By Donna Johnson Worship Team Each month, WUUC explores a theme of the month. February’s Soul Matters theme is What Does it Mean to be a people of BELOVED COMMUNITY?
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our ultimate end must be reconciliation; the end must be redemption; the end must be the creation of the beloved community. … It begins by loving others for their sakes and makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it is directed toward both. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends.”
Beloved Community is hard. Henri Nouwen, teacher, activist and pastor, described beloved community as, “the place where the person you least want to live with always lives. …That person is always in your community somewhere; in the eyes of others, you might be that person. We need to be able to count on Beloved Community. We human beings run away from community not just because others let us down, but also because we doubt that others won’t step up when we let them down. Beloved community stays at arm’s length not just because it is hard to build, but also because we don’t trust that it will be there for us.
Beloved Community calls us to action. “…Our goal is not to have white people sit alongside a person of color so as to affirm that those white people aren’t racist. Our goal is to build and be part of beloved community, united to end structural oppression and unleash collective liberation in our faith communities, schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, and throughout society. … Our goal is to join our hearts and minds to the task of destroying white supremacy in every worldview, policy, law, institution, and governing body of our society. For our faith communities to be places of healing from the nightmare of racism that haunts people of color and white people…”
In mini-worship this month, we have been talking with the children about their unique and special talents. We all have things that only we can contribute to the world. We can use these gifts and talents to improve our own lives, the lives of our families, friends, and the larger world.
Sometimes it is as simple as sharing a smile or a kind word. Sometimes it is something requiring specialized education, complex reasoning skills, or artistic talent. Whatever your talents, skills, and gifts, you have something special and unique that only you can put into the world.
During our worship service on Jan. 24, we co-created a word cloud with examples of what we are inspired to put into the world. If you were not able to participate in making the word cloud, I hope you can use it as inspiration for some of your own ideas. If you were able to participate, I hope this serves as a reminder of your inspiration.
Never forget that you are special. There is love and magic and beauty that only you possess. I encourage you to regularly spend time sharing your unique and special gifts to bless the world.
“All of us need all of us to make it.” – Rev. Theresa I. Soto
2020 Virtual Giving Tree In early December, Green Leaf community leaders spent time connecting with 15 Green Leaf families to listen to their needs and wishes to create the Giving Tree list. Then over 30 WUUC members and friends donated Giving Tree gifts to those families, providing for their basic needs as well as some special gifts during this holiday season.
On distribution day, Advocates for Social Justice members Pam Green and Cora Goss-Grubbs were joined by several staff from Arrowhead elementary school — the school that many Green Leaf children attend — to greet the families and begin getting to know them face-to-face. (Come back next month for more about our work with Arrowhead staff and Green Leaf leaders building trusting relationships that foster equity and school success.)
Green Leaf leaders expressed deep gratitude – here is a note from one of them, Tami Siemers: “My family would like to extend our gratitude to all involved with helping our community. This process has been an experience that I don’t have all the words to describe — it was overwhelming with positive results. You have given us hope and light, and made a little girl’s Christmas wish come true.”
The Giving Tree organizers also feel gratitude to our church community for addressing the inequity especially felt during the holiday season, and doing so with generosity, spirit, and a personal touch.
Special Sunday Collections
November’s special collection raised $310 for TRUUsT (Transgender Religious professional UUs Together), an organization of trans Unitarian Universalists who are living out a call to ministry within Unitarian Universalism. Its mission is to advocate for the gifts, safety, liberation, and leadership of trans religious professionals in Unitarian Universalist ministries and institutions.
Our ASJ special collection on Dec. 20 will go to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. The total amount raised is not yet tallied. The UUSC is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization advancing human rights together with an international community of grassroots partners and advocates. We hope you will consider giving generously to UUSC’s important work.
Our next special collection, during the service on Jan. 21, will go to NAMI. The National Association of Mental Illness is a community-based non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life for those impacted by mental illness through advocacy, education, and support.
The ASJ Committee thanks WUUC members and friends for their generous support of our monthly special collections, which take place during services on the third Sunday of every month. Instructions for giving are posted during the service, and you can also donate anytime the following week at https://onrealm.org/wuuc/-/give/now, or by sending a check to WUUC at P.O. Box 111, Woodinville, WA 98072. Please make checks out to WUUC and write “ASJ Special Collection” in the notes.
By Donna Johnson Worship Team Chair We have changed the title of the WUUC Worship Associates to Worship Leaders. This reflects the responsibilities of this dedicated group of WUUC lay members you see beside our minister (well, virtually beside) each week.
In addition to assisting with worship services, Worship Leaders collaborate with the ordained minister and others in planning, preparing, and evaluating worship services. In these activities, Worship Leaders are like members of a small band who not only play an instrument, but also help set the tone and hold the energy when the band is performing as well as plan strategically for the future.
Each week, our Worship Leaders help bring many people together in the common task of creating meaningful worship. Our Worship Leaders exhibit leadership qualities such as a strong sense of the purpose of each worship service, the ability to communicate with the team, and a “Servant Leader” focus on the well-being of the WUUC community.
Each month, WUUC explores a theme of the month… January’s Soul Matters theme is IMAGINATION.
The question we will explore is: What does it mean to be a people of Imagination? Here are a few thoughts to ponder as we consider, discuss, learn and play with this theme.
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Imagination’s great gift is improvement. At least that is what adults are usually taught. Yes, imagination can help to heal the world. Imagination moves us forward. It makes us better.
We are urged to imagine and build the world we dream of. A world with more justice. More peace. More love.
And to do this work, we are often called to imagine a world that is real, but broken. To imagine pain and suffering that we have not experienced; hunger and starvation, poverty, violence, war, oppression, tyranny and, for many, insurmountable suffering of the heart, mind, and spirit.
But Imagination isn’t just a force that drives us forward toward a more perfect future,
There are ways in which this view of imagination can impoverish us. It can steal the stage. It can shut out the experience of the perfection of the present. When we review what has been painful in our past, and what could be problematic in our future, we suffer unnecessarily.
Imagination pulls the sacred into our impoverished present. Through the lens of imagination, we can perceive the common as precious, even miraculous.
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Perhaps our most important work is to re-imagine imagination.
When you got out of bed this morning. After a shower, you didn’t just pull on fresh clothes, you also pulled out a jewelry box and slipped on your grandmother’s ring. As you slid it on your finger, she slid, not just into your memory, but into your day. Now, because of imagination, you aren’t just elegant, you’re accompanied.
Or how about that invisible friend of yours when you were a child? Imagination made sure you didn’t travel through those early years alone. It conjured up a loyal friend.
Author Unknown
The laughter of our children becomes the sound of angels. Sunshine on our face becomes a greater treasure than gold.
… Wouldn’t it be great if we walked around surrounded by our souls, so that they were the first things people saw… Then people would judge us by who we really are. … Imagine no more racism, ageism, sexism, fatism, shortism, homophobia. Imagine falling in love with who a person is, just by looking at them. … Imagine people knowing by your soul…
Author Unknown
What will become of a failure? What can be built with an honest mistake? Keep paying attention. Keep dreaming and supposing that more is possible. We don’t know the ending. And if you are tired, then it must be time to rest. Staying curious is like a muscle. We flex – reaching for what we don’t yet know. And relax – leaving space for what is yet to come.
Rev. Theresa I. Soto
The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
If a fairy could grant me one wish, it would be to give every child an imagination that would last a lifetime.
This article was Inspired by Soul Matters January 2021. It was adapted and embellished, and some parts were copied, by Linda Sherry.
