“Standing up to the abuse of power is inherently difficult.
It can also be inspiring.”
~NYTimes Editorial Board
Friends,
Last weekend (Sunday, April 6) the editorial board of the New York Times published an essay entitled “A Playbook for Standing Up to President Trump”. Since I would usually refrain from naming politicians in my ministerial work, I suggest you consider it an essay about resisting those in power who refuse to act justly and follow rules. I found it to contain wisdom, among which is a three-step “playbook” which I would summarize as follows:
In the face of the bullies (such as those who use their power without regard to serving those they are sworn to serve), we must cultivate:
-Recognition that capitulation is doomed (since bullies offer no promises for future behavior),
-Insistence on due process (or a belief in the work and trustworthiness of the courts) [This is hard for some of us!], and
-Solidarity (with those who are harmed), especially if we ourselves have not (yet) been targeted.
The news each day brings fresh examples of situations in which we have the opportunity to cultivate these attitudes and pursue related strategies. I am participating in the Rise for Freedom trainings currently being offered on Thursday evenings. See below for information about how to join–either virtually, or in our very own sanctuary!
Yours in persistence and solidarity,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. I will be away from church next week (and perhaps the following week) on medical leave while I care for a family member. If you find yourself with an immediate need for pastoral care while I am out, please email gnuuc@gnuuc.org, with a note that you need pastoral care, and Kris (our administrator) will put you in touch with one of our affiliated ministers.
“Traditions are the inventions of people who mean to
routinely put love and comfort and meaning into
their lives and the lives of those they love.”
~Elizabeth Berg
Dear Ones,
These next three months, April, May, and June, also known as the 4th quarter of our congregational and UUA fiscal/church year, are full of traditions! Some of them, like our recent (and very successful) fundraising auction, we tend to think of as fun community-building events and look forward to every spring. Others, like the stewardship pledge drive and our annual GNUUC business meeting to vote for officers of the congregation and approve our budget for the coming year starting in July, we tend to think of as necessities (because they are) and perhaps to dismiss as boring or tedious–which I’d like to challenge you to reframe!
Thinking about our money–where it comes from and how we deploy it–and about how we organize our time and talents and skills to sustain congregational life are, obviously, ongoing tasks all year long. But every spring, we ask that everyone join in the projects of making annual pledges of financial support and practicing our core commitment to democracy by attending our meeting. These two crucial practices safeguard the continuity of our resources and are, in a sense, some of our most important congregational traditions. Individually as members, and together as a congregation, these are ways we routinely put love and comfort and meaning into our own lives and work to extend our welcome and care into the wider community, as our mission and vision of ministry direct.
Our pledge drive will be ongoing over the next two weeks, and our annual meeting will be held immediately following our Sunday service on May 18. I look forward to your participation in our rituals of planning and renewal!
Yours in springtime renewal,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.
The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”
~Ray Bradbury
Beloveds,
What a lovely March we are having at GNUUC: a celebration of new members last Sunday (five of them! I hope you meet them soon if you haven’t yet), a sure-to-be lively Fiesta version of our annual fundraising Auction this coming Sunday (I hope you will attend–it’s so much good food and good company even before the bidding starts!), and in between, tomorrow evening’s beginning of opening our doors for a series of Thursday evening trainings offering congregants, friends, and neighbors an opportunity to gather and explore how to engage in action to protect our democracy in this time of creeping autocracy. (I keep typing “creepy” by … accident?)
I love Bradbury’s image of us as cups always being filled–I think blue skies, birdsong, celebrations, good music and conversation–so that we can “tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” Friends, we at GNUUC have so much beautiful stuff filling our cups–even in these difficult times. I am glad we are doing what we can to share the good stuff in reaching out to create community connections, whether with training or by showing up for the Bellevue Community Picnic later this spring. I can’t wait to see what else sprouts and buds for us this year!
Yours in resistance and hope and springtime,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. See below for more information about the Rise for Freedom trainings. Remember: you don’t have to come every week, and if you can’t make it in person, you can join any session online–but come in person for good conversation and perhaps a bit more fun!
“Sometimes what we know of love and justice pushes us in ways
we never expected. And sometimes the need to bear such love into the world is heartbreakingly large. It is in those moments that we most need one another, and most need beloved community.”
~UUA President Sofía Betancourt, Love at the Center
Dear Ones,
I have a bit of heartening news to share this week: On Sunday morning, we will welcome several new members to our congregation! I hope as many of you as possible will be in attendance to celebrate their decisions to join GNUUC and joyfully witness the addition of their signatures to our membership book.
GNUUC members (as well as many friends of the congregation) join in living out our congregational covenant. The covenant was written years ago by the congregation, and we recite it together at every Sunday service. Between now and June, the Worship Team plans to devote four Sundays (one a month) to exploring the four main parts of our covenant. This Sunday, our new member ceremony will serve as a jumping-off point to reflect on our commitment “to make a welcoming community” and what welcome and community has meant to us. I hope you’ll be there!
Yours in celebration and the heartbreakingly large need for love in our world,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. If you are eager to become a member of GNUUC and I haven’t yet talked with you about membership, please email me ASAP! (If you’re not sure or not ready yet, no worries; there will be future opportunities.)
Beloveds,
Today I am sharing with you a message from UUA Southern Region Team Leader Natalie Briscoe because it speaks so well to the realities of congregational life in this (and honesty, every) moment.
Yours in being our own version of a good small congregation,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“A Good One”
By Natalie Briscoe, Lead for the Southern Region
“Whatever you are, be a good one” - William Makepeace Thackeray
Every month, a great number of congregations reach out to Regional Staff to ask questions about growth. If you have experienced a decline in membership and/or attendance in the past three to five years, you are certainly not alone.
