Dec 28, 2022

“Nothing can be more useful … than a determination not to be hurried.”
–Henry David Thoreau 

Dear Ones,

Happy 4th Day of Christmas!

Even more than in a “normal” year (what is that anyway? I’m having trouble remembering…), I’m feeling a need to embrace the season of the winter holidays this year. 

Celebrating a single moment like a solstice, or a day like the appointed anniversary of a birth can be profound and glorious and uplifting, but it also oversimplifies the reality that our lives are complicated and rich with emotional states that don’t consistently align with planetary and celestial movements or with our desires, any more than our planet’s meteorological phenomenon align with our plans for celebration. 

It seems wise to me to stretch out important celebrations that call for joy and merriment–like having eight days of Hanukkah or seven days of Kwanzaa or twelve days of Christmas in the Western European tradition. (In case the marketers have confused you, the Twelve Days of Christmas start on Dec. 25 and run through Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany, when the kings/magi/wise guys found Jesus). Larger containers leave space for all sorts of things besides feeling deliriously happy or even moderately merry: reflection, grief, quiet contentment, disappointment, work (always in the background of any good celebration), rest, boredom, restlessness, excitement, and … oh, what else? 

What are you experiencing this week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve? Whatever it is, it is absolutely and most assuredly part of being human and, as such, welcome and worthy of notice and holding well–with gentleness, appreciation, and wonder. 

Yours in merrymaking and rest and all the feels,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. If you haven’t yet seen this year’s Holiday Message from the UUA, featuring UUA President Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray, I recommend it!

“Make a vow when solstice comes, to find the light in everyone.”

–Mary Chapin Carpenter

Beloveds,

It is the winter solstice–Yule in the old, old (older than Christianity) calendars of European peoples–the shortest day/longest night of the year. This year, that long night coincides with the fourth night of Hanukkah, so there are lots of reasons to light candles! Here’s one of my favorite modern solstice songs: Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “The Longest Night of the Year”.  (Or try this just-Mary-Chapin-and-her-guitar version, from December 2020.)

I hope you have a chance to enjoy the sunlight today, and luxuriate in the long darkness that will follow. Maybe light a candle, but definitely notice the “light” and the “dark.” We need them both. 

Important Note: I hope to see you at our Christmas Eve service at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. As you may have heard, we have interesting weather heading our way, bringing very cold temperatures that will stick around for a few days. Please stay safe and warm, and plan to check our website (nashvilleuu.org) on Saturday after 10:30 a.m. to confirm whether the service will be (as we hope) a hybrid service (in the sanctuary and on Zoom) or on Zoom only. 

Our Christmas Eve service will start at 3:30, but we will be enjoying holiday music together starting around 3:10, so please arrive/log in early, if you can.

Yours in light and dark and winter storms,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

“I will light candles…”
–Howard Thurman

Friends,

I woke up this morning needing to take a nap. I’ll bet you have days like this sometimes, too. I was overbusy yesterday, stayed busy until late in the evening, and didn’t sleep enough. It doesn’t help that today is a dark, drizzly day, so I’m lighting a candle to keep me company as I do a few things that must get done, and then …

I am going to take a nap. In the middle of the day.  

Because I’ll be busy again this evening, and I’ll be much more use to everyone else in my life rested than I would be if I pushed through a pile of tasks on caffeine.

Because I am fortunate enough in this season of my life to have significant control over how I spend my time.

Because “Rest is Resistance” to capitalism and white supremacy culture and other dehumanizing forces in our world. (Have you heard of Tricia Hersey’s Nap Ministry?  You’re welcome.)

I hope you are not overbusy this season, but if or, more realistically, when you are, maybe just stop for a bit and rest however and wherever you can. Even just a few moments of silence and stillness can shift your day and change the world. 

Yours in candlelight and napping (but not at the same time!),

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. I do hope you are planning to join us on Christmas Eve at 3:30 p.m. (in the sanctuary or on Zoom) for a celebration of light, with music and readings and candles for all!

“Ooooo, I wonder…”
MaMuse

Dear Ones,

This week is unseasonably warm, but dark, rainy, and, well, very Nashville-in-winter-y. I’m not quite feeling the up side of the winter holidays right this moment, but I am thinking about our Soul Matters monthly theme of Wonder. This is good weather for wondering–will we be able to see the full moon this evening? Will I be able to get my errand done before it starts raining again? Which jacket is just the right weight for this strange weather? 

