Speaker: Rev. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III

Refusing to Quietly Quit on King and Some Other Important Things

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Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Refusing to Quietly Quit on King and Some Other Important Things
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Carl Wendel Hines penned a devastating poem in 1965 on the occasion of the assassination of Malcolm X. Still, it is often, and perhaps more appropriately, associated with the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. It is called “A Dead Man’s Dream.” Now that he is safely dead let us praise him, build monuments to … Continue reading Refusing to Quietly Quit on King and Some Other Important Things

Maladjusted to Madness

Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Maladjusted to Madness
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Romans 12:2–“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” In November 1954, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached a sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church titled “Transformed Nonconformists.”  Aidsand Wright-Riggins … Continue reading Maladjusted to Madness

Hatred as a Hound of Hell

Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Hatred as a Hound of Hell
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John Lewis called Howard Thurman a “saint of the Civil Rights Movement.” Thurman was a universalist, a mystic, a preacher, a scholar, a professor at Howard University and Boston University, pastor of the first intentionally interracial congregation in the United States (the Church for the Fellowship of All People in San Francisco), and one of … Continue reading Hatred as a Hound of Hell

Deception as a Hound of Hell

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Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Deception as a Hound of Hell
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One of Howard Thurman’s most important books is Jesus and the Disinherited. He had proposed to publisher Abington-Cokesbury that a better title for this book would have been The Religion of Jesus and the Disinherited because the publisher’s title collapsed the distinction, crucial for Thurman’s argument, between organized Christianity and the religion of Jesus.  For … Continue reading Deception as a Hound of Hell

Hope for Humans Hounded by the Hounds of Hell

Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Hope for Humans Hounded by the Hounds of Hell
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Rev. Aidsand Wright-Riggins reflects on Howard Thurman’s 1949 classic work, “Jesus and the Disinherited ”.  Raised by his formerly enslaved grandmother, Howard Thurman was a Black 20th Century Prophet-Mystic who offered an emancipatory way of moving forward for people with their ‘backs against the wall’ in the face of horror, hypocrisy and hatred.  Howard Thurman … Continue reading Hope for Humans Hounded by the Hounds of Hell

Hold Fast to Dreams

Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Thomas Paine UU Fellowship
Hold Fast to Dreams
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Beloved Community, the aim of the freedom movement, was shaped by those who dared to imagine themselves in the grip of a Grand Purpose. They held fast to this dream despite periods of disappointment, depression and dangerous opposition. The Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance and upcoming presidential inauguration provide a context to reflect on our own dreams for humankind … Continue reading Hold Fast to Dreams

Harmonies of Liberty

February 12th marks the 120th anniversary of the first public performance, by 500 Black school children at the Stanton School in Jacksonville, Florida, of the anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The school principal James Weldon Johnson wrote the words and his brother, Rosamond, set them to music. Later, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People adopted … Continue reading Harmonies of Liberty