Our Soul Matters theme for the month of June, indeed for the summer months, is “Celebrating Blessings,” and this I encourage you to do. Blessings are a way of widening our view, of seeing that all is not lost, that human beings are resilient and have always found a way through hard times. Blessings are a way of remembering, or seeing for the first time, that live offers gifts, including the gifts we can be to each other. Life itself is a marvelous, unexpected and unearned, mysterious blessing. May we open to it in joy.

I offer you these words from American journalist and author Kathryn Schulz, recognizing the wonder of living:

Because I, too, feel that way: that my days are exceptional even when they are ordinary, that existence does not need to show us any of its more famous or spectacular wonders to fill us with amazement. We live remarkable lives because life itself is remarkable, a fact that is impossible not to notice if only suffering leaves us alone for long enough. Lately I have found this everyday remarkableness.

In hard times, in these times, belonging to a community is the best way to face the pain and challenges of daily life. UUFM is a blessing because of your presence in the life of the congregation. And, UUFM is here for you, 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