Inspiration:

What is the source of your strength to stand up for what is right?

Gratitude

We are here on earth, at least partially, to practice empathy, to honor honest work and to ceaselessly embody that central Universalist principle, the dignity and worth of all human beings. This practice of radical equality is measured by the respect with which you treat others, and by the kindness in your heart. And then comes the leap. When you become the giver of kindness you are more likely to become aware of the kindness flowing towards you. You learn gratitude not only for the kindness of those around you, but also for the source of kindness described by the psalmist. Some of us call this source of all life and goodness and love by the name of God. Some of us call the sense of the whole of life a mysterious reality that cannot be named.

by Barbara Merritt, Minister Emerita, First Unitarian Church Of Worcester, Massachusetts TO READ MORE

 

Inspiration:

 

I do not need to see the Promised Land in order to set off down the path.

Seeing a New Path

Say you are walking down a path through the woods, admiring the trees and bushes around you. Suddenly, the path takes a sharp turn. All of a sudden, your point of view changes. You see things from a new angle. It turns out that what you thought was a really big tree is actually two trees growing close together, and the fallen log now shows itself as a tangled mass of exposed roots. The things you have already seen are changed by looking at them in a new way. …

What if you shifted your point of view to try to see what was going on in your friend’s heart and mind when they hurt you? What if you learned to forgive yourself by seeing that mistake you made (the one that just makes your skin crawl) from the perspective of your dog, who loves you absolutely, no matter what? What if you looked at a tough situation from the perspective of ten years down the road, and asked yourself what you want the relationship to be like in 2021?

by Lynn Ungar, Minister For Lifespan Learning, Church Of The Larger Fellowship TO READ MORE

Inspiration:

 

How can you be an advocate for yourself today? How can you be an advocate for others?

Mothers Day Proclamation – 1870

by Julia Ward Howe 

Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:

“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Join us this evening for a special Mothers’ Day Service at 7 pm ET: http://www.livestream.com/questformeaning

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Inspiration:

 

Justice is Just Us.

Hands

In a Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He looks admiringly at his hands and says:

Hands are fascinating things. I like my hands…. I think I have nice hands. My hands seem to have a lot of character. These are hands that may someday accomplish great things. These are hands that may someday do marvelous works. They may build mighty bridges or heal the sick, or hit home runs, or write soul-stirring novels. These are hands that may someday change the course of destiny!

Lucy looks down at Charlie’s hands and says: “They’ve got jelly on them!”

Lucy’s comment, albeit insensitive, is right on target. Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Hence, we start by recognizing that our own hands are covered with jelly. And they always will be. But they are all we have. They are who we are. Messy to be sure, we keep using our hands in acts of justice and kindness, that life might be less evil.

by Tom Owen-Towle, minister emeritus, First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, California.  TO READ MORE

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Inspiration:

Ah! justice is a virtue bepraised and full of worth,
It castigates the sinner, and peoples all the earth,
And kings with care should guard it–instead they now forget
The gem that is most precious in all the coronet.
Some think they may do justice by cruelty, I wist;
But ’tis an evil counsel, for justice must consist
In showing deeds of mercy, in knowledge of the truth,
And executing judgment it executes with ruth.

  — Pedro Lopez de Ayala.

What Color Is Your Jersey? Your Neighbor’s?

We cannot live justly without training and preparing ourselves to counteract all of these other influences we undergo every day, often without awareness. Religion can only be a force for good in the world as we help and encourage one another – individually, as families, as communities – to live justly and to bring a merciful justice into fruition.

When it comes down to living justly, it helps to have simple guides that we can hold onto in those times when fear and hatred and greed are most likely to guide us. Love mercy. Love your neighbor. Love God. Love this earth. This is a path of true love of self, because reverence for life, for the Holy, for our neighbors cannot help but grow reverence for our self.

By Rev. Naomi King, City of Refuge Ministries TO READ MORE

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