From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister In these times of pandemic exhaustion, when rest is necessary, we need the blessing of the dark. Also, as a community committed to anti-racism, we recognize the danger of equating light or white with good and dark or black with bad. To affirm the blessing of the dark is...
Service from UU Montclair December 24, 2020 7 PM “Go Tell it on the Mountain” A Lessons and Carols Christmas Eve “Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.” – Washington Irving Introduction to the Opening Hymns – Markus Grae-Hauck We gather...
From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister Compassion looks like bold Black Lives Matter signs and direct action in accordance. Compassion looks like your faces in a Zoom meeting. Compassion looks like love in action. Compassion also looks like the making of tough decisions. Our Board of Trustees in concert with our ministers, as well as...
From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister You have been telling me how you are sleeping. Some are up the night long. Some are resting for many more hours than usual. You have been telling me how you are breaking down. Some are restless. Some are settling into an uncomfortable sadness. You are telling me how you are surviving....
From Rev. Anya Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister In listing the sources for the living tradition of Unitarian Universalism we claim that “wisdom from the world’s religions inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life” – with the understanding that “the world’s religions” here means religions in addition to Judaism and Christianity, which are central to our religious heritage....
From Rev. Scott Sammler-Michael, Senior Co-Minister While pondering resilience I often think of the word “plastic.” Before “plastic” was a noun denoting materials we should recycle (or perhaps not use in the first place), the word “plastic” was an adjective. It means malleable, shapeable, moldable – resilient. Perhaps this is how we should think of Resilience: the ability...
