Search results for ""Skinner House Books""

Editor Erin J. Walter and contributors offer essays, interviews, and resources to revolutionize our understanding of ministry by lifting up the rich diversity of community ministries. Community ministry is the fastest growing type of ministry in Unitarian Universalism and many ministers serve in some combination of parish and community work. But what is community ministry? It’s not often clearly understood, and nonprofit work, justice movement leadership, and other forms of community ministry are still widely unknown or considered radical. When many people think minister, they still imagine only a church minister. In Care for the World: Reflections on Community Ministry, editor Erin J. Walter and contributors offer essays, interviews, and resources to revolutionize our understanding of ministry, lifting up the rich diversity of community ministries—both lay and ordained and led by religious leaders with a broad range of life experiences, identities, and communities of care—within Unitarian Universalism. These reflections show the immense and vital work that Unitarian Universalists are doing in the world and will inspire readers to live a spirited, purposeful life, rooting their daily work in their deepest values and faith. This collection will also support seminarians and religious professionals in, or who are considering, community ministry, and inspire congregations to nurture and affiliate with community ministries. Without knowledge of the important work of community ministry, potential leaders may not answer their call. And the world needs this sacred, vibrant work now more than ever.

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Forged at the intersection of faith and justice, BLUU Notes: An Anthology of Love, Justice, and Liberation is the first publication from Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU). Editors Dr. Takiyah Nur Amin and Rev. Mykal Slack, both on BLUU's Organizing Collective Board of Directors, have collected original poems, prayers, and short prose pieces by Black Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist writers, musicians, worship leaders, and liturgists. This rich and profound collection can be used for personal study, private meditation, and worship that amplifies a Black Unitarian Universalist perspective and worldview. Selected music and additional resources round out this transformative collection.

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Have you wondered how to integrate your heartfelt beliefs into your life? In this thoughtful collection a wide range of contributors describe the small everyday practices that bring meaning to their lives. What shapes your efforts into an everyday spiritual practice is your commitment to making the activity a regular and significant part of your life. Forty inspiring contributors share their personal, daily spiritual practices—from meditation and prayer, to recycling and vegetarianism, to quilting and art. This collection suggests a wide variety of ways in which you can spiritually examine, shape and care for your life, to achieve wholeness and happiness.

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The light must spill to shine. The thing you must be is yourself. Intimate and uncompromising, Rev. Julián Jamaica, Soto’s debut collection Spilling the Light, is a luminous offering to their communities and a defiant declaration of their worth in a world hostile to their queer, disabled, and brown being. “America, is this freedom?” they ask. “I cannot prove to you that / I am a person,” writing boldly of identity, community, liberation, and erasure through a prism of tender moments and powerful reckonings. These are poems of broken hallelujahs and codes/witching, of hunger and fire, of hope and resilience. They are complex, tender, and empowering. They embolden us to become our truest selves, willing us to survive.

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“I love this book! Khim Fam’s illustrations bring Desmond Tutu’s enduring quote to life, while Matt Meyer cleverly navigates the metaphor to teach young readers about the power of community action.” —Innosanto Nagara, author and illustrator of A is for Activist, Counting on Community, and M is for Movement “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” —Archbishop Desmond Tutu Every morning Desmond the mouse wakes with the sunrise and spends the day playing in the beautiful meadow where he lives. And every night he goes to sleep under the starry sky. That is until one night he wakes up and finds an elephant asleep on his tail! Desmond asks for help from every kind of animal passing by but no one wants to disturb the sleeping giant. How will Desmond get free? With Matt Meyer’s thoughtful story and lush watercolor illustrations by artist Khim Fam, Desmond Gets Free introduces young readers to timely and nuanced concepts of justice and liberation in a kid-friendly and accessible way.

