This week’s small group ministry Journey Group meeting focused on “Letting Go.” Several lines in Danna Fauld’s poem Let it Go, from the packet of reading materials stay on my mind:
Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold, the holding of plans
or dreams or expectations. Let it all go.
Save your strength to swim with the tide.
The choice to fight what is here before you now will only result in struggle,
fear, and desperate attempts to flee from the very energy you long for.
Let go. Let it all go and flow with the grace that washes through your days
whether you received it gently or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith; the mind may never find the explanations that it seeks,
but you will move forward nonetheless.
Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores,
beyond your wildest dreams or destinations.
Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation.
Seven weeks into sheltering in place during the pandemic, we have been learning to let go of plans, adjust our expectations, and defer our dreams just a bit longer.
These past two months have unfolded in ways we could not have foreseen and have been full of disruptions to the usual rhythms of the church year. We have had to let go of our weekly in-person gatherings, with their warm and hearty greetings, robust singing and beautiful music, and shared coffee and pot-luck lunches. “Save your strength to swim with the tide,” the poet whispers. “Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores…”
We are learning that embracing doing church online throws us a lifeline. That we can, and must, use technology wisely -- the printed word transmitted electronically or by mail, the telephone, the computer and smartphone screens – in order to stay connected with each other and our faith. Like most UU congregations, we’re attending worship online, gathering for virtual coffee hours, increasing our telephone outreach, and transitioning small group ministry, committee and Board meetings to video and tele-conferencing platforms. All changes “beyond [our] wildest dreams!”
Doing church online is here to stay, I believe. As we discern when and how it will be safe to gather in numbers in close quarters, with those warm and hearty greetings and shared meals, we should ask the question, “Is it necessary that we gather in person for (fill in the blank), or could this be done online?” We will have to calculate the risk of gathering over the safety of our community, especially our older members.
Rather than wrestling with trying to replicate the template of all Fourth UU has been and “should” be in these days ahead, I invite you to reflect on what might emerge if we were to move forward by choosing to “Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation.”
With blessings for the journey,
Rev. Cindy
Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold, the holding of plans
or dreams or expectations. Let it all go.
Save your strength to swim with the tide.
The choice to fight what is here before you now will only result in struggle,
fear, and desperate attempts to flee from the very energy you long for.
Let go. Let it all go and flow with the grace that washes through your days
whether you received it gently or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders.
Take this on faith; the mind may never find the explanations that it seeks,
but you will move forward nonetheless.
Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores,
beyond your wildest dreams or destinations.
Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation.
Seven weeks into sheltering in place during the pandemic, we have been learning to let go of plans, adjust our expectations, and defer our dreams just a bit longer.
These past two months have unfolded in ways we could not have foreseen and have been full of disruptions to the usual rhythms of the church year. We have had to let go of our weekly in-person gatherings, with their warm and hearty greetings, robust singing and beautiful music, and shared coffee and pot-luck lunches. “Save your strength to swim with the tide,” the poet whispers. “Let go, and the wave’s crest will carry you to unknown shores…”
We are learning that embracing doing church online throws us a lifeline. That we can, and must, use technology wisely -- the printed word transmitted electronically or by mail, the telephone, the computer and smartphone screens – in order to stay connected with each other and our faith. Like most UU congregations, we’re attending worship online, gathering for virtual coffee hours, increasing our telephone outreach, and transitioning small group ministry, committee and Board meetings to video and tele-conferencing platforms. All changes “beyond [our] wildest dreams!”
Doing church online is here to stay, I believe. As we discern when and how it will be safe to gather in numbers in close quarters, with those warm and hearty greetings and shared meals, we should ask the question, “Is it necessary that we gather in person for (fill in the blank), or could this be done online?” We will have to calculate the risk of gathering over the safety of our community, especially our older members.
Rather than wrestling with trying to replicate the template of all Fourth UU has been and “should” be in these days ahead, I invite you to reflect on what might emerge if we were to move forward by choosing to “Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation.”
With blessings for the journey,
Rev. Cindy
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