Southwest Conference Blog

A New Year’s Haiku

by Rev. Deb Worley

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord,
plans for your welfare and not for harm,
to give you a future with hope.”
(Jeremiah 29:11)

Most of you do not know this about me (although it won’t surprise you!), but every year for the past, maybe, twenty- (?) years, I have written a Christmas letter. And this is no ordinary Christmas letter. For most of those years, it has been a rhyming Christmas letter. And sometimes, even set to a tune (one year, for example, I wrote our family’s version of “My Favorite Things” from the Sound of Music! Yes, really…). I strive to make it informative, yes, but more than that, I try to make it fun to read. I do not, typically–and this is the part that really won’t surprise you–try to make it brief!!

This year, as the Christmas season was approaching, a friend suggested, somewhat in jest (but not, I suspect, entirely!), that I try to write a Christmas haiku. You know–the Japanese form of poetry that consists of three lines, with five and seven and five syllables, respectively.

After I stopped laughing hysterically at the thought of summarizing this year in only seventeen syllables, I decided to try it! I came up with several options, but this was the winner:

Challenges abound…
Seeming insurmountable…
Breathe. This, too, shall pass.

As you might expect, it has been quite an exercise for me, using such a short form of poetry to express emotion and capture meaning. But it has been, in fact, quite a thought-provoking exercise…and I’ve expanded it beyond “just” my Christmas letter.

I also decided to try to compose one as a New Year’s “offering,” a haiku prayer of sorts. While I was standing in line at the post office today, I actually came up with two. And I share them with you here, for whatever they may be worth:

Breathe. You can trust me.
I am doing a new thing…
Come be part of it….

and

This year is ending.
New life and change are coming.
Breathe. Trust. Watch. Hope. Breathe…

There seems to be a bit of a theme, in all three of those last haikus. I suppose it’s something I, at least, need to hear and be reminded of. And that is to “Breathe.”

To breathe in God’s peace and breathe out anxiety. To breathe in God’s presence and breathe out isolation. To breathe in God’s hope and breathe out despair. To breathe in God’s love and breathe out fear.

As this crazy year comes to end, dear friends, breathe…As a new year begins, breathe… As we move from one day to the next, one month to the next, one year to the next, not knowing what is in store, good or bad, comfortable or uncomfortable, desired or not, breathe…and trust…and watch…and hope…and breathe.

Happy New Year, and God’s peace be with us all.

Deb

Burning a Yule Log & Looking for a Bright Star

by Rev. Victoria S. Ubben

In a previous city in which I had lived, my friends hosted an annual, festive Winter Solstice party in their home. It was held on or near the winter solstice (which is on or near December 21). Because of my ministry as a pastor of a church, the season of Advent (the four weeks before Christmas) and Christmastide (the 12 days from December 25 through January 5) was a busy time for me. Nonetheless, I always found it refreshing to gather with friends around the yule log and observe the winter solstice…

Just a quick review: the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. After the winter solstice, the days start to get longer. People observed the winter solstice long before Christianity was established. Many Advent and Christmas customs that Christians observe (e.g., Christmas trees and lighting candles) have roots in much older traditions and ancient folk customs that were later absorbed by Christianity. For example, in Scandinavian countries long ago a “yule log” was rolled through the streets then burned in a symbolic bonfire (hopefully, to destroy the sorrows of the past year and bring good tidings of hope and joy to the city and its residents in the future).

… Back to the Winter Solstice party. Each year, guests at this this party were invited to bring a small remembrance (perhaps written on a piece of paper) or a sprig of something flammable (like a piece of a dried stick or a tiny evergreen branch) to place upon the yule log. I always thought about what I wanted to burn – get rid of – from the past year for some significant amount of time before this gathering. As I reflected on the season that had passed, I always had something to burn (either literally or symbolically). Other people at this gathering symbolically put their disappointments, failures, bad choices, addictions, sins, and just “garbage” on that yule log along with me. (I am so glad that this was a communal event and not something that one must do all alone.)

