Unity on the North Shore

06/23/2026

Transform It, Don't Transfer It
By Rev. Kurt

Anger gets a bad rap.

Certainly, it gets expressed in destructive ways. But anger itself is not the problem. Anger is part of the human experience. It is energy. It is information. It is a signal.

The challenge is not whether we feel anger. The challenge is what we do with it.

Thich Nhat Hanh compared caring for our anger to the way a loving mother cares for a crying baby. She doesn't scold the child for crying. She picks it up and holds it tenderly, knowing the crying is a signal that something needs attention.

Our anger deserves the same care and compassion.

Rather than acting on it or pushing it away, we can meet it with curiosity: What is this feeling trying to tell me?

Beneath anger there is often something deeper—a hurt that needs healing, a boundary that has been crossed, a fear that needs reassurance, or a value that needs protection.

Approach anger with awareness rather than reaction, and it will become a teacher. Held tenderly, it can reveal the values, wounds, and longings beneath the surface. What begins as discomfort may ultimately guide you into a deeper understanding of your divine nature and a more authentic expression of the Christ presence within.

06/22/2026

06/18/2026

How Conscious Is My Participation?
From Rev. Kurt

After hearing Jihan Abdullah's lesson on lenses this past Sunday, I keep returning to one question: How conscious is my participation?

We often move through life on autopilot. The same routines, the same faces, the same assumptions—so familiar we no longer notice them. There's nothing wrong with that—until we forget that we're seeing the world through a lens we rarely stop to examine.

Jihan offered a simple practice: Notice the lens. Notice the judgments that leap to mind unbidden. Notice the stories you tell yourself about people and situations. Notice how quickly you decide what an experience means before you've really taken it in.

The goal isn't to get rid of the lens. We all have them. Our experiences, beliefs, education, culture, and personal history shape how we see the world. The invitation is simply to become aware that the lens is there.

Then comes the next step: Question the lens. Is my interpretation the only possibility? What might I be missing? Could there be more happening here than I understand?

The moment we become curious about our assumptions, our perception begins to shift. We stop reacting from habit and start participating more consciously. We discover a deeper truth: life is always larger than the stories we tell about it. There is more complexity, more humanity, and more possibility than our first impressions can fathom.

Perhaps this is what Jesus was pointing to when he spoke of removing the log from our own eye before focusing on the speck in another's. Conscious participation begins by noticing the lens through which we see, questioning the stories we've accepted as truth, and becoming willing to look again. As the log is cleared away, our vision widens, and we catch a glimpse of a reality far larger than our assumptions—a reality filled with infinite possibility.

06/16/2026

One Life. Many Lenses.

This Sunday, guest speaker Jihan Abdullah invited us into a powerful question:

What if the greatest source of division isn’t our differences—but our certainty that we are seeing the whole truth?

Each of us experiences life through a unique lens shaped by our history, beliefs, experiences, fears, hopes, and assumptions. Two people can witness the same event, hear the same words, or live through the same circumstance and walk away with entirely different interpretations.

The challenge is not that we see differently.

The challenge begins when we become attached to being right.

Drawing on the story of the blind men and the elephant, Jihan reminded us that each perspective may hold a piece of truth, while still being incomplete. When we loosen our grip on certainty, curiosity becomes possible. Compassion becomes possible. Understanding becomes possible.

Three simple practices were offered:

• Look beneath someone’s behavior and become curious about the need, hurt, or fear that may be driving it.

• Notice when the ego wants to make someone else wrong.

• Share your perspective with humility, remembering that your view may be part of the picture, not the entire picture.

Oneness does not require agreement.

It does not require sameness.

It asks something far more courageous: that we remember the shared divine life that exists beneath our differences.

Perhaps the spiritual path is not about proving our perspective, but about expanding it.

Perhaps every person we meet carries a piece of the larger picture that we have not yet seen.

Thank you, Jihan, for reminding us that wisdom often begins where certainty softens and curiosity returns.

06/11/2026

From Rev. Kurt...

What Are You Hiding?

In our SoulFlix discussion group this week, we watched Out, Pixar’s short film about a young man afraid to come out to his parents. As we shared insights, we realized it’s not just a q***r story—it’s a human story.

We’ve all experienced what it’s like to fear what others might think. We worry about rejection, criticism, disappointment, or misunderstanding. And because of that, we hide. We self-edit. We withhold. We share only the version of ourselves we think others will find acceptable.

To be fair, many of us learned these habits for good reasons. They helped us belong, stay safe, or avoid conflict. But over time, they can also keep us from fully expressing who we are.

As we move through Pride Month, perhaps there’s an invitation here for all of us. Notice the places where you’re holding back. Where are you making yourself smaller? Where are you hiding a truth, a dream, or a part of yourself?

When you notice those moments, you might pause and affirm: I am divinely guided. I am divinely protected.

Then ask: Is the threat as real as it feels? Or has fear made it larger in my mind than it truly is?

The more we bring our authentic selves into our lives, the more fully our divine potential can be expressed. We spend less energy hiding and more energy living, loving, creating, and serving.

And that blesses not only us, but everyone whose lives we touch.

If you’d like to watch Pixar’s short film Out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkLZN0ziLuI