by WUUC | Nov 28, 2021 | DRE Blog
It has been my practice for the past few years to share something I am grateful for each day in November. And in December, I post a virtual Advent Calendar of Kindness. Each day in December, I post something small that people can do to make the world a better place.
This year, as I posted my daily gratitude posts, I was very aware of how much I need to practice being thankful. Gratitude has been essential to my mental health and has helped me have enough motivation to continue my work. In this busy time of the winter holidays, I encourage you to take some time to remember what you are grateful for. Share your gratitude with others and, if you can, give other people something to be grateful for as well.
If you are having a hard time feeling grateful or joyful, here is a meditation that may help.
Meditation on Gratitude and Joy
By Jack Kornfield (https://gratefulness.org/resource/meditation-on-gratitude-and-joy/)
Let yourself sit quietly and at ease. Allow your body to be relaxed and open, your breath natural, your heart easy. Begin the practice of gratitude by feeling how year after year you have cared for your own life. Now let yourself begin to acknowledge all that has supported you in this care:
With gratitude I remember the people, animals, plants, insects, creatures of the sky and sea, air and water, fire and earth, all whose joyful exertion blesses my life every day.
With gratitude I remember the care and labor of a thousand generations of elders and ancestors who came before me.
I offer my gratitude for the safety and well-being I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the blessing of this earth I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the measure of health I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the family and friends I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the community I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the teachings and lessons I have been given.
I offer my gratitude for the life I have been given.
by WUUC | Nov 28, 2021 | Announcements
This past week, I was honored to help lead our first trial run of a multi-platform service at WUUC, in preparation for our in-person gathering in early December. I was humbled and in awe of the commitment, dedication, work, thought and care that was put into this service and continues to be put into the work of creating worship services.
The commitment of WUUC to provide quality worship services to everyone, whether attending online or in person, makes my heart swell with pride in this community.
Each multi-platform worship service requires a team of around 20 people to make it successful, and the coordination of all of those people and moving parts is no small feat. I am immensely grateful to everyone who has committed to creating an inclusive and safe environment in which we can all enjoy worship together.
There have been lots of growing pains as we work through the many, many details of offering multi-platform worship, and I am grateful for the grace and patience that you have shown (and I’m sure will continue to show). Thank you all.
(And I can’t wait to gather in person with you soon!)
by WUUC | Nov 28, 2021 | Announcements
Maywood Hills school is very appreciative of our efforts to help ensure that kids have enough to eat on weekends, when school meals aren’t available. Thanks to so many WUUCies, we’ve been supplying enough for 15 students. Pretty impressive!
Our support for the school will continue, and there are two changes in the way we organize the program. With our return to in-person services (with remote option) we’ll move our donation drops into the church. The baskets are located across from the kitchen and are marked for the different categories we collect. You’re invited to drop off your donations on Sundays or other times when you are in the building. If you need to leave something in the drop-off shed, please contact me! I won’t be checking it frequently after Dec. 5, 2021.
You’ll see another change when we pack the supplies for January. Since we support so many students, the school finds it easier to work with bags and boxes organized by category rather than by student. So all the milk goes together, all the granola bars, etc. It’s easier for us, too, because we’re packing 10 groups instead of 15 bags.
We continue to use the inventory found here and I update it occasionally through the month. Many, many thanks for your ongoing support!!
As always, contact me, Grace Simons, or John Hartman with questions or concerns.
by WUUC | Nov 28, 2021 | Announcements
PWR Regional Assembly is that inspirational, radically inclusive, beyond-the-congregation UU community we’ve missed. Feb. 4-6, we can engage fully, wherever we are. Whether onsite at the Hyatt along the bay in San Diego, or online in the comfort of our own homes, we will have opportunities for connection in small groups, inspirational worship, transformative learning, and just plain community fun. Join in the community
by WUUC | Nov 27, 2021 | Announcements
Compiled by Linda Sherry
Worship Support Specialist
Each month WUUC explores a different theme brought to us through Soul Matters. We explore these themes in Worship, in small groups and in casual conversation. Here are a few thoughts to ponder as you consider December’s theme:
Opening to Joy
Maybe Joy is elusive for a reason.
Maybe it’s slippery in order to help us understand
that it was put here to fly.
Or better yet: To be flung!
To be passed, not possessed.
To be spread between you and me,
between the ones who received its gift
and the ones that have been looking for its treasure
for a very long time.
Maybe it’s a beautiful and elegant contagion,
over which we have more control than we think.
If only we share it.
If only we notice that joy is not ours to keep,
but ours to give.
Maybe joy opens us
as much as we open to it.
Maybe that’s the way light leaks into our world.
—Poet unknown, printed in Soul Matters Dec 2021
The high value put upon every minute of time, the idea of hurry-hurry as the most important objective of living, is unquestionably the most dangerous enemy of joy… –Hermann Hesse
Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift. –Robin Wall Kimmerer
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world. To make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the Devil. –Jack Gilbert, from A Brief for the Defense
I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
–Rabindranath Tagore
I always just thought if you see somebody without a smile, give’em yours! –Dolly Parton
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
–Thich Nhat Hanh
Find the December Soul Matters packet here.
