February 16, 2025.
There is a reason I started doing joy services 15 years ago: We need joy. There is a reason we come together for Soups On! monthly dinners with no other expectations than to just be together and connect with each other on a human level: We need connection. There is a reason why we gather on Sundays and at other times to explore the questions and experiences of being alive: We need meaning making. There is a reason we share our gifts, whether in public service or other types of generosity of the self and spirit: We need each other.
The last few weeks have been incredibly difficult, with so many of our UUCF siblings’ lives and livelihoods under threat. I just returned from a trip where I met with senior ministers of large Unitarian Universalist congregations, and while I was there two of my colleagues’ children lost their jobs with the Federal Government.
What all this says to me is that although we are in times of rapid, difficult, and uncertain change, this is a time for this community – UUCF – and communities like ours, to rise and be beacons of intensely vital ministry. Not just because we are in the Washington, DC, area, but because there is a serious need for great care of ourselves and other humans. Our neighbors, friends, and others in our communities need to know that if they are looking for a place to find welcoming, heartfelt connection – and as much support as we are capable of giving – that UUCF will be here to do just that.
In an effort to digest what is happening and what may happen, I will use the concept we referenced far too often during the pandemic: we must be ready to pivot, to understand where our resources and energy will be best utilized as we travel into the future. We are not sure what that may be, but we already know we will need to provide support for our federal workers and their families as well as those whose identities are targeted by those now in power.
In a meeting with colleagues this past week, one of them said that they pray every day, including praying for those who are causing the suffering. I thought about that on the plane ride and when I got home. This is what I wrote:
I’m praying today. I don’t often pray privately, but today I prayed.
I prayed for those losing their jobs through acts of cruelty and disregard.
I prayed for those whose hearts are cold and filled with greed and power.
I prayed for us all, so angry and torn.
I prayed for peace from the anger that rises in me, justified or not.
I prayed for a miracle, where the truth of abundance fills us all.
I prayed that someday, maybe not in my life, there will be a realization that we will either find ways to live together or risk dying together broken and in pain.
I prayed for moments of joy, no matter how small.
I prayed for the innocence and hope seen in the eyes of a child.
For these things today I prayed. For you. For me. For those who suffer and for those who cause the suffering.
For these things I prayed. May that be so, and amen.
As I so often say, we are in this together. UUCF is vitally needed and we will not be robbed of our joy.
You are loved and you are love.
I love you,
Rev. David Miller
Senior Minister