By Linda Sherry In these stressful, isolated and changing times, what can/do we do with our sense of compassion? Maybe it’s compassion for our individual selves that is called for right now, or perhaps focusing on what’s happening within our own community? Whether it comes in the form of sickness and job loss or loneliness, stress and worry, suffering has taken up residence in so many of our homes. Compassion is needed now more than ever.
The June 2020 theme for worship, RE, and small groups at WUUC is: What
Does It Mean to be a People of COMPASSION? 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:
Compassion is different from empathy, which is the
“mirroring or understanding of another’s emotion.” Empathy is feeling; compassion is action. Jeremy Smith
Were we to meet this figure socially… (sic) … we might think that something terrible had happened to him. That he was living in the aftermath, in the fallout of some catastrophe. And we would be right. -Adam Phillips
I still believe that having compassion for others is not the same as saying that the harm they cause is ok. Empathy is not exoneration. -Nadia Bolz-Webe
“Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others.” -Andrew Boyd
The purpose of the journey is compassion. When you have come past all the pairs of opposites you have reached compassion. -Joseph Campbell
A friend pointed out to me that many of us are on a lower step of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need than we were a few months ago. Take time to listen to one another. Truly listening is an act of compassion. -Linda Sherry
As we join in community, whether in our worship services or in our smaller conversations, let’s take time to consider how our compassion is acting out in our lives.
From the WUUC Worship Team The May 2020 theme for worship, RE, and small groups at WUUC is: What Does It Mean to be a People of THRESHOLDS? Our monthly themes and resource materials come from Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a network of Unitarian Universalist congregations. A small sample of thoughts about thresholds from Soul Matters:
If you go back to the etymology of the word “threshold,” it comes from “threshing” which is to separate the grain from the husk. So the threshold in a way, is a place where you move into more critical and challenging and worthy fullness. John O’Donohue
What if the true invitation of a threshold is not to successfully move from here to there, but instead just to sit and pause? What if thresholds help us “become” by asking us just to “be” for a while? Less traveling and more listening. The Rev. Sara LaWall writes, “a threshold is a space to imagine a new way, a new self. Not moving or pushing but sitting and cultivating…the goal is to allow you space and time to reflect on your past, present and future. To imagine a new beginning.”
At that moment of realization, a threshold is crossed. The idea, the dream, the recognition suddenly takes on gravity. And that gravity creates an inevitability that transforms us, sometimes, whether we like it or not. What seemed unthinkable becomes thinkable. Once that realization has emerged, you can either honor or ignore it, but you cannot forget it. What has become known cannot become unknown again. Gary Zukav
Here are some wise words on Thresholds to ponder this month:
Those
who stand at the threshold of life always waiting for the right time to change
are like a person who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to
pass so they can cross on dry land. Joseph
B. Wirthlin
Our
only security is our ability to change.
John Lilly
The
purpose of the journey is compassion.
The return is seeing the radiance everywhere. Joseph Campbell
The truth is, indeed, that love is the threshold of another universe. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
By John Hartman Are you looking for something meaningful to do while you’re cooped up in quarantine? How about spending an hour or two sending letters encouraging potential voters to get to the polls? You can do that through WUUC’s partnership with Vote Forward.
Vote Forward is a national organization who’s core mission is increasing civic participation. Right now, this means writing letters to people who belong to groups such as racial minorities who have historically been under-represented in the electorate compared to their share of the population.
Last year WUUC’s Climate Justice team identified getting out
the vote as one of their major goals for the year in order to increase the
chances of getting people elected who support the climate justice agenda and to
increase the voting power of groups most impacted by climate change.
In January we partnered with Vote Forward based on their reputation of developing quality lists of under-represented voters and a user-friendly letter-writing program. When the coronavirus hit and people started quarantining, the Climate Justice team thought it would be a good time to launch Vote Forward as part of the WUUC Social Distancing Service Project — an Advocates for Social Justice initiative.
We set an initial goal of signing up WUUC members to write 1,000 letters. We achieved that goal in the first 10 days. We have increased our goal to 2,100 letters. Want to write a few letters?
Here’s how the program works. You don’t actually write a whole letter. Most of the letter is pre-printed. Your biggest job is inserting a personal message in the body of the letter telling the recipient why you vote in every election. You sign the letter, address and stamp the envelope and — voila — you’re done.
Help us reach our goal. Write a few letters. Here’s how. Go to the Google docs spreadsheet. Put in your name, address, email, phone number and the number of letters you want to write (multiples of 50, please). We will print out the letter template for the number of letters you signed up for and provide stamps, envelopes and instructions. A packet will be delivered to your front door within a few days of signing up. When you’re done writing the letters, we’ll pick them up and be sure they get mailed in late October.
By Donna Johnson The new heroes of our sudden move to online Zoom services at WUUC are a dedicated group we lovingly call ZoomKeepers (thanks to Karen MacKenzie for this word), who serve as Zoom tech hosts each week, and ZoomMates (thanks to Jane Flood for this word) who serve as back up Zoom hosts each week.
Our current ZoomKeepers are Lanny Commeree, Jane Flood, Sarah Niwa, and David Goss-Grubbs. Winny Schnitzler, Karen MacKenzie and Ava Priest are ZoomKeepers in training. We are very grateful.
This intrepid group has figured out ways to make our services smoother each week as, behind the scenes, they follow a detailed script and switch rapidly between slides, music, and speakers. The group attends trainings and weekly practices and shares new ways to make Zoom work better for WUUC.
We have developed a ZoomKeeper training manual (huge thanks
to Lanny!!). Please let me know if you
too would like to be a ZoomKeeper/ ZoomMate.
What insights can or should we take from the presence of these environmental silver linings?
A few come to mind and I hope that you will take some time to consider others.
I suspect that the idea of telework will get quite a boost from this period in history. Telework is not a good fit in every situation, for sure, and it can be disruptive of home life. Yet, to the extent that it works, telework offers some relief from long commutes, heavy use of gasoline and associated emissions, and traffic-related tragedies.
Although Zoom and other video conferencing services are not perfect, they are certainly better than not interacting at all and they open possibilities for staying in community across distances and across health conditions that could not have been possible earlier. In some instances, it feels that Zoom and similar technologies can help us get better in taking turns in conversation and in bringing greater equity to patterns of conversation.
Videography of sermons and events is not perfect, but it is also better than not participating. Again, the technology opens possibilities for staying in community when distance or health do not permit in-person interaction.
That’s a short list, some of which are directly applicable to WUUC, and some to life more generally.
Take care and be as safe as possible under the circumstances.
