From Our Minister Archive
To the Glory of Life
Dear Friends,
I have been blessed on several occasions. But the summer of my 50th year didn’t feel like one of them.
I’d just finished my 15th year in ministry and was leaving a church I’d come to love. I had recently lost everything in a house fire. Shortly after that I lost my mother and my marriage.
I decided to walk the Camino de Santiago Compostella – a 500-mile spiritual path from France – across the Pyrenees – to ”the end of the earth” at Finisterre, Spain near Santiago. Once a Catholic pilgrimage, today it transcends any one religion. The Camino draws pilgrims the world over. Anyone willing to walk through pain and fear will find joy and purpose.
One afternoon, 300 miles in, I finished my daily 20+ mile walk, arriving at a hostel. Like many hostels, it was next to a church.
Most of the towns on the Camino – and the churches in them – were built to provide hospitality to pilgrims. All such towns understood – especially in the earliest days – that the welcome offered to pilgrims meant the difference between life and death. A bed, a meal, some medicine and attention… these were sacraments. And they were given to all, not just those who looked or believed like they did.
But besides these, we were given something else. We arrived on the annual feast day where a special pilgrim’s mass was being held. I sat with 200 pilgrims, dirty and tired, packed in a chapel alongside a hundred townspeople – most of whom ran the hostel, the store, the restaurant, or the small infirmary. Few of the pilgrims were Catholic. Few of the townspeople were not.
Maybe it was because I was a hundred miles past where my cynicism stopped walking. Beyond my pride. Beyond even self-pity. But when the priest – in broken English – spoke of Love lasting beyond everything breakable – bodies, promises, dreams – I began to weep.
And when he called us to the altar and put both hands on my head and said, “God loves you,” I felt different.
It didn’t matter that my arms were folded in front of me in the sign of a non-believer. It didn’t matter that my God hangs out in different places and speaks a different language than his. What mattered was that acceptance and compassion were offered, and I set my cynicism and ego aside so they could be received.
This is what it is to be blessed. It’s what happened when I was a child brought before the church who dedicated themselves to raising me… it’s what happened at my ordination when I became a minister dedicating myself to help raise others.
On the Camino – and in this church – it’s like that: a little bit of both. We’re sometimes blessed; sometimes the ones doing the blessing. But, regardless, to be a holy rite requires going the extra mile, leaving behind pride and offering up love.
As I prepare to leave for a short time, I invite you to be blessings to one another. Provide hospitality of the heart. Reach out. Love one another.
To the Glory of Life.
— The Rev. Greg Ward
The Rev. Greg Ward will be away from UUSM from the end of June until early September.
Top Ten Rules in place at UUSM while Rev. Greg is away…
10. First of all, a general rule is in place throughout the summer that any illness beyond the sniffles or a hangnail is not allowed. If this rule is broken, see rule #6 and rule #1.
9. Everyone in the congregation is required to show up as often as possible for the express purpose of being nice and being helpful for those in need.
8. Everyone in the church is required to learn at least one name (of someone they didn’t know); one thing they didn’t previously know about how the church works; and one thing that they could do that is considered “leadership.”
7. Everyone is required to think nice thoughts about Rev. Greg and hope he is safe and well. He will be thinking the same things about you (extra points for rooting for the Angels while he is away).
6. For questions about pastoral care, contact the pastoral care team (pastoralcare@uusm.org). This will go to a team of people who work with the Pastoral Associates, the Care Ring Team, and the Board, and who will arrange for a minister if a need for rite of passage is indicated.
5. For questions about worship, ask the worship associates (worshipassociates@uusm.org). This will go to the Executive Team of the Worship Associates and they will respond promptly. You can check the newsletter or e-blast to find out who the worship associate will be for a given Sunday and you can check with them.
4. For questions about communications, contact our Church Administrator, Nurit Gordon (admin@uusm.org). She will consult with our Communications Team as appropriate and be able to help determine how, when, where, and if an announcement can be made on one of UUSM’s communication vehicles (Newsletter, website, e-blast, flyer, bulletin board, or worship announcement, etc.).
3. Override all general impulses built in to the DNA of most UUs to break the rules. Try following these rules as an experiment, or a spiritual practice… or as an ironic act of defiance against your normal propensity to defy the rules.
