Our March Touchstones theme is “Trust.” As Martin Buber wrote, human beings are promise-making, promise-keeping, promise-breaking, and promise-renewing creatures. We evoke trust, fulfill it, betray it, and then seek to make amends. The making of amends is regeneration. It encourages us to take the risk of trust again, which is always risky business. Still, we … Continue reading March 2023 Touchstones: Trust
With this offering, appearing every month, the Board tries to convey to the whole Fellowship what issues the Board is thinking about and what all that thinking and discussing adds up to so far. blip • blip blip • blip • blip! • Unlike the radar in an airport control tower, the Board’s radar is … Continue reading Blips On the Board’s Radar, Volume 1, Number 7, February, 2023
I once read an article that talked about animal behavior when they feel threatened. For many, when they don’t feel like there’s anything more they can do to protect themselves, when flight and fight fails, they lay down in a protective position in the hopes of convincing their predator they’re not a threat. It’s a … Continue reading I Get Knocked Down, I Get Up Again
Our February Touchstones theme is “Resilience.” Resilience is the capacity to deal with adversity, trauma, stress, significant change, and other challenging life experiences, including illness, job loss, heartbreak, family problems, financial worries, the death of a loved one, natural disasters, etc. Resilience is not innate. Numerous factors cultivate it. Join us during the month of … Continue reading February 2023 Touchstones: Resilience
With this offering, appearing every month, the Board tries to convey to the whole Fellowship what issues the Board is thinking about and what all that thinking and discussing adds up to so far. blip • blip blip • blip • blip! • Unlike the radar in an airport control tower, the Board’s radar is … Continue reading Blips On the Board’s Radar, Volume 1, Number 6, January, 2023
Happy New Year! It’s funny when you think about it that humans celebrate the revolution of the planet. Really, the new year is an arbitrary point on our calendar chosen for the convivence of ancient people. Many other cultures celebrate on a different date or a different month entirely. But we’ve chosen this point to … Continue reading Finding Meaning in the New Year
With this offering, appearing every month, the Board tries to convey to the whole Fellowship what issues the Board is thinking about and what all that thinking and discussing adds up to so far. blip • blip blip • blip • blip! • Unlike the radar in an airport control tower, the Board’s radar is … Continue reading Blips On the Board’s Radar, Volume 1, Number 5, December, 2022
Our January Touchstones theme is “Wintering.” Wintering is the process of navigating winter, a season that is, in many ways, a time of regeneration. Of course, there is the external season, but there is an internal season that also requires wintering skills. And, there are individual differences, as Martin Marty noted when he contrasted a … Continue reading January 2023 Touchstones: Wintering
In November, I attended a minister retreat at The Mountain in Highland, North Carolina. The bulk of our programming was centered around processing and discussing proposed changes to article II of the UUA’s bylaws, which are where the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism were established. The release of this draft has been met with a … Continue reading Minister’s Musings: The Joy of Rethinking the Seven Principles
Our December Touchstones theme is “Joy.” We certainly know joy when we feel it, but it is challenging to capture its essence in words. Joy and happiness are often considered as synonyms in popular culture and literature, which adds to the confusion. America’s Declaration of Independence enshrined the inalienable rights of “life liberty, and the … Continue reading December 2022 Touchstones: Joy
