“You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you’re not passionate enough from the start, you’ll never stick it out.” – Steve Jobs
“Yes, in all my research, the greatest leaders looked inward and were able to tell a good story with authenticity and passion.” – Deepak Chopra
Both the Burning and the Light by Rev. Sean Parker Dennison
The dictionary defines risk as possibility of loss or injury : PERIL
Yuri Yamamoto discusses risk in the reflection Angry Birds, which is not about the video game.
I chose this song for Risk because it was such a risk to create and produce.
According to the dictionary commitment is “the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, person, or people.”
In his reflection, “What on Earth is worth saving”, Jake Morrill discusses what is important about commitment.
In his essay “On Prayer,” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote:
“Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehood. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow the forces that continue to destroy the promise, the hope, and the vision.”
Our prayer this morning is “Sacred in the Ordinary” by Tamara Lebak
Today is Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Fasnacht Tag, and many others.
Whatever you may call it, it is the day before Lent. In the Christian tradition, Lent is a forty-day period before Easter. (Sundays are skipped in counting the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection.)
We will be celebrating UU Lent with daily posts again this year. Here is the calendar. We hope you will join us on this spiritual journey.
Tolerance is a social rather than a religious virtue. A broad-minded view of the private belief of others undoubtedly makes for the happiness of society; but it is an attitude impossible for those whose personal religion is strong. For if we know that we have found the key and guiding principle of Life, we cannot allow our friends to flounder blindly in the darkness.
— Steven Runciman, The Medieval Manichee: A Study of the Christian Dualist Heresy
Unitarianism and Universalism were both born in heresy, challenges to the beliefs and mores of the world around them.
Good morning and welcome to West Fork Unitarian Universalists. I’m Robert and I feel blessed to serve this congregation as a lay leader. I’m glad to see all of you here today.
Thank you for joining us.
Let us use the prelude for centering. We are about to enter sacred time. We are about to make this time and this place sacred by our presence and intention.
Please silence your phones… and as you do so, I invite us also to turn down the volume on our fears; to remove our masks; and to loosen the armor around our hearts.
Breathe.
Let go of the expectations placed on you by others—and those they taught you to place on yourself.
Drop the guilt and the shame, not to shirk accountability, but in honest expectation of the possibility of forgiveness.
Let go of the thing you said the other day. Let go of the thing you dread next week. Be here, in this moment. Breathe, here.
First Sunday is our meeting for business, after the service. It is a consensus process with a few exceptions. We rarely have agenda items, and don’t always meet. Everyone, member or not, is invited to participate in the discussions. If you have questions or would like to hear about our process, please come at 10 this Sunday for a discussion.
Lisa deGruyter, Moderator
From the Bylaws:
Ultimate authority is vested in the congregation as expressed in Annual, Monthly, and Special Meetings. The following powers may not be delegated, but may only be exercised by the congregation: the employment or release of the minister and the amount of the minister’s annual salary and benefits; the location of any church buildings and grounds and their purchase or sale; the requirements of membership; approval of the annual budget for the operating fund; ratification or amendment of the bylaws.
It is the intent of the congregation to maintain a community in which everyone is a leader, and to reach decisions collaboratively by agreement, through discernment by the Moderator of what is agreed to by the group, and confirmed by those present. Most decisions are not made by vote, nor do they require unanimity, but other opinions must be sought and thoroughly considered. Those who are participating in the community but not yet members, including children, may participate in discussion so long as they abide by the covenant, and members should take into consideration the needs of non-members and the wider community. It is also the intent of the congregation that most decisions will be entrusted to committees and individuals, within the spirit of the purpose and covenant, and within policy and guidelines established by the congregation. This business practice is democratic action where all participants are equal in their right and obligation to contribute in a spirit of reasonableness and forbearance.
Bylaws here
Covenant of Right Relations
Sharing and Listening
“Storytelling helps us all impose order on chaos—including emotional chaos. When we’re in pain, we create a narrative to help us make sense of it. This story doesn’t have to be based on any real information. One dismissive glance from a coworker can instantly turn into I knew she didn’t like me. I responded to Steve so defensively because when I’m in doubt, the “I’m not enough” explanation is often the first thing I grab. It’s like my comfy jeans—may not be flattering, but familiar.
Our stories are also about self-protection. I told myself Steve was blaming me so I could be mad instead of admitting that I was vulnerable or afraid of feeling inadequate. I could disengage from the tougher stuff. That’s what human beings tend to do: When we’re under threat, we run. If we feel exposed or hurt, we find someone to blame, or blame ourselves before anyone else can, or pretend we don’t care.
But this unconscious storytelling leaves us stuck. We keep tripping over the same issues, and after we fall, we find it hard to get back up again. But in my research on shame and vulnerability, I’ve also learned a lot about resilience. For my book Rising Strong, I spent time with many amazing people—from Fortune 500 leaders to long-married couples—who are skilled at recovering from setbacks, and they have one common characteristic: They can recognize their own confabulations and challenge them. The good news is that we can rewrite these stories. We just have to be brave enough to reckon with our deepest emotions.” – for the whole excerpt click here
Even four years later, the election of 2016 is difficult to deal with. In her article, a range of reflections on resilience , adrienne maree brown discusses how she was able to be resilient through it.
‘The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.’ – camus…documenting my liberation
West Fork Unitarian Universalists 