https://www.omegaburckhardt.com/home daily 1.0 2022-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/f6f18404-2ff4-487b-a0ad-8a5e37978b6d/Head+shot.jpg Home https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609199593389-75XU52BOCGOZ22JWB8IL/Rehnberg%252Bwindo.jpg Home - Uniting Heart and Mind Many of us for whom Unitarian Universalism was not the religion of our childhoods has said (or heard said), "I was a Unitarian Universalist and I didn't even know it!" What would our world look like if more people knew about Unitarian Universalism? What would our communities look like if we weren't shy about participating as a religious and moral body in politics, government, and our society as a whole? What would our spaces and congregations look like if we were to embrace anti-oppression work and create spaces and sacred experiences that intentionally centered historically marginalized voices? What if we balance the academic and cerebral with heart-centered intuitive openness to the unknown? What if we lived into our faith with vibrancy and wonder? The Rehnberg Memorial Window (left) is located in the narthex on the west side of The Unitarian Universalist Church, Rockford, Illinois. Created by local glass artist, Frank Houtkamp in 1975, this window has come to symbolize Unitarian Universalism’s principles of the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and the encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations. https://www.omegaburckhardt.com/vibrant-theology daily 0.75 2022-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609179855701-3H236ZAU20M53DW139AE/Robe.jpeg Vibrant Theology - Siding with love, every day. Cultivation and propagation: these two words describe my theology and how I express it through worship and ritual. I cultivate relationships; the Beloved Community is the action of making meaning through shared experience of the Sacred. I grow connections between people who can learn and support one another, just as I am a gardener who prepares a space wherein something new can be generated and tended. My theology is heavily informed by earth-centered spirituality and religious naturalism, Buddhist and Taoist practice, and a humanist understanding of the importance of our interconnection. I embrace the teachings of many theological traditions, just as I embrace the science of humans and our world. Wonder, joy, beauty, as well as lamentation and grief, all form part of my understanding of the Holy experience. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609201369041-8PMW0ZQRQPJFKLNYXQ9K/UUCW.jpg Vibrant Theology - Embracing Beauty in the Worship Experience We come together in worship to create the ritual of Sacred Interconnectedness. Music, art, poetry, movement: these are all ways we access and explore our spiritual selves. I took this photo of the altar that was created for a sermon I gave in June, 2019 at the Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The worship team created this lovely space for our time together. I added the thistles, one of my favorite plants of early summer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/e783f1e3-4c7f-4ac1-b792-7e5b0c1add81/JR+Becca.jpg Vibrant Theology Photo by J.R. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609278552962-9EA8GC17YUUF5B9FYN56/handfasting.jpg Vibrant Theology Photo by Carlee Secor https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/d7742c70-fb1e-40af-ba37-c19ceadac5f9/dia+de+muertos.jpeg Vibrant Theology - “Epitafio” por Juan Gelman Photo courtesy of MLTS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609202206347-1BML68Z7HX2UQ69T0NZR/MLTS+spanish.jpg Vibrant Theology Worship team for a Spanish-language worship service at MLTS https://www.omegaburckhardt.com/livingministry daily 0.75 2022-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609181343395-ZUUAJBZ0XVSA9O9H6A9M/protest.jpg Living Ministry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/fa206b75-e982-4dcf-9d9e-0b24fa7b2576/clergeywoman+photo.jpeg Living Ministry https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/26d078df-82b1-44f4-b87b-54c9fedfd338/border+witness.jpeg Living Ministry https://www.omegaburckhardt.com/mivida daily 0.75 2022-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609275307601-LY08TW7O80T052FQ14X4/color.jpg Mi vida - Traveller, there is no path. The path is made by traveling. These lines from the poem by Spanish poet Antonio Machado, “Caminante,” capture an essential truth of my life: faith formation, borne of experience and the joyful embrace of wonder, is a life-long process. I was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in a family of travelers. My parents married while living in the coastal jungle of Costa Rica. Eventually, they returned to the city of their parents, St. Louis, though travel and living abroad continued to be a part of my childhood. We lived off and on in southern Mexico as part of an international, intentional community where I was later homeschooled by my mom for a short time. In terms of cultural identity, I am European American, but my earliest years were in a multicultural, multilingual, and