This summer has been one with many joys for me. I’m grateful to have had time in nature, fun time with family and friends, and of course, adopting our puppy, Bert has brought us great joy. For those of you who attended last Sunday’s service and were outraged by my oversight of not showing a photo of him on the screen, here you go:
Rest assured there are and will be more where that came from. Just ask!
There’s nothing like a puppy to keep you in the present moment. His needs are immediate and compelling. His playfulness and cuteness are irresistible and it’s a constant job to keep him from chewing on something he shouldn’t be or going to the bathroom on the living room carpet. Luckily, he’s a quick learner. I’ve been bringing him to work some, so if you have a chance to say hello, he’ll be happy to meet you.
It’s been nice to have a furry little bundle of energy and sweetness around, demanding our attention and bringing us together as a family, though life is certainly not all puppies and rainbows all the time. I know things are hard for many of us in different ways and to different degrees. I know there are times when it feels impossible to access joy or attend to anything but our pain. And I keep thinking about the wisdom from African American poet, Toi Derricotte, that “joy is an act of resistance.” It’s a truth that continues to give me strength. Embracing joy does not crowd out our sorrows but it builds our capacity to hold them together with more love. I am reminded of this every time we stand on the corner on Thursday evenings for our Beacons of Light vigils. It always feels more uplifting and empowering than I expect it to – to hold a sign with a positive message and to share the experience in community, whether it’s 5 or 50 of us. Thank you for all who have shown up when you can.
In the dizzying array of hard things you may be facing – illness, loss, addiction, economic insecurity, political upheaval and uncertainty – how are you finding ways to lift your spirits? How are you sharing your joys? What we focus on grows and so naming what you are grateful for, what you are able to enjoy, even if it feels hard to enjoy anything right now, adds a little more light into the world. Please know that I am here, Rev. Susan, and the Pastoral Care Team are all here to help you hold those challenges and to find the joys. I hope you feel encouraged to ask for help when you need it.
I came across this poem today and it really spoke to me in this moment. I hope it might encourage you to know that you matter, and whatever it is you’re going through, whatever you have to give, whoever you are, you are worthy of love and joy:
Rebirth by Elizabeth Tarbox
When the day is too bright, or the night too dark, and your feelings are like an avalanche barreling down the mountain of events outside your control, when you look down and you are falling and you cannot see the bottom, or when your pain has eaten you and you are nothing but an empty hungry hole, then there is an opportunity for giving.
Don’t stay home and cover your head with a pillow. Go outside and plant a tulip bulb in the ground: that is an act of rebirth. Sprinkle breadcrumbs for the squirrels or sunflower seed for the birds: that is a claiming of life. And when you have done that, or if you cannot do that, go stare at a tree whose leaves are letting go for its very survival. Pick up a leaf, stare at it; it is life, it has something to teach you.
You are as precious as the birds or the tulips or the tree whose crenelated bark protects the insects who seek its shelter. You are an amazing, complex being, with poetry in your arteries, and charity layered beneath your skin. You have before you a day full of opportunities for living and giving. Do not think you know all there is to know about yourself, for you have not given enough away yet to be able to claim self-knowledge. Do you have work to do today? Then do it as if your life were hanging in the balance, do it as fiercely as if it mattered, for it does. Do you think the world doesn’t need you? Think again! You cleanse the world with your breathing, you beautify the world with your giving, you perfect the world with your thinking and acting and caring.
Don’t stay home and suffocate on your sorrow: go outside and give yourself to the world’s asking.
May we help one another to remember that each of us, has something to give and that we are all cleansing, beautifying, and perfecting the world just by being who we are.
Yours in love and faith, Rev. Eileen
Practicing Beloved Community at UCE 