Looking for a spiritual retreat to tide you over in quiet contemplation during the holy days leading up to Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Year's Day, and Epiphany? Here are many choices — some Christian and inclusive, others multifaith — from which you can find a perfect match for your needs.

You can “walk” these stations by practicing one station per day, from March 20 through Good Friday, April 2 – or at any other time or manner during Lent (Ash Wednesday, February 17, until Easter Sunday, April 4).  

The Unity Flag was first flown by College Park Baptist Church at the FaithAction Unity Walk in Greensboro, NC on August 5, 2017 and symbolizes a commitment to basic human and civil rights for all people.

When you have an experience and tell the story of that experience to someone, something sacred happens inside of you. That experience doesn’t have to be an extravagant moment, but it can be beautiful, nonetheless. And as you store up all those stories and share them, you grow your world’s boundaries. You build community and remind yourself that every moment of your life counts for something holy, good, and glorious.

Seasons and Self is a courageous exploration into religious naturalism - sometimes called the 'forgotten alternative' - as well as contemporary critical biblical studies by one of Australia's leading progressives, Rex A. E. Hunt. A self-professed religious naturalist, progressive liturgist, and social ecologist., he belongs squarely within a post-liberal/ 'progressive' orientation. Rex A E Hunt acknowledges the principle attributed to the Brazilian theologian Rubem Alves: "I am not after conclusions... Conclusions are meant to shut... Every conclusion brings the thought process to a halt." The present collection is an invitation to readers to become curious and excited about what they read, and to explore further - beyond the tyranny of clear and distinct ideas! The author is concerned about 'likelihoods' and being 'open-ended' rather than closing any discussion with persuasion by argument. The intent is to strike a chord rather than 'shoehorning' something - ideas, answers, doctrine, correct belief - into people, often challenging the parochial and limited claims of traditional religions, or so-called pious biblical argument based on a proof-text zeal. While both science and progressive religion are to the fore in the topics and chapters of the collection of sermons, addresses and keynote presentations, there is also a strong hint of the poetic - all evoking a sense of awe and wonder at nature and the natural, rather than the supernatural. A radical theo-eco-logy! Themes addressed include evolution, earth, cosmos, food and wisdom, as well as Autumn, children, celebration and humour. All grounded in the Ordinary... in the hope that, collectively, they will stir one's own imagination. "Nature and naturalism are for us today the main game for any progressive spirituality," writes the author. "We are fully linked with our surroundings in time, space, matter/energy, and causality, and where the metaphor of 'web' is used to describe this interrelatedness - we create the web and the web creates us..."

Like many people, I am absolutely appalled by the ugly, hateful and destructive chaos emerging in this country. I have also wondered what I, a retired Oakland High School English teacher and Berkeley pastor, now living in a small town on the Oregon coast, could do to somehow change the dialogue and direction as to where the nation is going. I hope to do so through … Christmas carols!

What is coming we yearn to know As fallen leaves herald winter snow Will what comes be worth the wait ? Will past hungers our future sate?

As a peace activist opposed to war, and later as a bagpiper serving with the Vietnam Vets honor guard in Florida and Texas, I played at many military funerals. None is a happy occasion. The saddest moment, for me, was the flag folding ceremony. This reflection is drawn from those rituals. Sam Gould's poem, Don't Stand to be Recognized, comes to mind.

GPSA Founder Steve Robertson stated, "We've had so many amazing music and video submittals. What an honor its been to be exposed to such music and videos and then be able to share this music with our world. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that we announce the 2017 GPSA WINNERS

1. Winter is the season of the revelation of basic structure. If I was to strip away all the paraphernalia of my life what form would it have? How many of the things which I do are related to the roots of my spirit. 2. Winter is the season for hibernation. What rhythm do I have for reflection as well as action? What frequency and length of time do I need in solitude in order to facilitate the growth and quality of my spirituality?

Give us, O God, leaders whose hearts are large enough to match the breadth of our own souls and give us souls strong enough to follow leaders of vision and wisdom.

The Christian writer G. K. Chesterton had the right idea when he said we need to get in the habit of "taking things with gratitude and not taking things for granted." Gratitude puts everything in a fresh perspective; it enables us to see the many blessings all around us. And the more ways we find to give thanks, the more things we find to be grateful for.

This past Sunday morning in Los Angeles was bright with strong wind blowing clear air over the mountains from the high desert. The palm trees swayed along Highway 10 west into Santa Monica. Two right turns at the Cloverfield exit took me past the garbage company and into the chain-link gate of Bergamot Station, a former warehouse complex turned into dozens of art studios. In the back corner, in a galvanized iron building, is the "Writer's Bootcamp", a complex with offices and meeting spaces, where I found Thad's.

We are here to praise and enjoy God with body and soul, mind and heart, with song and word, with hands and feet. We are here to give because of the abundance God has given us, to share with each other, and to receive, because God has created us to depend on each other. We are here to celebrate the differences that otherwise might divide us: differences of age, of body, of culture, of opinion, of ability, of religious conviction. We are here to put things in perspective: to celebrate what matters, to laugh about things we take too seriously, to cry about things that truly touch our hearts. So may it be this morning: Amen!

Blessing taxpayers and taxes for the sake of the common good, while asking for divine guidance as citizens in shaping and improving the way our taxes are spent