2. When in doubt, employ a hearty and humble sense of humor. Laugh at the world. Laugh at yourself. Appreciate others.
1. Love one another. This is the paramount rule. Whatever other rules go awry, this one is non-negotiable. Follow it. And let others follow it with you. Remarkably, you will find that, when employed faithfully, it has an amazing ability to take care of almost every issue and make all other rules superfluous.
— The Rev. Greg Ward
CONVERSATION ABOUT THE STATUS OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL MINISTRY AT UUSM
Sunday, June 10 11:30 am to 1:30 pm in the Sanctuary
Developmental Ministry is different than Settled Ministry or Interim Ministry. It is not simply holding a place until the “real” minister arrives. Developmental Ministry is designed to identify, explore and address any unresolved conflicts or organizational issues that would inhibit or prevent successful new ministry from rooting here. It is designed to identify and point out to the congregation what ministers (and new members) are looking for so that the congregation can do its work in preparing to be the place great leaders (including great members) want to be. Rev. Greg has spent a year observing, and talking, and pointing things out. This is an opportunity to have a congregational conversation about what he has come to understand, what he will be recommending, and what he needs to have happen in the next couple years to prepare for the kind of exciting future we want and deserve. He has written a report which is encouraged reading before the conversation, although all are welcome. Find the report at http://archive.uusm.org/for-members/congregational-conversations-surveys-reports. A light lunch will be provided.
To the Glory of Life
Dear Friends,
In ministry, I’m fascinated with exploring “well-being”– the degree to which people feel secure, happy, engaged, and successful (by whatever criteria they set). After 20 years in ministry, I think I’ve discovered some of what propels people into well-being; and some of what robs us of it.
Creativity, imagination, curiosity, play, innovation, in generous amounts, lead to ideas, discovery, understanding, connections, empathy, trust – which are vital to making meaning, shaping stories, forming narratives and, ultimately, well-being.
What robs us of well-being is trauma.
Trauma need not be a single event. A great many people experience serial micro-trauma in their life – especially growing up in environments where needs for safety or acceptance go regularly unmet.
Trauma is regressive in the development of well-being in the way it leads us toward, fear – and all the cousins of fear: doubt, guilt, shame, embarrassment, insecurity.
It may seem obvious to learn that creativity and trauma have an inverse relationship. Trauma leads to a loss of creativity. But creativity tends to heal trauma.
Bob McKim was a creativity researcher at Stanford in the 1960s and 70s. In an introductory class, he would routinely ask new students to take a piece of paper, turn toward someone close to them, and do a quick one-minute sketch. He found that he could depend on college students in his engineering-design classes to rarely be artistic. But even more reliable, he found that when he told each artist to show the drawing to their subject, he would hear loud and audible groans. And when they did, there were resounding apologies.
Fear and loathing to reveal creativity…? Apologies and embarrassment rather than curiosity, playfulness and discovery…? These are signs that trauma is winning.
The world is experiencing a great deal of trauma. We have been hurt. We have hurt others. Such pain has gone beyond random and innocent individual acts because these serial micro-traumas have become compounded. They’re now complex, unconscious systemic patterns. To get to a place where we heal such trauma – both in ourselves and in the world – will require an intentional, even religious, creativity. A subversive, revolutionary creativity.
Bob McKim inspired some students to start a successful creative design company called IDEO. It was formed by founders hiring people with whom they wanted to “play.” That is, people whom they trusted, applied imagination, thrived on creativity and had fun. And they discovered that they became more able to fail. They lost their inhibition to fail and moved through it much more quickly. And that resilience led to a great deal more success. And happiness. And well-being.
That describes the church I want. The church, I think, the world needs. Indeed, I think it is the church we all want to belong to. And a church that is possible. All it requires is that we learn to heal. And adopt a revolutionary, subversive creativity. With that as our guide, we can re-wire pain into hope. Rigidity to ingenuity. Despair to well-being. And light a beacon made from hundreds of shining people all playing together.
To the Glory of Life.
— The Rev. Greg Ward
To the Glory of Life
There is a phenomenon studied by philosophers, biologists, social scientists, economists… and, if we wise up and rise up, churches.
What I’m talking about is the concept of emergence – our theme of the month. It explains how when simple things learn to combine, cooperate, communicate and organize, new overarching properties begin to emerge beyond all logical sequential patterns expected from individual parts.
