Joy as a form of Resistance

This podcast is from December 22, 2016, brought to you from the Church of the Larger Fellowship. 

Joy is a great thing. When people tty to take away our joy, it is a powerful thing to celebrate joy. What little things bring joy to your life? How can you celebrate joy?

[The VUU] 164: Joy as a Form of Resistance

https://media.blubrry.com/clfvuu_latest/www.questformeaning.org/podcasts/vuu/latest/vuu164.mp3 via @PodcastAddict
Namaste,

Cricket

PS: There’s some Santa business here, so little ears might not want to listen.
Image from  https://www.theodysseyonline.com/choose-joy-feeling

Meditation Monday 

​Our Monday Meditation is “Benediction for the Heavy Heart” by UUA staff member Mason Bolton. It reads:

“Good morning. I missed your ‘good’
because a plane, because a truck, because
a gun, because a cop, because a government,
because a people suffering, because too many
people suffering, because war, because famine,
because some mornings it is so hard
to rise, to wake, to be a self.

There is a pause here. There is a deliberate
cessation. I want a cessation to the noise
in my head, to the ache in the collective
heart of this world. When I was young
this seemed possible. . . .

I want your mornings ‘good,’ your evenings ‘good,’
all the late nights and sunrises and afternoons
and moments pressed against the ticking
glass of your life ‘good.’

Breathe. For yourself. For each other. Let
us breathe in when others cannot. When we
can do nothing else. Let us stretch ourselves
open to embrace our friends, extend
our bodies outward to anyone willing to meet us
and even those we think may not be willing. Let us
hold each other for this moment. For this
blink of human existence.”

Read this and other meditations in the new Skinner House Books title “To Wake, To Rise: Meditations on Justice and Resilience” available at inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop http://tinyurl.com/ybsj9f49

Charlottesville, the Soul Sickness in America, and a Call to a Moral Vision

“We met the enemy, and he is us. We met the friend, and he is us. That is the secret that will win the ultimate victory, if anything will. And this is our way. Looking inward, and reaching out a hand and acting. Heart with heart, and hand in hand, we will build a community of hope and possibility.”

Read the full text of James Ishmael Ford’s sermon, “A STATE OF EMERGENCY: Charlottesville, the Soul Sickness in America, and a Call to a Moral Vision”, at Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church, Costa Mesa, California:

www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2017/08/state-emergency-charlottesville-soul-sickness-america-call-moral-vision.html

On this difficult morning …

As we read the reports and watch the news about Charlottesville, may we remember that we are not alone.  As our hearts break and we are faced with the reality that we have not come nearly as far as we need to, may we speak out. As others defend or explain away the problems facing our nation and our world, may we continue to encourage them to wake up. As we wonder if our ideals and expectations are doomed to fail, may remember that none of us are free until all of us are free. May we continue to answer the call of love and fight for the lives that need us most. May our voices continue to rise until they are heard above the hate.

May it Be,
Amen

We Answer the Call of Love By Julia Corbett-Hemeyer

In the face of hate,
We answer the call of love.
In the face of exclusion,
We answer the call of inclusion.
In the face of homophobia,
We answer the call of LGBTQ rights.
In the face of racism,
We answer of justice for all races.
In the face of xenophobia,
We answer the call of pluralism.
In the face of misogyny,
We answer the call of women’s rights.
In the face of demagoguery,
We answer the call of reason.
In the face of religious intolerance,
We answer the call of diversity.
In the face of narrow nationalism,
We answer the call of global community.
In the face of bigotry,
We answer the call of open-mindedness.
In the face of despair,
We answer the call of hope.

As Unitarian Universalists, we answer the call of love —
now more than ever.

Blessed Litha

The longest day of the year has arrived. Summer is finally here. This is a major holiday for pagan communities all over the world.

Have a Blessed and wonderful day!

Namaste,
Cricket

Program 487: Scandinavian Solstice; Italy 2017

Release Date: 06-17-2017

Description

Hear how the summer solstice is celebrated in Scandinavia, where the official start of summer is a big deal. Then listen in as Italian friends discuss the effects of their country’s high unemployment rate — and how Italians are meeting the challenge — before taking listener calls to share tips for a “dolce vita” vacation. And come along as we visit with some Tuscan craftsmen keeping traditions alive in their hill town home.

Guests

  • Pal Johansen, tour guide from Oslo
  • Nina Bernardo, Italy tour guide from Rome
  • Cecilia Bottai, Italian tour guide and vintner
  • Ann Long, Italy tour guide from Sorrento
  • Feature on Montepulciano, Italy from Cameron Hewitt 

Picture Credit Michael A. Michail

Forgiveness

Return of the Prodigal Son - Rembrandt

Return of the Prodigal Son
Rembrandt

Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans and myself from the community of sinners.

– Miroslav Volf, Exclusion & Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation

Edward Kim on Volf’s Exclusion & Embrace

Sermon: “Answering the Call of Love” by Rev. Jason Cook

“If you’ve looked ahead on your order service you know we’re going to be singing the song “Standing on the Side of Love” today, only we are going to be singing it as “answering the call of love” instead. The composer, Jason Shelton, has asked us to sing it that way from now on. The question is why?

In a word: ableism.”
Is the beginning of Rev Jason Cook’s Sermon delivered at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fullerton, CA on November 13, 2016. I hope you find it insightful.
Namaste,
Cricket