Recently, I gathered around our dining room table with my daughter and her 7-year-old to play a game of Right, Left, and Center. It’s a portable game involving dice and chips that get shifted to the right, left, or into a center pot. As bedtime neared, we packed the dice into their box and my...

Maybe you’ve heard the inspirational story about the starfish. It’s often told as a celebration of a young child’s hope triumphing over a curmudgeonly elder’s resignation to the inevitability of encroaching doom. But taking those signifiers out of the story, and it goes something like this:...

There are lots of things in congregational life that can cause big feelings. In a recent webinar, we asked participants to name some of these things, and they did!...

We have talked to many congregations recently reporting that they don’t have enough volunteers to fill open board and committee roles. We don’t expect this to change anytime soon — and that might not be bad. UU congregations in the last century — largely white, middle- and upper-class —...

Last year, at their request, I met with Follen Responds to Racism (FRR), an anti-racism team at the Follen Community Church in Lexington, MA. We had an animated conversation. They told me about their work and the many ways they are addressing racism within and beyond their congregation. I was...

“Hello, who are you?” “I don’t know; I’ve never met me before!” This dialogue is from a comedy skit a friend and I wrote for an elementary school talent show. My comedy career never took off, but this dialogue resonates with me these days, as we collectively emerge from two years of...

While I was growing up, a strange thing happened. When I was very young, I naturally explored all sorts of interests, from ancient history to art to writing poetry. I’m grateful that I came up through a well-funded school district with robust extracurricular programs that enabled me to play...

At the beginning of 2020, we didn’t know what was coming. At the beginning of 2021, we had hope on the horizon. Now, at the beginning of 2022, our hope is tempered by a healthy respect for how quickly things can change, and some trust in our ability - and flexibility - to faithfully respond....

What is a covenant? For most of my time as a leader in Unitarian Universalism, I have understood covenant to be the words we use to describe the agreements we make to each other. What I have learned over time is that the words are more like a map. They help us understand the covenant....

Several years ago the New England Region team was creating the first version of our Spiritual Leadership framework. We identified 5 practices that help UU congregations to bring forth and support the spiritual leadership of everyone in the congregation. One of these practices we named “Binding to...

According to Movement Strategy Center (1), community transformation depends on: power analysis: understanding who has access to resources; who influences and participates in decision-making; and whose standards, stories and worldviews are valued; community organizing: working together across our...

Opening words from Artist and Vibe Curator Eso Tolson: I don’t know who needs to hear this but rest is not a reward. You don’t have to earn rest. You need rest. You deserve rest. You are worthy of rest simply because you are a living being. And don’t ever feel guilty for taking time to rest.

Here I was thinking everything had already been said. That there were no other words to say (again) what we all already know: here we are, still in pandemic life. And yet, a shift has arrived and there are ideas being shared that can bring comfort, illumination, and insight. So, I wanted to share...

September is County Fair season in much of New England. In our UU congregations, September is also Ingathering time; water communion time; returning-to-church-time after far-flung summers laden with small jars of water from our travels and foot-long zucchinis from overflowing gardens....

A congregational board member called to ask what their church might do about their building. Like so many New England churches, theirs is old, labyrinthine, mostly inaccessible, and larger than they need now....

The call to adopt an 8th Principle is rippling through Unitarian Universalism. This Principle invites UU congregations to covenant to affirm and promote journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle...

As we have engaged UUs around New England in reflecting on living in covenant, we on regional staff have noticed an assumption so foundational that it is often revealed in storytelling but rarely said directly. That is: We can be either in covenant or in conflict, but not both at the same time....

We all come to Unitarian Universalism in our own way. For some of us, it’s a birthright—I have met a few folks who could trace their congregational roots all the way back over seven or eight generations! Some of us were brought in by friends...

I don’t doubt that many of us are maybe a little afraid to reflect so soon on something that is still quite close and tender. These fears may be part of the reason for Ken Burns’ five year standard! Yet, let us remember that company is one of the gifts of community, that we will have each other to..

Friends, if you are not already feeling so, please know this: you are going to get tired. Fatigue is real, especially when we are doing the work of dismantling white supremacy. If we don’t take the rest we need, the temptation to act out of white supremacy culture is that much stronger.