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.
by WUUC | Oct 28, 2021 | Announcements
By Linda Sherry
Worship Support Specialist
History is not simply the records of the past. It is how we perceive the past, and how we respond to it. It may be world history, American history, or it may be personal history we need to re-view. This month WUUC will offer many ways to connect with various types of history.
* * *
A thought-provoking challenge about our personal histories:
We all have it, that one memory from our younger years that brings us joy, or grounds our sense of identity. It’s one of the most precious pieces of personal history, so we hold on to it tightly.
So make time to ask yourself: Why have I held on to this memory for so long? Why has it been holding on to me? What is it trying to give me? Who helped me remember it? What piece of my current identity does it hold? What hunger does it represent? What wish is it wanting to rekindle?
* * *
Connecting personal history with cultural history:
When we are honest, we know that defensiveness, protectiveness and closed doors rule our relationship with history more than we’d like.
For instance, very few of us have pasts without pain woven through. And it’s just easier to shut out those traumatic times than confront them head on. We are all well taught the game of sweeping old wounds under the rug.
And of course, there’s the unprocessed horrors woven throughout our cultural history. They are the rule not the exception, but we work hard to close ourselves off from them with standard lines like, “At our best, this isn’t who we are!” or “As Americans, we’re better than this!” The truth is we’ve never consistently been “better than this.” Voluntary Amnesia, rather than a courageous and honest reckoning, describes the current character of America’s relationship to history.
All of which is to say that there is a deeper relationship between history and vulnerability than we often recognize. Without a heart willing to feel pain and endure grief, the fullness of our histories just can’t enter in. Talking about past mistakes requires developing the ability to vulnerably say I’m sorry.
An honest telling of racism requires the painful acceptance that some of us still benefit from the prejudices and oppression of our ancestors, and some of us still suffer the pain of being treated with prejudice and oppression today. Healing historical racism requires someone suffering the costs of reparations. And telling your full story requires navigating grief over choices you wish you would have made differently.
Excerpted and adapted from Soul Matters materials for November 2021.
Find the Soul Matters packet for November here.
