Here’s your opportunity to share social justice ideas with UUs around the country. Join Witness, Connect, Act! A social witness convening Wednesday, March 24, 6-8 p.m.
Inspired to grow more connections for collective social witness action for a wide range of values at risk, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Commission on Social Witness invites all UUs to share and connect for inspiration and ideas.
Register here: https://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/committees/csw
Our Easter Egg Extravaganza will be Sunday, April 4, 10:30 am-12:30 pm, in the Norris House parking lot. Drive through and spot some eggs to get a small toy and CANDY! Who knows, you might also spot some friends you haven’t seen in a long time. *Please note that this is INSTEAD of Sunday school.*
This year, the Herb & Craft fair is proud to offer a selection of plants, baked goods, knitted and sewn items, and pressed flower art, all through online pre-order.
Purchases will be available for safe drive-through pickup at the church on April 17. Order using our QR code, and remember to share the news with family & friends!
Click on the QR code with your phone camera to find out more.
Save the Date for our 13th annual
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Click on the QR code with your phone camera to find out more.
Beloved-
Some of you have been with The Way of the River since the very beginning in 2015, and some just arrived this week! Welcome to all. Here is a slightly updated edition from March of 2018. Enjoy!
I have written about being “nice” at the expense of our own feelings and well-being. (Let me know if you need another copy of that Reflections and I’ll be happy to send it to you personally.)
This week, I’m sort of writing about Cinderella. That is to say, I am writing about what “nice” wishes it could be, what it tries to be, what it impersonates. Nice is the unhappy, grasping sister, but there is another one who is real but kept hidden away, who has been given the glass slipper, and whose foot fits just right.
Graciousness. Grace. That which is given, unearned, whether to do, to be, or to receive.
Grace in religious contexts is generally considered to be an unearned blessing from the Divine. Something that arrives unexpectedly, something like a random act of kindness from the Universe.
There is also the quality of physical grace. When I think of grace, I think not only of the movement of athletes or dancers or actors. I think also of how people walk, hold their bodies when in conversation, what they do with their hands, and how those actions invite people into deeper relationship.
And even more relevant, the movements of someone who makes others feel at ease. The tender pouring of tea for someone who has come in from the cold, and the inclusion of a few cookies/biscuits while you’re at it. The embrace that is welcoming without being an imposition. Speaking clearly and well without taking up all the air in the room.
And then there is simply the grace of human giving. This is the grace that knows that one does not merely say to the grieving, “Tell me if you need anything.” Grace offers, “How about I come over at 6 tomorrow and do some laundry and make you dinner.” Grace in this case may not even take no for an answer, but just show up with the lasagna, a stack of mindless magazines, and a laundry basket.
The quality of grace puts others at ease and lets them know they are loved. Grace lets them know that no part of them makes them unworthy of love.
Nevertheless, grace has the boundaries that niceness lacks. Grace can say no, gently but firmly, and grace can take care of the one who brings it and inhabits it.
Finally, grace is a way of being, and of accepting the gifts that are given to one and sharing those gifts kindly and well with the rest of the world. It is giving without thought of reciprocity, not out of a sense of martyrdom or resentment, but rather because grace comes easily when it comes.
After all, the characteristic of grace par excellence is that it is a gift. It is a quality of personhood that may be practiced and that may grow, but it is ultimately a gift both to the one who shares it and to the ones who receive it.
And yet, as I read this issue of Reflections in 2021, I am so aware of all the people who are practicing grace in this time of pandemic. Who have made a decision to make their lives into gifts. Who are leaving presents of food or toys or clothing on their neighbors’ steps. Who are working in positions that save the world and move the needle of justice, help bend the moral arc of the universe one agonizing click at a time. In this sense, grace is more than a gift, it is a spiritual practice, and one which benefits all who offer it and all who receive it whether they know they’re getting it at all.
I am so aware that this post is only the beginning of a conversation. Please post your thoughts to The Way of the River Facebook Community (and join if you use that platform and aren’t among us already!).
Much love and contemplation-
~Catharine~
2021 PS – I still have room in two daytime spiritual deepening groups. For more information about these supportive, tender, challenging, brave spaces, see my page on the topic, and feel free to schedule a free call to talk about whether or not one might be the right fit for you.
2021 PPS – I mentioned The Way of the River Facebook Community above. I invite those of you who use Facebook to join us, especially for our regular weekly practice of acknowledge our own “beautiful faces and complex natures,” as the writer Annie Dillard has said. It is a powerful and challenging practice, and one I invite you all into.
Click on the image below to watch the 2021 testimonials.
Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
March 9, 2021
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” The Gospel of Thomas
I have moles. In my backyard. I would have written this is in all caps, but I didn’t want to shout at you, given all we’ve been through in the past year. In truth, I knew the moles were there, underground. Out of sight, out of mind. You know how it goes. In the grand scheme of things, moles are small potatoes compared to the hundreds of thousands of people dead from COVID-19 and all the ways our lives have been disrupted by the virus. But now that hope is on the horizon with more and more people being vaccinated, and warmer weather makes it possible to enjoy being outdoors, I have to tell you – I HAVE MOLES IN MY BACKYARD! There. Shouting it made me feel better. Not to make mountains out of molehills, but the evidence is undeniable. In my world, there are things living underground and I must deal with them.
Y’all know I’m new to middle Tennessee. I’m sure you have experience and advice for me about moles. Which I welcome. But what I really want to know is this: what has gone underground for you during this pandemic? What grief, what loss, what struggle, what persistent problem has gone untended? What has surfaced that is now calling for your attention? Truly, I want to know.
The annual service of healing is March 21 this year. Truly, I want to hear from you about what this past year has been like for you so I can craft a meaningful service. Who are the people you have lost to COVID-19? What other losses have you experienced? Where have you found hope? How have you grown and changed?
Email me, please – leadminister@firstuunash.org with your responses to these questions, and yes, any advice you have for dealing with moles.
And, speaking of underground things living in our own backyards, I am so grateful for the ways FUUN works to keep the reality of racism on the surface – noticing it, naming it, and seeking ways to eradicate it.
My reading recommendation this week is Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nahesi Coates. Written as a letter to his son, Coates shares the conversation every black parent, every parent of a black child must have about the realities of being black in America. Even if you’ve read it before, it is worth reading again.
Bringing forth what is in us and offering it up to be healed is some of the most important spiritual work we can do. It is ultimately how we heal and mend our broken world.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Dear hearts –
For the last twenty-eight days, I have been on a discernment retreat.
I have thought about The Way of the River, about my life, my ministry, my work in the world. I have considered my hopes for those I love and those I don’t know, and for Earth. And I have pages and page of notes (we always say notes are “copious.” Why is that? Well, these notes are, I suppose, copious.)
In my notes, I’ve realized, I’ve come back, again and again, to the concept of clarity. In my lessons from my business coach who also has a Master’s of Divinity degree and is trained in a Sufi lineage as a master teacher, we talk about some essential things over and over. We talk about the willingness to be surprised by the Divine and what we might be shown or how we might be guided if we are open enough to see/sense/hear/feel/perceive what is being offered. We talk about the importance of asking for what one is trying to perceive or receive. We talk about Love over and over and over. (This topic is, as you might guess, my favorite thing.)
But I mentioned clarity first. Clarity. In Sufism, is believed to be enhanced by the cleaning, the “polishing” of the Jewel of one’s heart. It is also enhanced by removing veils between oneself and the Divine. Practically speaking, this polishing, cleaning, clear-“seeing” state is achieved through prayer, fasting, moderation, silence, reading and copying holy texts, and chanting, among other things.
One could say that clarity is the heart of discernment. At least, it is arguably the center of discernment.
On my retreat, one of the teachers was Buddhist, and one was Christian. The Buddhist teacher—he’s a Zen priest—talked about both clarity and openness as ways forward on the road of discernment, the road of wise thinking and right action.
I have not had much exposure to Buddhist teachings. Not much beyond my “Eastern” religions classes and the occasional Thich Nhat Hahn book. But my teacher in this class brought concepts, practices, and stories forward all of which work toward clarity.
He, like my other teacher, talked about Veils. And he talked about them in terms of the Veils of patterning, of scripting, of bias, and perception. If we are to know the truth of the world, we must learn the truth of ourselves. And as we engage the world with friendly curiosity, we learn about ourselves.
In Zen, of course, one of the main ways to learn about oneself, and especially about the mars on the mirror, the Veils between oneself and truth, is through meditation.
I spent some time thinking about what is meditation for me? What is it? How can I do it? Why do it? Do I do it at all?
I spent further time considering what I do when I “pray”? That is what I call what I do to connect with the truths within me and the truths that are offered to me when I am still and silent after singing or chanting. Still and silent.
I’m still thinking about these questions, but I want to consider more that my teachers offered.
They come from a quotation by Rev. Howard Thurman, in which he admonishes, “Become quiet enough, still enough to hear the sound of the Genuine.”
Rev. Thurman goes on, from his Commencement speech at Spellman College in 1980, describing what he imagines we all ultimately want:
I want to feel that I am thoroughly and completelyunderstood, so that now and then, I can take my guarddown and look out around me and not feel that I will bedestroyed with my defenses down. I want to feelcompletely vulnerable, completely name. Completelyexposed and absolutely secure.
Thurman is describing the desire for the Genuine. For our own genuine selves, for the deep truths of the world, for the Divine. What is most essential. After all, the Genuine, the Real, the True, can also be called God. The Holy. Goddess. Ultimate. Goddex. Sacred.
In the first quotation above, Rev. Thurman notes quiet and stillness as essential characteristics of “hearing” the Genuine. I want us to notice the noise of our lives. The constant, unrelenting noise of the world and of our own activities. My chair squeaks. My typing is like a Gatling gun. (I never took typing, but I was a piano major, and so my typing always wears the letters off the keys in no time flat.) My own breath and sigh and groan. The crack of my ankle as I turn it gently where it aches or my back when I do “Cat Cow” yoga in my seat.
Can I notice these things without judgment? Without aversion? Just noticing and accepting that they are here. I am here. My body is here. I am breathing, my heart is beating.
I also want to notice the movement of my life—what is not still. And even my resistance to stillness. “Find a stillness…Let the stillness carry me.” The words from the Unitarian Universalist grey hymnal come to mind right away, especially, “carry me.” Stillness. Stillness. Stillness. I find as I type that I long for stillness.
I long for…
I long for silence, is what it is. Quiet that is beyond the ceasing of noise. Stillness that is beyond ceasing movement. Silence.
Eventually, I have been told, silence becomes a buoyant friend. Like someone who holds us, carries us, enfolds us. And when we are with that silence, then we can see what arises within us and simply regard it, behold it, realize and name that it is. Without critical judgment or meanness of any kind, simply acknowledging and breathing and being in the silence. Being in the silence and allowing ourselves to perceive without veils more and more of what is patterned or scripted or habitual in our lives.
What is perception and what is interpretation?
If my hope is – and it is – to be as genuinely myself as possible in any given moment, then I need to let the stillness carry me, let the silence enfold me and comfort me and be my friend.
If my hope is – and it is – to be as present as possible, as truly and deeply here in every unique moment as I can, then I need to learn to see where my patterning, my pre-determined wiring shows up, rather than my deep Presence.
If my hope is – and by now you know I’m going to say that it is – to be as loving as possible, then I need that Presence I just wrote about. And to find that Presence, I need to “incline the ear of my heart,” as Benedict of Nursia wrote, incline the ear of my heart to what I find most genuine, real, good, and true.
And it seems likely, given the wisdom I have received these last weeks and at other times, that quiet, stillness, and a deep silence of the heart, an opening and waiting, is one way to learn to be Real. (More on The Velveteen Rabbit later, for those of you who are interested. )
I want to be Real. Authentic. True.
Genuine.
And I reckon you do too. So perhaps consider slowing down enough that you can hear (and even see) the noise around you. And then be still in it. Be still. Just breathe and feel the pressure, speed, and sound of the breath. And find the silence within you. The silence that is friendly, buoyant, loving.
Blessings, my friends –
Catharine
Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
Feb. 23, 2021
“If it is language that makes us human, one half of language is to listen.” Jacob Trapp
Listening is a primary spiritual practice for me. When I can quiet my own mind, put aside my own thoughts, and be attentive to another person, to truly hear them, my life is enriched. On the other side of the equation, when I am in the presence of a good listener, it allows me to be more open and vulnerable, able to access my own inner wisdom.
There are two ways I am engaging the practice of listening these days.
The first is that I am offering another round of Listening Sessions here at FUUN. If you have not participated in one yet, I encourage you to do so. You can find the sign-up link on the church website. By listening to you, I gain valuable insight into the congregation – who you are individually and collectively, where you’ve been together in the past, and how you see yourselves in the future. By listening to each other, you gain deeper appreciation for some of the people who make FUUN such a wonderful spiritual home. The Listening Sessions also help me and the Transitions Team know where to focus our attention during this developmental ministry.
The second way I engage the practice of listening is being intentional about listening to non-white voices. One of the ways I do this is through my choices of reading materials. For the past few years, I have been intentionally seeking out works written by black authors. It is helping me to undo some of the miseducation I received growing up. Not only that, it expands my worldview.
Given that anti-racism is one of the focus areas of developmental ministry, I thought it might be useful to share some of my reading list with you on a weekly basis. It includes both historic and contemporary authors – far-ranging in topics – history, politics, education, psychology, social justice, and theology – with some poetry and fiction thrown in. For some of you, the titles and authors will be familiar, and some may be new to you.
The newest addition to my library is My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem, a psychotherapist who specializes in treating trauma. He addresses the intergenerational effects of what he calls white-body supremacy on all of us. Resmaa lays out a plan for healing the “soul wound” of racism – a wound we all carry, though differently, depending on the color of our skin. He speaks directly to three audiences – African Americans, white-bodied people, and law enforcement – giving specific healing methods to each. The commonality is learning to listen to our bodies, to notice our habitual ways of responding to people who are different than us, and beginning to repattern the body’s response.
I find great hope in My Grandmother’s Hands, especially in our current day reality.