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A firsthand account of two colonial pipelines and their resistance: the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock and the Line 3 pipeline on Anishinaabe lands. This is a story of becoming and un-becoming. When the living waters that crisscrossed the Standing Rock reservation came under threat, minister of the nearby Unitarian Universalist congregation Karen Van Fossan asked herself what it means, as a descendent of colonialism, to resist her own colonial culture. When another pipeline, Line 3, came to threaten Anishinaabe ways of life, the question became even more resounding. In A Fire at the Center, Van Fossan takes readers behind the scenes of the Dakota Access Pipeline conflict, to penitentiaries where prisoners of war have carried the movement onward, to the jail cell where she was held for protesting Line 3, to a reimagining of decolonized family constellations, and to moments of collective hope and strength. With penetrating insight, she blends memoir, history, and cultural critique. Guided by the generous teachings of Oceti Sakowin Camp near Standing Rock, she investigates layers of colonialism—extractive industries, mass incarceration, broken treaties, disappearances of Indigenous people—and the boundaries of imperial whiteness. For all those striving for liberation and meaningful allyship, Van Fossan’s learnings and practices of genuine, mutual solidarity and her thoughtful critique of whiteness will be transformational.

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A rich and vibrant collection of stories that will be treasured by all who wish to broaden their understanding of Islamic tales and traditions. Winner of the 2004 Aesop Prize, Ayat Jamilah: Beautiful Signs draws from the core of Islamic spirituality and ethics, the Qur’an and the hadiths, and also from a rich history of mystical verse, folk tales and figures of the Islamic narrative. Ayat Jamilah gathers traditional stories from the farthest reaches of the Muslim world, which stretches from Morocco in the west to Indonesia in the east, and from China in the north to Tanzania in the south. This singular anthology, with its thorough explanatory notes, will be invaluable to anyone wishing to understand, or to teach, geography, world history, or world religions. It will also be treasured by Muslim families and by all parents committed to broadening the lives and values of their children and themselves.

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“Here is the definitive handbook for those courageous souls taking on the creative and ethical challenge of writing a spiritual memoir.—Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice In Writing the Sacred Journey, readers will discover how to construct a well-crafted spiritual memoir—one that honors the author's interior, sacred story and is at the same time accessible to others. Award-winning writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew provides practical advice on how to overcome writing obstacles as well as guidance for transforming the writing process into a spiritual practice. A writing instructor and spiritual director, Andrew teaches spiritual memoir at Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality in St. Paul, Minneapolis.

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Inspired by the pandemic and her own teenage daughter's upcoming departure from home, editor Vanessa Rush Southern set out to collect an anthology of reflections on the spiritual gifts and challenges of raising young people and the ways that those who nurture and teach children are nurtured and taught themselves. In reflecting with others, she found an array of life experiences, choices, struggles, and insights. She found joy and deep meaning pressed up against all the hard parts, tumbling out between diapers and carpool runs, bursting like fireworks in the midst of casual conversations and rainy days. She found that the young lives that intersect or get invited into relationship with our own shape and change us and those we love in ways both startling and universal. This inclusive and diverse anthology includes all kinds of families, chosen and biological, extended families, single parents, divorced parents, and more-a beautiful spectrum of people reflecting on the place children and young people have played in their lives and in their larger search for meaning. LITTLE DID I KNOW goes well beyond the sentimental to an honest reckoning with the vulnerability and beauty of parenting and caregiving.

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In TRUSTING CHANGE, minister and award-winning writer of Writing to Wake the Soul, Karen Hering offers pastoral support and spiritual skills building for individuals on the cusp of personal change within the collective context of a world that is reshaping itself at a faster pace than ever. The book's ten thresholding skills give readers practical tools for living on the threshold and through change, but this is not a typical "how-to" guide and its beautifully written and evocative language will connect readers with their own deeper consciousness. From the book's first page, the reader is greeted by a warm storyteller ready to journey with them through uncertainty and change. Hering does not pretend that change is easy but notes its inevitability and some of the ways readers can participate in it, allowing them to trust it more in the future. Sharing wisdom found in nature and in metaphors, the reflections include evocative questions and creative, often embodied exercises that invite the reader into a larger story of change. This book is a conversation with the reader meant to also stir conversations between readers as we learn to live into and through our transformative times together.

