Greater Nashville UU News Update
Nov. 26, 2025
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Minister’s Note
Nov 26, 2025
“All life is connected
Nothing lives alone”
~Steve Connell
Friends,
I promised on Sunday to share the poem I meant (but failed) to leave time for at the end of my sermon. It is below my signature, but first a couple of notes from me to you:
So much thanks for all the donations to Second Harvest! We have collected & delivered 96+ pounds of pasta and 38 cans/jars of sauce, plus several boxes of pasta+sauce. Well done! If you have already purchased more items to donate, feel free to bring them this Sunday (the last one in November); also be aware that Second Harvest has started asking for donations of grocery store gift cards instead (because the warehouse is now full of food).
Next Tuesday (November 2) is US House District 7 election day. If you live in Dist. 7 and haven’t yet voted, please make a plan to participate in this very important exercise of democracy by getting to your polling place. (Let me know if you need help finding where that is.)
The poem is below. It’s on the long side; go ahead and get yourself a nice drink & settle in for a cozy read…
Yours in gratitude and love,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
This Living Earth *
Believe about the beginnings what you will;
This much we know for certain…
At some point, darkness released its grip on light
the night / cracked / wide
the universe unclenched its jaws–
and life began to talk.
The very synapses of existence
began firing all at once, moving as one thought;
since the beginning, it has been this way,
when all life on Earth communicated without words.
And still today …
in the twisting of a million butterflies,
the schools of fishes fast twitching in the surf,
and the delicate reaching up of vines;
in the shared mind of a stampede pounding,
or beneath ground, in the sound of mycelial nerves extending
… this resounding language of connection is observed.
But at some point the harmony was broken–
a dissonance occurred …
and slowly the new song of humankind was heard with words like:
“manifiest destiny” … “industrial revolution” … “dominion over all”
…”survival of the fittest” … “urban sprawl” …
And as the song of life became a solo
a new thought began
“Perhaps the world was not alive after all–
but we were simply alive on it”
And with that thought–
the world became a fixed thing–
it simply was;
as the sun or space or rocks;
as if it could never be diminished;
as if our actions could never cause it harm;
… but we were wrong.
And now we have evolved to become both destroyer and savior–
our behavior is our greatest threat,
yet hope resides in our resolve;
in our collective compassion and formidable talents;
the way we rise to any challenge
once we accept we have no choice
And that is why, if, from this moment forward, in our voice,
you once again hear a harmony with the Earth;
then from out of destruction our rebirth comes,
and isn’t that what life does best …
It goes on:
when it seems like it is finished, it survives;
that is why in the most hostile conditions in existence
something thrives–
from toxic soil, a mushroom grows
in a desiccated river bed, water flows
in a still smoldering forest, a flower leans into the wind
and in the midst of this vast expanse … spins / a planet / comprised of:
promise, spark of light, oxygen, and bone.
photosynthesis, salt water, honeycomb, hydrogen atom,
skin cell, hair follicle, matted fur, acetone,
slice of wing, wind current, opposable thumbs, cyclone, dorsal fin,
deep breath, ozone, atmospheric river, heart valve, limestone
All life is connected
Nothing lives alone
On this one and only living Earth: home.
*Steve Connell is a spoken word poet. This poem is found in Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s book, What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures (2024)
