The Best Moments Are Those That Don't Lend Well To Film.

return again, return again
return to the home of your soul

return again, return again
return to the home of your soul

return to who you are
return to what you are
return to where you are
born and reborn again

return again, return again
return to the home of your soul


I was in the church kitchen this morning with some folks, cleaning the counters and preparing the leftover food to give to the homeless in St. James Park. Suzy was talking about how radically different our community is from a congregation - our Protestant-based tradition where people sing "ALL-E-LU-YA ALL-E-LU-YA." UUism doesn't share the following belief, but many of these traditions claim we can only touch the true God after death - that this experience is not available in this life. Mysticism teaches that this is incorrect - that God can be experienced within this life. For the Sufi's, mysticism concerns direct experience of The One - the cosmos, the divine essence. A UU Mystic would seek direct experience of the beloved community.

Sunday night, as we were prepping for the Banquet, i sat with Susanna (not Suzy) in the staircase and I realized that we had achieved one of Suzy's dreams which she shared in the FUUSE.com online forum a couple years ago as I was just beginning to formulate the idea for a conference. She wrote in the Housing Wanted section:

House Wanted: an old Victorian in San Jose, and five or six other people who want to live together in community and raise each other.

It was in a way, as the Christians say about Jesus, word made flesh. Bread was broken in celebration as we christened a new year and a new community.


no creator, no savior, no sex is not sin
the earth starts to shatter and the cycle begins.
from the breath of two lovers comes baby's first yawn
and somewhere here hidden, there's a birthday song

hail to ancestors, where we came from
for great grandma's ghost lies within your bones
she was a baby before daddy was born
and somewhere here hidden, there's a birthday song

count your blessings - daily, i dare you
may your fears rarely scare you
let your heart strings grow thick and long
and somewhere here hidden, there's a birthday song

--Madeline, "Bella's Song"