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Drawing on scores of personal interviews, this straightforward, yet introspective, volume of actual accounts provides a real sense of the challenges and blessings of aging. Unlike many books on the topic, IN LATER YEARS focuses particularly on older people - those in their late seventies, eighties and nineties. Interviewees thoughtfully share their joys, regrets, accomplishments and things left unfinished, while, also, considering the ways they cope with diminishing physical and mental abilities. Weaving these personal reflections and accounts together, Marshall explores questions of meaning and spirituality that, ultimately, reveal larger themes and hold up the opportunities for discovery, connection and renewal available to us in advanced age. The book, also, serves as an invaluable resource for family members and carers, suggesting ways to understand and help with the issues that arise as people grow old. Detailed appendices provide tips and a simple curriculum for gathering and facilitating group discussions.

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"As the generations rise and fall, the wars of the past are surpassed by the wars of the present age, prosperity and poverty diverge in new ways, and new technology remakes the world in ways Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ken Patton, Olympia Brown, or Francis Watkins Harper could hardly have comprehended. New words of love and truth, new memorable phrases, new encouragements are in order. Assumptions, sometimes unconsciously made in previous eras, have been challenged and rethought. Contemporary voices in this new century still revere both love and truth and find ways in worship of moving out of the familiar and into new territory. Styles of imagery and poetry that might have startled our ancestors encourage us to live out lives of depth."—Mark Belletini, from the PrefaceMore than 250 readings are collected here to reinvigorate and update Unitarian Universalist worship. Just as Singing the Journey supplemented the hymns in Singing the Living Tradition with more diversity in perspectives and styles, Lifting Our Voices supplements the SLT readings with modern voices from an array of cultures and theological perspectives. Chosen with care by Revs. Mark Belletini, Kendyl Gibbons, Angela Herrera, Abhi Janamanchi, and Hope Johnson, these new readings, from Unitarian Universalists and acclaimed authors and poets are sure to become instant classics.

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Words ancient and modern on life's final passage. Useful for composing eulogies, readings at memorial services and funerals and writing sympathy and condolence cards. Selections also offer comfort to the bereaved and personal reflection during mourning and recovery. Searl has been a UU minister for more than 25 years and is the author of In Memoriam.

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Las voces del camino presents 75 songs in Spanish, including songs from Singing the Living Tradition plus fresh selections from Spanish-speaking cultures the world over. Perfect for churches with Spanish-speaking congregants and others seeking multicultural programming. For songs that are not in Singing the Living Tradition, a synopsis of the lyrics is provided. Spiral bound"There are many of our favorite hymns from Singing the Living Tradition rendered in poetic, idiomatic Spanish. There are many new songs from Taizé and other original sources. There are also hymns based on folk songs and familiar melodies including the Jewish tradition. The music in this hymnal spans the globe! I will urge my congregation to buy copies of Las Voces del Camino as I truly believe its inclusion will enhance worship and open the door to another section of the demographic of our city. I strongly recommend this hymnal. I believe that it will soon be seen as an enduring blessing to the UU community." - Dr. Leon Burke III, Eliot Chapel, St. Louis, MO"The UUA's new Spanish language songbook, Las Voces del Camino is a powerful new worship resource for UU congregations and choirs - whether they are bi-lingual or they hope to expand their cultural and spiritual perspective through incorporation of Spanish texts and music in worship. Italian director Federico Fellini said, "A different language is a different vision of life." Las Voces del Camino offers us a different, expanded vision of our living tradition - one that is sure to enrich and enliven our worship and congregational lives." - Elizabeth Norton, director of adult choirs, First Parish, Concord, MA"Las Voces del Camino joins other Unitarian Universalist songbooks in offering expanded congregational repertoire. Singable translations of music already known to UUs combine with new songs. This publication will do much to encourage congregations in spiritual growth and to continue to develop a world community." - Keith Arnold, minister of music, Jefferson Unitarian Church

