UUFD Newsletter, Oct. 2021

November 2021

A Goodbye in Every Hello

Rev. Katie's Animas View

Is there not a goodbye in every hello, a death in every birth, an ending in every beginning?

Doesn’t everything change?

What comfort can you give us, O eternal one?

We do not know how to be at peace with all the change.

We hold tight to what is now, willing it to stay just so.

We ask and we listen, we listen,

to anything you might say or show

to help us loosen our fearful grip on

what we wish to claim as ours to keep.

We listen for a voice that might say:

Be not afraid. I am with you through it all.

Stay in love with it all, from one day to the next,

from one change to the next. Love what is joyful,

love what is hard, love what leaves,

love what comes next, love it all—

Then you will be all right.

-Tricia Brennan

I’m not sure if this message is for me or if it is for you. I’m not sure whom or what is the voice we listen for that says, “Be not afraid.” All I know for sure is that I am so glad I’ve been able to create and build relationship with you. It’s been a joy for nearly eight years.

Mark your calendar for Sunday, December 12 for a post-worship holiday time and Celebration of Ministry for our time together. We’ll invite goodies and music and remembering of our time together.

Always in the Love,

Rev. Katie

November Services (in person and online)

Theme: Holding History

Worship services are held both in person at the sanctuary and via Zoom. Please choose the option that makes you most comfortable. To join a Zoom worship, look for the link on the UUFD website.

November 7

Heaven Under Our Feet

-Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris

Much of the Transcendentalist movement of the early 19th century was led by Unitarians. How might that history be with us and part of us today? Where might we expand upon it? The choir sings today.

November 14

Love and Listening

-Healthy Congregation Committee

To stay connected as a congregation and adhere to our mission of love, we must generously listen to each other. How do we do this spiritual work?

November 21

Q: What Is The UUSC and GAYT?

-Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris + Social Justice Team Leaders

A: The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and its longstanding program Guest At Your Table is our faith in action in the world. Come, find your part.

November 28

My Story

-Members of UUFD

After you’ve filled your belly with a holiday meal, come listen to the brief spiritual odysseys of our members.

Message from John Redemske, UUFD Board President

My dear fellow UUFD members and friends,

These are challenging times we are going through! We should remember that we are all in this together, and that if we all support each other and work together, we will move through the challenging times and emerge as a stronger and more vibrant congregation!

We continue to work to adjust our Covid policy so that it allows us to meet together in person in a safe and responsible manner. A key part of the policy is to define the conditions that result in a low risk level to people who attend in-person activities. Our goal risk level is defined this way: Within 100 in-person services (almost 2 years of services!), only one person would have the virus transmitted to them. Now that we are requiring all in-person attendees to be fully vaccinated, even in the remote chance that someone did become infected with Covid, the consequence to them is likely to be much less severe. The CDC has dramatically shown that fully vaccinated people have a far less chance of being hospitalized or dying from Covid. We will be defining the number of people and time duration allowed for each UU building. The use of masks is a key part of this procedure. Watch for more email communication on this subject!

The recent vandalism of having our rainbow flags and the front of the sanctuary building banner torn down is a reminder that there is intolerance in people, even in our local Durango community. Let us, however, not dwell in fear in response to this, but let us redouble our efforts to spread the UU message of respect and acceptance into our community!

The Listening Circle sessions have started on Sunday mornings at 9 am! I encourage everyone in the congregation to attend at least one of them to express your feelings about our UU Fellowship, the disruption of life due to Covid and any other feelings or frustrations that you want share. This is important work for all of us to do. It is an opportunity to have a look inside of ourselves, how we feel and how we relate to our UU family. How well are we living our covenant with each other? This is an important first step as we move through our ministerial transition over the coming months.

With gratitude to all of my fellow UU members and friends,

John Redemske

UUFD Board of Trustees President

FAMILY MINISTRY AND FAITH FORMATION NEWS

Leah Ongiri hired as family ministry coordinator

Personal greetings from Leah

Hello! Greeting you all for the first time is such a pleasure. Let me introduce myself: I’m the Rev. Leah Ongiri (please, call me Leah or whatever makes you most comfortable) and I get to be your new half time family ministry coordinator this program year. I’ve known and respected Rev. Katie for years, and welcome this chance to get to work with her through the end of her ministry here.

