First Unitarian Church of Baltimore

Spirit of Life, help us to be still and see what comes forth in the silence. We are taught in many ways to be in constant motion; help us to learn the art of waiting.

Martin Niemöller

Dear God of Oneness, Source of Life, Known by a Thousand Names,

We pray for the people of Ferguson today. We especially hold in our hearts the family of Michael Brown who must live their loss over and over again.

No Justice No Peace! Hands Up Don't Shoot!

Our cries rise up from the troubled burial grounds

To the courts of law and the barricaded police stations

Our prayers flutter on the cold winds of November,

Our hearts made strong by the ones who stand in the streets and hold hands in the churches and sing and shout for a changed world. 

May we continue to believe in hope, may we act for the good, may the children of Ferguson sleep safely tonight.

Dear One, give us the courage to stay in the fight,

May the long arc of Love ever be our guide.

Amen. 

Spirit of Love, we give thanks for the care that surrounds us, the beings that nurture us and the world that holds us. May we give back our care in return, striving always to be kind.

"We have religion when we look upon people with all their failings, and still find in them good."

~Ralph N. Helverson, Unitarian Universalist Minister

Learn more about Unitarian Universalism

Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom, author of Serving with Grace, on lay leadership as a spiritual practice.

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver is one of those poems which has become more and more a part of my soul over the years. When I first read it, it was “no matter how lonely” that I needed; today, it’s “You do not have to be good.”

I imagine, one day, it’ll be “Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.”

I was recently asked why the title of my blog is “How to Drive Like a Minister”.  Is there some commonly held view of how ministers drive, a stereotype which I am referencing?  Nope.  As far as I know, there is no stereotype about ministers and how they drive.  There are plenty of other groups which are presumed to drive one way or another based on gender, racial identity, hair color, age… but not minsters - or yet at least.

The point of the title is about how faith informs the way we live.  Driving is something nearly universal in our culture, so the question is: How does your faith inform how you drive?  And more broadly, how do your personal and communally held religious or spiritual beliefs inform how you live in the world?

How do your beliefs as a Christian edit the way you interact with people at a coffee shop? What does your Buddhist identity mean for where you shop? How does being a Pagan inform your choice of gym? Do your Jewish beliefs come into play when you use social media? What does it mean to leave tips like a Muslim? Does being Sikh inform where you volunteer? What does a Hindu-based investment portfolio look like? Do your Unitarian Universalist beliefs inform what you eat for breakfast?

I care what your beliefs are, and I enjoy hearing about different faiths.  But more important than if you believe in God(s) is what that belief in God(s) means for how you live!  Don’t tell me you live for Jesus, tell me how that conviction informs how you act!

It’s important what we believe.  It is important since it aught to inform how we live.

We all have two religions: the religion we talk about and the religion we live. It is our task to make the difference between the two as small as possible.

‘Yellow shirts for climate action’