Again, I hope you will join a Listening Session if you have not already.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Recent Happenings at NOAH
Noah’s monthly meeting was held on February 12, via ZOOM. As part of the meeting each Task Force gathers, and then provides the whole group updates on the recent efforts and concerns in their area of interest. Listed below are brief summaries:
Notes from Monthly NOAH Meeting
January 12, 2021
NOAH’s representatives met via ZOOM for their monthly meeting. NOAH has planned a virtual retreat on January 28 and 31st. Topics to be discussed are discussing and the calendar for the upcoming year as well as reflecting on who NOAH is and where we want to go in the upcoming year.
Reflections were shared of the Public Lamentations held on December 29, 2020, remembering all the Tennesseans who have been lost to COVID. NOAH hopes to create a lasting memorial on the site so that COVID losses are always remembered.
The Task Forces then met in breakout rooms:
Criminal Justice reported that NOAH representatives met with Chief Drake on January 5, 2021. Responses from Chief Drake were positive in the areas of exploring alternate interventions for people who are suffering from mental illnesses, rather than police intervention. Chief Drake is also open to exploring using Social Emotional Liaisons in place of SRO’s in schools. NOAH representatives will continue to meet with the Chief monthly. Task Force is also beginning work on reforming cash bail practices.
Affordable Housing Task Force is actively seeking the release of TANF funds by the Governor to needy Nashvillians, now rather than later.
The Economic Equity and Jobs Task Force is exploring Procurement Reform Legislature: that businesses offer a living wage, insurance and offer apprenticeships.
The Education Task Force continues to focus on BEP funding for schools and NOAH representatives finally have a meeting with state legislators.
For more information on programs at The Mountain, opportunities to participate, and ways to contribute to camperships and other programs, please visit and bookmark https://www.themountainrlc.org.
Counselors in Training (CITs) get a unique experience while at MountainCamp. As this is a Leadership Experience, applications are required. Campers should be 16-17 years old (rising 12th graders).
The Counselor in Training program started in 1995 to allow for our older youth to gain camp leadership and counselor experience by being involved in the day-to-day excitement of MountainCamp. During a CIT’s 6 weeks at MountainCamp, they will have mastered the art of being a role model, the balance of personal vs. professional, all while also preserving their silly, fun youthfulness that is a camp counselor’s number one tool while working with children. The CIT campers will begin their all-summer experience working with the CIT mentor to learn the intricacies of what it takes to be a counselor at MountainCamp, incorporating leadership opportunities and discovering their passion and potential along the way. Throughout the summer, CITs will work with Elementary and Intermediate cabins, gaining much needed skills for conflict management, community building and for working with children as a MountainCamp counselor. They also get to enjoy trips to cool rivers, high peaks and rafting the thrilling Nantahala river.For the last week of their summer, CITs will join the ASCENDER program for an OSA-style out-trip to celebrate their work and to debrief their experience.
Space in the CIT program is limited to 6 spots due to COVID restrictions. All applications and references must be submitted by March 15th to be considered. Applicants may be contacted for a phone interview. Program participants will be chosen no later than March 31.
ASCENDERs get a unique experience while at MountainCamp. As this is a Leadership Experience, applications are required. Campers should be 16 – 17 years old (rising 10th – 12th graders).
Starting in 1981, the ASCENDERs (All Summer Campers Exploring Nature’s Delights and Experiencing Recreation) program allows for older youth to give back to our camp and conference center through work study in each Mountain department, gaining experience in our larger community through volunteer work and enjoying nature’s splendor on the beautiful Highlands Plateau. The ASCENDER campers will begin their all-summer experience working with the ASCENDER mentor to learn about each department of The Mountain, discovering their passion and potential along the way. For the last week of their summer, ASCENDERS will join campers from the CIT program for an OSA-style out-trip to celebrate their work and to debrief their experience. By the end of 6 weeks each camper will have earned over 100 hours of work service while also enjoying time for relaxing by rivers, hiking to record peaks, and rafting the thrilling Nantahala river.
Space is limited for ASCENDERS with only 6 spots available due to COVID restrictions. Applications and references should be completed no later than March 15th to be considered. Applicants may be contacted for a phone interview. Program participants will be chosen no later than March 31st.
Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
Feb. 16, 2021
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts
A little over six months ago, I arrived at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville to serve as your Developmental Lead Minister. Hard to believe. The pace of change in the world in these past six months has been dizzying. We’ve all been called to strengthen our change muscles in ways we never could have imagined. I’m glad to be part of this dizzying dance with you.
On Sunday, Feb. 21, we will mark a milestone in this developmental ministry. We will be commissioning a Transitions Team, a group appointed by your Board of Directors to help facilitate the work the congregation will undertake during the developmental period. I hope you will be on hand at the 9 a.m. service to affirm and support the commitment of this team.
A developmental minister enters a congregation during a time of change, most often following the retirement or resignation of a settled minister. As a congregation, you prepared yourselves well for the retirement of the Rev. Gail Seavey, who had served with you for 15 years. Part of the preparation was discerning what kind of ministry was needed next. As a congregation, you have some big and challenging goals. Thus, the decision was made to hire a developmental minister to work with you on these goals. Typically, a developmental ministry is a minimum of three years and a maximum of seven, depending on how long it takes to accomplish the goals and do the work of preparing to call your next minister.
As I said, you have some big and challenging goals – revisiting and renewing your mission and vision, creating a governance structure that fits the size of the congregation, and planning and implementing a building/renovation project. These goals are bigger than any one of us alone, but working together, they are achievable.
The following people have agreed to serve on the Transitions Team for the next 18 months: Christopher Cotton, Jessica Himmelreich, Jessica Moore-Lucas, Jason Plummer, Gail Sphar, Tom Surface, and Nancy Stott.
I look forward to partnering with them as we engage all of you in the dance of change and transition.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
The Stewardship Campaign will be getting underway next month. In preparation for this very important annual event, the Stewardship Committee will be hosting special stewardship community conversations after the service at 10:30 beginning next Sunday, Feb. 21. We will offer a short presentation followed by your questions. These conversations will happen in the same Zoom room as the service and virtual coffee hour, so no special invitation or Zoom link is needed.
Also, save the date for a special FUUN Stewardship Kickoff Event the evening of Saturday, March 6. There will be an entertaining stewardship video created by Trigg along with other engaging and informative activities. Watch your email inbox and your postal mailbox for more information.
Nathan Forrest was a Confederate general and founding member of the Ku Klux Klan. Your input can help to finally transfer Forrest’s bust from the Tennessee Capitol Building into a more appropriate context at the Tennessee State Museum. Email Mrs. Derita Coleman, Chair of TN Historical Commission, at derita.williams@tn.gov. Deadline is Feb 17.
Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
Feb. 9, 2021
Friends,
One of the joys of doing the kind developmental ministry work that I do is getting to know a new community. This week I learned of a wonderful resource here in Nashville: Alive Hospice. Many of you already know about Alive Hospice, but I have to tell you that I am deeply impressed with all they have to offer the community. The only non-profit hospice in Middle Tennessee, its mission is to provide loving care for people with life-threatening illnesses, support to their families, and service to the community in a spirit of enriching lives.
Having conversations about end-of-life decisions is a gift each of us can give to our loved ones, especially during this time of COVID. These conversations are always challenging. Alive Hospice has resources to help. You can find them here: Advanced Care Directives
You may also want to check out Larkspur Conservation. They offer a greener alternative to either burial or cremation. Their website also lists mental health resources in the greater Nashville area. You can find them here.
Navigating grief and loss is always hard, but more so during this time of isolation. Alive Hospice has resources available, no matter your financial circumstances. You can find them here: Grief Support Site and Grief Resource Videos.
As always, you can also call on me. Your lay ministers and I recently participated in a training session on loss and grief. We are here to support you in any way we can.
I am grateful to be serving with you during this challenging time. I have come to know you as a kind and caring people, truly a blessing.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
The Beloved Community Committee is happy to offer our church community a family event, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2-3 p.m. on Zoom, as an opportunity for families to put into practice the goals of the 8th Principle.
Please join us for a reading and discussion of Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness, published in 2018 by Dottir Press, led by the author/illustrator Anastasia Higginbotham. After the reading and discussion, we will conclude with a brief collage/visualization workshop modelled on the book’s illustrations. Instructions for participating in the collage workshop will be provided upon registration (this will be a simple, accessible activity).
Our goal will be to connect deeply to our own instincts about racial justice through the book’s characters and images. In addition to the reading and collage, Higginbotham will offer resources for deeper exploration of “real history” and activities for reflection and making authentic choices about how we want to relate to race and racism.
Though the book’s audience is primarily children, the author welcomes adults who – like our children – never consented to carry white supremacy forward in the world.
For more information about Anastasia Higginbotham, please visit the links below, which connect you to articles written by and about her, as well as radio and TV interviews.
The Safe Congregation Panel is welcoming new members for two-year terms beginning July 2021. These are elected positions that are confirmed by the Board and the congregation. The Safe Congregation Panel enforces the Honoring the Children Policy, investigates, and makes decisions when a formal grievance is filed. The committee meets every three to six months. The committee looks for individuals with experience with non-violent communication, mediation, or restorative justice. If you would like to know more about the Safe Congregation Panel please contact Carol Copple or Kathy Hiller, co-chairs of the Nominating Committee, or Safe Congregation chair Kathy Sowell (email addresses are on Breeze)
The Nominating Committee has a vacancy at present and will have an opening or two in July 2021. These are two year elected positions that are confirmed by the Board and the congregation. Members of the committee identify, recruit, and nominate people to serve in leadership roles in the church. If you would like to know more about the committee please contact one of the co-chairs, Carol Copple or Kathy Hiller (email addresses are on Breeze)
Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
Jan. 26, 2021
Rev. Diane
Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
Jan. 19, 2021
We affirm and promote the right of conscience and use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. 5th Unitarian Universalist principle
I consider a congregational meeting to be a sacred event. The use of the democratic process is a cherished principle for Unitarian Universalists. What could be more sacred than coming together to practice one of the principles of our faith? At a time when it feels as if our country’s democracy is on shaky ground, it is more important than ever to keep the democratic spirit alive in our UU congregations.
In our Unitarian Universalist tradition, authority over matters pertaining to a congregation resides in the congregation. In other words, decisions are not handed down from a higher governing body. Decisions are made at the congregational level.
Here at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, the Mid-year Congregational Meeting is being held on Sunday, January 24 at 10 a.m.
Your Director of Lifespan Religious Education, Marguerite Mills, considers the congregational meeting to be religious education. Children and youth are encouraged to attend as there will be no classes offered that day. What you may not know is that Marguerite prepares a weekly packet of materials for children, youth, and adults which can be explored and used any time during the week. It always includes stories, activities, coloring pages, and links to related music and videos. This week’s packet will be about democracy. It will be available in the Worship Portal at firstuunash.org under the FUUN for All Ages Faith Development During COVID-19. People of all ages will want to check it out! While you are there, you might want to check out some previous packets. All are a tremendous resource for nurturing your spirit and connecting with your UU faith.
See you at the Mid-Year Congregational Meeting!
Yours in shared ministry
Rev. Diane
Our 9 a.m. Worship Services are moving to Zoom starting on Sunday, Feb. 7.
Watch here for the link.
Notes from Monthly NOAH Meeting
Jan. 12, 2021
NOAH’s representatives met via ZOOM for their monthly meeting. NOAH has planned a virtual retreat on Jan. 28 and 31. Topics to be discussed are discussing and the calendar for the upcoming year as well as reflecting on who NOAH is and where we want to go in the upcoming year.
Reflections were shared of the Public Lamentations held on Dec. 29, 2020, remembering all the Tennesseans who have been lost to COVID. NOAH hopes to create a lasting memorial on the site so that COVID losses are always remembered.
The Task Forces then met in breakout rooms:
Criminal Justice Task Force reported that NOAH representatives met with Chief Drake on Jan. 5, 2021. Responses from Chief Drake were positive in the areas of exploring alternate interventions for people who are suffering from mental illnesses, rather than police intervention. Chief Drake is also open to exploring using Social Emotional Liaisons in place of SRO’s in schools. NOAH representatives will continue to meet with the Chief monthly. The CJTF is also beginning work on reforming cash bail practices.
Affordable Housing Task Force is actively seeking the release of TANF funds by the Governor to needy Nashvillians, now rather than later.
The Economic Equity and Jobs Task Force is exploring Procurement Reform Legislature: that businesses offer a living wage, insurance and offer apprenticeships.
The Education Task Force continues to focus on BEP? funding for schools and NOAH representatives finally have a meeting with state legislators.
Beloved Community Committee Guest Speaker: Laurie Samuels
Wednesday, March 10
7 p.m. on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84878782661
Join FUUN member Laurie Samuels as the Beloved Community Committee continues the work of our Eighth Principle. Laurie will address current biomedical understandings of race, ethnicity, and genetic ancestry.
Board Member for the UU Mental Health Network, Roddy Biggs, invites you to join their twice monthly Open Zoom Rooms for UU’s across the country to join together in a safe, supportive environment to address and talk about mental health challenges. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Zoom details:
Time: First Mondays at 6pm Central Time hosted by Roddy Biggs
Third Sundays at 6 pm Central Time
hosted by Rev. Barbara
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81503416626?pwd=ZCtSalBtVDZNckV1ck4yZG03eHpXdz09
Meeting ID: 815 0341 6626
Passcode: SelfCare
On Dec. 29, 2020, St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church in Nashville was the site of the power of love and caring and a focused effort to demand more guidance and direction in the fight against COVID-19. NOAH and their extended organization members created thousands of STARS for visual and stark recognition of all the Nashville lives needlessly lost to COVID.
Governor Lee has not mandated a statewide mask mandate leaving counties to decide how they will combat the virus. The rising numbers of deaths due to COVID demonstrates that Tennessean counties need more direction. NOAH is strongly asking Governor Lee to step up and lead.
In addition, NOAH asked that Governor Lee use the huge (the largest amount in any state) of monies allocated under The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) immediately to assist families in dire need of food and housing assistance. Nashvillians need and deserve more help.
Our NOAH A-Team is Carol Copple, Susie Wilcox, Carleen Dowell, Pat Lynch, Elizabeth Jesse, Len Walker, and Marguerite Mills.
