The Meaning of Life in Our Town in the Bleak Midwinter At the very same time, each of us can be an original thinker in the present with access to yesterday’s trove of wisdom. Advent is an invitation to be still enough to hear what’s inside our heart. I’ve been strolling around with Christine Rosseti, […]
Some people survive conditions of horrendous physical extremes —lost at sea for six months, fallen into a deep crevasse on Mt. Everest, seriously injured deep in the Amazon jungle —while others do not. The survivors often report that what saved them was a curiously interconnected experience of Will and Grace. In a culture that’s always telling […]
Quakers, also known as the Religious Society of Friends, began their existence as a spiritual movement that aspired to return Christianity to what they believed to be its first century original non-dualistic forms of belief and worship. George Fox, founder of Friends, taught that the Apostles were not the last on earth to hear the […]
With Corn Bread as the focus and a nod to our 20th Anniversary, the annual Bread Service will include the family with stories and loving rituals of sharing and gratitude. Cindy Nelson and Cyndy Stiehl will lead the congregation in this meaningful prelude to Thanksgiving Day.
Here I am, a statistical improbability, conceived in a universe of infinite galaxies, in a Milky Way of 100 billion stars, in a solar system on the edge of nowhere, living on the third planet from a small sun, which is mostly covered by salt water, and encased in an envelope of mixed gases, dependent […]
The fall celebration of All Saints Day is a popular one in the Catholic tradition. Why should they have all the fun? Unitarians may not formalize the recognition of saints, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have some! Joan Shiels has a bunch of degrees in Religion. She has been a good friend and frequent […]
When Mary Oliver asks in her poem The Summer Day, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” this is not an easy question to answer. Are you doing what you want to do with this precious gift of life? When life refuses to wait any longer, whether you’re […]
How is comedy more serious than tragedy, and how do we experience it in our daily lives? A survey that includes Job, Jesus, Augustine, Kierkegaard, Shakespeare, with some help from Peter deVries and Marilynne Robinson, will show us what happens when things come together and when they fall apart. Phil Blackwell grew up in Menomonee […]
Improv performances are based on a simple formula of saying “yes” to whatever is given — a word, a scenario, an action — and adding to it, to create a rich story of shared authorship. Far from the panacea of positive thinking, this challenging practice can be useful when living through significant change, especially in […]
Can we possibly glimpse a desired future by recalling the past? Has the environmental movement in the United States failed? A noted authority thinks so. Do we understand that “Nature is no conservationist?” What legacy might we wish to leave for our descendants? Dick Smythe is an entomologist retired from the research division of the […]