In a time of destruction, create something.
A poem. A parade. A community. A school.
A vow. A moral principle.One peaceful moment.
~ Maxine Hong Kingston, The Fifth Book of Peace

Beloveds,

I’m still smiling, thinking about the celebration we created last weekend!

While it’s always a joy to be with you in person and remotely, to reflect on the ministry we have created together, and to think about the shared ministry ahead of us, it was a special treat to officially celebrate your call and my settlement with a party to which we invited some of our favorite people.

The flowers, the guests, the new stoles, the piles of stuffed animals (if you were there, you know), singing together, and enjoying the reception afterwards (and for days of yummy leftovers)--surely all this does a small bit toward counter-balancing the destructive forces of our time. And I hope our continued ministry together remains productive and creative, a force for love and growth and justice that starts in our little corner of the world and ripples outward.

Yours in the work and joy of creation,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

“We all feel scared sometimes, but courage is when 
you feel scared but you still help others.” 
~Elmo, at Climate Week

Dear Ones,

I was in Memphis last weekend for the TUUCAN Solidarity Summit sponsored by UU the Vote. (TUUCAN = TN UU Community Action Network, of which GNUUC is a founding member.) Several of us from GNUUC enjoyed time with UU siblings from all across the state: we learned from Memphis partners in justice work, practiced new skills, enjoyed each other’s company, worshiped together, solved problems as they arose, and did a thing (which included Justin Pearson!) that got coverage on the local evening news. I had a good time and came home energized and equipped with new tools. 

You may or may not know that public protest does not come naturally to me. I almost always would prefer to be somewhere other than in a crowd, and not having a firm plan for whatever I’m doing in that crowd is not my favorite setup for an afternoon. However, this TUUCAN weekend was energizing and empowering as well as informative. We learned together, solved problems as they emerged, enjoyed each other’s company, and gathered ideas and energy to bring home to our congregations. And oh, what a joy it was to spend not just an hour on Zoom, but a few days in person with UU siblings and colleagues from around the state! It was so worth pushing through my reluctance and the anxiety of packing. 

Yours in the happy outcome of balancing a little fear with a little courage,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. I’m happily anticipating seeing y’all twice this weekend: on Saturday at 2 p.m. for my Installation as your settled minister, and on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. for worship!

“Libraries are for everyone.”
~Nashville Public Library

Friends,

I recently participated in a citywide customer experience survey being conducted by our public library system (of which I am a fan, I mean, they have books! Old books, new books, and things that aren’t books that I can borrow for free!). Their slogan for this campaign is “Libraries are for everyone” and they seem to be open to hearing new ideas about how they could be serving us. If you live in Davidson County, I encourage you to participate in the survey (find a link in my P.S.), and I’ll bet you learn about services the library has available that you didn’t know about! And if you have ideas, you can share them. 

Over the last many months, the library I typically use has been closed for renovations, so I’ve been visiting other libraries around town to pick up my hold requests and check out their new books. (I always check the new book shelves; our librarians are ordering books I am so happy to see in the world and to hold in my own hands!) I have noticed that some of the library branches in certain neighborhoods seem to me to be more in need of loving attention than my “home” branch (which happens to be located in a preponderantly wealthier area). So when the survey asked what else NPL could do to serve the community, I suggested that maybe we could spend more resources on smaller and less comfortable (but still very busy) branches throughout the city. 

You may or may not care as much as I do about books and/or libraries, but this survey has me wondering this: What else is, or should be, for everyone? (maybe: clean air, peaceful living spaces, general safety, respect, healthy food, opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive–you’ll have more ideas, I’m sure!) Where are we missing the mark of sharing widely? How could we do better? 

Yours in all the questions and all the possibilities,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. The Nashville Public Library survey is open through September 30, if you’re inclined to participate. Find it here.

“If the path before you is clear,
you’re probably on someone else’s.”
~Krista Tippett

Dear Ones,

My path through the next few weeks is pretty clear: I’ll be going to Memphis with a few of you to participate in TUUCAN’s Solidarity Summit (TUUCAN = Tennessee UU Community Action Network, and its members are the UU congregations across the state) and preparing for my formal installation as your called and settled minister later this month. Both are very exciting and leaving me little time to think about what comes after September…

AND at the back of my mind, I’m holding the expectation that October will bring opportunities for various GNUUC groups (the Board, the Worship Team, the Shared Ministries Council, and more) to reflect on the year behind us and plan for the current church year (which officially started in July). More importantly, the task for each group is to wonder what our congregation’s path could be through the coming months, to look for where we are called to do the work we chose and affirm in our covenant: to be a welcoming congregation. 

Over the last five years, I have noticed that we are continuously reassessing, reaffirming, redesigning, and re-envisioning the ways in which we practice welcome and embody love, sanctuary, and justice. The path in front of us is only sometimes clear–for example, come spring we will most likely have a balanced budget for the next church year as usual, but how we manage to do that isn’t precisely the same every year–but that path is always our own. I am looking forward to seeing how we wind our way through the coming seasons. 

Yours in love and possibility,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

We create transformative, resilient realities 
by becoming transformed, resilient people.
~Krista Tippett

Friends,

As you may have noticed, this is the time of year when my thoughts about ministry turn toward the new church year (which doesn’t follow the official calendar, but more closely follows the typical western school calendar). I am wondering how we will shape our shared ministry this year: What will we choose to learn, to notice, to address, to cultivate, or to do, in both our individual and collective lives? What new tools, projects, and relationships could we decide to embrace? How will we envision living out the commitments we make to each other and the world around us every Sunday when we recite our congregational covenant? 

