All Posts by Mike Morran

Electing a Piece of Mike’s Mind…

Electing a Piece of Mike’s Mind…Predictably, anxiety around the coming election is high!  Stress, worry, fear, hope, anger, exhaustion, determination, and feelings I don’t even have words for are all present.  Everyone, literally everyone, I’ve spoken with recently is feeling the weight of this election, its importance, and potential consequences.            We’ve been here before.  We […]

Freedom

FreedomOur Whole Souul Living Theme for September is Freedom, a profoundly important idea in liberal religion.Osho wrote; “True freedom is always spiritual. It has something to do with your innermost being, which cannot be chained, handcuffed, or put into a jail.”  Victor Frankl wrote, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space.  In that space lies […]

A Cultural Activist Piece of Mike’s Mind…

A Cultural Activist Piece of Mike’s Mind…By request, my column this month is a portion of the sermon from July 12th on white supremacy culture.“…When we say white supremacy culture, we are referring to the common cultural assumptions, cultural expectations, cultural associations…, the hundreds of unspoken, unwritten, but intimately familiar ways that culturally exclude, punish, […]

Hospitality

HospitalityHospitality is an ancient value.  Legend has it the Hebrew prophet Elijah would wander about disguised as a beggar to test whether people would be hospitable or hostile.  On one occasion, a rabbi turned him away, only to learn later that it was Elijah in disguise. The moral in the Hebrew tradition is that you […]

The Sources

​The SourcesBelow is a paraphrased summary of the spiritual sources of Unitarian Universalism: Direct experience of life and the divineWords and deeds of prophetic women and menWisdom from the world’s religionsJewish and Christian teachingsThe guidance of reason and science.Earth-centered traditions and the rhythms of natureThe fact that we have a list like this defines us as […]

Seven or Eight Pieces of Mike’s Mind…

​Seven or Eight Pieces of Mike’s Mind…Statements are in the air.  Organizations, companies, denominations, unions, and more are putting out statements about where they stand on matters of racial justice, Black Lives Matter, police brutality, and civil protest.  It’s good to see.Perhaps the core statement of our faith tradition is our covenant, known as the […]

A Piece of Mike’s Mind…

​A Piece of Mike’s ​Mind…  This report comes in the middle of an international pandemic, and for the first time that I am aware of, no services or gatherings have been held at First Unitarian Denver for two consecutive months.  Like so many organizations and communities, we are in a time of adaptation and even […]

Myth

​​​​MythA modern definition of myth comes from Joseph Campbell:  “Myth refers to an intricate set of interlocking stories, rituals, rites, and customs that inform and give the pivotal sense of meaning and direction to a person, family, community, or culture.”  From this perspective, all of us are living collections of myths, consciously or unconsciously modeling […]

Change

​​​Change​“Whatever IS will be WAS.”  Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: “If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent. It is because you believe things are permanent. When a flower dies, you don’t suffer much, because you understand that flowers are impermanent. But you cannot accept the impermanence of your beloved one, and you suffer […]