"The Thing Is" (poem) by Ellen Bass

to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you down like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.

"Rabbit" (poem) by Heather Swan

After a long numbness, I wake
and suddenly I’m noticing everything,
all of it piercing me with its beautiful,
radical trust: the carpenter bee tonguing
the needles of echinacea believing
in their sweetness, the exuberance
of an orange day lily unfolding itself
at the edge of the street, and the way
the moss knows the stone, and the stone
accepts its trespass, and the way the dog
on his leash turns to see if I’m holding on,
certain I know where to go. And the way
the baby rabbit - whose trembling ears
are the most delicate cups - trusts me,
because I pried the same dogs’ jaws
off his hips, and then allows me to feed him
clover when his back legs no longer work,
forcing me to think about forgiveness
and those I need to forgive, and to hope
I am forgiven, and just maybe
I can forgive myself. This unstoppable,
excruciating tenderness everywhere inviting
us, always inviting. And then later, the firefly
illuminating the lantern of its body,
like us, each time we laugh.

"A Good Story" (poem) by Ada Limón

Some days--dishes piled in the sink, books littering the coffee table--

are harder than others. Today, my head is packed with cockroaches,

dizziness and everywhere it hurts. Venom in the jaw, behind the eyes,

between the blades. Still, the dog is snoring on my right, the cat, on my left.

Outisde, all those redbuds are just getting good. I tell a friend, The body

is so body. And she nods. I used to like the darkest stories, the bleak

snippets someone would toss out about just how bad it could get.

My stepfather told me a story about when he lived on the streets as a kid,

how he'd, some nights, sleep under the grill at a fast food restaurant until both he and his buddy got fired. I used to like that story for some reason,

something in me that believed in overcoming. Bur right now all I want 

is a story about human kindness, the way once when I couldn't stop

crying because I was fifteen and heartbroken, he came in and made

me eat a small pizza he'd cut up into tiny bites until the tears stopped.

Maybe I was just hungry, I said. And he nodded, holding out the last piece.

"The End" (poem) by Lynn Ungar

Perhaps you’ve held this image in your head since you were young –
the meteor blazing towards earth,
the seismic shock of impact,
a lethal rain of molten rock falling from the sky,
followed by months or years of dusk and winter.

Dinosaurs – gone.
Lush jungles – gone.
Teaming seas – empty.
Billions of years of evolution wiped from the earth.

Only, of course, not.
After all, a paltry 65 million years later,
here we are.

I don’t know what kind of small and scuttling creatures found a way to make it through.
Nor do I know how.
All I know is that there was an explosion of new life the likes of which the world has never seen.

Evolution is the predicate of death.
The sentence is not complete.

The end of the world as you know it is not the end of the world.

"What Matters" by Terri Kirby Erickson (poem)

The present has arrived
and you are in it. Your heart
is pumping. Your breath moves

in and out of your lungs without
anyone's help or permission.
Let go of everything else. Let

your life, handed to you through
no effort of your own, be all
the proof you need. You are loved.

Ross Gay - Forward to poetry collection "How to Love the World"

I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about witness, about how witness is itself a kind of poetics, or poesis, which means making. By which I mean I have been wondering about how we make the world in our witnessing of it. Or maybe I have come to understand, to believe, how we witness makes our world. This is why attending to what we love, what we are astonished by, what flummoxes us with beauty, is such crucial work. Such rigorous work. Likewise, studying how we care, and are cared for, how we tend and are tended to, how we give and are given, is such necessary work. It makes the world. Witnessing how we are loved and how we love makes the world.

"In Any Event" by Dorianne Laux (poem)

If we are fractured
we are fractured
like stars
bred to shine
in every direction,
through any dimension,
billions of years
since and hence.

I shall not lament
the human, not yet.
There is something
more to come, our hearts
a gold mine
not yet plumbed,
an uncharted sea.

Nothing is gone forever.
If we came from dust
and will return to dust
then we can find our way
into anything.

What we are capable of
is not yet known,
and I praise us now,
in advance.

