Don’t tell me to be calm when there are so many reasons to be angry… I didn’t say to be calm, said the wind, I said to breathe. We’re going to need a lot of air to make this hurricane together. — Rev. Lynn Ungar, from her poem, “Breathe”
Submitted by Linda Sherry Often when stillness weaves its way into our discussions, it’s framed as a retreat strategy. A balm from the frantic and frequently wounding world. But as wise ones like Rev. Unger remind us, that’s not quite right. It’s less like a locked room that keeps all the enemies out and more like an oxygen mask that brings us back to life, that fills us with power. Stillness doesn’t simply slow our breath and energy; it fills us with it.
As Unger suggests, we don’t really want to be told to be calm these days. There is indeed so much to be angry about. So much that needs to be defended, resisted and restored.
A stillness that invites us simply to escape the world is dangerous. A stillness that merely anesthetizes our nerves comforts us but widens the wounds of the world. … .and alongside this vision of stillness enabling us to gather strength also sits the equally important idea of stillness as something that clarifies our perception.
Even sequestered we can busy ourselves and forget to stop. When we stop and wait for others in the gap we enlarge ourselves. When the merely important stops for what is beautiful, when we let a little sabbath interrupt our busyness the holy enters in the empty spaces. Stop, and let the Holy breathe in you. Who knows? In the pause, angels may parade the neighborhoods of your soul. — Steve Garnaas-Holmes
We have forgotten what rocks and plants still know; we have forgotten how to be still, to be ourselves, to be where life is here and now. — Eckhart Tolle
It only takes a reminder to breathe, a moment to be still and just like that, something in me settles, softens, makes space for imperfection. The harsh voice of judgment drops to a whisper and I remember again that life isn’t a relay race; that we will all cross the finish line; that waking up to life is what we were born for. As many times as I forget, catch myself charging forward without even knowing where I am going, that many times I can make the choice to stop, to breathe, to be and walk slowly into the mystery. — Danna Faulds
Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be Astonished. — Mary Oliver, from her poem, “Learning to be Astonished“
The December 2020 theme for worship, RE, and small groups at WUUC is: What Does It Mean to be a People of STILLNESS? Our monthly themes and resource materials come from Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a network of Unitarian Universalist congregations. A small sample of thoughts to ponder about compassion from Soul Matters.
NW Justice Summit 2020, Part 2, online, December 4-6, 2020 Strategy Sessions/Action Planning
Session 1 panelists and breakout sessions yielded a wealth of action ideas that we will be pursuing at the online NW Justice Summit Session 2 on December 4-6.You are invited to be in on the ground floor for planning 2021 UU justice work in our state and beyond.
Your registration will include attendance for Part 2 of Summit, as well as access to videos and transcripts from Part 1 of the Summit. Details and access information will be sent to you after you register.
I voted for my grandfather’s bones That feed beetles now
I voted for a singing brook that sparkles under a North Dakota bean field.
I voted for the salty air through which the whimbrel flies South along the shores of two continents
I voted for the melting snow that returns to the wellspring of darkness, where the sky is born from the earth.
I voted for the daemonic mushrooms in the loam and the old democracy of worms
I voted for the wordless treaty that cannot be broken by white men or brown, because it is made of star semen, thistle sap, hieroglyphs of the weevil in prairie oak.
I voted for the local, the small, the brim that does not spill over, the abolition of waste, the luxury of enough.
I voted for the commonwealth of the ancient forest a larva for every beak, a wing-tinted flower for every moth’s disguise, a well-fed mammal’s corpse for every colony of maggots.
I voted for open borders between death and birth
I voted on the ballot of a fallen leaf of sycamore that cannot be erased, for it becomes the dust and rain, and then a tree again.
I voted for more fallow time to cultivate wild flowers more recess in schools to cultivate play, more leisure, tax free, more space between days.
I voted to increase the profit of evening silence and the price of a thrush song
I voted for ten million stars in your next inhalation.
Preview night, Nov. 14,7-8 p.m. live (Zoom)- introduction of the virtual auction (SIMPLE auction website info/instructions), — plus our Auctioneers, Rob Katz & John Villasenor, will open bidding for one live auction item (test run for Nov. 21)
Virtual auction, Nov. 14-21 – online bidding anytime, 8pm Nov. 14- noon, Nov. 21, – bidders will receive email updates about their bid status
Live Auction & Party, Nov. 21, 7-8:30 p.m. (Zoom) 19-20’s holodeck Party & live auction with musical entertainment and break-out groups for gabbing & mingling
Donations needed by Nov. 7 — donate your knitting, canning, baking, brewing, and the spate of books you’ve read; dinner delivered, online games night, socially distanced summer escape. … For info, ideas, and updates see the weekly WUUC Auction email announcements OR contact the auction team at auctionteam@wuuc.org
