, and, sometimes, discerned. — James Arthur Baldwin DURING TODAY'S...

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark. Rabindranath Tagore DURING TODAY'S WORKSHOP... We discussed Dorothy's journey in The Wizard of Oz and its analogy to a spiritual quest....

The gods, too, are fond of a joke. — Edward Albee, from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf DURING TODAY'S WORKSHOP... We read humorous poems and played a game based on apple allusions. We heard UU jokes and thought about the roles stereotypes and put-downs play in humor. We also asked ourselves what...