From the Minister

For all of us who wish so deeply that the world might soon become less chaotic, less confusing, more comfortable for us, the world itself is the answer. It is nothing but complexity – the intertwining of every living thing – the interbeing of everything. It is not just a game of winners and losers, of “sides,” unless we accept that the sides are infinite in number. In this enormous and mostly incomprehensible complexity, we are still given our breath every day. An invitation to be alive, to keep going.

A few years ago, as I considered the world the way it was then – so much seemed so horrifying – I shared this poem from Mark Nepo as a prayer to begin a day.

“Every day, we are challenged to love what we’re given as much as what we want. We don’t have to like the things we’re given, but we need to find a way to accept them. And love is the surest way to deepen our acceptance. And so, we must stay devoted to getting up one more time than we fall down. To waking up one more time than we fall asleep. To being sensitive one more time than we are blunt and cumbersome. To listen one more time than we speak. To hold one more time than we drop what we’re holding. To aspire to be clear one more time than we are confused. To open one more time than we close. And to lean into life one more time than we are pushed away.”

Once again, may this be a prayer for us. To love complexity, plurality, intricacy, to not reduce life to what we want, but to find contentment in being part of its complex wholeness. The invitation is as huge, and as present today as in any time in our lives so far. May we have the courage, the humility and the boldness to accept its gifts, and our breath, and let the best Life has to offer find its way to live through us. See you Sunday!

Just a few weeks left before the election, and the possibilities are mind-boggling. This is just a note to thank all of you who are working so hard to write letters, canvas voters, make phone calls, and everything else you can do to help aim for a good outcome. All are necessary, and we will see.

We are making plans for election week gatherings beginning with Tuesday night Nov. 5 and continuing with day-time and evening gatherings through Friday night Nov. 8. If you are able and willing to host a shift of a few hours Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, please let me know. Members of the Fellowship Care and Support Team, Committee on Ministry and Board of Directors will be helping out as well.

Thanks! Rev. Jill McA

On any given day, in the middle of a usual week, especially when we’re frustrated or afraid, or sad or bored, or just tired, it’s easy to think “why bother?” Why take the time and make the space for practice – to pause, to pray, to be present, to give thanks? From ancient times this has been a human dilemma, this tendency to ignore, give up, by-pass or simply lose the needed motivation and discipline. The mind can justify almost anything.

And, every now and then, if we are lucky or paying attention (sometimes both are needed), an opening arises in our lives which offers new ways of seeing and understanding ourselves and the world. Every now and then, we are called by truth to come a little further on our way. Practice is not a guarantee, but there’s no question that it makes opening and insight possible. ‘Who Am I in relation to myself, others and the world?’ is mostly empty rhetoric and speculation without practice.

Wherever you are, pause to breathe in – gently and deep. Exhale as much tension as you can. Exhale sadness. Breathe into your frustration, and tiredness– let them know that you recognize them – exhale gently without judgement. Breathe in to your worries and help them ease as you exhale. For all that is present in you and with you, with your hands together over your heart, offer the prayer of compassion: “May you be free from fear, may you be safe, may you be happy. May you be healthy and whole, may you be at ease and know peace.” Then offer the prayer for others as well.

Amidst everything – the beautiful and the heart-wrenching – breathe the breath of life and give thanks for the journey. Give thanks for your practice and another day given, and begin again, in love.

Sending love to you all – Jill

One of my teachers says, in many different ways, that spiritual growth, or becoming wise, is a process of discovering, at your core, a story that can hold all the other stories. A foundation that makes room for everything that comes your way, for everything that is. In that place, that story, vulnerability and courage are the same thing. Courage is not simply the energy or power to defend our expectations or habits or “knowledge.” Courage is the ability to keep the doors of our minds and hearts open, to change direction, to leave things behind and keep moving, even – or especially – if we are mourning as we go.

“What would it be like to wake into our bodies, our relationships and our work as if seeing them for the first time?”, the teacher asks. Yesterday there was sorrow and joy; today there is sorrow and joy – but today we are not the same as we were yesterday. Nothing is the same.

This is a good daily practice – to find ways and time to open ourselves and our stories to the way things truly are. To be willing to be lived by pain and sorrow and fear in all the ways we are willing to be lived by happiness and love and joy. To move as life moves, in us and around us.

Did you have a chance to see the Harvest Moon this week, as it rises on the eastern horizon huge, and orange, in the dark sky? These are the days of the Fall equinox – the trees beginning to turn, the air cooling, days of rain and sun, clouds and color. Changing times, again, as always. Always a chance to begin again.

Here are some centering thoughts about the Fall Equinox, adapted from UU Lori Gorgas Hlaban:

“Pause. Balanced in the center between the longest and shortest days. Equinox. The wheel of the year turns, and turns again. The air cools, days shorten…

This is our opportunity, now, to pause. Balanced, breathing in, breathing out, knowing this present moment. This present moment is all we’re guaranteed. Like the sun moving toward the shortest day, each moment arises—and is gone before we know it…

This is the time to pause, and consider. As we enter the season of contemplation, of increasing darkness, of lying fallow, of dormancy. This is the season of letting go, of lightening burdens, of preparing for the long period of being still, going deep…

Today we mark the midpoint between Summer and Winter Solstice, a time to seek balance and be free. Blessed Be. Amen.”

One of the most beautiful things about morning, about waking up, is that the conversation begins anew. What I mean is we can begin a new conversation with life every day. It’s quite easy to wake up and simply continue yesterday’s conversation, tired and worn out though it was when we went to sleep. Why be dragged down by yesterday’s attempts to get everything right (did we?) when we can begin again today in a new way, with a chance to move around what got in our way yesterday?