–Susie Wilcox
NOAH FUUN Action Team
|
NOAH Young Adult Caucus Via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUsf-GtpjwrHtLSTKSCvnwt-of4c9pdfgxl Monday, January 11 6:00 to 7:15 PM
We Want Young Adults! Young Adults (40 & under) are invited to join and be a part of the NOAH Young Adult Caucus. You don’t have to be part of a task force to come! Just be serious about building the POWER to make CHANGE! Some of the things that the Young Adults will be focused on are:
To join our monthly meetings via Zoom, register in advance using this link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. To ensure a pleasant experience using Zoom, we highly encourage everyone to download and install the Zoom Application beforehand. Go to: https://zoom.us/download to download the application to your computer. For mobile devices go to the App Store for iPhone or Play Store Android. Search Zoom and install. If you have questions, please contact Organizer, Jerome Moore: jmoore@noahtn.org or 615-397-6468. Thanks for being part of NOAH! |
Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
Jan. 5, 2021
“People fall out of church for the same reason that children fall out of bed: they sleep too near the place they get in.” Gordon McKeeman
Well, we made it to 2021!
When I visit my family in New Jersey, my daily walk is through the neighborhood where my son lives. There’s an elementary school at the end of the block. Painted on the pavement outside the school are the words “Drop-off Zone” in very large letters. Even though I know it demarks the place where children can be safely dropped off for school, every time I see it, I’m reminded of a short essay by a beloved Universalist minister, the late Gordon McKeeman, titled Falling Out of Bed. He recounts the time, as an adult, when he fell out of bed because he fell asleep too close to the edge.
I’ve taken to thinking of the drop-off zone as that edgy place where one is in danger of falling out of a healthy habit or practice. I know I’ve been in that place many times myself. I skip a day of walking, then two. “I’ll get back to it tomorrow,” I tell myself. A week goes by and before I know it, I’m in the drop-off zone.
There’s something about a new year that causes us to make resolutions, set intentions, renew habits or institute new ones. Church attendance is a habit. I know that the pandemic has pushed many people into the drop-off zone. I get why this is so. Online church just isn’t the same as being together in the sanctuary or the classrooms or the social hall on Sunday morning, yet it is a way of staying connected to each other and the values our faith tradition teaches.
If you are finding yourself in the drop-off zone, I urge you not to fall asleep there! All our routines and habits have been thrown off-kilter. It takes deep intention to maintain habits that keep us healthy in body, mind, and spirit. The church exists as a place where we nurture each other into being the best possible version of ourselves. Even now, maybe especially now, church is a good habit to have.
Yours in shared ministry
Rev. Diane
We regret that Sunday school classes for Sunday, Dec. 27 are canceled due to lack of internet availability.
Join us Sunday, Jan. 3 to speak with our special guests – Spanky and Victoria Harris! – about pet therapy and pet lay ministry.
Youth Group was already scheduled to be off both Dec. 27 and Jan. 3.
– PreK-1st is canceled
– 2nd-4th and 5th-8th are still pending
Youth Group was already scheduled to be off both Dec. 27 and Jan. 3.
Mid-week Email
Message from our Lead Minister
Dec. 22, 2020
Friends,
Christmas comes but once a year. It comes in good times. It comes in bad times. It comes even when we aren’t ready. Christmas arrives without fail – every year – even this year; mixed-up, turned-around, and upside-down as 2020 has been, Christmas will come.
On Christmas Eve, we usher in the spirit of the season through story, song, and ritual, all of which will be online this year. Not the same as gathering in person to listen, to sing, and to light candles together, I know. Yet, it just might be the balm of connection and star of hope that our tossed and tumbled souls need to guide us through the darkest of nights.
There will be only one service this year. The service will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will conclude with a Zoom social hour. You may want to have a candle nearby to light as Silent Night is sung. The service will be posted to our YouTube channel, but if you want to come to the social hour, you will need to join us for the service in Webinar Jam, and you will get the option to be re-directed to the Zoom social at the close of the service. The Christmas Eve service link is the same as the ones you use for Sunday morning services, found in the Worship Portal on the FUUN website (and below in this email).
I will be away from the church Dec. 25 through Jan. 4 for some vacation time. I will be traveling to be with family and meet its newest member – my grandson. My family is small. We have all been in quarantine conditions for the past couple of weeks. You can rest assured that we will be following every possible safety precaution to protect each other and the baby. My hope is that each of you is doing all you can to stay safe and healthy over the Christmas holiday.
In case of a pastoral emergency while I am away, your Assistant Minister, Rev. Denise Gyauch is on call.
Wherever you may be this holiday, however, it is with your spirit, may the blessings of the season find you and hold you with a love that will not let you go.
Yours in shared ministry
Rev. Diane
Staying Home for Habitat for Humanity Homes
Even though we are tired of staying home, we are also grateful for having homes. Home ownership continues to one of the biggest indicators of economic well being and continues to be out of reach for many. First UU of Nashville has a history of supporting Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville and the need is more than ever.
I love doing this fundraiser as a community-building experience around the theme of love at Valentine’s Day. My wonderful team of people who help with this have energized and renewed my commitment to adapt to our staying at home and still be together virtually while raising much needed funds for our Fall Build of 2021.
Save the date for the evening of Saturday, Feb. 13. We will continue to have a tapas hors d’oeuvres but instead of eating together in person we will have it boxed for pick up or delivery.
There will be an auction also Tuesday through Friday, Feb. 9-12 using the same software we used for the church auction in October. This way, you can pick up your items from the auction at the same time you get a snack dinner.
If you are an artist or have a talent to share, please contact us at habitat@thefuun.org to contribute an item for the auction. At 7 p.m., a show will be broadcast using highlights we have collected from previous shows, new videos, and music from Silversonix (the band staring our own Tom Surface, Jim Surface, Sheri DiGiovanna, Victoria Harris and Joe Warner and James Collins) and more. This will be a fun evening of entertainment for the entire family.
You can log onto the software and participate in any or all of the activities or make a generous donation that will be matched by an anonymous donor. Double your impact! The dinner and show will be $20 ($25 if delivered) or $10 for the show only. Tickets will be on sale beginning Jan. 10. Show your support for Habitat in the comfort of your home but in the spirit of community.
-FUUN Habitat Action Team
Carleen Dowell
Suzanne LeBeau
Sheri DiGiovanna
Jessica Moore-Lucas
Tony Tyler
Fred Guenther
Steve Edminster
My headline is clickbait. There is no such thing as a perfect Advent, Hannukah, Solstice, Christmas or New Year. There never was. Instead of offering new tips, rituals, recipes, or plans, I suggest we all simply pay closer attention to what we have. Pay close attention … even to the pain of the holidays Being more mindful can make each day more vibrant, even as sunlight wanes. It can enliven what exists in the longer hours of darkness. It can make you aware of sorrows and losses. Experiencing and accepting the pain (No holiday is without it!) allows you to […]
The post How to Have a Perfect New Year appeared first on BeyondBelief.
My headline is clickbait. There is no such thing as a perfect Advent, Hannukah, Solstice, Christmas or New Year. There never was. Instead of offering new tips, rituals, recipes, or plans, I suggest we all simply pay closer attention to what we have. Pay close attention … even to the pain of the holidays Being more mindful can make each day more vibrant, even as sunlight wanes. It can enliven what exists in the longer hours of darkness. It can make you aware of sorrows and losses. Experiencing and accepting the pain (No holiday is without it!) allows you to […]
The post How to Have a Perfect Holiday appeared first on BeyondBelief.
Message from our Lead Minister
Dec. 15, 2020
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” -Albert Einstein
What would the winter holidays be without imagination and wonder? Fanciful visions of sugar plum fairies and flying reindeer, dancing snowmen, and magical elves ― these work to awaken the child within each of us and connect us to the miracle of our own birth; the mystery of life itself. The dark of winter gives us pause to consider the wonder of the stars and the vastness of the cosmos. We gather round to tell ancient stories of wondrous things ― the Channukah miracle of oil enough for one night lasting for eight ― the longest night of winter welcoming the sun’s return on the Solstice ― a shining star leading shepherds and wise ones to the birthplace of a child on Christmas.
Stories, be they fairy tales or mythic legends of the gods, need not be factually true to reveal truth. Author Neil Gaiman, in his book Coraline, writes: “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
May the spirit of imagination and wonder lift us all to find enough hope and enough courage to overcome whatever dragons lurk around this holiday season.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
A Covid-Related Action by NOAH (Nashville Organized for Action and Hope, an organization of which FUUN is a member): In Tennessee to date, 5000+ of our fellow citizens have died from the COVID-19 virus. In all areas of the state, our brothers and sisters continue to suffer.
Many face eviction from their homes, with no money for rent. Families with children struggle to provide adequate food and health care. Jobs for many have shut down or disappeared entirely.
Governor Lee has still refused to issue a mask mandate for the state, even though COVID deaths are TWICE as high in counties with no such mandate. On Nov.17, Governor Lee said, “The strategy we are taking is actually working. . . . may be working better than a mask mandate would.” On that date, 3995 Tennesseans had died of COVID-19. On Dec. 8, that number had climbed to 5,109.
What can you do?
We are making stars (like those posted in the photo on the right):
Please sign up for how many stars you are willing to make HERE.
A template for the stars is HERE.
Completed stars can be dropped off at the NOAH offices at the MNEA Building at 521 Fairground Court or in a covered bin at the Morgan House at FUUN. There will be a plastic tub outside under the awning, starting on Saturday Dec. 26, 10 a.m. and will be outside until Dec. 28, 6 p.m.
There will be a celebration of the life of Bill Welch (FUUN’s former Director of Religious Education) on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 9 a.m. via Zoom. Click here for more information.
Zoom link will be posted shortly.
There will be a mid-year congregational meeting on Sunday, Jan. 24 immediately following the 9 a.m. service via Zoom.
Come and learn what’s going on. All members are encouraged to attend.
The link and meeting materials will be posted here before the meeting. If you are joining us live for the service, there will be a re-direct button at the close of the service taking you directly to the Zoom session.
Meeting materials will be posted here before the meeting.
(Formerly the Nashville Pledge Program)
Our next session of this twelve-hour program is Mondays, Feb. 1, 8, and 15 and Mar. 1, 8, and 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom (with a mid-session break on Feb. 22). The 6-session program has limited participation. First slots will be reserved for FUUN members and friends and then opened up to others.
Participation: Participants are asked to commit to being present at all sessions, and do assignments before sessions which may take two-three hours.
Who’s this Program For? For people who have engaged in other anti-racism/multiculturalism training, this program is designed to take your understanding and your competency to a deeper level. If you’ve never taken a class about racism, this program will challenge you to invest in and deepen your learning so you can put yourself on the road to intercultural competence.
Living the Pledge to End Racism Program (formerly the Nashville Pledge Program).
Since 2017, we have conducted four workshops reaching more than 70 people. In those sessions, we learned about and discussed race-related issues, and considered making a commitment to anti-racism work. Those days were intense and exciting. We have the pledge hanging on the wall in the FUUN social hall signed by those who have graduated from this program. Each person was engaged and open – sharing and listening, and planning next steps. Ask any of them what they think.
Where Does Racism Start and Stop? Racism can be both systemic and individualistic. It is in the past, the present and will be in the foreseeable future unless individually and collectively, we stand-up against its existence and its proliferation. The Living the Pledge Program provides a place to stand-up both individually and collectively against racism.
The primary goal of the program is to develop confidence in our abilities to:
• Integrate the Pledge into our daily lives*
• Recognize and challenge systemic racism
• Confront racism and bias in our everyday lives, and
• Take leadership in ending racism in our community, our culture, and our lives
As part of the workshop, participants develop a community of support and an understanding of how to use support in deepening our work in building a just and equitable multicultural world.
The workshop, of course, is just the beginning. This year, past participants in the workshop have been meeting regularly in person and now virtually to support each other in continuing efforts to live the pledge to eliminate racial injustice. In the past, workshop participants have also traveled together to Montgomery, Alabama, to visit The Legacy Museum and taken a walking tour of Civil Rights sites in Nashville offered by United Street Tours.
Living the Pledge to End Racism Program History
Beloved Community: what comes to mind when you hear that phrase? You may think of our church community. You may think of some other community in your life. Martin Luther King, Jr. used the phrase often and for him, it had a specific meaning: the community of all people that may be created when our nation fully overcomes its history of racial oppression and injustice. The name of our “Beloved Community Committee” comes from MLK’s vision in using this phrase.
The Beloved Community committee sponsors iterations of the Living the Pledge to End Racism program (formerly the Nashville Pledge Program). The program stems from the Birmingham Pledge, composed in 1997 by Jim Rotch, as part of an effort to “eliminate racism and prejudice in the Birmingham community and in the world, one person at a time.” In 2014, members of the First UU Church in Richmond, Virginia, made this pledge the starting point for their Living the Pledge workshop, a program designed to help participants move beyond simply giving lip service to a desire for racial equality and help them act more confidently in talking about and confronting racism when they encounter it.
Our Living the Pledge to End Racism program grows directly out of the Richmond program, with some adaptations to make it fit our community more closely.
Or contact Tom Surface, Jennie Wolff, Cindy Wood, or Nancy Ledbetter at beloved@thefuun.org.
*The Pledge to End Racism
I BELIEVE that every person has worth as an individual.
Therefore, from this day forward:
Message from our Lead Minister
Dec. 8, 2020
Friends,
The winter holidays are upon us. The season can be merry and bright. It can also be sad and blue. Or a mixture of both. Especially this year. Feeling down when the expectation for happiness and joy hangs in the air, with every Christmas carol heard and every festive light display seen, can be – well – hard.
Several years ago, my little nuclear family decided to opt out of Christmas. The first few years after my father died a week before Christmas, we just could not force ourselves to have anything resembling a holiday spirit. Yet, reminders of the holiday were inescapable, even painful.
We came up with a plan for how we could escape Christmas. We used the money we would have spent on gifts that could be wrapped and put under a tree and took a family ski trip instead – on Christmas Day. It was glorious! Short lift lines. Uncrowded slopes. White snow. Blues skies. Green pine trees. The quiet stillness of crisp mountain air. And not a single Christmas decoration to be found. The best Christmas ever!
We made the Christmas Day ski trip an annual tradition. We told all our friends how wonderful it was. Then we started running into our friends on the slopes on Christmas Day. Slowly, the trappings of Christmas began to edge their way back in. Our grieving hearts had begun to heal. We no longer needed to escape.
