by Kitty Merrill | Jan 1, 2018 | Justice Actions
Happy New Year.
And can I just say that 2017 is a year that I’m happy to see in the rearview mirror?
As I write this column, the fires have been burning for two full weeks. I fervently hope that by the time you are reading these words – another two weeks on – that the fire is fully contained, if not completely extinguished.
I am not one to dwell in doom and gloom. Life offers so much richness and possibility. Yet I suspect memories of 2017 will be dominated by the Thomas Fire.
Still, a new year opens its vistas before us. Let us step into it newly, with hope of all that can be rebuilt, and with the wisdom that living through a natural disaster can bring.
Our theme for the month of January is Intention – fitting for the New Year. Now, I am no fan of New Year’s Resolutions. That is not the kind of intention I recommend (though if resolutions work for you, go forth and resolve!).
The kind of intention that arises for me now is affected by my experience of the fire. As one of the thousands who evacuated, I had to go through the process of deciding what I would take with me and what I would leave behind. Some among us actually lived that experience, having lost everything in their homes they couldn’t bring out, sometimes with very little little time to consider the question.
Yet I know the fire occasioned such reflection even for those who didn’t evacuate. At such times, the question naturally arises, What would I bring with me? Answering that question is one way to figure out what is most important to you.
- What is irreplaceable?
- What is necessary?
- What can I easily let go?
- What is truly precious to me?
And all this can lead to further reflection on how to live intentionally, thoughtfully, with awareness.
So let us enter the new year thinking intentionally about our lives – about our material possessions, about our values, about our actions. Let us be more intentional about how we move through the world as Unitarian Universalists and simply as human beings who want to be good.
Happy New Year to All
with love, Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Dec 4, 2017 | Justice Actions
With one big holiday behind us, we turn to the rest of the winter holidays with a combination of trepidation and delight. There is such a combination of wonder and mystery and overwhelm and overdoing in this season, it’s hard not to have some mixed feelings.
Our theme for December is Hope, which is fitting both for the season and for the times we are living through. My favorite time from the Christian calendar is Advent, the time that we sit in the darkness for something new to be born. I love the metaphors that abound in it all. The journey to Bethlehem, awaiting the birth of the Son and the return of the Sun at the Solstice. I love sitting quietly in the dark with only candles or twinkling Christmas lights to illuminate the world.
With all our frenzy about this time, it can be especially useful to take time out to rest and reflect. Daylight grows shorter and nights grow longer. Seeds lie dormant, awaiting the return of light and warmth. What is dormant in you, waiting a new birth? Yet in the dark, it can also be easier to lose hope, to see no way ahead. Even in these unsettled and anxious times, we must not lose hope. It is all that keeps us going sometimes. The hope I speak of is more than a simple optimism. Our hope now must be robust, even fierce. And we must put our faith in something beyond our individual human capacity to resist and renew. Yes, each of us has such capacity within, though it’s not sustainable over the long-term if it does not reach beyond the individual. We can be waylaid by despair and hopelessness.
That which is larger may be the strength and hope you gain from community, from others’ hands to hold. It can be a faith in the collective goodness of humanity. It can be faith in a larger love that creates and holds us, and sometimes carries us. So this holiday season, nurture your hope. May the darkness give you rest and respite. May the twinkling lights bring you delight. May gatherings with friends and family be jolly. May your favorite holiday traditions – eggnog, stockings hung by the chimney with care, fruitcake, bouche de Noel – whatever they are, offer comfort and peace.
And may the candles we light in the darkness give you hope.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Blessed Solstice
Happy and Hopeful Holidays
with love, Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Dec 4, 2017 | Inreach/Outreach News
“For it is in giving that we receive.” Francis of Assisi
Your generosity toward those who ask for our help continues to be amazing. The congregation donated $3,706 during late October and early November to support: a new organization’s preschool and therapeutic services, Ventura County’s indigenous immigrant community, homelessness prevention in Ventura, Oxnard’s meals for the hungry, a national nonprofit legal advocacy organization, and folks needing help in our local community.
Step-Up Ventura received $762 to help expand their outreach, and preschool and therapeutic services for homeless children.
We collected $623 for MICOP (Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project) to help maintain a full-time trilingual (Mixteco, Spanish, English) caseworker in their office. They have an unprecedented increased need for caseworkers due to the challenges and threats of living under this administration.
You donated $781 to Ventura Homeless Prevention Fund (VHPF) to stop families and individuals living in Ventura from becoming homeless due to a one-time event such as accident or illness. Funds pay the rent so a temporary loss of income or unexpected expense does not result in eviction.
The UUCV Inreach/Outreach Fund received $726. The fund provides assistance to those in our local and church community who may be in need of help.
The congregation collected $814 for the Southern Poverty Law Center to aid in their fight against hate and bigotry in our country and in seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society.
by Kitty Merrill | Dec 4, 2017 | Justice Actions
By Mark Mendelsohn
Thanks to you all for bringing in your soft plastics and putting them in the gray bin in the kitchen. Because we take them to Blanchard Community Library, our recycling partner in Santa Paula, we’re together diverting a lot of waste from the landfills! And we have an update: in addition to clear plastic bags, film, wrappers, and bubble/shrink wrap, we just learned foil-lined pouches commonly used for snacks like popcorn or chip bags, protein or granola bars can also be recycled with the soft plastics.
Think GREEN this holiday season. How can you reduce, reuse and recycle, instead of buying new, consuming, and throwing out? For example, gift experiences rather than things, creatively reuse paper/bags for wrapping, recycle/compost your tree, and have fun with low/zero-waste parties with a vegan emphasis. Let us honor those people less fortunate, as well as our native flora and fauna, and thank each other for living out the 7th Principle!
by Kitty Merrill | Dec 4, 2017 | Finance Committee
• Our budget is created in March and April, but our budget years start July 1 and end June 30 of the following year. Our primary source of revenue is from annual pledges that also start July 1. This current budget year, 2017/2018, members and friends annual and bridge pledge donations are expected to be 92% of total income.
• Some of the factors affecting our pledge donations are economic depressions, inheritances, illness, disability, unemployment, moves out of the area, membership terminations, new members, and deaths. As far as we know, none of our members or friends ever won the lottery.
• You can change your future pledge amount at any time by notifying Jennifer Luce, UUCV Office Administrator, at 805/644-3898, ext. 100 or administrator@uuventura.org. You can make one time donations or set up automatic pledge payments at www.uucv.org, by clicking on “Give” on the right side of the masthead area, click on the picture of the mouse and follow the instructions; or contact David Smith at 805/216-9331 or davidpaseo@verizon.net.