After food, drink, and some readings appropriate for the winter solstice, the strongest people of the bunch would lug that yule log with all our sadness, grief, sorrow, and regret to the huge fireplace in the living room. I would typically recall the lyrics to an old drinking song-turned-Christmas carol that has been adapted over the centuries:

Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
‘Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Fill the meadcup, drain the barrel,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Troll the ancient Yule-tide carol,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

See the blazing yule before us,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Strike the harp and join the chorus.
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Follow me in merry measure,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
While I sing of yuletide treasure,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! *

I usually stood there with tears in my eyes – sometimes with a feeling of regret and sometimes with a feeling of relief as I watched the yule log (with all our collective disappointments upon it) go up in blazes.

Perhaps this year as we all prepare for Christmas, we would be wise to burn our sorrows and sins of 2020 on a yule log… or upon any log… in a cozy fireplace, in a blazing outdoor firepit, even over a flaming candle. What are the things that you would chose to burn up before meeting the Christ child born for us on Christmas morn? Our racism, sexism, classism, and some other “ism” of which we are guilty? The confusion brought upon us by Covid-19 and our 8 months of social distancing? Our stressful Presidential (and other) elections? Please join me in burning up our regrets and disappointments of 2020.

I will be looking up at the night sky on the Winter Solstice and I hope that you will, too. Astronomers call the Winter Solstice of 2020 the “Great Conjunction.” Jupiter and Saturn will be so close to each other that it just might look like the legendary star of Bethlehem over the place where the baby Jesus was born!

Here is a link to a scientifically correct article about what to expect this year on December 21.

As Christmas draws near, look up into the night sky, burn a yule log, raise a celebratory mug of some festive beverage, and reflect upon this familiar piece of scripture (Matthew 2:9-11 NRSV):

“When they [the wise men or astrologers] had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage.” Amen.

*Lots of versions of “Deck the Halls” are available. Wikipedia indicates “The English-language lyrics were written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant. They first appeared in 1862, in volume 2 of Welsh Melodies, a set of four volumes authored by John Thomas, including Welsh words by John Jones (Talhaiarn) and English words by Oliphant. The repeated “fa la la” goes back to the earlier Welsh and may originate from medieval ballads.”

The Magnificat: A Calling-out??

by Rev. Deb Worley

“And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.’”

(Luke 1:46-55)

The Magnificat.

Mary’s Song of Praise.

The Canticle of Mary.

By whatever name you call it, it’s a hymn of praise, an overflowing offering of praise and gratitude to God, “the Mighty One,” offered by Mary following her joyous meeting with her cousin Elizabeth, during which the miraculous pregnancies of both women were recognized. It’s praise for what God has done for her, and praise for what God will do through her.

And it’s not just praise. Or at least not just a “rainbows and roses” kind of praise that makes everyone feel good. It’s also a claiming of the reality of God, a proclaiming of the Kingdom of God that has been promised “from generation to generation,” and that will be birthed in a new and previously unknown way, in Jesus.

In Mary’s hymn of joyous praise to God, there is, included, an overturning of the status quo–the powerful being brought down and the lowly being lifted up…. There’s a calling-out of the way things are and a “calling-toward” the ways things are meant to be–those who are hungry being filled to satisfaction and those who are satisfied being sent away empty….

The Magnificat is not simply a quiet song of praise whispered timidly by meek and humble Mary, as I admit I have tended to think of it.

It is a powerful song of praise–and gratitude and hope and revolution–sung boldly by faithful and courageous Mary!

…Would that I might praise God with similar power, and boldness, and courage, not just now in this season of Advent but in the living of all my days…

…Would that my praise might somehow claim, and then proclaim the reality of the Kingdom of God that has been birthed in Jesus…

…Would that my soul might magnify the Lord, today, tomorrow, and always…

Mighty One, may it be so.
Peace be with us all.
Deb

featured image is “The Windsock Visitation” by Brother Mickey O’Neill McGrath

Inerrancy and Textualism

by Hailey Lyons

I can’t have been the only one holding their breath during the Supreme Court hearing on November 10 over the Affordable Care Act. California v Texas may decide that SCOTUS’ 2017 striking down of the financial penalties on the individual mandate clause means the individual mandate must go, and/or the entire ACA. While what we’ve heard since the hearing is positive – Roberts and Kavanaugh erring on the side of severability rather than dismissing the ACA entirely – there remains much work to do in order to win over the other conservative Justices. This includes Gorsuch and Barrett, two Justices who claim to be in the mold of Scalia as Textualists.

