Message by Rev. Michelle Scott-Huffman In an article entitled “Living in the Real World,” Mark Nepo writes: This is what the great choice comes down to—the great conflict between first-hand experience and tradition, between spontaneity and decorum, between compassion and obligation. Other life forms have no part in this. It’s strictly a human affair.The sapling … Continue reading The Architecture of the Heart

Message by Dacia Reid Moment of Perspective – Toothpaste – Babs Garcia Opening Words: We Are Glad You Are HereWords of Amanda Schuber If this is your first time here or your one-hundred-and-first time; we are glad you are here.If you carry the weight of a weary world on your shoulders, or you entered through … Continue reading The Words We Choose

Featuring Tom McFarland, Justin Russell, and Emily McKinney. These words come from the essay The Middle Way by Michael A. Shuler. Most people know the legend: how Siddhartha, desperate for an answer to the riddle of existence, traded a life of comfort and ease for one of austerity and complete self-denial. Like many of his … Continue reading Seeds of Soulfulness: Cultivating Spiritual Practice

Message by Mike Brown Moment of Perspective – Circles – AJ Fox The opening reading is Walking the Crooked Path, by Thomas Rhodes. Holy Spirit of Life and Love,You who are our source and our ultimate destiny,Lead us this day on a crooked path.So often we are in so much of a hurryTaking the direct … Continue reading Homecoming: Sharing Jenny’s Kiss

Message by Scoop Peery Moment of Perspective – Racism: Past and Present – AJ Fox The opening reading is For All That Is Our Life, by Liz Weber Spirit of Life,help us to be present with all that is our life,both our deepest sorrows and our greatest joys,so that we can truly live:engaging fully in … Continue reading Snippets of Growing Up in the Heart of ‘Little Dixie’ (Columbia) Missouri

By Leslie Sawyer (Founder/Shelter Director at Eden Animal Haven) The opening reading is Blessing of the Animals, by Thomas Rhodes. You Birds of the Air,Hawk, Sparrow, and laughing JayYou embody freedom itself,delight us with your song, astound us with feats of migrationGrant us your perspective,for too often our horizon is limitedand we are blind to … Continue reading Blessing of the Animals

Message by Dr. Bradley Fisher The opening reading is by Gary Kowalski. We gather here to worship:to seek the truth, to grow in love, to join in service;to celebrate life’s beauty and find healing for its pain;to honor our kinship with each other and with the earth;to create a more compassionate world,beginning with ourselves;to wonder … Continue reading Vulnerability and Aging

By AJ Fox How to Survive the Apocalypse by Rev. Sean Parker Dennison from their collection “Breaking and Blessing”. First, learn to listen.Not for enemies aroundcorners in hidden places,but for the faint footstepsof hope and the whisper of resistance.Hone your skills, aim yourheart toward kindness andstockpile second chances.Under the weight of destruction,we will need the … Continue reading Liberty Denied: The Rising Tide of Educational Gag Orders

Message by Charles Abernathy, Read by Jessica Wirges Moment of Perspective – Bathroom Remodel – AJ Fox The opening words come to us from Marsha P. Johnson.  Marsha P. Johnson, along with Sylvia Rivera, are two of the trans women of color who were instrumental in the Stonewall Inn Uprising which was the beginnings of … Continue reading Pride

By Rev. Carole Martignacco – Read by Jessica Wirges The opening words are by Carl Seaburg. Let there be joy in our coming together this morning.Let there be truth heard in the words we speakand the songs we sing.Let there be help and healing for our disharmony and despair.Let there be silence for the voice … Continue reading All Beings are Blossoms