From the Minister

Daily Practice: A Weekly Reminder

Daily spiritual practice is a way to stay alert to how things truly are, to find sources of wisdom and strength, to let go of what does not serve us, and more.  Here is a new iteration of my daily practice writings – a once-a-week reminder to maintain your own practice. I’ll begin with a new version of a piece I wrote a few summers ago – it still has much to consider:

“We were talking about loss as we walked this morning. About changes in how we work and what is needed now and what to do with feelings of inadequacy. Perhaps these are just small feelings compared to losses of life and housing and jobs, losses of connections to others and daily support from friends and family, losses of habitat and species and wilderness in the world. Nevertheless, they are feelings which shape how we move into the day, and how we face all the other losses and changes.

I have great hope for the future because of how much is changing right now.  And I know for certain that these changes include many, many losses.  This too is part of my daily practice;  to name some of the losses of life and beauty and things I thought I could depend on.  To acknowledge the sorrow and fear, and the challenge of finding new ways to live.  As I breathe in and out,  I let these feelings be present. Sadness and joy move in me and around me, while the breath is steady. Life is moving and changing and also breathing through me in every moment – therefore I am moving and changing. I give thanks for another day given.”  

Sending love to you all – Jill

Between Us (July 2023)

My friends – all you who are members and friends of the UUFC – I’m thinking of you today. This is not a special day, not a holiday, but I’m thinking of you.  Because you, like me, are alive in this world, and there are so many challenges in this living.  There is beauty, and love and insight and compassion.  And there are so many challenges.

I’m reflecting on things I learned at the UUA General Assembly, and on the old understandings of the 4th of July which are outdated, and on the fact of how much danger some people are in from war, and politics, and other people.  And on the facts of climate change and the chaos and the realities of how the changes are affecting us all. 

In the summer months, I always try to spend more time in reflection – on the state of the world, on the state of the congregation, on the state of my energies, and on the needs among us that we call ministry.  I am greatly buoyed at the moment by the upwelling of new and needed relationships, ideas, and goals within the Fellowship.  I am heartened by movements within our UUA – toward more inclusiveness, and more acknowledgement of inequality.  I am inspired by visions of a future which build on the past, but keep us moving forward. 

In these summer months I invite you to reflect as well.  Reflect on how you are related to the Fellowship – to people and programs and visions.  Reflect on where you are uncomfortable – which may be just where you are ready to learn more.  Reflect on how you can add to the store of wisdom and compassion and strength among us.  And most of all – keep coming, keep connecting, keep meeting people, and keep learning.  This committed community which we share is a precious resource, which depends upon, and helps, all of us.   Jill

Daily Practice, June 30th, 2023

Good morning friends – Between our house and the neighbor’s there are ten Douglas Firs and one small redwood.  A very small forest that we share and enjoy. This morning I watched awhile (breathing in the beautiful perfume of those firs) as the rising sun lit one side of the highest branches, and turned them a golden green. Meanwhile, a convention of crows was gathering in the field, then flying to high branches and back.  Once again the morning sky is bright and clear – this particular summer day,  another chance to be alive and thankful. 

On this last day of June we begin again, just as we are called to do every day. We are called to wake up from our assumptions and opinions into appreciation of the miracles of life.  We are called to be aware of the breath which makes us alive.  We are called to recommit to a path of compassion and peace, to create more justice, to choose to bless the world, knowing how blessed we are. 

A prayer for today, to encourage us to choose this path once again:  “Blessing of Hope”  by Jan Richardson.

“So may we know that hope that is not just for someday but for this day—here, now, in this moment that opens to us:

Hope not made of wishes but of substance, hope made of sinew and muscle and bone, hope that has breath and a beating heart, hope that will not keep quiet and be polite, hope that knows how to holler when it is called for, hope that knows how to sing when there seems little cause, hope that raises us from the dead—

Not someday, but this day, every day, again and again and again.”

Jan Richardson

Thank-you to all of you for being part of this circle of practice!  Next week Daily Practice will  transition to the UUFC website, where I’ll post it at least once a week, maybe twice sometimes.  More information about how to find it will be coming.  Until then, and always, I’m sending love to you all!     Jill

Daily Practice (6-20-23)

Good morning friends — I’m reading a collection of poems titled “How To Love The World” (James Crews). The title itself has become my daily practice for now. It is one of the essential religious questions, at the edge of learning and growth. It seems that the more we know, or think we know, the harder it is to love the world. The “facts” are not very encouraging. 

Buddhist teachings have addressed this question for centuries. They teach that what we call the ego – a major part of how we interact with and interpret the world – is biased according to its own needs. The ego in each of us interprets information to satisfy its limited needs and ignores everything else. This “ignorance” is the source of our suffering, they say, and suffering makes it hard to love the world. It takes a courageous outlook to “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by ignorance.”  

I’m learning that daily practice is simply a way to try to love the world, every day, over and over again. It is a way to step aside from the ego, a little bit (though whether or not we are ever successful at that I do not know), and let ourselves be present to what is true and real in the moment, starting with breath, air, light, sky, earth, living and dying. Most days, I don’t have a good answer for how to love the world, but almost every day I am convinced that it is worth trying, worth the effort. And I’m pretty sure it can only be done by loving one thing at a time – one thing, and then another, and then perhaps another.  Here in this small part of earth, where clouds move over the hills and the air is cool, I begin again by sending love to you all —  Jill

Minister’s Welcome

Welcome to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis, a liberal religious congregation that has played an important part in this community for more than 60 years. Our religious tradition is more than 400 years old, dating back to the time of the protestant reformation in Europe.

Unitarianism and Universalism were two varieties of liberal Christianity, evolving over centuries, primarily in Europe and North America. By the time the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged in 1961 to become the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations of North America, (the UUA) our religious perspectives had expanded to include wisdom and teachings from all world religions, from science and humanism, art and mysticism, and much more. The UU Fellowship of Corvallis is still a member congregation of the UUA, and we still offer a broad and open approach to religious belief and practice.

Rev. Jill McAllister

The liberal tradition we uphold is best defined as an ongoing movement toward religious freedom, reason in religion, and the embrace of diversity in religious belief and practice.  We are a community held together not by beliefs or creeds, but by these shared values of freedom, reason, and tolerance. We are a caring community, helping each other navigate the realities of life. We are a community of seekers; knowing there is always more to learn and understand, we explore many ideas, philosophies, perspectives and modes of worship and spiritual growth.  We are a pluralistic congregation, dedicated to inclusivity and justice. Each individual is encouraged to aim toward these values and we are all called to live in right relations. We are a welcoming congregation, honoring the diversity of beliefs, practices and lifestyles among us. We are an active multi-generational congregation, working together in all the ways we can to increase justice and compassion in the world. We bring our whole lives, and together we face the realities of birth and death, sorrow and joy, sickness and health, knowing and not knowing. This is what it means to be religious. This is what it means to be Unitarian Universalists. We hope you’ll join us.