Thursday Thriving
Hope & Courage
Beloved Borderlands UU Members, Friends, and Guests,
It has been one hell of a year since we last held in-person worship.
One year of global pandemic. One year of personal and social health concerns. One year of unknowns. Add in tumultuous national politics and social uprising for racial justice and it seems fair to predict that tempered through the fires of the last year we will be changed.
With all that we have experienced and the unknowns we still face, how could we be possibly the same? And if we are changed, as individuals and therefore as a faith community, what are we becoming? I don't have the answer, but I believe that we will be guided to discover who we are becoming through our gathering and by our history.
It has been one hell of a year since we last held in-person worship.
One year of global pandemic. One year of personal and social health concerns. One year of unknowns. Add in tumultuous national politics and social uprising for racial justice and it seems fair to predict that tempered through the fires of the last year we will be changed.
With all that we have experienced and the unknowns we still face, how could we be possibly the same? And if we are changed, as individuals and therefore as a faith community, what are we becoming? I don't have the answer, but I believe that we will be guided to discover who we are becoming through our gathering and by our history.
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As COVID metrics trend better and better in our region we plan to "roll out the BUU carpet" of in-person programs. (CLICK HERE for a full description.) When we begin to gather in small groups, following our guidelines (CLICK HERE), we will start to discover who we are becoming.
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And as we do, we can lean into the inspirational lives and work within our faith's heritage. We can look to individuals who in times of crisis and change have helped to craft our faith as well as our Borderlands UU home.
I'll be guided by of words attributed to the Rev. John Murray, grandfather of our Universalist faith:
I'll be guided by of words attributed to the Rev. John Murray, grandfather of our Universalist faith:
Give them not hell but hope and courage...
We've had much too much of hell this year, we are ready for some hope and courage.
Murray's was a liberal Christian faith that witnessed God's saving love as the work of all humanity. We've adapted Murray's faith to lead us to acts of social action and justice. You can see us in action offering hope and courage right now with our Accompaniment Project (CLICK HERE). You can see it to in how we have cared for one another through this year. And, I believe hope and courage will emerge in our gatherings.
In hope and courage toward our becoming,
Rev. Matthew
Murray's was a liberal Christian faith that witnessed God's saving love as the work of all humanity. We've adapted Murray's faith to lead us to acts of social action and justice. You can see us in action offering hope and courage right now with our Accompaniment Project (CLICK HERE). You can see it to in how we have cared for one another through this year. And, I believe hope and courage will emerge in our gatherings.
In hope and courage toward our becoming,
Rev. Matthew
Bonus: A Reflection on HopeI was invited by the Rev. Nathan Ryan of the minister of The Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge to share in a collaborative worship about hope on the occasion of one year of being apart.
I chose to share our cairn as my example of hope. If you cannot view that, here's the whole service...It is a wonderful worship with UU ministers from all over the country. The part about BUU begins at 46:20.
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