Beyond my tiny, daily wonderings, this last month of the calendar year is a good season for wondering all sorts of things:

-I wonder if our Christmas Eve service will be as special this year as it was last year (when we were still brand new to being out in public during pandemic season). And I wonder if the traditional dinner to follow at a local restaurant will be as fun as I hear it has always been!

-I wonder how our nation will fare under the newly-elected Congress.

-I wonder what’s ahead for Greater Nashville UU: What will we learn together in the new year? What new projects will we start? Who will we serve? What adventures will we share? 

-I wonder how you are: How is it with your spirit? Your body? Your heart? I wonder if you know how honored I feel when you share your life, thoughts, feelings with me and how grateful I am that you share with and support each other. 

-I wonder what we, individually and collectively, most need and want in the coming months and how we can help each other to recognize, ask for, and experience what we yearn for and whatever we need most to thrive. 

As the duo MaMuse sings, “Ooooooo, I am filled with wonder!”  

If you are too, or if perhaps you’re looking for space to encounter or reflect on wonder in your own life, please see the announcements below and consider joining our affiliate minister Rev. Dr. Michelle Pederson in the new year for an adult religious education series exploring a variety of spiritual practices. 

Yours in the dark or the light, but always in wonder,

Rev. Denise

Rev. Denise Gyauch
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

“There must be always remaining in every life, 
some place for the singing of angels, 
some place for that which in itself 
is breathless and beautiful.”

–Howard Thurman

Beloveds–

We have officially entered the winter holiday season! That can mean so many different things and elicit so many different experiences, expressions, and emotions. Wherever and however you experience this season, I hope you will treat yourselves and those around you with compassion and gentleness as often as you can. It’s been an extraordinary past couple of years, and we’re all out of practice in many ways and not sure where we are right now. 

And yet, there can be luxury in the long darkness and sparks of joy and light in our celebrations. In this season, more perhaps than in others, it is good to be human together, and I want to make sure you know you are invited into the following opportunities to celebrate this holiday season with Greater Nashville UU or to reflect deeply on the collective community we are (always, but especially this year) envisioning with our Unitarian Universalist siblings far & wide: 

1. This Saturday, December 3, starting at 5:30 pm, we will “hang the greens” (i.e., decorate) at church, and share dinner and entertain each other–see details below.

2. Our Christmas Eve service will start at 3:30 pm (on December 24, of course). Watch for more details about the service and festivities following it. For now, if you have a song (or a voice to add to the choir) or a reading or another offering to share during the service–especially on the theme of Light–please be in touch with me. (You don’t have to volunteer to participate in the service; good ideas alone are welcome!) 

3. The UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, of which we are a member congregation) is in the process of rewriting its statement of purpose and guiding values, contained in Article II of the UUA Bylaws. The Article II Study Commission is inviting your reflection and feedback. You can read about the commission's work here and study the current draft here. A revised draft is in progress, and a feedback process will be available in December. I will do my best to keep you posted, and Nathanel R. is heading up an Article II Task Force to guide our local conversations. Please let me or Nathanael know if you have questions!

Yours in hope and light and dark, as well as general holiday merriment,

Rev. Denise

Rev. Denise Gyauch
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

“...all life is a gift…”

–Bruce Findlow, For All This Is Our Life (#128)

Happy Almost-Holidays, Dear Ones!

I am still buzzing slightly from the good time we had on Sunday, celebrating our first-ever (but definitely not last, I hope) Homecoming Sunday. The sanctuary was full, the tables in the Social Area were crowded, and the food was tasty and plentiful. Can’t wait for next year.

Today, I imagine most of us are looking forward to tomorrow and the remainder of the holiday weekend: planning, provisioning (whether for tomorrow’s feast or the winter holidays and gift exchanges to come), and (I hope) pausing just to be, to notice whatever is arising within us in this busy season. 

