Notes from Rev. Denise
“We are so good at imagining dystopia…[but]…What does flourishing look like?
How do we practice it?” ~Laurel Schneider
“Our hands imbibe like roots, so I place them on what is beautiful in this world.”
~Francis of Assissi
Beloveds–
Imagining dystopia isn’t something we need to work hard at, as human beings alive at this particular moment, but I think it might serve us well to think about flourishing, to consider how to practice it actively, to spread it around, to look for evidence of its existence and possibility.
Surely beauty is part of flourishing, and I love the above words from the late medieval saint, best known as a preacher of the simple life and the patron of animals, who (I am realizing now) is often portrayed with hands reaching out to touch. I always assumed he was reaching out in compassion, care, nurturing (which I’m sure is true), but before encountering that quotation, it didn’t occur to me that he was also caring for his own soul by touching the beauty around him.
Which leads me to wonder: What beauty have my hands encountered and imbibed? Here’s an entirely incomplete list from the last 24 hours: a thick, ancient (100 years, maybe older) vine crawling through the greenery on the hillside beside our sanctuary, a good friend in a hug, the hair of my children, the belly of the small dog who accompanies one of them to our house, the novel I finished this morning about the power of growth and community-building (The Girls Who Grew Big, by Leila Mottley), the mug, painted in Poland and gifted to me by my mother, out of which I drank this morning’s tea while reading. I could go on, but I’d rather think of you leaving this paragraph to go touch and imbibe the beauty of the world around you.
The world is full of beauty. Please partake: I have a hunch our flourishing depends on it.
Yours in love and beauty,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.” –Alice Walker
“Sanctuary is where we dream in safety.” – Leela Sinha
Dear Ones–
How has your summer been? I am “back” from time away from work, and although I travelled only a small bit (and that unexpectedly), it has been good to have time just for myself and family. Now I’m ready to see what this church year brings us and excited to live into our responses to each other and the world around us. How rich in surprise can we be? What dreams can we grow in the shelter of each other?
Let’s find out!
Yours, in expectation and hope,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“Ministry is always shared because liberation is always collective.”
~Rev. Robin Tanner
Beloveds,
I spent last week mostly online, participating first in Ministry Days with my colleagues (other members of the UU Ministers Association) and then in the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), along with GNUUC delegates (Kristin Reveal and Caren Spencer-Smith). Your delegates and I met new people, considered the needs of our association and congregation, and voted on several issues of immediate concern, as well as the normal elections for UUA officers. I hope to report back to you a bit further in August.
This week, I am preparing for our exploration on Sunday of the final piece of our GNUUC covenant, in which we promise “to support each other in thought, word, and deed, as we work to build a better world.”
Our support for each other is truly shared ministry–both in the work of simply caring for each other and in the way it nourishes our efforts to build love and liberation in the world. We know we are not truly free until all of us are free (right?) and as the world around makes us ever more aware that we are not all free, the (sometimes) hard work we do in offering care and support to each other in our small corner of the world is a shared ministry that truly matters in the beautifully wide collective liberation for which we long.
Yours in sharing the challenges of ministry and the joy of liberation,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. This is my last eblast note for the 2024-25 church year! As is my custom, I shall be on vacation for the month of July (and I will miss you and look forward to seeing you again in August). If you’ve been wanting to talk with me, now is a great time to reach out and set a time to meet! And if you experience an urgent pastoral need while I am away, please call or email the church office (gnuuc@gnuuc.org; 615-673-7699) with a brief message with whatever information you are comfortable sharing, and our administrator, Kris, will connect you with a minister.
Dear Ones,
Just a quick note today, because I am participating in both Ministry Days and General Assembly this week. I am grateful that you are a congregation that supports me in maintaining connections with our Unitarian Universalist Association and in tapping the rich resources of learning, support, and community available in that association. Especially in these times, it is crucial for all of us that we strengthen the bonds between us.
Yours in solidarity and hope amid all that is,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. Don’t forget: This Sunday we will meet early to watch the livestream of the worship service from General Assembly, beginning at 10 am.