UUABQ Poetry Service 6/26/2022

Video


Heather Swan - "Rabbit"

Two poems named "Water" by Michelle Otero

"The Thing Is" by Ellen Bass

"With or Without Candlelight" by John Marsh

"The Word" by Tony Hoagland

Ada Limón - "A Good Story"

"Small Kindnesses" by Danusha Laméris

GA 2022 - Portland - Day 3

 

The Rev. Susan Grey @ rally on the day SCOTUS trashed Roe v. Wade:

"I am furious. I am filled with holy fury at the way our lives and our rights are being taken away. Women's rights, transpeople's lives and healthcare, BIPOC communities lives and freedom - we are in this struggle in solidarity. There are more of us than there are of them, and we will win. 

There is a holy spirit in us. A spirit of courage and power that knows that liberation is only possible when we are free - when every single one of us is free. We cannot be divided in this movement by identity. We have to fight on all the issues, because the system of fascist, authoritarianism, Christo-ethno-nationalism is coming for us all. And we're not going to take it. We will not be silent. We will not give up our rights. We will disobey the law. We will protect each other. 

Reproductive justice is health care. It is a fundamental right. It is about liberation. It is about bodily autonomy. Are you ready to fight for one another? We are in this struggle together, my siblings. And the spirit of love and the spirit of justice and the spirit known by so many names is with us in this struggle. We will not be silent. We will fight for every single one of us. And we will win. And we will not stop fighting until we win. Can I get an amen?"

Accountability, Justice, and Wholeness: UU Theologies of Liberation

Rev. Sofia Betancourt

"Religion pushes us past ignorance to love hard enough to do better."

"There is something at our core so unshakeable that our dignity cannot be taken away."

"How does what you believe drive your understanding to make justice in the world?"

I believe in multiple truths and the arc of universe toward justice. This makes me work toward justice of journey for multiple communities, and any answer that's held out as unassailable is probably to be questioned.

Collective salvation - to be saved together. Collective liberation - I cannot be free until all are free.

I cannot be whole (not the opposite of broken. Broken is fully human) -- resonant, complete self and presence and promise in the world. 

Accountability toward justice to find our way toward wholeness. (Grace that does not need to be earned. Intrinsically whole yet work to do in this lifetime to ...)

"Dignity and worth require communal lamentation and repair." Can't skip ahead to wholeness, even though it is a promise of our faith. 

"We have to tell the truth about the harms that we have caused and GRIEVE about it."

Without repair, we cannot build toward equity. Without equity, we cannot build toward wholeness. 

Collective wholeness... calls us to the work of spiritual practice. Calls us to lament. Let me be a conduit for making amends. In the service of our greater wholeness.

"What helps you hold the promise of wholeness when days are difficult?"

"Just because we have inherent worth doesn't mean we're always manifesting that worth."

"Wholeness - living as fully as possible into the fullness / promise of what it is to be human. Inherent worth should be so big that it's hard to conceive of."

"I don't mean perfection. Living into a full promise. Not possible alone. That's why UUs still gather in community."

"Covenant without consequences is not covenant. You can come back when you do the work of repair. We must be able to say no in UU spaces - with love - based on our principles. We will be here when you are ready to do the work. But we will not wallow in harm until then. You can always come home, but you gotta come right."

Building Resilience Through Mindfulness in Communication

• Dandy Prinsloo
• Daniel Romero

Dr. Dan Siegel

GA 2022 - Portland - Day 2

 Article II Commission

Shared values

What are the actions we are called to do as a result of these values?

"Because I value ________, I covenant to ___________"

Dandelion (Dandy) Prinsloo

"Accountability, we love her! Obligation, we love her!"

Rev. Mykal Slack

"[It's important to have] some clear understanding about accountability when harm is done. Covenant doesn't mean much if we're not willing to have those hard conversations... how to name harm, what to do about it when harm is done - when it's ok, and when it's good to say 'enough is enough'. It matters that we're willing, in the context of something as powerful as covenant, to say, 'Actually, that cannot be. That cannot happen anymore. If you continue to do THAT, this is not the space for you.' 

We have to be willing to say those hard things in the context of something as valuable as covenant. And being able to communicate that? That is all a part of leading in community where covenant is present. Helping everyone understand the value of those things and help people move through those things in meaningful ways in a way that offers care and in a way that is clear. 

