February 21, 2025

Something For the Moment 

Something for the Journey

Wendy Bartel (name not pronouns), UUMA Board of Trustees, Governance Trustee-at-large

Beloved colleagues,

You who are carrying and caring so much, are also worthy of care. So many of us are doing what we can to care for the people we serve and the people we love and it often doesn’t feel like enough right now. Maybe we’re retired or in seminary, in between jobs or new to your position, trying to figure out how best to serve right now. That is real and so many of us are feeling this.

Those who seem to thrive on sowing chaos and overwhelm at the national level is a particular ‘skill set’ that a lot of us deal with on a smaller scale in our various ministry settings. What can we draw on in this moment to face the onslaught of changes this regime is imposing? Well, we know about healthy boundaries and the importance of implementing them and then enforcing them. We know about the power of systems, for better and for worse. We know that Unitarian Universalist values matter, and living and ministering with Love at the Center is vital.

We also know that fear can be something that stymies us or signals us. There is plenty to be afraid of. I am aware of my own fear for myself as a genderqueer person and for others: those I’m serving who are transgender and other gender fabulous people as well as serving alongside so many of you TGQNB+ folks whose safety is threatened. I am aware that my fear also signals that none of this is ok and we need to help figure out how we can do our part of making it stop.

Thanks to our colleague, Rev. Ashley Horan, we know it is important to take shifts for the revolution. So even as we strive to learn and do all.the.things, and feel like it is on our shoulders to protect and protest, it is not on ours alone. We are building and strengthening partnerships. We are inspiring the people to get involved. We are working on advocacy and bearing witness. We are building on what works and letting go of what hinders. And we need to do so through recognizing, interrupting, and dismantling the legacy practices and habits of white supremacy culture that values expediency over efficacy, and either/or thinking instead of the expansive both/and. The UUA is curating a Community Resilience Hub for more community care and the Side with Love folks have a new action center list you can join.

 And our UUMA Bylaws remind us-

The UUMA exists to call forth
courageous and transformative ministries,
empowered by love,
committed to collective liberation.
Because we need one another.

So, that means I need you to take exquisite care of yourself, best as you can, while we work to bring this into being. Even for just 1 minute today. Would you, now (or sometime very soon), give yourself a moment to notice something nourishing – perhaps a child, a furry one, your own breath, a flower, an act of resistance, the feeling of love in your being when you think of a loved one, a great song on the radio or in your head, someone who did what they promised to do, art, a poem, clothes that made it to the hamper, whatever would be nourishing to you… and just be with that nourishment as fully as you can in whatever way would enhance your joy.

…… …… …… ……

How do you feel now? 

Janette (yay she’s back from Sabbatical!) quoted some reminders on rest and support last week. Other UUMA Staff and Board members have, too, in several recent newsletters and in drop-ins and gatherings.  We have, perhaps, limited energy and time, and the stakes are incredibly high. It is also true we have an immense collective ethical imagination and a passion for faithful transformation. I am so grateful for your wisdom, experience, perspective, compassion, and company on this tragic, arduous, painful, and beautiful, gorgeous road towards liberation. 

With gratitude and in solidarity,
Wendy

Something for Learning 

While our Learning Manager is away visiting family, the MFN will host a special conversation for all members about “the things you didn’t learn in seminary” on Feb. 25. For details and to register: MFN Learning Together edition next week! The March program announcement will be in next week’s weekly. 

Something Extra