Christianity

The Sacred Feminine at the Parliament of World Religions

By |

I’m surprised that almost none of us blogged about the Parliament of World Religions (PWR) in Melbourne, Australia (12/3 – 12/9). I realize that the US Congress was still discussing the health care bill, Obama had just given his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, and the Copenhagen Climate conference was underway. So we all have good excuses. Here at Tikkun Daily, we heard from Dave Belden, who wrote about Rabbi Michael Lerner’s workshop on the spiritual progressive movement. And Rabbi Lerner also wrote about the great disappointment world spiritual leaders at the PWR felt at Obama’s speech in Oslo.

General News

Solstice Evergreen

By |

Every year at winter solstice, I perform in a Interfaith Yule celebration at First Unitarian Society in Madison. Every year I tell a story and sing a song. This year I told a T’salagi (Cherokee) tale explaining why some trees are evergreen. In the spirit of the season, I’d like to share it with you. In order to really understand the Cherokee story, you need to know that the T’salagi or Cherokee people lived in the southern Appalachian mountains until they were forced onto the “Trail of Tears” by white settlers who wanted their land.

Culture

Nice Guys Finish First

By |

“Nice guys finish last.” That’s what we believe in this country. Without that assumption, advertisers couldn’t sell their latest energy drink and “Turn Boys into Monsters” as Derrick Kikuchi told us yesterday. Because of this notion, boys are besieged with images from marketers and the media that they have to compete rather than cooperate, go for the selfish power play rather than take part in the team, and become a macho man rather than a pansy. It’s every man for himself, these commercials say.

Culture

The Sacred Feminine

By |

I love reading emails from the GoddessScholars list serve. This group of women includes some of the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to the divine feminine. The core members — out of several hundred women — are scholars, but the e-list contains artists, musicians, story-tellers, and ritualists as well. Reading their posts, I discover what’s new in the “Goddess Sphere.” I discover where the current controversies lie.

Gender and Sexuality

Bridging Difference

By |

I think the hardest interactions in my life have been the ones where I expect similarity, and then I’m confronted with difference. This can occur anytime. But in my life, it happens most often when I’m confronted with a man who seems like a touchy-feely guy, and then turns out to be anything but. The problem sometimes happens at the semantic level, where words I think have obvious overtones — whether of judgement, of criticism, or other kinds of negativity — are seen by my counterpart as having no such nuances. Sometimes it happens when the man I assume to be my (feminist) ally turns on me for what seem like (masculinist/macho) reasons.

General News

Ecological Footprint or Imprint of Beauty

By |

I haven’t been blogging as much as usual the past three weeks. The week before last my daughter was here visiting, and that one-ups almost everything else in my life. These days we live almost 1,000 miles apart, so we don’t get to see each other as often as I would like. And last week I was preparing for a Festival Choir concert that we performed Saturday and Sunday. It was a joy and a lot of work to get ready for our concert, but I guess I knew that was the case when I joined.

Culture

Coming Out Day

By |

Sunday we’re celebrating “Coming Out Day” at First Unitarian in Madison, and I’ve been asked to tell my coming out story. Compared to many, mine is pretty painless. It’s a story of ignorance, invisibility, and ultimately of the ability to pass. You see, I’m a bisexual woman in a committed heterosexual relationship. I grew up in a small town in Upstate New York.

Earth-based Religions

Baking Cakes for the Queen of Heaven

By |

Teaching the “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” curriculum (and blogging about it) lit a fire under me. The title of the course refers to a story told in the book of Jeremiah. This week I finally recorded the song I wrote about this tale on YouTube. Now others can learn the tune and sing it in their “Cakes” classes. [youtube: video=”m7Mv5bxeDEo&feature=channel_page”]
If you don’t know the story, here’s a synopsis: Jeremiah rants and rails against the Queen of Heaven, telling the people that worshipping Her is a betrayal of YHWH.

Culture

Sarah, the Priestess

By |

As I told you a few weeks back, the “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” curriculum empowers women in remarkable ways. During last night’s class I discovered that it sometimes empowers in different ways at the same time. Our reading for the evening was a compelling story — the attempted sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham (Genesis 22). As told in the Bible, this tale contains no mention of Isaac’s mother Sarah. Instead YHVH tells Abraham to demonstrate his loyalty by making a ritual offering of his one-and-only child.