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Every day you meet your child’s spiritual and emotional needs—you just don’t know it. In this short, accessible, and comforting book, expert J.L. Shattuck provides insight into your child’s earliest rituals. Have you ever wondered why your toddler will only drink from a specific cup, or only eat if you turn mealtime into a game? Have you ever found yourself following along with—and maybe even enjoying—your child’s increasingly elaborate bedtime routines? In The Tending Years: Understanding Your Child’s Earliest Rituals, J.L. Shattuck argues that these behaviors are not just habits but rituals—patterns of behavior young children naturally develop to reassure themselves they are safe and loved. Shattuck draws on child developmental theory and more than two decades of experience as a teacher, religious educator, and parent to explore the spiritual roots of this behavior. She demonstrates how adults and young children instinctively work together to support each other’s growth during this unique developmental period. Unlike parenting books that ask you to change the way you interact with your child, this easy-to-read volume details the ways in which you’re already tending to your child’s needs and offers inspiration and support to help you through the preschool years and beyond.

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“In a divided world where the stories we tell often exclude those who are different, Laura Alary offers us a beautiful legend large enough for all people to see themselves in its words. Here is a delightfully illustrated book with a tale that promises to heal divisions and bring us together.” —Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, author of many award-winning children's books including God's Paintbrush and In God's Name Mira is a girl with big questions. She knows two different stories about the way the world came to be. Which story is right? Can they both be right? Is there room for more than one way to think about the world and our place in it? Follow her on an inspiring journey as she discovers a story big enough to include everyone. Along the way, Mira learns to respect and revere the traditions and beliefs of others. Teach children kindness and acceptance with this beautifully illustrated and compelling tale. It is sure to keep young ones enthralled. Ages 8 and up.

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Give thanks for the earth and all its creatures from A to Z with Earth Day. Children and adults will delight in Earth Day, a litany of gratitude that celebrates earth's diverse species, from apricots to groundhogs to junebugs, from quahogs to zinnias, zucchini and zebras with bright and whimsical illustrations. In alphabetical order, the wonders of nature arise from the page, reminding readers that every day is a reason to give thanks and that miracles are as simple as ABC. For ages 3 and up.

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This one-of-a-kind picture book is a colorful introduction to Unitarian Universalism for children ages five to nine. Simple language and appealing illustrations offer children accessible answers to commonly asked questions such as: Who are we? What do we believe? How do we worship? Who leads us? Do we read the Bible? What is our religious symbol? Do we pray? What is Sunday school? How do we celebrate?

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"Designed for the novice storyteller as well as the seasoned professional, this book reminds us that stories are both medicine and nourishment." -- Margo McLoughlin, author of Seeds of Generosity Fonts of timeless wisdom, folktales are meant to be told aloud and this collection curates fifty such tales along with guidance for telling them well in gatherings of all sizes. The stories explore a broad range of themes, including authenticity, forgiveness, generosity, death, faith, hope and many more. Some funny, others poignant - all of the tales draw listeners in. Each story is accompanied by a brief descriptions, story maps and reflective questions. A comprehensive index of themes and principles rounds out this comprehensive folktale resource.

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A poignant and inspirational guide for a journey toward ecological spirituality and sustainable culture. Each chapter contains an essay and spiritual practices designed for both group and individualized reflection. Exercises include a wide range of suggestions such as guided meditations, journaling prompts, creative art projects, and ideas for concrete action. Readers can choose the exercises that best suit their personalities, lifestyles, and unique journeys

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"Our congregations will find in this songbook music that will shape our community and give new voice to our values as we move forward, supporting our deepening faith and a more effective voice for justice."--William Sinkford This 75-song supplement presents an exceptional variety of music for congregational singing."We live in an experiential age, a subjective time, and the new supplement reflects this. Move me emotionally, we are saying, and I will then move intellectually and morally. Inspiration is what we want. Singing the Journey provides it in spades. " --W. Frederick Wooden, UU World

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Filled with practical advice and psychological insight, The Gift of Faith celebrates the importance of nurturing our children's spiritual growth. Eloquent and inspiring, The Gift of Faith celebrates religion in the lives of children. Jeanne Harrison Nieuwejaar draws from her own personal stories and experiences to illustrate how religious community plays an integral role in deepening the faith of parents, who are children's primary educators. She encourages parents to communicate their beliefs in words and in actions and to become part of a religious community that supports these beliefs. She offers ways to foster spiritual awareness in the home and includes practices for marking the many events in children's lives as religious occasions.

