by WUUC | Jan 24, 2018 | Minister Blog
“Success is a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when you’re tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.”- Robert Strauss
“People cry not because they are weak. It’s because they’ve been strong too long.” – Shane Koyczan
These two quotes define the two ends of perseverance for me: doggedly hanging in there against all odds until the end and the reality of what happens when one has persevered or “been in the storm” too long.
Perseverance is simultaneously an individual and communal pursuit. There is the individual’s decision to persevere and the reality of gathering all of the tools necessary to be able to do so. And in many cases, that means gathering others to you so that you may persevere in the pursuit of something.
Rabbi David Wolf tells the following story:
A boy and his father were walking along a road when they came across a large stone. “Do you think if I use all of my strength, I can move this rock?” the child asked. His father answered, “If you use all of your strength, I am sure you can do it.” The boy began to push the rock. Exerting himself as much as he could, he pushed and pushed. The rock did not move. Discouraged, he said to his father, “You were wrong. I can’t do it.” His father put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “No son. You didn’t use all your strength – you didn’t ask me to help.”
May we use all of our strength in whatever we choose to persevere and may we be wise enough to ask for the strength of others in our pursuit.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev. Lo
by WUUC | Dec 15, 2017 | Minister Blog
Hopes for all of you for the coming new year:
Time for quiet and reflection
Time for laughter and giddiness
Time with friends who remind you of who you are
Time with family that is all about good food and conversation without electronic distraction
Time to curl up with a good book- and you get to decide what qualifies as “good”
Time to inhabit and move your body
Time to pursue or find a new hobby or learn a new craft or pastime
Time to believe that change is possible- even for those whom we have demonized
Time to find or attend to or deepen a spiritual practice of your choosing or creation
Time that is not full of demands or should or have to do’s
Time to write a life mission statement
Time to be of service in whatever way you can find
Time to be pushed to learn something new outside your comfort zone
Time to play
Time to make or enjoy music
Time to let go of anything that weighs on you.
But most of all:
Time.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev.Lo
by WUUC | Dec 15, 2017 | Minister Blog
Many years ago, when I worked as a Youth Minister, I would take youth on mission trips to Spanish speaking countries to partner with local communities on a project they wanted done. I spoke no Spanish but quickly learned food words because I was a vegetarian at the time. I used to believe that if I led with an open heart and good intentions, it was enough to cross any language or cultural boundaries.
But at a training on being culturally competent at a ministerial professional gathering, I learned that “intent does not equal impact.” In other words one’s good intentions does not protect one from doing harm to someone else.
The best example I have run across to illustrate this is the following: a colleague and I are working together on a project that involves us moving around a lot. I accidentally step on their ankle, causing them fall on the ground in pain. My response, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” focuses the incident on me. Meanwhile, my colleague is lying in the ground in pain. Who cares what the intent was. What I should have been asking was, “I am so sorry, are you alright, what can I do to help you?” The difference may be subtle but it shifts the dynamic from intent to the impact my action had — intentional or not.
This lesson was huge for me. And it has taught me to listen to persons of color/indigenous when they tell me that something I said or did impacted them negatively. Rather than defend my “wokeness” and good intentions, I need to listen and try to understand how my intent went wrong and caused an impact I never dreamed of. In other words, if a POC/I tells me that something impacted them, I need to stop trying to defend myself. I need to show up, shut up, and listen. Apologize. Allow the experience not to embarrass or shame me but to transform me and my behavior. And do all that I can – with humility – to restore right relationship.
I still need to lead with an open heart when navigating cultures. But I can no longer depend on my intentions to act in ways that honor “differences that make a difference” or connection. It is a practice, a commitment to a way of living. It is humbling. But if we lead with humility, we create fertile ground – the root word of humility – that allows new ways of connecting and building community to emerge.
