Mindful Summer
So it was one of those summer days in early spring. We’re on the neighbor’s stoop. Her kids and mine, playing together. One of my boys had had a rough afternoon and makes another (ahem) mistake that I need to (ahem) correct. I get his attention, remind him of the mistake, and they continue playing. Then neighbor mom says, “How do you stay so calm when you do that?” Before I could reply, and completely matter-of-factly, my other son says, “He meditates.” Contemporary author, Brené Brown writes in Gifts of Imperfection, “Mindfulness requires that we not ‘over-identify’ with...
Read MoreWhite Supremacy & UU?
In response to Leaders of Color in the UUA encouraging all UUs to reflect on the institutional structures and legacy of White Supremacy, Rev Dave celebrates our annual Founders Sunday by exploring from his perspective the ways that spiritual community intentionally offers both comfort and affliction… and might just save humanity.
Read More100 Days of Action
On Martin Luther King Sunday, we gathered to celebrate Rev. Dr. King’s legacy and commit to live it out! We reflected on the social concerns that occupy our thoughts and touch our hearts. Then we focused on what we can and shall do during the first 100 days of the impending new presidency. We wrote down what we would do over the next 100 days to make our homes, our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world a better place. We placed these commitments in envelopes to be sent to us in the middle of those 100 days as a reminder. Or as a reason to celebrate our actions. Or an...
Read MoreSummer in the Spirit
Plants are sprouting. Bugs are buzzing. The sun is reaching its zenith. Gardens and plots are bearing vegetables and flowers and berries. Or gathering weeds. Summer offers a little more sunlight and rain and, for some anyway, a little more leisure. It’s a great time to grow a soul. I use that phrase a lot, “to grow a soul.” Life provides many opportunities for soul work (though vastly more for avoiding soul work). Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church offers soul-growing opportunities not just because it’s in our mission, but because church itself is an intensified experience of...
Read MoreRenewal: April’s Spiritual Focus
Last year our yard had one peach blossom. And later, one peach. One out-of-reach peach. Infested and dessicated, it eventually fell of its own weight, sloughed off from a tree that kept living. This year is different. There’s too many blossoms to count. Maybe it was the pruning we did last autumn. Maybe it was the right number of freezing days and nights over winter. Whatever the reason; in this time of spring, this time of renewal, blossoms on the peach tree remind me that they are not last year’s blossom renewed. That one did its job best it could, withered, petals falling softly to the...
Read MoreYear’s Spiritual Focus: Faith from Jewish & Christian Teachings
This summer we invite you to reflect with us on how Jewish and Christian teachings might make for more just, more loving, more faithful human beings, and more loving neighbors.
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