by Admin | Feb 27, 2020 | Between Sundays
There is a new team on the block at church – the Generosity Team. Its formation was inspired by the mission statement of a similar group from the First Unitarian Church of San Diego.
“Our mission is to develop financial and spiritual resources for the current and future needs of First Church with integrity and with an awareness of the joy inherent in cultivating generosity as a spiritual virtue.”
Our new team read this, thought it works perfectly, and they didn’t need reinvent the wheel, and so adopted it as their own mission statement. So how do we cultivate generosity as a spiritual virtue? Many of us relate to money with a sense of scarcity because it can feel like there is never quite enough of it – in our lives or in the church. Yet being generous – as individuals and as a church – can be joyful. Generosity is indeed a spiritual value that can make us feel abundant, not just with enough, but overflowing with gratitude and, yes, joy.
So how do we cultivate and nurture a sense of generosity as a part of our spiritual lives and our connection to UU Ventura? This is the very question that our new Generosity Team will be asking us all.
Our first opportunity to answer will be on March 22 at Celebration Sunday.
It will be a grand day at church. Rev. Julia Hamilton from our church in Santa Barbara will be preaching. (I’ve been dying to bring Julia to our pulpit, and am looking forward to leading worship with her.) We’ll have wonderful music from the Marsh Brothers, coming off a wonderful showing at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee.
We’ll make our pledges in the services and then retire to Berg Hall for a luncheon to celebrate our individual and collective generosity. This is intentionally not a pot luck because it is meant as a great big Thank You. For some, just sitting and being fed can be a bit awkward. Yet we want everyone to feel thanked and appreciated for all the ways you are generous – with some lunch and perhaps a little bubbly. This particular Sunday is about the giving of our financial resources, though we can’t create the fullness of community without hearts that are generous in many ways.
So, between now and March 22, I invite you to consider what this church community means to you and how you will contribute of your financial resources for 2020-2021. Consider how you find joy in generosity as a spiritual value.
Rev. Dana
by Admin | Feb 20, 2020 | Between Sundays
TWO LENSES…
All the work we do in the church should be viewed through (at least) two lenses: How do we promote anti-racist and anti-oppression values? How do we live sustainably on our “Blue Boat Home” in the face of a growing climate crisis.
Both of these questions address the deepest theological work we are called to as Unitarian Universalists in our times. My sense of this grew more and more clear while working with the 545 Force and church leaders to create our next Five-Year Plan. The plan that is nearing its final draft, and which the congregation will vote at the Annual Meeting in June.
We are in a third or fourth wave of a Civil Rights movement. Great work was done in the 1950s and 60s, though the work was not finished. People of color knew that all along, and are asking all in our culture to deepen the work and get farther down the path, keeping our “eyes still on the prize.” Using this lens on all we do will help keep that prize in focus.
The climate crisis is lurching toward catastrophe. This is an existential crisis for us all. We face a sense of the mortality of our very species and much of the life on Earth. This lens will help us focus on our actions lead us in positive, earth-healing directions.
We have groups in the church directly addressing these issues: the Seventh Principle Environmental Action Team, the Action Team for Immigrant Rights, the Social Action Coordinating Committee. Classes and workshops help deepen our understanding – our second round of Beloved Conversations about racism, the class Coming Back to Life about being hopeful and active in the midst of environmental crisis.
Yet we also need to look through these lenses in all we do. How do auction events deepen this work? What does our worship look like through these lenses? How do we welcome people into the church? What goals should the Board of Trustees set? How do we bring this awareness to our children and youth? The lenses can guide choices of books for book groups and movies we watch together, topics for the UUniques, women’s and men’s groups.
These lenses are not our only focus, of course. The church is always about caring for one another; building community through fun and music and food; weaving a tapestry of love that holds us in joy and sorrow; deepening our sense of spiritual connection; strengthening us for our work in the world. Still, these lenses can lead us to questions that help us make decisions and choices. They may give us direction in creating an embracing, inclusive, spiritual community that transforms lives and transforms the world.
May it be so,
Rev. Dana
by Admin | Jan 24, 2020 | Between Sundays
Rev. Dana
Dear Ones,
Though I was only 16, I remember well the impeachment hearings that led to President Nixon’s resignation in 1974. My mother, a born and bred and devoted Republican, was glued to the television and radio. She was utterly appalled at the testimony she heard and the serious abuses of power of the Nixon administration – appalled, disappointed, and in favor of impeaching a president she had voted for.
Our congregational theme this month is Integrity – a word that makes me think of both my mother and father who were living examples of it.
My mother communicated very clearly that this was an historic moment in American history, and that our nation is built on the rule of law and on high ideals. Ideals we don’t always reach, though ideals that should not be so blatantly and brazenly violated.
So, I find myself so disappointed that I can barely listen to the Senate impeachment proceedings. I flipped the radio right off when it started on Tuesday morning, and I’ve only been able to dip in and out over the last few days. The violations of our ideals, principles, and laws by the current administration are horrifying to me. And I find the language all are using to talk about it too painful to listen to.
