Dear Members and Friends,
I look forward to returning to Westport this Saturday and seeing many of you at the Crys Matthews concert hosted by Voices Cafe, at worship on Sunday morning, and at Cottage Parties over this weekend and over Presidents’ Day Weekend.
What do you value at UU Westport? The Cottage Parties are specifically for members to gather in regional groups to share with me and a Board member what you value about the Congregation. I’d love to hear about your experience and your hopes. What is important to you? (If you’re wondering, no financial asks will be made!) If you’re available one of these two weekends, click on the meeting that works for your location and schedule—and sign up!
Sunday, February 4, 2024 (2:00-4:00 PM), Norwalk
Sunday, February 4, 2024 (7:00-9:00 PM), Ridgefield
Monday, February 5, 2024 (6:30-8:30 PM), Westport
Tuesday, February 6, 2024 (3:00-5:00 PM), Westport
Tuesday, February 6, 2024 (7:00-9:00 PM), Stamford
Sunday, February 18, 2024 (2:00-4:00 PM), Shelton
Sunday, February 18, 2024 (7:00-9:00 PM), Westport
Monday, February 19, 2024 (7:00-9:00 PM), Easton
Saturday, March 16, 2024 (7:00-9:00 PM), Wilton
It was so good to be with you this past Sunday when I shared about Conflicts and Covenants in both our Unitarian and our Universalist heritage. It was a headier sermon than I often give, and it was wonderful to join so many of you for the Barn Dance afterward to get back into our bodies—thank you to the organizers! A link to the approximate text of the sermon is HERE. And for those who enjoy learning more, a link to a paper I wrote for Prairie Group “Covenants and Conflicts in Unitarianism and Universalism 1860-1900” is HERE.
This past week, I enjoyed facilitating three BRAVING conversations. I know many others of you wanted to attend, and I will be holding further conversations. These will be on Tuesday evenings and Friday mornings.
If you missed these conversations, I highly recommend Brene Brown’s 10 minute Ted Talk shared on Facebook HERE, where she explains how BRAVING is the “Anatomy of Trust.” The accompanying art work highlights the many salient points she makes about building trust. I also recommend a second video HERE, a YouTube conversation between Brene Brown and Marie Forleo about BRAVING, particularly the clip from from 6:45 to 22:00.
Warmly,
Alan
from “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin
If we, the relatively conscious ones, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the consciousness of others, do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our country, and change the history of the world.
“Contraband” by Denise Levertov
The tree of knowledge was the tree of reason.
That’s why the taste of it
drove us from Eden. That fruit
was meant to be dried and milled to a fine powder
for use a pinch at a time, a condiment.
God had probably planned to tell us later
about this new pleasure.
We stuffed our mouths full of it,
gorged on but and if and how and again
but, knowing no better.
It’s toxic in large quantities; fumes
swirled in our heads and around us
to form a dense cloud that hardened to steel,
a wall between us and God, Who was Paradise.
Not that God is unreasonable—but reason
in such excess was tyranny
and locked us into its own limits, a polished cell
reflecting our own faces. God lives
on the other side of that mirror,
but through the slit where the barrier doesn’t
quite touch ground, manages still
to squeeze in—as filtered light,
splinters of fire, a strain of music heard
then lost, then heard again.