Take, for example, ants. Small brains. Limited tools. Individually, possessing low levels of complexity. But, together, they form colonies revealing complex combinations of differentiated roles, coordinated responsibilities, sophisticated communication, and amazing adaptation to challenge.
Same with bees. Individually limited in size, strength, dexterity, and intelligence, they combine to form hive mentality. They adopt a clear purpose, draw and reorganize strategic territorial lines, wage war, defend the hive.
And birds. A single starling flying alone can appear disoriented and confused. But thousands together change speed and direction in mid-air with split-second, precision synchronization, creating breathtaking choreography. Same with many species of fish.
This is emergence. But how does it work?
Atoms combine to form molecules. Molecules form proteins. Proteins form cells. Soon, an awesome emergent property arises: life itself. Simple organelles within a cell are all, by themselves, lifeless. Yet, their coming together produces life.
But life does not appear to be the ultimate emergent property. Cells go on to produce organs, organs produce individuals, who produce families, which produce communities, which produce cities, which produce nations, etc..
Conscious awareness emerges from the interaction of our senses. And through combining areas of awareness we have the emergent properties of language, stories laughter, music, meaning, and love.
Emergence is a phenomenon of design born not from any one thing, but from the coordination of separate things
to form group properties with the capacity to address larger collective needs.
Human beings have shown, however, that ignorance, stupidity, fear and greed can also be compounded into emergent properties of racial profiling, misogyny, systemic division of opulence and poverty, global warming, mass shootings, chemical weapons.
Churches, I believe, are laboratories created to see if people working together can intentionally, intelligently, creatively cultivate the emergent property of shared positive purpose above and beyond our capacity to destroy ourselves. Churches are just now waking up to recognize a purpose beyond finding a route to heaven. It’s about making heaven an emergent property of combining all living things together harmoniously.
I believe that community organizer Saul Alinsky offered a blueprint for churches for social emergent principles in his brand of community organizing when he talked about organizing people and organizing money for peace and justice. It is possible that when we make listening, sharing, cooperation, trust, communication, organization, investment, and coordination our practice, our emerging properties becomes safety, justice, love, hope, happiness, and peace.
This next month we are all taking a step in the right direction, to begin investing in one another. It’s our faith, inclusivity, generosity and hope – with and for one another – that’ll allow our best to emerge.
To the Glory of Life.
– The Rev. Greg Ward
Achieving Balance in Life and in Resources
Dear Friends,
There’s a story of an international businessman on holiday in Mexico, where a fisherman was on his boat with a great many fish.
“How long did it take to catch that many fish?” he asked.
“Not long,” was the reply.
“Why didn’t you stay out longer?” asked the businessman.
“Because this is enough for me and my family,” explained the fisherman.
“So what do you do with the rest of your time?”
“I sleep late, play with my children, take a siesta, and talk to my wife. In the evening, I go to town and visit friends. I play the guitar and sing songs. I have a full life.”
“Well, I have an MBA from Harvard,” explained the businessman. “I can help. You should spend more time fishing. Catch more fish. You can sell the extra fish, make more money, and buy a bigger boat.”
“Why?”
“The money from the bigger boat will buy two or three additional boats. Instead of selling fish to a middle man, you sell directly to processing plants. Then, open your own plant. Then you could live in Mexico City or New York! When the business gets really big, you sell stock and make millions!”
“Wow, millions?!? What happens after that?” asked the fisherman.
“After that you’ll be able to retire on the coast, sleep in, play with your grandkids, take a siesta, and talk to your wife. In the evenings you’ll go to town and play and sing with your friends.”
Friends, I use this story as a way to introduce balance – our theme of the month. And I hope it highlights the irony of giving up presence for profit.
But I also want to challenge us to think about things beyond our personal inventory. I’m talking about how things hang in the balance of our culture and in our national/global society. Specifically, things like love, liberty, safety and justice.
Would you consider the distribution of these resources to be balanced among people? Are they significantly lacking in some communities and stockpiled in others? Might our fisherman choose to work harder if it reduced the suffering in some other family? In some other village?
When we look out at the greatest challenges in the world today I worry greatly about the imbalance between the rich and poor, the haves and have-nots, peoples of different races and different cultures. Between one gender and another – and those courageously moving beyond gender binaries altogether.
One of the key conversations I hope our country begins to move toward – and that we, in this community, begin to initiate – are balancing a variety of resources — like privilege, power, protection, decision-making authority, representation, and responsibility.
