The Work Continues

Mar 20, 2025 | Weekly Message

The theme among the Soul Matters groups, the Faith Formation classes, and our congregation this month is Trust, which I am having a hard time with these days. I’m having a hard time trusting elected representatives when they host town halls full of angry people and their take away is that they are doing a great job. I have a hard time trusting elected representatives when they don’t stick up for the people they represent, agreeing to bills that have no place being passed by our legislature. I have a hard time trusting that there are still good people in our immigration system when green-card holders are being deported for their free speech. I have a hard time trusting that the moral arc of the universe is still bending towards justice.

And I have been having a hard time trusting myself to do the work I know needs to be done to resist. While I was preparing to go to the town hall last week, I was stressing over what questions I was going to take with me to ask (someone had told me that printing them out ahead of time would be a good idea). And yet… When I arrived on the AB Tech campus, I saw the thousands of people that showed up and I saw the organizers walking up and down the line passing out fliers about more ways to act up and speak out. One organizer passed out a thoroughly researched and lengthy list of questions to ask our representative. The stress about making sure that I, on my own, was enough was understandable if I was actually standing alone. But… I wasn’t. There were so many who were acting together, and I didn’t have to be enough. We all had to play our part in the movement to hold our representative accountable on that Thursday afternoon. Did it work? Probably not, but THE WORK CONTINUES nonetheless. So now we go back to organizing in midst of our myriad lives, in small meetings and Signal threads, working to push back and to protect one another. But we do it now knowing that we aren’t alone in the work.

Maybe you have seen these posters hanging in our lobby and social hall since the election in November. I picked those up from an artist in Colorado Springs after the election in 2016, and brought them in. They’ve hung in our home for years. THE WORK CONTINUES, they affirm, in strong black type. STAY TRUE. STAY STRONG. STAY IN LOVE. They cajole us in red type. I might add, TRUST EACH OTHER and TRUST THAT THERE IS A FORCE OF LOVE MOVING AMONG US because those are messages I need to be reminded of on a daily basis.

The work continues beloveds, stay in love.

Trevor Johnson

Connections Coordinator

EAC Newsletter- Earth Day

Mar 20, 2025 | Scoop

The Scoop

Environmental Action Team

March- April 2025

Earth Day reminds us of our responsibility to protect and nurture the environment. And if each of us does a small part, the collective can eventually have a huge impact.

Did you know that in the last 20 years, the country has lost 22 percent of its butterflies? Creating a sustainable landscape is an effective way to celebrate Earth Day and contribute to the planet’s health. By incorporating native plants, practicing eco-friendly gardening (not using chemical pesticides) and fostering wildlife-friendly habitats, we can have a meaningful impact, increasing the numbers of butterflies and other pollinators.

This may sound like a lot to manage, but we can create habitat refuges for butterflies and other insects simply by planting native flowers, shrubs and trees. Incorporating native plants into gardens and green spaces can reduce our ecological footprint while providing essential habitats for pollinators such as bees and butterflies. And, native plants contribute to soil health and reduce the need for chemical pesticides, which can harm surrounding ecosystems.

With a little planning and foresight, we can cultivate landscapes that not only enhance our surroundings but also promote environmental sustainability for generations to come. This Earth Day, let us commit to nurturing our landscapes in a way that supports the planet and its inhabitants.