I have found that many Unitarian Universalist parents are very proud of how open and honest they are when they talk to their children. However, the eagerness for clear and explicit conversation comes to a screeching halt with regard to race....

by Rev. Annie Gonzalez Milliken “Where have you been all my life?” and “You were here all my life, now where are you?” are two common questions I hear asked about Unitarian Universalism. The first is asked by adult seekers who wish they’d found us sooner. The second is asked by people...

By Rev. Marti Keller Memoirist Deborah Feldman, who walked away from her Hasidic upbringing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a young adult, went on a sojourn to discover herself as a Jewish person now that she had rejected her ultra-Orthodox roots....

By Judith A. Frediani [Editors' note: Reverend Dr. Roberta (Bobbie) Nelson died on January 2, 2015.] In 1997, the UUA’s pioneering sexuality education program, About Your Sexuality (AYS), was under attack on national television. The CBS network had obtained a copy of AYS’s explicit filmstrips.

Addiction touches many Unitarian Universalist families, congregations, and communities. We know the pain addiction can cause, not only for an individual, but for those around them. We have seen the tenacity required to sustain recovery. Many of us have heard—or discovered for ourselves—that 12...

I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men. The 19th-century carol "Christmas Bells," Hymn 240 in Singing the Living Tradition, speaks to us across the ages about the longing for peace and justice in a...

By Melanie Davis In the October 5, 2014 New York Times article, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/sunday-review/we-want-privacy-but-can… Want Privacy but Can't Stop Sharing, Kate Murphy writes, "The problem is that if you reveal everything about yourself or it's discoverable with a Google search,...

By Melanie Davis The newly released second edition of Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education for Grades 7-9 is now available from the Unitarian Universalist Association Bookstore. Like the first edition, this sexuality curriculum is comprehensive, inclusive, and justice-oriented....

I remember my 25th birthday—a quarter of a century! It felt like a major accomplishment. It has been just as significant celebrating each of my daughters’ 25th birthdays, with pride in them both and accompanying gratitude. Somehow a 25th birthday feels like a really special...

A couple of decades ago, many of our Unitarian Universalist congregations celebrated a Thanksgiving “seder,” a ritual patterned after the Jewish Passover seder. In my congregation, we retold the story of the “First Thanksgiving.” Tables were decorated with white cloth, bittersweet, and...

[Editors' note: Through the Renaissance program, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) offers continuing education for UU religious educators, including musicians, ministers, seminarians, and lay leaders. Each 15-hour module provides basic training in a topic area useful in...

I love movies. Correction: I LOVE movies! I watch them on cable. I watch them on Netflix – streaming and DVD rental. Through my desktop, tablet and Wii (but not on the phone – you’ve got to draw a line somewhere!). I love to watch them best in a theatre, eating popcorn, surrounded by other...

By Alicia LeBlanc “I will try my best to be…” -- Religion in Life for Girl Scouts (4th edition) Do you advise Girl Scouts in your congregation? Were you a Girl Scout in your youth? If you’re a young person reading this, are you a Girl Scout? If you’re not… maybe you’d like to be! The...

[Editor's Update, Nov. 18, 2014—As the nation awaits a Grand Jury decision on whether Office Darren Wilson will be indicted for shooting Michael Brown, many UUs are preparing to respond to the decision by "showing up" in a faithful way. The Ferguson Response Team of the UU New England districts...

By Liz Strong [Editors' note: http://uuma.site-ym.com/blogpost/569858/196949/In-Memory-of----Eugene-B… Rev....

Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education for Grades 7–9 is the most-used and much appreciated of all of the OWL curricula. This outline gives a detailed window into what is covered.

By Kari Kopnick For seven years I served as the religious educator for a wonderful Unitarian Universalist congregation in West Seattle, Washington. During my early years there we would trek down to the rocky beaches of Puget Sound for an annual “Solstice by the Shore” celebration. We would...

The selection committee met this summer. We thoughtfully considered the 14 books nominated for the 2014-15 Common Read. There were beautifully written books that addressed social justice issues—immigration, voting rights, racial justice, and climate change—and several that looked at ways to...

No one knows better than religious educators that we are stronger together than we ever could be alone. Time and time again, you prove this to me, my colleagues -- most recently at RE Week at The Mountain. Six days in the company of religious educators, ministers, RE and worship committee...