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What quantity of blood
Jordinn Nelson Long expresses rage and grief about the Umqua Community College shootings.
I wonder what quantity of blood will stain the carpets, mar the tiles and flow into the halls of our public spaces . . . . before we are willing to shrug off the cloak of helplessness, turn our ear away from the whispers of hopelessness, and say, in voices so loud that there is nowhere to move but forward, Not my child. Not your child. Not one more. Not. One. More. (Facebook, October 1)
The Rev. Dawn Cooley wondered why her Facebook feed is so quiet in response to Umqua.
Is this because most folks aren't aware? Or maybe those that are aware just can't bring themselves to post one more time about these preventable tragedies that our country keeps allowing to happen? Or is it because it hurts too much to go there, again, and again, and again? Have we had to become numb in order to not collapse in a heap on the bed, or rage until our hearts explode? (Facebook, October 1)
The Rev. Alex Holt asks, “When shall we learn?”
When every member of Congress knows someone who has been shot and had a life destroyed because guns were seen as less harmful than cars and so therefore not regulated. (Facebook, October 1)
Personal journeys
Alex Kapitan chronicles a difficult “Day One” of testosterone treatments.
Not too long ago, in order to get a prescription for testosterone, I would have had to undergo the notorious “real life test” of attempting to live as a man for at least three months or as long as two years. . . .
Suffice it to say I wouldn’t have passed the “real life test.” I wouldn’t have even made it in the therapist’s door. See, I’m not a man. I don’t feel trapped in the wrong body, I’m not masculine, and I’m definitely not straight. I’m a queer, genderqueer, gender fluid, flamboyant and fierce, bowtie-flashing tea-cozy-knitting roller-derby-playing gay-men’s-chorus-singing motorcycle-riding boi. (Roots Grow the Tree, September 27)
John Beckett shares the reasons why he became a UU.
Our world needs a church that, in the words of John Murray, gives people not hell but hope. We need a church that loves and supports all people regardless of sexual and gender orientations. We need a church unafraid to say Black Lives Matter in a culture whose actions say they don’t. We need a church that fights for clean air and water, that plants trees instead of bulldozing trees. . . .
I had no intention of becoming a UU. But I’m very glad I did. (Under the Ancient Oaks, September 27)
Responses to the pope’s U.S. visit
The Rev. Cynthia Cain isn’t buying what the pope is selling.
There were many things that bothered me about the Papal visit. But the one that may have disturbed me the most was the number of liberal and progressive people, even ministers, "friends" and friends on Facebook and in the real world who were nothing short of gaga over his many highly orchestrated moments. . . .
We can do better and we must. We are being bamboozled in so many ways, and the future of this planet and its people depends upon our thinking clearly, reflectively, and acting courageously. (A Jersey Girl in Kentucky, October 1)
The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg sees the Roman Catholic Church as a powerful partner.
[The] news that Pope Francis met with Kim Davis does not change my view that it is important to both acknowledge my significant disagreements with the antiquated Roman Catholic dogma on gender and sexuality and celebrate opportunities to partner with Roman Catholics and other groups on immigration justice, environmental justice, and economic justice. Not only are we stronger together, but also—to use my own affiliation with the Unitarian Universalist Association as an example—it is important to realize that there are approximately 800,000 Unitarian Universalists worldwide (less than 1 million), whereas Pope Francis is the leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholic Christians. (Pluralism, Pragmatism, Progressivism, October 1)
Andrew Hidas sees Francis, at his heart, as a humble follower of Jesus.
Francis’s call is for humility in the face of our own—everyone’s—fallenness. For tenderness and mercy and ongoing generosity from everyone, and not just financially. All of us could benefit from being granted the benefit of the doubt from our fellow human beings a whole lot more than we are. And granting it to them in turn.
The sniping, the harshness, the finger-wagging judgement, the casting of aspersions, the demonizing, the out-and-out hatred—enough already, says the Pope, in every word and gesture of his pontificate.
He is a man who simply refuses to cast stones, or raise his voice. (Traversing, September 26)
The pope’s stop to bless and kiss a child with cerebral palsy infuriates Theresa Soto.
It's not a regular Tuesday kind of love; it's pity. . . . I'd rather you stepped over me in the street than pitied me. I'd rather you spoke out loud that you think my future has no future, than you keep your distaste to yourself; and the same goes for Pope Francis. (Facebook, September 27)
Creating redemption
The Rev. Lynn Ungar grieves the death of Kelly Gissendaner, a member of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, executed by the state of Georgia this week.
Kelly Gissendaner makes me believe in a grace so deep, so broad, that someone who would do something so horrific as to arrange the murder of her husband could come around to deep remorse, and deep commitment to living a life of love and justice. That is a grace that I can see, a grace to which I can bear witness.
But the state of Georgia doesn’t believe in that kind of grace. The law of the state of Georgia does not have room for redemption. (Quest for Meaning, September 30)
The Rev. Meg Riley records a pastoral message in response to Gissendaner’s death (embedded below).
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