And I’m sure many of you have been surprised by how we conduct these conversations. The first question we always ask is, “Why do you want to grow?” Because our financial situation is dire. Because we can’t afford our minister. Because we have no children anymore. Because we can’t afford our mortgage. Because we’ve never had this few members. Very few folks say it is because there are people in their communities who are hurting and reaching out for love, and they have love to offer.
The next question is, “What do you believe is holding you back?” Our building. The parking lot. We don’t have enough space. We don’t have any children. No one offers programming. We don’t have any volunteers. We can’t even get a full board together. Our minister. We are lay-led. We can’t afford a religious educator. Very few folks say it is because they are not yet the beloved community that they envision.
Look, I’m going to give it to you straight: people want to go where it is fun to be. They don’t want to go where they are asked to serve right away. They don’t want to go where people don’t laugh, don’t celebrate, don’t love out loud. They don’t want to go to a space that is exactly the same as the harsh world they stepped in from. People want hope. They want beauty. They want joy. They want their spirits uplifted. There is no magic formula: people want to go where they can leave the world behind and make a better one.
You can do that at any size. You are fully equipped right now to offer everything the world needs so desperately right now. Whether there are eight or eight hundred of you, I am willing to bet you have untapped potential just waiting to blossom.
If you are a small congregation, be a good one. Your strength is in the way you know each other, the way you care for one another, the way you build strong multi-generational relationships. You are flexible and able to respond to member needs with swift agility. Your programs consist of phone calls, meals shared, and milestones celebrated. You have the ability to become rooted in local activism, seeking deep connections with other organizations working for justice. You create Beloved Community by welcoming folks into your homes and your hearts every time you gather. Give that away, and you will never be lost.
If you are a mid-sized congregation, …
If you are a large congregation, ...
Whatever you are, be a good one. Growth follows the Good.
P.S. from Rev. Denise: If you’d like to read about medium/large congregations, or perhaps the whole (very informative) newsletter from the Southern Region, this month’s edition is located here. (Be patient while it loads! Subscription link near the bottom of the page, if you’re interested in a monthly update.)
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
~Flannery O’Connor
“Take a moment to think about everyone who has loved you into being.”
~Mr. Rogers (at least in the movies!)
Beloveds,
There are so many indigestible goings-on in the world right now that I can barely bring myself to scan headlines, let alone read the news. There are a few things closer to home that I’d rather not swallow, as well. And yet… here we are; here I am: these things are part of our lives and, well, the truth does not change because we don’t like it.
AND the truth also includes Love, and I might add that the presence and power of love does not change according to my inability to see it in every instance! If I have been loved into being by others (many others, Mr. Rogers seems to suggest), and I think for today I will take a moment to practice thinking about everyone who has loved me into being. Perhaps I’ll expand my imaginings to include those who have loved into being the people for whom I care most. After some practice, maybe on a day when I’m feeling strong, I might even imagine the love that has called into being a few of those I’d rather not worry about!
The truths of the world are not going to change to make us comfortable, but they always, always, include the reality of love as the glue that holds everything together. I’m not sure how to articulate so much of what I believe (ha! studying theology for years does not make this easier!) but this I know: There is love in this world, and it is vital (both necessary and sustaining) to all that is, and certainly part of my life and yours.
I hope you are cultivating ways to remain connected to your own deepest and most sustaining truths in these days of realities we did not wish for and cannot afford to ignore. (Maybe give Mr. Rogers’ suggestion a try? Or make an appointment with me to explore spiritual practices that might work for you?)
Yours in truth, love, and the search for peace amid it all,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“Take courage … you are not alone.”
~Wayne B. Arnason (UU minister)
Dear Ones,
Resistance is important, but it is neither enough to live on nor our only tool in response to injustice. Today, a poem for you about resilience:
“Optimism” by Jane Hirshfield
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs — all this resinous, unretractable earth.
(from Each Happiness Ringed by Lions: Selected Poems)
So resolve to make like a tree, my friends–when light is blocked, turn another way–the light is not gone. And surely between the trees and the turtles, the rivers and the figs–we are never alone.
Yours in resilience, love, and the strength of community,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“It is important that this moment in history does not pass
without outcry, without our resistance.”
~Emily Baird-Chrisohon, of TIRRC*
“Your focus is resistance.”
~ friend of a Facebook poster
Friends,
I have just finished listening to a very informative session hosted by *TIRRC (TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition) for faith leaders. I learned so much about what some of our neighbors are facing right now, as well as ways we might educate ourselves and be on standby to respond as unjust situations unfold.
To be honest, I don’t know that GNUUC will be in a position to help immigrants directly, but there are several ways we can be prepared: by understanding and being prepared to share information about immigrant rights, by learning about what sanctuary we can provide (really, that’s limited in practice to private spaces instead of our whole building), and by tracking legislation and communicating with our elected representatives. TIRRC has been a fabulous resource to the Nashville community for over 20 years; consider signing yourself up for their Rapid Response Network to get connected.
I am also aware that there are many other issues and problems and people needing support and attention (or phone calls urging them to represent us better!) these days. So I was glad to read, in an email one of you recently sent to a church group, encouragement to cultivate focus as a form of resistance.
There is so much that needs resisting right now–none of us can possibly track–or even notice in passing–all of it. I am trying to find my focus; I hope you are considering where you will choose to spend your time and energy; and I look forward to discerning together where GNUUC’s energy comes into focus in the days and months ahead.
Yours in discernment, focus, and resistance,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org