I feel sorry for the kids today who are taking geography in school for the first time. When I was in school, unless you got really interested in the history of Iraqi Kurdistan, there was a chance you could get all the way through geography class without ever having to know learn to spell Sulaymania.

I am a man and I am a woman; I am a boy and I am a girl. And I am a Unitarian Universalist I am young and I am old and I am middle-aged. And I am a Unitarian Universalist...

How shall we address thee who art the One of a thousand names yet ever nameless? O Vishnu, Maya, Kali, Ishtar, Athene, Isis...Great Mother of Creation, womb of the universe, The Feminine Divine….Blessed art thou who hast given life to all And receiveth us at the end, forever thine... Jupiter,...

George: This is Angel Gabriel of KGOD airwaves, coming to you live from the downtown mall in Bethlehem. The air is positively solar as frenzied shoppers scurry from store to store, their camels and donkeys weighted down with purchases. The beasts bawl. There are only, count ‘em and weep shoppers,...

Introduction to a New Orleans Jazz Funeral Welcome to a new tradition for our church—a New Orleans-style jazz funeral for the old year. This service offers opportunities for reflection on the past year, a chance to “bury” whatever that was negative or hurtful to us in 20xx, and looks forward...

Recorded music (e.g., Mozart's Requiem; Arvo Pårt's Lamentate) will be playing as the background. Spoken introduction as people prepare to walk in silence: Let us open our minds and hearts to the power of healing that is in us and in the world around us....

I want to tell you right up-front that I am unabashedly pro-life. I am also unashamedly pro-abortion. What I am not is unequivocally running for political office! Now, some of you might consider my reproductive platform to be oxymoronic. The fact is that many of us find ourselves in this place of...

It is 2 a.m. I am sleeping in the chaplain’s on-call room at an inner city hospital. My room hovers over the Emergency Entrance and the darkness is punctuated with sirens and lights. It is my night to be available for those unexpected things that happen in the night. But, unlike most of my calls,...

After I graduated from college, I worked for Planned Parenthood for several years. Most days, I walked through protestors to get to work. They usually carried crosses and said things like, "Jesus will forgive you if you repent for your work." It turned out that the most revolutionary thing I did...

Moses was a rancher. Long before he became a famous Biblical patriarch who led his people to freedom from slavery, he was a simple rancher. And this simple rancher was tending his flock on the side of a mountain one day circa 1527 BCE, when he came upon a small forest fire—a burning bush. He was...

About The Author: The author self-identifies as Afircan American and psychology professional. Frequently I am asked, ‘Why should the UUA [Unitarian Universalist Association] spend money, time, and resources on racial and cultural diversity?’ I sometimes feel burdened with the expectation that I...

When I was in third grade at Evergreen School in Plainfield, NJ, my best friend was John Carvana. At 8 years old, I was awkward physically and socially, and I was drawn to John’s intelligence and easy grace. The friendships of young boys are less about whispered secrets than about hanging out and...

includes quotations by bell hooks In conversations about the initiative for greater diversity, our Unitarian Universalist Association-wide commitment to become more inclusive, one of the questions that inevitably arose was, ‘What do we want diversity for? What is our motivation?’... Perhaps it...

Why should we intentionally work for diversity? The responses to this question vary widely. Of course, hard demographic realities suggest much. But for me, beyond any demographic or sociological justification, there is a theological imperative....

My father asked if I am gay I asked Does it matter? He said, No not really I said, Yes. He said get out of my life. I guess it mattered. My friend asked why I talk about race so much? I asked, Does it matter? He said, No not really I told him, Yes. He said, You need to get that chip off your...

Frances, an African American woman: To be African-American in this country is to face racism throughout life, however subtle. The love of one’s family is paramount in reducing the damage of racism on one’s wholeness. Unitarian Universalism is splendid as an affirming church family. Its primary...

We unite in our differences in background and belief; We unite—with gratitude and hope: Hope for a world of differences; Hope for a world that honors difference; We unite in community With gratitude for difference. Source: Association Sunday 2009...

Every June, representatives of the congregations in the Unitarian Universalist Association gather for the annual General Assembly. Each year as we do so, we try to shed some light on a local issue of justice, and we invite people of all faiths to join us in working to make our world a better place.

Setting ourselves to the task of Greening our Congregation, together we promise these things: Most simply, we will each do our small part to care for the earth around us. We will start with one step forward toward the thriving world that we envision....