Gratitude: For One Another

Ponderings of the Spiritual Life Director

“Transform yourself to transform the world.”

How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale.  The patterns of the universe repeat at scale.  There is a structural echo that suggests two things: one, that there are shapes and patterns fundamental to our universe, and two, that what we practice at a small scale can reverberate to the largest scale.  -adrienne marie brown

“Emergent Strategy”

“Emergent Strategy” is one of those books that I’ve gotten really excited about and would love for all of you social justice seeking people to read.  It truly has some eye-opening concepts.  For example, in her chapter about fractals (infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales; created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop), she talks about how we need to have a sense of our solutions at a local level first before we can find policies at the regional, state, and federal levels that are actually effective in centering justice and creating generative compromises.  “Most of our movements are reduced to advancing false solutions, things we can get corporate or governmental agreement on, which don’t actually get us where we need to be”, she writes (p52).

This is why I stress the importance of our relationships, our processes, our methods of communicating, and our covenants with one another at UUCL.  We are a small church, but what we do and how we do it together truly does matter!  We are finding solutions and establishing patterns for being together in a way that embraces all of humanity.

Here’s some unhealthy patterns that are visible at many churches and organizations, as Brown states in her book:

• Burn out. Overworked, unrealistic expectations, underappreciated.
• Organizational schisms and splitting.
• Personal drama disrupting movements.
• Lack of a cohesive mission.
• Stagnation- an inability to make decisions.

Do you recognize any of these?

This past Sunday, I preached about gratitude- our theme for the month.  It was heartwarming and hopeful to hear about how so many of you are on board with being more intentionally grateful to one another.  This pattern of having an attitude of gratitude will lend itself to creating generative solutions, I am sure of it, and bring us out of a “burn out” culture, one that has disagreements which split us, one in which we don’t know how to repair and grow our relationships.

Additionally, those of you who participated in our Fishbowl Listening Circles on Sunday created a warm, embracing, loving environment in our sanctuary.  I could feel the spirit of life moving amongst us, bringing us closer.  I felt so much gratitude for everyone and I know you felt so much gratitude for each other, too.  I love your kind spirits.  I love your commitment to making UUCL a holy place so that we may bring our solutions to the community at large.  We can do great things.

I’d also like to extend my gratitude to the UUCL Board of Trustees for recognizing their power in making things happen by allowing for creative solutions.  We are trying new things.  The board is very supportive.  The board is willing to listen to us all as we move forward into the future of love and justice together!

In Faith,

Heather