PWR Newsletter - April 10, 2020

By Eric Bliss

"We are not walking this path alone, building spiritual muscles, climbing the ladder to become more perfect. Rather, we are discovering the truth of our relatedness through belonging to these bodies and emotions, to each other, and to this whole natural world. As we realize our belonging, the trance of unworthiness dissolves". - Tara Brach

You are beautiful and worthy of love. At a youth summer camp called Quuest in the Black Forest outside of Colorado Springs, Colorado, this statement became the camp’s mantra. It was meant to be a buoy, to our youth, many of whom felt trampled by the world outside of their UU communities. Quuest had become a place of refuge and spiritual nourishment to these teens. And, this mantra became life-affirming to many.

You are beautiful and worthy of love. Jenny Finn, one of our sensational workshop leaders, and an expert in somatic movement, helped the community explore this paradigm through breathing exercises, group dance, and pair shared conversations. The room pulsed with the sound of music, stomping feet, and beating hearts.

You are beautiful and worthy of love. Initially, heads low and bowed, shame clung to these teens like a dark cloud. There was so much to cleanse from each group member’s respective spirits--the shame of perceived failure, of not enoughness, of being vulnerable, shame from folx who felt they existed on the margins of society. You could see it in their beginning steps, heavy and weary that, over time, transitioned to light, graceful jumps and laughter. I witnessed many tears through the course of that week together, and a waterfall of them during the movement workshop. Soulful sobbing shook some of the cobwebs loose. It opened doors. And the fresh air of compassion rushed in.

This group learned through a week of being together, of committing to being present, and to bowing to the sacred beauty in each of us, that each day, each moment, we might choose to live differently. We could choose to reject shame and fully realize that each and every one of us is beautiful and worthy of love.

Great spirit at the heart of all...All encompassing love that surrounds us…In these times of trial, stress, togetherness, and hope, may we each find that little voice within that lifts up our dignity, our beauty, our magnificence, and cleanses us in your tender, compassionate embrace.

YOU are beautiful and worthy of love. Always and forever. Amen.

Here are some resources to help you explore a shift from shame to compassion.

In the fall of 2019, UU faith communities were asked to engage in a Conversation for Liberation using this discussion guide for a 75-minute session. Congregations which have held Conversations may have tips to share. Congregations planning a future Conversation may have questions. Join Jessica York, Director of Congregational Life, for an interchange of experiences with holding Conversations for Liberation. April 29, 2020, at 5:00 pm Pacific / 6:00 Mountain / 7:00 Central/ 8:00 Eastern time on Zoom. Register here.

Right now feels pretty intense.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has many of us stressed and scared; we might be feeling overwhelmed or helpless with uncertainty. While many of us are being asked to work from home and many more do not have that option, we can stay connected to each other as well as with our UU the Vote community.

In the words of UUA executive vice president Carey McDonald, "This is a time when we need more ministry and connection with each other, not less. It just may need to take a different form."

We hope we can offer some connection and ministry to you.

Spiritual Sustenance Twice per Month
UU the Vote now offers twice monthly spiritual nourishment circles on the first Wednesday and the third Monday of each month. These groups offer space share stories from organizing and justice work, reflect, bear witness, amplify joy, and lessen the sorrows. Find the Spiritual Sustenance Schedule and RSVP.

How to #UUtheVote without leaving the house
We looked at our 50+ Ways to UU the Vote and suggest:

Visit Vote Forward to send letters to unlikely or unregistered voters.
Go to Reclaim Our Vote to make calls to voters who were purged from the rolls.
Consider small group meetings instead of large gathering or gather online using zoom, google hangout, or slack.
Set a date for your congregation to watch Suppressed: The Fight to Vote by Brave New Films or the movie Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook (available on some streaming services, including Amazon Prime) from each individuals home then hold a group conference call to debrief together.
Call your legislator to advocate for paid sick leave and relief for affected workers—not a bail out for the fossil fuel industry. Call (202) 224-3121 to be connected.
Spend the time to brainstorm who in your life to engage in values conversations with. Start making those calls and texts. See page 27 in our launch guide.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper with your opinion of how the pandemic is being handled and what you would like to see our elected leaders do.

Find our full message here.

