Minister’s Message
Dear Friends,
Last year around this time, I selected a simple word around which to organize a spiritual practice. In 2019, my word was “pause,” and I went to the word and the action whenever I felt overwhelmed or perplexed by events cultural and political as well as congregational and personal. I took a “pause,” slowing myself down rather than moving in haste. Because I practiced, the word and the action can stay with me even as I choose a new word for the year.
For 2020, my word is “open,” and I mean by this that I will practice remaining “open”—open-hearted when I feel moved to judge, open-minded when I feel that I already know the answers or when I disagree with what I hear, open-handed when I have an opportunity to give my time or treasure, and open-spirited when I feel despair about the world in which we live.
Having practiced “pause” last year, I hope I have positioned myself strongly to remain “open” and thus better able to keep relationship with people whose opinions and life experiences lead them to thoughts and actions I would not typically understand or do. Remaining open does not mean, however, that I will lose my own integrity of thought, feeling, or action. It means that I will reflect on what bothers or disconcerts me when confronted by something I don’t like or disagree with or think is wrong. I will reflect—remain open—in order to more fully know myself, to name more explicitly my values. And I will reflect—remain open—in order to imagine ways to remain in relationship with the people whose words or deeds feel objectionable to me.
Our world is full of sorrows and problems that are simply overwhelming. And we need all of us to come up with solutions that heal and make living good for all. As Carl Sagan reminds us, and me, every week, “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” May you find ways to live with integrity while also loving with abandon, as you remember, today and every day, that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may it be so.
Blessings, Rev. Rita