CELEBRATING OUR WORK: Calling for Pictures – On Friday December 30th, our partner UU Justice Ministry NC will be celebrating the work of UUs across the state in 2022 during Friday Action Hour. (I hope you’ll consider coming if you don’t work at that time!) As part of that gathering, there will be an end of year slideshow showcasing the work of UU congregations across the state. If you have any pictures that you would like to contribute to that slideshow, please send them to Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson lisa@uujusticenc.org
Gathering in Sandburg Hall, September 9, 2022 to hear Rev. Garcia Sampson talk about UU Justice Ministry NC and UU the Vote. She inspired us to send out and additional 2000 postcards before the midterm elections.
The Reparations Stakeholders Authority of Asheville has created the RSAA Reparations Fund. Here is information on how people can learn and support this effort organized by the Tzedek Social Justice Fund.
HOMELESSNESS: Winter Safe Shelter is a collaborative effort of Trinity United Methodist, Grace Covenant Presbyterian, Grace Episcopal, and Counterflow Asheville. They are seeking to serve and partner with our neighbors experiencing homelessness. The shelter is prioritizing intact families, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), and LGBTQ individuals. They currently have raised roughly half the budget needed to staff the shelter through the winter and are seeking donations from the community. You can find more information about the shelter as well as a place to donate here.
Soup & Bread, 6:00 PM & Vespers, 7:00 PM. Join Rev. Cathy tonight for a quiet time of reflection, healing, and hope as we prepare ourselves to work for peace and justice in our community, our nation, and the world. We need one another when we mourn and would be comforted. We need one another when we are in trouble and afraid. We need one another when we would accomplish some great purpose, and cannot do it alone…-George E. OdellThere is no fee for dinner. Link for RSVP. Vespers Leader: Rev. Cathy Harrington
Sunday, December 11, 2022 11am
Rev. Cathy Harrington, Interim Lead Minister
December’s theme is Wonder, but what happens if you aren’t in the mood for wonder? Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” But what if you are not in the mood, or you are simply comfortable in your gloom? What’s the secret, can you be surprised by wonder?
I don’t know about you, but this time of year evokes memories. Decorating our Christmas tree was especially joyful when my children were growing up. I spent hours searching for the perfect tree that we put up the day after Thanksgiving every year. My children and I strung popcorn and cranberries and generally made a big production (and a huge mess on the carpet) of the whole thing. The kids were eager participants until they became teenagers, and then I found myself hopelessly alone with the task. To salvage my sanity, I eventually bought wooden cranberries and abandoned the stringing popcorn thing. Not the best use of my time.
Wanting to relive the memories of my childhood growing up in a 100-year-old house with 12-foot ceilings, I was hopelessly driven to choose a tree that was at least a foot taller (or more) than the ceilings in our home. In my defense, it is hard to gage size when you are outdoors. Those beautiful Frazier Firs always seemed smaller in a wide-open space. Right?
My husband never minded that I consistently brought home a Times Square-sized Christmas tree because he secretly delighted in having an excuse to fire up that blasted chain saw. I’m pretty sure it stirred up some latent lumberjack fantasies. But let me warn you, this is where “joyful” memories of Christmases past turn ugly.
At first, with my sweetest voice possible, I gently advised and guided him. “It just needs a tiny bit off the bottom. I don’t mind if it scrapes the ceiling a little, and I like it full. Just a little…” But moments after the initial roar of the chainsaw, the scent of fresh sap and pine needles coursing through the air the situation escalated into an all-out war with me screaming over the chainsaw and throwing myself in front of my poor tree crying, “PLEASE STOP!” Jim’s reply never varied; “Well if you didn’t always buy a #@&%*% redwood tree, I wouldn’t have to do this.” And then he would swagger off to the shed perversely satisfied, like Wyatt Earp after the gun fight at the OK Corral.
There would be a long silence for the next few hours at Green Meadow Farm. And God only knows how this ritual traumatized my children who tried to hide their horror by laughing hysterically. In the aftermath, while fighting back tears, I managed to salvage felled branches to make mantel arrangements and wreaths.
But the next day, I discovered as I poured out my grief and pain over the fate to my clients and co-workers at the hair salon that there were other families who endured perennial Christmas tree traumas. Turns out tree decorating isn’t always the storybook, happily ever after Hallmark moment. My behind the chair research revealed story after story of Christmas tree fights, pets of all kinds climbing the tree and having to hanging the tree from the ceiling or putting in the playpen or tying it to the walls, and other stories that can’t be repeated here. Once, when a woman threw her live tree out in the yard after Christmas, a live opossum climbed out!
It helped to know I wasn’t alone. My recurring chainsaw tree trauma always seemed to resolve itself after a couple of days when the tree was adorned, and the spirit of the season lifted me out of my pout. Then I would stand before our stunningly decorated Christmas tree with pride and say “This is the prettiest tree we’ve ever had.”
May this holiday season be the best you’ve ever had.
In faith and love, Rev. Cathy Harrington, Interim Lead Minister
EDUCATION: Every Child NC continues to offer an opportunity for faith communities and others to host a free docu-series titled “All Together” that is focused on education equity. Help educate voters about the Leandro Plan and North Carolina’s obligation to meet student needs. Get details and a way to register here.
IMMIGRATION: “Creating a pathway to citizenship has never been more urgent. Just over a month ago, a federal court ruled that DACA is unlawful, compounding the uncertainty that immigrant youth have been forced to live with for years.” The National Immigration Law Center is asking people to sign this petitionasking both NC senators to find a permanent solution for immigrant youth.
HOMELESSNESS: Winter Safe Shelter is a collaborative effort of Trinity United Methodist, Grace Covenant Presbyterian, Grace Episcopal, and Counterflow Asheville. They are seeking to serve and partner with our neighbors experiencing homelessness. The shelter is prioritizing intact families, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), and LGBTQ individuals. They currently have raised roughly half the budget needed to staff the shelter through the winter and are seeking donations from the community. You can find more information about the shelter as well as a place to donate here.
REPARATIONS: The Reparations Stakeholders Authority of Asheville has created the RSAA Reparations Fund. Here is information on how people can learn and support this effort organized by the Tzedek Social Justice Fund.
ELECTIONS: Common Cause NC is asking people to express their thanks to all the election workers and volunteers that came forward to administer the midterm elections. You can sign on here.
I don’t know about you, but this time of year evokes memories. Decorating our Christmas tree was especially joyful when my children were growing up. I spent hours searching for the perfect tree that we put up the day after Thanksgiving every year. My children and I strung popcorn and cranberries and generally made a big production (and a huge mess on the carpet) of the whole thing. The kids were eager participants until they became teenagers, and then I found myself hopelessly alone with the task. To salvage my sanity, I eventually bought wooden cranberries and abandoned the stringing popcorn thing. Not the best use of my time.