Minister's Message

A message from UUFD Minister Rev. Jamie Boyce

Living at the Speed of Trust

Activist, artist, author, and social justice facilitator adrienne maree brown, in her book “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds”, identifies building trust as essential work of building community and justice movements. She advises that we “move at the speed of trust” in our work together. She reminds us that trust emerges from the time we are willing to invest in relationships. Moving at the speed of trust is an invitation to center, nurture, and care for our relationships with each other as the foundation to living our values and moving justice into the world.

Over the last few months, witnessing the destruction of American democracy and the attacks on beloveds in our nation, I have broadened my understanding of adrienne’s advice and started to think about living at the speed of trust. I notice opportunities to nurture relationships, and live my Unitarian Universalist values, everywhere! At the grocery store, library, bank, park, coffee shop, by greeting my neighbors in the hallway.

We are living at the speed of trust when we take time to co-creating covenant together, appreciating that it is the foundation of our commitments and an embodiment of our Unitarian Universalist values.

Living at the speed of trust reminds me that we are all connected, and we can be the beloved community right here, right now.

May it be so.

Rev. Jamie

If you have a pastoral care need or would like to share what is on your heart, my door is open. I can be reached at minister@durangouu.org to schedule an appointment.

Community Lenten Service: Wednesday, March 19 at 6:00pm

UUFD will welcome the Durango community to our sanctuary for a Lenten Reflection. Join us for a ½ hour contemplative service anchored in our Unitarian Universalist tradition followed by a community soup supper in Bowman Hall. If you would like to volunteer to help with soup that evening, please contact Rev. Jamie at

minister@durangouu.org.

2025 Lenten Ecumenical Prayer Service & Soup Suppers

Prayer services start at 6:00pm, usually lasting about 30 minutes.

Service is followed by a community soup supper.

All are welcome!

DATES & LOCATIONS

Wednesday, March 12 -- Christ the King Lutheran Church

Wednesday, March 19 -- Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Wednesday, March 26 -- First Presbyterian

Wednesday, April 2 -- St Mark's Episcopal

Wednesday, April 9 -- Summit Church

President's Message

A message from Board President Tim Miller

For me, the highlight of February was the campus improvements weekend facilitated by

UU Stewardship Consultant Kay Crider. A PDF of Kay’s Sunday presentation can be

found here. Thanks to everyone who was able to participate. It’s time to resume a process that could lead to a capital campaign to fund a new building. This would provide greatly improved spaces for the UUFD community and also significantly enhance our connection with and service to Durango and the surrounding area. I say “resume” because perhaps 30% of our current members don’t know that we originally considered this work in the years before Covid-19! The next step will be a visioning workshop on Sunday, March 30 after worship, where we will work in small groups to imagine all the ways an attractive new building can help UUFD carry out its mission and expand its impact. A light lunch and childcare will be provided; look for more details in the coming weeks.

The two roof-mounted heat pumps came online on February 24. We’ll be optimizing this system’s performance in the coming weeks and looking forward to year-round comfort in the sanctuary.

In March and April, the Congregational Covenant Committee will conduct a series of listening sessions and other events to gather your input on UUFD’s draft congregational covenant. The objective is to present a final congregational covenant for a vote at the Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 18.

We’re continuing to assess what improvements would be required to make Columbine House compliant with regulations and available to a daycare provider by July 1. In addition to supporting much-needed weekday childcare capacity for Durango, renting this space will diversify our sources of operating income.

The annual pledge campaign is well underway and will culminate on Celebration Sunday, March 9. I hope you’re enjoying the testimonial videos as much as I am. We’ve set a $320,000 target for this year’s campaign, up a bit more than $20,000 over last year’s total. Kay Crider emphasized the importance of a successful pledge result to signal readiness to consider campus improvements. We have a number of new members this year; together with some increases from returning pledgers, we can support Rev. Jamie’s ministry and fund our mission. Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Help Wanted! -for the Summer Series

Every year we have a Summer Series, as our Minister takes time off to refuel and renew for the coming congregational year. This series typically includes members from our congregation, as well as speakers from the larger community.  This summer, our Worship Team is collaborating on an idea, sparked by a seed from a question during a picnic last autumn: “Wouldn’t it be great to learn more about what the various religions represent in our windows?”  We see these windows every week, but what do they mean?  If we are inclusive and welcoming all… it behooves us to learn more about these various faith traditions.

