“Humans make things up like patriarchy and Barbie 
just to deal with how uncomfortable it [being human] is.”
– Ruth Handler in Barbie

Beloveds,

I promise I’ll stop quoting from the Barbie movie soon, but this little gem from the end of the movie is just too good. In my house, we often remind each other that “it’s hard to be human.” For us, it’s an expression of compassion and also encouragement to patience and courage and equanimity (in Buddhism, a state of mental balance and even-mindedness), all of which can be remarkably difficult in the face of the many, many ways we humans try to get around discomfort, let alone our survival-driven responses to the traumas that come inevitably with living. I suppose it amounts to one way of practicing love, by resisting (even just for a few seconds) the urges toward critique and judgment that so easily arise in the face of a world in which so much is so obviously not as it should be, in favor of remembering and responding as best we can in every instance to the simultaneously particular and universal needs and longings at the core of every life. 

It is hard to be human, and sometimes we make up all manner of things in response to discomfort and hardship. But sometimes, we also choose to pause and remember that we are all connected and all in need, not just of recognition of our worth and dignity, but of tenderness and care.

Yours in all that is hard and all that connects us, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

October 4, 2023

“Hey, do you guys ever think about death?”
– Barbie

Dear Ones,

It’s October! My favorite month of the year, the time when we are released from the heat of summer (surely any time now) and start leaning towards the string of holidays to come, beginning with Halloween and ending with maybe Valentine’s Day or the Super Bowl, depending on your priorities. In European traditions, the festivals of late October–Halloween, which has Christian roots, and Samhain, the older pagan cross-quarter celebrations in between the fall equinox and the winter solstice–have ancient roots. They celebrate the connections between the living and the dead and mark a time when the “veil between the worlds” of the living & the dead is said to be thinner than usual. I’m sure these old traditions were considered when Soul Matters decided to highlight the theme of Heritage this month. It’s also a good time of year to be aware of the finite scope of our own lives and those of everyone and everything around us, and to remember our connections to both the ancestors and our descendants. 

In the movie “Barbie” the question quoted above ends up reshaping the whole world of BarbieLand. It’s a question we have the opportunity to consider every year around this time, and we might benefit from entering more deeply into this season than just decorating our spaces (which is not to discount the importance of decorations!). I know that awareness and experience of life and death touches and shapes our individual lives, and I suspect Barbie’s question has the power to change our world, as well, if we can think together with courage and love. 

Yours in living, dying, and all that connects them, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

September 27, 2023

“We covenant together to make a welcoming community.”
– Us! (GNUUC Covenant)

Beloveds,

I want to give you a heads-up about Sunday’s service. The Worship Team has been talking about experimenting with our Sunday morning format to allow for more conversation among us. In addition, the Board has decided it would like input about an opportunity which has presented itself for sharing our space and earning some extra income. (It is, of course, a bit complicated, so the Board wants to hear from you!) We will have a slightly shortened version of the usual service, followed by a brief period of time devoted to conversation (no voting involved) before we move as usual to our potluck lunch. If we like this format, we may plan to use it again, so I hope you will come to help us experiment and to hear about an exciting possibility for our campus in the first half of 2024. 

Yours in love and welcome, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

September 13, 2023

“This mornin’ a miracle happened
The risin’ of the world’s closest star”
– Willi Carlisle, “Your Heart’s a Big Tent”

Beloveds,

During some Zoom meeting I attended sometime last spring, one of our UU siblings played for us Willi Carlisle’s “Your Heart’s a Big Tent”, which sounded to me exactly like a sort of Universalist hymn (if not exactly something out of 19th century New England).  You can listen here (If you enjoy banjo & harmonica, you’re welcome. Even more fun with the crowd at this year’s Newport Folk Festival joining in!)

Willi’s lyrics and his exuberance reminded me immediately of our congregational mission statement, opening with the assertion that our core belief is the transforming power of love. He sings

I need a theory of all love
Like the heart’s a big tent
Gotta let everybody in
Doesn’t matter who they are 
If they do right or where they’ve been
Everybody gets in

And every fall, we–through our governing Board–spin a new vision of how our ministry together will serve our mission to create sanctuary and champion justice in the coming year. (You can see our mission statement anytime you need some inspiration, right at the top of our webpage: nashvilleuu.org.) This Sunday, the Board will present our shared vision of ministry for 2023-24. 