Yet this is another historic time in our history, and I wish I could follow it more closely.
I tell you all of this, to simply say that you should all take care of yourselves through this process. If you are following every twist and turn and argument, thank you. And if you can’t bear a word of it, that is just fine, too.
These are hard times to be a people of conscience and integrity. Do whatever works best for you; whatever keeps you sane and relatively happy and kind to your family and friends. Take care of your big hearts, thoughtful souls, and discerning minds.
I do believe our greatest hope still lies in local action, working for positive change in our community, helping the people in need who are right in front of us. Events on the national stage are beyond our control, so let us stay in the mix in the ways we can make a difference.
And whatever happens, we’re in this together.
With love,
Rev. Dana
by Admin | Jan 16, 2020 | Between Sundays
Dear People,
This past Tuesday Supervisor Steve Bennett invited me to give the Moment of Inspiration at the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. It was an honor, and better still that he acknowledged our congregation and especially our dear Harold Cartlidge for work with and for our homeless neighbors. Here is a link to the video of the meeting. https://ventura.granicus.com/player/clip/5367?view_id=67
Start watching at 01:30, I speak for about 6 minutes and then Steve says lovely things about us and Harold afterward. He also adjourned the whole meeting in Harold’s honor. It was a lovely affirmation. You’ll find the text of my words below. I have also been invited to give the Invocation at the MLK Celebration in Oxnard this Monday. It would be lovely to see folks from church there, too. There is a march from Plaza Park to the Oxnard PAL Gym starting at 8 am. The program begins at 9 and the gym at 350 S. K St. in Oxnard.
In faith,
Rev. Dana
First, I thank for your public service.
It takes courage and commitment, passion and compassion to serve your communities in this way. Perhaps more than ever in these fraught times.
I am Rev. Dana Worsnop, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura, a congregation that’s been serving this community for more than 60 years. UUs are guided by two over-arching principles: We affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person with a profound awareness of the interdependent web of all creation of which we are a part. This guides our personal spiritual paths, and carries our faith out into the community.
Every human is worthy of respect and dignity. And deep down each of us is connected to each other and to all of creation. We need each other and we affect each other and the earth whether we fully realize it or not. I do thank you for your service in these times that are so complicated, divided, and sometimes rancorous. I think that governance on the local level may be our greatest hope in finding our way through.
We are living at a critical time in human and even earth’s history. A Buddhist teacher of mine has said that we are alive at what might be the Great Turning, a shift in our understanding of humanity and life on this precious planet toward an interdependence cooperation. Or it might be the Great Unraveling in which things fall apart.
We need to do all we can to support a turning toward one another, toward a sense of how all the issues we face are ultimately connected. I suspect that you know of my congregation’s devotion to serving people in our community who are without homes or shelter. In this we are guided by the dictum in so many faiths that we must care for the most vulnerable, what the great teacher Jesus called the least among us.
Yet that call also carries us to be equally committed to creating a sustainable environment, to work for the rights of immigrants to our land, and for greater income equality. Everything is so interconnected. What we do to the earth, we do to ourselves and each other.
I thank you all for your part in helping create the shelters in both Ventura and Oxnard. It’s an on-going challenge. And we all well know that this is only part of a solution. We need more affordable and very affordable housing. Yet more housing means more people, who need water and transportation, even as we live in a climate emergency that requires us to conserve water and reduce the use of fossil fuels. We need resources to help people get off and stay off the streets at a time that families are feeling squeezed by incomes that aren’t keeping pace with expenses. And these are just a few of the intersections of the work before you.
It may require a whole new framework in which we operate. This needn’t be a zero sum game with winners and losers. I truly believe there are ways to address issues which will benefit us all. There will be changes, yes, and yet we can live richer, more meaningful and deeply connected lives. The decisions you are making at this powerful and local level will affect generations. Sometimes I don’t envy you, and sometimes I completely envy you. You are sitting in a place where your work can make a real difference in all our lives. And so I leave you with this prayer:
Holy One, Gracious God of many names and no name, Mystery beyond all naming, which dwells within and among and beyond us, this day and always, May these good women and men who have committed themselves to the service of a greater good – our common good –may they move with compassion, wisdom, and courage. May they listen carefully to the voices of the poorest among us, those poor in spirit and resources who often are not heard above the voices of those more powerful and privileged.
May they listen well to each other. May they lead from faith and not from fear, even in these perilous and anxious times. O tender, loving Presence, may you en-courage, indeed put courage into, these good men and women, reminding us all of how very much we need one another.
Amen Blessed be Namaste Sala’am Shalom Peace May it be so.
by Admin | Dec 19, 2019 | Between Sundays
Good People,
A couple of months ago, there was a robust discussion on our internal church Facebook page about cultural misappropriation.
The discussion particularly focused on Dia de los Muertos, though it is an issue that we need to consider in many contexts. On Christmas Eve our service will be based on the Latinx tradition of Las Posadas, so I want to share thoughts about cultural misappropriation.
