“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)

Frie​nds,

This week, I am at The Mountain (a UU retreat center) in Highlands, NC, at a gathering of colleagues from around the Southeast. These 3.5-day retreats happen twice a year, and I try to prioritize making the trip at least once a year. To have time to learn, converse, and just generally hang out with colleagues is for all of us an important part of our continuing professional development, and often, our continued personal growth and health. Because I am honoring these days as days of retreat, this is a brief note!

Because this is our month of nurturing gratitude, I want you to know that I am grateful to you, dear ones, for supporting me with a professional expense budget for ongoing training and development and also supporting me in using it well (for things like General Assembly, UU Ministers Association programming, and–perhaps my favorite expense–books.) Being a minister is wonderful, challenging, and sometimes bewildering work; being generously supported in this and many other ways makes a big difference, so I remain…

Yours in growth and gratitude, 
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org   

P.S. Thanks to those who brought Second Harvest donations last Sunday. Reminder: besides our Share the Plate collections, we are gathering pasta & sauce; other congregations are collecting other items from Second Harvest’s list of most needed foods. Keep the donations coming: we have three more Sundays in the month of November!

“Story is our only boat for sailing on the river of time.”
~Ursula K. LeGuin

Beloveds,

Today I am grateful for the stories of gratitude we shared on Sunday, and grateful to Kristin for creating the service which invited those stories. It’s easy to find unhappy things to worry about, sadnesses that genuinely need our attention and compassion, and dangers that call for vigilance and vigorous resistance.  It is equally true that our lives are gifted with the presence of each other, the acts of kindness and courage we witness and work, the simple (but not always easy) discipline of keeping each other company, and the joy and inspiration that comes from sharing our stories. 

This morning, I spent Zoom time with my sisters, which is always filled with stories: of recent happenings, about our children (who are not children) and elders, comparing notes on what we know about ancestors, trading medical advice and stories (we’re that age now!), and titles of books we have loved enough to recommend. Once again, I am reminded that so many stories touch my own, and I am grateful to have such wise and nourishing companions (you, the sisters, children, elders, the books) as part of my story. I hope your day has its own story of gratitude running through it…

Yours in story and gratitude, 
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org  

P.S. Update on our collection of pasta for Second Harvest (with thanks to Elizabeth for raising the question and Caren for researching a better answer than I had!): Second Harvest also needs sauces for the pasta we are collecting! So: for the month of November, we are collecting pasta AND sauce. Pick up a few extra items when you do your regular shopping and leave them in the collection box at church. I will be delivering to 2nd Harvest throughout the month, so give as often as you like through Nov 30! 

“Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.”
~attributed (erroneously?) to Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beloveds,

The world is messy: right now, of course, but truly, as always. Sometimes it helps to look for beauty, for whatever sings, whether within or around us. Sometimes it has to be enough just to affirm that somewhere there is surely singing, until one comes around again to the direct experience of beauty and joy. I hope you have, or can create, something fine and beautiful near you this week. 

We will have extra opportunities for song and celebration this weekend! Friday evening, some of our UU siblings from the far reaches of Tennessee will be coming into town & sharing dinner from our GNUUC kitchen, and Saturday–Oh! There will be the TUUCAN Fall Flock all day long, and a morning full of No Kings demonstrating downtown. (I hope someone at No Kings will be singing protest songs–if you’re there, go find them & help!) Sunday will find UUs from all over the state worshipping together at First UU Church on Woodmont Blvd (please join us there at 10 am), and I am sure there will be singing. You can find more about these goings-on in the announcements below.

Yours in listening for the song,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org 

P.S. TUUCAN = Tennessee Unitarian Universalist Community Action Network = all the congregations in our fine (but very wide) state joining together to side with love and coax a more beautiful, more just world into being.

P.P.S. (just to be sure you see it) NO Sunday Service at GNUUC this weekend! Join UUs from all over the state at First UU (1808 Woodmont Blvd) at 10 am. 

Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.
~attributed (erroneously?) to Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beloveds,

The world is messy: right now, of course, but truly, as always. Sometimes it helps to look for beauty, for whatever sings, whether within or around us. Sometimes it has to be enough just to affirm that somewhere there is surely singing, until one comes around again to the direct experience of beauty and joy. I hope you have, or can create, something fine and beautiful near you this week. 