Part of my nervousness for this hearing is a direct result of Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. While other op-eds and professional analysts have written tomes on her experience, judicial philosophy, and religious concerns, I want to keep the focus here on the connection between the Christian doctrine of Inerrancy and the legal doctrine of Textualism. There is a surprising amount of scholarship on the connection between the two, but in light of recent events I feel the need to bring it back into our minds.

Many of us in the UCC come from different denominations with vastly different understandings of the value and methods of interpretation that can be applied to Scripture. As I explored previously, the Methodist doctrine of Prima Scriptura and the Evangelical doctrine of Sola Scriptura are inextricably linked by the power arbiters of Scripture hold. However, the Evangelical doctrine of Inerrancy – or infallibility depending on your denomination – reigns supreme in the Christian Right denominations and many non-denominational churches. Inerrancy cements not just who holds the power to interpret Scripture but also several key, presuppositional points that have become the hallmark of Evangelicalism. This has not always been the case and is a rather recent phenomenon of the past hundred years of American Christianity.

Textualism largely originates with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who argues that the Constitution should be interpreted solely within itself – separated from socio-historical understandings and intentions. Within Textualism, sitting Justices Gorsuch and Barrett occupy vastly different approaches. Gorsuch has shown through his rulings thus far that he sticks rather strictly to the assumptions of Textualism, while Barrett copies Scalia’s wedding of Textualism to Strict Constructionism, a form of Originalism that’s deeply invested in the historical popular opinion at the time of the Constitution or law under consideration’s writing. While Scalia openly contradicted himself and rejected Strict Constructionism, both his legacy and Barrett’s judicial philosophy uphold it completely. Thus, there is an awkward relationship between rigidly understanding a text devoid of its time and context and attempting to understand public opinion of the time and context.

This is exactly how Inerrancy has evolved in Evangelical circles. Inerrancy often served in its early contexts as a way of providing ministers without education license to impose their own culture and context into Scripture itself. At the advent of Higher Criticism in Germany, Evangelicals were suspicious and terrified of its potential to wrench the interpretation of scripture out of their hands. However, through the decades leading to the rise of the Moral Majority and coming to the end of the 20^th century, increasingly determined conservative takeovers of Evangelical institutions provided an awkward mix of Inerrancy and the Higher Criticism. In Reformed circles, Evangelicals use a form of exegesis that strives to combine portions of the Higher Criticism with Inerrancy while keeping Inerrancy at the top of the interpretive hierarchy and retaining interpretive power within authoritative bodies.

At its outset, Inerrancy and Textualism don’t seem particularly joined, but their evolution to form awkward relationships between the authority/interpretation of texts within strictly textual frameworks and authority/interpretation of texts within their socio-historical contexts provide a parallel body of study. The modern products of these relationships provide also provide a stunning parallel that cannot be ignored.

One of my focuses in my graduate program is Christian Nationalism within the Evangelical community, and the various ways it expresses itself. The dominant view of Christian Nationalism in Evangelicalism currently privileges a revisionist narrative of history that advocates America is a Christian nation founded on Christian principles that would be in line with modern Evangelical theological positions. The less dominant view doesn’t believe America is a Christian nation, but instead places a revisionist narrative of biblical history that meets modern Evangelical theological positions anyways. Both embrace inerrancy, and appropriate history to that end.

Amy Coney Barrett did not join the Supreme Court without extreme concern and dispute. Much of this was rooted in her obvious intermixing of judiciary education at Notre Dame with her fringe Catholic views. More than any Justice to sit the bench in recent memory, there was no question that Barrett would not be able to separate her religious views from her judicial ones – despite her vociferous statements to the contrary. At issue are also – as a Strict Constructionist – her religious views providing a revisionist view of American history that is more likely to steer her judicial philosophy hard to the right side of the political spectrum.

In both cases, history is only relevant in that it suits the whims of the textual interpretations imposed on it by authorities. When understood this way, there is no difference beyond the semantical one between Inerrancy and Textualism. Perhaps this is why so many Evangelicals and political conservatives have come together on judicial appointments and policy positions in recent decades. Rather than easily dismissing Evangelicals’ fanaticism on women’s autonomy and heteronormativity, we should understand it through this lens – one that demands supreme control of interpretations of texts and history itself in order to control the present and future.