The Chalice Lighter Calls for Spring 2019-2020 are now open! Check your district's website for details.

Chalice Lighters allows individual Unitarian Universalists to make small financial contributions to help other Unitarian Universalist congregations in their district with projects, often capital improvements, they otherwise might not be able to afford. There are now nearly 3,000 individual Chalice Lighters in the Pacific Western Region.

To set up a recurring monthly gift online, make a one-time gift online, or find out how your congregation might apply for a Chalice Lighters grant, please visit your district’s website at:

· pnwduua.org

· pcduua.org

· pswduua.org

· or mdduua.org

Dear Pacific Western Region Participants,

We write with an unfortunate update. Due to the threat that COVID-19 poses to susceptible members of our UU families and communities, we will be canceling or postponing all regional events for March into April, a full list of affected events is below.

Parts of our Pacific Western Region are locally dealing with impacts now. At least one public health department in our region has begun advising to avoid bringing large groups of people together and consider postponing events and gatherings. We expect that more of our region will be under public health recommendations before these event dates arrive, so we are acting early. There is risk of exposure before and during our events, as well as transmission after, and the impacts are greater than the average flu.

Our events bring together people from multiple congregations and each includes large metropolitan areas with confirmed cases; while any one of us may not be high risk, each of our communities include those who are. We have the power to slow the spread of this virus by not gathering, so we are doing what we can. We understand that this is a cautious approach and our 1st & 7th principles call us to take care of each other; this is what we can do, and how we feel called to live our faith.

If you were planning to attend an event in March or April, it is cancelled/postponed. Specific details for each event will be posted online shortly, and sent directly to any current registrant and local relevant chapters for religious professionals. Our staff is working on this now. Planning teams will iron out details in the coming weeks. If you are interested in this information and not yet registered, please complete an interest form.

This includes the cancellation of:
PCD Spring Retreat
MDD Spring Con
PNWD Spring Con
PSWD Spring Youth Con
PCD Coming of Age Nature Vigil & postponing Our Whole Lives in Spokane

We bring this news with a heavy, heavy heart and in Faith,

Amanda Radak, Events Coordinator Eric Bliss, Youth Ministry Specialist

Connie Goodbread, Acting Regional Lead and your Pacific Western Region Staff

PWR will be hosting one hour Virtual Small Group Meeting Spaces for youth starting Monday, April 6th! These spaces will follow UUA Safety Guidelines and covenantal norms. If there is interest, we will have separate break out rooms for Bridging Youth.

Monday will be Mountain Desert District at 1 pm PT / 2 pm MT;
Thursday will be Pacific Northwest District at 1 pm PT / 2 pm MT; and
Friday will be combined Pacific Southwest and Central Districts at 1 pm PT / 2 pm MT.

We'll meet at zoom.us/j/4368623231.

Please share these offering with your youth and families. If these take off, we may offer a fully Regional virtual space, too, for teens to meet one another across all four districts!

Dear Friends in the Pacific Central District,

Please mark, lightly, Saturday, July 25, 2020, on your calendars for the Pacific Central District Annual Business Meeting to be held online via Zoom.

The District's practice is to hold an annual business meeting in the Spring. This year, with all that has been and is going on in our lives, the District Board would like to hold the meeting during a Spring of the Spirit. It's our - the Board's - hope that by the end of July, the worst of the winter that is COVID-19 would have passed.

How are you and your communities doing?

We realize that you haven't heard much from us during the past year. As we prepare for the annual meeting, we hope to be communicating more and better, to share what we are doing, and to learn what matters to you most right now.

Catherine Ishida
Roger Jones
Bob Klein
Clovice Lewis
Bob Miess
Maddie Tuning

(aka the Pacific Central District Board, pcdboard@pwruua.org)

The Spring Chalice Lighter call will benefit the UU Church of Palo Alto in Palo Alto, California.

The UU Church of Palo Alto is growing. It has put its money and attention towards welcoming newcomers into the life of the congregation and inviting participants into membership.

