Home / Spirit
Recent Stories
A little change
Pretending I'm self-sufficient at the Family Dollar store.
Mixed media: Unity
Celebrating natural, wild forms.
How Unitarian Universalists break the rules
Rule breaking just might be right up our alley.
Shopping for God
However people first come to a Unitarian Universalist church, their questions often include something about god.
The koan
The 'I' of me is a snapshot of something in motion.
Sculpture: A reliquary of wood
Honoring the native hardwoods of Arkansas.
The soul's address
Why do we discount our bodies as unworthy of reverence?
Sculpture: Unitarian windows
A collaboration yields a classical form.
Slow making
What if our new metaphor for time was craftsmanship?
Sculpture: 88 notes
A piano is transformed.
My patient's faith
Before I began the operation, my patient asked, 'Could I say a prayer first?'
Love, freedom, and wonder
Recalling a childhood in a Unitarian Universalist fellowship.
Poem: Getting through another loss
This time, I need the words of a prayer.
Sing me to sleep
I wanted things to go back to normal. I wanted none of this to be happening.
Poem Attitude adjustment
Multiculturalism? Well and good. But don't stop there!
The wisdom of the wild
I don't mean misbehavior, but real wildness, elemental wildness, animal wildness.
Grace wins in the end
'I am a sworn enemy of the saccharine, and a believer in grace over karma.'
Painting: Quarry
Brilliant colors and the 'crazy parts of our lives.'
Winter hope
Optimism often lies, but hope never fails.
Two prose poems
I have my way of praying, as you no doubt have yours.
A nation of immigrants
I couldn't help but connect the plight of these migrants to my own family history.
Responding to holiday depression with compassion
She stomped up and down the aisles until she saw her Christmas tree.
Stirring up gratitude
In a flash, memories of joy and sorrow mingle in thanksgiving.
The Honey Springs worship committee ponders a revival
What would a Unitarian Universalist revival be reviving?
The dark llama
Standing in the shadow of the nebulae.
The demon of certainty and the curious heart
Certainty is the most dangerous demon of all.
Good works
If our beliefs have meaning, we must act as if our souls depend on it.
The Honey Springs congregation confronts its ant problem
Conflict resolution in a congregation not unlike yours.
Meditation on brokenness
Our ability to break and heal keeps us alive and makes us stronger.
The wisdom tree
Sometimes the place where you used to find wisdom gets destroyed.
Broken Buddha
The enlightened one as imperfect, cracked, and chipped.
We are already in paradise
There is no land promised to any of us other than the land already given.
Protesting Arizona's new immigration law
We must respond with love to the fear that drives the debate about immigration.
The ways of the forest
Everything has a job in the forest.
The Honey Springs worship committee plans its Easter service
A minister, a Pagan, a Christian, a Humanist, and an anthropologist set to work, in a congregation not unlike yours.
Finding spirit in the sundown
The only way to prepare for facing Alzheimer's is to remain attentive to the present moment.
Why I pray for others
I asked my friend to pray for me.
Mary Daly changed my life
I am not sorry that I used to be ‘one of those angry women.’
Religious community is essential
The central task of the religious community.
The church is people
It is not a body of belief, a set of principles, or an impressive structure of stone, wood, and glass.
Painting: My goddess, my love
From the stage to the canvas.
Holy family
A family holy enough to merit the highest forms of reverence.
Poem about light
You can try to strangle light.
Jesus, peasant revolutionary
A paradoxical power is revealed in people the world despises, in people the world deems weak.
Cricket's song shows life's fragility
There is a cricket playing the violin in my bathroom.
A spark of understanding
My first encounter with Unitarianism.
Be the change
We must become, and learn to think of ourselves as, forces of history.
Death barged in
He has been here ever since.
Practice gratitude
Like hope, trust, and love, gratitude is both a feeling and a spiritual practice.
The liberal saints
Andrene Kauffman’s murals in Chicago’s Third Unitarian Church honor heroes of the liberal spirit.
Growing up in a UU family
People probably thought my parents were hippies because we were out-of-the-closet Unitarian Universalists.
Prayer for the people of Iran
An Iranian-American holds her breath as hundreds of thousands march for democracy in Iran.
Finding relief in the storm
The complexity of asking for, and offering, help.
Lessons from an elephant sage
Speak from a place of distraction, and the elephant will not move.
The church board and the Illuminati
What did the Décor Committee know, and when did they know it?
Sabbath, an ecological spiritual delight
Slow down and walk lightly on the Earth, even if just for a moment.
Serving Dionysus
I worshiped the gods of comedy and tragedy long before I worshiped Jesus's God.
Totem games
Guess who I am.
Reclaiming my space in the sisterhood
The International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women revived me.
An African pilgrimage
Coming face to face and heart to heart with the reality of slavery.
An entangled bank
The grandeur of the evolutionary worldview.
Flat tire and a beating heart
A heartbeat is one thing you want to do like everyone else.
Renewing the world
Modern and ancient New Year's celebrations from around the world.
A broken hallelujah
Praise in the midst of a broken world and a broken heart?
It's all about family
There's no better context than a family reunion to get over your fears.
Imagination and the wild
Crane your neck. Worm your way. Wolf it down.
The church and the unicorn
One of them is a mythical creature worth believing in.
How it feels to be 80
The only really upsetting thing about being old is realizing that I'm not going to see how everything comes out.
Love can't fix everything
I knew the gunman who killed two in a Knoxville church, but I can't fathom his choice.
Biggest coffee hour imaginable
First impressions of a first-time General Assembly goer.
Prayer in the aftermath of hate
Words of grief and consolation after a deadly attack on the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville.