Here is what I have done every day during the pandemic.

by Gordon Street, SWC Commissioned Minister for Reimagining and Connecting with the God of One’s Own Understanding

Faith and spiritual practices sustain me during this uncertain pandemic era and unprecedented election season. Because my ministry focuses on helping people connect with a God of their own understanding, I want to share a few thoughts about what has helped personally these last many months.

The solution always is faith. But what does faith really mean? A quirk of the English language is that faith can be only a noun when it really should be a verb because faith is not what I think, it is what I do. Paul, in Hebrews, says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That means faith is the result of hope, the evidence of the unknowable. How I choose to face each day and what I do during the course of each day produces faith. Faith does not guide my actions. Actions produce my faith.

Here is what I have done every day during the pandemic. Each day I begin with a prayer for wisdom, strength, willingness and courage to face the things I must face. I also pray for the world, my family, my First Church beloved community, and my friends, to help them in all their needs. Most important is my prayer that God’s will be done in their lives as well as mine. I don’t pray for outcomes. I pray for attitudes in circumstances.

I, like most people, am cooped up at home. I reach out the friends, family and even strangers every day to see how I can be of service to them and give words of hope and encouragement.

In other words, I pray for faith for myself, and the rest of my prayers are for everyone else. Take the focus off of me. I believe my prayers and actions embody Jesus’ suggestion that we love God with all of our being and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Faith doesn’t mean everything will be alright, and I’ll win the lottery too.

God doesn’t necessarily make everything all better. God grants me the willingness, strength, and courage to handle whatever I am facing. God is with me and embracing me through it all. Especially during difficult times. I am comforted by knowing I’m not alone in difficulty.

In These Days

by Deb Worley

“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” (Mark 13:24-25)

This was part of the scripture that was read at this past Sunday evening’s (Zoom) vespers service at White Rock Presbyterian Church.

It was the Gospel reading for Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent (yes, really! Already! Crazy…). As I listened to the passage being read, I was struck by the words at the very beginning, the words I quoted above: “in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

And I felt a heaviness as I thought, “Not just ‘in those days’…but in these days!”

In these days, when there has been and continues to be so much suffering and darkness.

In these days, when there has been and continues to be so much chaos, that we are left feeling like the stars are falling from the sky and the powers in the heavens have been shaken.

Not just “in those days”…but in these days….

But then I heard the words that came next: “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.” (Mark 13:26) And my heaviness turned to hope!

Precisely in the presence of great suffering, when the darkness is so great that it feels like the sun has stopped shining and the moon ‘will not give its light,’ then Jesus will come! Then God will make God’s presence known!

In the wake of tremendous pain, when the resulting chaos has led to feelings of the world being turned completely upside down, when uncertainty seems to reign, then the Son of Man will come! Then God’s power and glory will be made manifest and will be seen!

“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken….”

And I know, not just “in those days,” but certainly, in these days….

But “then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory….”

And I pray, not just in those days…but also in these days.
If not now, when??

Come, Lord Jesus!
We are waiting…
We are watching…
We are hoping…
We are praying.

Peace be with us all, in this sorely needed season of Advent.

Untangling the Mess

by Deb Worley

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
[God] is the one who will keep you on track.”
(Proverbs 3:5-6, The Message)

While she was away, Sarah learned to crochet…and has become a bit of a blanket-making machine! “Everyone’s getting a blanket for Christmas this year!” So as not to be left out of the fun, I asked her if she would teach me. What you see in the picture above was my first attempt! Not bad, right? She’s a good teacher.

But what you don’t see is the fact that it was becoming narrower and narrower–I couldn’t seem to figure out how to keep the edges straight. What a mess! If I kept going, it was clearly going to end up in the shape of a triangle, rather than the more “traditional” rectangular shape of most blankets! So I pulled it all out so that I might start again. Yes, really….

I quickly got the first part of the yarn rolled up without too much trouble…but then the process came to a screeching halt. Talk about a mess! I had a neat-looking ball of yarn on one side and a big, tangled mess on the other….

Knots, knots, and more knots. If I pulled too hard, the knots only got harder to untangle. If I tried to go too fast, the mess only got worse…. I had to go slowly, be patient, and take my time…not to mention lots of deep breaths! Slowly but surely, the knots got undone and the mess grew smaller….

And finally, after several hours and many deep breaths (and only a few curses muttered under my breath!), voila! Done! Untangled! No more mess! Ahhh… Ready to start over with a new project.

