Daily Compass

Inspiration: 

 

Spirit of joy, make me the bearer of glad tidings.

The Post Office Mission

Like many other Unitarian Universalist congregations, the church of my younger years owes its existence to the Post Office Mission, a forerunner of the present-day Church of the Larger Fellowship. The Post Office Mission was established in 1881 through the efforts of Sallie Ellis, a member of the Unitarian church in Cincinnati, who enlisted the support of her minister, Charles W. Wendte, and the women’s auxiliary of her congregation to promote our liberal faith and serve the needs of isolated Unitarians by distributing sermons, tracts, and other publications through the mail. She placed newspaper ads in various dailies and received such an overwhelming and encouraging response that the model quickly spread to other congregations and women’s auxiliaries. By 1885, the original Cincinnati mission had distributed 22,000 tracts and Sallie Ellis had personally written more than 2,500 letters to inquirers!

…In the 130 years since Sallie Ellis mailed out her first tract, the phenomenon that became CLF has seen both remarkable continuity of purpose and almost unimaginable changes in method and structure. We may not be inclined to think of the postal service as a “technology” but, if we do, it will be readily apparent that the women who established the Post Office Mission were exploiting the best technologies available to them to serve religious liberals and promote our shared faith. As times changed, the mission and methods have changed to meet new challenges and exploit new technologies and techniques. Can we be equally imaginative today? How different might the CLF appear to us 130 years from now? Or, in this rapidly changing digital age in which we live, how different must we be just 130 days from now, if we are to fulfill our evolving mission?

by Rev. Stefan Jonasson, CLF Board Member TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

 

What is the first joy you encounter in your day?

Morning Chalice

It’s nice to set aside a few minutes each day to do nothing but practice gratitude. In the morning, I have embraced lighting the flaming chalice, Unitarian Universalism’s centering symbol, as my time of intentional strengthening of the gratitude muscle.

Before I light it, I sit with the great fullness of the chalice itself, empty though it may appear. I call to mind all that surrounds and supports me: ancestors, spiritual leaders, beautiful sights, people and animals and plants, and I sit with the great fullness of all there is. The members of CLF are central in this great fullness practice, both the folks I have spoken with and the ones I have yet to meet personally.

Once I am full of all of the gifts of life, I light the chalice flame, a symbol of thanksgiving. Flame offers light and warmth, without qualification, to all. “Be ours a religion which, like sunshine, goes everywhere,” wrote Theodore Parker, a prominent Unitarian preacher in the 1800s. And there is the flame, happy to offer itself, like sunshine, without limitation or holding back, to all who seek light or warmth.

by Rev. Meg Riley Senior Minister, Church Of The Larger Fellowship TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

 

Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.
–Emily Dickinson

A Litany

My soul is filled with small joys.

The first glimmer of light streaking over the neighboring hill, coming in my window, tickling my closed lids, beckoning me, waking me, coaxing me out of sleep. “Open your eyes, see me, follow me as I light your world, watch the night animals slide quietly to their dens, the morning birds rustle and shake loose their wings.  You are seeing me; you are blessed with yet another day.”

And I am filled with joy to be alive

by Ann Woldt TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. 

–Frederick Buechner 

Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC

After centuries of handling and mishandling, most religious words have become so shopworn nobody’s much interested any more. Not so with grace, for some reason. Mysteriously, even derivatives like gracious and graceful still have some of the bloom left.

Grace is something you can never get but can only be given. There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about, any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.

A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace. The smell of rain is grace. Somebody loving you is grace. Loving somebody is grace. Have you ever tried to love somebody?

The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you.

There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and touch it is a gift, too.

by Frederick Buechner, from Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC TO READ MORE

Inspiration: 

 

Life is a tragedy full of joy.
–Bernard Malamud 

Loving-Kindness Meditation

At times of loss and uncertainty, the loving-kindness meditation may remind us to be kind to ourselves. Find a comfortable position, close your eyes and breathe deeply. Repeat to yourself:

May I be filled with loving-kindness.
May I live in safety.
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
Then envision someone in your life and repeat to yourself:
May you be filled with loving-kindness.
May you live in safety.
May you be happy.
May you be peaceful and at ease.
You can repeat this several times with different people, both those close to you and those you find difficult. As you come to the end of your meditation, repeat these phrases:
May all beings, everywhere be filled with loving-kindness.
May all beings, everywhere live in safety.
May all beings, everywhere be happy.
May all beings, everywhere be peaceful and at ease.

Go in peace, my friend. You are not what you do. May you know that you are worthy and held in love. May you be filled with loving-kindness.

By Rev. Dr. Kathryn Ellis, Consulting Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia, PA. TO READ MORE