Willing to stay at the table and do the work,
Rev. Lo
by WUUC | Nov 29, 2017 | Minister Blog
“Hope has to be seen to be believed. It has to be made visible. It has to be something we can feel and touch. We are called to be persons who embody hope for one another. We have to be each other’s partners in hope.” -Paul Wadell, theologian
In these times I can think of no larger gift we can give one another than to be partners in hope. For a year now, many of us have lived crushed under the weight of the unimaginable. Each day another assault. Each day something we hold dear, threatened, whether it be a national park or an ill child. So we must take turns with our despair and our hope. We must hold the hope for one another. And we must partner with one another to create hope. It is this partnership that allows us to live another day.
by WUUC | Nov 28, 2017 | Minister Blog
December. Wrapped in darkness. Cold. Wet. Inwardly turned. And yet full of expectation and celebration. The fire of Yule. The pinprick of light returning on Solstice. The miracle of Hanukah: the oil lamp lit for 8 days re-sanctifying a defiled temple. The birth of hope against hope in a child born. Christmas. Each a holiday that leans toward a light that accompanies us in our hibernation, guiding us into the gifts of darkness.
One wonders if any of these religious traditions is enough to impact the suffering in our world, to bring hope to the hopeless. Each year there is more pressure laid upon them to help us find our way out of despair toward repair and restoration of our world. And yet each year we return to the season of these holidays of light, expectation, and hope.
Here at WUUC we celebrate the Solstice with a beautiful faralito lined labyrinth walk. Often the tree in the sanctuary is fresh enough that its scent enhances the sense of the labyrinth. To walk the labyrinth is to walk into one’s own inner sanctum and to bring out what one has found there. It is a gift offered by our earth-based members and friends.
We also honor the Christmas story on Christmas Eve. It is a story with its own truth as are all stories. We do not focus on facts but on the hope implied with the birth of a child, the hope of peace. We tell stories that tell THE story of the Christ child’s birth. Stories that work with what lies between the lines of the biblical story. This year we will do so in the form of a pageant based on the animals’ perspective of the birth. And in the evening, we will have a second service that is framed in song and stories. Each service ends with the singing of “Silent Night” and the lighting of candles to take home to carry the light into the world.
We gather with sentiment and longing, recreating memories of holidays past. Still hoping for a miracle for our world even if just for one day or night. Maybe it is we, gathering together during these times that is the miracle of embodied hope.
So bring your memories, bring your expectations, bring your hopes, and bring opened hearts to this time of year and its rituals. May they serve us and our world.
Peace be with you,
Rev. Lo
by WUUC | Oct 26, 2017 | Minister Blog
Katie Covey, the curator for Soul Matters, talks about this month’s theme of “abundance” using a line from the Wendell Berry poem, “Wild Geese”: “what we need is here.” As the season of buy, buy, buy edges out taking stock of the abundance we already have, let us return to Berry’s words. For most of us reading this, what we need is already here and then some.
As I reflected on the folks hit by hurricanes and storms this fall, I wondered, “What would I grab in the five minutes’ notice that I absolutely could not part with?” My answer was really pretty simple: Lori and Oso. Maybe the bag with some legal papers in them. A photo album of my family of origin? I am surrounded by things in my home – an overabundance of things. But when it comes down to it, none of it defines me or my life. None of it reflects the abundance I have in relationships and love.
As we all embark on this season of buy, buy, buy, let us ask ourselves the following questions suggested by the Seattle Buy Nothing Group before we make our purchases. You can substitute “they” for “I.”
“Do I need it?
How many do I already have?
How much will I use it?
How long will it last?
Could I borrow it from a friend or family member?
Can I do without it?
Am I able to clean, lubricate and/or maintain it myself? Am I willing to?
Will I be able to repair it?
Have I researched it to get the best quality for the best price?
How will I dispose of it when I’m done using it?
Are the resources that went into it renewable or non-renewable?
Is it made of recycled materials, and is it recyclable?
Is there anything that I already own that I could substitute for it?”
Better yet, look around at the abundance you already have and get creative. What can be re-purposed? Passed along, handed over, up or down?
A blog about buying nothing listed these options:
“Draw something
Sew something
Cook something
Sing something
Build something
Make something
BUY NOTHING!”
The reality is that most of us will buy something for someone this time of year. But I would encourage us all to try and take into account the questions from the Seattle Buy Nothing Group before buying something. And not just in this season but in every season of our lives.
As for abundance? Well, I don’t think it can be quantified. Not the abundance that matters: meaning, relationships, community, connection.
Let this be a season of abundance and a reckoning that “everything we need is here.”
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev. Lo
