The world lost an angel this week!
Pictured above is a photo from 2011 when Rev. Dr. Della Reese-Lett, a Doctoral Degree Graduate Of the University of Sedona, was Honored by a Lifetime Achievement Award (presented by Dr. Paul Leon Masters) for her contributions to the spirituality of the planet – including that of founding her own church: Up Church, and is known for such inspirational roles as in “Touched By An Angel.” She remains ever in our hearts.
As we enter this time of Thanksgiving, may we remember:
When we live Life as a prayer, our actions uphold and support the belief in, and realization of, the inherent worth and dignity of every person even if, and especially when, every person does not do the same for us.
Let our gatherings with family, and in community, be filled with peace and love and thankfulness for the blessings we have. May we always and all ways be blessings to each other. Amen.
“A checkbook is a theological document; it will tell you who and what you worship.”
The quote is by Rev. Billy Graham and it was shared today by the I Am UU project. And I am sharing it here because it is the Truth!
It reminds me of David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water” where he speaks about a similar thing when he said, “There is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship —be it Jesus Christ or Allah, Yahweh, Jehovah, the Wiccan mother-goddess or the Four Noble Truths, or some infrangible/inviolable set of ethical principles—is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.”
Pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.
A couple years ago I preached about this in my sermon “In Our Own Image.”
The basic message of the service was that we all worship something. And what we choose to worship can help us make sense out of life, even when life seems senseless. What we choose to worship can comfort us, bring us joy, and have us greeting each morning in gratitude. Or, what we choose to worship can perpetuate our suffering. We get to choose to whom we belong, which ‘god’ we will serve. The first step toward doing so is to understand the distinctions of conscious and unconscious worshipping. And, to circle back to the original post: our checkbooks provide a consistent record for us to refer to when in doubt.
And, this month, as we are deep in the spirit of gratitude, please consider supporting Thomas A Earthman’s I Am UU Faithify campaign. In doing so you will be supporting the continued creation of meaningful messages that promote our UU values and principles.
In this blog post Rev. Kate Braestrup raises the question, “Is our religious movement a means to an end, or an end in itself?” Read the blog to see her thoughtful examination of this topic.
Amen to this. For so many reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ce5eyfECN0
Everyday blessings of music, and of love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhVMhztIioU
This! Listen to this!
#TaraBrach
#TaraBrach
The spaces we are called to create together, whether in community or in our intimate relationships, need to be so safe and so sacred that they can hold all our fears along with all our joys. Here, our broken hearts are mended as they are loyally treated as sacrosanct. This is where our allegiance abides, knowing the road to peace is the way of peace and the path to prayer is the path of prayer. We covenant with each other and with God as we merge our hearts with our callings, loving our families and our neighbors as ourselves.
#StandingOnTheSideOfLove #PiecesOfPeaceOnEarth #TwinklesPlace