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 Admin | Dec 17, 2017 | Justice Actions
Memorial for our Homeless Neighbors
Join us for the 12th annual Homeless Person’s Memorial Service at the gazebo in Ventura‘s Plaza Park. We know the names of at least 57 people who died homeless during the past year in Ventura County, and will be holding an interfaith service to remember them.
As we do every year, we will hold a silent march through downtown Ventura to call attention to the increasing numbers who are dying homeless in our county each year. Please bring donated items to church or the memorial service us to distribute.
Blankets, sleeping bags, winter jackets, gently used shoes, (especially for men), tarps, and even tents are greatly appreciated for those who cannot use the warming shelter.
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 | 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 | Justice Actions
Dear UUCV Community,
Hope has an inherent looking to the future, yet I hear so often about the magic of living in the present moment. Part of the reason children are so delightful is because they dwell so deeply in the here and now. I think it’s important to become aware of all of the reasons to be happy in everyday moments. No matter if you’re in jail or watching a beautiful sunset, you can discover a million reasons to be happy, from your heartbeat, fresh air, beholding the beautiful face of a loved one, a cold glass of water… According to Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, this is it.
And yet I have a world vision of love, equality of resources, a healthy planet, and justice so unlike what goes on in the world. Marianne Williamson shares that those who hate have had more conviction than those of us who love. Part of what draws me to the Unitarian Universalist faith is the community that works to build the world we dream about all the time. May we have an active hope that sustains our moral conviction that there is a light within every being and that we are all interconnected. Look at all the active verbs in these lines from Emily Dickinson:
“Hope is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all -”
May your winter season be as beautiful and soothing to you and your families! Also, if you’re interested, Chalica is a weeklong UU holiday, starting on the first Monday in December, with each day focused on one of the seven UU Principles. It’s an invitation to spend a day with each of the Principles, reflecting on their meaning and doing a good deed focused on each one. See Emily or RE committee chairs for a Chalica packet.
Happy Holidays, Emily Carroll, DRE emily@uuventura.org
by Kitty Merrill | Dec 4, 2017 | Justice Actions
Hope
Adversity seems to be happening everywhere and at a pace that is emotionally and mentally mind-numbing. That’s how it feels to me. Perhaps we share that feeling. With the recent natural events of four hurricanes, two major earthquakes, and fires, along with the many troubling human events of the past year, it would be reasonable to just stay under one’s bedcovers. But we can’t. So, how shall we understand and cope with these events?
I like the myth tale of Pandora’s Box which comes from ancient Greece around 675 BC. It is an origin story. When the box was opened, all the terrible demons escaped and ever since the world has known hardship. Except that in the bottom of the box was a still small voice announcing itself. That voice is Hope, and it inspires us to persevere against the ills of the world.
We are entering the Holiday Season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, and New Year. This is the “Giving and Receiving” time of year that can leave a person worn out just wondering about the meaning of it all, especially considering how commercialized everything has become. Poverty of circumstances, emotional losses and more are emphasized, reminding us to remember our individual blessings and calling us to consider the importance of gratitude in our lives. This is a hopeful time of year with endings and anticipated beginnings.
At the UUCV I believe we give hope to people, and ourselves, that one day things will get better. We do that by being of service to others. That would be acts of doing good, and being kind in all things. Core values are exhibited every day by members and friends of our congregation through our outward actions as exemplified by our many outreach programs. Letters of appreciation from those we have helped are on the bulletin board by the copy machine. Unlike the giving that only occurs during the Holidays, the gift of service to others is not seasonal. Thank you to everyone for this daily ministry that makes a difference in the lives of so many.
The following is quoted from UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray: “You all are on the front lines – providing ministry and leadership to people of all ages, helping us all not to lose our humanity in this very inhumane time, helping us all not to lose hope.
Today, as I awoke, the words of Adrienne Rich were on my heart:
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.
My fellow leaders, I cast my lot with you. We will not give up hope.”
Living in Paradise,
Bryan Buck, President
