Feb 14, 2024 | Featured, Weekly Message
With permission, I am sharing part of an e-mail I received a few weeks ago from a beloved member of our congregation who has been facing scary health issues:
“I’ve been a member here for 20 years but now is the first time I genuinely feel a part of this beloved community. Even the simplest things mattered: a meal, a ride, a card. And now, coming out on the other side health wise, I have the desire to exercise that same unused muscle, to say to others, I see you and today I can hold your pain just as you once held mine. You are a big part of my ongoing recovery and I thank you for it.”
Wow! Sometimes we take for granted the power of community. When we say holding you in love, in care and/or concern it means we are ready to be there for you during difficult times. And we know we can’t just fix things for someone. Sometimes there are simply no words. All we can do is show up, witness and listen with a loving, compassionate heart. It helps to know that one’s communities – friends, congregation, colleagues, etc. – are present to our pain. It fortifies us to know we are not alone.
I recently had a health crisis in my own family and had to take time off work. I knew my congregation, friends, and colleagues were holding my family and me in love and care. It made a difference on those days in the hospital when I was feeling despair. I knew I was not alone. I knew that there was a web of people, at the ready, to support me. Who do you show up for? Who shows up for you? May we find ways to comfort others and be vulnerable enough to be comforted.
Rev. Claudia Jiménez
Feb 13, 2024 | Featured, Weekly Message
Join us at UU Asheville for an unforgettable afternoon of fun, music and fellowship.
We are excited to invite the community to join us for an Interactive Singing Experience on February 17, from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM, led by the inspirational Melanie DeMore. This event will be followed by a potluck dinner where you will have the opportunity to meet Melanie and connect with fellow participants.
Whether you consider yourself a seasoned singer or someone who hesitates to sing out loud, this event is for you. It is open to all ages, and parents are especially encouraged to bring their children.
Melanie DeMore, a vocal activist, is passionate about making singing accessible to everyone, regardless of their musical background. This live performance is not just for those who can sing; it is an opportunity for everyone to learn and share in the joy of singing together.
This is a call to everyone who has longed to be more musically expressed, to feel a greater connection with others, and to embrace their soul’s natural musical yearning. The afternoon promises to be both a feast for the soul and a joyous celebration of music. It’s your chance to be courageous, to say yes to your inner voice, and to be part of a harmonious community.
Let’s sing together and make Asheville sing!
Courtesy of Tobin Poppenberg
Tickets are now available here.
For questions please contact events@uuasheville.org
Feb 7, 2024 | Featured, Weekly Message
In my recent sermon “Great Expectations,” I offered back to this community some of what I have been coming to understand about the journey we are on together. UU Asheville members and friends have been doing heroic work, clearing the brush and tending a garden, into which you have high hopes about what will come to fruition. In the service I shared a rough-draft image that Wendy helped me create, although a final version is in the hands of a trained graphic artist (coming soon!).
In the image you see the roots formed from work you have done together – commitments made to each other and to our greater Unitarian Universalist movement: stepping into the deep work of becoming an 8th Principle congregation, living the radical hospitality of being a Welcoming Congregation, and keeping in front of us the intentions undergirding our Green Sanctuary status. At the base of our Asheville “tree of life” is our community, which sustains us. Love is the center of all we do – here in Asheville, but also as Unitarian Universalists the world over.
The branches of our tree – the sturdy efforts which are the focus of our community life – include taking care of one another, and holding open our hearts to those who may yet join us here: inreach & outreach. We deepen our spiritual lives through worship and study, and dedicate ourselves to our values through the many rituals of religious community: child and new member dedications, marriages and memorials, rituals to honor transitions like house blessings or divorce care.
The two center branches reflect where we are going, and what we hope to become known for in this community: Collective Liberation and Faith Formation for the Future. In partnerships with the larger community, and in diligent and focused efforts as a corporate body of people laboring for Love, we want to be people known for our work to see the full flourishing of all people everywhere and to equip our communities to raise joyful, morally courageous, spiritually and sexually healthy children and youth.
In the days ahead, we have many more conversations about how best to muster and deploy all our resources of time, talent, property and treasure in pursuit of this future we are building together. But wherever we are going, we are going there, together – let us hold hands and sing as go!
With love,
Rev. Audette
