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  • Against a blue sky, people on a roller coaster are harnessed in and beginning to descend a steep slope
    “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious...
    Reflection | By Marisol Caballero | May 17, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Direct Experience, Faith, Letting Go, Mystery, Trust
  • A toddler laughs, mid air, as an adult lifts the toddler into the air.
    From the time I was a baby, my mother often displayed her love for me by reciting a list of endearments such as: mi chiquitica linda, mi preciosa, mi criaturita hermosa, mi alegría, la hija más amada en el mundo, el tesoro de mi corazón. Loosely translated, her litany would go like this: my cute...
    Reflection | By Lilia Cuervo | May 10, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: Aging, Children, Death, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Humanism, Love, Mother's Day, Mothers, Secular
  • At the bottom of a wall, three words are painted: privilege provides (+) protects
    Last summer at General Assembly, I walked out of the sanctuary we had made from the convention center space. As tired as I was, I returned more and more to my deeply introverted default of self, and I passed a woman who had to stop to talk with me....
    Reflection | By Glen Thomas Rideout | May 10, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Direct Experience, History, Humanism, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Respect, Responsibility, Sacred, Unitarian Universalism
  • On a New York City subway (black and white photo), passengers sit. In the foreground, a man cradles his face in one hand.
    ”If we don’t find a way to transform our pain, we will always transmit it to those around us or turn it against ourselves… If your religion is not teaching you how to recognize, hold, and transform suffering, it is junk religion.” —Fr. Richard Rohr People are in pain all around us, all of...
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | May 10, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Buddhism, Compassion, Connections, Direct Experience, Healing, Mystery, Pain, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism
  • An adult stoops down so that a child can whisper in her ear.
    I long for progressive religious communities that are confessing communities—places where we admit our wrongdoings, are held accountable, and called back into covenant.
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | May 3, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Character, Christianity, Community, Conscience, Direct Experience, Honesty, Humility
  • An African-American person bows their head, bare shoulders visible, holding both hands open with palms up.
    My stomach turned when I first heard the term "white supremacy" used to describe the culture of Unitarian Universalism and our institutions. But I've reconsidered that response. I understand the pushback: we’ve been trained to see white supremacy as an overt expression of racism, replete with...
    Reflection | By Krista Taves | April 28, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Activism, Anti-Oppression, Courage, Direct Experience, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • "We are buried up to our necks in a history of violence and brutality against people of color. I refuse to be silent anymore."
    We have an absurd amount to learn, or unlearn, about race in this country. America allowed slavery to exist by seeking out personal and regional salvation at the expense of universal salvation. Our country felt better about itself because with the South as the identified patient, it never had to...
    Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | April 27, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Anti-Oppression, History, Living Our Faith, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Unitarianism, Universalism
  • A perfectly spherical bubble floats in front of a blue sky and puffy white clouds
    What's my favorite weather? When the wind whips your face, you're alive, and you can think what you will.
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | April 26, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Diversity, Humanism, Individualism, Integrity, Purpose, Searching, Secular, Work
  • An elderly couple, wearing hats, sits on a bench with their backs to the camera. A dog lounges at their feet.
    When my 85-year-old parents moved into their retirement home five years ago, my Dad found a comfortable role schlepping mats, blocks, and straps into the room where the Sunday yoga class was held. He was the only male, but it didn’t take him long to be an active member of the class instead of...
    Reflection | By Mary Howard | April 25, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Aging, Body, Children, Direct Experience, Family, Humanism, Letting Go, Listening, Parents, Secular
  • A cream-colored cowboy hat rests on a Texas meadow filled with bluebonnets
    We humans have both a natural desire and a spiritual need to feel connected and to grow roots, even if those roots aren't necessarily tied to a geographic place.
    Reflection | By Marisol Caballero | April 19, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Character, Commitment, Direct Experience, Discernment, Family, Home, Humanism, Identity, Secular
  • Two artist's models (faceless wooden figures) caught frozen in a fight.
    “We are not primarily put on this earth to see through one another, but to see one another through.” — Author unknown Standing roadside, stranded, watching thousands of dollars rise in the smoke coming from under the hood, it’s easier to fight about who forgot to put oil in the car than to...
    Reflection | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | April 12, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Anger, Community, Conflict, Self-Respect
  • Through a large doorway, a person in silhouette rolls a suitcase into a road and a sky full of clouds.
    "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and...
    Reflection | By Daniel Gregoire | April 5, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
  • A black man, smiling into the camera, holds a toddler with his hand on the man's cheek.
    He phoned more than an hour ago to say he was on his way home. But I have yet to hear the scrape of the iron gate, the rattling keys, so I worry. Most married women fret about a tardy husband: black women like myself worry more....
    Reflection | By Rosemary Bray McNatt | March 29, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Family, Fear, Home, Humanism, Multiculturalism, Oppression, Privilege, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • Six steeply-banked rows of red velvet theatre chairs, flanked by similarly steep staircases.
    We are sometimes selfish, sometimes complicit with systems that do harm, sometimes the cause of pain and injustice. Until we can hold compassion for ourselves and others—until we can be forgiving when we fall short—our love is incomplete.
    Reflection | By Sean Parker Dennison | March 29, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Compassion, Conscience, Direct Experience, Disability, Growth, Honesty, Humanism, Multiculturalism, Secular, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability
  • In a historical black-and-white photo, lines of immigrants assemble under a canopy on Ellis Island.
    Believe that further shore
 Is reachable from here. 
Believe in miracle 
And cures and healing wells. —Seamus Heaney, “The Cure at Troy” With a name like mine, it’s easy to guess I’m Irish. My forebears were among the millions who struggled to escape Ireland’s disastrous Potato...
    Reflection | By Maureen Killoran | March 22, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Direct Experience, Family, Generations, History, Hope, Immigration
  • A collage of twenty vanity license plates, all from Maine, with messages ranging from "Mercy" to "Cure it" to "Lv2hik."
    There we were, two strangers idling at the red light―but I felt seen, and blessed, by a stranger.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | March 15, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Courage, Direct Experience, Healing, Hope, Humanism, Illness, Interdependence, Kindness, Mystery, Secular
  • Six wild geese, in flight against a pale sky
    "The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. It must lose itself in love. By its very nature, it must seek God, who is love." —Mechthild of Magdeburg, 13th century Germany For twelve years, Daisy has been the...
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | March 8, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Animals, Christianity, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, God, Imagination, Lent, Love, Nature, Presence, Sacred, Searching, Unitarian Universalism
  • A close-up of a yellow stripe painted on rough asphalt. In the yellow stripe is embedded a heart-shaped stone.
    “Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.” —Alice Walker I had finally begun to relax—a bit. We were en route to Pennsylvania. My friend, a formal part of our “framily,” was visiting. We decided a visit to a crayon factory was the perfect winter outing for toddlers. The day was clear...
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | March 1, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Atheism, Conflict, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Faith, Humanism, Humility, Personal Stories, Searching, Secular, Wisdom
  • As choir members clap in the background, a choir member sings into a microphone
    Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a time when particular songs get sung; one of them is "Lift Every Voice and Sing." It gets sung in school, in church, and at various MLK day celebrations or over the course of Black History Month....
    Reflection | By Aisha Ansano | February 27, 2017 | From WorshipWeb
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, History, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Pain, Privilege, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity
  • A small child, seen in profile with a huge smile on their face, runs through soap bubbles in a back yard.
    I've come to view playing—intentionally seeking joy—as a means of radical resistance.
    Reflection | By Marisol Caballero | February 22, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser