Is this holiday season leaving you out in the cold? Do you need a few minutes to just pause and reconnect? Then our special December series is here for you! Spiritual Practices for Holiday Skeptics is a way for you to center your heart, mind, and spirit on the things that matter most, without any extra tinsel stuck where you don't want it. 

This week's spiritual practice asks us to center in on a stone, so grab one (truly, any little ol' rock will do) before we get started! 

Is this holiday season leaving you out in the cold? Do you need a few minutes to just pause and reconnect? Then our special December series is here for you! Spiritual Practices for Holiday Skeptics is a way for you to center your heart, mind, and spirit on the things that matter most, without any extra tinsel stuck where you don't want it. 

How can we recommit to healing ourselves and our communities right now? What kind of commitment will it take to really make change in the long haul? 

How can darkness bring healing? And how can we be guided by nature's rhythms as the seasons change, the nights grow longer, and the veil gets thinner? 

Extra resources! 

What can one person do to actually make a difference? Truly? What can any one of us do to impact our communities, whether during an election season or any time of the year? Join us for reflection, conversation, and an interview with the inimitable Kathleen Petersen! 

How can we listen deeply to stories that contradict the ones we've been taught? And how can that question help non-indigenous people wrestle with the legacy of settler colonialism in the United States? We're also joined by Audrey, one of our youth from UUCC for an interview about her experience of her own indigenous identity and heritage. 

+

+

Supplemental Resources! 

Here's the article by Dina Gilio-Whitaker: https://www.uuworld.org/articles/problem-wilderness 

And here's a link to the NPR interview about indigenous forest management practices: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/13/923377261/fire-expert-on-how-indigenous-land-management-could-help-with-fires-in-californi

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76401.Bury_My_Heart_at_Wounded_Knee 

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: http://www.beacon.org/An-Indigenous-Peoples-History-of-the-United-States-P1164.aspx 

How can we listen to ourselves more deeply? And how can that kind of deep listening to the movements of our own hearts, minds, and bodies help us proclaim our truth? Join us for this special episode where we reflect on this question and witness to coming out stories in honor of National Coming Out Day on October 11th. 

What does deep listening truly require of us, both as individuals and as communities? And how can we build those capacities within ourselves in order to build communities where change is possible? 

How can the work of atonement refocus and realign our priorities? And what do reconciliation and repair actually require of us today? Join us as we wrestle with these questions alongside, John Murray, Jonah, Hosea Ballou, and more! 

To check out the Josie Duffy Rice essay, you can find it here in Vanity Fair: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/the-abolition-movement