By far, one of the biggest conversations I hope we enter into is the balance of self interest vs. human interest. The balance of those holding love and those holding fear. I believe our world needs such conversations.
I believe UUSM is ready to begin them.
To the Glory of Life.
— The Rev. Greg Ward
Nevertheless, They Persisted
Dear Friends,
In unison, the students dropped their shoulders in a heavy sigh. “But, Ms. Ruszel, it’s so hard!” they cried.
“I know it’s hard,” she responded with a sympathetic smile. “That’s why I chose it.”
They weren’t sure what to make of that. They were given a lesson that was a little above them. That required them to struggle, and they wanted something easier. But she wouldn’t give in. Her students didn’t think she liked them. But I know different.
Lucy Ruszel, besides teaching English, was teaching her sophomores perseverance. I know, because Lucy is my partner and that’s what she teaches me. When I am stuck and feeling particularly discouraged, I know I can count on her for two things. First, to love me. And second to ensure her love does not replace my effort. But, rather, inspire it.
One of the stories I’m fond of is that of climber George Mallory who led an early expedition to climb Mt. Everest. Between 1920 and 1924 he made three attempts. Before he left for his final attempt he said, “I can’t see myself coming back defeated.” His words turned out to be prophetic. He died during the ascent.
Mallory’s body was found in 1999, less than 2,000 feet from the peak. His body was found with his head peering up to the summit, his arms extended high over his head. His toes were pointed into the mountain, his fingers dug into the rock, refusing to let go.
What makes the story compelling, however, is not Mallory. It’s what was said by a member of his team upon their return to England. At a banquet held to receive the climbers’ and salute their bravery, a picture of Mt. Everest stood behind the table of honor. As one leader was introduced, and the applause died down, he turned to face the picture of the mountain. In tears he said, “I speak to you, Mt. Everest, in the name of all brave men living and those not yet born. Mt. Everest, you defeated us once. You defeated us twice. You defeated us three times. But, Mt. Everest, we shall one day defeat you, because you can’t get any bigger, but we can.”
Lucy reminds me sometimes that the best challenges are ones we’re given in Love by something larger than us. To measure our courage. Our heart. Our perseverance. All of which grow when tested. Rarely enough at the outset, our character grows to meet the size of the challenge.
This church has its challenges: Climbing out of conflict. Overcoming financial struggles. Organizing to work effectively with one another. But, in truth, these are just starter tests to help us grow. The real mountain before us is to end racism. End loneliness and cruelty. End war. Replace hate with love. We don’t need things to be easy. Nor must we be perfect.
We just need to keep our eyes on the summit and climb with heart.
To the Glory of Life.
– The Rev. Greg Ward
Pastoral Program Emerging
One of the great benefits that makes being in community so rewarding is the personal connections. This is especially true in the midst of challenge, deep sorrow, or even the joy of hitting important milestones. We need to share our lives with one another. Although it’s clear that there are a great many informal networks of care, allowing us to reach out to one another, UUSM has no real formal and intentional networks of care.
With the help of some really great people (Bettye Barclay, Karen Hsu Patterson, JoAn Peters and Linda van Ligten) I am hoping to establish a sustainable system of care which will not only help people ask for and offer help, but also share needs/ joys and be part of solutions and celebrations. On February 4, we are going to share a little more about the program – and how to participate – in the worship service. If you are looking for a way to be part of extending love and support and deepening yourself as a loving/connecting part of the UUSM community, please talk with any of us after the service that day, give me a call, or send me an email (revgreg@uusm.org) with “Pastoral Care” in the subject line.
Thank you for allowing me the chance to be part of the love that heals all things.
– The Rev. Greg Ward
Intentions for the New Year: Choosing Love Over Fear
Dear Friends,
I taught aerobics – mostly step classes – for nine years. I watched, every January 2nd, as a whole herd of new aerobics students flooded eagerly into their first class. For some, it was the first day of their new membership – bought after single handedly eating every last chocolate Santa left hanging on the Christmas tree. This prompted them to sign a lifetime contract at the local gym and pencil aerobics classes into their personal calendars through the year 2025. They donned new clothes and fancy shoes and a determination to stare down their goals and ride it out to the bitter end. Which for most, wound up being January 10th.
