Beyond Sunday: Reflections, News and Flyers
For favorite sermons, the current Friday Flyer, Rev. Lori’s reflections, and the Monthly Messenger, this is the place!
Rev. Lori: on The Light of Resistance and the Blessings of Imbolc
“I began noticing this week how it gets lighter earlier in the morning and stays light later. In spite of the bitter cold temperatures I feel some encouragement by the addition of the minutes. I feel like light is also returning on in other areas of my consciousness. As hard and sad as things can feel these days, the light of effective resistance is shining. Small wins are popping up in the nation and in our community.”
Rev. Lori: Don’t Stay In Your Seats!
“We are a faith community, even if we come from different faiths or no faith. We walk together and support one another on our own individual spiritual journeys. Faith without action is incomplete. Spiritual journey without witness is vacant. It is important to practice our spirituality in the ways that nourish ourselves and our community. And our spirituality also requires we look outward.”
ICE Response & Resources
Beloved Congregation:
Many people have questions about how to respond to the ICE presence in our community.
A hopeful truth:
When communities have verification pathways, legal observer connections, mutual aid readiness, and clear safety protocols, we the people, take back some power. We breathe again, stop freezing and start helping because our local communities help us feel less alone.
This article contains helpful actions and resources from the Regional UU offices.
For Those Who Came Before: Honoring UU Activists and Resistors Through the Ages
“We gather with the memory of Unitarian and Universalist activists, and with the memory of all those across the world who stood against injustice with nothing more than courage, clarity, and love. We gather to consider how our values shaped them—and still shape us. We gather to consider how these values, in shaping our lives, have shaped our communities, our society, and our world.”
Rev. Lori With A Modern Parable of Readiness
“There once was a traveler who set out with nothing but a thin cloak and a determined heart. Whenever the winds changed, she gathered the cloak around her. When storms approached, she cinched the cloth tight at her waist so her hands were free—free to build, free to shield, free to lift others up. When asked why she always prepared herself so deliberately, she said, “The world is full of work that requires both strength and tenderness. I gird myself not for battle, but for love.””
This Is My Song: An Anthem of Dreams for My Country
“I am a church kid and have loved hymns and sacred music all my life. I have always understood that the hymns teach us theology—or whatever word I understood early on. The organ and choir always fed me deeply. One song that stuck with me, and always brought tears to my eyes, was This Is My Song. I was born and raised a United Church of Christ kid, but the words of This Is My Song really captured my spirituality and perhaps were preparing me for the UU identity that was clearly in my bones. Or perhaps the Spirit was preparing me for another time—for this time. And preparing all UUs for another moment in time. This time.”