We are in a new period of addressing race issues in our country, the most active perhaps since the Civil Rights era. People of Color are again asking us all – especially white people of European backgrounds – to be aware of the long legacy of colonizers who appropriated, stole, adopted, profited from the cultures of the peoples who were colonized, or enslaved, or wiped out.
This is not always comfortable work but it is important for us to talk about it and listen to what people from those cultures say about what it feels like when white folks from the dominant-normative-centered culture adopt practices from their cultures. It is so easy to cause deep pain if the “adopters” don’t do their work to understand and respect that culture.
I love doing a Day of Remembrance service around the end of October and beginning of November. For related and unrelated reasons, many traditions celebrate loved ones who have died at this time of year. I’ve been leading such services, including Day of the Dead services, my whole ministry. When I arrived in Ventura, I didn’t want to make any assumptions, especially as a white woman newly living in a place with a vibrant Latinx culture.
I learned that this congregation has had a tradition of doing Day of the Dead services. So in our second year together we celebrated Dia de los Muertos, and the energy came from Latinx members of the church who created the altar for our offrenda and who spoke about their relationship to the holiday.
There is nothing more mortifying than people – especially from the centered culture – who take up a tradition not their own and mangle it or take on the bright shiny bits without understanding sources. A person of color recently told me that it’s especially galling when people adopt the culture and runaway with it without taking time to understand deeply. It feels patronizing when someone starts explaining her own traditions back to her, as if they are suddenly experts. Or they have fun with the celebration in ways that actually dishonor it. And that really hurts.
It is not comfortable for me to think of myself as benefiting from the acts of colonizers, though I do. My heritage is 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and about 9th generation immigrants to North America. I have to consider this legacy. To often white, European Americans think that all the traditions that make up this nation are fair game. They are not.
It’s impossible to draw bright, clear lines about what is and is not cultural misappropriation. We will all make mistakes – perhaps never getting it “right” all the time. We want to be a more racially diverse community, yet reaching that goal does not mean we have to be perfect about racial issues. We do have to be willing to talk about it – to make mistakes, to learn, and grow. If we approach diverse traditions thoughtfully, intentional, meaning to honor and respect them, we will do it better more often than worse. With humility, we will all learn, grow, and deepen into a fuller humanity.
That is indeed my fond hope.
Rev. Dana
by Admin | Dec 5, 2019 | Between Sundays
Last month, our community has lost three dear souls in barely more than three weeks – Dear Ones, Shirlee Morton, Marge Lorraine, and Joan Alger. Each one was a blow.
Yet I have been struck by how beautifully the whole church community cared for each of them. We were in close contact with them and their families up to their very last days – meeting in women’s groups, choir, Strong Bones; offering rides, meals, visits; sending cards, making calls; and more. Shirlee’s, Marge’s, and Joan’s children have all told me how much the church meant to their moms. We held all three of these smart, funny, active, kind women in ways that made the ends of their lives meaningful and engaged.
It gives me chills to know how tenderly we held each of them. It’s what we’re here for, and we don’t always realize how well we do it.
For the past several months a small group of people working to make some of this kind of care more concrete and manifest. They called themselves the Task Force on Helping Each Other, which pretty much sums it all up. They’ve recently unrolled five initiatives to address the needs of our community, especially folks who are older and/or live alone.
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WARM LINE – Our Warm Line is now up and running. It’s a dedicated voicemail for people to leave a message about a concern or need (that’s not an emergency). A Pastoral Associate will return the call within 24 hours. The Pastoral Associates work with me to respond to pastoral needs of our church and offer a confidential, compassionate and listening presence. Just call the church main number and dial extension 102. Check out their page on the website here.
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BUDDY SYSTEM – Do you live alone and want to join our Buddy System? Folks who live alone may feel safer having a “Calling Buddy” check in with them on a regular basis. If your buddy can’t reach you, they’ll have someone check in with you. We’ve already got a few buddies paired.
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SKILLS EXHANGE PROGRAM – The UUCV community has many skills that can be shared with others. Our Skills Exchange Program will connect folks with, say, computer skills, handy-person services, tailoring skills, house and pet sitting with people who need them. This can be a no-fee barter system with folks trading skills, or a skill exchange that members pay for. Look for the easel in Berg Hall with a poster and blank forms.
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LIFE CRISIS FORM – We’re also providing useful forms in case of emergency. You can get a Life Crisis Form that keeps emergency info on file with the church. You can fill it out on the church website here or as a hard copy. Your information will be secure, confidential and accessible only by Rev. Dana or her designated assistant.
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FILE OF LIFE FORM – The File of Life is a personal medical home file for emergency first responders. It’s a card in a red plastic pocket listing emergency contacts, health issues, and insurance info. We’ve got files on hand in the church office for all who’d like one.
Questions about any of these programs? Email to Administrator Jennifer Luce – administrator@uuventura.org.
We are the village,
Rev. Dana