PostSecret Project reveals our common humanity
People keep secrets for all kinds of reasons.
Letter to a new parent
Your heart will be worn and joyous, wise and beat up, and full of sorrow and amazement.
Reading for the day
Love the gift of your life and do no harm.
Love and death
Facing cancer with lessons learned from my parishioners.
Universal love
'And what church did you say you attend?'
Ceremonies for everyday life
Establishing connections with self, family, and the earth.
It's about time, Persephone!
Ancient myths dramatize the shift from winter to spring.
Praying as Unitarian Universalists
How can we pray with integrity, grace, power, and purpose?
Do you feel loved?
On alternating days, a resolution to stop beating myself up.
One thing I am sure of
A chaplain's counsel to a grieving brother.
Rekindling the flame
Tickets to the Keith Urban concert weren't just a gift. They were a miracle.
Feeling like an exile
Do you live in a kind of Babylon?
A Unitarian Universalist view of 'The Secret'
Despite the silly 'science' and fake experts on the hit DVD, some of The Secret's advice actually helped me.
Four haiku
Natural moments in seventeen syllables.
Sitting between the extremes
Why a journalist writes haiku.
Confessions of a prodigal volunteer
Life after burning out at church.
Once and for all
Watching a loved one fade into dementia.
Reading our lives
Take time to read the story of your life.
The spiritual practice of hospitality
Welcoming people to our congregations is a way to encounter the mystery and wonder of life.
Collage: InterdepenDance
Found objects, discovered meanings.
Don't be stingy with your faith
Unitarian Universalism saves lives. Don't keep it to yourself.
How Jesus claimed me
One Unitarian Universalist's religious journey.
Great art and the gods
Five-year-olds in a fine art museum.
From fear to eternity
Learning to walk backward down a cliff.
Finding a talisman
A gift brings healing and unexpected loss.
Mayhem and the manger
Why didn't you warn me about Christmas pageants?
The storyteller by the sea
And the amazing, soulful, transforming stories she tells.
Fortune cookies for the soul
If I owned a fortune cookie company.
Poem for an inked daughter
A mother reaches across the generations.
Painting: Revelation
Truth revealed through human experience.
Can Unitarian Universalists talk about failure?
Original Sin isn't a good idea. Expecting perfection isn't, either.
Miracle flowers
The persistence of beauty in New Orleans.
Pilgrimages: Places that touch the spirit
Glory be to time and to water.
Our calling, Summer 2006
Unifying features of Unitarian Universalist worship.
Photograph: Dreamer 1
Nineteenth-century technique gives photo dreamlike quality.
Phoenix sculpture marks congregation's renewal
How an Atlanta congregation rebuilt itself.
Poem: Those days
Summer memories.
From Islam to Unitarian Universalism
One woman's religious odyssey.
Sculpture: In praise of lesser gods
Inspired by humanity.
Military chaplain's tribute for Memorial Day
A Unitarian Universalist military chaplain can't fight but honors those who do.
Of hummingbirds and immigrants
'Hummingbirds migrate north and south just like we do.'
Poem: Kingfisher
Feeding the birds.
The UUA's Principles and Purposes (1985)
The covenant of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Unitarian Universalists and Pentecostals sing together
A chance encounter in a hotel lobby leads to new understanding.
A ritual is born
Once, twice, ritual!
Skeptical of sacred stories?
Are the stories of Passover and Easter good for you?
Poem: Flowering
Grow a life here.
What's spiritual about parenting young children?
A passage from Bless This Child.
Many religions, but only one earth
Can reverence for the earth bring us together across religious differences?
Learning to see more than meets the eye
Look for the divine in the world as it is.
Thomas A Baillieul's paintings
Thomas A. Baillieul's paintings tempt viewers to tell a story.
Celebrate the Winter Solstice
Meditation for the longest night.
Creche surprise
Dramatis personae, wrapped in old newsprint.
That was I
A poem from U.S. poet laureate Ted Kooser's Pulitzer prize-winning book.
Winter holiday resources for UU families
Recommendations from the UUA's Lifespan Faith Development staff.
Creating UU family Christmas rituals
Finding the right mix of family traditions.
What do Unitarian Universalists believe?
Unitarian Universalists hold many beliefs in common.
Halloween's ritual roots
Even in its secular and commercial form, Halloween ritualizes our inescapable destination.
Dawn meditation for the fall equinox
Fall equinox sunrise meditation.
Repression of the sublime
To realize your potential you must recognize your gifts.
Hope in an unmarked envelope
A request for liberal religious contraband.
Meditations on our cosmic significance
Who hasn't felt tiny and insignificant?
Tombaugh memorial window
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Las Cruces honors a founding member's scientific achievements.
Midlife spirituality for women
Drawing closer to the sacred at middle age.
El sueño final (The final dream)
Laurel Garcia Colvin creates dreamlike images using underwater photography.
Why I go to General Assembly
Denominational diversity in all its splendor.
Beltaine (May 1)
Make an altar to celebrate the senses.
Playing with the Italians
Despite my father's fears, those men were not the enemy.
In praise of the imperfect life
Spring enlivens us, yet from our human vantage not all resurrections are equally welcome.
Passover: A meditation
The terrible blessing of the journey.
Unfinished houses
Life as a work in progress.
Memoir of King's eulogy for James Reeb
A witness's diary captures the torment and magic of James Reeb’s eulogy.
Witness to Reeb's death looks back
A witness to Selma's tragedies revisits the path of tears and learns to dry his own.
Winter mind
Emptiness, like silence, like love, is indeed a gift.
Living at the edge
By living in the present moment, we can find ourselves at the gateway to eternity.