With that in mind, we are seeking speakers for a 9-part Summer Series (June 29-Aug 31) that will focus one Sunday on each of the nine faiths represented in our windows: 

·        Star and Crescent – Islamic

·        Humanist symbol

·        Dharma Wheel - Buddhism

·        Goddess worship

·        Christian cross

·        Yin Yang - Taoism

·        Om – the Upanishads - Hinduism

·        Jewish Star of David

·        Medicine Wheel – Native American

If you are interested in possibly speaking OR have connections with a potential speaker (who is a practicing member or leader of one of these various faith traditions), please contact us. We need your ideas and please help us spread the word. You can send your interest, ideas, and /or connections to Mary Ocken, blueboathome@yahoo.com.

Marketa Young Travels to Tanzania

This is not the title of an exciting book about Faith Formation Teacher, Marketa Young, but instead is an exciting opportunity for her. Marketa writes:

“I was recently accepted to attend an Ethnographic Field School in Tanzania, led by Dr. Marnie Thompson at my college, Fort Lewis. I know this will be an incredibly valuable experience, and I could not be more grateful to have been accepted. However, the financial side of this is not so easy! I want to do valuable research, and would be incredibly grateful for any donations towards making it possible.

I hope to research how the use of birth control affects the career power of Tanzanian women. There is a lot of political controversy surrounding family planning in Tanzania (abortion is illegal) and some different standards regarding what a woman should do in her life, let alone her professional life. 

Finding these connections is important research, because like many Americans, I have a limited perspective on the rest of the world. Controversies surrounding things such as birth control aren’t just American, and everyone can benefit from a global perspective.”

Marketa’s aspiration for this research is so in alignment with our values and mission at UUFD. She can use your support, and she’s set up a Go Fund Me page for that purpose. And Marketa says, thanks in advance for supporting this opportunity. 

March News from Faith Formation

Trust is the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” ~Steven Covey

Do you ever consider what a “true north” principle might be—one so foundational that to imagine living life by its opposite is unimaginable.  Trust is one of those.  Everyone wants to be trusted or known as trustworthy.  No one wants to be known as Untrustworthy.  And to lose trust in someone or something?  We hate that feeling, and it’s devastating to be a person who has lost the trust of another.

This Stephen Covey quote seems especially applicable to the March Soul Matters theme of living love through the practice of trust.  In his book First Things First, he compares building and losing trust to making deposits and withdrawals in a bank, where deposits can be made only in pennies and withdrawals only in dollars.  Trust is built like that—one small deposit at a time until all those involved freely give their trust.  Break the trust, and it’s like a giant withdrawal from the bank.  And, the next deposit is a penny compared to the dollar of the withdrawal.  The simple reason why trust is so difficult to rebuild after being broken.  We can be brokenhearted when trust is lost.  During these especially turbulent times, finding those places and spaces of trust is especially important.  And trust, like all true north principles rooted in love, is the center for all that we are and all that we strive to do in our UUFD fellowship with one another.

Faith Formation for Kids

Please tell everyone about the OWL class for fourth and fifth grade students.  Parents, if your child is in fourth or fifth grade, please sign them up.  It’s free for UUFD kids.

If you have questions, please reach out to one of our teachers, Megan Dugan or Nikki Bauer, or to Faith Formation Coordinator Sharon Mignerey. 

Faith Formation for Adults

If you’re a parent or primary caregiver of children, a family soul matters group may be for you. 

Click here for more information.  

If you’re a creative who enjoys expressing yourself through music, art, or writing, the Creative Matters Covenant group may be for you.  For more information click here.    

Personal Faith Development – March:  Living Love Through the Practice of Trust

The purpose of this reflection is to remind yourself that you have more things you trust in than you might give yourself credit for.  Imagine answers to any of these questions and then add your own.  

• When my path seems uncertain, I turn to …
• When life deals me a seemingly unfair hand, I turn to …
• When I feel so drained I don’t think I can continue, I turn to …
• When injustice seems insurmountable, I turn to …
• When a dream I’ve held for a long time comes true, I turn to …
• When I feel safe enough to reveal my authentic self, I turn to …
• When I want to remember that life is this glorious gift, I turn to …

A sample.  Add your own “I turn to” responses to the most meaningful things in your life.