Every new year (or month, or day, or moment, for that matter!) is an opportunity to do our best to see clearly the worlds within and around us and to nourish the conditions for change and a sturdy, persistent commitment to growth. Both we and the world around us are always in need of transformation and resilience. I am grateful to Tippett for the reminder that we need not–and in fact, should not–think of the inner work and the outer work as separate. 

In our current environment, it is distressingly easy to be aware of the need for the transformation of social, economic, political, environmental, legal, and diplomatic realities. The call to pull our energies in closer to home–to our selves and our smaller human groupings–seems helpful in these overwhelming times. I do not know how tomorrow’s news will affect me or my neighbors, loved ones, and wider networks of relations, but I am curious about, invested in, and excited to discover how our own beloved community of faith will choose to nurture resilience and transformation this year.

Yours in change and love,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

I keep hoping I will finally get it right
and become the ideal specimen of a
spiritually awakened human, calm & kind, 
both self-actualized and selfless.

But the only flawless butterfly 
is a dead butterfly, pinned and mounted.
I choose life–an ever-unfolding adventure involving 
multiple meltdowns and glorious reshapings.

~Mirabai Starr, 
Ordinary Mysticism: Your LIfe as Sacred Ground

Beloveds,

Individually or collectively, we’re never quite done becoming human, are we? 

Some seasons in life, some periods of history, even everyday awkward transitions from here to there–all remind us that living beings and living communities are never finished and certainly never flawless. It is a choice, perhaps even a spiritual discipline, to appreciate the adventure and the hidden glory in the goo of change. 

This time of year is always interesting to me, as we transition from summer to fall, from Summer Song Sundays to the main body of our church year, from last year’s Board, committees, and working groups to the configurations of congregants who will serve the many needs of this year’s version of our vibrant faith community. These transitions are not always immediately glorious, but I am, every year, intensely curious about what new reshapings of people and visions and commitments will guide our way and serve our communities through the coming year. Every year I am reminded that our shared life, despite its decades-long history and stable traditions and practices, is still unfolding. 

As we settle into the 2026-27 church year, I wonder what adventures will unfold, and I am grateful for good company and the love that surrounds us all.

Yours in the adventures of meltdown and reshaping,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. This is the last week to register for the Solidarity Summit being hosted by TUUCAN and UU the Vote in Memphis on Sept. 18-20. If the chance to gather with UUs from across the state and beyond for fellowship, training, witnessing, and an appearance by Justin Pearson is calling you, please go here to begin the registration process, or ask me or Caren S-S for more information.

Solvitur ambulando./It is solved by walking.|
~somebody a long time ago
(often attributed to Diogenes the Cynic 
or Augustine of Hippo)

“I learn by going where I have to go.”
~Theodore Roethke, “The Waking”

“We are going…and we will get there…”
~#1020 Woyaya, Osibisa

Dear Ones,

I hesitate to articulate this (because I don’t want to get stuck in it, or resigned to it, or discouraged by it), but I think overwhelm is in many different ways a distinct feature of the world and the times in which we find ourselves–for some time now and, it seems likely, for some time to come. 

I feel encouraged by these ancient and modern writers who suggest that deliberate forward motion (which need not be literal walking) leads us to what we need. Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed by all the things already on my to-do lists (plural!), as well as by all the things that I feel/think I should be adding to those lists. Planning ahead is all well and good and often very necessary, but sometimes, maybe what is most needed, instead of checking things off the to-do list, is to keep moving with curiosity, attention, and willingness to learn. I suspect this (as with most true things) applies to both individuals and communities. Where and how are you moving, and what are you learning? Where are we moving? What might we learn?

Yours in faith and going,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about creating worship for Unitarian Universalists, please consider participating in Worship Well, a new online (Zoom) program created by the UUA, designed to equip lay leaders with a variety of skills for leadership in worship. (More information here.) If you are interested, please let me know by noon tomorrow (Thur. 8/20), as we hope to assemble a team who will participate together.

“Your life is the poem.”
~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Beloveds,

One of our congregation’s cherished practices is “Summer Song”-- the practice of filling our Sunday pulpit with volunteers from the congregation willing to share their thoughts, expertise, personal experiences, and wisdom during the months of July and August. 

Every year, I am (almost) sad to take vacation during July, because I will miss so much. And every year in August, I am glad not to have missed all the goodness of Summer Song. Every summer, we are gifted with a wide variety of topics presented by people we know and love, and every year we remember and reflect throughout the year on what we’ve learned together. The poet says that your life (singular) is the poem, but my experience of Summer Song is that our lives–collectively and in conversation with each other–are a magnificent poem. 

I am grateful for the speakers who volunteer their thoughts, preparation time, and presence, and I am in awe of this congregation which gathers over and over again to listen, support, affirm, and be challenged by each other. 

Yours in the poetry of community,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org

P.S. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about creating worship for Unitarian Universalists, please consider participating in Worship Well, a new online (Zoom) program created by the UUA, designed to equip lay leaders with a variety of skills for leadership in worship. Look for the announcement below, and click through to read more and get detailed information. If you are interested (no experience necessary!), please let me know by next Wednesday (8/19/26), as we hope to assemble a team who will participate together. 

“What lies ahead. Reimagining the world. Only that.” 
~Arundhati Roy

Dear Ones,

It’s August! Yes, it’s hot, but it’s also the glorious height of summer: the time to notice that the nestlings and hatchlings are growing, that trees damaged by our icy, tumultuous  winter have grown leaves and new branches and are feeding themselves and many other creatures in preparation for the seasons to come. 

For faith communities, too, this late summer season is a time to take stock of the year behind us and to enjoy the results of our collective labors, so that we can consider the year ahead and imagine who and how we will collectively decide to be in the coming seasons. I can’t wait to see how we reimagine our world. 

Yours in love and imagination,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org