The Art of Nimbleness

The ability to be nimble should never take the place of careful planning and organization, but part of being a congregation is the role of “the unexpected.” It can be serious and unfortunate, such as when one of our pipes became uncoupled January 23rd, causing a flood in our education...

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Luck? Coincidence? Blessing?

I heard an interesting footnote to the timeline of our recent “flood”: The Story of Four Coffee Cups Over the holiday, a teacher had taken four coffee cups home from the STEM School.  She wanted to give them a good scrubbing because we all know how coffee cups need a...

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Update on Water Damage

As shared in the email that went out Christmas Eve, Live Oak had significant water damage after a pipe upstairs became uncoupled, flooding both the second and first floors. We currently have a Restoration company removing ruined wallboard and insulation, running fans, and doing all of the work necessary after...

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Holiday This and That

First, a huge thank you to our Intern Minister, Carrie Holley-Hurt, for – with very little notice — delivering  my sermon “How the UUs Saved Christmas” this past Sunday. Fabulous job! I am feeling better (it was a cold, not covid) and look forward to seeing everyone this Saturday night...

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“The Cruelty is the Point” 2.0

In 2017, when the stories began coming out about the Trump administration’s “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy in which children were separated from their parents at the border, people began realizing that our horror was actually the desired outcome. The cruelty of children being torn away from their parents was something...

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UUs mentioned in Senator Warnock’s speech

On Tuesday, Senator Raphael Warnock won re-election as senator from Georgia. In his victory speech, Senator Warnock referenced two Unitarian Universalists, Viola Liuzzo and Rev. James Reeb. What we call the “Sources” of our liberal religious faith include “Words and deeds of prophetic people which challenge us to confront powers...

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All the Things at Live Oak – Bring a Friend!

One of the most surprising things to me since I began creating TikTok videos introducing people to Unitarian Universalism was how many people are completely intimidated at the idea of walking into a church. I mean, I knew there were some … but over and over, I receive comments that...

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Happy Thanksgiving!

We hear often about the “War on Christmas,” but the Washington Post describes Thanksgiving as “the most politicized American holiday of the 19th century.” We can thank our Unitarian and Universalist forebears for some of that (sincerely). Many of them were abolitionists, and though there was not yet an agreed...

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Celebrating the Common Table

This Sunday, I have been told, is one of our most popular services for our kids and youth – the Feast of Bread and Cider! I mean, a double-long table filled with all different kinds of bread…what’s not to like? (There will also be gluten-free offerings.) This is an annual...

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The Times That Try Our Souls

So … how are you feeling about the election? I have a friend who noted recent political history (there is usually a congressional “flip” at midterms when the president’s party has been in the majority) and that the predicted “wave” didn’t occur. He wondered why liberals/progressives were feeling disappointed. He...

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