Inspiration

UU thoughts, sermons, music

UU Lent 2019 – Day 10 – Partnership

CZ

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington

“None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.” – Mother Teresa

Partnership is more than friendship. It is not just being there for someone. Being a partner means working alongside them. Being a partner means holding each other accountable.

Transgender Religious Professional UUs Together (known as TRUUsT) has created a Call to Action because “In the wake of recent events and the Trump administration’s continued assault on trans lives, TRUUsT calls on Unitarian Universalists everywhere to take immediate action to live out the above truths and directly support trans UUs. Unitarian Universalism’s commitment to trans lives is all too often aspirational rather than true today. According to a recent survey, only 28% of trans UUs feel that their congregation is fully inclusive of them as trans people. We need this to change, because trans lives are at stake.”

As Unitarian Universalists, we are called to be better partners. As Rev. Theresa I. Soto states “All of us Need all of us to Make It.” This responsive reading co-written by Rev. Megan Foley highlights this.

UU Lent 2019 – Day 8 – Mistakes

CZ

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

“Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the real sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.”
― Brandon Mull, Fablehaven

“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“At an early age I learned that people make mistakes, and you have to decide if their mistakes are bigger than your love for them.”
― Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

Here is “A Blessing for Risk-Takers and Failures” by Robin Tanner

UU Lent 2019 – Day 6 – Struggle

CZ

Struggle is a hard word to sit with. Many of us were taught that struggle meant we werr doing something wrong. Many of us struggle daily. Many of us have only known struggle. Many of us cause our own struggle.

According to Merriam Webster, struggle is a) to make strenuous or violent efforts in the face of difficulties or opposition and b) to proceed with difficulty or with great effort.

The Struggle Continues By Israel Buffardi is a reminder that struggling doesn’t mean we are weak and that we still have a way to go. 
Often, we struggle because we want everything to be just so. This story from Quest for Meaning by Rev. Lynn Unger tells of the danger of this.

 

 

UU Lent – Day 4 – Dreams

CZ
The dictionary defines dream as both
a) a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep and b) a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal.

 

Harlem

What happens to a dream deferred?
      Does it dry up
      like a raisin in the sun?
      Or fester like a sore—
      And then run?
      Does it stink like rotten meat?
      Or crust and sugar over—
      like a syrupy sweet?
      Maybe it just sags
      like a heavy load.
      Or does it explode?
I chose this song because some of our dreams are wrapped up in the words of this song.
What are your dreams?