Soul Matters offers UU congregations an opportunity to explore a theme each month. WUUC uses these themes in our Worship services, our small group discussions, and any time we just feel like talking about something other than the weather or the woes of the world. Join in, consider this month’s theme, Nurturing Beauty.
Submitted by Linda Sherry
Nurturing Beauty
What is Beauty saying to you?
Beauty.
We appreciate it.
How could we not?
We wonder at it.
Get absorbed in it.
Analyze it, if it’s got a frame around it.
We make it.
Grow it.
Point at it.
Collect it.
Share it.
Save it.
But how often do we listen to it?
How often do we ask, “What is it trying to get me to hear?”
Rather than, “Do I like it or not?”
It’s just so hard to step outside
our mangled view of the world
that sees everything in the light of consumption.
Not everything is here for our possession.
Not everything is here to entertain us.
Not everything is meant to be put to use, even you.
We must find our way back,
to those questions that were once alive
but now are buried deep:
“What if beauty is here to make us wise?”
“What if beauty is the way the sacred speaks?”
Yes! Yes! It does so much more than decorate.
It demands. It calls. It asks for commitment.
It doesn’t just say “Love and appreciate me.”
It says “Protect me! Fight for me!”
It steps out in front of us and points to a precious world
that needs our help.
It paints a picture of new ways of living
and declares, “Follow me there!”
It says, “Even in hell holes I find a way to grow.”
It sings, “This world was made for more than work.”
It whispers, “Use me to heal.”
It pleads, “Nurture a new relationship with me. One that allows me to talk!”
So what is Beauty saying to you?
Reprinted from Soul Matters May 2022 Small Group materials, author was not credited.
Totes to Go is a program to provide weekend food for students who may be food insecure over weekends when school meals aren’t available. We are partnered with Maywood Hills Elementary (see photo) and support 15 students.
Backpacks for Totes to Go
The school year is coming to an end and we’re working on our last collection for this school year. Donations are due by Sunday, May 29th for our June delivery. At this writing, I can’t tell what exactly will be needed, so please check the on-line spreadsheet after May 3rd. Here’s the link: Totes to Go inventory – Google Sheets
When I was a child, I was introduced to what was called then “therapeutic horsemanship” through my 4-H club. I volunteered for years, and even taught lessons. Adaptive horseback riding makes horseback riding accessible to all!
As an adult I discovered occupational therapy. While going to school at UW, I volunteered at Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center, eventually leading the therapy department during our move from Woodinville to Redmond.
At the same time I was working at Little Bit using “hippotherapy” for my mainly pediatric patients, I was deepening my understanding of occupational therapy working in other areas with a wider range of people at skilled nursing facilities, schools and private pediatric clinics. Currently, I work at Little Bit, using hippotherapy to help kids learn skills to fully participate in play, self-care and school, and at Evergreen Home Health to support older adults to be as independent and safe as possible. Both jobs are a lot of fun and personally rewarding when you feel you are making a positive impact.
I have been an occupational therapist for 13 years and enjoy the perspective it gives me on life! I have come to understand the importance of little things, like being able to brush your hair, write your name and play a game of tag. But sometimes I also get to be part of the big things, such as first words and first steps.
I remember a 6 year old client who was non-ambulatory due to a genetic disorder. She had been introduced a few months prior to me meeting her to a unique walker that had a seat and way for her to initiate movement by stepping, but she was not able to use it. After a couple of sessions of occupational therapy on the horse, she was on her way to learning how to walk and it just took the unique movement of the horse to move her hips in a similar way to walking for those hardwired neural pathways to be rebooted.
Another moment that I will always remember is when I was teaching horseback riding lessons to people with disabilities in Japan. I was not an OT yet, but I did have my adaptive riding certification. I had a young boy with autism on a horse that I was lunging (going around a circle on a long line) and I was teaching him how to post at the trot (go up and down with the movement). He was doing really well! I looked over at his mom who was watching closely and I saw tears in her eyes and I realized that, for this non-verbal boy with autism with real difficulty regulating most of the time, this instance of being calm, focused and in tune with the horse, was significant. I didn’t fully comprehend what an accomplishment this was until I saw his mother’s tears.