Perhaps with help?…Did you notice the little foot, and whiskers, at the very top??… Meet Winston, one of our cats. Always ready to “help”!

It struck me, in the midst of that process, that there were some similarities between it and what we’re all living through in this season. A year ago at this time, things were moving along, not perfectly for sure but in a way that seemed at least recognizable, sort of like me crocheting my blanket. And then, somewhere between January and March, things began to unravel. We weren’t doing the unraveling on purpose, certainly, but it happened just the same. And we were all left with a big, tangled mess.

A big, tangled mess that we are still in the middle of and that we all want desperately to untangle, so that we can start moving forward again, with a “new project,” if you will. Or even just get back to what we were doing before. And like with my mess of yarn, sometimes it seems that the more we pull, the more knotted it all becomes. And the faster we try to go, the worse it seems to get….

Perhaps some of the same strategies I used in untangling my mess of yarn can be helpful as we try to–or at least want to–untangle the mess we continue to find ourselves in. This is nothing new, of course, but I for one benefit from an occasional reminder! Perhaps, in this ninth month of COVID restrictions, we can benefit from some renewed patience…some regular deep breaths…and maybe even a few curses muttered under the breath (or shouted out loud?!)….

And additionally, as people of faith, perhaps we can also benefit from remembering, as the wise author of Proverbs reminds us, to trust God from the bottom of our hearts, knowing that we don’t have to–in fact, we can’t–figure out everything on our own. Perhaps, as people of faith, we can remember to listen for God’s voice, trusting that God is the one who will keep us on track. Easier said than done, for sure. But worth a continued effort.

Being patient will help, yes. Breathing deeply will help, absolutely. And in my experience, there’s a definite place for the occasional, appropriately expressed outburst(!). But I would suggest that the most critical piece in getting to the other side of this big, tangled mess in which we continue to find ourselves–and it’s perhaps also the most difficult piece for us high-achieving, do-it-yourself-ers–is trusting God.

Be patient–and trust God.
Breathe deeply–and trust God.
Shake your fist, shout at the heavens, curse a blue streak–and keep trusting God.

And we will get to the other side of this big, tangled mess, with God at our side, ready for whatever new project awaits us….

Thanks be to God!
Deb

Grace…It’s for More than Just Dinnertime

by Carol Reynolds, Pastor, Scottsdale Congregational UCC

Grace, it strikes me, is one of those “squishy” words that’s hard to put your finger on, seemingly impossible to define, save for the prayers of gratitude and blessing we say before digging into our meals. It’s a theological concept, but it’s more than that. It’s a characteristic of God that we aspire to, some of us more successfully than others; but it’s even more than that! When we add a “ful” to the end of it, I begin to picture something more concrete and outwardly beautiful—a ballerina, a horse, someone with really good posture who treads lightly upon the earth, etc.

I felt vindicated when I went to look grace up in my Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms the other day. Beyond the “generic” version, which spoke briefly of kindness and unmerited favor, there were fully SIXTEEN types of grace listed and defined!!

actual grace
cheap grace
common grace
cooperating grace
efficacious grace
free grace
glorifying grace
habitual grace
irresistible grace
justifying grace
prevenient grace
sanctifying grace
saving grace
special grace
sufficient grace
universal grace

That’s a whole lot of grace! It reminds me of the fact that the Inuit have 40+ ways to refer to snow, which is pretty modest compared to the Sami of northern Russia and Scandinavia, whom I just learned have 180 words related to snow and ice and as many as 1000 for reindeer![1]

Obviously, to require that extensive a vocabulary for a single concept, it’s got to be something with which people have had A LOT of experience, to which they’ve given a lot of thought, and about which they care a great deal. As far as grace goes, suffice it to say that, in life, we experience a lot of it, which manifests in a host of specific ways. Which must also mean that we need a lot of grace in our lives.Perhaps never has this been truer than today, in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic that has been our reality for over 10 months now. In many ways we’ve adapted thanks to the high tech means of communications available to us in 2020. We’ve got our weekly worship services, we’ve got our regularly scheduled check-ins with friends and family, we’ve got our shipments of essentials from Amazon and Chewy.com to keep trips to stores to a minimum. And yet…

There are many silver linings to the isolation we’ve had to impose upon ourselves to stay safe; yet loneliness and boredom are unavoidable, nevertheless. In many respects, we’re living out Bill Murray’s iconic Groundhog Day film, waking up to the same day over and over and over again. Sometimes I’m surprised there’s anything at all left to talk about with others!

