Your gifts—whatever you discover them to be— can be used to bless or curse the world. The mind's power, the strength of the hands, the reaches of the heart, the gift of speaking, listening, imagining, seeing, waiting Any of these can serve to feed the hungry, bind up wounds, welcome the...

A Sermon by Kadyn Frawley Watch this terrific pastoral message from Summer Seminary graduate Kayden Frawley, preached to her congregation on January 29, 2017. Using Your Universal Translator - Transcript Good morning! I’m going to ask you all some questions. You don’t need to raise your hand...

The road that lies ahead of us is a long one, and the pace of progress will sometimes feel glacially slow. Never forget that glaciers over time can carve out grand canyons and great lakes. Moving tectonic plates can rise up mountains over millennia, or they can explode awe-inspiring volcanoes in...

These are anxious days. Hair-pulling, hand-wringing days. We are bombarded from all sides with new and unprecedented developments. Grave threats to our national values and institutions on one hand, and countless calls to action on the other... and then the flood of critique and analysis. Whose...

Now has come hard winter, With whip of wind and slash of snow and the diamond-bright stars in the black ice of the heavens. Just as we resist the season with shovel and scraper, wool and windbreaker, we embrace it with sled and snowboard, cocoa and comforter. Winter is here: let us find warmth in...

Energize this Legacy http://www.uua.org/re/youth/build/youth-project-grant-program/youth-lea… AVAILABLE Announcing the Living Legacy Project (LLP) All Youth Civil Rights Pilgrimage, June 5th-9th, 2017! This 5-day pilgrimage will be led by LLP board members Rever… Gordon Gibson and Reggie Harris,...

It's in one tiny moment in time / for life to shine to shine Burn away the darkness You've got one tiny moment in time / for life to shine to shine To burn away the darkness I will be light. — “I Will Be Light” by Matisyahu About six months ago, I got a new tattoo. It’s a lit match on my...

The great https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/15/safety-pi… pin debate. The epic http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444201/sjw-blog-vagina-imagery-wo… hat debacle. These are just two examples of an ongoing trend in liberal circles: people (often with relative privilege)...

Welcome to this space, this sanctuary of peace where we come to not only create our best selves, but to also do the work of creating a beloved community....

Our light is the light of the sun, keeper of all we love; our light is the light of the earth, provider of sustenance; our light is the light of all living things, life precious like our own....

“Empathy is not finite, and compassion is not a pizza with eight slices. When you practice empathy and compassion with someone, there is not less of these qualities to go around. There’s more. Love is the last thing we need to ration in this world. The refugee in Syria doesn’t benefit more if...

There is a glow far off in the distance, a light to which no path leads. We know that each time we help another or join with them to heal the world, each time we stand up for justice and what is right, each time we work and hope and love against all odds, a spark is created that adds to the...

Inclusive Youth Group Dynamics If you've found yourself here on Blue Boat it's a fairly safe assumption that at some point in your Unitarian Universalist life, you've created a youth group or religious education class. Eric Bliss, Youth Ministry Specialist for the Pacific Western Region of the...

A Unitarian Universalist Welcome After I graduated college, with my family of origin in turmoil, I moved to a place where I knew no one outside of the job I was working. As I young person who didn't know myself well yet, I had some messy relationships, with no healthy models to hold up as a mirror.

.I want liberty and justice for all in my country. That will ask of me—and of many of you—the discipline of discomfort.

May you be safe. May you be free from all harm. As the road or skies carry you toward your fellow pilgrims, may you sense the presence of those who travel with you in spirit, whose hopes and hearts are tucked into your pockets, who name your journey’s purpose as sacred. May you encounter...

There are two questions that [a person] must ask [themselves]. The first is "Where am I going?" and the second is "Who will go with me?" If you ever get these questions in the wrong order, you are in trouble. source: Fire in the Belly by Sam Keen, p. 12.

The Solstices teach us that darkness comes, that darkness goes. The Solstices teach us that light comes, that light goes. The Solstices teach us, calmly, silently, to be calm, silent. Learning. The Solstices teach us as we circle the sun that everything flies....

In this time of long nights and short days, let us seek the light within … by contemplating, through our mind’s eye, the image of a candle flame. Notice how the soft, quiet, and gentle flame tamely rises from the wick. Yet, just by touching a dry twig, it has the power to become a raging bonfire...