multi-family household. My theology of cultivation comes from these ties to community and communal support. Aside from the importance of Beloved Community, I also developed from my mother a great sense of wonder and connection to the natural world. She was an avid gardener, and found spiritual fulfillment from plants and wild animals. My father, on the other hand, is a painter and artist but worked as a mechanic and appraiser, and I take from him my love of aesthetic beauty, visual harmony, and functionality. I am a cultivator in other ways, not just gardening; I am a connector, a supporter, and I foster the ideas of others who work to make our world better. In addition to these early influences, I found my own path to the Sacred through poetry and the Spanish language. The multilingual nature of my youth ultimately set the stage for my decision to pursue an M.A. and a Ph.D. at the University of Kansas in Latin American literature. When I started working as an adjunct instructor (later, Visiting Assistant Professor) at Marquette University, I helped develop a program that fostered space for intercultural exchange and language learning between university students in the United States and abroad. While the objectives of developing intercultural competence and language proficiency were primary, the broader goal was self-reflection and community-building across difference. This was reinforced as a student and then staff member of the MidWest Leadership School. The faculty with whom I worked were the first models of ministry that I could relate to on a personal level. My fellow lay volunteer staff helped me affirm my call to seminary, a deep call I had felt for some years at that point. The provocative conversations about anti-oppression work and our individual spiritual formation fueled by excitement, frustration, and laughter were formative and continue to serve as a model of ministry for me. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609271557535-FD0GL9T2ZUMTCLYH0VFU/doctoral%2Bwith%2Bkiddos.jpg Mi vida PhD Graduation, Juno age 4 and Maxwell age 7 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609272514150-HA3OIZUWF97V8EUVTEST/alien.jpg Mi vida Attack of the Aliens! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609284317299-VWSNC6DQLARCA1VJD419/camino+o.jpg Mi vida On the Camino de Santiago https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609271662981-UWVSRC6ZWU48KQW5KH82/selfie%2Bwith%2Bmax.jpg Mi vida Maxwell on move-in day at the University of Wisconsin https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609272437974-OL4FSXLQGTWVX1M4BPHA/black+and+white+halloween.jpg Mi vida Classic Movie Halloween https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609271325492-KI2VM86VRPMZHO7BGMQE/kiddos.jpg Mi vida Growing together https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609272456105-N3PQ3W7E3NXK511DE8ND/christmas+halloween.jpg Mi vida Scary North Pole https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609272412495-BX16SH9K71U859SXZDZM/blunderbuss.jpg Mi vida Steampunk https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1672243673033-445VA0OH4KDM9LSS0W82/Christmas%2Bbeloveds.jpg Mi vida My family's Christmas card to me since we were apart in December 2022 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609284379502-B4I8WQHFVIQPX6D80NBN/peppers.jpg Mi vida Peppers from my garden https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609285128151-O3AQNFMXQUMD8IQEFUYD/MLTS+175.jpg Mi vida With Revs. Kim Mason, Kimberlee Tomczak Carlson, and Elekes Zsolt at the Meadville Lombard 175th Celebration https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609285079278-XDI5651O21DNZ032YVW5/o+mom+beach.jpg Mi vida With my mom in Puerto Escondido (1976) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1672243885569-HBYZFGVL029XJF2CZD2G/Juno%2Band%2Btormund.jpg Mi vida Juno and Tormund https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609285062138-YU4GO9431F4XYYG8GX6W/mlts+dance.jpg Mi vida Cutting a rug at MidWest Leadership School https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609284424550-4DE15K7NKVANTC2LZ3O4/Glasses.jpeg Mi vida Photo by Audrey Winter https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609284345010-KVE4ZEPFWHH9EXESA5NR/camino+w+dad.jpg Mi vida With my dad in northern Spain https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609273529016-4I58GHGQNUNTLBJ6JQ46/Arvie.jpg Mi vida Arvie Banjo Blue https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609274696375-GV5HGJHW6NGUAM8IBB2M/Frankie.jpg Mi vida Franklin Falcon https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609274704964-B5CTFEPHL1PMHKAFR4NN/Tormund.jpg Mi vida Tormund Diablo https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609274884189-ZDR5NJIB7QWK2C8F630L/Rosco.jpg Mi vida Rosco Danger Baggins https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fe90aee76c6db0531a06ff5/1609274907246-SJLSTQHP7LR6UI9XRAEC/Jack.jpg Mi vida Jack Jack Attack https://www.omegaburckhardt.com/links daily 0.75 2023-04-05 https://www.omegaburckhardt.com/general-3 daily 0.75 2021-01-03