Are your ears burning? Hope so, because she has been telling me beautiful things about Unitarian Universalism in Durango. I’ve been hearing that you are a dedicated bunch, connected to each other, and deeply caring about your congregation and community. Immediately after my first conversation with Rev. Katie about coming on staff, I went to your website and read that your mission is to love courageously, inspire spiritual growth, and work for justice. “Ah,” I thought, “my kind of people!” I can’t wait to help support your families and get to know each of you more personally as the months unfold.

I grew up Unitarian Universalist and Jewish in Portland, Oregon. I just moved back to Portland this summer with my family. My partner Amy is a professor, and our children are 12, 10, 9, and 8. I’ve been a UU minister for about 14 years, with my last and longest ministry being at the Fox Valley UU Fellowship in Appleton, Wisconsin. In fact, I’m still serving them part time until the end of November, at which time I will conclude my 10 years of service there. My favorite activities during off hours are cooking with my kids, rainy nature walks, and writing poetry. Probably the most important piece of information about me is that my tuxedo cat Luna Rose likes to prowl in the background of Zoom meetings.

Now it’s your turn! If you’d like, drop me a line at familyministry@durangouu.org to introduce yourself and tell me something I should know about the Fellowship or greater Durango. Or be sure to say hi when we encounter each other at a virtual Fellowship event.

Bright blessings!

Leah

Have you joined a Listening Circle yet?

In-person and Zoom options available

One purpose of the Healthy Congregation Committee (HCC) is to create avenues for healthy communication by focusing on listening that is respectful, empathic and deepens understanding of our differences. This helps us hold a sacred focus in all of our UUFD relationships. The HCC and the Board (BOT) are offering Listening Circles in a confidential environment to give the congregation the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings in a safe place about the enormous change and uncertainty we currently face.

There will be two facilitators at each Circle and one will be taking notes to document what is being said. Participants can also post questions, thoughts, ideas, and feelings for all to see on the Listening Wall that will be responded to at another time. There will be a congregational meeting sometime at the beginning of the next year to share overall themes and plans for moving forward.

The live Listening Circles will take place on Sundays in Bowman Hall at 9 am on Nov 7 and 21, and Dec 5 and 19. Zoom listening circles will occur on Sundays at 9 am on Oct 31, Nov 14, and Dec 12. (Click here for the Zoom Link, Passcode: 107314.) There will be no more than 10 participants in each circle. RSVP with Kathleen Adams, especially if you need child care, or you are welcome to spontaneously join if there is room.

We hope all will participate in at least one circle.

Healing Racism team encourages reflection

Words from Anna Royer

As a white person who wants to be consistently anti-racist, sometimes it's easy for me to feel overwhelmed by the array of options for anti-racism action, or to feel confused about the best way to use my strengths and resources to support anti-racist work. At different times in my life I've engaged in direct action protest; at other times I've facilitated learning experiences (such as the Beloved Conversations program or the "White Fragility" book group at UUFD); and at other times I've joined efforts with anti-racist organizations in Minnesota, Arizona, and California. These days, one of my favorite anti-racist resources is the "Characteristics of White Supremacy" developed by Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones and (as Okun says) their "genius colleagues." For me, the practice of regularly reflecting on characteristics like a sense of urgency, or the right to comfort and fear of conflict, or perfectionism - noticing how they show up in my professional, personal, or UUFD spheres; naming the harm and interrupting the ways I perpetuate it - this is a powerful practice. It enables me to speak up about racism in ways I wasn't able to before, with a clarity that can feel both hopeful and scary.

I know I will continue to engage in a variety of anti-racist action, reflection, and learning throughout my life. I know that the way I do this in 2021 isn't the same way I did it in 1989 or 2016 - and won't be the same way I do it in the year 2027 or 2034 either. I'm encouraged by the quote from Viola Davis: "The revolution has many lanes—be kind to yourself and to others who are traveling in the same direction. Just keep your foot on the gas." I've shared a little here about the anti-racist "lane" I'm in these days - will you tell me about yours?