Do you like the prompts for these Soul Matters searching?  Would you like a monthly packet?  Reach out to Sharon Mignerey, who would be pleased to send you one.

In closing, consider this from Natalie Goldberg in Writing Down to the Bones: “Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go.” 

Co-Creating our Congregational Covenant - next phase

UU is a faith based on covenant. Covenant is an agreement among members which frames how we desire to live in community together. It outlines how we co-create an environment of support and trust, how we approach conflict, what we promise to do when behavior that is outside the covenant emerges, or when we hit the rough edges of our relationships.

In late January 2024, over 1/3 of our congregation met for a facilitated workshop led by Rev. Sarah Gibb-Millspaugh to kick start the development of an all-congregation covenant. For those who weren’t there, and for those who were but whose memories are now faded, Rev. Barbara did a nice summary of the workshop in the February 2024 Newsletter. You can read it here.

To consolidate the work done in the workshop and to determine the next steps in the process, a small group volunteered to move our covenant process forward. The Congregational Covenant Committee (CCC) consists of Aline Schwob, Brenda Huffman, Mary Ocken, Beth Connors, and Tom Miller. They gathered all the newsprint and notes from the energetic and detailed small and large group discussions in the workshop. They then spent several meetings last Spring consolidating and integrating. The result of their work, completed just before Rev. Jamie was called to be our settled minister, was a draft covenant that represented the key covenant-related themes that emerged from the workshop. 

Given that the new minister would necessarily have a great stake in the covenant, the CCC decided to postpone the introduction of the draft until the new minister – Rev. Jamie – was fully up to speed in the congregation and could be a full participant in its further development. And now she is – ready to continue working with us to grow as a congregation – moving more fully into our second settled ministry.

After some slight revisions, based on conversations with both Rev. Jamie and Rev. Sarah, the CCC will present the draft to the Congregation at the Sunday Reflection period on March 2. At that time, the CCC will also discuss the process over the next couple months for engaging the congregation in deciding whether this draft, or an edited version of it based on feedback, can be accepted as a foundational document framing promises we make to each other about how we will live together.  

One of the main points from the workshop is that a Congregational Covenant is a living document. It is expected that we will change it over time as the life of the congregation continues. It will also not be everything for everyone, but it ultimately needs to belong to the whole congregation. Thus, the co-creation process designed by the CCC. 

Of course, once we agree to a new covenant, we will have to learn to live within it. It will take time and experience, but having an active covenant during our upcoming discernment about building a fellowship hall will be very helpful.  

You can see the Draft Congregational Covenant and opportunities to engage with it here.

Social Justice & Responsibility Team News

As you can imagine, the UUFD Social Responsibility and Justice teams have ramped up their efforts since the results of the 2024 presidential election became clear. Much work is being done by Bonnie Miller and Sarah Wilhelm of the “Preserving Democracy Team” to coordinate action teams to address the many approaches we can take to resist the new administration’s disastrous initiatives. Please contact Bonnie or Sarah if you would like to be involved.

But there are many things that ALL of us can do as well. Below is an article by Robert Reich (January 23, 2025):

 “What can I do now?” Here are 10 recommendations. 

1. Protect the decent and hardworking members of your communities who are undocumented or whose parents are undocumented. 

This is an urgent moral call to action. As Trump’s ICE begins roundups and deportations, many good people are endangered and understandably frightened. 

One of Trump’s new executive orders allows ICE to arrest undocumented immigrants at or near schools, places of worship, health care sites, shelters, and relief centers — thereby deterring them from sending their kids to school or getting help they need. 

So-called “sanctuary” cities and states have laws prohibiting their schools, public hospitals, and police from turning over undocumented individuals to the federal government or providing information about them. These are sensible policies. Otherwise undocumented people who are ill, including those with communicable diseases, won’t go to public hospitals for treatment. Parents will be reluctant to send their children to school. Crime victims who are undocumented will hesitate before reporting crimes for fear that they could then face being deported.

If you trust your mayor or city manager, check in with their offices to see what they are doing to protect vulnerable families in your community. Join others in voluntary efforts to keep ICE away from hospitals, schools, and shelters. 

Organize and mobilize your community to support it as a sanctuary city, and to support your state as a sanctuary state. Trump’s Justice Department is already launching investigations of cities and states that go against federal immigration orders, laying the groundwork for legal challenges to local laws and forcing compliance with the executive branch. Your voice and organizing could be helpful in fighting back. 

