This weekend offers us time to grieve and remember those whom we’ve lost in the world. It’s also a time to recognize who we are and how, as Kenneth Cohen wrote, “every tear we shed is a midwife which helps bring us into a new world.”

On Saturday, we will celebrate the long life of a beloved member of this church, our dear Ward Montgomery. On Sunday, we will hear from Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile whose life was cut short in a police shooting. We we will learn how the foundation formed in his name now “endeavors to help bridge the gap for families who have been impacted by the untimely death of a loved one.”

Our lives are inextricably touched by and bound up with those around us—friends and strangers. Through these connections, we know each other’s joy and pain, we discover our vulnerabilities and our strengths, we offer comfort and are comforted.

We cannot escape loss. We can work fiercely to prevent deaths like Philando’s and to end gun violence. We can embrace our own mortality that is with us from the moment of birth. We can notice how grief moves through us and how we are changed.

So let us “joyfully participate in the sorrows of life,” as it has been said in Buddhist teachings. Let us discover the truths and possibilities of all that we face throughout our days.

—Rev.  Terri

Each week, the interim ministry team will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme, the state of the church, or the state of the world. Meg, Terri and Arif will alternate writing this “In the Interim” post. We encourage your comments.

From Trust to Journey

“My battery is low and it’s getting dark.” In case you missed it, those were the Opportunity rover’s last words to NASA. NASA officially declared Opportunity’s mission completed on Wednesday, ending a 15-year mission that lasted far beyond the 90 days that Opportunity was designed for. In a way, Opportunity was declared “dead.” I teared up reading the story about Opportunity’s end. I couldn’t help but imagine the hundreds, if not thousands of people who worked on the project, a project that for some unexpectedly became the work of a lifetime. What was it like for them that this journey had come to an end?

I also couldn’t help but think about what a great story it is for us to reflect on as we move out of our theme of Trust and into our theme of Journey. Continue reading →

Last Sunday, Rev. Meg shared the acronym B-R-A-V-I-N-G coined by Brené Brown to describe seven elements of trust. Brown created this checklist because, as she writes, “it reminds me that trusting myself or other people is a vulnerable and courageous process.”

(Here’s a handy PDF of the acoynym that we can reference throughout the month as we deepen into the theme of trust.)

It can be hard to trust our own selves with the truths we bury deep inside. Creating spaces that open doorways into those truths is part of the work of this faith community. We do this in worship, through words, music, silence, images, ritual. We do this by building relationships, through our presence to each other during the joys and the sorrows of life, and by bearing witness to the injustices all around. We open doorways when we practice listening and practice sharing, when we ask questions, and when we strive for curiosity and openness.

Part of why I love small group ministry so much is how it can offer a beautiful container of trust — a space that can give us the strength, support and courage to go deeper within. Continue reading →

I’m really excited about an upcoming worship service and I hope you will be, too!  On February 10, we are going to welcome new members into the congregation AND dedicate new babies and children to the congregation.

I was shocked to learn, when I asked the Worship Arts Ministry team when the last child / baby dedication had been held, that a number of people on the team could not ever remember seeing one!  So let me describe it to you a bit. Continue reading →

“You are perfect just as you are… and you could use some improvement.”

This quote, attributed to Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi captures what I often think of as the essence of who we are as Unitarian Universalists, and the invitation into possibility that church extends to us.

“You are perfect just as you are” speaks to our Universalism, saying that each of us is perfect solely by the fact of our existence. It says that we need do nothing at all to have a full measure of worth and dignity; of the right to love and to be loved.

“And you could use some improvement” speaks to me of our Unitarian leanings. Insisting on the wholeness of God and our wholeness reflected back. Admitting that as imperfect human beings we are not yet wholly whole. Inviting us into the possibility that one of our purposes in this “one wild and precious life” is to pursue that wholeness through the pursuit of greater spiritual depth, growth, and spiritual maturity. Continue reading →