Tuesday, 26 July 2011, 01:53 am PDT
Featured Ministers
Liberal Religion's Answer to Oslo
Multi-culturalism in inevitable. The process of globalization will lead to a blurring of religious and cultural differences; there are both melting pots and mosaics in our future. Liber... [read more]
thelivelytradition
The Hot Mess
I think Scott Wells named it first: 2012 Justice GA in Phoenix was going to be a Hot Mess. Hot because it is Arizona and a Mess because it is where UU earnestness, idealism, entitlement... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Sermonating and Social Media
Phillip Lund, Cynthia Landrum, Scott Wells and Dan Harper have been discussing sermons and social media. Their general consensus is that the 20 minute sermon encased in the church worship ser... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Call to Worship for Christmas Eve
Time to turn off the cell phones. Time to put the pagers on stun. It’s even time to put a piece of duct tape on the face of your watch. It’s Christmas Eve and time is sta... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Keeping the X in Xmas
Are we to be Wise Ones, with our eyes fixed on the star in the inky night sky, always looking up, each riding on our own camel, swaying under the starry sky? Or are we to be shepherds, a band of ... [read more]
thelivelytradition
A Blue Dog with a Blue Nose
OK, I am able to comprehend that Kent Conrad, the only Unitarian Universalist serving in the US Senate, differs from me on the question of the public option in the health care reform debate. ... [read more]
thelivelytradition
UUMA Politics -- 1000+ members & 3 hour annual business meeting
The UUMA is an organization of over 1000 people, with an volunteer board. The organization meets for business once in a year in a business meeting that lasts a couple of hours in a hotel ball... [read more]
thelivelytradition
End of Life Issues
End of Life issues have become politically hot again. Last time, it was Terri Schiavo's sad case. This time it is Section 1322 of one of the Health Care Reform bills that permits doctors to bill... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Going Away
I am heading out of country for a couple of weeks. I will not be accepting comments on this blog starting tonight until I come back. I may post a little, but probably not, and certainly not about... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Factions Create Democracy
I have called for the creation of continuing groups of UU's to recruit candidates for District offices and Board Trustees: factions. I think that they are what we need to increase democracy in th... [read more]
thelivelytradition
My argument for a Single Candidate Search Process
The proposal now floating around for reforming the UUA Presidential election process is for a Presidential Search Committee to put forward, after deliberation, at least two candidates for the UUA P... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Gini Courter on the Election Process
On Election-L email list, there has been a discussion about the present method of electing the President and other officers of the UUA. Gini Courter weighed in with this statement, that I am repro... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Can't have it both ways.
On the one hand, it is widely agreed that the Unitarian Universalist Association has not, in its 40 years of existence, lived up to the potential of liberal religion in this country. We believe th... [read more]
thelivelytradition
More Democracy
To increase participation in elections, and help clarify the choices before the electorate, the UUA Board ought to recognize groups whose purpose is to recruit and support candidates for District o... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Another Process for the President
Let's elect the next President the same way that we call ministers in our congregations. 1. Elect a Search Committee that is broadly representative of all of Unitarian Universalism. 2. Give them... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Frank talk 3
KJR in the comments offers this analysis of power in the UUAo C: I think the President and staff set UUA priorities --- with the main limitation being finding donors willing to fund the priorities... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Frank Talk 2
Philocrites in the comments offers the kind of concrete analysis of the powers that are at play within the UUAo C. I am looking for some frank talk because I see that two stories out there about h... [read more]
thelivelytradition
"We Can Become the Religion for Our Time"
I don't think that the Dalai Lama talks like that about his mission in the world. I think Unitarian Universalism is honest and authentic. I think that it has changed my life, made me happier and... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Frank Talk
I have teed off on the Kum-Ba-Ya Campaign as part of a general atmosphere which discourages frank talk within the Association about the Association. For example: I had a brief talk with Gini Court... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Hissy Fits
We all remember the time that Move-On ran an ad directed at General David Petraeus asking him to not "betray us" when he testified to Congress about the surge in Iraq. The GOP dising... [read more]
thelivelytradition
The UUA Election
Nobody knows what the UUA President is supposed to do, so nobody knows how to choose a candidate for UUA President. I think that this was the small little fault at the heart of the recent election... [read more]
thelivelytradition
I'm Back!
I never have time to blog during the church year, so I blog in the summer. Beats going to the beach or having fun. I am overflowing with opinions right now, on such subjects as the UUA Presidenti... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Further on Communion
I included Levertov poem in the UUCF communion (previous post) for a reason: because it speaks to the skeptic in all of us who questions the morality of God who allows the innocent to suffer etc. I... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Denise Levertov's Poem about Thomas
There has been some discussion on blogs and email lists about this poem that I read at the UUCF communion service in Portland, OR this spring. Much has been said about its content and tone. Read ... [read more]
thelivelytradition
Democrats Debate
Watching the Democrats debate last night, two thoughts:1. the reasons why the You Tube format worked, and I think it did, is not because the candidates cannot dodge the questions raised by ordinary... [read more]