Our Spiritual Theme for May is

 

Reflect on STORY  

• What story about yourself have you outgrown, but others are still telling about you?

• What family stories did your “elders” pass down to you? Have you cared for them and passed them on as those elders hoped?

• What story does your family of origin tell about you? Does that telling leave you feeling seen or misunderstood? Celebrated or unfairly characterized? 

• What unrecognized current cultural or political “story” strikes you as most dangerous? 

  ---

  Lynne’s Wisdom Seeds

  I love this month’s theme of Story. The stories we share with others enrich our lives in so many ways. Stories captivate us and connect us to the web of life in which we are all a part. We are hard-wired to listen to stories.  When we listen to a good story, our imaginations take flight. The best Ted Talks, for instance, are the ones in which the speakers tell stories.

  The stories we tell ourselves have a huge impact on our day-to-day lives. For example, when my son was growing up, I was telling myself that a group home placement was unlikely, because that’s what my DDS caseworker said. He had challenging behaviors, such as aggression towards those around them, and himself when he would get angry or frustrated. When he got bigger than me, I changed the story to one of setting a goal for a group home placement. My DDS caseworker said it was the fastest group home placement she’d ever seen! Talk about the power of story!

  The majority of my spiritual work has been to change my story-from one of disempowerment to empowerment, and I’ve transformed my life several times over. In order to reverse climate change, or eradicate white supremacy, we as a society need to change the stories we tell ourselves. We can start by writing a story of hope in our hearts, then sharing stories with each other of faith, vision, action and change.

  In faith and love,
  Lynne

Tune in at 10:20 a.m. for announcements, and the service begins at 10:30 a.m. You do not need a Facebook account to view the service. 
 

Hymn of the Month:  Singers of All Kinds Wanted for the UUOne Virtual Choir's NEXT HYMN:  "Spirit of Life", one of our most revered pieces of music.  If you're not on our email list and would like to be included, we'd LOVE to hear from you -- please contact Ann Quackenbos or Jeff May.  We will be using this hymn many times, and the more voices we have, the better.  

 

Justice Woodbury – meets Sundays at 12:30 p.m. at North Green in Woodbury. Justice Southbury – meets Sundays at 2 p.m. at Playhouse Corner

The MUUS “40 Years and Counting Auction” was a wonderful success. The auction committee is pleased to announce that we raised over $8300 at the virtual event. Thank you all who participated by donating items and making the purchases. We couldn’t have done it without all of you: members, friends, families and those both near and far. The pandemic may have made it challenging but Zoom helped us create a way to hold us together.