“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
~Arundhati Roy
Friends,
We are, always, in between worlds, moving between what has been, what is, and what is on the way. We do this more or less gracefully, more or less willingly, and with all sorts of feelings about what is and about what is changing. I like the idea of pausing to listen for the breath of new possibilities as we struggle through the now.
At the moment, much of my attention is on Music Sunday: I’m still practicing my parts and looking forward to enjoying choral music during our joint gathering with the congregation of First UU Nashville. I am never so aware of breathing as when I sing. Wouldn’t it be something if breathing and singing together is part of the work of birthing another world–the world of which we dream: a world of belonging and transformations we have yet to imagine into being?
Yours in breathing and hoping,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. Plans for this Sunday have changed since last week: Due to AC problems in their sanctuary, our friends from First UU Nashville will gather with us for Music Sunday at GNUUC! The service starts at 10 am.
Beloveds,
Do you ever feel prickly and bloomy all at the same time?
Sometimes, poetry (like this, shared at a recent meeting) helps:
For When People Ask
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
I want a word that means
okay and not okay,
a word that means
devastated and stunned with joy.
I want the word that says
I feel it all, all at once.
The heart is not like a songbird
singing only one note at a time,
more like a Tuvan throat singer
able to sing both a drone
and simultaneously
two or three harmonics high above it—
a sound, the Tuvans say,
that gives the impression
of wind swirling among rocks.
The heart understands the swirl,
how the churning of opposite feelings
weaves through us like an insistent breeze,
leads us wordlessly deeper into ourselves,
blesses us with paradox
so we might walk more openly
into this world so rife with devastation,
this world so ripe with joy.
Yours in okay, not okay, and the swirling of our hearts,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. That’s the cactus growing beside our parking lot, at the bottom of the hill, yesterday. (There are a few more buds. I wonder what will happen by Sunday…)
“We’ll never build a better world if we’re all
too afraid to knock on our neighbors’ doors.”
~Devon Price (on Medium)
Dear Ones,
In place of my usual column this week, I would like to share this call to (really enjoyable) action from our friends at TIRRC–Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition.
For Kurdish and Turkish cuisine, my latest favorite is TashTea (in Antioch), but that might be because I love the option of sitting on cushions at a low table..Or just head to Nolensville Road and stop anywhere…Or remember the options in Bellevue. Dining out is a treat; it’s also one way to build a stronger community and a better world.
Yours in resistance and community,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“Love is your trade, your mission, your job.
Why do you busy yourself with so many other tasks?
—Rumi
Beloveds,
As we gradually approach the end of our church year (officially, it ends on June 30), congregational leaders are busy with budgets and elections for our 2025-26 year. This is a month of looking back and making plans. Our annual congregational meeting will be on Sunday, May 18, immediately following the worship service. I hope you will join us!
In the meantime, I’m reflecting on this year: what we have planned to do, how we have aspired to do it, and how it has actually gone and is continuing right now. Because our vision of ministry this year was centered around building community and because our UU values have been recently rearticulated as being centered on love, the above newly translated bit of Rumi jumped out at me recently. It’s prompted me to consider how I balance my personal trade/mission/job of love with all the tasks that keep me busy. And I’m beginning to consider how we as a congregation attend to the same balance.
It’s tricky, no? Center love, but don’t forget the important meeting! Ignoring the tasks entirely does not create more love and community in the world, even if the tasks can sometimes distract us from the mission.
Looking over the last several months, I find many examples of us acting together to be welcoming and caring with each other and with our wider communities, to build community and celebrate the giftedness of every person, as we were charged to do in our 2024-25 Vision of Ministry. I hope you’ll join us this Sunday for my (now almost traditional) “annual report” to the congregation, in which we will review this year's vision of ministry and consider how it has served us, and how well we have pursued it.
Yours in living our mission amidst all the tasks,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
~Flannery O’Connor
AND
“There is no chance we will fall apart.
There is no chance.
There are no parts.”
~June Jordan
Beloveds,
I’ve been living a challenging season.
Perhaps you have, too.
AND
I am supported by all that connects us and me and all that is.
It will be okay: this I know.
