Mar. 29, 2023

“It’s hard to be human.”
–David W. Lewis

Dear Ones,

We have a mantra of sorts in my household, articulated many years ago by my partner, David, and repeated many times. (Mostly by me. I seem to have a knack for gathering wise words from others and repeating them over & over–go figure.) “It’s hard to be human” turns out to be useful in so many situations when our thoughts and feelings seem inadequate to the task of making sense of human behavior and experience. For me, it suggests that whatever we’re facing isn’t so much senseless as it is difficult and arising out of the different complexities of different lives. It also suggests that extending grace and understanding and compassion as far as we can (without violence to ourselves) may be a good default response to cultivate.

It’s been a hard week to be human in Nashville. In the aftermath of Monday’s shooting, we are feeling many things, wondering what happened and why, worrying about safety, and casting about for ways to respond to tragedy that honor those most deeply affected and align with our deepest values.

Please be gentle with yourself in the coming days and know that I am here and available should you need a shoulder to lean on. 

Please be gentle with those around you and remember that some of them may be processing unthinkable grief or riding waves of fear. 

Finally, whatever your experience of this tragedy, please consider how our sorrow and care for each other and all our Nashville neighbors might be transformed into action, working for sane and sensible gun safety laws and recommitting to building a world in which every person is welcomed, included, and supported. 

Yours in sorrow and love, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

 Mar 8, 2023

“Between rocking the boat and sitting down, between stirring things up and peaceably going along, we find ourselves here, in community.”

–Manish K. Mishra-Marzetti

Friends,

Lots of planning going on these days: We are looking forward to springtime activities like eating outside, enjoying the memorial garden, our fundraising auction, the congregation’s annual meeting, and the stewardship drive that will make it possible for our Finance Team to propose a budget for members to approve at that meeting. 

Last Sunday, we talked about vulnerability during the service and sharing money and time after lunch. Lots of you are looking for ways to create justice and nurture love in our congregation and in our world!

Because concern around gender and sexuality issues came up several times, I wanted to suggest two possibilities for supporting work in the wider world that aligns well with UU/GNUUC values: 

1. The Tennessee Equality Project works tirelessly for the equality of LGBTQ people in Tennessee. Sign up for their email list at https://www.tnep.org/ (or connect on social media) to be in the loop to donate, learn, write/call our legislators, or join other Tennesseans in meeting with legislators. I find it very satisfying to read about what’s going on and immediately click through to let state legislators know what I think!

2. On Tuesday, March 21, Planned Parenthood is asking people of faith to participate in their Advocacy Day in Nashville, and UUs in Eastern Tennessee are planning to participate and have reached out to our congregation, hoping we will join them. Save the date; I’ll have more details to share later!

Yours in love and hope for justice, 

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. As I write, there are six hawks circling over the hill outside our windows! 

 Mar 1, 2023

“Amen. Blessed be.”
–Me
(concluding walking/swinging meditation yesterday)

Dear ones,

When new green things are growing and the sky is (really!) that color, nothing else needs to be said. 

Yours in peace and love for our campus,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

 Feb 22, 2023

“What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?”
–George Eliot

Beloveds,

My heart is full these days. Wherever I turn, there is beauty and suffering, love and injustice, grace and difficulty. I hardly know how to focus my attention at times. 

One very strong claim on my attention is the vitality of our congregation and our call to be a force for love, among ourselves and within the wider communities of which we are a part. What does GNUUC live for? Whose lives do we make less difficult? Whose lives might we make less difficult if we turned our attention toward them? 

I am wondering how our commitment this church year to nurturing all whose paths cross ours (Board vision for 2022-23) might lead us to our future reasons for being as a community of love and justice. 

If you’d like to be part of a conversation about how GNUUC makes a difference in lives and in the world–about how we love–I encourage you to sign up for one of our listening circles. You can join us on Zoom Thursday evening or Saturday afternoon (registration required to get the Zoom link) or in person this Sunday after lunch. These conversations will take just a little longer than an hour, and those who participated last week had a good time, I hear. Read more in the announcement below, or simply sign up here.

Yours in love and so many possibilities,

Rev. Denise

RevDenise@gnuuc.org

 Feb 15, 2023

“May our love bless everyone.”

–Pool of Love, Alexa Sunshine Rose

Dear Ones,

I’ve been seeing the first signs of spring (birds getting busy, yellow things flowering), and I want to encourage you this week to think about your emergence from the hibernation of winter, too. I just happen to have a few suggestions:

A few GNUUC leaders and I hope you will join us for one of several listening circles being offered on the next two Sunday afternoons (at GNUUC, in person) and one afternoon and one evening next week/weekend on Zoom. These will be a chance to share with each other why GNUUC is important in our lives and to dream a little bit about possible futures for our congregation. We had an amazing time planning and practicing this circle experience and look forward to sharing it with you. 

Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH) is undertaking its every-few-years Listening Campaign (about which I consistently hear rave reviews from participants) to discern and select its action issues for the next few years. See the announcement below if you are interested in being a listener here at GNUUC, please say “yes” if a listener asks to talk with you, and save the date of April 30 to attend the NOAH Issues Convention to help represent GNUUC as we (the member organizations of NOAH) set our priorities for the upcoming years.

Finally, the General Assembly (GA) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), which takes place every June, is happening in Pittsburgh, PA this year. Maybe you’d like to attend in person or remotely? Please find more information below and consider if you’d like to represent our congregation as a delegate or just to meet other UUs and learn more about the exercise of democracy (and oh, so many other things!) in our larger movement. It’s going to be a busy GA, with a presidential election and lots of voting, including an amendment to the UUA Bylaws. 

None of us can do all of the good stuff there is to do. If you’d like help figuring out how to focus your springtime energies, I love a good discernment conversation–email me!

Yours in love and so many possibilities,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

“Spring is coming…”
–Carrie Newcomer

Friends,

Imbolc Blessings to you all! 

Tonight & tomorrow, in the European-derived pagan traditions (and quite likely others I don’t know) the beginning of the end of winter is marked with the Festival of Imbolc. Make a cup of your favorite hot beverage and do an online search–it’s a rich tradition that arguably should be retrieved. It’s a time to think about fertility–early spring planting, fresh food to come, October babies!–and healing and blacksmithing and crafts. Brigid is a multi-talented patron; google her, too, while you’re at it.

Here’s one of my favorite end-of-winter/waiting for spring songs, from Carrie Newcomer: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLg1pCeiZUk

Yours in all that is not yet, and not soon, but surely coming,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

January 25, 2023

Beloveds,

During last Sunday’s service I had a poem for which we didn’t have time, so I am sharing it here, as promised. Parallel to my sermon’s message that dark and light are both important parts of life, each holding gifts and opportunities for us, this poem speaks (to me, anyway) of the intermingled realities of relationship and loss, which together render us “empty and full at once”.

HOLES
by Lillian Morrison

Strangest of gaps
their goneness-
mother, father, loved friends

the black holes
of the astronomer
are not more mysterious

this kind of hole
will not be filled
with candle flames
or even a thousand thoughts

the hole is inside us
it brims over
is empty and full at once.

Yours in the dark and the light, in love and in loss,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

January 18, 2023

“Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values.”
–UUA, Proposed Revision of Article II

Hello, Friends,

Just a quick note today, with some recommended reading. 

If you joined us for worship the last Sunday in November, you may recall that we talked about the work being done to update the Bylaws of the Unitarian Universalist Association (of which we are a member congregation). Over the last few years, our association has been reviewing the section of the bylaws that includes the statement of our Principles, Purpose, and Sources, with an eye to recommending changes and updates. Last fall, we talked about some draft language for some changes. Now, the Article 2 Study Commission has released their final report, including proposed revisions to Article II, to the Board of the UUA. I encourage you to read this if you’re interested in understanding Unitarian Universalism as an evolving tradition: 

Report to the UUA Board of Trustees from the Article II Study Commission (PDF)

If you’re really, really interested, you can register to attend the UUA’s January Board meeting this Friday and Saturday as an observer. Note that registration is required and should be done before 9 am CT (meetings start at 10 am CT).

One of the things that many of us noticed and discussed back in November was the inclusion of “evolution” as one of our core UU values. Well, that word has been replaced; go see! Also, the graphic representation of love and our values has been redesigned–more color and flair. (Check page 20.) 

Yours in love and transformation,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

“I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.”

–Scrooge, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

Dear Ones,

I have been thinking that I should probably take the wreath off my front door now, well before Valentine’s Day is upon us…but although I enjoyed holiday time spent with family, I’m feeling a distinct shortage of community celebration and merriment this year. Perhaps you are, too. (Or maybe not. If your holiday season was full of festivity, I am very happy for you!)

If you need or would enjoy a party in this dark, blustery month of January–good news: the Trans Affirming Collective at First UU (on Woodmont Blvd) is hosting a karaoke party on Friday evening (1/13 from 6-10 pm), and they’ve invited us! I am planning to be there, and I hope some of you will, too. Our invitation describes this as “a free, all-ages sober evening of fun and community”, with snacks and soft drinks provided. I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces (both old and newer) and having some fun. 

You can read more here. RSVP at that link or by emailing transaffirming@thefuun.org. 

Yours in the newness of 2023 and in finding the joy that will sustain us,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org