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Revision is the spiritual practice of transformation - of seeing text and, therefore, the world with new eyes. Done well, revision returns us to our original love. In LIVING REVISION, award-winning author and teacher, Elizabeth J. Andrew, guides writers through the writing and revision process. With insight and grace, Andrew asks writers to flex their spiritual muscles, helping them to transform their writing as they in turn transform into more curious and reflective human beings. Her expertly honed techniques, exercises and personal examples will help writers invigorate their work and themselves as they engage the human heart within and across the page. LIVING REVISION is no mere guide with tips and tricks - although it does have those - but a deep and reflective well for writers to draw from as they strengthen their relationship to the creative source.

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Progressive faith is at a crossroads. Liberal pulpits ring with grand sermons about the arc that bends toward justice and about progress "onward and upward forever." Meanwhile, the people in the pews struggle to attend to the suffering of their souls and the tragic aspects of life. In this engaging polemic, using stories and metaphor, Nancy McDonald Ladd issues a call for change. Speaking from a rising generation of clergy and lay leaders who formed their commitments to liberal religion at the end of the optimistic modernist age, she shows how the religious life is not characterised by endless human advancement, but by lurching movement, crisis management and pain. With humour and humanity, Ladd calls religious progressives to greater authenticity and truth-telling rather than blind optimism. She charts a course forward that includes reclaiming rituals of atonement and lament and becoming more vulnerable and accountable in our relationships. She shows how, together, we might build a necessary and greater resilience among ourselves and for the generations to come.

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Every story begins with a word. As a young woman, Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew carried a word within her so potent that it spread through every artery and vein. But she carried it in secret until she was shown a different way and the word inside her turned restless and eager. A beautiful and powerful memoir of coming of age and coming out bisexual, SWINGING ON THE GARDEN GATE describes a period of time in award-winning writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew's life where she came to know her bisexuality as an embodied manifestation of divinity. Andrew not only reconciles her Methodist faith with her sexuality but realises that her body is holy, her sexuality is holy, and the word she carried within her has always been holy. The spark of spirit Andrew identifies in her body she also finds throughout the solid matter of life-in childhood, nature, creativity, loss, death, and especially the coming out process. In addition to being a personal journey through memory, Andrew brings a distinctly queer feminist lens to Christian teachings and answers the question hundreds of young people have posed to her over the years, "Is it possible to be both queer and spiritual?" The act of bringing hidden, personal truths to light is transformational, and for Andrew, a universal calling. This stunning second edition includes a new note from Andrew as she looks back on its twenty-year history.

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This is the most complete introduction to Unitarian Universalism available, covering ministry, worship, religious education, social justice and history. Extensively revised, the sixth edition prepares readers with resources and information for this crucial moment in Unitarian Universalism. It, also, gives voice to many individual Unitarian Universalists - people of all ages, coming from many backgrounds and holding many beliefs - as they share their personal and deeply heartfelt testimonies. Contributors include Rosemary Bray McNatt, Erika Hewitt, Cheryl Walker, Jessica York, Elizabeth Nguyen, Aisha Hauser and Dan McKanan. The foreword was written by lifelong Unitarian Universalist Melissa Harris-Perry - writer, professor, political commentator and editor-at-large at Elle.com.

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In Held: Showing Up for Each Other’s Mental Health, community minister and mental health advocate Barbara F. Meyers illustrates how members of liberal religious congregations can be supportive to those living with mental health problems, and their loved ones, in our congregations and society at large. Meyers addresses the fundamental elements of spiritual support—truth, hope, presence, acceptance, encouragement, authenticity, public witness, and pastoral care—with stories from real life situations and suggestions for how parishioners can provide and advocate for support in their congregations. A study guide for congregations and a list of resources for more information round out this thoughtful and necessary resource.