Yours in connection and faith,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. I am away from church this week (and perhaps next week) on medical leave while I care for a family member. If you find yourself with an immediate need for pastoral care while I am out, please email gnuuc@gnuuc.org, with a note that you need pastoral care, and Kris (our administrator) will put you in touch with one of our affiliated ministers.
“Standing up to the abuse of power is inherently difficult.
It can also be inspiring.”
~NYTimes Editorial Board
Friends,
Last weekend (Sunday, April 6) the editorial board of the New York Times published an essay entitled “A Playbook for Standing Up to President Trump”. Since I would usually refrain from naming politicians in my ministerial work, I suggest you consider it an essay about resisting those in power who refuse to act justly and follow rules. I found it to contain wisdom, among which is a three-step “playbook” which I would summarize as follows:
In the face of the bullies (such as those who use their power without regard to serving those they are sworn to serve), we must cultivate:
-Recognition that capitulation is doomed (since bullies offer no promises for future behavior),
-Insistence on due process (or a belief in the work and trustworthiness of the courts) [This is hard for some of us!], and
-Solidarity (with those who are harmed), especially if we ourselves have not (yet) been targeted.
The news each day brings fresh examples of situations in which we have the opportunity to cultivate these attitudes and pursue related strategies. I am participating in the Rise for Freedom trainings currently being offered on Thursday evenings. See below for information about how to join–either virtually, or in our very own sanctuary!
Yours in persistence and solidarity,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. I will be away from church next week (and perhaps the following week) on medical leave while I care for a family member. If you find yourself with an immediate need for pastoral care while I am out, please email gnuuc@gnuuc.org, with a note that you need pastoral care, and Kris (our administrator) will put you in touch with one of our affiliated ministers.
“Traditions are the inventions of people who mean to
routinely put love and comfort and meaning into
their lives and the lives of those they love.”
~Elizabeth Berg
Dear Ones,
These next three months, April, May, and June, also known as the 4th quarter of our congregational and UUA fiscal/church year, are full of traditions! Some of them, like our recent (and very successful) fundraising auction, we tend to think of as fun community-building events and look forward to every spring. Others, like the stewardship pledge drive and our annual GNUUC business meeting to vote for officers of the congregation and approve our budget for the coming year starting in July, we tend to think of as necessities (because they are) and perhaps to dismiss as boring or tedious–which I’d like to challenge you to reframe!
Thinking about our money–where it comes from and how we deploy it–and about how we organize our time and talents and skills to sustain congregational life are, obviously, ongoing tasks all year long. But every spring, we ask that everyone join in the projects of making annual pledges of financial support and practicing our core commitment to democracy by attending our meeting. These two crucial practices safeguard the continuity of our resources and are, in a sense, some of our most important congregational traditions. Individually as members, and together as a congregation, these are ways we routinely put love and comfort and meaning into our own lives and work to extend our welcome and care into the wider community, as our mission and vision of ministry direct.
Our pledge drive will be ongoing over the next two weeks, and our annual meeting will be held immediately following our Sunday service on May 18. I look forward to your participation in our rituals of planning and renewal!
Yours in springtime renewal,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled.
The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.”
~Ray Bradbury
Beloveds,
What a lovely March we are having at GNUUC: a celebration of new members last Sunday (five of them! I hope you meet them soon if you haven’t yet), a sure-to-be lively Fiesta version of our annual fundraising Auction this coming Sunday (I hope you will attend–it’s so much good food and good company even before the bidding starts!), and in between, tomorrow evening’s beginning of opening our doors for a series of Thursday evening trainings offering congregants, friends, and neighbors an opportunity to gather and explore how to engage in action to protect our democracy in this time of creeping autocracy. (I keep typing “creepy” by … accident?)
I love Bradbury’s image of us as cups always being filled–I think blue skies, birdsong, celebrations, good music and conversation–so that we can “tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.” Friends, we at GNUUC have so much beautiful stuff filling our cups–even in these difficult times. I am glad we are doing what we can to share the good stuff in reaching out to create community connections, whether with training or by showing up for the Bellevue Community Picnic later this spring. I can’t wait to see what else sprouts and buds for us this year!
