Liberation Worship
For Pittsburgh’s “Liberation Sunday” worship experience, we heard LGBT writers and lyricists including Leslie Feinberg, James Baldwin, Holly Near, Audre Lorde, and others. Of course there’s so much that could be added. But here’s the more extensive quote from James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time nugget: Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be. You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that...
Read More“… naked but for the stories we have of each other….”
Oh sun, moon, stars, our other relatives peering at us from the inside of god’s house walk with us as we climb into the next century naked but for the stories we have of each other. Keep us from giving up in this land of nightmares which is also the land of miracles. This from the poem, “Reconciliation: a prayer,” that accompanies the lighting of the flame throughout the March-April 2018 worship series, “Listen 2.0: listening to one another.” The poetry is from Muscogee (Creek) poet, Joy Harjo who I first heard in our back alley as part of a City of Asylum summer “Jazz...
Read MoreSeeking Lead Religious Educator
Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church on Pittsburgh’s North Side is looking for a collaborative, caring individual to oversee our faith development program for pre-K through 12-year olds, teaching 8-11-year olds twice monthly, and recruiting and supporting adult volunteers. Love and clearances are must-haves. If you or somebody you know would be an asset to this ministry to children, please apply! About Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church We are a welcoming, urban congregation that puts Unitarian Universalism into action by celebrating life, nourishing the spirit and inspiring a...
Read MoreBalance & Emergence: Listen 2.0
Human biology and neurology have confirmed what ancient wisdom (and, frankly, intuition) has always taught: Healthy individuality is impossible without community. Yet community demands conformity—with some communities demanding more conformity than others. This makes fully human life at best a balancing act. The March-April worship series “Listen 2.0” moves from a rich inner life cultivated by last series’ “Listening Within” to the necessary and more authentic life of “Listening to One Another.” It’s worship that offers the opportunity to...
Read MoreListening within, deeply
I like to think that, at least at Allegheny, we have come to an understanding of the yin/yang aspect of individualism and communitarianism. That’s what I experienced when we worshiped with community drumming during “Drumming in the New Year” worship the first Sunday of 2018. Community drumming is not just a worship experience—an invitation to nourish the soul. It’s an opportunity to heal, if you let it; to create community, if you make it; to listen to your own drum while listening to others in a way that makes the whole sound better. Or not. It’s all in your hands. “If you feel...
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