Re-Blog: The Power of Cultivated Beneficence

Originally posted on Peace Paul's Blog:
In September of 1947 Gandhi undertook a fast to address the violence in Calcutta that had killed thousands. It was only a few months before his assassination. Ghastly communal violence verging on civil war was sweeping across India. On the heels of independence, India was being partitioned into…

Sermon: I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today

…as I’ve researched, thought, and jogged my memory about 1968, I’ve realized that maybe what we’re going through today isn’t so different, and maybe there is ground for hope. So come with me as I re-live some of 1968.

What’s Wrong with the American Dream

Originally posted on Truly Open Minds and Hearts:
By Mel Harkrader Pine At the age of 30, I got my first ride on a corporate jet. My companions were the Vice Chairman of the Mobil Corporation Board and our wives. Since we were four passengers on a short flight — New York to Washington —…

Re-Blog: Tribes, and How to Get Beyond Them

Originally posted on Truly Open Minds and Hearts:
By Mel Harkrader Pine I made a solo 1,500-mile driving round trip recently, which gave me the opportunity to catch up to some books I had been wanting to read, or in this case listen to. I was surprised, and enlightened, by two that incongruously fit together.…

Social Justice and Dry Bones

Originally posted on Truly Open Minds and Hearts:
By Rev. Kate Braestrup From the prophet Jeremiah: O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and…

Is That a Shame?

Originally posted on Truly Open Minds and Hearts:
By Mel Harkrader Pine “A lot of people seem to think I started this business,” (Elvis) Presley told Jet magazine in 1957. “But rock ‘n’ roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that music like colored people. Let’s face it: I…

Me, Too

Let’s recognize that no one has a monopoly on pain.

How Vietnam Scarred Us

My generation came head-to-head with the draft and the Vietnam war just as we reached the age of questioning and rebellion.

Everything Old Is New Again

…history seems to be repeating itself with a President even weirder than Nixon and probably less principled, in a climate that seems more polarized.

TrUUmpism – Sermon – March 19, 2017

TrUUmpism. Yes, that’s a controversial sermon title, but, no, this is not a political sermon. It’s a fresh way of looking at the divisions in the country and what those divisions may teach us as Americans and as Unitarian Universalists.

Trump as Zen Koan

Is Donald Trump a fully enlightened Buddha sent to awaken all of us?