Yours in resistance and hope and springtime,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. See below for more information about the Rise for Freedom trainings. Remember: you don’t have to come every week, and if you can’t make it in person, you can join any session online–but come in person for good conversation and perhaps a bit more fun!
“Sometimes what we know of love and justice pushes us in ways
we never expected. And sometimes the need to bear such love into the world is heartbreakingly large. It is in those moments that we most need one another, and most need beloved community.”
~UUA President Sofía Betancourt, Love at the Center
Dear Ones,
I have a bit of heartening news to share this week: On Sunday morning, we will welcome several new members to our congregation! I hope as many of you as possible will be in attendance to celebrate their decisions to join GNUUC and joyfully witness the addition of their signatures to our membership book.
GNUUC members (as well as many friends of the congregation) join in living out our congregational covenant. The covenant was written years ago by the congregation, and we recite it together at every Sunday service. Between now and June, the Worship Team plans to devote four Sundays (one a month) to exploring the four main parts of our covenant. This Sunday, our new member ceremony will serve as a jumping-off point to reflect on our commitment “to make a welcoming community” and what welcome and community has meant to us. I hope you’ll be there!
Yours in celebration and the heartbreakingly large need for love in our world,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
P.S. If you are eager to become a member of GNUUC and I haven’t yet talked with you about membership, please email me ASAP! (If you’re not sure or not ready yet, no worries; there will be future opportunities.)
Beloveds,
Today I am sharing with you a message from UUA Southern Region Team Leader Natalie Briscoe because it speaks so well to the realities of congregational life in this (and honesty, every) moment.
Yours in being our own version of a good small congregation,
Rev. Denise
“A Good One”
By Natalie Briscoe, Lead for the Southern Region
“Whatever you are, be a good one” - William Makepeace Thackeray
Every month, a great number of congregations reach out to Regional Staff to ask questions about growth. If you have experienced a decline in membership and/or attendance in the past three to five years, you are certainly not alone.
And I’m sure many of you have been surprised by how we conduct these conversations. The first question we always ask is, “Why do you want to grow?” Because our financial situation is dire. Because we can’t afford our minister. Because we have no children anymore. Because we can’t afford our mortgage. Because we’ve never had this few members. Very few folks say it is because there are people in their communities who are hurting and reaching out for love, and they have love to offer.
The next question is, “What do you believe is holding you back?” Our building. The parking lot. We don’t have enough space. We don’t have any children. No one offers programming. We don’t have any volunteers. We can’t even get a full board together. Our minister. We are lay-led. We can’t afford a religious educator. Very few folks say it is because they are not yet the beloved community that they envision.
Look, I’m going to give it to you straight: people want to go where it is fun to be. They don’t want to go where they are asked to serve right away. They don’t want to go where people don’t laugh, don’t celebrate, don’t love out loud. They don’t want to go to a space that is exactly the same as the harsh world they stepped in from. People want hope. They want beauty. They want joy. They want their spirits uplifted. There is no magic formula: people want to go where they can leave the world behind and make a better one.
You can do that at any size. You are fully equipped right now to offer everything the world needs so desperately right now. Whether there are eight or eight hundred of you, I am willing to bet you have untapped potential just waiting to blossom.
If you are a small congregation, be a good one. Your strength is in the way you know each other, the way you care for one another, the way you build strong multi-generational relationships. You are flexible and able to respond to member needs with swift agility. Your programs consist of phone calls, meals shared, and milestones celebrated. You have the ability to become rooted in local activism, seeking deep connections with other organizations working for justice. You create Beloved Community by welcoming folks into your homes and your hearts every time you gather. Give that away, and you will never be lost.
If you are a mid-sized congregation, …
If you are a large congregation, ...
Whatever you are, be a good one. Growth follows the Good.
P.S. from Rev. Denise: If you’d like to read about medium/large congregations, or perhaps the whole (very informative) newsletter from the Southern Region, this month’s edition is located here. (Be patient while it loads! Subscription link near the bottom of the page, if you’re interested in a monthly update.)
“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
~Flannery O’Connor
“Take a moment to think about everyone who has loved you into being.”