Go ahead and listen to Willi while you’re waiting…

Yours in the big tent, 
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

“As people who want to live a good, full, unrestricted, adventurous, 
real kind of life, there is concrete instruction we can follow: See what is.”
– Pema Chodron

Beloveds,

I like the way GNUUC begins the church year: looking back and forward, reminding ourselves of our covenant and mission, and discovering a new vision of our shared ministry for the months ahead. Perhaps because I’ve only begun years here amidst the COVID pandemic, our visioning work has necessarily involved a good deal of observing and thinking carefully to understand what is in the current moment.

Last Saturday, your Board gathered for several hours to “see what is” and to think about how to live our mission right now. We will be sharing the vision that emerged during our time together during our Sunday Service on September 20. I hope you’ll plan to be there and be inspired to join our efforts this year to build a “good, full, unrestricted, adventurous, real” life together. 

This Sunday, we will be celebrating new members and also our annual Water Communion, which is symbolic of an inescapable, concrete fact of what is: the truth that we are deeply connected–to each other and to the world in which we exist and the beings with whom we co-exist. You are invited to bring a small quantity of water representing someplace special to you (or use the water we will have on hand–all water is connected, after all) and help us celebrate.

Yours in what is, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

Aug. 16, 2023

“The sweetness of our lives grounds us and resources us 
for acts of courage when they are required.”
– Rev. Elizabeth Stevens

Friends,

I’m enjoying the (unexpected for August) break in summer heat this week and also realizing that right now feels like a sweet spot in life for me, especially compared to other Augusts, which for some years have been marked by new jobs, new school years and even new schools. As I begin my third year of ministry with GNUUC (Thank You for that!), much of my work feels familiar, and although the work of ministry never stops having a learning curve, my curve is a little less steep than it has been in years. Neither of my “children” (who are young adults now) is facing a significantly new start this season, and helping to restock dorm-room essentials is sooo much easier than supporting someone facing the prospect of a new and unknown educational and living experience. Right now, with my nearest and dearest (mostly) settled and content, life feels sweet. And I’m trying to pay attention and relax into soaking up that sweetness because, well, you know, life isn’t always sweet. 

I know that some of you are not living in sweet spots right now. You may be busier than usual this season. You may be contemplating life changes large or small or acting on plans made following hard choices. You may be navigating medical issues or unwanted changes in your own or loved ones’ lives. Or you may be simply not feeling it. We’ve all been there (or if not, will be). 

No matter what is happening in your life, but particularly if acts of courage and persistence are required, I hope you have memories of sweetness and hope for more of the good stuff to come. I hope you are grounded and resourced by the sweetness of our communal life and feel supported by the love and care we have covenanted to nurture among ourselves and in the wider world. 

Yours in the sweet, the not-sweet, and love that holds it all, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

Aug. 9, 2023

“I know of nothing else but miracles.”
– Walt Whitman

Dear Ones,

Today I am wondering where you find “miracles” in your life. You can email me and tell me, if you like! But it’s not an assignment. And it doesn’t particularly matter to me how you/I/we define the word; I personally do not mean “outside the realm of, or unexplainable by, science”.

I know not everything in my life seems miraculous, but … (what follows is a new thought, so it could be I’m quite wrong from some angle) I wonder if everything that we experience as distressing isn’t in some way rooted in miracle. Most of the miracles I notice are small, sometimes ordinary, but always wonderful and usually delightful. 

The miracles showing up right now, as I’m planning for our next few weeks together: 

1 - The miracle of water, which underlies the miracle of life itself. Be sure to join us for our Sunday service on August 27, which will include a UU favorite–the celebration of Water communion (you are invited to bring water from somewhere important to you), which besides celebrating the life-giving miracle of water, also celebrates another current miracle on my mind =>

2 - Community! Like ours at Greater Nashville UU! Also on August 27, we are going to celebrate some new members. Every single one of us is a miracle on our own,  but together we create so many new miracles that simply wouldn’t be if we were not together. (If you are relatively new to GNUUC but ready to sign our membership book, please talk to me on Sunday or email me–soon, if you’d like to be included in the celebration on Aug. 27.)