I am excited about the profession, and feel inclusion is being recognized more and more as the best model, because we all benefit when people with disabilities are able to engage and participate in life’s activities as they would like.
By Cora Goss-Grubbs Advocates for Social Justice Co-Chair On May 22, you’re invited to get out your coin purse, wallet, checkbook, or phone to give what you can to NAMI Eastside. This East King County affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness is a community-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life for those impacted by mental illness through advocacy, education, and support.
In February of 2021, NAMI Eastside launched their Multicultural Steering Committee, a partnership with the India Association of Western Washington (IAWW), the Muslim Community Resource Center (MCRC), Centro Cultural Mexicano, Entre Hermanos, and other community organizations to develop collective strategies to advocate for improved mental health support and ensure that every community gets the services that are needed.
On Saturday, May 21, NAMI Eastside is excited to host their first in-person event in two years, the Youth Mental Conference, held at Overlake Christian Church in Redmond. This event is free for students in middle school, high school, and college. Adult admission is $25 per ticket. For more information and to register, go here.
On April 17 we had the opportunity to hear from Farmer Frog founder Zsofia Pasztor and her daughter, Szabi, with a virtual Q&A session after the service. Thanks to all who stayed for this enlightening presentation, where we learned about Farmer Frog’s many programs, events, and intersectional work with communities in our area and across the country. We hope to host more representatives from our ASJ special collection recipient organizations so that we can learn more about the impact we make through financial and other support.
The ASJ Committee thanks WUUC members and friends for their generous support of our monthly special collections, which take place during services usually 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, and selecting ASJ Monthly Collection, 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 Lori McConnell Tech Team Member Creating hybrid services at WUUC are complex procedures — and not for those with agoraphobia!
In mid-April, Kermit Sprang rented a 20-foot scissor lift so he and Tom Richards could install choir mics in the nether-reaches of the sanctuary.
The mics are multi- directional, unlike the wireless mics that are focused. Hopefully the choir will be back live in the sanctuary soon. When they are, the mics will not help people in the sanctuary hear the choir — that will be live sound and need no amplification. The mics provide sound for the zoom broadcast, a continuing part of hybrid services.
Photos by Lori McConnell
Several people were talking about the “large cobwebs” they saw on April 24 — those were the new choir mics! The mics themselves are tiny, and fishing wire was used for the lines to position them. Their position can be adjusted depending on the size of the choir.
By Cora Goss-Grubbs Advocates for Social Justice Co-Chair Once again our congregants have raised a hefty chunk of change to support life-saving organizations! On Feb. 20, $530 was collected for Washington NAACP Youth Council, founded in 2017 as part of the Seattle-King County NAACP with the goal of bringing youth voices into discussions on issues that affect them. They now represent over 10 high schools in Washington State, working together to build a transformative educational system that inspires belief in the brilliance of all scholars.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, ASJ quickly pivoted our March special collection to support the Ukrainian Association of Washington with $1,926. This donation will help deliver medical supplies to hospitals in Ukraine (in partnership with Medical Teams International), support civilians in life-saving tactical medicine, and help internally displaced families and orphans.
On April 17 our special collection will go to Farmer Frog, on Paradise Lake Road just a few miles from our church. Farmer Frog supports over a dozen school gardens in the state, works with several sites in urban and rural communities, and is developing several farms on acreage. They cultivate programs, school gardens, and hands-on learning to nurture communities. BSAFF volunteers also utilize Farmer Frog’s weekly distribution of USDA food boxes and produce to bring fresh food to our friends in the Greenleaf Community.
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, and selecting ASJ Monthly Collection, 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.