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Minister, author and activist, Marilyn Sewell, reflects on the everyday, the places we live and work, the thoughts we all have but hardly ever share, though they may carry the most profound of our human concerns. Using a variety of short literary forms - dramatic monologues, vignettes, letters, prose poems, lists, surrealistic tales - Sewell presents quirky, ironic and compassionate slices of life that will bring laughter and at the same time take you deeper into the mysteries of existence. Sewell pushes for the thin, startling light beneath the confusion and chaos of our daily living: a woman worries that her cat loves her partner more than her; a man and a woman talk past each other in a therapy session; a lonely woman is distressed because her plant has stopped blooming. Together these short, compelling readings shine a light on the cultural incongruities and inanities which crowd our existence. We love, we lose, we die and through it all, we ask, "What's it all about?"

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Dan McKanan is the Emerson Senior Lecturer at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of five books, most recently Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition (Beacon Press, 2011) and Eco-Alchemy: Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Environmental Movement (University of California Press, 2017). A member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford, he lives with his spouse and daughter in Somerville, Massachusetts.

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In this personal and emotionally honest exploration of conflict, the Reverend Nathan C. Walker introduces a creative and compassionate way to develop empathetic responses. He introduces the concept of the moral imagination - a vital character trait used by those who have the courage to project themselves into a conflict and understand all the perspectives, aware that understanding need not imply agreement. CULTIVATING EMPATHY presents a collection of essays about the author's wrestlings with personal and cultural conflicts and his commitment to stop "otherising" - which occurs when we either demonise people or romanticise them. Walker's remedy for these kinds of projections is to employ the moral imagination as an everyday spiritual practice. He shows that through this approach, we can save ourselves from irresponsibly using our imaginations by cultivating genuine empathy for those we previously held in contempt. We can visualise ourselves playing various characters within a conflict and choose not to play a lead role in the drama. Throughout the book he endeavours to find connection with skinheads, murderers, homophobic preachers, privileged 1 percenters and Monsanto executives. An online companion workbook will help readers to hone these skills through a variety of exercises.

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It can be difficult to create space for our spiritual lives in a world crowded with distractions. THE PEN AND THE BELL is about how to achieve mindfulness and creative fulfillment in spite of long to-do lists. It's about gaining access to our deeper selves in the workaday world and bringing forth this authentic self in our writing. With both meditative and writing exercises in each chapter, it will help you awaken your creative soul and find a more rewarding life. "This isn't a book - it's a beautiful, quiet path into the deep woods of contemplative practice through the medium of the written word. Yes, reading its chapters will delight you. Yes, listening to these two wise women talk quietly about their lives and their writing process is a sweet and effortless reading experience that will make you feel as if you are sitting across from them, a cu of tea in front of you, hearing the measure and lilt of their kindly, honest, voices. But the real crux of this book/path isn't their words - it's yours." -- Norman Fischer author Taking Our Places

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In the pages of MUHAMMAD, young readers will encounter a man very different from the figure often presented in Western popular culture. Drawing from biographies, the Quran and hadith, Sarah Conover, co-author of Ayat Jamilah, Beautiful Signs, relates the story of a radical prophet who challenged the rich and powerful, guided his community of followers through a dangerous time of persecution and exile, formed alliances with people of different beliefs and preached "love for humanity what you love for yourself." Before he became one of the most venerated and most misunderstood, religious leaders in history, Muhammad was an orphaned child and a shepherd. Written for readers 12 and up and with a foreword by Eboo Patel (founder of Interfaith Youth Core and a member of the President's Council on Faith-Based Neighbourhood Partnerships), MUHAMMAD will educate and inspire young adults and adults of all faiths.

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This collection of essays from Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott, Barry Lopez, and others reflects on how parenting challenges, enriches, and magnifies our spiritual lives. They explore those times when children helped them appreciate the mystery and beauty of life, how children threw them into battles with their souls, and how children helped them say “yes” to living. Parents with families of all kinds will find in these essays moments of joyful recognition and compassionate understanding for the unique spiritual adventure of raising children.