I always hold a special place in my heart for all who have lost a loved one in the past year, especially for those who died near the holidays, and for all who have experienced loss of any kind – divorce, family estrangement, job loss, financial downturn – to name just a few. Loss adds a layer of stress to what is already a stressful season. Add in some seasonal affective disorder and a dose of 2020 chaos and you have a recipe for the holiday blues.
Skiing isn’t part of our holiday tradition anymore. What remains from that time is the release of expectation for what Christmas should be like. It was the respite from the usual bells and whistles of Christmas that made room for beauty and wonder to show up in our lives, alongside sorrow.
The winter holidays, whichever ones you honor and celebrate, will be different this year. Letting go of expectations and not trying to force jolliness can help. This holiday season will be like no other, remembered for its poignancy. Sad and blue, merry and bright, or some combination of the two, may your holidays be a balm of hope and healing in these troubled times.
If you have a child you would like dedicated on Christmas Eve, please let Rev. Diane know by sending an email to leadminister@firstuunash.org no later than December 11. Rev. Diane and Marguerite Mills, your Director of Lifespan Religious Education, are already at work crafting a child dedication ceremony for this virtual reality we are in. An online child dedication can be intimate and touching in ways not anticipated.
Hunker Down For Winter and Expand Your Horizons!
Community of Belonging wants to help you engage with likeminded FUUN members.
Community of Belonging is a team of FUUN members who know how hard it can be to connect with others, especially during this pandemic. We are building ways for members–new and old–as well as visitors to find or expand their circle of friends and have a greater sense of belonging to the FUUN community.
Complete the survey below and wait for the satisfaction of BELONGING to begin. You will be put in contact with others who share your passions/hobbies/interests. The connections will be of your own choosing, virtual or physically distanced.
It’s going to be a long winter Folks, might as well pass it with Friends!
Jonah Eller-Isaacs, our Religious Education Coordinator for the past six years is leaving us in December—and he’s taking Rosie with him. Come say farewell 2-4 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6 in the Norris House parking lot. Drive by the deck outside the Youth Room with your good wishes, your memories, and your thanks. (This will be as other recent events have been, with y’all staying in your cars in order to be safe.
Music Ministries is creating music for Christmas Eve, and we would love to see your faces and your holiday candles for “Silent Night.” Take a photo of you or your family group holding candles in front of you in a dimly lit room as if we were gathered in the sanctuary*. Email to Music@FirstUUNash.org by midnight Dec. 6.
Candles are available beside the door to Norris House (the church 0ffice) if you need one.
*Here are some example photos for you:
https://images.app.goo.gl/dyrbeFF127sNv9Sz9
https://images.app.goo.gl/agVC2vTotTRfeL6m7
https://images.app.goo.gl/Pt5R2LVNQKvpZnMf8
Visit our Newsletter page for the current and past newsletters.
Message from our Lead Minister
Nov. 24, 2020
Let us give thanks for a different Thanksgiving.
Let us set the table for different conversations,
with room for all that is in our hearts,
with compassion for all those who live at the edges of our awareness,
who come to the day troubled by what it has been,
who come to the day lonely, weary, or frightened.
Let us set the table for healing conversations.
May this different Thanksgiving be one
where the stories are true,
the connections real,
the love generous,
and the gratitude genuine.
May this different Thanksgiving
move us to
an abundance of spirit,
a harvest of hope, and a renewed sense of kinship
with each other and with life.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Join Nashville in Harmony for At Home for the Holidays, a free, virtual concert premiering on our Facebook page on Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.
Visit their Facebook page to watch and listen: www.Facebook.com/nashvilleinharmony
Already know you want more information about Going into the Dark? More info lies here.
Dear hearts –
Here we are, the week of United States Thanksgiving, or perhaps Thanks-Grieving, or perhaps ThanksGaia. Or perhaps this holiday is not one you celebrate at all. For others, it is the most important family holiday of the year.
That importance certainly shows in the number of people who travel for the holiday. More, even, than for secular or religious Christmas.
And this year, the question of whether or not to travel makes a holiday that is already fraught even more so. How safe it is to travel, to spend time indoors, to hug those we have been longing to be close to for months? How safe do we think we need to be for other loved ones, for our communities, for ourselves, and for the most vulnerable among us? And how much do we long to be together with our nearest and dearest, our truly beloved ones, our Families of Blood, Choice, or Spirit?
I pray for your good health and whatever peace or disquiet your heart requires.
There is another holiday, though, one coming soon, that is both very dear and very clearly full of love, light-and-dark lessons, peace, and tenderness.
While in years past and in contemporary witchy circles, it is known as Yule – just as one might say, “Yuletide” to mean the whole time around the solstice through the secular new year – we can also just acknowledge it as the moment, the time when Earth/Gaia passes closest to the sun/Sol, and when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted furthest away.
Every year on the solstice, the only electric lights my wife and I have in the house are the twinkly lights of the season. Otherwise, we light the house with candles and lanterns. Sometimes we make cookies – and oh, in the morning, do we lament that we have no dogs anymore and Julie cleans the kitchen floor herself! We pay attention to the setting of the sun, and we read Tarot cards for our celebration of the new year together. We honor what has passed with celebration, lamentation, or merely observance, and we watch the light diminish.
And there is something else that happens for the solstice. Five times it has happened, five years in a row, and now we are onto the sixth turn around the sun.
On the Saturday before the solstice—this year, that Saturday is the 19th of December—The Way of the River folks gather on Zoom for Going into the Dark, a day of peace and tenderness. (Yes, it has been on Zoom for the last six years. This is no Johnny-come-lately Zoom event, though it does intentionally have no bells and whistles.) We gather in our pyjamas. We gather and knit in rocking chairs. We gather from our beds. We gather with our video off. We gather lounging on sofas. We gather from our offices. We gather together to feel together, connected, tenderly held, and whole.
Especially in this year when so many of us yearn for connection, long for the company of people whose company we cannot have, pine for the touch of beloved family, especially now we need this event.
At least I do. Do you?
Going into the Dark is a retreat during which we explore what it means to move through the darkness (both metaphorical and physical), to prepare for the solstice, to make a journey in which we learn to see in the dark. In the Charge of the Star Goddess, She says, “Seek me in the Light that is in the Darkness, and seek me in the Darkness itself,” and so some do that. Some of us seek encounter with the holy. Others prepare to mark the holiday of the shortest day as “the reason for the season.”
Others of us just desperately need to feel held, safe as we can be among other tender minds and hearts, comforted (even in challenge), and in the presence of magic.
Meister Eckhardt said that if the spiritual life is a journey at all, it is a quarter inch long and a mile deep. That is the approach of Going into the Dark. To spend time with our own hearts going deep, deep into unexplored territory, and yet to go while being held in a loving, careful, caring “container,” if you will.
That container is built and maintained by the care I take with setting up the calls for the event. Not only that care, but also the tenderness of those who share the retreat with you, all of you together.
We will come together and inhabit four calls (It is my sincerest hope that our time is neither spent, nor wasted, nor killed, but rather, “inhabited.”) over the course of Saturday the 19th. We begin at 11 am Eastern and end around 6:30 or 7 pm Eastern. Each call is accompanied by an (entirely optional) PDF with journal prompts, images, and queries based on the content of the call just previous. Some people really enjoy using the PDFs to continue the work of retreat time, to journal, write, draw, go for a walk, or take a nap. And yes, taking a nap can be an absolutely perfect way to integrate material. <smile>
However you integrate the material can be perfect because Going into the Dark is, as I like to say, “an empowerment-based event.” What do I mean by that?
I mean that your participation need be led by your heart. Dip in and out. Spend time between calls taking care of family responsibilities that really need doing.
Or maybe you can find a way for someone else to take the kids for the day, let the dogs out, make lunch, so that you can give yourself the gift of a spiraling day of reflection and care.
Empowerment-based retreat also means that even if I pose a question to the group, you are free to say that you would rather pass. It also means that you are always free to ask for what you need, though I cannot promise I can fulfill that need, I will always listen.
That said, every year, Going into the Dark goes deeply into our hearts. This year will be no different. This year, though, we do not go to the center of a horizontal labyrinth. This year we will not discover the secret magic enclosed by a copse of trees in a cemetery. This year, we follow a traveler from the third millennium BCE, on her quest to know, to learn, to find her realm and her tools.
This year, we will encounter both threats and assistance.
This year, we will relinquish what we grasp until there remains so, so little left that we can gather all we need.
All that said, I invite you, as Rev. Deanna Vandiver says, “No matter what your calendar tell you,” to come to Going into the Dark. Join us. Join me. Join our 5000-year-old friend as we travel so far that when we make our way home, we can know it for the first time (Thank you, T.S. Eliot, for that lovely turn of phrase.)
Come and learn to see in the close and holy darkness.
Come and learn just a bit about the miles-deep spiritual life.
Come and go into the dark with me.
If you’d like to know more about the “flagship event” of The Way of the River, simply click on Going into the Dark, and then if you have questions, you can always contact me directly.
Blessings of the close and holy darkness, my friends, blessings.
~Catharine~
General Assembly (GA) registration opens Dec. 1 and the Committee for the Larger Faith is looking for delegates
uua.org/ga
General Assembly (GA) registration opens Dec. 1 and the Committee for the Larger Faith wants YOU to be part of it! Whether you are a delegate representing FUUN in the business meetings or just enjoying the many workshops, worship services, and stimulating lectures presented by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), GA has something for everyone. The theme of this year’s all-virtual event is Circle ‘Round. Meeting dates are June 23-17, 2021.
If you’re interested in being a delegate, contact LargerFaith@thefuun.org. If you want to attend without being a delegate, check out uua.org/ga for more info.
Circle Round: Telling our stories and listening as a way to peace and connection
We value nurturing relationships as the basis of covenantal community, but COVID-19 has disrupted many of those relationships. And yet, this is a time when we need peace and connection more than ever. So let us Circle Round in a space that allows for thoughtful reflection, offers the opportunity for silence as well as words, and validates the importance of each participant’s presence. Come to one session, come to all sessions, come to as many sessions as you wish. Bring your whole self to this space where we may hold each other.
These sessions are facilitated by our assistant minister, the Rev. Denise Gyauch. They start at 7 p.m. and go for up to 90 minutes. Please arrive on time so that the group can establish covenanted community.
1st and 3rd Wednesdays, Dec. 2, 16, Jan. 6, 20
7 p.m. on Zoom:
1st Wednesdays, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81466118119
3rd Wednesdays, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87834609789
Rev Diane Dowgiert is accepting nominations for the Joan and Joe Moore Award. Details on the criteria for nominations (which include work at the Regional and Denominational level) and the nomination submissions form can be found here.
We accept nominations for this prestigious award annually by the first week of January
Children’s Religious Education (CRE) needs guest speakers the first RE Sunday of each month to make connections across generations and maintain them.
Have you a passion that speaks to our faith? A cause around which you marshal your efforts? A calling whose beckon you cannot refuse?
If your answer is YES then volunteer to be a CRE Guest Speaker and share that story with the CRE staff and students.
The CRE team is in need of people like you to share their message with the next generation. The commitment to this invitation would be 30-45 minutes of your time in a Zoom meeting with CRE teachers, students, and parents on the first Sunday of each month, starting at 10:30 a.m.
We want to hear your stories.
Please volunteer!
Contact Marguerite Mills (mmills@firstuunash.org) if you are interested or have questions.
Message from our Lead Minister
Nov. 17, 2020
“The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.” -Pema Chodron
Did you know that the most common command in the Bible is: “Do not be afraid”? It appears 70 times in the New International Version. It is frequently followed with the phrase: “Be encouraged.” The word courage comes from the Latin word for heart.
These are times that call us to be in touch with our brave heart.
In her book The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron offers teachings and practices for facing that which is scary or challenging. They include practices that develop loving kindness: mindfulness, forgiveness, and extending compassion to self and others – to name just a few. As Unitarian Universalists, we agree to be in relationship with each other, relationship based in a covenant of love and service. When we must be physically apart, we are joined in a spirit of togetherness. Fearless is what we make each other, for together, we can face whatever the world places before us with brave hearts.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
P.S. I hope you will sign up to attend a Listening Circle. I want to get to know you and to hear your hopes and dreams for FUUN! You can find more information at firstuunash.org.
FUUN Choir will be participating in the
“Together in Gratitude, Together in Song: An Interfaith Thanksgiving Virtual Concert,”
Sunday, Nov. 22, 4 p.m.
Register via thetemplehub.org.
Get the most out of Zoom. Find everything you need to know about the ins and outs of using Zoom here. Find information about getting started; audio and video, and sharing; hosting meetings & webinars; setting up Zoom rooms; account administration, training, and much more!
Here’s a quick guide to many of the technical aspects of Zoom. Whether you’re hosting or participating, you’ll find helpful hints.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygZ96J_z4AY
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygZ96J_z4AY?feature=oembed&w=1080&h=608]
from your FUUN Leadership Development Committee
Join the 8th Principle & Climate Justice with 8th Principle Learning Community on Nov. 17 at 7pm. Come to learn how Climate Justice and the 8th Principle can help us to build stronger coalitions for the work ahead.
Click here to join the Zoom.
“Harvest the Power”, inspired by the hymn “Gather the Spirit” by Jim Scott, is a uniting call that the UUA Organizing Strategy Team adopted as a uniting element for all UUA justice priorities throughout October and November, beginning October 21 with the UU the Vote’s Harvest the Power Week of Action (10/21-27). The Harvest the Power theme will conclude with the Harvest the Power Justice Convergence & Teach-In, Nov. 19-26.
As the tremendous energy and momentum of the election cycle begins to shift towards preparations for winter and the holiday season, please consider centering justice, learning, and reverence for the Earth this Thanksgiving, by attending the Harvest the Power Justice Convergence & Teach-in:
When: November 19-26, 2020 – VIEW SCHEDULE
Where: ONLINE – REGISTER HERE
Who: the Unitarian Universalist Association, UU Ministry for Earth, UUSC, & many partners
What: In 2016, Unitarian Universalists voted to pay special attention to learning our history and rethinking Thanksgiving in the year 2020, in observance of the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth. Historically, UU ministers were instrumental in creating the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and the “Pilgrims and the Indians” pageant tradition that roots the holiday in an historically inaccurate and harmful colonial narrative.
