http://boyinthebands.com Scott Wells on the practice of Christian faith Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:57:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After writing the last post, I noted it on Twitter (I'm bitb) where Martin Kelley (martin_kelley) , a force behind QuakerQuaker picked it up. To make the dialog short, I have an appeal for Unitarian Universalist Christians reading this. Please note in the comments how you have been affected by "anything ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/overcoming-cross-cringe-uu-christians-speak/ Unitarian Universalist Christians use a few terms -- Christophobia, cross cringe and ABC ("anything but Christian") -- to describe the reception we get in unfriendly settings. A posting today at QuakerQuaker shows that the problem -- or perhaps a like problem -- isn't uniquely Unitarian Universalist. A shame that. Perhaps, too, ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/quaker-cross-cringe-ah-sounds-familiar/ Are there any other Unitarian Universalists interested in forming an online Linux Users Group? The goal could include encouraging principled Linux use among Unitarian Universalists and discovering Linux-based solutions for religious institutions. If you're interested please contact me. http://boyinthebands.com/archives/uu-linux-users-group/ Anglican priest and blogger Andii Bowsher (Nouslife) outlines a service of worship conducted around a table, say at a cafe or restaurant. The key is low-volume, shared participation. Which isn't too strange: people hive off to coffee shops for meeting all the time here. I don't know if I'd come up ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/quiet-worship-in-a-public-place/ The UUWorld.org General Assembly blog reported the today's first meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees and newly elected UUA president Peter Morales here, here and here. One episode stands out: a statement, made by trustee Will Saunders (Northern New England) that suggested a uniformity of president-board policy ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/weird-statement-at-first-meeting-of-morales-and-board-a-copy/ The current employment-themed issue of The Onion has an article with a dateline -- Boston -- and an employer -- Beacon Press. Clearly not the Boston-based Beacon Press that's a part of the Unitarian Universalist Association. But it's funny all the same. "Summer Intern Already Forgotten" (The Onion) http://boyinthebands.com/archives/oblique-uu-reference-in-the-onion/ On this day, in 1969, the public phase of the gay liberation movement began with a much-storied Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Viilage. Tons and tons has been written about it. And that's why most annual gay and lesbian events are usually in stifling hot weather. It was also the day ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/stonewall-forty-years-on/ The General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association has been looking like a snooze (from afar; I don't care much about the presidential politics at hand) until Larger Forces came into play: The UUA's "Standing on the Side of Love" banner, which has been hanging this week on the glass entry ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/insert-punchline-here/ If you use Gmail for your church or nonprofit business, just go ahead and review these tips from Google. There's even a ready-to-print version. (Thanks L. N. for the head's up) http://boyinthebands.com/archives/learning-gmail/ The newest issue of Liberal Christian magazine has just been published. This issue includes the Bible, copyright and freedom; a tale of growth or extinction and thoughts about what the Unitarian Universalist Association is. http://www.liberalchristian.net http://boyinthebands.com/archives/liberal-christian-magazine-3-published/ The President claims he's a "fierce advocate" for The Gays. Uh, sure. There has been too little action from the White House over LGBT issues -- except for the much-discussed DOJ brief that seems like it was airlifted out of the last Administration. I'm not keen to wait. American history ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/funding-to-force-the-fierce-advocate/ Whew! The District of Columbia Board of Election and Ethics (DC BOEE), citing a 2002 amendment to the D.C. Human Rights Act, ruled that there can be no referendum which could repeal D.C. Council-passed legislation recognizing same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. Imagine that! there can't be ballot action to remove ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/good-news-no-marriage-recognition-referendum/ Blue Avocado -- the online newsletter of a coalition of nonprofit management groups -- has a good article today about often-retold misinformation about nonprofits. (They say myths but that has a particular religious meaning!) Stuff about lobbying and balanced budgets that you may have heard or told, and these include ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/misunderstandings-about-nonprofits/ Can anyone tell if this is the Dojin (Universalist) Christian Church, in Tokyo? There's been so little contact between this one-time foreign mission -- long independent -- and Universalists in the United States, with a language barrier (and I bet a theological barrier) long in evidence. The known church address ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/is-this-the-dojin-christian-church-in-tokyo/ June 14. Link to DCist article with a list of memorial funds. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum guard Stephen Tyrone Johns died today after being shot. The accused shooter has been identified as James Wenneker von Brunn, himself strongly linked with white supremacist and anti-Semitic causes. (So tell me why this ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/holocaust-museum-guard-dies-after-shooting/ Greetings all: the third issue of the Liberal Christian, the online magazine I publish, will be released on June 22. This is a week later than the scheduled publication date, June 15. I hope the improved quality justifies the delay and I regret the inconvenience. http://boyinthebands.com/archives/liberal-christian-issue-3-release-pushed-back/ Twenty years has been too long. Freedom delay is freedom denied. http://boyinthebands.com/archives/i-remember-tiananmen-square%e2%80%8e/ Blogging minister (or ministering blogger) and friend Victoria Weinstein -- PeaceBang -- noted that she posted only a few pictures from her sabbatical visit in Romania because of the cost of bandwidth. This truth cuts both ways: heavyweight Web sites take a long time to download when the connection is slow. ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/keeping-web-sites-light/ Haruo  -- whose blog blends two of my interests: hymnology and Esperanto -- notes a poll of favorite hymns at Semicolon. It ends tonight so I spent some time sorting my favorites so to add my favorites. (She was only asking for the top ten, but this includes everything on ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/favorite-hymns/ The tourists are coming to Washington, D.C., and despite the recession I can imagine numbers will be high. Once you're here and housed, it is a remarkably cheap place to visit with the leading destinations free to the public. So I have a request of local residents and recent visitors: what ... http://boyinthebands.com/archives/visiting-dc/