Year after year, I would look out on January 2nd and see great determination in the room. By January 4th, I would see that determination waning. Students complained that no one recognized the amazing physical transformation they experienced in their first class. Their thighs began to mutiny. Their muscles were sore and their shoes smelled. No one mistook them for dancers in music videos. By the second week they said they felt like even God was rolling Her eyes at them. Disillusionment. Despair. Drop out.
Regular members laughed at the newbies who got lost in the locker rooms. They snickered as they struggled with machines. They took pride in helping to fulfill their own prophecies that the new members would be gone by February.
There are many parallels between physical goals and religious ones. People who go to church seek spiritual fitness. A stronger sense of self. More endurance in their relationships. More resilience in carrying their values into action. Churches are places where people want to become stronger than their fears, develop a heartier sense of hope, and exercise love for the long haul. But whether it’s muscles or meaning, it’s the same: fitness – whether physical or spiritual – requires a sustaining vision, commitment and community.
Too often, despite our best ideals, when it comes to spiritual fitness, we end up imitating the professor on Gilligan’s Island. We can find ways to fashion generators from palm fronds, vaccines from algae, and transistors from coconuts, but we can never get around to fixing that huge hole in our boat so we can get home.
It is important that we, in this religious community, understand that we live in a time of rampant spiritual disillusionment. People need understanding. Acceptance. Empathy. Company. Without these, very few of us do the exercise and repair we need to resolve the conditions that left us shipwrecked.
Our theme for January is “Intention.” There are a lot of people who could use it as they step into our community. They come to stretch their understanding of what’s possible. To grow stronger in choosing love over fear. To be as limber, flexible, and adaptive as the path before them demands. Our example – our courage and conviction – can make the difference in whether they experience discovery or despondency. We are all one another’s spiritual account-ability-buddies.
To the Glory of Life.
— The Rev. Greg Ward
Stories That Gather Us Together, Seeking Light
Dear Friends,
Isaiah 9:2-3The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice before as with joy at the harvest.
It’s December again. The time of the year it becomes a little darker, a little colder. Many of us find this hard and try to coax the light to stay… sing some carols… eat gingerbread men… think of imminent presents. The traditional Nickelodeon fantasy of Christmas.
It dawns on me that this year the holiday tidings may not deck my December halls like the Rockwell / Kincaid picture promises. But I’m not complaining.
It’s been almost 50 years since I made extraordinary efforts to be good for the whole month so that I might get everything I wanted; 50 years since I could make a list of all I wanted, drop it in the mail, and await my bounty.
A few weeks ago, I stood outside the church and watched the moon rise. The light illuminated the Garden of Eternity. I watched people walk through the courtyard and come into the church. They looked up and smiled. Two more made their way to the side door.
One of the old stories I cherish is the one with the three Magi who left the comfort of their kingdoms to seek hope in a chaotic time. I thought about it as I watched another couple walk through the front doors. And then two more. They all went into the church.
Another story of the season that I love is the one where people of a community fight hard to keep opposing forces from stealing what, to them, is sacred. They gather together beside diminishing fires, hoping the only oil they have will be enough to last them into a new age. I see several more cars park. People get out, wait for each other and then walk over to the church.
Another story: one of peoples who gather together amidst encroaching darkness, hoping for new light. I watch as a final car pulls in and I imagine that there are rooms in the church filled with many people, and it is warm.
For 20 minutes I watched people walk through the darkness to the church with its lights on. I reflected on the wonder and trepidation the Magi carried. And what the Macabees hoped. To summon hope by coming together. That must be the spirit of the solstice.
I believe that everything we are doing here in this community is a renewal. It isn’t about getting presents for pretending to be good. Not lists of good and bad. We are looking out on a long journey. But the end of all our efforts will bring a hope more magnificent than can be remembered. It is hope for our times. That the people of our age will be able to look deep into the darkness and division and see a light. A place where it’s warm. And the doors are open. This is something to believe in. And to carry with us.
To the Glory of Life.
— The Rev. Greg Ward
In the Epic Battle of Fear vs. Love, Creativity Wins
Dear Friends,
I am a “mushroom cloud baby.” By this, I mean I grew up seeing pictures of devastation too frightening to forget. Images of the holocaust, nuclear detonations, war, assassinations… were traumatizing. They thwarted my development. They paralyzed and palsied my creativity. And they led me to construct a picture of the world where goodness, beauty, truth, order, and possibility were scarce.