Now is the perfect time to gather and think together virtually, and to celebrate differently.
Harvest the Power – a theme inspired by the hymn “Gather the Spirit” by Jim Scott – is an invitation to join together the many varied communities and justice ministries of Unitarian Universalism for this momentous season of collective action and transformation.
The Harvest the Power Justice Convergence & Teach-in is a series of excellent programs and documentary screenings to provide grounding, community, and justice education for the week of Thanksgiving.
Register today, and help spread the word about the fantastic programs and community documentary film screenings being offered for the Harvest the Power Justice Convergence & Teach-In:
Sign up for a Listening Session with Rev. Diane
Rev. Diane Dowgiert will host a series of Listening Sessions for FUUN families and individuals as she continues to get to know the congregation. It’s a chance to mingle (virtually, of course), and to share your thoughts about FUUN. Sessions are planned for Thursday, Dec. 3, at 6:30 p.m.; Sunday Dec. 6 at 10:30 a.m.; and Thursday Dec. 10 at 4 p.m.
Sign up for your preferred session using the links below; groups are limited to 12 participants.
Available Sessions:
Join Rev. Denise Gyauch for a Thanksgiving Day Zoom Gathering.
If you find yourself wanting a dose of connection on Thanksgiving Day, Rev. Denise will be hosting a gathering on Zoom, Thursday, November 26, 2 p.m. Bring your favorite celebratory food or drink—or just your lovely self—and let’s be grateful together.
Zoom meeting Information:
Topic: Thanksgiving Gathering
Time: Nov 26, 2020 2 p.m. Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/95925637722?pwd=UGo2R3ZvaUROTU5HY3JwMU9NSWEwUT09
Meeting ID: 959 2563 7722
Passcode: 978896
Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 959 2563 7722
Passcode: 978896
Message from our Lead Minister
Nov. 10, 2020
“Like a poem poorly written we are verses out of rhythm, couplets out of rhyme, in syncopated time . . .” -Paul Simon
Everything seems to be happening out of rhythm this year. The pattern of seasons and holidays feels out of time, or syncopated – a half-beat off. Thanksgiving is on the near horizon with Hannukah, Solstice, and Christmas not far behind. The winter holidays always come with a flurry of activity, but the coming holidays won’t be like holidays of the past.
These seasonal celebrations will come as they always do, but this year they will most certainly feel different. With the number of COVID cases and deaths on the rise again, it’s hard to know how to plan. Difficult choices must be made; to stay away from the traditional gatherings of families and friends or to gather as safely as possible with every precaution in place. Each choice has its own set of consequences. Each of us will weigh them differently, according to our own circumstances.
Through it all, the community of FUUN goes on, sometimes out of rhythm, sometimes out of rhyme, finding ways to stay connected, ways to be there for each other through the unexpected and ever-changing patterns of life as it is right now.
Remember – this Sunday we will begin offering a Zoom social hour at 10 a.m. If you are logged in live at 9, at the end of the service you will be directed to a button that will take you to Zoom. For those wanting to join at 10:00, the link can be found in the Worship Portal of the FUUN website. The Joys and Concerns portion of the service will move to social hour rather than being part of the broadcast service. I appreciate your patience and flexibility as we make this change.
I am ever so grateful to be part of this caring community, on this syncopated journey with you.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Invocation for the Metro Council Meeting
Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020
Friends, Dear Ones:
In the middle of this tumultuous week, let’s pause and breathe together. (You may want to place a hand over your heart to call yourself back to your center.)
Let’s remember:
We are connected to each other and to all that exists.
We need each other.
Each of us wants each of us not just to survive, but to thrive.
Breathing and remembering, let us join our hearts in prayer:
Spirit of Life and Love, who moves in & through, around & among us,
Bless all gathered here this evening to do the work of governing our city:
May those who speak, speak in truth and freedom.
May those who listen, hear with compassion and curiosity.
May those who decide, draw from wells of wisdom and discernment and act with care for every resident of this city, for the complex network of communities that sustain us, and for the land that holds us.
May this evening’s work bolster the strength of our communities and protect the health and dignity of every individual who lives, works, or visits among us.
Amen. May it be so. May we be so.
Rev. Denise Gyauch
Assistant Minister, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville
Dear hearts –
As they’d say in the nineteenth century, “I fear you have the advantage of me,” but then again, you may not. I write to you from November 4th, when the United States Presidential election remains undecided, runoffs and litigation and recounts abound. Trump supporters yelling outside a polling place, “Stop the vote! Stop the vote! Stop the vote!” from other Republicans saying, “We must make sure to count every vote.” Biden saying that he has run as a Democrat, but if elected, will govern as an American. Just all kinds of stuff running around.
There are times, my friends, there are times, when all a girl can do is look at the blinking cursor and feel the ache in her hips from having sat in her office chair too long.
There are times, beloved, when all I can do is curse my poor, aching, sprained knee for hurting in my unbelievably unergonomic seating arrangement.
There are times, when snickerdoodles seem like the snack of champions, because, hello, millions of Americans apparently think my marriage is meaningless, the lives of people of color don’t matter, police freedom to kill matters more than the lives lost, and transgender youth deserve to suffer as they look toward an adulthood marked by danger and exclusion. Children being taken from their families, children who should be in arms, as a deterrent to asylum-seeking, that’s okay.
No matter who wins (has won?) the Presidential election, these things are true. So snickerdoodles are the snack of champions, friends, and that’s all there is to it. My lovely wife has said over and over that food has no moral valance, and for once, I’m going to choose to believe her and just have a cookie. She’s also reminded that we don’t yet know where things are, so I’m going to drink this ginger beer, and look forward to this email appearing in my own Inbox, and things being different by then.
Oh, and the other thing I’m going to do?
I’m going to the Going into the Dark webpage just to look at how pretty it is!
https://thewayoftheriver.com/going-into-the-dark-2020
Enjoy, my friends, and may the lure of introspection and healing time together be of some solace.
Phoning it in with love –
Catharine
Message from our Lead Minister
Nov. 3, 2020
“The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.” Molly Ivens, You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You
The day has finally arrived. Election Day 2020. There’s nothing left to do now except wait. That is, unless you haven’t yet voted. If you have not yet cast your ballot, there is still time – so get out there and do it! Safely, of course. Masked and physically distanced.
Even though today is the last day to vote, it will likely be days or weeks – or dare I say it? – even months, before we know the outcome. The time of waiting, however long or short, will be tense, filled with everything from hope to fear to dread. So much is at stake.
This has been a year of high emotion, one that has taken a toll on mind, body, and spirit. In a recent podcast, Dr. Brene’ Brown interviews Emily and Amelia Nagoski, coauthors of the book, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. They talk about the neurobiology of emotion and offer some concrete ways for dealing with difficult emotions like rage, grief, despair, helplessness, and shame. Here is the link to the podcast, which I highly recommend: https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-emily-and-amelia-nagoski-on-burnout-and-how-to-complete-the-stress-cycle/
The short version is that feelings are neurological events that take place in our bodies. They have a beginning,
middle, and end. In our western culture, we are taught at a young age to short cut the process by ignoring, denying, suppressing or repressing strong emotions. This short-cutting of the emotional process impacts our health, our relationships, and our work. The remedy is to allow emotions to have their complete life cycle. Otherwise, they get stuck in our bodies causing stress and burnout.
Emily and Amelia Nagoski say that this kind of self-care requires a bubble of protection where others care about your well-being as much as they care about their own.
At its best, this is what a healthy church community does. To that end, on Sunday, November 8 there will be an opportunity at FUUN to gather online for some post-election debriefing and processing. Rev. Sara Green, one of FUUN’s
Affiliated Community Ministers, and I, will be available on Zoom at 10 a.m. to facilitate Listening Circles. You can find the Zoom link in the announcement below.
In the meantime, beloveds, take good care of your whole and holy selves – mind, body, and spirit. Democracy, as Molly Ivins points out, is not neat, orderly, or quiet. The confusion that is normally part of the process is especially present this election cycle.
Whatever the outcome of this election, our work remains the same – creating beloved community through acts of love and justice.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Dearests-
Okay, yes, here we are. It’s the day before the United States official Election Day, the last day US citizens can cast our ballots. I, happily, live in a state that has had mail-in or drop-off voting for some time now (Oregon), and so I received notice of when my ballot had been received from it’s box AND when it had been counted. Ahhhhhhhhhhh…. A sigh of relief. I have done the harm reduction I can do by voting, and that not only that, but I have the relative sense of security of my vote being counted.
I mention all of this even though I know that many of you are not in the States. Because the United States elections up and down the ticket matter to the world. The Presidential election, for sure, but the Senate and House races, down-ticket races in states that are “purple” (Go, Peter Buck!—my dear brother who is running for the state house in Pennsylvania, an essential swing state.), all the way to city councils, mayoral races, school boards and other local votes and referenda. Remember, local officials decide all kinds of things about land use, clean water, construction, education, hell, they make it so that there are enough sidewalks (with curb cuts, thank you very much!) and bus lines to go around.
All that said, that’s not really what I want to talk to you about. Yes, do your harm reduction and VOTE, but that’s done, right? You know what you’re going to do, or you’re watching the election with interest from elsewhere. ‘Nuff said.
I want to talk with you about something related to my Very Exciting News!
The Way of the River has entirely new, entirely revamped, ENTIRELY new look and content. Not only is the color brown only in the images of actual forest rivers (which I do love), and nowhere in the rest of the images or the theme, but the whole feel and look and content is different. I am using lessons I have learned from The Heart of Business, and I couldn’t be happier with the result.
That said, I invite you to visit, and especially to visit the “Is This You?” page. (If you want to see some truly priceless photos of me from the ‘90s, the middle of the About Catharine page is fun too, but not required, by any means.)
The “Is This You?” page speaks about those of us who have hunted for a place where we can really find “the More” of spiritual depth. It’s about those of us who have a religious home but want a more profound experience of spirit. It’s about those of us who are neurodivergent or genderfluid, trans, or non-binary. It’s about those of us who are ambivalent about or alienated from traditional religion.
And so I’m going to share come copy from that page because I want to celebrate those of us who find ourselves reflected among this group. Not everyone I work with is isolated from beloved religious community – certainly, you don’t have to be, to be a part of The Way of the River – but many of us know what that particular pain feels like. And so in celebration, joy, and invitation, I give you, “Is This You?”
You may be drawn to work with me if you
And so, dear friends, if any of this sounds like you, if any of this resonates with you, I invite you to a beat. To take a breath. And then consider whether you might like to work in a small group with other people who will understand where you’re coming from, other people who will know what you’re about, where you’ve been and how you’re doing.
And then simply email me for an assessment, a consultation call to talk about where you are and where you’d like to be spiritually, and maybe we can find a place to work together fruitfully, whether in a group, class, or individually. When so much is uncertain, so much is worrisome, having a companion along the way can be just the thing. And I’d love just to get to know you, in any case!
In these unsettled times, I offer you blessings, blessings, blessings.
Rev. Catharine
PS – Want to see the new website in all its glory: https://thewayoftheriver.com!
PPS – Going into the Dark is coming!! The annual winter solstice retreat will be on your doorstep before you know it!
Message from our Director of Music Ministries
Oct. 20, 2020
Vote As If:This Music Sunday has been brewing since I began serving here three years ago. As I got to know who was in choir, a few folks emerged as leaders and creators. One of those is Worship Associate, Social Justice co-chair, and singer, Jessica Moore-Lucas. This is our shared brain-child, adapted for remote worship.
There is rich music in our country’s history… and there are new pieces that would have been wonderful to share. I was hoping to record “We Hold These Truths,” an anthem by UU composers that choir had been learning for our Choir Exchange with UU Huntsville that was cancelled in March. But as I listened deeply to the lyrics, and thought about the authors of the Declaration and Constitution, what they were resisting against but also perpetrating on the people they enslaved, I could not bring myself to add it to the program.
I, for one, have struggled with how to celebrate our Democratic society, holding the ideals and ideas the Unites States espouses in our vision, while also being aware of the founder’s shortcomings and the time and place that they were in. It is possible for there to be more than one thing true at the same time. It is possible for people to have high ideals and to also be flawed. The vision still holds true.
Our Choir has been rehearsing on Zoom every Thursday since September, and it has been a bright spot for me. Even better, as they send in their recordings, I get to hear each of their voices, and I treasure that so deeply. I see their faces as I listen to the track and think of moments that we might have shared during rehearsal, or in that quiet space before a Sunday morning service.
Thanks to technology, we will share your images of democracy merged with Elizabeth Alexander’s arrangement of This is What Democracy Looks Like. The composer wrote a note at the bottom of the score: “it is impossible to sing this wrong.” I turned the tracks over to audio engineer Alex Wilder to handle the mix and have instructed him not to use all the tricks that make a smooth studio recording. I have faith that it will come out just right. Member Sean Appelt has volunteered to create a video for us with your images, and it will be a grand closing song for our morning.
I hope that our shared vision, with songs from Roy Zimmerman, The Conscious Collective, UU the Vote, and your First UU Nashville Choir will inspire you to get to the polls, to call your friends and encourage them to vote. We follow a long history of Congregational preachers who spoke on Election Day, reminding those assembled of the Divine provenance of the elected officials. While our 21st century sensibility might interpret that as choosing the stewards of the interdependent web of our nation, it is still holy work to do, and this Sunday, we do it with music.
Don’t forget to turn your clocks back an hour on Halloween night!
Photo Call: You and your Chalice at home
In preparation for worship on Nov. 8, Rev. Diane invites you to share photos or short videos of you and your chalice. Want to make a video? Light your chalice, smile, and then recite the chalice extinguishing and snuff the flame.
You can use the camera on your cell phone or even start a personal ZOOM room to record.
Sharing a photo or video grants consent for FUUN to use the images for worship, streaming, and this year’s virtual Interfaith Thanksgiving Concert, hosted by The Temple Congregation Ohabai Sholom.
