Inspiration

UU thoughts, sermons, music

THE WAY OF A PILGRIM Or, How to Save Ourselves & the World

LdeG

So, what about us? You know, you and me, faithful and faithless, quintessential religious liberals. Many of us are caught up today more than most with the questions of peace and war, of terror and response. Us. How can we encounter pilgrimage as our spiritual practice, and use it to help us find where to stand, and how to engage? Well, I suggest we can, each of us, claim pilgrimage as part of our spiritual lives. And it’s not that difficult.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2015/11/the-way-of-a-pilgrim-or-how-to-save-ourselves-the-world.html

Why Religion?

Robert

In my mid 30s I decided I was missing something by not having a religion, and I found Unitarian Universalism, which doesn’t require adherence to any one set of beliefs. In UUism, we may define God as we decide to or reject the idea of God altogether, as long as we take our beliefs seriously, remain open to change, and encourage each other respectfully along our various paths. Or at least that’s the ideal we strive for in our congregations.

Whatever the cause, I know that I feel that need — to be part of something sacred.

— Mel Harkrader Pine

http://melsmouth.com/2015/11/11/why-religion/

How an Austin church agreed to offer an immigrant sanctuary | UU World

CZ

“The call for sanctuary for Sulma Franco came to First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, where I’m senior minister, because we have the reputation of being welcoming to LGBT folks, and because the Rev. Marisol Caballero, minister of religious education and congregational engagement, had been doing antiracism work within the congregation and beyond. Word had gotten out in the immigrant community.

Could we help?”

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/deciding-offer-sanctuary?utm_source=f

Courage leads to change in this world.

This congregation lived out the first and second principles.

~Namaste
Cricket

Democracy as a Religious Practice

LdeG

You have to learn how to pray. You might spend years trying to master meditation–or coming to understand that meditation isn’t something that you master. The same is true with democracy. In order to practice it, you have to learn it. To meditate you need to learn how to breath, how to sit, how to unfocus your mind. To practice democracy you need to learn rules of order, how to run a meeting, how to bring silenced voices into the conversation, when to speak and when to keep still.

Colin Bossen: Writer, Preacher, Organizer | Blog | Democracy as a Religious Practice

http://colinbossen.com/the-latest-form-of-infidelity/14182745/democracyasreligiouspractice

What To Do After You Notice All Religions Are False

Robert

Unitarian Universalism has two principal currents and two methodologies that exist sometimes smoothly, sometimes not so smoothly which are derived ultimately from the two traditions that formed the Association. The first is Unitarianism, which has historically been concerned with reason and ethics. The slogan for this current has been “salvation by character.” The second is Universalism, which has been concerned with healing, and for which the slogan has been “God is love.” Or, “Love over creed.”

What To Do After You Notice All Religions Are False: My Story of Sorting Wheat from Chaff & Finding a Life Worth Living

James Ishmael Ford

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/monkeymind/2015/10/what-to-do-after-you-notice-all-religions-are-false.html