The point of the conversation remains the same, I think. We are here to learn. We are here to learn to love – which means to live with compassion, respect and justice. Which means to live in harmony with all other life. Which means to outgrow self-centeredness, and fear, which means to recognize our own woundedness and brokenness, which means to feel the life of our bodies and all other bodies, and so much more. Every day is a new beginning, bringing challenges and possibilities. We can begrudge and judge the day, the years, the life we’ve been given – that’s not hard. Or we can accept the gift of being welcomed into each and every day. Once again, a new day is waiting to welcome you. May you feel the breath which is given and, with gratitude, enter in.

For the past eleven years we have worked with an annual theme as a way of focusing our attention and energy amidst the many activities of the Fellowship. Themes have included Love, Courage, Deepening, Faithfulness, Building A New Way, and more. In the coming year, our focus will be “Ancestors, Descendants, and Us.” It is inspired by a song in our hymnal, based on words of the artist Paul Gaugin: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” In the life of the Fellowship and in our individual lives, these are timely questions.

“Where do we come from?” refers to our histories – who were the people and what were the ideas and events which shaped the evolution of Unitarianism, and of the Fellowship. What were their dreams and challenges, their successes and failures, and how have those affected the lives we live now? And for our individual lives – what have we inherited and how have we been shaped by what we have inherited from our own ancestors?

“Where are we going?” refers to the future, which we do not know but which we are shaping through our present lives. Where do we hope to go? What kind of world do we want for the generations who will follow us? Are these ideas and ideals realistic, possible? How might they come into being?

Both of these questions inform and affect our lives in the present moment. What do we still need to learn about our histories that can help us make good choices for our present lives, so that our present lives can help shape the futures we aim for? What kinds of ancestors do we hope to be, and what is required of us now for that to come true?

In this church year we will be telling and listening to many stories, we will be encouraging one another to live up to our ideals, and we will be working together to envision a future worth striving for. Our religious values play a very big part in all of this work. I invite you to begin your reflections now and I encourage you to enter into the conversations: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

Just before getting back to a regular schedule (with a little less summer spontaneity) I’m taking a trip to Transylvania next week, and Jamie Petts and Skyla King-Christison are coming too. We’ll be attending an International UU Women’s Convocation gathering in Koloszvar with U-U women from many different countries, and making a very short visit to our partner church in Bozod Korispatak. I was the newly-called Associate Minister of the Fellowship in 1995, and also a member of the UUA Board of Trustees, when the Partner Church program began (first called Sister Churches) and my family and I traveled to Transylvania to begin this partnership. Members of the Fellowship have nurtured and continued the partnership for nearly thirty years now, through changes of ministers in both congregations.

I’m so glad that Jamie and Skyla are both interested and able to come to this gathering, as a way of helping sustain this partnership and other of our international UU connections into a new generation. Transylvanian Unitarianism is our ancestral home, our lineage. It was a product of the Reformation in the Catholic Church in the 15th and 16th centuries – it was the so-called Radical Reformation which moved away from trinitarianism. Unitarians in Transylvania (now Hungary and Romania) kept this liberal tradition alive through centuries, through dictatorships and communism, through war and peace. We have much to learn from them today, from the present-day Hungarian Unitarian Church.

This visit is part of that ongoing learning. And, from Sept. 20 – 30 our Partner Church minister, and her son will be visiting us! Rev. Katalin Szasz-Cserey and Mate look forward to being here again (for Mate, his first trip to the US), to spending time in Oregon and with us, and to continue the learning and the partnership. There will be lots of opportunities to get together with them, including an all-Fellowship Hungarian Dinner on Friday Sept. 27.

I’m grateful to worship team member Susan Sanford for hosting the September 8 Sunday Service at the Fellowship, which will include the annual Joining of the Waters ceremony. It will be an intergenerational service. I hope you’ll plan to be there. All are invited to bring a small amount of water from somewhere important to you, to share in the ceremony.

Summer is not yet over, but oh – the rain has been beautiful! It feels like everything with roots is no longer thirsty, and I feel the same way. I know it will get hot again soon, for at least a few more weeks, but it feels different now. That’s how things should be when seasons shift and move.

Seasonal changes are underway at the Fellowship too. This Sunday, August 25, is the last of our Summer Services – and we’ll be outside, weather permitting. (So far the predictions look good). It may be cool – bring layers. And given the spike in Covid again – I’m glad we can be outside.

The following Sunday, September 1, there will be no Sunday Service. We’ve been taking that Sunday as a break for several years. Not to worry if you think you’ll miss togetherness – come to the Saturday August 31 Pop Up Parking Lot Rummage sale and to the Monday September 2 Annual Tuna Roast Picnic (in Avery Park). Find out more about both in these weekly announcements and please sign up to help!

On Sunday September 8 we’ll regather with the Annual Joining of the Waters Ceremony — an intergenerational service. All are invited to bring a small amount of water from someplace that’s important to you, as we consider the gifts of water and autumn and a new Fellowship year ahead.

On September 15, we’ll start the new church year theme of Ancestors, Descendants and Us – How Shall We Live Now? Spirit Play for children, and YRUU for teens will re-commence on this day as well.

The last two weeks in September we’ll be hosting the minister of our Transylvanian Partner Congregation, Rev. Katalin Szasz-Cserey, and her son Mate. She’ll help us learn more about our Transylvanian ancestors and modern partners, and will be with us to rededicate our Memorial Garden on Sept. 29.

So many beautiful things coming our way in September. Until then, may blessings of summer days and harvests, blessings of friends and community, blessings of this circle of care and support – be yours, and may you pass them on to as many others as you can.

See you Sunday – Jill