Blue Boat of Youth and Young Adult MinistriesStar Wars, Crisis of Young White Masculinity, and UU
!SPOILER ALERT! The following post contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it’s a month after the movie was released in theaters so it’s not our fault if you haven’t seen it. -Ed. Friends, we are currently suffering a crisis of identity for young white men in America. This crisis of identity is not new, but it has reached a boiling point. For the past 50 years, we have been moving towards a more progressive society and this has led to greater awareness of white privilege, male privilege, and the convergence of the two. As society takes greater strides to bring gender and racial equity, we’ve seen a pushback by white men. I…
Kick-Off a Great 2016 With the Best of Blue Boat 2015!
ALL MY BEST TO YOU AND YOURS In case you missed some – or all – of our recent social media blast campaign #BBTOP10of15 of the 10 most read stories of 2105 on The Blue Boat, we’ve compiled the list here: 10. Adulthood – Spiritually Guided Less than a year ago when we announced that Becoming: A Spiritual Guide for Navigating Adulthood, edited by Kayla Parker, was available for free thanks to generous donors, we were out-of-stock in less than a month! But don’t worry – this meditation and reflection manual, crafted with Unitarian Universalist young adults in mind is available – has been republished, and can be purchased at the UUA Bookstore. 9. Hanging…
Too Many Holes
Thanks to @KennySWiley for bring to our attention this thoughtful collection of reaction to the spate of violence we have witnessed in recent weeks. We encourage you to read, reflect, and respond (either in the comment section of this post, or by submitting your own thoughts or reflections in a post. UU Voices from Black Friday by Nancy Bentley, Jill Forney, Steve Nye, Marianne Sheldon, Deb Donley, Lori Sly, Robin LaBorde, Sheila McElroy, Rev. Dana Lightsey Within the space of a month this fall, the city of Colorado Springs fell victim to two mass shootings. In the first, four people were killed: a passing bicyclist, two women, and the shooter. In the other incident,…
Can Unitarian Universalists Really Believe Anything?
Contrary to What You Might Have Heard, UUs Don’t Just Believe Whatever They Want Unitarian Universalists (UU) are a strange bunch. In any given gathering of UUs there may be someone whose faith is based on the teachings of Jesus, someone who has a daily meditation practice, someone who sees God in nature and someone who doesn’t see a god in anything. And yet they can all sing the same hymn and worship together. You may meet Unitarian Universalists who believe there’s a divine spark in each of us and others who believe that to be human means to have a fun mix of good and evil. And yet we come together to support one another and…
Through the Spirits of Others to Faith
Transformed by Struggle We publish this frankly written reflection on how approaching the spiritual practices of others with a willingness for personal struggle creates faith, by Meg Young. – Ed. by Meg Young I’ve never been much one for self-denial, and thankfully for me the Unitarian Universalist tradition in which my parents raised me rarely told me that there was anything that I absolutely couldn’t do. I remember sitting with a member of my youth group during high school, as we were first experimenting with drugs, alcohol, and the especially (even after OWL) mysterious realm of sex, asking how we were supposed to make rules for ourselves since our religion didn’t seem to…
And the Mic Dropped…
Bro! Listen to the kids! On Sunday, August 30th, Kanye West gave a speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. I know, I know, that happened a week ago, but I was listening to his speech the other day and realized Kanye West was talking about and creating church that night. He started that speech with the quote above. “Bro! Listen to the kids!” Listen to the kids. Now, let’s be real, Kanye (and other pop culture icons) make their money by listening to the kids. It’s the truth, listen to them cheer. And yet, what is it that we are called to do? Are we called to stand on the side of love? Are…
Help UU Young Adults Find Each Other!
They Are Everywhere – You Just Need to Know Where to Look… “I’m moving to a new part of the country. How can I find other UU young adults?” “I just learned about Unitarian Universalism and want to check it out. Where can I find peers?” “I want to get more involved. When is the next gathering of UU young adults in my area?” Along with the time honored method of getting a visible flaming chalice tattoo or finding a local congregation, there are two old-but-improved tools from the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries that I hope you’ll use to solve these conundrums! First up: the HubMap. Simple concept. It’s an open source…
Rebuild the Churches. Black Lives Matter. Go USA.
This week: black churches burned, our the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association passed an Action of Immediate Witness in support of the Black Lives Matter movement calling for “police reform and prison abolition, which seeks to replace the current prison system with a system that is more just and equitable.” And I wore the flag of the United States of America. As I look out over July 4th, I feel the same discomfort and complexity I’ve always felt about belonging to the red white and blue – this nation where I was born and gives me the privilege of that USA passport; this country that opened its arms to my father when he immigrated…
Emerging Faith: Beyond the Fads
Covenants Aren’t “Cool,” and Fitness Won’t Fix the World In April I got to go home for work. I don’t mean home to the house I share with my partner and housemates here in Boston. I mean back to the part of the country I say I’m from, back to the people who raised me and made me Unitarian Universalist (UU). I went back to my childhood state, Illinois, to attend the MidAmerica Regional Assembly. Like many young adults, I’ve moved a lot. Since I first left home at age 17 I’ve lived in 5 different states and both coasts of the U.S. I’ve also been a part of 6 different UU communities. It felt so comforting to…
The Symptom is Not the Problem
It is Overtime to Shift the Paradigm An acquaintance of mine named Molli King is a teacher and yesterday she posted an essay she wrote for an education blog about a school in New York City called Success Academy that had recently been profiled in the New York Times. In her essay she told a story, one that I remember her sharing in person when she still worked at Success Academy, and this story has been rattling around in my brain today. The story is found in her blogpost and I will also recount it here in Ms. King’s words: But of all of the awful stories from my time at Success, none will top the…
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