Typhoon Haiyan: how we can help
Karen Johnston discusses how to help when tragedy strikes in distant places—without sending SWEDOW (Stuff We Don’t Want).
Given the increased frequency with which these catastrophes are happening, . . . it is the responsibility of people with financial privilege . . . to find trustworthy agencies who will ensure that the donations serve the people most in need. This is a subjective process. . . . It does require some effort at a discernment process. Yet, there are ways to make it a little easier on yourself. What I do is look to people I respect. (irrevspeckay, November 12)
Among other options, Johnston refers to the UUA/UUSC joint response to Typhoon Haiyan; the Rev. Scott Wells suggests the World Food Program USA (Boy in the Bands, November 12).
Living in community
The Rev. Myke Johnson reminds us of the joy of living in loving community.
So often when we hear that we should love one another, it sounds like hard work, like a task, like a moral imperative that would be good to follow, but not very pleasant. And I admit there is something difficult about loving one another. But somewhere in the middle of it, comes a surprise. There really is divinity within each person—and when we see it, it is beautiful, joyful, mysterious, and wonderful. (Finding Our Way Home, November 9)
Liz James shares a summer adventure—a story about how communities need both upstream thinkers and wave riders.
Wave riders, as I think of myself, are not just deficient up streamers. We are bad at one set of skills and good at another set. We are the authors of surprise vacations and spontaneous river trips. We are the ones who turn the bedbugs into an adventure and co-author the “stuck on airplane songs” of the world. (Rebel with a Label Maker, November 13)
The Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford asks, “Does your church take care of ‘their’ community or ‘the’ community?”
It’s easy . . . to feel the need for “our community,” for a safe place to seek sanctuary for a culture that often feels so foreign, with its emphasis on consumerism, celebrity, and, depending on where you live, fundamentalism.
But it’s not enough for us to make a safe place for “our community.” Our parish goes beyond our walls and we’re called to make that entire parish more loving, more tolerant, more whole. Those other folks out there—they are residents in the Beloved Community, too. (Boots and Blessings, November 11)
Drawing on the words of the Prophet Isaiah, the Rev. Naomi King writes “Hope is ours indeed, when hope is in our deeds.”
My life has changed dramatically in the past few years, and every time I cannot attend a meeting or join friends at a cafe or go some other place because of curbs and steps and crowded narrowed cluttered spaces I have a choice: do I suffer in exile, or do I go ahead and make home, welcoming and meeting others where we can meet, inviting and encouraging my neighbors to want to make our towns accessible to all? (The Wonderment, November 13)
The Rev. Audette Fulbright writes a letter to UU seminarians about the UUMA guidelines as an invitation to spiritual practice.
Guidelines and covenants hold before us high ideals and expectations, but they also are meant to build the bridges necessary for us to reach them. See them as the planks and beams of what helps create good ministers and ministry: relationships of trust and support, some shared expectations, and a system of accountability to hold it all. (Raising Faith, November 7)
Rebecca Hecking asks, “Got baggage?”
Each of us carries the baggage of generations. Each of us does battle with hidden ghosts. Each of us is wounded. Each of us suffers. . . . On a good day, a day when I’m feeling particularly spiritual and enlightenment seems likely, I can see this. I have a namaste moment with all humanity, and those who cross my path. The hidden burden I carry bows to the hidden burden that you carry. (Breath and Water, November 14)
Faith and interfaith
The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg summarizes a class he’s teaching on alternate Christianities and extracanonical books of the Bible.
The most important point may be that there never was a simple beginning in which all you needed to do was believe in a certain interpretation of the meaning of Jesus’ death. As rediscovered “Lost Christianities” and banned books have shown, in the beginning was diversity, experimentation, and conflict—that has continued to this day—over the meaning of Jesus’ life and teachings. (Pluralism, Pragmatism, Progressivism, November 13)
The Rev. Jeff Liebmann is an atheist, non-Christian follower of Jesus.
Whether he actually existed or resides merely in myth, I admire the person who walked humbly, helped everyone without judgment, and stood up to the authorities of the day speaking out for equality, fairness and mercy. If he walked our streets today, I imagine him decrying our cuts to food stamps, calling out business greed that destroys families and demanding an end to our violence against each other. (UUJeff’s Muse Kennel and Pizzatorium, November 9)
Attending an interfaith dinner and celebration, “Plaidshoes” was most touched by a non-verbal interaction after the event.
I went out to get my jacket and ran into one of the women from the table. I didn’t get to talk to her very much as she was seated further away and had a harder time with English. She was also fully covered in a headscarf and reminded me of a sweet grandma. When she saw me in the hallway, she rushed up to me and took my hand, hugged me and kissed me three times. It was one of the most amazing, touching things I have ever experienced. It almost left me in tears. Friendly, open dialogue truly can make the difference. That is why this work is so important. (Everyday Unitarian, November 8)
The Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre, a guest preacher, gives an altar call at All Souls Unitarian in Tulsa.
Conversations about masculinity
Doug Muder comments on the bullying accusations concerning Richie Incognito of the Miami Dolphins.
The resemblance to the keep-it-in-the-family view of child abuse or domestic violence (in my opinion) is more than coincidental. Implicit in the criticism of Martin is the idea that there’s only one acceptable way to be a man, and being shy or non-confrontational is not part of it.
. . . . Hazing and bullying is often about group solidarity. And often the ultimate beneficiary of a solid group isn’t a team or teammate, or even the bully himself, it’s a boss or owner. (The Weekly Sift, November 11)
In his series of conversations about masculinity, Adam Dyer writes about the trauma of “culturally imposed skin hunger.”
[There] is one kind of trauma that men in America experience we should be exploring much more deeply. . . . Starvation by touch or what I would call culturally imposed skin hunger. By forbidding touch, particularly touch between males, men in our culture experience life in a world devoid of unconditional human contact. They are in essence ‘starving’ for physical contact and most of them don’t even realize it. (spirituwellness, November 13)
Expanding the Web
The Interdependent Web usually limits itself to explicitly Unitarian Universalist-identified bloggers. This week Jeffrey Lockwood, an entomologist, was featured in Andrew Sullivan’s blog, The Dish. Lockwood was not identified as a UU, but he is a regular contributor to UU World and the UUA has published several of his books; here Lockwood describes a “creepy-crawly” encounter.
Grasshoppers boiled in every direction, ricocheting off my face and chest. Some latched on to my bare arms and a few tangled their spiny legs into my hair. Others began to crawl into my clothing—beneath my shorts, under my collar. They worked their way into the gaps between shirt buttons, pricking my chest, sliding down my sweaty torso. For the first time in my life as an entomologist, I panicked. (The Dish, November 13)