November 8, 2023

“There is no chance we will fall apart.
There is no chance.
There are no parts”
– June Jordan

Beloveds,

Sometimes, I think we allow ourselves to be swept along in a certain arrogance that we ourselves create connection and hold the world together by sheer force of our own wills and efforts. Oftentimes, I am certain that there are less than benevolent societal forces that want us to be sucked up in various projects and perfectionist patterns, so that we stay distracted from our own power and freedom–and from our connection. (I strongly suspect someone makes money whenever this is happening.)

Sure, it takes a lot of attention and work to nurture community: egg salad sandwiches to prepare, dishes to wash, trash to be taken out, electric and water and heating bills to pay and equipment to maintain and get inspected. And building and enjoying community is absolutely worth the effort: Ross Gay (in my current favorite book, Inciting Joy) suggests that laughing together (which surely happens most easily on a full stomach!) reminds us of the breath (and by extension the ending of breath that is death) that we share not just with each other, but with all living things. 

Here’s the thing I’m thinking today: Yes, we do need (and want!) to work hard to nurture community, to keep our congregation healthy and vibrant and contributing generously to the increase of love and justice in the wider webs in which we are held. And no, the very basic connections that sustain us are not easily destroyed or lost; they do not depend on our unceasing attention and effort. Indeed, at their most basic they are like–no, they are the exchange of gasses in which living things and galaxies are born and live and die. We are connected–in our living, our breathing, our laughing, and our dying. (The universe is so generous with us!) Although Ross Gay suggests that we sometimes individually “fall apart”, in that falling apart, we inevitably fall into each other and the experiences we share and the fact of our human connections to each other and to the rest of existence. 

There is no chance we will fall apart.

Yours in love and faith (and parentheticals), 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org