This statement from Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern explains it: "By hiring a trial, part-time Membership Engagement Coordinator (MEC) using capital funds, and expanding our volunteer corps devoted to membership growth, we have seen dramatic results: 44 new members in 2019, which is unheard of in our last couple of decades and more than triple the number who joined in 2018. The congregation is embracing this success by making the MEC a permanent position funded by the operating budget, and a Chalice Lighter grant will allow us to put in place the structural supports that she and our volunteers need: a welcome video for our website ‘front door’; new, attractive brochures; welcoming and clear signs; and the database structures that will connect newcomers with the connections they are seeking".

Your donation to Chalice Lighters will help UUCPA continue to grow. Thank you for your support.

You can now have your gift automatically charged to your credit card or debited from your bank account each month. Automatic giving may be set up on the PCD automatic giving page. You can make a one-time donation online at our general giving page. If you have already set up automatic giving, or if you have already contributed to the spring call, we thank you. We do not expect you to make an additional contribution to this call. We are grateful for whatever you can contribute. Direct costs to administer the call are reimbursed from the donations before the grant is issued. More of your money will go toward the grant if you opt for emailed call letters and make your contribution online. Donations for this call will be accepted through June 30, 2020.
If you are sending a check, please make it payable to PCD Chalice Lighters and mail to our new address: PCD Chalice Lighters, P.O. Box 567, Brighton, CO 80601-0567.

Thank you for being a PCD Chalice Lighter!
Karen Urbano
PCD Volunteer Chalice Lighter Coordinator
pcdchalicelighters@pwruua.org

Dear fellow Chalice Lighter,

Thank you for supporting Chalice Lighters! Your commitment actively promotes the health of Pacific Northwest congregations.

This is your Spring Call for the 2019-2020 church year. Donations to this call will support a serious need at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Willamette Falls (UUCWF), in Oregon City, Oregon.

Our neighbors at UUCWF face extraordinary maintenance challenges associated with occupying a landmark 95-year-old historic building that is central to their community. They seek help from Chalice Lighters to replace 3 sets of crumbling concrete stairs with copies that meet modern codes. The old stairs are hazardous eyesores that deter visitors. Please help make UUCWF safer and more inviting to prospective new members!

The recipient of the most recent (Fall-Winter 2019-2020) calls is the Anchorage Congregation. Your generosity is helping to remodel their chancel area to make it safe and accessible.

We want to help your congregation grow! Make your congregation’s finance committee chair aware of the opportunity to apply for Chalice Lighter grants. Details may be found at pnwduua.org/chalice-lighters.

Please donate now. The amount we ask each person to pledge to give to each call is $20, but any amount you can contribute is received with gratitude. Donations through June 30, 2020 will be applied to this call.

Direct costs to administer the call are reimbursed from the donations before the grant is issued. Thus, more of your money will go toward the grant if you opt for emailed call letters and make your contribution online. If you choose, you can have your gifts to all three calls divided into 12 monthly payments that are automatically charged to your credit card or debited from your bank account. Automatic giving may be set up on the PNWD automatic giving page. One-time gifts may be made on the PNWD giving page. If you have already set up automatic giving, or if you have already donated to this call, thank you; we do not expect you to make an additional contribution to this call, but we wanted to inform you how your donation was being used.

If mailed, send your check, payable to "PNWD Chalice Lighters" to: PNWD Chalice Lighters, P.O. Box 567, Brighton CO 80601. Please include the PNWD-CL designation on your check. If you utilize a third party to issue checks, be sure to give them this updated address.

Questions may be directed to pnwdchalicelighters@pwruua.org. Thank you for your generosity!

Sincerely yours,
David P. Cauffman, PNWD Chalice Lighter program coordinator
pnwdchalicelighters@pwruua.org

Camp de Benneville Pines is a Unitarian Universalist retreat center on a 16-acre campus in a tall tree forest at an elevation of 6700 feet. It is owned by the UU congregations that make up the Pacific Southwest District (PSWD). With the cancellation of District Assembly, Camp de Benneville Pines (de Benneville) will hold its annual meeting immediately following the PSWD annual meeting online via Zoom. Both deBenneville and PSWD use the same registration and delegate certification process. DeBenneville has many initiatives including staying in harmony with our strategic plan, to modernize, and to coordinate with outside entities such as the United States Forest Service. You are encouraged to attend, represent your congregation, and nurture the sustainability of Camp de Benneville Pines.