Any commitments we make to each other - have to be relational and not individualistic, they have to be robust, and not reluctant. It's important that they are transformational and not static, empowering and not stale. And the only way for that to happen is if it is a living, breathing agreement that shifts and moves as we need to move, and as we get clear about what it means to move in concert with one another."

Dr. Élias Ortega

"Our religious faith is a covenantal faith. It is a faith where we come as we are but not necessarily remain the same. This journey is a journey of transformation, of new being."

Neuroscience and Ethics

 

"The practice of love begins with acceptance."

Mirror neurons. Are our brains wired for empathy?

1. Brain activity observed in insula.  Body budget. Non-linear, ancestral workings. How well someone can read their own bodies and have feeling responses. Variability measured. We don't have mirror neurons for others' neurons. We interpret and rely on our stories. Early stories about survival of the fittest was tied to male-dominated scientists. Now that women are biologists, too, more research on nurturing and collective care, compassion. 

2. Need more cross-disciplinary work. Biased toward any reduction that says one part of the brain is thinking / doing communal attunement. Emotions are not separate from rational brain / thinking. Brain is a connected symphony (not 3 parts).

Book recommendation:

• How Emotions Happen - Lisa Feldman Barrett

Poem - My Heart is Moved by All I Cannot Save - Adrienne Rich

My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed

I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,

with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.

#463, Singing the Living Tradition

Original source:  Dream of a Common Language (1978)

Songs - Dr. Thomas Rideout

 Youtube channnel for UUA

River

Building Bridges

Where You Go, I Will Go

General Assembly - Portland - 2022 - Day 1

 Attending virtually. 

President's Report, General Assembly 2022

So far, great quote by the Rev. Susan Grey (and UUA President): 

Joy feels like love and moves like freedom.

"The rise of authoritarianism, fascism and white Christian ethno nationalism is a reality in our country, and elsewhere. Unitarian Universalists have always been positioned to play crucial roles in the struggle for expanding freedom, equity and democracy. ....

We are in a liminal time, letting go of what has been, in that middle space in between, as we reach for what is next and create it together. Who will we be? How are we called? How is love calling us? 

What I witnessed in the midst of struggle and uncertainty is a fiery flame of vitality. This courage growing in us, this spiritual renewal in depth growing from our theological foundations. This practice of leaning into partnership and interdependence like never before. 

We are building a road together and singing songs, songs that are both new but echo the songs of those who came before us, leaving a road for us to follow. 

For five years now I have said it is no time for a casual faith and it is no time to go it alone. Now is the time to realize that we were made for this moment, that we are the people we have been waiting for. 

Now is the time to take more seriously the life saving ministry of our religious communities and our religious education ministry. To invest boldly and generously in our own congregations as a strong foundation for people to heal, to grow and to resist. To lean into covenant and collaboration across our congregations, to help all of our congregations thrive. To practice deeper solidarity and partnership with directly impacted communities for liberation and to create more joy, to create more joy and celebration, knowing that this is a source of power, of resilience and of the imagination that we all need, that our world needs. 

We were meant for joy. We were meant for joy, and joy feels like love and it moves like freedom. We were made for this moment. We are the people we have been waiting for. May we be, may we be the people that we are called to be."
 

Video

Session on Covenant & Repair on Thursday, 6/23:

• Tyler Coles, Richmond, VA
• Rev. Sara Dendy-Green

(Nuance and clarity)

All covenants should have "return" clauses - how to return to covenant when we "act out of pocket"

Reconciliation is not always possible, and certainly not always "now"

Octavia Butler - "God is change, and we will change with her."

"There are other places we can go to be mean to each other; church ain't it!"

 

Interlocking. Impact and shape one another. Centered are our values - give shape to covenant, mission, imagination (replacing "able-ist" language).

What does the beloved community ("kin-dom of heaven") feel like? sound like? taste like? smell like? 

Expectations with how we intend to be with one another. (Implicit covenants can be in conflict with our stated imaginations.)

 "Remember to find joy in the becoming."