One thing that does change regularly is the number of people contracting and dying from the virus. Lately they’ve gotten so high that I daresay they defy the 21^st Century human imagination. Thank God PBS Newshour makes a point each Friday of sharing the stories of several of the latest victims, giving them human faces and touching, inspirational life stories, lest we come to think of these 250,000+ souls as little more than numbers on a screen.The thing is, no matter if and whether the astronomical numbers cease to outwardly shock us, they’re quietly taking their toll on each of us within, particularly as they land closer and closer to home. Whether we want to admit it or not, what we are experiencing, what the ENTIRE WORLD is experiencing right now is trauma. Trying to absorb and conceive of death on this scale, trying to protect ourselves from a threat that is at once invisible and mysterious, aggressive and hard to pin down for long, this is terrifying stuff, the stuff of horror movies and aspects of medieval European history we’d just as soon forget.

I say all of this not to deeply frighten or depress you, but to help us understand where we’re all coming from these days and to help us to offer our selves and one another that much cherished aspect of God’s character…GRACE. Perhaps never has it been more needed, as together, the whole world, finds itself in the throes of PTSD. Some of us are already quite familiar with this phenomenon in our lives, others not so much. It can manifest in a whole host of ways, but I’d like to highlight a few that I’ve been experiencing in myself and others in recent weeks. Perhaps the most prevalent one is what I like to call “COVID brain,” which can look like an abnormally high level of fuzziness and forgetfulness, slower rates of thinking, tracking, and processing information or communications, difficulty finding words or articulating ideas, etc. it can also look like heightened fears or anxieties, impatience, irritability, frustration, or general crabbiness. In extreme cases, it may have physical effects, perhaps even re-igniting pain from old, physically traumatic injuries.

This year Thanksgiving comes to us at the exact right time, for thankfulness, gratitude, these are wonderful antidotes to so many of the things we’re experiencing. But the grace part, especially, is what our souls crave and, indeed, need, right now. Both grace for ourselves to receive and grace to give to others. Having said that grace is such a “squishy” word, what does that mean, exactly? It means striving to create a sense of spaciousness in our lives and in our interactions. It means giving ourselves and one another the benefit of the doubt, rather than rushing to criticize or blame or assume the worst of intentions on the other person’s part. It means asking what someone meant before accepting the story we’ve already crafted in our own minds as the truth and accusing them accordingly. It’s defaulting to compassion instead of blame and approaching all things from the realization that none of us is fully able to be our best selves right now, as much as we’d like to be; that, whether or not we’re willing to admit it, we’re all a tad sluggish and confused, cranky and scared; that 2020 hasn’t been kind to any of us.

So let’s not leave grace at the Thanksgiving dinner table this year. Let’s spread it near and wide, like the Christmas cards of old, like the holiday cheer we wish we could invoke in person but will still have plenty of opportunities to conjure up in our many virtual spaces.

The Advent season we’re about to enter is all about waiting. Waiting for the much anticipated birth of a precious baby and so much more, of the manifestation of God’s dream of joy and abundance, peace and justice for ALL people and indeed for ALL of creation. Never have we known more about waiting, whether for Promised Lands or for simple human touch. God is with us. God understands our pain and yearning. And God’s grace covers every single thing we’ve said or done and regretted throughout our lives. But especially during this deeply trying time in human and natural history. God will gladly share that grace—abundantly–with each one of us. All we need to do is ask and set the intention for ourselves.Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

May God’s grace, peace, and love be with each one of you and with all living things. Amen.

[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/there-really-are-50-eskimo-words-for-snow/2013/01/14/e0e3f4e0-59a0-11e2-beee-6e38f5215402_story.html

A Thanksgiving mini-miracle at Oro Valley UCC

guest post by Janet Delgado, office manager at Oro Valley UCC

written the morning of Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28, 2019

I just put my potato casserole in the oven. It needs to be ready this afternoon when I carry it across town to spend the rest of the day with good friends. While it’s baking, I want to take a minute to say, “Happy Thanksgiving” to all of you. Working as the Office Manager at Oro Valley United Church of Christ is a blessing for me as I witness your kindness on a regular basis.