The First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles is making a difference! This small congregation, with under one hundred members, is having a big impact in LA's Koreatown. First Unitarian is in a close relationship with a non-profit called Urban Partners. They have been working as a team to offer a food bank at First Unitarian to combat hunger in their neighborhood. With so many people out of work with the pandemic, the need has increased. In the past they would serve about 400 families each week, where now they serve about 700. Their operation at this church has had to change, to keep people safer and slow the spread of disease. Where in the past neighbors would crowd into their historic church to pick out their own groceries, now a fleet of volunteers is packing up bags of food ahead of time and bags are handed to those lined up for groceries. Each recipient gets two bags, including some fresh produce. The volunteers wear gloves and masks. Social distancing is maintained as people line up at the church to get food. First Unitarian in Los Angeles offers a great example of people working hard to live our Unitarian Universalist Values in this time of pandemic.

Dear Chalice Lighter,

Thank you for supporting Chalice Lighters! Your commitment actively promotes the health of Pacific Southwest congregations. The Spring call for the 2019-2020 church year will benefit Chalice Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Conejo Valley in Newbury Park, California.

Chalice UU "envisions technology that helps it create seamless and deeply engaging worship and enables it to reach more people in the wider community with its life-affirming message of justice and compassion", says the minister, Rev. Nica Eaton-Guinn. "We are endeavoring to build the most dynamic multi-media worship services possible, striving for an experience that fully engages the participants, keeps their attention, and flows smoothly from one moment to the next. We have made great strides over the past few years, projecting song lyrics onto a screen, incorporating videos, streaming services live on Sundays, and making videos of sermons available on a YouTube channel…This contemporary approach to worship has contributed to increased membership, more young people, increased enrollment in Religious Education, and makes the Unitarian Universalist message more readily available to all progressives in the Conejo Valley and surrounding communities. We have found it especially effective for reaching young families who typically rely heavily on the internet for gathering information and making decisions".

Rev. Nica adds that the congregation’s "objective is to fund critical upgrades to our aging sound and light equipment. The existing technology has been an integral component of both our recent growth and our ability to share the Unitarian Universalist message beyond the walls of our sanctuary. We have reached the limits of what our current equipment can handle, yet fervently desire to keep up our recent momentum". A Chalice Lighters grant of $10,415 would allow the congregation to purchase the most critical pieces of audio equipment now, when both the need and opportunity are the greatest.

You can now have your gift automatically charged to your credit card or debited from your bank account each month. Automatic giving may be set up on the PSWD automatic giving page. You can make a one-time donation online at our general giving page. If you have already set up automatic giving, or if you have already contributed to the spring call, we thank you. We do not expect you to make an additional contribution to this call. We are grateful for whatever you can contribute. Direct costs to administer the call are reimbursed from the donations before the grant is issued. More of your money will go toward the grant if you opt for emailed call letters and make your contribution online. Donations for this call will be accepted through June 30, 2020.

If you are sending a check, please make it payable to PSWD Chalice Lighters and mail to our new address: PSWD Chalice Lighters, P.O. Box 567, Brighton, CO 80601-0567

If you have questions, please write to PSWDChaliceLighters@pwruua.org.

In faith,

Michael Hart
PSWD Board President

Bringing alive the heartfelt words and artwork contributed by creators diverse in spiritual perspective and identity, Conversations with the Sacred is a moving testimony to the power of prayer. Prayers of love, lamentation, justice, inspiration, and transcendence—all are here, thoughtfully selected by editors Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Jennifer Kelleher. Whatever your relationship to prayer, whether it comes naturally, you have a complicated history with it, or have never prayed before, Conversations with the Sacred is a powerful and accessible resource for anyone looking to explore or deepen a spiritual practice of reflection or prayer. Pre-order today!

Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti serves as Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has served extensively in UU leadership, including as president of the Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM) and as a trustee on the UUA Board of Trustees. Prior to entering the ministry, he was a US diplomat during the Clinton Administration. He loves desert hiking and his amazing kids and husband.

Rev. Jennifer Kelleher serves as the Assistant Minister of Lifespan Faith Development and Pastoral Care at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, New Jersey. A life-long Unitarian Universalist, Jennifer has served on several congregation clergy teams, as a hospital chaplain, in chapter leadership within the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, and as a Board member of Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center.