[Thinking about Prez address - challenges for next year - policy overhaul, 8th principle work, campus master plan, covenant/mission redo]

Songs recommended:

• Come, Come, Whoever You Are by "Unfolding"
• Spirit of Life
• Blue Boat Home
• Fire of Commitment
• We'll Build a Land
• We Shall Be Known

 

How do we repair when WE broke it?

Conflict and harm are different things...

There is a lineage of harm that's passed down.

Books recommended:

• The Third Side: Why We Fight and How We Can Stop by William Ury
• Unlocking the Power of Covenant

Prayer - the Reverend Gretchen Haley - "Bless today"

Bless today
your hesitancy
your shy shrug
your behind the scenes skepticism,
your sweet stoicism.

Bless your boredom
and your anxieties,
those worries that will not quiet
no matter the mantras,
the mettas, or
the meditating moments.

Bless your impatience and
your butterflies
your brash tone
and your desire to talk to no one
to care about nothing,
to be invisible and invincible
to be already perfect
and with ease, of course

Bless your shame
your self-doubt
your inner critic
and your coping techniques -
all of them,
whatever they may be.

Bless
most of all
your broken heart
and all the longings that made it so
bless your grief
your anger
and your still pressing hope.

All of these,
we bless -
All of ourselves,
we bless -
in this gathering made holy by our wholeness
this community made sacred by our scars
Let us be blessed

Let us be a blessing

Song - Busca el Amor - Salvador Cardenal Barquero

Revisa tu corazón
Para hallar el amor en un rincón.
Pero busca el amor.
Ni placer ni passion.
El amor lo que hace al otro bien

Chorus:
Busca el amor en ti.
Se multiplica si lo repartís.
Busca el amor en ti.
Sólo él que ama puede ser feliz.
Busca el amor en ti.
Se multiplica si lo repartís.
Busca el amor en ti.
Sólo él que ama puede ser feliz.
Busca el amor en ti, en ti.

Registra tu camaleón.
Cuando cambia el color del corazón
Y te estalla la flor.
Un pétalo del sol.
El amor lo que hace al otro bien

English translation:

Examine that heart of yours,
As you look for the love on your high shelf,
Past the pleasure and passion
for your own self,
for the love that’s reaching someone else.

Chorus:
Seek out the love in you,
And find the joy that comes to those who care.
Seek out the love in you.
It only grows whenever it is shared.
Seek out the love in you,
And find the joy that comes to those who care.
Seek out the love in you.
It only grows whenever it is shared.
Seek out the love in you, in you.

Your heart’s a chameleon,
Ever open to change like any flower.
Spreading out for the sun,
petals bursting with power.
To be love that’s reaching someone else.

Ultimate Grace by Maria Teresa Gustilo Gallardo [prayer]

Ultimate Grace, the heart of every matter, in every perfection and imperfection, in all senses and: tenses, in moments of every right and wrong, presenting choices to inquiring hearts. You are in the purpose and the journey of mishaps. You are in moments of understanding and misunderstanding. We have but to seek and invoke you, and enable the work of your spirit. As prayer is but an articulated common dream, we invoke our ultimate concern for the work of faith. We long to be hand in hand, creating a world where everyone belongs.


Free us from our hindrances. Make invisible things visible; the voiceless heard; lay what is hidden before us; make the chained unbound; the doubting believe; what is confusing let clarify; as hardened hearts grow soft to the touch. May we come in fullness, with gratefulness, in faithfulness to one another. May we speak in kind conversing, disclosing our truths with care, expressing our practical wisdom to learn of its practical limits. For the world was not meant to be possessed by a singular truth, but to be built together upon revelations.

O Universe, with stars in your hair, you have shown that great things emerge from humble beginnings, no matter how flawed and lacking. That one story, in a stable, in prison, in the cave, in destitution, in abject poverty, if lived in all sincerity can liberate from darkness the many.

May our eyes seek to appreciate, our breaths to dedicate power, our hands to warm each other. When loving fearlessly, we are invincible. When free will is deliberate, we are pivotal. When dreaming together, we are infinite.

Remind us of the very questions that we have turned away from, that we thought could not be answered, or are impossible to realize. Dear Universal Intelligence, your embrace contains everything but confines nothing. In the ever insistence of existence, may this one moment count. Amen.

UUA Website