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A collection of traditional stories from one of the world's oldest civilizations. Simple, often humorous, and always wise, these tales will delight readers of all ages, making Harmony a book to cherish. For over two thousand years, the Chinese have used brief sayings known as chengyu to sum up practical wisdom and ethical principles. Most chengyu are associated with a story that illustrates their meaning, and these stories have been passed down by word of mouth over the centuries. Gathered in this volume are twenty-four of the most popular chengyu and the stories based on them, each beautifully illustrated by one of China's foremost artists, Ji Ruoxiao. For readers curious about the cultural context of the tales, the book includes a brief overview of Chinese religious traditions as well as background notes on each story, a map, and chronology.

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As humans, we grow and we change, we grieve and we celebrate. Let Blessing It All be your guide to foster meaning and community as you mark the moments in your life.Our personal lives and the lives of our communities are marked by moments of transition and transformation. As individuals, we grow up, we move, we start new schools and new jobs, we begin and end relationships, we have children and if we are lucky we get to watch them grow, we lose people we love, and we discover more about who we are. As communities, we honor people entering new life stages, we reckon with natural disasters and national traumas, and year after year we mark the cycles of the seasons.Traditionally, we often mark birth, marriage, and death, and yet these are not the only moments that touch our lives and shape who we are. In this stunning collection, editors and ministers Heather Concannon and Allison Palm and contributors invite you to bless it all—moments that are ordina

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Why is this happening? How do you care for yourself and your family? If you are struggling with a loved one’s addiction you are not alone. A compassionate resource for anyone stuck between a rock and a hard place.When Rev. Nathan Detering shared the story of his brother’s death from a drug overdose with the members of his congregation, many of them shared their own addiction stories with him. Realizing the healing power of sharing stories and questions in community, Rev. Detering conducted interviews to identify and address the common questions that haunt us when we love someone with addiction. In conversations both within and outside his community, he heard the palpable need for those struggling with a loved one’s addictions to know they are not alone.Weaving together his own and others’ deeply felt experiences of addiction, Why Can’t I Fix It? responds to sometimes desperate questions such as: Why is this happening? What can you do? What can’t you do? How do you care for yourself and the rest of your family? Can you trust your community to support you and your family? While the answers to these questions aren’t easily found, Why Can’t I Fix It? encourages those of us who are struggling with a loved one’s addictions to practice self-care and self-compassion, understand the cultural context for emotional responses and expectations of ourselves and others, and reach out for support.

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"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality." -Archbishop Desmond Tutu Every morning Desmond the mouse wakes with the sunrise and spends the day playing in the beautiful meadow where he lives. And every night he goes to sleep under the starry sky. That is, until one night when he wakes up and finds an elephant asleep on his tail! Desmond asks for help from every kind of animal passing by, but no one wants to disturb the sleeping giant. How will Desmond get free? With Matt Meyer's thoughtful story and lush watercolour illustrations by artist Khim Fam, DESMOND GETS FREE introduces young readers to timely and nuanced concepts of justice and liberation in a kid-friendly and accessible way. Ages 4-8.

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Editor and scholar Qiyamah A. Rahman collects and explores the unique journeys of Black Unitarian Universalist clergywomen, celebrating their wisdom, resilience, and contributions within and beyond Unitarian Universalism. In The Rough Side of the Mountain: Black Women’s Ministries in Unitarian Universalism, editor and scholar Qiyamah A. Rahman collects and explores the unique journeys of Black Unitarian Universalist clergywomen, celebrating their wisdom, resilience, and contributions within and beyond Unitarian Universalism. Rahman provides crucial historical background and context, outlining the history of female Black spiritual leaders going back to ancient times, African spirituality, the Black church, the Civil Rights Movement, and Unitarian Universalist history. This singular anthology lifts up the stories and wisdom of Black Unitarian Universalist clergywomen past and present, whose contributions to this faith are just beginning to be recognized.

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A call to anyone who thought they were alone on the journey, Incantations for Rest is for kindred spirits: neurodivergent folks, parents up late past bedtime nursing resentment, Black people in predominantly white spaces—anyone who has found themselves at the edges of Beloved Community.Incantations for Rest is an invitation to slow down and explore every kind of rest, providing sacred space for those exhausted by the demands of a racist, ableist society. This stunning collection of poems, meditations, and magic by poet-activist Atena O. Danner is an examination of spiritual spaces, a love letter to Black well-being, and medicine for BIPOC people. Within these pages you are invited to savor connection, question assumptions, admit to complicated feelings, and still make room for joy. It is a beacon of affirmation and a vital tool for ritual and reflection.

