Advertisement
Liberating love
The Rev. Tom Schade tells the fairy tale of Harry and Meghan (and the preacher they chose, whose message was liberating love).
[I]n the middle of this glittering ceremony, a holy man rises to speak. His message is delivered with loving grace. But just by presence, the fact that he was chosen to re-present the Gospel of Jesus to that congregation, conveyed that all of this (the castle, the chapel, the glitter, the hats and dresses, the cars and carriages), all of this was built by a power that is spent, and all of this is doomed to fall, to be replaced by the power of love, the kind of love embodied that day by the love of the prince and his bride for each other, an expansive, inclusive, adventurous, and liberating love. (The Lively Tradition, May 20)
Kids, parents, and phones
The Rev. Dan Harper flips the common complaint on its head—it’s not just parents complaining about kids’ screen time.
I see this all the time as I walk around San Mateo, where we live, and Palo Alto, where I work: the two year old having to amuse itself in the stroller while the parent focuses solely on their smartphone; the elementary age child standing in front of the parent waiting to play catch while the parent texts someone far away; the parent brushing off the young adolescent who tries to get their attention while they’re looking at their phone…. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, May 22)
The stench of closed minds
The Rev. Allison Miller reports that someone knocked over her congregation’s “Hate Has No Place Here” sign, and left a disgusting, stinky package in their mailbox.
We will not be deterred. We place this sign in front of our gates to express a wide welcome. . . . The sign is back up, and our mailbox is cleaned.
Sadly, what is left, though, is the powerful stench of a closed mind. That too will clear the next time we fill up our space with love by gathering together to worship, to organize for justice, to teach our children, and to care and beautify our sacred space. (Facebook, May 24)
The Rev. Erika Hewitt despairs about the length of time it will take to repair the damage inflicted by the current administration.
We allowed this to happen (I’m counting myself in that). We coasted on the rosy Obama glow, oblivious to the hulking, ravenous beasts of white supremacy and sexism and corporate greed bursting their shackles in the dungeon. We did this when, out of ideological purity, some of us turned up our noses at Hillary instead of foreshadowing the deadly consequences—and that’s not hyperbole, folks—deadly consequences of allowing this puppet to be installed.
I'm not feeling hopeful today. (Facebook, May 22)
The Rev. Jake Morrill, responding to the NFL’s decision to stifle protest, draws distinctions between patriotism and nationalism.
Patriotism welcomes dissent (as a healthy test of its basic principles). Nationalism suppresses dissent (since it no longer engages questions or right and wrong...or really, any questions at all). Patriotism, which comes from the heart, can be inspired in others. Nationalism, which comes from fear, must be always enforced. (Facebook, May 23)
It’s not enough
The Rev. Diana McLean writes that apologies to our children are not enough of a response to school shootings.
Every time this happens, I feel like I need to apologize to my son, and to kids everywhere.
I'm sorry we have failed, yet again, to protect you. . . .
And to the adults among us: apologizing is literally the least we can do, and it's not enough. (Poetic Justice, May 18)
The Rev. Dawn Cooley is outraged by the defeatism in an opinion piece about gun violence.
But really, it is the last sentence in the article that makes me the angriest: “There are young men in the grip of a terrible contagion, and there is no cure coming.”
. . . . To just throw up his hands and say there is no cure coming is to completely ignore the complex factors that go into making this “slow riot”. Complex cause need a complex cure – it will not be a one-shot solution, but a complex array of legislative, societal and cultural changes. May we have time, energy, and the wisdom to intervene in ways that, one day, will work together to stop it. (Facebook, May 20)
Tina Porter hopes that our country will emerge from the wilderness with better ways of living together.
[M]y people, we are headed toward ruination not only of our country and our planet, but of our souls. We are allowing people to die from lack of healthcare and to be murdered from a lack of the basic morality offered by most of the worlds’ religions and even by some ethical athiests: do not do to your neighbor that which you would not want done to you. (Tina L. Porter, May 20)