I recommend you order these red cards from Immigrant Legal Resources Center and make them available in and around your community: Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC. You might also find these of use: Immigration Preparedness Toolkit | Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC.

2. Protect LGBTQ+ members of your community. Trump may make life far more difficult for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other people through executive orders, changes in laws, alterations in civil rights laws, or changes in how such laws are enforced.

His election and his rhetoric might also unleash hatefulness by bigoted people in your community. 

I urge you to work with others in being vigilant against prejudice and bigotry, wherever it might break out. When you see or hear it, call it out. Join with others to stop it. If you trust your local city officials, get them involved. If you trust your local police, alert them as well. 

3. Help protect officials in your community or state whom Trump and his administration are targeting for vengeance. Some may be low-level officials, such as election workers. If they do not have the means to legally defend themselves, you might help them or consider a GoFundMe campaign. If you hear of anyone who seeks to harm them, immediately alert local law-enforcement officials. 

4. Participate or organize boycotts of companies that are enabling the Trump regime, starting with Elon Musk’s X and Tesla, and any companies that advertise on X or on Fox News. Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of consumer boycotts. Corporations invest heavily in their brand names and the goodwill associated with them. Loud, boisterous, attention-getting boycotts can harm brand names and reduce the prices of corporations’ shares of stock. 

5. To the extent you are able, fund groups that are litigating against Trump. Much of the action over the next months and years will be in the federal courts. The groups initiating legislation that I know and trust include the American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Fund, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Common Cause. 

6. Spread the truth. Get news through reliable sources, and spread it. If you hear anyone spreading lies and Trump propaganda, including local media, contradict them with facts and their sources. 

Here are some of the sources I currently rely on for the truth: Democracy Now, Business Insider, The New Yorker, The American Prospect, The Atlantic, Americans for Tax Fairness, Economic Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Guardian, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, Heather Cox Richardson, and, of course, this Substack.

7. Urge friends, relatives, and acquaintances to avoid Trump propaganda outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, X, and, increasingly, Facebook and Instagram. They are filled with hateful bigotry and toxic and dangerous lies. For some people, these propaganda sources can also be addictive; help the people you know wean themselves off them. 

8. Push for progressive measures in your community and state. Local and state governments retain significant power. Join groups that are moving your city or state forward, in contrast to regressive moves at the federal level. Lobby, instigate, organize, and fundraise for progressive legislators. Support progressive leaders. 

9. Encourage worker action. Most labor unions are on the right side — seeking to build worker power and resist repression. You can support them by joining picket lines and boycotts and encouraging employees to organize in places you patronize. 

10. Keep the faith. Do not give up on America. Remember, Trump won the popular vote by only 1.5 points. By any historical measure, this was a squeaker. In the House, the Republicans’ five-seat lead is the smallest since the Great Depression. In the Senate, Republicans lost half of 2024’s competitive Senate races, including in four states Trump won. 

America has deep problems, to be sure. Which is why we can’t give up on it — or give up the fights for social justice, equal political rights, equal opportunity, and the rule of law. The forces of Trumpian repression and neofascism would like nothing better than for us to give up. Then they’d win it all. We cannot allow them to. 

We will never give up. 

***

Beyond these, please be sure to find room in your life for joy, fun, and laughter. Do not let Trump and his darkness take you over. Just as it’s important not to give up the fight, it’s critically important to take care of yourself. If you obsess about Trump and fall down the rabbit hole of outrage, worry, and anxiety, you won’t be able to keep fighting. 

Call for Social Media Volunteer

The Communications Committee is seeking someone to manage our social media accounts (Instagram and Facebook). We are looking for someone who would like to promote UUFD values and events, activities in the community that align with our values, and raise awareness to our social climate and how we can all support and stay involved! 

If you have capabilities in graphic design, we have a Canva account for you to use (not required). Please email our Communications Committee chair Lynn Griffith at lynnmgriffith@gmail.com if you're interested!

UUFD is Hiring!

UUFD is in need of a music director and pianist (one person) depending on interest and abilities. Compensation is competitive based on experience, etc.

If you have friends, friends of friends, relatives, etc. who might be interested in this part-time position, please have them contact Rev. Jamie Boyce at minister@durangouu.org for information.