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by Rev. Kirk Ballin August 18, 2024 The Dash by Linda Ellis I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning…to the end. He noted that first came the date of birth And spoke the following date with tears, But he said what mattered most of all Was the dash between those years. For that dash represents all the time that they spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved them know what that little li

by Tom Hook August 11, 2024 Good morning and thank you for having me again. This was a short notice situation as your scheduled speaker, Valerie Luna Serrels, had to cancel for this Sunday for personal reasons. I suspect several of you are somewhat familiar with the Enneagram. I first was exposed to it in 1990 during my Spiritual Direction studies. Over the years I have become more and more intrigued with this personality typology and how it can (

July 7, 2024 By Bill Faw Good morning! This is my 14th message for HUU since September, 2018. Today we look at the interesting question: Is history flat (basically staying the same), circular (getting better, then worse, in cycles), inclining (getting better), or declining (getting worse)? PARTS ONE AND TWO: HISTORY FLAT AND/OR CIRCULAR For classic portrayals of both the ‘flat’ and ‘circular/cyclical’ views of history, let us turn to good old Ecclesiastes from the Hebrew Bib

June 30, 2024 Upwellings © Linda Ankrah-Dove As if in unchanging tidal currents solitude brings me me quiet soothings in my peaceful home. My body floats, my mind calms, spacious with the lulling cycles of the once-steady seasons. I think of our mammal cousins—whales slow-swinging easy with the ceaseless ocean rhythms, rising to breathe the essential air, blowing rainbow spouts across the sloping waves. But in these frenetic times, the climate calendar's constant clangings tr

June 16, 2024 HUU Minute with Judith Dreyer I am preparing a talk for LLI as part of a class offered by the Master Gardeners. I have been researching the “flip side of invasives” for several reasons…to flip the narrative from war on specific plants to what they are trying to tell us and, more importantly, what they are doing for us. As you can imagine, I'm going “out on a limb” here. (pun intended) I am looking at specific troublesome species. Guess what? As Merle calls our