June 12

Dear Friends,

This week, I am reminded to celebrate all the remarkable change I have been privileged to undergo in the last year: In 2018, you called me to share ministry with you on April 22. I graduated from seminary on May 20. I was ordained on June 10. And of course, we celebrated together the wonder of Installation on April 14 of this year. What a blessed set of circumstances!

Since August, in companionship with the Fellowship, my faith has deepened and my commitment to serve the spirit of life through Unitarian Universalism has expanded. With you, I have learned—more than I knew possible—that Unitarian Universalism is a saving faith bringing solace and justice to hurting lives, a saving faith that can make a difference to the way things are and to how we respond to the individual, social, and political traumas of this time in our human history. Unitarian Universalism is a saving faith, but only when we practice it with commitment, with compassion, and with resilience. May it be so.

After service on June 16, I’ll leave the area for a week in Spokane for Ministry Days and General Assembly, followed by a week of vacation in Buffalo. I return July 1. While I am away, you will not be far from my heart. And while I am away, I invite you to deepen your spirit—to know yourself better and to better know how to bring your gifts into service—through a practice brought to us by the Soul Matters Collective.

“Rev. Mary Katherine Morn writes, ‘Beauty does more than awaken us. It also admonishes us. It demands something… We are here so that together we might heed the admonitions of beauty.  Answer its call to create, protect, and preserve.’ With these words, Reverend Morn reminds us that beauty is more than a salve. It creates commitment. It lures us into loving it and becomes something we can’t live without.

“So, what is that beautiful thing you protect at all costs? For some of us, it’s a form of nature. For others, it’s a type of justice. For still others, it’s a way of treating each other, like kindness. Or treating ourselves, like self-love. Whatever it is, we all build our lives around it. Look closely and you’ll notice how deeply it defines us. By protecting it, we protect ourselves.”

What is the beauty you protect? And if you think of it, share it with me, that our relationship might deepen, even when I am away from you.

 

Blessings and best wishes, Rev. Rita