I bet you were expecting me to write about gratitude right here. Me, too! But I suspect none of us needs another “assignment” right now. Just being and noticing is enough. Earlier this week, I was surprised by the joy that rose up in response to a Costco run. So many people, so many opportunities to avoid collisions and practice patience and chit chat with strangers! Three years ago, I would not have been delighted to shop at a store so busy that customers had to scour the parking lot to find a cart, so my feelings on the drive home were quite unexpected, but quite lovely. What is arising in your emotional field these days? Even if it isn’t lovely (and it won’t all be lovely, for any of us), can you notice and accept it? I’m pretty sure gratitude will follow eventually, and you won’t even have to make it a project. 

Yours in faith and all the feels and, yes, also in gratitude,

Rev. Denise

Rev. Denise Gyauch
Minister, Greater Nashville UU Congregation
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

 Nov. 9, 2022

“Let’s go to church and be with our people.”

–suggested talking point for parents, from a handout 
prepared by a  UU congregation in the aftermath of 9/11/2001

Beloveds,

As I write this (early on Tuesday evening), I am wearing an “I voted” sticker, but I have not yet checked in with any election-day news coverage. That will happen later this evening, and tomorrow, and likely the next day as well, but just for the moment, I am resting in the near certainty that, come Sunday, I will indeed be able to go to church and be with you–the people whose company will be what I need most.

By the time you read this, you will likely have heard some good news, some bad news, and perhaps some downright devastating news. Wherever we all are by Sunday morning, I hope we will remember that one of the best ways to practice resilience in the face of what life and elections bring is simply to be together. I look forward to seeing you then.

Yours in love and faith and devotion to the practice of democracy,

Rev. Denise

Rev. Denise Gyauch
Minister, Greater Nashville UU Congregation
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

Oct 26, 2022

Make your heart a bowl
that is large enough to hold it all.
Imagine that you are the potter.
Stretch the clay. Cherish the turning wheel.
Accept that the bowl
is never going to be done.

–Lynn Ungar

Beloveds,

Everything about life these days seems to be packed full of just so much, well, everything. An hour or two ago (I am writing late Tuesday afternoon), it was pouring rain and got so dark that the streetlights here at church turned on. Now, the sun is shining, a gentle breeze is blowing through the trees, and the small birds who live nearby are hopping on & off the windowsill outside my office window. For the first time today, I see large patches of blue sky between briskly-moving remnants of storm clouds: a meteorological version of scanning headlines and the urgent messages in my inbox.

What is is a lot to take in. (Never mind, please, about managing it!). So I’ve been sitting since last weekend with this beautiful fragment (above) from Lynn Ungar’s poem, “A Letter in Return.” To make my heart larger–gently, patiently but persistently, like a potter shaping a bowl–seems a reasonably doable initial response to the too-muchness of life that keeps presenting itself. No matter if I can’t hold it all yet; I hope the intention of holding it all, the faithfulness to the task of stretching, honors or witnesses or blesses whatever and whomever needs to be honored or witnessed or blessed, if only imperfectly. When the opportunity to stretch what needs stretching in the world around me presents itself, I suspect the skill will be transferable. 

Yours in the imperfect loveliness and audacity of our lives and our work,

Rev. Denise

P.S. I will be out of town the next few days (through Sunday, Oct. 30) for some training, so you might notice a slower response if you message me via email or Slack. If you experience a pastoral emergency, please text me at 615-838-9611.

Rev. Denise Gyauch
Minister, Greater Nashville UU Congregation
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

Dear ones,

I’m still reveling in the joy of blessing/rededicating our space together last Sunday. Even though we got a little bit wet, the rain didn’t get in our way, and we had quite a good crowd (including guests and visitors!) assembled to celebrate how happy we are to have once again full use of all the spaces on our campus and to speak blessings for all the beings who use our facilities and grounds. 

Our service this coming Sunday will consider some of the reasons the commitment to create a church home based on covenantal community can require courage, but while I’m still basking in the home-blessing glow, here are a couple musical offerings I’ve been enjoying because they express some of my hopes for GNUUC: 

“Pool of Love” by Alexa Sunshine Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfYm8qLaOKs

“Crowded Table” by The Highwomen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPfI8zBWub4

Still yours in joy and in gratitude, 

Rev. Denise

Rev. Denise Gyauch
Minister, Greater Nashville UU Congregation
RevDenise@gnuuc.org