Reading “And a side of fried okra, please…” by Patricia Smith How’s this for poetic inspiration? At about 3 a.m., when I should have been snoozing contentedly, dreaming stanzas, I was in the back seat of a cab hurtling toward Gladys Knight’s Chicken & Waffles because- I’m in Atlanta, where they fry everything but chairs. I’ve always been fascinated by the pairings-hot,…
Centering Thought: I call upon you to be maladjusted. Well you see, it may be that the salvation of the world lies in the hands of the maladjusted.” Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Reading “The Village with a Hole in the Middle,” adapted from Yassir Chadly NARR: Imagine a beautiful village, close enough to the ocean to see it and occasionally…
Time for All Ages Who knows the story of Noah’s Ark? [Engage] Is the story factually correct? [Engage] Here’s something to consider: before having the tools for scientific discovery, early humans may have looked at the world, the wet jagged mountains and the arid, rolling desserts, and knew that something huge had happened. Something catastrophic that wiped out all life. And, when…
Centering Thought: The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love. – Margaret Atwood Reading “Love Poem,” by Andrzej Luckwitz My mind is conflicted with thoughts and feelings that come all of a sudden. I stop right where I was walking as a shiver runs along my spine. Color blooms on my…
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”— Albert Einstein Time for All Ages “The Little Red Lighthouse” There’s a little piece of land that juts out into the Hudson River, on an island called Manhattan. The piece of land, called Jeffrey’s Hook, is more of a bump than a peninsula, but it protrudes out into an area of the…
Centering Thought: “The tears I shed yesterday have become rain” — Thich Nhat Hanh Call to Worship and Chalice Lighting Octavia Butler writes, When apparent stability disintegrates,All that you touch You Change.All that you Change Changes you.The only lasting truth is Change.God is Change.” We gather this morning to celebrate change, to honor the value of changing times. While we find comfort…
Reading From the Eulogy of James J. Reeb, by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.1 (Ron) One day the history of this great period of social change will be written in all of its completeness. On that bright day our nation will recognize its real heroes. They will be thousands of dedicated men and women with a noble sense of purpose that enables them…
Chalice Lighting and Invocation – Rev Denis Merry Christmas, and welcome to East Shore Unitarian Universalist Church where we come from a variety of backgrounds and hold a huge array of beliefs. We are committed to a theologically progressive future, but we also respect the traditions of the past. Especially traditions that so deeply inform who we are…as individuals, as a congregation,…
Centering thought for the cover:Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feetmoving forward.— Nelson Mendela Personal Reflection, “Mystery of Life,” – Nancy Bihary I met Charles, the natural healer, through a friend. I put his business card with my collection of business cards. Several years later, I had some health issues that weren’t being addressed, it…
Call to Worship and Chalice Lighting – Rev Denis Reverend Bill Schulz, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association writes This is the Mission of Our Faith: To teach the fragile art of hospitality; To revere both the critical mind and the generous heart; To prove that diversity need not mean divisiveness; And to witness to all that we must hold the whole world in our…