Submissions due: Midnight, Wednesday, Oct. 28
Please upload your photo to:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SAS7YT_GkymmNnDcljESbMEjfHlRJfX6?usp=sharing
|
Mid-week Email
Message from the Developmental Lead Minister Oct. 13, 2020 “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Audre Lorde
Through my years of being companion to those experiencing loss and through the times of my own grief, I have learned the importance of self-care. The wisdom of the late Audre Lorde, quoted above, came from her experience as a black, lesbian woman living with breast cancer. Her personal acts of self- care, self-preservation, and survival were acts of resistance against oppression in all its forms. For me, as a white, heterosexual, cisgender woman, and all the privilege that comes with those identities, I sometimes find the line between self-care and self-indulgence to be blurry. Our consumer driven culture tries to sell self-indulgence in place of genuine self-care. Everything from consumption of wine to retail therapy to luxurious vacations are held out as the cure for what ails us. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these, they can work to distract us from the important task of caring for ourselves. Beloveds, while no one gets out of this life alive, your survival through this tumultuous time is important. It will take all of us to set things right and create the world we dream of. Grieving takes energy and there is so much to grieve right now, so much loss. Grief takes a toll mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. My questions for you right now are these: Your self-preservation matters. Your body is a good gift and worthy of care. You are a good gift and a blessing to this life. Yours in shared ministry, |
|
Join us for a Community Conversation about the 8th principle
Beloved Community Committee, Social Justice and Committee for the Larger Faith are requesting the congregation to adopt the 8th principle at our January meeting. Never heard of it? Heard of it but want to learn more? Join these three committees in a Community Conversation and get all of your questions answered! Saturday Oct. 17, 10. Click here to join the Zoom session.
For more information, see our Oct./Nov. newsletter article reposted here: https://www.firstuunash.org/the-8th-principle/.
Join us for a Community Conversation about the 8th principle
Beloved Community Committee, Social Justice and Committee for the Larger Faith are requesting the congregation to adopt the 8th principle at our January meeting. Never heard of it? Heard of it but want to learn more? Join these three committees in a Community Conversation and get all of your questions answered! Saturday Oct. 17, 10. Click here to join the Zoom session.
Two Thursdays from now, on October 29th, we will attend to and embody the complicated web of ancestry. We will raise our glasses to those who have gone before us and, by extension, think on those who come after. Do join us for a party for our Dead, those who are wise and bright and bless us by their example…and let us remember both them and those whose lives have been cautionary tales. Let us have mirth and reverence together and offer Toast to the Ancestors.
Oh my dears –
Warning: this letter is stuh-ressed right OUT.
Heard at the Clarenbach house: <<sigh>> “I am so overwhelmed.”
“I just don’t know what to do next, I’m so tired.”
“I can’t think straight. Everything I have to do is filling me with dread, and I don’t know where to start.”
Hmmmmmm…
Do you think I might be overwhelmed?
So many of us are.
My God, parents. Parents. (And teachers too!)
Y’all, you get all the sparkle points in the book from me this week. I don’t know that I have any wisdom for you because you are parents 24/7, and I don’t ever want you to think that I’ve forgotten about you – I just pray for you, and if you need short-term spiritual accompaniment, please let me know.
In my case, overwhelm on the level I’m experiencing it is a part of depression, so I have to be super careful to keep an eye on it. And I know I’m not the only one.
Here’s the thing:
Overwhelm says, I have to push harder. I have to get more done. I have to meet the deadline.
According to Okun and Jones’s work on the culture of white supremacy, part of what we deal with every day are a false sense of urgency and unreasonable, inhumane deadlines and expectations. These expectations are often based on profit for a few at the expense of the quality of life, and even life span, of many.
Stress is real, friends. It is real, and it is eating us alive.
The Rapist-in-Chief is still – as of this writing – telling people not to worry about COVID-19. And yet it hangs over our every decision about whether or not to go shopping, to order take-out, to visit with friends and loved ones, to dare to go to the ER if something seems wrong.
COVID-19 is stressful.
We will see, come that fateful Tuesday in November, or in the days that follow, just how broken our democracy is. Will our votes be counted? Will the people with the most to lose be able to get to the polls? Will the Rapist-in-Chief – AGAIN – steal an election with the help of foreign powers?
Thinking about voting is stressful.
And the deadlines we’ve placed on ourselves or those who work with and for us, in employed work, in volunteer work, in church work…we make arbitrary decisions that cause a false sense of urgency that lead us to feel as though we have no choice but to plunge ahead, no matter how stressed out we are!
Thinking about work is stressful.
Our surge capacity is depleted – our ability is manage short-term threats is basically gone, friends, it’s gone. How the hell can we manage our lives? How ARE we managing our lives? And if we’re reading this letter, I am reminded as I write it, we’re likely to be pretty far up the status ladder of our culture. We know only the slightest bit of the damage being done…
But if you’re like me, your first instinct in all these cases is to push.
Push through the fear.
Don’t let anxiety about A FUCKING GLOBAL PANDEMIC “dominate you.”
Push through your work and come hell or high water, do everything you can to meet the deadlines, do the work, wear yourself threadbare and burn that candle at both ends.
But you know.
You know the way through.
Overwhelm is a sense of isolation, of broken connection from ourselves and from those who might help us. Overwhelm leaves us looking at the whole mess of everything before us, unable to choose one thing, just one thing, to pick up and put into its rightful place. Overwhelm is drowning in a sea of details… so what’s to do?
The key to that instinct to push, push, push is to resist pushing wherever you possibly can.
Renegotiate deadlines based on human capacity and flourishing, rather than what calendars call for at any given moment.
Cancel what is unnecessary. And be pretty darn ruthless about what is unnecessary.
Remember “No, I’m sorry, I just can’t,” is an acceptable answer.
And most important, dear friends, connect. Connect with friends. Connect with helpers.
And connect with that deep place within yourself that remembers who you are. A Child of Earth and Starry Heaven, A Child of the Universe. adequate for the situation at hand, given the help you need.
Connect with Divine, Beloved. Connect with the Divine. Just take five minutes – in the bathroom, if you have to, in the car, in a closet if necessary – and pause. Five minutes just to breathe. Just to breathe. Just to breathe. And then let your heart unfold, soft as owl’s feathers, tender as a newborn’s skin—so tender you can hardly feel it—open like a door welcoming the Divine to come in. Breathe, remember, to breathe, and remember, it’s just five minutes. You can do it. You can come to yourself. You can find the wherewithal to do what needs to happen in the next hour or two. You can. That’s all.
I know you can do it. Just try, try to be gentle with your hearts, in the midst of the chaos and the din and the noise of the news and the noise of the kids and the noise of our own worries. And try to surrender to the stillness that is under the noise, just for five minutes. And if you can’t do that, then try two and half minutes, and we’ll call it good. Remember, bathrooms and closets count.
On which note of gentleness, I tell you that I’m going to take lots more than five minutes. I’m going to take nearly a whole week off and try to re-member my own self. I took two and half days for Beltane in May, but that’s all the planned time off this year, friends, since New Year’s. And that’s just ridiculous and untenable for a brain and body like mine. So there will be no Reflections next week, and I shall be unavailable until the 19th. Trying to undo the overwhelm. Trying to rest, renew, read (trashy novel and then maybe something “edifying” and we’ll call it study leave? NO! Time OFF, you!)… see, I’m not so good at this either.
The prospect of time off is really scary for me. Even the five minutes I’ve prescribed for you are sometimes hard for me. But I know that when I pray, when I unfold the veils from around my heart and turn to the Wellspring of Love, there is always a drink for me there. Always a drink available. My life is always better when I go, go to the water.
I will still find false urgency painful and I will still have to work at finding ways to connect, but She Whose body encircles the Universe… The Goddess Whose love is poured forth upon the Earth… The One Who is the Source of Love and the Creator of Life… the God Whose gifts of solace and compassion are always available…
And it is all there, available, waiting for you. As the Sufis say, take ten steps toward the One and the One will take ten steps toward you.
Blessings of peace to your hearts, my loves –
Catharine
PS. For some lightness in your schedule, and an opening to both the fun and the gravity of the ancestors’ holidays, don’t forget to help us raise our glasses on the 29th.
The post How the Hell Can We Even Do Anything appeared first on The Way of the River.
Message from the Developmental Lead Minister
Oct. 6, 2020
“A real conversation always contains an invitation. You are inviting another person to reveal herself or himself t
o you, to tell you who they are or what they want.” -David Whyte
Gathering in small groups for meaningful conversation has long been a practice in our Unitarian Universalist tradition; from the colonial ancestors who met in homes to discern what form their church should take to the transcendentalist wom
en who held frequent salons to discuss the current issues of their day to the covenant groups of today whose members gather for deep sharing and deep listening, exploring common topics.
We claim conversation as a spiritual practice!
During this time when we must be physically distant from each other, Covenant Groups that meet via Zoom are a way to stay connected with FUUN. Members of these groups report that they form meaningful friendships with people they would not have known otherwise. Groups members learn new things about themselves, too.
Marguerite Mills, your Director of Lifespan Religious Education tells me that the Covenant Group program needs facilitators. Having facilitated a number of these groups myself over the years, I can attest to it being a rewarding experience. Training is provided. If you are interested in facilitating or being a member of a Covenant Group, contact Marguerite at
Nourish your spirit. Connect with others. Join a Covenant Group.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Halloween Parade
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2 p.m.
What will your car dress as for Halloween? What will you dress as? Come show us during the FUUN Halloween Parade at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 31. It will take place in the lower parking lot, and a parade route — along with other information — will be published soon. If you have questions, email Marguerite Mills, Director of Lifespan Religious Education, at mmills@firstuunash.org.
Don’t forget our Toast to the Ancestors on October 29th. More information below!
Dearests:
This edition of Reflections is written in honor of Rev. Judy Clymer Welles, who joined the Wise and Bright Mighty Dead on September 28, 2020, just as she wanted. She went with love, clarity, a brilliant autumn day, family members around her, finishing her obituary and several letters. Oh, and badgering her husband to get a puppy.
In part, because she did not get to vote yet here in Oregon, she wrote from her deathbed to friends in the Purple Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, reminding them to vote, reminding them that because she could not, they’d damned well better. This letter is inspired by her spirit and her admonitions to follow her example: care for the environment, care for her family and friends, and a deep and abiding tenderness for her faith tradition.
So it seems to me that in this season of bananapants – it has not been so long since the first Presidential “debate” in the US, the smoke of the West, and the fires continue – there are a couple of things that folks in the US (and maybe even elsewhere, frankly) might consider doing. And yes, this edition is about politics.
The first thing I wholeheartedly recommend is to curate your media intake very carefully. I know that I read more news that is strictly wholesome for my heart and mind. The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, the BBC, perhaps an article from The Atlantic my well-informed wife remarks on. She pays attention to BIPOC, feminist, sex-worker, and progressive activist Twitter in a way that I cannot imagine doing fruitfully. But she gets information from the people she trusts and she shares that information with me.
And that is the thing. Who to trust? I know that I am in the Facebook bubble much of the time, supporting an industrial giant about whom I have terribly mixed feelings. And yet I also know that Facebook is one of the platforms from which I have to offer what I think is important and useful. And if I have a platform, I feel obliged to use it.
Nevertheless, the project I bring to you today, one of them, is to rest from some of the national news. Look to your local news, and learn more. But rest today from national news, I dare you. (I’m going to try it too!)
Which brings me to the other side of my coin. This may not be your coin, you may not even have the coin to turn, but this is mine.
The Senate. Senate races in Texas, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan, to name a few, are places where Democrats with enough support, could win and help flip the balance of power. Furthermore, supporting their campaigns influences the Presidential race.
Also on this side of the coin, and in some ways most important is this: Learn about your local races and support candidates you believe in. The way the Religious “Right” came to power in the 1980’s was through the influence of school boards. And we are paying the price to this day in Creationism-supporting textbooks, lack of comprehensive sexuality education, and limited funding for public schools. Furthermore, those people who served on school board and local Commissions are now the people in your state assemblies, or even on the national stage.
Who is running for mayor in your city? For school board? For county commissioner? For the board of supervisors? Think about the appointments and influence these people have over day-to-day life. “Down ticket races,” as they are called, are hugely important. They determine land and water use, construction, city planning, the rights of corporations within some jurisdictions, and the welcome and safety of many marginalized people. These races matter.
So yes, I’m saying, let’s be alert, folks. Let’s pay attention to more than the bullying of the Rapist-in-Chief or the gaffes of the former Vice-President. AND I’m saying, let us take care of ourselves. I do not watch the Rapist-in-Chief talk. I cannot, without feeling as though I should double over with nausea. As one of our comrades said, I did not watch the debate in part because it’s not Biden’s strong suit, and in part because I do not watch his opponent.
Give money, time, postcards, and phone calls to races where it matters to you. But please, friends, do not wrap yourselves in the iron maiden of so much news that you cannot help despairing. Talk with your friends, but, as Fr. John O’Donohue reminded us in Reflections of two weeks ago, make it a habit not to stir one another up, but rather to be people of equanimity.
Resist and keep resisting. Do what you can. Throw sand into the gears. And support the people who are daring to wade into the political mess of the US right now. Remember the thousands of career federal employees who are trying their best at NIH and the CDC and NIMH, and OSHA to get their work done under the scrutiny of an administration that is headed by someone I cannot begin to diagnose or understand. Remember them, pray for them, help them when they ask for help.
Know that I love you. Just do your best – turtles and snails move slowly, but they move, and sometimes that’s all we can do or hope for.
Blessings of clear discernment to your hearts –
Catharine
PS – It feels so strange, after this love letter, to mention our upcoming party, A Toast for the Ancestors, but nonetheless, it’s coming up, and it’s going to be fun! During these times, we can think on our Dead, those who go before us through the veil from our Families of Blood, Choice, and Spirit. On October 29th, 5:30 Pacific time. We will gather to consider the mixed legacy of ancestry, the examples of love and care and the cautionary tales too. With both mirth and reverence, we will make toasts to those we miss, those we didn’t know, and those whose lives are lost in the mists of time.
Feel free to dress up – Hallowe’en is only two days later, after all – and, most important, bring a drink of your choice in a cup filled up to the very top so we can all share in the festivities. Register here!
The post We Need both Rest and Resistance appeared first on The Way of the River.
It’s time to reassess our communication at FUUN, and so I would love your feedback on what works best for you. This is especially important as your Director of Communication has had an expanded role bringing weekly live-streamed services to you and needs to put energy where it is most appreciated. I thank you in advance for participating in the process by filling out the suvey below.