I yearned for hope. I dreamt of understanding, cooperation, creativity, peace, trust, and love. But all these things hinged on the human capacity to share (time, attention, resources, information) in the face of scarcity. In short, I grew up amidst the epic and timeless battle of Fear vs. Love. And though I wanted love, I refused to be naïve. And though I found some comfort in fear, I refused to be cynical.
I thought I was making progress. At one point, I thought that by the end of my life, I would be able to say that I spent my life choosing Love. But then the world began to speed up.
New ideas became real and accelerated the rate I had to process information. Computers, phones, and communication felt encouraging. But drones, new weapons, and cyber crime felt worrisome. I often felt exhausted. And I knew I wasn’t alone.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt tells us that from the very beginning of time until the year 2003, humankind created five exabytes of digital information (an exabyte is a 1 with 18 zeroes after it). Today, more than five exabytes of information is produced every few minutes … It’s no wonder we’re exhausted.
But here’s the good news: this information is becoming decentralized (learning cannot be curtailed by autocratic governments or corporations), de-monetized (shifting advantage and power from the rich), and democratized (in today’s hyperlinked world, solving problems anywhere solves problems everywhere). And one of the greatest pieces of news: creativity is on an exponential rise.
In the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, the learning hierarchy placed science at the top, humanities in the middle, and culture and arts at the bottom. In today’s technological revolution, however, creative ways of using information are the ultimate resource.
What does this mean for U? and U? And UU? It means the emerging cultural climate will favor progressives. Innovators. Cultural creatives (these are all us, if it wasn’t obvious). Those with open hearts to see the need and open minds to apply resources in new ways. It will favor the resilient and adaptive communities who are willing to not only try new things but who are willing to fail brilliantly (that is, learn from failures, adapt and improve).
What does this mean for UUSM? It means we find ourselves surprisingly in a place of abundance rather than scarcity. It’s a time of investment rather than hesitancy, apprehension, or withdrawal. It means that there’s never been a better time to turn toward one another, share our ideas, information, and bet on the future of Going Forward Together.
To the Glory of Life.
— The Rev. Greg Ward
From the Rev. Greg Ward:
Dear Friends,
Not long ago, I came across a picture that remains stuck in my mind. I found it on the internet and it showed a church with tape over the front doors and boards on the windows. In the foreground was the marquee that, for years, announced the weekly sermon. In that space was probably the most poignant and prophetic sermon title in years. Two sentences: “Gone out of business. Didn’t know what our business was.”
I wish I could say this picture is rare in the religious world. But it’s not. And I might be inclined to believe we’d be better off if a few more clueless or ill-intentioned churches went out of business. Except that the problem extends beyond churches. And beyond religion altogether.
The truth is, more and more people are shutting down, too. Closing shop. Going out of business. People who’ve lost touch with what their business is as human beings – unconscious of being part of an interdependent web of all life. And that lack of consciousness has led to personal, social, political, and environmental unrest.
The 21st century has a produced a disheartened world in need of a new path with heart. Courage is the theme for October.
‘Cour-age,’ is a ‘heart word.’ It comes from the French word, cour meaning heart. To bring heart to a struggle. And heart is just what we need for these times and the work before us.
As I’ve been listening to all kinds of stories from people who found their way to UUSM, there are two sides to almost every one: The love felt for the good people and the good things we can do together – and – the brokenheartedness of losing our way to the place of such promise we felt sure we were headed.
Over the years, I’ve made it my business to listen to people into their heart. To love people and en-cour-age them to climb out of stuckness. What people find in such important times is not to come bearing righteousness. It isn’t strength or power or reason that returns us to feeling part of what’s vital and sustaining. It’s heart.
It is my hope that we can awaken to the wisdom of George Bernard Shaw when he said, “The true joy in life is being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. It’s being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, and being a force [for the collective good] instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
UUSM is not going out of business. Not now. Not just when the world needs us. I see our business as learning to show up and live with heart. Even after living with a little broken-heartedness. Because what the world needs is people gifted with new heart. Good hearts. The kind that will open minds.
To the Glory of Life.
