August 13, 2019: Minister's Notes from CeeCee
I'm so enjoying getting to know all of you! The photo is of my oldest son, his partner in life and teaching yoga, and her sweet 4 year old, Willow. Willow is the closest thing I may get to a grandchild, and I adore her. She calls me CeeCee and I love it! My grandma name. I can barely imagine a transition more miraculous than my son has undergone in his five years of sobriety. Not all change is for the worse. I think part of my theology is that good things happen, too.
Thanks for the warm welcome.
Since we are focusing on transitions this month, I'm going to talk a bit this Sunday (8/11) about how we change things other than ourselves. Last Sunday, I drew your attention to the Serenity Prayer and the three words I think matter the most: serenity, courage, and wisdom. All of these are at our fingertips, and yet they often elude us. Or, they fool us and we easily delude ourselves. A good way to understand this phenomenon is to study the "Near Enemies" of Buddhist practice. Near enemies are qualities that look desirable but are masquerading as something else. The near enemy of wisdom, for example, might be over-intellectualism. Acceptance/serenity? Indifference or despair. Here's a link to learn more about them: http://www.artofwellbeing.com/2017/06/28/nearenemies/
Still, the question remains... can we affect change in others or in the world around us? Feel free to let me know your thoughts or experiences as I prepare for Sunday. You can email me at cyncain@gnuuc.org
I also mentioned a few articles and books in my talk last week. Here are links for those:
The ATLANTIC article on reparations
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/01/tanehisi-coates-reparations/427041/
Michael Eric Dyson's Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31421117-tears-we-cannot-stop
And here's the Atlantic website that lists all of Coates' articles.
https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ta-nehisi-coates/
Enjoy and discuss! Looking forward, Cynthia