May 13, 2026

May 13, 2026

“What could we achieve if we allowed everyone to reorient 
from escaping desperation to pursuing happiness?”
~Jared K. Anderson

Beloveds,

I hope you enjoyed a splendid Flower Communion last weekend; I am sorry to have missed it, but thinking of all the shared beauty in our sanctuary is causing a smile to spread across my face as I write.

In this month of curiosity, I wonder if we have the capacity to imagine what it would be like to truly honor the pursuit of happiness as an important part of being alive–not just for all humans (as much of a stretch as that would be) but for all the creatures of our earth. We pretty obviously acknowledge that animals feel something like the happiness we do, but I think we also intuit the same about plants (you know what I mean if I say a plant looks “sad”, right?), and I personally sometimes have similar intuitions about things like rocks or stars or mountains, and I suspect many, if not most, of us do, too. 

And if we accept that we have such imaginative capacity, I am further curious about what it would look, feel, taste like to escape the capitalist project that drives so many humans into the never-ending fear of need and imperfection that separates us from happiness and from the people and world around us. 

I wonder: if we prioritized a broadly universal happiness, what might we achieve?

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

P.S. As mentioned in last week’s email, I am away from work through May 19. If during this time you experience a pastoral emergency, please contact the church office by phone or email (615-673-7699; gnuuc@gnuuc.org). Please state in your message that you need pastoral care, and our administrator, Kris Thresher, will connect you with a local minister-in-training who has agreed to be available.