“May this new year bring you wellbeing, joy, and limitless opportunities to grow. Let’s be fierce in our commitment to value and utilize even the most challenging circumstances as a way to deepen our understanding and cultivate compassion for others (as well as ourselves). Let’s continuously find creative and thoughtful ways to serve living beings … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 4.5.23
Dear Ones, Our Soul Matters theme for April is “Resistance,” and resistance might sound like hard work. Resist that fatty food (if you can!). Resist gloating over the news (if you can!). Resist despairing over the news (if you can!). Resist calling that person on the other side of the aisle an idiot (if you … Continue reading April 5, 2023 Minister’s Message
Concluding the month of Vulnerability “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” -Rabindranath Tagore I feel embarrassed and vulnerable when people enter our home in its most disastrous state. It happened this past weekend – Drew invited folks over at … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 3.29.23
Rev. Rita is away on vacation and will return on April 3rd. While she is away you may contact Board President, Bob Finley at: finbob@charter.net or (507) 380-1869 or Shelly Storm in the Church office at: uumankato@gmail.com or (507) 388-5022.
Dear Ones, I journey East this week and next for visits with family and friends, the beginnings of a search for a new house, and a much-anticipated time in the Pennsylvania woods. And I take this trip, continuing in vulnerability and risk, not knowing the outcomes and feeling uncertainty, as one way of living breaks … Continue reading March 22, 2023 Minister’s Message
“Joy is the most vulnerable emotion we experience, and if you cannot tolerate joy, what you do is you start dress rehearsing tragedy.” – Brené Brown The first time I had a pregnancy test come back positive, I felt nervous and afraid, but Drew was supportive and delighted. The second time around, we were both … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 3.22.23
“Vulnerability is the core, the heart, the center, of meaningful human experiences.” – Brené Brown Vulnerability may go hand in hand with discomfort. However, when I consider what an unwillingness to practice the discomfort that vulnerability might mean, I think of all that may suffer: our authentic expression, mental health, connections, and potential opportunities for … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 3.15.23
Dear Ones, It was my distinct honor to be present in the State Capitol, with other supportive clergy, when the House passed the Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act. As described in the law, the purposes of this act are to “(1) protect the long-term interests, as defined by the tribes, of Indian children, their families … Continue reading March 15, 2023 Minister’s Message
Dear Ones, I find it difficult to believe that it was 50 years ago yesterday that protesters for voting rights were attacked and beaten by agents of the government—state and local police forces—as well as common citizens, crossing a bridge in Selma, Alabama. Two Unitarians—the Rev. James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo—died in the aftermath of … Continue reading March 8, 2023 Minister’s Message
Today, I do not have a reflection to share, but please enjoy these words from one of my favorite writers: “I have more compassion than if I had never been wounded or if I had never been betrayed or I had never been harmed… those disappointments have made me gentler with other people and their … Continue reading CFD Director’s Message 3.8.23