-Anna Royer

UUFD showed up with love and yellow t-shirts to the Women's March on Sunday, Oct. 3 in downtown Durango.

New social justice team?

Social Responsibility and Justice (SRJ) Special Feature

What does all the work of our current social justice teams - Basic Needs, Environmental Justice, Healing Racism, Immigration, LGBTQIA+ - have in common? They all rely upon a fair and functioning system of democracy to make possible the changes needed for a more just and safe world. Reading multiple sources of information, it’s clear we are in treacherous times where democracy is in peril. At a very fraught moment in our country’s history we need to fight for democracy.

For this fight to be successful, we can’t just rely on big organizations to do all the work. We need all hands on deck. There are many actions that can be taken that can have an impact - advocating for bills that protect the right to vote, registering voters, getting people out to vote, fighting against partisan gerrymandering, against election sabotage efforts, lobbying to eliminate the undue influence of money in our elections. These are some useful examples of needed actions. Nicole Pressley, leader of UU the Vote, says “There is so much we can accomplish together, if we root ourselves in our Unitarian Universalist legacy of showing up.”

Can we show up at UUFD with a new social justice team to lead us in the fight for democracy? We have many potential partners and sources of support to do this work: The League of Women Voters, UU the Vote, Indivisible Durango, ACLU, Common Cause and others. If you are interested in a new UUFD social justice team focused on democracy, contact Bonnie Miller yjmiller2@gmail.com.

As lawyer and social activist Robert Hubbell said, “As always, we have every reason to be hopeful, but no reason to be complacent. We are facing a once-in-century challenge to democracy. It is up to us to rise to its defense, as we have done for the last five years. We must not relent; indeed, we must redouble our efforts. We can do that!”

The UUSC "Guest At Your Table" 2021 Campaign

Donations accepted through the holidays

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is the worldwide action arm of Unitarian Universalists. Currently active in Central America, the Caribbean, the US-Mexico border, and the Far East, the UUSC works with grassroots native organizations to promote human rights and create social justice. In the next two months, our UUFD congregation will be accepting donations through the “Guest At Your Table” campaign boxes, which collect small change. For more information, go to uusc.org to read about how UUSC works in your name to bring social justice and human rights around the world.

Recital series features Southwest Piano Trio

Tickets available now for Dec. 3 recital

The second in UUFD's Recital Series will feature the Southwest Piano Trio on Friday, Dec. 3, at 7:00 p.m. The artists are Lauren Avery, violin, Anastasia Nellos, cello, and Marilyn Garst, piano. The recital will include two masterpieces from the standard repertoire plus a 20th-century work by Tomas Svoboda. The program will open with Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1, by Beethoven. The work was published in 1809 and includes three movements (fast, slow, fast). The second mysterious slow movement is responsible for the work's nickname "Ghost." It includes numerous fast tremolo passages in the piano part that add much to the atmosphere. The second work will be Phantasy, Op. 120, by Svoboda, Czech-American composer born in 1939. The Phantasy was written in 1985 and is in one movement. Most of the piece is very fast with jazzy rhythms and many changing meters, interrupted at times by short slow sections. The program will close with Trio in B Major, Op. 8, by Brahms. It was his first published work in 1853, but he was not satisfied with his creation. Thus, he undertook a complete revision which was issued in 1891 and the one that we will perform. The work is in four movements designated as Allegro con brio, Scherzo: Allegro molto, Adagio and Allegro. It is characterized in part by lush Romantic lyricism, passionate outbursts, and fleet lighthearted writing, especially in the Scherzo.

Information about the artists will appear in next month's newsletter. You may purchase admission online at durangouu.org/recital-series or at the door by cash or check.

Thanks to the LGBTQIA+ team, pictured here, who organized a well-received worship on Oct. 24 that featured Juniper Meadows speaking about the complexity and beauty of the transgender experience. Missed it? Watch online here. From left to right: Anna Royer, Don Spangler, Jim Brooke, Robert Bridges, Bonnie Miller.