To UUCS Members and Friends

Thursday, November 7 from 7:00-8:30pm at our church, 5090 Center St. NE, Salem, come join your UUCS community and Rev. Monica Jacobson-Tennessen for a compassionate and heartfelt dialogue about the election results and how it affects you and your loved ones.  

Come in person or join with Zoom.

Rev. Monica JT is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: UUCS Post-Election Gathering
Time: Nov 7, 2024 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://uuma.zoom.us/j/96217118859?pwd=zepBAJ9GwyE3pEqZ7pTX31mbGS3n3Z.1

Meeting ID: 962 1711 8859
Passcode: 129661

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Rev. Monica also sent our congregation an email via email to the UUCS list. Here it is.

Dear UUCS,

Today is a very hard day for many of us, for many reasons. So first, before all else, take care of yourself now and in the days to come. Drink water, eat something comforting, connect with nature. Find one beautiful thing to gaze at – a tree, a photo, a pet.

Reach out to someone you love: talk or meet up with someone you trust, and check in with each other. Make space to feel whatever you’re feeling.

There is a UUA Side with Love gathering on Zoom tonight at 5 pm Pacific to offer a way to anchor in community: https://sidewithlove.org/ourstories/2024/10/28/forward-together-anchoring-in-community-post-election  Future Zoom calls will follow for organizing and planning.

Remember that there will be plenty of chances to talk about what happened, to strategize about how to protect those who are vulnerable, to organize for our planet. Today, take care of yourself. And tend to the young people in your life: we know that when someone is elected on this kind of “strongman” platform, it often inspires an increase in bullying among children and youth. Our young people will need trusted adults who support them, especially our young people who are trans, non-binary, disabled, and people of color.

When life is very hard, poetry sometimes helps; here’s one I’m reading today:

Because
By Rosemerry Watola Trommer

So I can’t save the world—
can’t save even myself,
can’t wrap my arms around
every frightened child, can’t
foster peace among nations,
can’t bring love to all who
feel unlovable.
So I practice opening my heart
right here in this room and being gentle
with my insufficiency. I practice
walking down the street heart first.
And if it is insufficient to share love,
I will practice loving anyway.
I want to converse about truth,
about trust. I want to invite compassion
into every interaction.
One willing heart can’t stop a war.
One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.
And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,
I tell myself what’s the use of trying?
But today, the invitation is clear:
to be ridiculously courageous in love.
To open the heart like a lilac in May,
knowing freeze is possible
and opening anyway.
To take love seriously.
To give love wildly.
To race up to the world
as if I were a puppy,
adoring and unjaded,
stumbling on my own exuberance.
To feel the shock of indifference,
of anger, of cruelty, of fear,
and stay open. To love as if it matters,
as if the world depends on it.

We’re in this together, and we’re not giving up on what matters most: bringing more love, justice, and healing into this world.

Holding you all in my heart,

Rev. Monica