My friends, -- Our chalice lighting for today:

Today we gather together in the spirit of love and truth. As we light the chalice, let us remember the things that can sometimes be easily overlooked.

We remember the quiet acts of kindness, the unspoken words of support that ripple outward in ways we may never know.
We honor the small courage it takes to stand up for what is right, even when it feels insignificant.
We remember the beauty in the ordinary, the wonder in the everyday.
We celebrate the quiet strength that resides within each of us, waiting to be discovered.
Let it be so. Amen.

#unitarianUniversalist #spirituality #courage

Tonight's chalice extinguishing:

We extinguish this flame,
but not the light of reflection,
not the warmth of community,
not the fire of commitment.

May we carry with us the gifts of this hour:
gratitude for where we come from,
humility about what we claim,
and courage to reach beyond borders—
in heart, in mind, and in action.

As we go out into a world divided by nation and name,
may we remember the deeper truth:
we all belong to one another.
May it be So.

#unitarianUniversalist #spirituality

"We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society
cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul. "

-- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper,
-- "We Are All Bound Up Together", 1866

#unitarianUniversalist #spirituality #blackhistorymonth

Skipping church tonight.

I’m just not in a very “inherent worth and dignity of every person” place right now when a group of people rape children and another group of people protect the child rapists while calling librarians and educators “pedophiles” and “groomers.”

📚 #unitarianuniversalist

Today, I attended service at a Unitarian Universalist congregation, and my soul is energized. There are a lot of people that want to make this world a better place. If you are feeling alone out there in a world of hate, there are those that side with love.

Today was especially powerful as a woman of color that marched with MLK Jr. read to the multi-colored children of the congregation a book of his speech. She choked up reading his words as my own tears ran freely.

"I have a dream that one day ... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."

#MLK, your dream is still alive and we that come after you will fight to make that reality for more and more people of this world.
#UU #unitarianuniversalist #mlkday