The Rev. Greg Ward
Dear Friends,
As I prepare to come join you, I invite you to play a game. This game is much less common than most played on the planet today. Over time, I have found those with cleverness and curiosity are being recruited and taught to play ‘more sensible’ games like, “Me First,” “Dog Eat Dog,” and “Only the Strongest Survive.” Versions of these games transcend language and culture. Most people in the world hardly even recognize how fervently they strategize and compete in such games. It simply becomes like water to a fish. A way of life.
The game I suggest is different. It’s called “Faithing the Future Forward Unafraid.” To explain how it works, I want to start by clearing up some common misconceptions. First, unlike most games, it is not competitive. It is cooperative. It’s not about ‘beating’ your neighbor. It’s about understanding their needs and adopting the goal of making them more successful.
Second, although it’s called “Faithing the Future…,” it’s not about believing in God nearly as much as believing in those around us. Having faith in them. Especially those different from us. I find this to be much harder than believing in God. It means seeing beyond limits, looking beyond shortcomings, letting go of others’ past failings and our past hurts. It means living beyond our usual doubt, cynicism, despair and our own rugged individualism. Sometimes I think the better word is ‘Loving’ rather than ‘Faithing’ the future. Because the people who have loved me best are those who saw what I was capable of before I did.
Third, it’s about the future – building it from the present. By being present. By showing up in a socially/culturally
evolutionary way. It’s about learning to assume things are as they could be instead of how they have been and then allowing/ guiding the world to become more of what we imagine it can until it does. It requires vision, commitment, resilience and great love on our part.
And, finally, comes the “Unafraid” part. The hardest part. When I look at the world today – our political woes,
environmental crisis, racism, classism, guns, violence, readiness for war and lack of commitment for peace, healthcare and education – my heart fills with overwhelm and fear. I’ve recognized one of the most important parts of this game is imagining myself living beyond fear. Imagining myself reaching out and joining with others in the work of faithing our future forward instead of cowering before it.
The irony of becoming skillful at this game is that, regardless of whether or not I change anything or anyone around me, I become more imaginative, more cooperative and more faithful to what I most believe in. And I live with – and act from – less fear. The world needs people—and whole communities — to help tip the balance of this world from fear to love; from hurt to hope; and from competition to cooperation. I look forward to becoming skillful in this game with you and making it our purpose and promise together.
To the Glory of Life.
— Rev. Greg Ward
The Call to Camp
A number of people have already asked me if I am planning to be with you at the UUSM retreat at DeBenneville Pines on Sept 15-17. It breaks my heart to have to say ‘no.’ Between the ages of 2 and 25, I spent most of every summer at ‘camp’ and nothing would make me happier than to return (especially to celebrate my birthday on the 16th).
However, I want to urge you all to attend and I’ll tell you why. One of the things I discovered over my life is De
Benneville’s ability to create ‘liminal spaces’ and ‘moments that matter.’ Liminal spaces are those places where the
distance between who we are, who we’re becoming and what the world needs are closest in proximity to one another. And it connects us with others who are ready for transformation so that it leads to magical moments – moments that matter.
Even though we’ll be 3000 miles apart, we will be engaged in similar endeavors. I will be in Boston at Association
Headquarters helping 30 candidates who’ve spent the last 4-6 years aspiring toward professional UU ministry. They will also be trying to find a convergence between who they are with what they are becoming and what the world needs.
Whether lay or professional, we are all called to help love the world into where it needs to be and bend the moral arc of the universe toward justice. We need places – like our church, like De Benneville, like headquarters – that have a little magic in them to call people to their highest ideals. We need the company of one another so that no one has to do this work alone.
If you are interested in coming alive and cultivating a world with more love and justice, I urge you to contact the retreat registrar, Jacki Weber. And I look forward to comparing notes with you soon about how we will change the
world — together.
— Rev. Greg Ward
FROM REV. GREG: How to Train Your New Minister
During the months of September, October and November, I will be holding one-on-one conversations to learn as much as I can about the UU Community Church of Santa Monica.
I will be listening carefully to hear a wide variety of personal narratives so as to piece together a fuller, more
collective over-arching narrative.
In September and early October, I will try to meet with those currently serving in leadership. This will allow me to
acclimate to current policy, protocol and procedures. Those now in leadership will be receiving email invitations to
schedule a time to meet with me.
During October and early November, I am interested in meeting with anyone who is interested in sharing their perspective and experience at the church. If you’re interested, please look for a link to sign up in the October newsletter.
Thank you for helping me get to know you at UUSM.