Blessed Be the Earth

Posted on February 20, 2025 by admin

Blessed be the earth beneath our feet—steady and strong, ancient and wise. She has cradled our ancestors, nurtured the seeds of our dreams, and held us through every season of our lives. Today, we gather to honor her, to bless the tools we use to shape and tend her sacred body, and to offer gratitude for all she provides.

Blessed be the plow that turns the soil, breaking open the land that new life may take root. May it move with care, guided by hands that respect the earth’s wisdom. May it bring forth abundance, not through force, but through harmony—working with the land, not against it.

Blessed be the spade, the rake, the hoe—each tool that touches the ground in labor and love. May they be instruments of renewal, clearing the way for growth, restoring balance where there is need, and reminding us that effort and patience bring forth the sweetest fruits.

Blessed be the hands—calloused or smooth, young or aged—that dig deep into the soil, planting with intention and hope. May they be strong when needed, gentle when required, and always mindful of the sacred bond between human and earth.

Blessed be the instruments of creation—pens that write, voices and instruments that sing, brushes that paint, minds that dream. For what we cultivate is not only of the land but also of the soul. May the seeds of our thoughts, our songs, our labors of love be sown with care and harvested with joy.

Blessed be our hearts, open to the rhythms of the earth. May we listen to her whispers in the wind, her lessons in the rain, her wisdom in the quiet turning of the seasons. May we learn from her patience, her resilience, her endless generosity.

With gratitude, with reverence, and with love, we offer this blessing. May our work be holy, our harvest abundant, and our hearts ever rooted in the sacred earth.

Blessed be

~Candice Carver

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Three Superpowers

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Bob Patrick

In a recent reflection, I named three human superpowers that I’d like to revisit. 

The first superpower is curiosity. Most of us began to develop this superpower when we were 4 or 5 years old with the incessant questions we found that we could ask. Curiosity is evoked with every why, how, what, when, and where we can conceive of. Human change and development, insight, knowledge and wisdom all begin with a question. When we stop asking questions, we cease to grow.

The second superpower is our imagination. This is one of our best kept secrets. We have unfortunately cultivated a popular notion that imagination is thin, ethereal and weak. The idea is that we turn to imagination when we have nothing else. The truth is that all great ideas, inventions, movements, and human endeavors–even practical daily solutions–begin with what someone imagines. Imagination is the power of seeing what can be as already done. What remains are simply (and frequently demandingly) the details.

The third superpower is our capacity for empathy. I’ll be honest that sometimes I wonder if empathy is a universal human capability. I don’t have an answer for that, ultimately. Asking ourselves what another being’s experience is like requires the first two superpowers, however, and I am fairly certain that we are all capable of curiosity and imagination. So, what is the kryptonite that hinders some human empathy? I suspect that it is fear. Let someone engage my imagination with questions about what bad things might happen if . . . and I suddenly find myself less able to empathize, less willing to open the door to other beings having different experiences from us. 

Fear is, at least for me, the kryptonite that can disable my superpower of empathy. I have to be aware of those things that evoke fear in me: detect, dodge, divert. I want to give place to empathy in me over fear whenever I can, but sometimes, fear sneaks in and undoes me for a while. 

Curiosity, imagination and empathy are all capabilities within us that open us to something bigger and beyond us. They are powers of inclusion, and they are transformative both of us as individuals and of us as communities. 

How are you using your superpowers? Do you know what your kryptonite is? How are you detecting, dodging and diverting it?

~Bob Patrick

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The Difference Between Being Invited and Belonging

Posted on February 18, 2025 by admin

As I reflect on inclusion, I have been thinking not just about inviting someone in but about
ensuring they truly feel like they belong once they are there. Inclusion is more than an invitation; it’s a sense of belonging.

It’s one thing to invite someone to a social gathering where they do not know anyone and give
them a quick hello before leaving them to fend for themselves. For some, that might work, but
many people fear this exact situation and avoid going altogether.

Now imagine the difference between letting someone fend for themselves after being invited to
an event versus actively making it easier for them to connect and feel supported. That could
mean suggesting a good time to arrive, warmly welcoming them, introducing them to a few
people, and pointing out common interests to spark conversation. It might even mean
something as simple as name tags with hobbies listed or sharing details in advance so guests
can get a sense of who will be there and who they might want to meet. Maybe there is an
optional moment for brief introductions so people do not feel like they are stepping into a room full of strangers.

These are all tactical, event-oriented ideas, but the goal is deeper. Small shifts in how we
introduce, interact, and engage in our personal and professional circles can help turn outsiders
not just into participants but into insiders; people who truly feel like they belong.

Many of us have had experiences where we were invited somewhere, whether it was a party, a
gathering, or a networking event, only to find ourselves standing on the outskirts, barely talking to anyone or struggling to find common ground. Or maybe we spent the whole time clinging to the one person we knew while they tried to balance conversations with everyone else. These moments are common, but they are rarely enjoyable.

What if we were more intentional about how we bring people in?
How do we not just open the door, but also ensure people feel at home once they step inside?
How do we make people feel like they were not just invited but truly included?

~Ryan Peterson

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Empathy: Who Do We Include?

