CFD Director’s Message 1.29.25

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Over the past week, I imagine many of us have been feeling the weight of so-called leaders who seem to be insistent on not only moving us backward, but grasping for power in unprecedented ways. When all of this is layered upon our changing climate and personal grief, it may be sensed as trauma – it becomes too much happening too rapidly to digest.

I’ve found the reminder that we need support, joy, and rest as much as ever helpful. Creativity is a great outlet for me personally, too, as I process difficulty and injustice. I hope you’ll be moved in this moment to sit with yourself and imagine one creative act that you may like to revisit in these times, whether it’s writing, art-making, cooking, crafting, or something else.

One of the most significant wishes I hold in my heart, also, is that communities are brought together through these times. When our vulnerability is so blatantly apparent, we must remember how much we need one another and the beauty, inspiration, fun, and nourishment that is possible in time spent together. Please know I am here for you all in envisioning and building what that might look like at UUFM.

And with that, here is a poem I wrote this past week, as part of my process. I am calling it:
“Dreams Could Never Be Quantified”

While the horrors may persist
please remember
just how finite they are –
like storms that pass
leaving this Earth to breathe again.

Yet, dreams –
oh, beloved dreams –
whose vivid visions
could never be quantified,
but viscerally felt –
they cross generational thresholds.

May your heart’s stirrings,
opposition, mission, and all,
fuel your art,
gather your courage,
and steady your hands,
for unified changemaking.

Accountability –
an invitation
a path that opens
through our disappointment and
our stumbling,
it is the spark that reminds:
the night is never too dark
for transformation.

Liberation’s birthplace
is longing,
and her labor –
her long, arduous labor –
weaves a web,
interconnected,
each thread a voice
rising together,
stronger with each pull.

Oppression is systemic,
but we, too, are all connected,
and in our collective healing,
our strength
will, in time,
surely overcome.

Cultivate insight.
Radicalize hope.
Transform justice.

And when rest,
when stillness, beckon,
let them guide you through
this wild, precious
inescapably brief life –
with a heart renewed,
and devotion clarified.

Upcoming Activities for People of All Ages:

Upcoming Social Justice Book Study Dates

I hope your week is off to a good start. I am looking forward to our next social justice book study and discussion! The book we are continuing to explore is Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care, written by Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes.

We will meet again in the UUFM Meeting Room tonight, and then again, every other week through February. You’re welcome to come to some or all of the sessions. Snacks and beverages will be served – Please RSVP at the links below: