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As Ministers, Priests, Chaplains, Shamans, etc., are we to assume we are allowed to create brochures that reflect the core values/beliefs of our religion (Christianity, Buddhism, Wicca & Druidry)? And what about brochures that discuss what the ULC is and does? Are they on the website for us to download and print as needed? Or are there really none that presently exist? Thanks.

Greetings to you all my sisters and brothers, I have heard it said that there is an ancient Chinese curse that goes "May you live in interesting times." The times we live in are interesting indeed. For those of us in America, we have a new President who is totally unlike anyone we have chosen to lead our nation in our countries history. Our views toward being a haven for immigrants seems to be shifting. Our views on caring for the poor and oppressed, on sexual morality, on dealing with crime, on relations with other nations, all seem up for radical change. The question I offer is this, what are your personal views, whether they are influenced by a religious faith or your personal sense of right and wrong, on the state of America, indeed on the state of the world? If you were able to make changes to how things are, what would you like to see? I would ask that in your responses, you propose some concrete ideas instead of generalizations, on how things could be made better. But, I would also ask that if you think things are fine the way they are ( as indeed I would suspect some do) explain why you feel the way you do. In solidarity, Rev. Calli

I became ordained as a minister about a month ago. (I was raised Mormon but when I was 16 (so... 6-ish years ago) had a series of events that happened that made me not interested in following the normal conventions. Since then I've followed my heart to different paths and I'm currently an energy therapist/life coach with an emphasis in spiritual counseling, running my business to help clients in one-on-one situations and writing a book. I have struggled with the concept of religion and after delving into many, I've decided I don't like any that I've seen because I would benefit from something that has a few significant guidelines and almost no strict/specific rules.) I was guided to the ULC site and upon reading the quote on the front - "Do only that which is right" - and I literally felt like this was the best place for me to be right now and went through the ordination process immediately. I kind of forgot about it until I was adding the event to my Facebook timeline the other day and I've been told that it's a bit inappopriate for me to call myself a minister if I am not a Christian. Now, I know I'm treading the line of sounding like I am letting them convince me that doing what I feel is right is actually wrong, but they bring up a good point. Since I haven't been a minister for long, I don't feel like I can appropriately identify what it means to me to be a minister - all it means to me right now is being able to say I'm registered to perform spiritual rites including marriage with an actual church behind me. What does it mean to be a minister? What does it mean to YOU to be a minister? How have you dealt with people who express distaste because they don't think it's appropriate or fair that you have gone on this path?

The uncertainties of life and the vicissitudes of existence do not in any manner contradict the concept of the universal sovereignty of God. All evolutionary creature life is beset by certain inevitabilities. Consider the following: 1. Is courage — strength of character — desirable? Then must man be reared in an environment which necessitates grappling with hardships and reacting to disappointments. 2. Is altruism — service of one’s fellows — desirable? Then must life experience provide for encountering situations of social inequality. 3. Is hope — the grandeur of trust — desirable? Then human existence must constantly be confronted with insecurities and recurrent uncertainties. 4. Is faith — the supreme assertion of human thought — desirable? Then must the mind of man find itself in that troublesome predicament where it ever knows less than it can believe. 5. Is the love of truth and the willingness to go wherever it leads, desirable? Then must man grow up in a world where error is present and falsehood always possible. 6. Is idealism — the approaching concept of the divine — desirable? Then must man struggle in an environment of relative goodness and beauty, surroundings stimulative of the irrepressible reach for better things. 7. Is loyalty — devotion to highest duty — desirable? Then must man carry on amid the possibilities of betrayal and desertion. The valor of devotion to duty consists in the implied danger of default. 8. Is unselfishness — the spirit of self-forgetfulness — desirable? Then must mortal man live face to face with the incessant clamoring of an inescapable self for recognition and honor. Man could not dynamically choose the divine life if there were no self-life to forsake. Man could never lay saving hold on righteousness if there were no potential evil to exalt and differentiate the good by contrast. 9. Is pleasure — the satisfaction of happiness — desirable? Then must man live in a world where the alternative of pain and the likelihood of suffering are ever-present experiential possibilities. Rev. Bill