UUSLO

We have heard that money talks, but what exactly is it saying? If we listen closely--in our own lives; in our culture; in the wider world--what do we hear?

We all support this church and sustain it with our gifts, but how do we decide how much to give?

We often talk about a pledge to the church or the congregation as if it were separate from us; an organization out there that we support. But our pledges are really promises to one another: all we who gather, along with those who came before us, and those who have yet to join us. My pledge is a pledge to you.

It is all too easy for me to sometimes treat spirituality as a spectator sport; to learn about it rather than to nurture it within my own life.

Puzzle Pals launches today and it strikes me that it just may provide some helpful insights into how we work as a congregation every day of the year.

Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Buddhist Boot Camp and Faithfully Religionless. He offers a secular and non-sectarian approach to being at peace with the world (both within and around us), with the intention to awaken, enlighten, enrich and inspire.

The time has come," the Minister said,

"To talk of many things:

A place called Transylvania--

And open-minded kings--

And why an edict has import--

And just how freedom ‘rings.’"

Our cultural language uses "white" as a default and describes others by how they differ. But what exactly do we mean by "white"? What happens if we try to describe "whiteness" itself?

Mary Oliver writes, "To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones, knowing your own life depends on it; and when the time comes to let it go, to let it go."

In ancient Roman religion, according to Wikipedia, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages and endings. This surely makes Janus one of the busiest gods, one whose face we recognize as looking forward and backward simultaneously. What can we learn by studying the posture of this ancient god-with-a-small-g?