Posted on February 17, 2025 by Bob Patrick

Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge . . . is empathy, for it requires us to spend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.
Bill Bullard

One of the earliest lessons of my childhood was empathy. The word was not used, but the actions it encouraged were. Whether it was how we treated the dogs that were always a part of our family life, or elderly people in our community, or new people that we did not know, or individuals who were clearly struggling with some difficulty, or people who did not look like us, the message I recall learning was the same: think about how they must feel and act accordingly. Without knowing it, I was being taught to make space in my own heart for the experiences of other beings.

The requirement of considering how another being must feel in any situation landed deeply in me.  As a middle schooler, the Diary of Anne Frank introduced me to the Nazi holocaust that decimated the Jewish community, People of Color, those who were differently abled physically and mentally, and the LGBTQIA communities in German controlled parts of Europe. I couldn’t believe that human beings would do such things to other human beings, and so I would go to the library and check out another book about the Holocaust. And another. And another. And another. I became depressed with the overwhelm of it all. 

Empathy is really about who we are willing to let in–to our hearts, our minds, and especially our imaginations.  Imagination is one of the great human superpowers, and when coupled with another superpower, curiosity, we open wide the door of empathy. As soon as we do that, imagining what it must be like to be in another’s condition, we face this question: who shall we include? Why would we exclude this person, that group? Can I imagine what it must be like? 

People with a developed sense of empathy can be taken advantage of. It has become popular to demonize empathy for this very reason. Empathy makes us vulnerable to the experiences of other beings and calls on us to respond. That response may require us to step across some lines that we once thought were non-negotiable. Navigating those steps is a large part of how we grow and deepen as human, spiritual, beings.

The real question that empathy asks is this: who will we include in the abundance that we enjoy? Abundance of material goods. Abundance of understanding. Abundance of care. Abundance of joy. Abundance of welcome. Abundance of encouragement. Abundance of accountability. Abundance of anything and everything that we already find supporting our lives. As Unitarian Universalists, we have some guiding values as we seek to answer this question: justice, equity, transformation, pluralism, inclusion, generosity and love.

Who will we include in the abundance we enjoy?

~Bob Patrick

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A New Colossus

Posted on February 14, 2025 by admin

Oppos’d the great Copper Lady of old,
Who loved the tired, the poor, the huddled mass,
Who welcom’d from afar numbers untold,
A new colossus stands, its meaning crass.
A new colossus, monument to hate,
Its edifice imposing, a great wall
Against influx stands. Be gone, it’s too late.
“You don’t belong!” its cry. From Grace, our fall.
Gift of fraternité et liberté,
Her torch illumin’d the darkness of fear,
Will her nation stand with her on this day?
Does the omen ill portent, our end near?
Her torch burns brighter still, tomorrow must
A new day be, a phoenix from the dust.

~Ian Van Sice

Inspired by Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, the poem enshrined in the Statue of Liberty.

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My Lego Village

Posted on February 13, 2025 by admin

I’m an AFOL (adult fan of lego). I love those little plastic bricks. The tactile feeling of clicking them together, seeing beyond the shape a single brick and how it could fit with others to create a brand new shape. Legos make me happy.

(Lego is still a multi billion dollar corporation which is inherently exploitative to both people and the planet and I’m not defending that by any means!)

I have two shelves hanging on my wall where I am building my lego village. I decided to try and envision a positive future world, rather than reflecting current reality.

The whole village is connected with accessible public transit, solar panels live next to rooftop beehives, food and medicine plants grow in every unused corner, and money doesn’t exist.

One of the most fun parts is to set up little vignettes with the minifigures: A minifigure harvesting an impossibly big carrot, someone dropping a freshly gathered chicken egg, a grumpy old man with a fabulous blue bouffant, and two femme lovers meeting for a picnic under a tree.

I’ve also been making sure the people in the village include the vast variety of humans in the real world. Everything from skin tone, height, disability, gender nonconformance, age, and any other variety I can think of.

I’ve been really pleased with the variety of minifigure parts that are available. There are multiple types of wheelchairs, heads of different skin tones with hearing aids and glasses, prosthetic limbs of various types, hair pieces of different textures, a shirt that says ‘love is love’, service dog harnesses, hair pieces with cochlear implants, and even a head with vitiligo.

In this idealized world I’m imagining, inclusion of everyone is key. 

While I know there’s a lot of work to do to get to this ideal, I do believe it begins with imagining what is possible.

~Aline Harris

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Inclusion: A Daily Practice

Posted on February 12, 2025 by admin

Inclusion is championed by great movements, initiatives, groups, and legislation. These efforts
remind us of the power of collective action and the progress we can achieve together. Yet,
sometimes, these movements can feel distant or abstract, leaving us disconnected from the
immediacy of practicing inclusion throughout our daily lives.

Inclusion is not only about large-scale efforts; it is also about how we show up in everyday
moments that actively reflect our values. It’s choosing patience over frustration, offering a smile to those we pass, saying hello or good morning, holding open a door, or giving someone the closer parking spot. There are countless opportunities to widen the circle of inclusivity as we move through the world daily.

These small acts are by no means insignificant, nor are they simply good manners. They remind others—and ourselves—that we all share in the dignity and respect that come with being human. They connect us to the interdependent web of life, where each of us carries our own joys and sorrows, bound together by a common thread of existence.

When we practice inclusion daily through small, intentional acts, we make its power tangible.
This happens not only through movements toward a more just world but also in how we live our values and touch the lives of others every day.

~Ryan Peterson

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