Yet even I, born and raised Unitarian Universalist, would occasionally have a certain experience. It must be even more common among the many people who do not come to Unitarian Universalism until adulthood. I’m talking about those times of looking around the room – around the sanctuary on a Sunday morning, or at a committee meeting, or a potluck dinner – and thinking: Who ARE these people? They’re a little bit weird, and a little bit perfectly ordinary. Who are they really?
Unitarian Universalists today are the inheritors of a long and a deep and a rich tradition of free and thoughtful people making together religious community. To know who UUs are -- to know who you are, if you're a UU -- it helps to know about that tradition. The better we know our tradition, the better we know who we are.
Yours in the faith we share,
Meredith
- The November issue of On the Journey explores Mindfulness. Get it at CUUC or HERE.
- Check out the two Common Reads for 2017-18: HERE
On Tuesdays, 3-5pm, I'm going to be at an area coffee shop for anyone who might find that a convenient way to get together with their minister.
- November: Barnes & Noble Cafe, City Center, 230 Main St, White Plains
- Dec 12 & 19 (I'll be out of town on Dec 5 & 26): Starbucks in Vernon Hills Shopping Center, 684 White Plains Rd, Scarsdale
This week: the conclusion of the "The Mindfulness Fad," some truths about Thanksgiving (adapted and expanded from the Sun Nov 19 Dialog presented with George Stonefish), and the first part of "Income Inequality" (the Nov 12 sermon)
- The Truth Behind the Fad: Part 3 of "The Mindfulness Fad"
- Truths About Thanksgiving
- Modern Life Made Tougher: Part 1 of "Income Inequality"
Index, with links, of other reflections: HERE.
Own Your Nobility. It is a rare and precious thing to be a human being. That's why we send money overseas in times of disaster, why we know it is wrong to take a human life. The heritage, the legacy, of being human is to manifest wisdom, compassion, and lovingkindness, to be fully worthy of our lives, worthy of admiration and celebration. This is your nature, my nature, the... READ MORE
Enlightenment. You have fires of passion and desire. Spiritual growth is not about putting out your fire. It's about building a fire ring, and maybe a bank of earth to protect your fire from too much wind. Containment doesn't put your fire out, but sustains it, protects it from burning out of control and burning itself out. The moon of enlightenment is at the center of everything about you.
Aitken's Case (Zen Master Raven)
One day when they were sitting around having a snack, Woodpecker asked Raven, "What is enlightenment?"Hotetsu's Verse
Raven said, "I won't deny it."
Woodpecker asked, "What will you affirm?"
Raven said, "Containment."
Woodpecker said, "What kind of containment?"
Raven asked, "What about you?"
Woodpecker hesitated.
Raven said, "The moon is not on the fringes."
The boundless inhabits, accepts bounds --Previous Moment of Zen
Seeps out, becomes boundless.
Love takes to the containment of a heart
So as to beat out its uncontainability.
Thus the thingness of things arrives already gone.
Saturday Zen Practice at CUUC: HERE
Other News for Sun Nov 26
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Music News
From Ministerial Intern
This week's e-Communitarian
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