–Sheri DiGiovanna, Director of Communication
Message from the Developmental Lead Minister
Sept. 29, 2020
“Joy and woe are woven fine, a clothing for the soul divine.” William Blake
When life got hard or when difficult news arrived, may dad would take a deep breath and say, “Woe is me.” For a small word, woe packs a big punch. It means great sorrow or distress. The word has gone out of fashion. One rarely hears it these days. It was my dad’s form of lament, an expression of the grief and sorrow he felt. “Woe is me.”
These are days of woe for Unitarian Universalists here in Nashville, with the deaths of two beloved FUUN members, Tom Hagood and Joan Moore – and then Elandria Williams, former co-moderator of the Unitarian Universalist Association and native Tennessean, died at the age of 41.
To lament is to give voice to the pain and anguish we feel at times of great loss. If ever there was a time for lamentation, it is now. Lamentation is good for the human spirit. One entire book of the Bible is dedicated to lamentation.
There is something in us as humans that wants to avoid painful feelings. Paradoxically, it is in going through them that we heal and are thus able to feel joy again. I think this is what William Blake meant when he said: “Joy and woe are woven fine.” Both are part of life.
In these hard days, I’m remembering my father’s way, simply voicing the woe that I feel. I’m remembering, too, that joy is a form of resistance. It’s okay to experience joy even when times are hard.
How are you giving voice to your deep sorrow and grief?
What are you doing to cultivate joy?
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Drive-thru Welcome for Rev. Diane Dowgiert: While many of us have met our Developmental Minister Rev. Diane Dowgiert through our small screens, most of us have not met her in person. Rev. Diane‘s Transition Support Team will host a safe and socially-distanced drive-thru opportunity to say hello and welcome, and to give her a chance to meet more members of the congregation. The event will take place Sunday, Oct. 4, 1-3 p.m. So plan to join us in a drive through the lower parking lot for a warm welcome to Rev. Diane into the FUUN family!
My dears –
Today, I offer you the second half of the poem by John O’Donohue, “gone too soon,” as we say, in 2008. The whole of the poem, which you can hear me reading below, includes some description at length what it is like to be exhausted.
But we know what it is to be exhausted, don’t we? And so I include here the parts of the poem that remind us—forcefully, even—of what cares for us when we are exhausted. What can we actually (not) do?
We know how it feels to be helpless, and, if we are lucky, to remember our own souls, to remember our “first, last, and only refuge.” O’Donohue helps us remember. O’Donohue is a master of writing about beauty, friendship, and truth – matters too often ignored these days, I think. And here, he reminds me about friendship with myself.
He reminds us, as Derek Walcott does in “Love after Love,” (a poem many of you have heard me read before and that I may read again soon in our group) that we have just forgotten ourselves. That we are not altogether lost, and that it is we ourselves who can find ourselves.
Do note, of course, “Be excessively gentle with yourself.” O’Donohue goes even further than “persistently gentle” to “excessively gentle.” The other day, I misremembered the line as, “obsessively gentle,” and it got me through a day of substantial physical pain. Excessive. Obsessive, at the very, very least, persistent.
The other piece that stands out to me is this: “Learn to linger around someone of ease / Who feels they have all the time in the world.”
Can we learn not only to draw alongside of such people, but then to become such people? We do have all the time in the world; we have all the time the world will give us, each of us, and that’s all there is. In my world, staying clear of those vexed in spirit means avoiding images, sounds, or videos of the Rapist-in-Chief, as well as just minding my own relationships.
But as the West burns and the South floods and smoke travels across the country, it is hard, friends; it is hard not to be vexed in spirit. Let us help one another become people to linger around. Let us help one another imitate stone and twilight and things that are both sturdy and soft.
And then we, like the Prodigal Children, may come home to ourselves. Home, home, home with our souls. To a place from which the ease of spirit we have allows the Spirit of love to flow through and touch everyone we touch.
So much love,
Catharine
“You have travelled too fast over false ground; Now your soul has come to take you back. Take refuge in your senses, open up To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain When it falls slow and free.
Imitate the habit of twilight, Taking time to open the well of color That fostered the brightness of day.
Draw alongside the silence of stone Until its calmness can claim you. Be excessively gentle with yourself.
Stay clear of those vexed in spirit. Learn to linger around someone of ease Who feels they have all the time in the world.
Gradually, you will return to yourself, Having learned a new respect for your heart And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
From Benedictus: A Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue
PS—clear your calendars!! Thursday night, 8:30 Eastern, October 29th to PARTAY with the Mighty Dead. Look for more information soon on A Toast for the Ancestors!
The post Doing No-Thing to Come to Ourselves appeared first on The Way of the River.
Attached media: https://thewayoftheriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GMT20200915-153407Catharine-.m4a
Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH) Voter Challenge
For all of us in NOAH, democracy and voting rights are as sacred as they are personal. First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville is joining NOAH organization members throughout Nashville to strive for 100% registration and voting among all eligible members. As John Lewis so beautifully expressed in his New York Times essay, printed on the day of his funeral, “The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”
We are asking you today to make a personal pledge ensuring that you are registered and ready to vote in the November election. We also encourage you to reach out to other First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville members and encourage them to complete the pledge. With your help and influence we are confident we can reach 100% of eligible voters.
Our campaign kicks-off today! Our theme is simple and non-partisan… “Vote Like Our Future Depends On It.” We need your help making sure this message reaches every member. When you complete the pledge, you will find opportunities to participate in our efforts, and to pledge to attend the NOAH Public Meeting on Oct. 25.
We hope you will commit to democracy and take this pledge today!
It’s time to UU the Vote! Are you interested in turning the tide of American politics through the lens of Unitarian Universalist values? Please mark your calendars for UUCE’s engagement with voters in other states – where getting them to vote is CRITICAL.
Kickoff: UU the Vote Nationwide event, “Gather the Spirit” is Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 6:30 p.m. Be a part of the team that helps us achieve our goal of reaching out to 1 million voters by Nov. 3. Join us for the last UU the Vote virtual mobilization before Election Day. At our Gather the Spirit event, we are unlocking the full power of our community and our values to go All In during the UU the Vote Fall push.
We’ll have musicians, speakers from our national partners, and volunteers announcing our progress toward our goal to contact 1 million voters!
To sign up to attend Gather the Spirit, click here.
Full Interview with Dr. Paulette Coleman (9/10/20)
Appointment
As you know Mayor Cooper appointed me to the MDHA Board in October 2019 and I attended my first meeting December 10, 2020. After the Mayor’s recommendation, there is a meeting/interview with the Council Committee that reviews the Mayor’s recommendations for boards and commissions. That Committee makes a recommendation to the full Council and the full Council votes the recommended person, up or down.
Role and Purpose of MDHA
The MDHA Board of Commissioners is comprised of seven members, two of whom are residents of MDHA housing. The members are appointed by the mayor. The Board of Commissioners meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 11:30 AM. At these monthly meetings, the Board of Commissioners establishes policies, approves expenditures and gives guidance to the staff in carrying out the Agency’s programs, and hears reports from the Executive Director. The Board works through several committees known as Development, Finance and Audit, Management Review, Housing and Community Services, and Personnel and Career Development.
The meetings are open to the public and usually take place in the Gerald Nicely Building, located at 701 South Sixth Street. During the pandemic and in accordance with Governor Lee’s Executive Orders, meetings of the Housing Agency are held virtually.
MDHA was established in 1938 to serve the citizens of Nashville by providing safe, decent, and affordable housing. Initially, MDHA had a singular focus on public housing. Over time, that focus has evolved to include development and redevelopment districts, TIF (Tax Increment Financing), CDBG (Community Development Block Grant Program), PBRA (Project Based Rental Assistance) under RAD, the Voucher Program, etc.
Questions
What is the purpose/plans of the MDHA Board that you have been appointed to?
1) Partially addressed above. Part of MDH’s strategic plan includes a policy of de-concentrating poverty through the recapitalization and transformation of its legacy public housing developments starting with Cayce Place, Sudekum Apartments, Napier Place, and Edgehill Apartments. In January 2020, MDHA successfully completed the RAD (Rental Assistance Demonstration) conversion, which is a major shift in the character and operation of current housing. Given the continuing decrease of HUD funding for traditional public housing, MDHA’s move to RAD conversion is positive and proactive. This change is not without its critics and challenges, but all change in public policies produces increased scrutiny and that is healthy. MDHA is a high-performing PHA and is at the forefront of RAD conversions nationally. As outlined in the Public Housing Authority Plan, the following is a summary of MDHA’s plans:
A. Continue replacing its legacy family housing with new mixed income housing developed with a multiplicity of funding sources including Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) and market rate bank loans, HOME grants, state and federal Housing Trust Fund grants, Federally insured multi-family loans, private donations, and MDHA equity.
B. Conversion of Public Housing to Project-Based Assistance under RAD
C. Project Based Vouchers MDHA Board of Commissioners approved up to 1,400 of its allocation of Housing Choice Vouchers to be converted to Project Based. MDHA has issued an RFP for 900 of these units.
Goal 1. Increase the supply of MDHA-Owned Housing
Goal 2. Increase and improve the Supply and Access to Housing Choice Vouchers
Goal 3. Sustain Viable Communities and the Urban Core
Goal 4. Pursue the Best Housing and Business Practices
2) How does the appointment correlate with NOAH’s AHTF goals? My appointment to the MDHA Board is related to the work of the NOAH Affordable Housing Task Force in that it provides an opportunity for NOAH’s commitment to addressing Nashville’s affordable housing crisis and increasing the inventory of affordable housing to be an integral part of the discussions, deliberations, policies, and actions of the MDHA. Even with the RAD conversions, the inventory of affordable housing units is not significantly increased, because the units being built are largely replacements for demolished units. Though they are new, modern, and attractive and within a mixed-income development featuring workforce and market-rate apartments in the same building.
NOAH’s commitment to an Office of (Affordable) Housing staffed with best in class civil servants, a dedicated and recurring source of funding for the Barnes Fund, and other goals are beyond the scope of the MDHA’s mission and function. These goals cannot be accomplished by MDHA alone. With the presence of two current members of the NOAH Affordable Housing Task Force as MDHA Commissioners, the opportunity exists for MDHA to be an ally as NOAH seeks to respond proactively, innovatively, and justly to Nashville’s affordable housing crisis.
3) What has been achieved so far? Having served less than a year as a Commissioner, I would be hard pressed to say that xyz has been accomplished in that time frame. With most current commissioners having served for less than three years, I can say that there is an incredible expectation of greater transparency of how information is conveyed to the Board and shared with the public. The work of MDHA necessitates much advance planning; long range time lines; periodic reviews, evaluations, and adjustments; extraordinary collaborations; and an agility to comply with HUD, state, local, and other rules, regulations, and polices while producing more affordable housing.
One of the major and very significant transitions within MDHA is a greater emphasis on the H in housing, rather than the D in development in it current work and future plans. While MDHA may not be the driver for solving Nashville’s affordable housing crisis, it has unique capabilities and experiences that should inform those developing solutions.
4) What are your feelings about MDHA? My feelings about MDHA are that it seeks to put tenants first. This was demonstrated to me in MDHA’s swift and empathetic responses to tenants whose homes were damaged by the tornadoes. They were rehoused in good hotels until their damaged units were repaired. They were provided meals, and provided new accommodations, if needed. I think they also received vouchers to assist them through the difficult post-tornado recovery period and I believe, counselling, if warranted.
Another example of this is the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Voucher households program which promotes homeownership and economic empowerment. Among MDHA residents, there are a number who are dialysis patients. Getting back and forth to treatment was problematic. MDHA was able to get a dialysis unit on site to overcome the transportation problem. MDHA went further and then developed a training program so that residents could receive training to be become dialysis techs and earn somewhere around $15/hour. I believe 11 residents have completed the training and been employed during the four years that the program has been in existence.
My final example of this relates to MDHAs response to COVID-19 and how best to protect residents. The voluntary testing of all residents and special precautions applied to the residences for seniors have resulted in very few positive results in the senior residences. The start-up of voluntary testing may have been a little awkward and flat-footed, but MDHA immediately self-corrected and made adjustments and testing is proceeding well. In all of these examples, sensitivity to realities, a humane response to each situation, careful monitoring, flexibility and capacity to adjust, collaborations, and good community relationships have all contributed to the success of the examples cited.
MDHA is a very complex organization with lots of moving parts that are strictly regulated by HUD. I had the opportunity to attend the PHADA (Public Housing Authorities Directors’ Association) Conference in Phoenix and saw first hand the high regard with which Jim Harbison, the Executive Director, and MDHA as an agency are viewed by his and its peers. Regarding RAD, MDHA is a rock star and is the only PHA that has converted fully to RAD, though the final outcome is still a work in progress. There are very hard working, ethical, and talented employees at MDHA.
5) What do you hope for? With the recent resignation of the MDHA Executive Director, I hope for the continued and expanded success of the agency. I also hope and pray for MDHA to be a leader in helping to address Nashville’s critical affordable housing problem in the near term. I would also like to see a comprehensive plan for affordable housing in Nashville, with MDHA being involved in that process. At the recent MDHA Board meeting on September 8th, Ms. Denise Cleveland-Liggett, the US HUD Southeast Regional Administrator announced virtually another singular honor for MDHA of receiving the designation of an Envision Center, the first in Tennessee. There are four Envision Centers in Kentucky, two in Georgia, and now one in Tennessee at MDHA. Envision Centers are important because they connect low-income households with a variety of resources and tools that offer pathways to economic opportunity and self-sufficiency.
Message from the Developmental Lead Minister
Sept. 15, 2020
“Perhaps love is like a resting place, a shelter from the storm.” –John Denver
Several years ago, my husband A.J. and I took a vacation to Lake Powell. We shared a houseboat with three other couples to explore the human-made reservoir on the Colorado River, nestled in the deep desert canyons of Utah and Arizona.
The day was bright and sunny as we loaded our food, clothes, and camping gear onto the boat. A.J. was the designated boat captain that first day. With high spirits, we made our way out of the port and into the channel lined with steep red cliffs. We hadn’t gone far when the sky turned dark, the wind kicked up, torrential rains began to fall, and we were in the midst of a dangerous monsoon storm.