3 - I’ve also been thinking about the miracle of life and birth and our capacity to care for one another within a framework of love that looks like justice. I participated recently in a state-wide summit for reproductive justice, and I am keenly aware that our Unitarian Universalist movement has a distinctive voice to contribute to both conversations and actions desperately needed right now. Which is why the following recent miracle in my life was extra-delightful =>

4 - Through the miracle of volunteerism, we were able to quickly fill an unexpected gap in our Summer Song schedule with a talk by Susan M. who promises to share with us her latest thoughts about abortion. I hope you’ll join us this Sunday (August 13) for her medically-informed reflections on this politically contentious but absolutely vital subject.

Yours in the web of miracles, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

Aug 2, 2023

“There is no power greater than 
a community discovering what it cares about.” 
– Rev. Margaret Wheatley

Beloveds,

It is still summer, to be sure, but August is also a time of planning and preparing for the “year” which runs from fall through winter and spring before releasing us into the fun and games and songs of next summer. At church, some planning began months ago, especially for worship and religious education, as did tentative thoughts about additional programming that wasn’t even possible to consider 12 months ago. (A congregational retreat might be fun… Could it, at last, happen again this year?) 

This month and next, there will be extra meetings to reflect on our experiences last church year and discern where we’d like to go and how we’d like to get there. Your Board will meet to articulate our mission statement for this church year. The Worship Team will gear up for some big-picture thinking about how our Sunday Service has been and how it could be. Religious educators will continue planning for this year’s spin on the never-ending process of faith development. 

During these opening weeks/months of the church year, we engage intentionally in conversations that help us discover what this congregation cares most about right now and how we want to work (and play!) together to shape the year ahead and identify the particular ways we will live into and out of the love at the center of our Unitarian Universalist tradition’s most cherished values. In the midst of meetings and scheduling and spreadsheets, we hope to discover the power of knowing what we care about and the joy of working together to create it. I hope you will watch for opportunities to participate in this work and bring your energy and enthusiasm to the shared work of discernment and planning.

Yours in discovery and care, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

June 28, 2023

“We are, in fact, the bearers of magic,
and that magic is connection.”
– Rev. Leslie Takahashi

Dear ones,

I spent most of last week participating in Ministry Days (the annual gathering of the UU Ministers Association) and the General Assembly (GA) of the UU Association of Congregations, during which I collected some quotations like the one above and all of us learned and debated and voted and enjoyed good music and installed a new UUA President: the learned, wise, and compassionate Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt.

The Berry Street Lecture (an annual part of Ministry Days) this year was particularly spectacular & timely: “My Little Pony Was Right: Reflections on Fascism Without & Within” by the Rev. Cecilia Kingman. If that sounds interesting, you can find the link to the recording, as well as information about an upcoming Side With Love webinar further exploring the topic on this page.

If you are curious about what happens at General Assembly, I suggest you start here and click around to see what recordings you can find of worship services and general business sessions.

At the very end of GA, UU theologian and scholar, the Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker reminded us that on our journey toward Beloved Community, “conflict and struggle persist, but love abides”. We can’t avoid struggle (it persists, just as, perhaps because we ourselves persist), but in all our strivings, we are held in a love that abides in, through, and around us. It is so. May we remember!

Magically yours in conflict, struggle, and love,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

Important Note:
I will be on vacation for the entire month of July (July 1-31). During that time, our wonderful affiliated ministers, the Revs. Dr. Michelle Pederson and Cynthia Stewart, will be available for pastoral emergencies. If you find yourself needing to talk with a minister, please contact the church office by email (gnuuc@gnuuc.org) or phone (615-673-7699; leave a voicemail message). Our amazing administrator, Kris, will connect you with the minister on call