Part of our collective story is how to meaningfully hold grief and hope, acknowledging what cannot be changed and still envisioning all that can.

~ Carrie Newcomer

I recently attended a gathering of Unitarian Universalist ministers from the Pacific Northwest. We gather twice per year, now virtually and in person, to compare notes, learn together and support each other. This gathering was led by UU activist Chris Crass. Chris is a dynamic and powerful teacher who envisions a multiracial beloved community.

Chris taught us many things, but there is one idea I’ve been mulling over these past few weeks: the capacity gap. Chris said that in justice work there is always a gap between what we envision and what we can do, what we have capacity for. There is always a gap between what we want and what we can achieve. Chris led us in a ritual of mourning for that gap. In it we faced what was real, what we cannot change, at the same time that we held tight to our vision of what we want to be possible.

Our spiritual theme for this month of May is “vision.” In this year when we are focusing on coming together again in covenant, vision seemed like a good theme to home in on. This month we will come together for the annual congregational meeting to elect new Board members, new members of the Leadership Development Team, and the congregation will vote on a budget. All these things are about the vision that OUUC has for our community and the world we want to build. And there is a capacity gap between what we want and what we can do. There always is. Part of our gathering together is to help each other mourn what is, mourn our limitations, while we hold hope for what is possible.

This month I invite you to notice both grief and hope in your vision and in our world. That is our collective story.

Blessings on your week.

Rev. Mary

Minister@ouuc.org