We will have extra opportunities for song and celebration this weekend! Friday evening, some of our UU siblings from the far reaches of Tennessee will be coming into town & sharing dinner from our GNUUC kitchen, and Saturday–Oh! There will be the TUUCAN Fall Flock all day long, and a morning full of No Kings demonstrating downtown. (I hope someone at No Kings will be singing protest songs–if you’re there, go find them & help!) Sunday will find UUs from all over the state worshipping together at First UU Church on Woodmont Blvd (please join us there at 10 am), and I am sure there will be singing. You can find more about these goings-on in the announcements below.

Yours in listening for the song,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org 

P.S. TUUCAN = Tennessee Unitarian Universalist Community Action Network = all the congregations in our fine (but very wide) state joining together to side with love and coax a more beautiful, more just world into being.

P.P.S. (just to be sure you see it) NO Sunday Service at GNUUC this weekend! Join UUs from all over the state at First UU (1808 Woodmont Blvd) at 10 am. 

The only thing that isn’t worthless: 
to live this life truthfully, fully, and rightly 
and to be patient with those who don’t.
~Marcus Aurelius

Beloveds,

What has always drawn me to that particular nugget from Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor and wise guy) isn’t so much the encouragement to truthful, full, and right living as it is the invitation to patience. Encouragement to patience with those around me seems like always-good advice, but at this particular moment, with an overabundance of “those who don’t” being reported everywhere I turn my browser, patience seems like a tiny little trickle when I really want to call down the roaring waters of justice. (Note: the waters of justice in the Hebrew Bible are not peaceful, happy waters, but destructive floodwaters in the desert.) It is so tempting to imagine meeting substantial parts of the world around me with righteous anger, or at least self-satisfied dismissal or disdain. Patience is too tall an order when I see policies and decisions that are causing death.

And yet, setting aside whether I’m even in the position of living truthfully, fully, and rightly enough to recognize clearly those who do not, it occurs to me that I might also read in those words a suggestion that I meet my own failings to live my best life with patience. I don’t know about you (perhaps you are living fully, truthfully, and rightly), but I am curious about how meeting myself with patience might differ from my customary culturally-programmed lean into diagnosis, judgment, and correction. It feels softer, for sure, more compassionate, and perhaps more likely to lead to the kind of growth we all long to find in ourselves and each other. 

I’m going to try being more patient with myself. Who knows? While it probably won’t change the world around me much, it might make a difference right here where I can feel it.

Yours in compassion and patience,
Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org 

Beloveds,

It’s a busy week at church: meetings (Finance & Board), a Saturday retreat (Worship Team), outings for me to Vanderbilt Divinity School (I’m the UU liaison & there are two UU students there this year!) and to the Board of Zoning Appeals. I am also working on Sunday’s sermon, whose title includes the word “God” which I am keenly aware we very rarely use in our sanctuary!

If you’re worried or puzzled about that word, let me reassure you that I have no investment in your particular belief in/rejection of/understanding of deity or spiritual beings. I myself don’t really think of God or Spirit or _____(insert any of many names) as a being, but I am endlessly curious about how we human beings grapple with understanding …how shall I call it?....the nature of reality beyond ourselves, the data of our senses, and the interpretations of our brains. I am inclined to believe that it’s important to try to feel connected to whatever reality there is.

Here’s a warm-up poem for our time together Sunday; it’s a favorite of mine and expresses something we all need to feel, at least from time to time.

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
~ Denise Levertov, “The Avowal”

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

Beloveds,

It’s a busy week at church: meetings (Finance & Board), a Saturday retreat (Worship Team), outings for me to Vanderbilt Divinity School (I’m the UU liaison & there are two UU students there this year!) and to the Board of Zoning Appeals. I am also working on Sunday’s sermon, whose title includes the word “God” which I am keenly aware we very rarely use in our sanctuary!

If you’re worried or puzzled about that word, let me reassure you that I have no investment in your particular belief in/rejection of/understanding of deity or spiritual beings. I myself don’t really think of God or Spirit or _____(insert any of many names) as a being, but I am endlessly curious about how we human beings grapple with understanding …how shall I call it?....the nature of reality beyond ourselves, the data of our senses, and the interpretations of our brains. I am inclined to believe that it’s important to try to feel connected to whatever reality there is.

Here’s a warm-up poem for our time together Sunday; it’s a favorite of mine and expresses something we all need to feel, at least from time to time.

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them,
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.
~ Denise Levertov, “The Avowal”

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