~Mr. Rogers (at least in the movies!)
Beloveds,
There are so many indigestible goings-on in the world right now that I can barely bring myself to scan headlines, let alone read the news. There are a few things closer to home that I’d rather not swallow, as well. And yet… here we are; here I am: these things are part of our lives and, well, the truth does not change because we don’t like it.
AND the truth also includes Love, and I might add that the presence and power of love does not change according to my inability to see it in every instance! If I have been loved into being by others (many others, Mr. Rogers seems to suggest), and I think for today I will take a moment to practice thinking about everyone who has loved me into being. Perhaps I’ll expand my imaginings to include those who have loved into being the people for whom I care most. After some practice, maybe on a day when I’m feeling strong, I might even imagine the love that has called into being a few of those I’d rather not worry about!
The truths of the world are not going to change to make us comfortable, but they always, always, include the reality of love as the glue that holds everything together. I’m not sure how to articulate so much of what I believe (ha! studying theology for years does not make this easier!) but this I know: There is love in this world, and it is vital (both necessary and sustaining) to all that is, and certainly part of my life and yours.
I hope you are cultivating ways to remain connected to your own deepest and most sustaining truths in these days of realities we did not wish for and cannot afford to ignore. (Maybe give Mr. Rogers’ suggestion a try? Or make an appointment with me to explore spiritual practices that might work for you?)
Yours in truth, love, and the search for peace amid it all,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“Take courage … you are not alone.”
~Wayne B. Arnason (UU minister)
Dear Ones,
Resistance is important, but it is neither enough to live on nor our only tool in response to injustice. Today, a poem for you about resilience:
“Optimism” by Jane Hirshfield
More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs — all this resinous, unretractable earth.
(from Each Happiness Ringed by Lions: Selected Poems)
So resolve to make like a tree, my friends–when light is blocked, turn another way–the light is not gone. And surely between the trees and the turtles, the rivers and the figs–we are never alone.
Yours in resilience, love, and the strength of community,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“It is important that this moment in history does not pass
without outcry, without our resistance.”
~Emily Baird-Chrisohon, of TIRRC*
“Your focus is resistance.”
~ friend of a Facebook poster
Friends,
I have just finished listening to a very informative session hosted by *TIRRC (TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition) for faith leaders. I learned so much about what some of our neighbors are facing right now, as well as ways we might educate ourselves and be on standby to respond as unjust situations unfold.
To be honest, I don’t know that GNUUC will be in a position to help immigrants directly, but there are several ways we can be prepared: by understanding and being prepared to share information about immigrant rights, by learning about what sanctuary we can provide (really, that’s limited in practice to private spaces instead of our whole building), and by tracking legislation and communicating with our elected representatives. TIRRC has been a fabulous resource to the Nashville community for over 20 years; consider signing yourself up for their Rapid Response Network to get connected.
I am also aware that there are many other issues and problems and people needing support and attention (or phone calls urging them to represent us better!) these days. So I was glad to read, in an email one of you recently sent to a church group, encouragement to cultivate focus as a form of resistance.
There is so much that needs resisting right now–none of us can possibly track–or even notice in passing–all of it. I am trying to find my focus; I hope you are considering where you will choose to spend your time and energy; and I look forward to discerning together where GNUUC’s energy comes into focus in the days and months ahead.
Yours in discernment, focus, and resistance,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
Jan. 29, 2025
“Contentment is the antidote to optimization.”
~ Kendra Adachi
Beloveds,
Recently, I’ve been in various rooms with people struggling to find responses to our world in this moment. We have such a culture of optimization and perfection and striving that it can seem impossible, or at best negligent, to rest or look for contentment. I’d like to suggest that rest and contentment might be spiritual practices deeply suited to this precise moment.
The wisdom arising lately from my colleagues and compatriots and companions is this: Yes, things are bad and will almost certainly get worse, AND each of us needs to tend to ourselves (our own wellbeing), to our communities (nurture connection!), and to the work we find doable right where we are. The possibilities for action are as endless as the problems we face and will face, and no one of us can pay attention to, let alone work with, all (or even a significant number) of those at once.