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CHRIST FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS is an engaging and thoughtful inquiry into Christianity for Unitarian Universalists and other spiritual seekers - including sceptics, non-religious people, liberal Christians and those who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." The book has several purposes. The first is to present Christ in an understandable and compelling way to the increasing number of people who do not consider themselves Christian. The second is to present liberal and progressive Christians with the non-dogmatic way that Unitarian Universalists have viewed Christ through the Bible and personal experience. And the third is to promote active dialogue between non-Christians and the nearly 80% of Americans who identify themselves as Christian. CHRIST FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS addresses frank questions with integrity and intellectual honesty, yet, also, presents a sincere and genuine sense of love as embodied in Jesus that is so heartfelt, so unconditional and so revolutionary that it will take your breath away.

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With unflinching honesty and humor in the vein of Cheryl Strayed and David Sedaris but a raw tenderness all her own, Kate Landis chronicles the hardest parts of her young adulthood as well as her poignant journey to faith and community. Kate Landis grew up in the American Baptist Church—the child of a music director and a deacon—until she left the church in her late teens after surviving major depression and a handful of suicide attempts. She became an activist, feminist, punk, and self-described rabble rouser. And through activism she found a spiritual community with justice at its core and a faith that could hold it all—her mental illness, her fire, her spunk, and all of her questions—a loving, stubborn grace.

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"Kindness is packed with excellent tales that will surprise and delight readers while introducing them to the diversity of religious traditions." ―John Green, Booklist Following the Buddha through his various transformations, these clarified, often humorous narrative journeys open the ancient masters profound and gentle teachings to persons of all ages, religions, races, and ideological persuasions. Over and over this marvelous book tells us, "let go of your anger, your fear, your greedy desire. Embrace gladness. Follow the path." And the stories themselves, simply as stories, form a wondrous pageant of elephants, monkeys, monks, and men working through foolishness toward wisdom and delight. This collection of traditional Buddhist tales leads us to the kind of implicit understanding of ourselves and others that only stories can provide.

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Poet Kristen Harper confronts and unpacks the language, imagery, buzzwords, and cultural touchstones that reinforce white supremacy culture and invites readers to radically transform their perceptions of blackness.

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Sexuality researcher, Jane Fleishman, shares the stories of nine fearless elders in the LGBTQ community who came of age around the time of Stonewall. In candid interviews, they lay bare their struggles, their strengths, their activism and their sexual liberation in the context of the political movements of the 1960s, 1970s and today. Each has spent a lifetime fighting for liberation, for the right to live, love and be free. Each has faced challenges arising from their sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, politics, disabilities, kinkiness, nonmonogamy and other identities. With unflinching directness, the elders interviewed explore their struggles within the LGBTQ community: Were they the "right" kind of lesbians or gay men? Were they scrutinised more critically because they came out as bi? Was there insidious racism or classism keeping them down just when they thought they'd finally come home? Were they called names or looked down upon for choosing to be paid for sex, for being fat, for having kinky sexual practices? Were their political credentials dissected when they wore the "wrong" kinds of clothes or lived in the "wrong" kinds of places? What political movements made an impact on them? How did their sexual lives as young people inform their sexual lives as adults? These are the stories of those whose lives were changed forever by Stonewall and who became agents of change themselves. We need to hear these voices.

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What calls Unitarian Universalists to create multicultural, antiracist Beloved Community? What do congregations need when they embark on this journey? What common threads run through their stories? Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin—a white minister and a lay person of color—share how five diverse congregations encounter frustrations and disappointments, as well as hope and wonder, once they commit to the journey. Mistakes abound. Miracles of transformation and joy emerge too. Extensively researched and thoughtfully written—with reflection questions at the end of each chapter—Mistakes and Miracles: Congregations on the Road to Multiculturalism will guide readers to apply these stories to their own communities, develop next steps, and renew their commitment to this hard but meaningful work.

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