What are you giving up for Lent? I remember that question from my youth. Although my family did not recognize this liturgical season, many of my childhood friends did. Spinach was a favorite response, as I remember it. Praying, Fasting, and Giving Alms are the three traditional disciplines of Lent, but what I remember most was giving things up … sacrifice. Lent is the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, during which Christians prepare themselves for the promise of rebirth that Easter offers. Lent, which simply means “spring” or specifically “longer days,” is celebrated in most of the…

We are coming to accept and expect that there are more things to pay attention to than we can possibly hold in our hearts. This week is no exception. Today is International Women’s Day. Hollywood pushes forward on issues of equality for women, while a “porn star,” a sex worker, sues the President of the United States. A trade war is threatened. Florida enacts modest gun control measures. The Justice Department sues the State of California because of that state’s sanctuary commitments. Any of these could have been my subject for this blog. But today I am looking more toward…

The Berenstain Bears are not often recognized as theologians, but their children’s stories point to important religious questions. “Inside, Outside, Upside Down,” the story of the friendly family of bears dealing with a large cardboard box, tries to teach children the concepts of “within,” and “outside.” It is a story about boundaries, about personal identity and about opposites. The bear cub gets “inside” a large cardboard box, the kind you get from U-Haul, on moving day. The box is closed up and loaded, with him upside down, into an open truck and bounced along the dirt road leading from the…

Guest Blog by Dana Buhl, Acting Social Justice Director For When I Really Don’t Want to Learn This, by Reverend Elizabeth Nguyen   Spirit, I would really rather not learn this. Didn’t think I needed to. I thought someone else could do it. Thought a leader was coming to do it. Thought the young people could do it. Or the elders could do it. Or the professionals. Or I don’t want to learn it ‘cause it means letting go of something I hold dear. Letting go of being someone who knows the answers. Letting go of being someone who doesn’t know.…

Another tragedy, another disturbed young man with an assault rifle and plenty of bullets, another set of parents whose hearts will never heal. Valentine’s Day, 2018. The 18th school shooting this year. All of our children are growing up in a world where “active shooter” drills are normal. It does not matter whether the school is on the west side of Chicago or is “one of the safest schools in Florida.” Today it is affluent, suburban Florida. Tomorrow? That culture we have been inspecting at deeper and deeper levels in our religious community is a culture of fear. I encourage…

“You have to know your body as the home of God.” – Rebecca Parker At the close of our service on prayer last Sunday we sang, “I Need You to Survive.” It is a Hezekiah Walker song that has become closely associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. You might want to listen to Williams, himself, offering these lyrics and that melody. I remind you of that recent experience of singing not to compare First Unitarian to Hezekiah Walker. I also want to make a space to discuss the theology of “I Need You To Survive” and reflect on how…

On Saturday, February 10th, First Unitarian and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem will jointly ordain Mary Gear to the Unitarian Universalist ministry. Mary is serving as our Acting Assistant Minister and was Intern Minister with us three years ago. Even for those who pay close attention, it can be hard to keep track of what the various rites of passage on the path to ministry mean. Here is a short explanation. Ministry, on the Unitarian side of our religious family tree, began in the Puritan congregations of New England. Its roots go back much further of course, to the…

Many of you have heard the news that Cathy Cartwright-Chow has decided to retire, this June, as our Director of Family Ministries. Cathy has served the families and children of First Unitarian since 2003. When she was hired, religious education classes were held in the maze of old structures that the Buchan Building replaced in 2007. What a different religious education program she leaves. We serve almost 500 children and youth, in beautiful classrooms where dozens of adults teach and learn with our young people every week. Cathy’s legacy is a Family Ministry that is broadly embraced, broadly supported and…

  In Newgrange, Ireland, 5000 or so years ago, people constructed a huge circular earthen structure with an opening that allowed a shaft of light to travel deep into a central chamber on the morning of the winter solstice. There the light illuminated intricate symbols, including eye-shaped carvings. Today, people gather once again at Newgrange and wait for this dramatic event of the returning light. A few individuals are chosen by lot to be able to enter the mound and experience the shaft of light as those ancestors did. We can only imagine what stories those humans of thousands of…

The Sweet Gum tree outside my kitchen window has finally dropped all of its leaves. It is a sure sign that winter is here. The nights are lengthening toward the Solstice next week when the longest dark will, once again, begin to make room for spring. I always look toward the spring. But this year, more than most, I find myself relishing the dark. Somehow my body and my spirit know what my intellect can only glimpse and what my “to do” list will never capture: the need for rest. There are so many topics I thought to tackle this…