Around 10:00 on Tuesday morning I received a phone call from a lovely OVUCC member-couple. They asked if I knew of anyone that might be alone, and thus eating alone, on Thanksgiving Day. If I heard of someone, they hoped to invite that person, whoever it might be, to join them at their table to share a traditional turkey dinner.

A short time later, about noon on Tuesday, I had a call from another caring member. She was concerned about a church member she knew that would be alone on Thursday and hoped to find company for them. I told her I would see what could be arranged and let her know.

The get-together was arranged. From two simple phone calls to the church office, I believe a “mini-miracle” happened. There was a need and God brought good people together that met that need.

My casserole smells good as it’s baking and makes my little house feel cozy. Particularly on this day, it reminds me how fortunate I am not to suffer hunger and to have shelter. However, as I now live alone and am aging, I am reminded that I could suffer “aloneness.” Thanks to the good people that I am surrounded by, and with God’s intervention and guidance, I know that won’t happen at OVUCC—no aloneness here!

Later today I will sit at a table with another OVUCC member-couple and their friends. I was invited, along with another single lady, to join them for their lovingly prepared thanksgiving meal. As we go around the table and recite what we are thankful for, my prayer will be, “Thank you God for the people at this table, thank You for my far-away family, thank You for letting me regularly see the kindness of my fellow church members, and thank You for letting me witness Your mini-miracles that happen so often at Oro Valley United Church of Christ. Amen.”

Have a lovely Thanksgiving Day,

Warmly, Janet Delgado

Black Transgender Lives Matter

by Hailey Lyons

Every day, our black trans siblings deal with the intersection of white supremacy and transphobia. Every day they risk misgendering, violence, and murder simply by living as themselves. They are targeted for hate crimes and are the targets of racist and transphobic jokes from construction sites to comfortable CEO offices. Our president propagates white supremacy. Our supposed democratic republic sets up barriers to the recognition of trans people and institutes policies to further the exploitation of people of color. Our prison system profits from the mass incarceration of black people.

We in the UCC need to be uncomfortable. We need to challenge white supremacy in our own spaces just as much as we fight the system. We need to recognize our complicity in and benefit from the systems of whiteness. The UCC has done and continues to do much of that work, but we need to go further than consciousness-raising and discomfort. We must destroy white privilege. We must tear asunder the structures in place that affirm whiteness. We must reconsider our beloved traditions that keep many of our congregations in a bygone era rooted in whiteness.

Black trans activists started the LGBT equality movement in America, and it is precisely their voices that are being erased in current movements toward LGBT equality and recognition. Being Open and Affirming is not enough, we need to aggressively model celebration of the trans community in our congregations and in public. Too often the Open and Affirming creed is simply an open door that trans people walk through and realize that our congregations are just another heteronormative, cisgender-dominated space.

When Jesus stormed the temple grounds, upending tables and tossing out people and animals alike, he called out the temple for becoming a house of commodities. Rather than a holy place, the temple commodified the acts of worship into a system of profit condoned by the so-called priests of God. Jesus violently cleansed the temple of its commodification, disrupting an economy benefiting those in power and exploiting the people. The first Isaiah delivered a stinging rebuke on the stench of the multitude of burnt offerings given to God because they are rooted in the commodification of worship itself. He attacked the very system set up to atone for the sins of Israel because it was a morally empty venture intent on appeasing God by adhering to tradition without passion. Rather, the Israelites should, “learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow,”.

The churches of my Evangelical upbringing denied the existence of racism, denied the existence of those who weren’t cisgender. Even as they brought in diverse people, the theological message never strayed from white supremacy. The worship style changed, and the music became more upbeat and ‘contemporary’ – which was just a few thousand rip-offs of whatever U2 was producing – but the theology itself was morally bankrupt, leading them to commodify both the acts of worship and worship itself.

It is a privilege to be in the UCC where our theology acknowledges the sin of white supremacy and actively works to dismantle systemic racism. But don’t stop there. Let us carry forward the work into our liturgies, our polity, and our acts of worship. Let us dismantle the systems of whiteness still present in our congregations and hierarchies. For all lives to matter, black trans lives must also matter, and that means confronting our ideologies of white supremacy and transphobia, challenging those legacies wherever we see them, especially in our congregations.