This October, UUCGV Leadership met for an online version of our annual leadership retreat. Our discussion included how to keep a sense of beloved community in this time of needing to minimize in-person contact. On the one hand, there is a real sense of mourning as we miss being in the sanctuary together, having potlucks, chatting together during in-person coffee hours, being able to hug or shake hands. On the other hand, there have been bonuses to the online services, including easier access for some people who have mobility limitations, regular community discussions after the sermons, and online coffee hour small groups that are randomly put together and force us out of “cliques”.
A huge kudos goes out to Rev. Wendy, Chelsea, Amandalin, and Maya for all of their work adapting our services to an online format. Also much appreciation to Bill Conrod and the membership team for putting on a fun and relaxing “Fall into Fellowship” outdoor socially distanced picnic in October. Virtual meditations, online Goddess Group, and online discussion of Layla Saad’s book “Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor” are among the other community opportunities in recent months: much gratitude goes out to the leaders of these groups. In coming months, look for more new online opportunities, including an online auction and possibly an online film watching/discussion group. We hope to also have a partial second round of “check-in phone calls”: let me know if you would like to get a call or make a call to other congregants. If you are looking for other ways to contribute to UUCGV, keep your eyes peeled for announcements in the weekly emails. You also can contact the Team liaisons listed in every print newsletter under “2020-21 Leadership/Team Leadership Circle” to find out more about how to get involved with specific teams such as Worship, Membership, Religious Education, or Celebrations. We usually do not print phone numbers in the newsletter, contact our administrator Maya if you’d like someone’s phone number/email or an entire new UUCGV directory. Wishing everyone love, light, and strength as we head into the challenging Winter of 2020-21. ~ Elizabeth High Revelations This is a monthly column helping us to get to know our friends and members in a deeper way. We thank Monte High for taking the time to do these in-depth interviews for us. This month Monte used his talents to create a beautiful poem for us. I phoned a bunch of people in the congregation and those who answered the call contributed to this poem. Here are the questions that I asked: The Unitarian Universalist seventh principal is Respect for the Interdependent Web of All Existence. Contemplate this – everything is connected; everything is One. The whole world is literally Part of you. Your wholeness has no limits, because Being is in infinity. Now, contemplating this, go to a window, gaze outward and tell me what you see. The following is from Brother David Steindl-Rast: “Mobilize the courage of your heart. Say one word today that will give a fearful person courage.” I was astonished that of all the responses only one word was repeated.” ~ Monte High Awaken Your Heart“Mobilize the courage of your heart.
Say one word today that will give a fearful person courage.” Hope, Mountain, Hope, Breathe, kindness Solidarity, calmness, purpose, love Peace, get-started! Source, trust Grace, now Being, joy The Unitarian Universalist seventh principal is Respect for the Interdependent Web of All Existence. Contemplate this – everything is connected; everything is One. The Whole is literally Part of you. Your wholeness has no limits, because Being is timeless. Awaken your heart Tap it, open the I inside pure, true being in the Holy-Whole One I open the door and step outside, within sunlight I am I am the remains of my garden, the spinning things on my neighbor’s roof and their apple trees that I hope will pollinate with mine, the too many electrical wires but they do connect us, my dormant chrysanthemums, the orange berries on my crabapple tree and the huge flock of starlings that will descend sometime this winter and eat them all sometimes within a couple of hours. I am the backyard, the chain-link fence dividing the property behind us and the vacant house that brings sadness because both of the people living there have recently passed away. I am the many cars that are normally parked on the street in front of my house that I am missing today because the virus has closed the University and the students and professors are elsewhere, the giant honey locust tree with its top cut off making it look like a finger-pointing into the sky and even in this disabled state the tree is the giver of givers providing shade for my house in the hot summertime, everything has spirit everything in the universe has soul my belief that the river rock surrounding my yard is protecting my sacred space, the irises that are going to sleep that I know will awaken in Spring because they are going inward for the winter. I am the clouds and sky, the Mesa outlined in the distance, the rooftops of the houses aligned below me. I am the Ponderosa, the two small trees with just a few leaves still clinging dancing together in the wind. I am everything, everything in my backyard the sky the grass the trees all of nature connected. I am the evergreen bush the dried flowers the blue sky the power lines the cars in the parking lot. I am countryside. I am the man sitting on a blanket of leaves on the ground with the sun shining on his left side and his right side in shadow holding a walking stick weaving a braided leather belt around it for a handle, leafless trees reaching upward lit by the sun their branches appearing white against the blue sky. I am the skeletal arms of the tree branches reaching up and enveloping the blue of the sky. I am a bare Aspen blowing in the wind, a trimmed Juniper, the nondescript suburban landscape beyond, the potted geraniums on the sill that will continue to bloom throughout the winter bringing different shades of red, the beautiful blue sky, the low angle of the sun shining through bringing warmth inside, the book in my hands. I am the Monument in shadow. I am the night, the Snow Fountain Cherry ornamental tree that will bear no fruit yet brings such beauty now undressed in silhouette of the streetlight swaying, the porch light across the street on the house where the Trump/Pence sign recently dug into the earth where the elderly couple so sweet and kind are likely grieving and fearful of what our country may become. I am extraordinarily old trees, one of them a maple has lost a lot of mass and branches but is still whole and part of us as it has been for the years that we have lived here. I am the infinite I-am’s, being, past, present and future – Lovers all. Awaken your heart Life flows on...in endless song… |
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