For now, it is enough to do the one thing you can do, or wish most to do, or don’t mind doing. Keep yourself whole and healthy, look for pockets of contentment here and now (I believe they can be powerful fuel for the work of justice!), and love on the people closest to you, because plenty more “one things” will call us tomorrow and next week and next month.
Yours in commitment to the work and resting in contentment,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“Hope is not the absence of despair–it is the ability
to come back to our purpose … again and again.”
~ Alicia Garza
Dear Ones,
It’s been a challenging week for hope, and yet now is exactly the time we need to dig into whatever we can do to sustain and nourish hope, belonging, and resilience. We will need them all to come back over and over–as is and will be necessary–to who we are and the work that is ours to do.
This Sunday, in between the worship service and lunch, we will have our bi-monthly Shared Ministries meeting. I’m hoping to take a little time to think about our congregation’s mission in the current moment, and also to engage in a bit of UUA business together.*
One of the important ways we stay connected to our purpose is as an active member congregation of the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association). Every year our General Assembly votes on proposed Congregational Study/Action Issues, for which the UUA will support four years of study and action in our congregations and the wider UU movement.
In filling out our annual certification of UUA membership (which Kris & Kristin & I are working on now), we are invited to vote for, against, or abstain for each of three possible issues for 2025, which I will briefly introduce at the Shared Ministries meeting. If you want to learn more about the issues or the CSAI process, visit this link.
I’m looking forward to being together and doing some of the important congregational business of staying connected, finding hope, and changing the world. Meanwhile, I hope you are staying warm and safe this very cold week!
Yours in hope and love,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
*If you have something to add to the Shared Ministries agenda, please email me.
“I know that we can be better than we are.”
~ James Baldwin
Beloveds,
Heading toward Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, thinking ahead to the upcoming presidential inauguration, and looking forward to connecting this weekend with UUs across Tennessee organizing to support each other in social justice work, I was reminded of this passage from The Gospel according to James Baldwin, by Greg Garrett, which I’ve been reading with a group of progressive clergy colleagues in town:
“What Baldwin believes about faith, I would argue, is that belief and action badly applied make us more dangerous, more limited, more blinkered in our vision. A bad religious understanding may breed jealousy, greed, and hatred. ... But rightly applied, faith and hope make us bigger, better human beings, capable of seeing and loving the world and all those in it, capable of living in hope rather than in fear.”
Baldwin’s assurance that we can be better strikes me less as a judgment about our failings than as a stubborn application of faith and hope to the human condition and its infinite variations. At the same time that I hold a certain (healthy?) skepticism about the idea that we will be better, I do want to be part of the club (which might be labeled “the faithful”) that believes we always, in every situation and permutation of humanness, carry within us the possibility of being better.
The brief sentence of encouragement from Baldwin quoted at the top also opens some interesting questions, which I will leave for you to ponder:
-Who is “we”?
-What kinds of “better” might we cultivate right now?
There are no right/wrong answers, just yours–or ours! And I would suggest these are good questions to entertain in preparation for our next meeting of GNUUC’s Shared Ministries Council (which, you may remember, is a meeting of the congregation) at the end of our service on Sunday, January 26.
Yours in faith, and the hope of applying it well,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, and creativity.
It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity.”
- Brené Brown
Dear Ones,
If Brené says vulnerability leads to such good things, then vulnerability is what I wish most for all of us in this new year!
And if that sounds scary (and it may well, at least a little), I’d like to point out that one of the best gifts of a congregation like ours is repeated opportunities to practice vulnerability together–which we do every Sunday in sharing Joys & Concerns, and which last Sunday’s New Year ritual with our magic burning bowl also invited, as we released the old and invited the new in our hearts and lives. Thank you all for participating so honestly and generously. (And if you didn’t get a chance to play with us, I have a few slips of that “magic” paper left over; come see me & we can burn something together!)
I am told that my joy in lighting things on fire showed on my face Sunday morning; in fact, I feel a much longer-burning satisfaction in creating and recreating spaces and times for us to gather and practice being human together. I am grateful to have such good company!
Yours in vulnerability and joy and courage,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org