A.J. was at the helm. I stood next to him. Everyone from the back of the boat started shouting, “Turn around! Turn around!” Having studied the map before embarking, A.J. knew there was a small cove not too far ahead. He shouted back, “This is a big boat that doesn’t turn quickly. It will take too long to turn back. What I need you to do is keep your eyes out for an opening in the rocks. There’s a cove ahead where we can shelter until the storm passes.”
We did make it to that cove. The storm did pass. Our plans for the rest of the trip changed. We didn’t get to see all that we had hoped, but a lovely vacation was had by all.
I took several lessons from that day. They all apply to church life. Here are a few. One is that large, moving objects don’t turn quickly. While turning back is the instinctual response, continuing straight ahead may be the less risky choice. Finally, the old adage of “any port in a storm” is actually wise advice.
In these stormy times, there is no turning back. The waters ahead are uncertain, and the map isn’t clear. My hope for each of you is that you have found a safe enough port, one that provides refuge and shelter from the storms we find ourselves in these days.
It is the people, not the place that make a church. Even when we must be physically distant from each other, the church is where we can turn to find strength, courage, support, and love – a resting place for the spirit.
Together, we will make it through to the other side.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
Turn, Turn, Turn: UUA Southern Region Virtual Assembly 2020
Saturday, Nov. 14 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Join your Southern Region staff team and sibling Unitarian Universalist congregations in the Southern Region for a day of collaboration and learning. UUA President Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray will be the keynote speaker in the morning.
Afternoon workshops include:
Registration fee: $20 per person. We hope you’ll join us! Register here today.
Beloveds –
Today, differently from last week, I am considering the way in which I do not have privilege, the ways in which I am in what is called below, an identity of struggle. Last week was about white skin privilege. This week, bringing in some thoughts of intersectionality, is about what feels like everything else.
Yes, I have white skin privilege, the great and enduring problem of unearned power built on the backs of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Yes, I have cisgender privilege, the ease of moving through life with the easy grace of someone who knows that her gender is unlikely to be misread, except in extraordinary circumstances, and the knowledge that people will use the pronouns I find appropriate to my gender as I understand it. I also carry educational privilege, not only for the degrees I have, but for the academic family out of which I came. That family gave me explicit understandings of some class pretensions that didn’t come from our socioeconomic status, but from our academic environment and our family history.
Then again, there are other things going on. If you are a regular reader of Reflections, then you know that I carry lots of other identities. I carry the trauma, however much it fades at times, of being sexually assaulted more than once. I have largely invisible, largely managed mental illness, the kind that a dear friend who shares my diagnosis, calls “batshit crazy.” I have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (ADHD), and I include the “h” because while my body is not hyperactive, my mind certainly is. I am a woman, and I was a girl, taught how to cross my legs, not to let people see the underwear beneath my skirts as I nonetheless climbed trees and jungle gyms, or how to speak at parties. I am very fat—probably the fattest person you know—and I have as recently as last year, been harassed on the street just for the crime of Walking While Fat. Chairs often don’t fit me comfortably, safely, or at all. In some regards related to that (though not entirely so) I am physically disabled and walk with a cane when in public. Physical disability, mental illness, neurodivergence, fat, trauma. There’s a lot going on in the hand I have been dealt, and sometimes I forget that.
It’s a lot. And I can sometimes forget that when I’m talking only about white privilege. One of my favorite writers, adrienne maree brown, herself a disciple – that is to say, a “follower” – of Octavia Butler, has a list of things to remember on her blog of March 12, 2018. Thoughts. Facts. Shifts. And what she calls a mantra:
“Mantra: Where we are born into privilege, we are charged with dismantling any myth of supremacy. Where we are born into struggle, we are charged with claiming our dignity, joy and liberation.”
As I wrote last week, those of us with privilege—being temporarily able-bodied, having white skin privilege, being thin or athletic or both, for example—have the obligation to go beyond our fragility and even our understanding of our fragility and move to dismantle myths of supremacy. Not just acknowledge them while we continue to benefit from them, but to relinquish power, to center others, to take apart the supremacy we and others equally undeserving, have been given.
Today, though, I write about the second piece: “Where we are born into struggle, we are charged with claiming our dignity, joy, and liberation.” I would add that it is not only those places where we are born into struggle, but also those places where identities of struggle come upon us later. When I was assaulted, I moved from innocence to victimhood to surviving to largely thriving. When my bipolar disorder began to really come on strong in my adolescence – and yes, maybe I was born with it, but I think it’s more likely I had a predilection, something that was triggered, as the study of Adverse Childhood Experiences suggests – I moved from someone with deliciously happy memories of an early childhood to someone who struggled every damn day against the voices in her head telling her if she had any guts, any sense of duty, any reason, she’d kill herself as soon as she could get to something really good and sharp. Certainly, growing very fat, partly as a result of genetics, and later on, a result of reactions to psychiatric medications, partly as a result of a sedentary time brought about by life-threatening illness, and Goddess only knows what-all else…. Certainly that has been very hard and seems likely to steal joy, no? Steal joy and make me wonder whether I have right to be here at all!
So.
The question becomes, then, according to brown, how do I “claim…dignity, joy, and liberation”?
The first thing, I think, is just to name it. To name that I have the right to live with joy and the reality that I DO. What a concept to have to name. Is it okay to name that I sometimes delight in the softness of my skin, the roundness of my cheeks? That even as I do struggle with my left knee’s protests and the difficulty I have in standing up straight (my lower back and belly sometimes feel as though they’re at war), I still can, enjoy the movement of my body through water or pedaling at my underdesk “bike”?
Am I joyful, ever, in my ADHD, which causes so many difficulties for me? ADHD makes some things that others find easy, obvious, and necessary very difficult, obscure, and needless for me. Am I joyful, ever, when I have to deal with such things? Or given that I have what is considered to be a “severe” mental illness – “bipolar type 1 with psychotic features” (I love that they call them “features” when I definitely think they’re “bugs!”)?
Do I dare to be joyful?
Damn right I do. I am joyful in my work. I am joyful right now, writing to you. I am joyful in my marriage, in my multitude of friends, in my family, in the feeling of this red dress I’m wearing, and certainly in my coloring my hair bright purple.
So there’s that. But what about dignity. What is dignified about being really, most sincerely fat? What is dignified about having visible and invisible disabilities? What is dignified about walking with a cane? What is dignified about daring to be femme in a fat body – don’t I just look like a pig with lipstick on, as Sarah Palin once famously said?
Dignity is harder than joy. Joy I can identify immediately. Dignity, especially when people are seeing me, or worse, seeing me when I’m having a hard time walking, or even worse yet, when I’m snappish or confused or need help doing something… am I worthy of dignity then?
brown says yes. brown says that not only do I have dignity in the struggle, but that I must claim it for my own. Here we are, then, I’m telling you I’m trying to do it. Just as I am practicing receiving “no,” as regular readers may remember, I’m now going to practice the art of claiming my own dignity in the face of society’s insistence that I focus only on its lack.
Finally, adrienne maree brown says that we—those with identities of struggle—says that we must claim our own liberation.
It is clear to me that we can only claim liberation once we’ve claimed dignity, and even a farther reach for some of us, joy. (For me, as you’ve seen, it is the other direction that is hard, but I know that for me, joy is the elusive piece.) Liberation only comes out of difficult wrestling with those with privilege.
Because those of you with privilege, relative to these things I have named – using myself just as an example – need to let go. You need to relinquish your hold on the wand of power and the right to that power. Otherwise, you risk having it wrenched from you by the furious and indignant people you (whether intentionally or unintentionally) crush toward the ground.
So I suppose claiming my liberation is a process too. A process that proceeds from the growth of joy and dignity.
Will you practice with me, those of you who have identities of struggle? Will you acknowledge the ways struggle and privilege tango and tangle? Will you let go where you need to loosen your grip and claim and reach even through conflict what is yours by right?
I’m going to try to. I invite you to join me.
Blessings on you and on your house –
~Catharine~
The post Joy, Dignity, and Liberation appeared first on The Way of the River.
Looking for a way to engage with First UU? Come join our choir! Rehearsals are Thursday nights at 7pm on ZOOM. Learn good vocal technique, sing together over the internet (there are things we can do!) and learn special pieces for our upcoming ‘distance sings’.
Email music@firstuunash.org to sign up!
Although this is not programming for children, they are welcome to attend with an adult.
Looking for a way to engage with First UU? Come join our choir! Rehearsals are Thursday nights at 7pm on ZOOM. Learn good vocal technique, sing together over the internet (there are things we can do!) and learn special pieces for our upcoming ‘distance sings’.
Email music@firstuunash.org to sign up!
Although this is not programming for children, they are welcome to attend with an adult.
It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Tom Hagood died early this morning from complications of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Wife Margy May and daughter Sarah were able to be with him throughout his hospitalization and while he was in hospice care. A memorial service has yet to be planned. At this time of loss, may all those who knew and loved Tom be held in the warm embrace of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville.
Did you post an ‘I Voted’ selfie on your social media last year? Are you voting by mail? We want to see you engaging your right to vote for our Music Sunday in October.
Three things to know about this:
Upload your photos here by midnight, Thursday, Oct. 8.
NOAH’s Criminal Justice Task Force will hold a PRESS CONFERENCE Thursday, Sept. 10th at 2 pm at the Metro Nashville Police Department Headquarters located at 600 Murfreesboro Rd. We will present a LIST OF DEMANDS for Nashville and its Police Department to meet, in view of the multiple shootings of Black men & women in our city and country in the last 2 years.
The demands include:
We need POSTERS of the above demands and the 8 CAN’T WAIT Campaign Zero Policies that are known to reduce police killings. The eight policies are:
We will bring Disposable Face Masks and Hand Sanitizer for those who personally attend. Parking is located in the Family Safety Center next to Police HQ’s, off Murfreesboro Rd. (intersection of Foster, 2 blocks from Fessler Lane).
After the press conference (around 2:30) there will be a car parade Those of us who do not participate in person can express their action in cars with the posters displayed. We will line up at the Family Safety Center. After the press conference Shawn Whitsell, Jane Boram, or Jerome Moore will be there to for people to connect with and they give instructions on the parade.
The Personnel Committee needs a chair and would welcome additional members. This important committee oversees update of job descriptions, staff salaries, and evaluations, as well as helping to recruit staff and ensure their timely hiring. An understanding of employment issues and some management or personnel experience are desirable. If you’d like to hear more about the committee, please contact Allison Thompson, Carol Copple, or Kathy Hiller (email addresses are in Breeze).
November 3 is fast approaching. Even closer is early voting. And if you want to vote by mail, you need to get your ballot (see vote.org) and mail it early. The free and fair election we all want isn’t a given this year. Here are steps we can take to make sure that everyone’s vote is counted and we all stay safe.
Make your plan to vote. Plan now whether you’ll vote on election day, go for early voting October 14-29), or use a mail in ballot. For casting your vote, here are the tools, deadlines, and rules. See www.vote.org/state/tennessee/ and www.nbcnews.com/specials/plan-your-vote-state-by-state-guide-voting-by-mail-early-in-person-voting-election/.
Act to combat voter suppression. Among other groups, the ACLU offers a range of actions you can take to help protect the election www.aclu.org/action/. A very valuable one is to volunteer as a poll official provided you are eligible and feel safe doing so. In light of covid 19, many older citizens—typically the mainstay poll workers—are deciding that in light of covid they can’t serve this year. So we face an urgent need for younger citizens to step up so polling places can all remain open. See www.nashville.gov/Election-Commission/Poll-Officials.aspx
Promote voter turnout. The pandemic changes the ways we can work to boost turnout. Door knocking, for example, can’t be done as it was. But there are many actions we can take, such as phone banking (lots of options online—google to find one that suits you), writing postcards (try postcardstoswingstates.com or postcardstovoters.org/), using social media to reach your Facebook friends, and sending group texts about voting to all the people in your contacts list callhub.io/send-election-campaign-text-messages/.
NOAH (Nashville Organized for Action and Hope) is active year-round in working on critical issues with the people of Nashville, especially those whose voices are rarely heard. NOAH works to integrate these ongoing community actions with voter engagement, using a nationwide, bipartisan model known as Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE). In a usual election cycle, NOAH does IVE training for door knocking and other community conversations. This year when interaction has to be more distant, outreach and conversations will be largely virtual. NOAH is asking member organizations like FUUN to join the Voter Challenge Campaign and enlist 100% of our membership in committing to register and vote. FUUN congregants will soon get an email with details on making and acting on this commitment.
Like the Integrated Voter Engagement NOAH is working with, the UUA’s UU the Vote is about integrating electoral engagement into our ongoing strategies for change so that we are advancing our vision of a just world and beloved community in every arena available to us. Google uuthevote.org/ to learn more about it.
Senior Brunch originally scheduled for Oct. 31 has been cancelled as our campus continues to be closed.
Be safe. We look forward to the time in the future when we can meet again.
Mid-week Email
Message from the Developmental Lead Minister
Sept. 1, 2020
“I say it is our need for one another that binds us together.” -Elizabeth Tarbox
It is times like these – these very times we are living through – that I am reminded of just how precious a gathered community of kindred souls is. I have often wondered how anyone can get through life without a religious community, especially during the inevitable trials and tribulations that come with being alive. In our Unitarian Universalist congregations, there is a love beyond belief that is available to each and every person during their time of need. I am grateful for each of you who have made the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville such a place. I am grateful, too, for the wider association of Unitarian Universalists of which we are a part. We are not alone in this endeavor of co-creating the beloved community.
This past week, the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, put out a video message of comfort and hope for these challenging times. I find her words to be heart-felt and inspiring, so I have included a link to the video here. If you have not yet seen it, I encourage you to do so by using this link: vimeo.com/450181394.
During the month of September our services will explore the theme of forgiveness. We’ll consider what it means and how we might forgive ourselves and each other amid all the complex choices this time of pandemic presents. Rev. Frederick-Gray says “This is no time for a casual faith, and, this is no time to go it alone.” It is because we need one another that we practice forgiveness: repairing, restoring, and renewing the tie that binds us in relationship to each other and to life.
As you go about your daily life, know that you are not alone. The spirit of this loving community is always with you.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane
The Beloved Community Committee has setup an email group to be used for notifying members of upcoming anti-racism activities. There’s so much going on these days. We feel there’s a need for timely notifications about activity that we can participate in.
If you’d like your email address to be included in this email group, send an email to beloved@thefuun.org.
WWUUD stream 
