ISSUE 94

APRIL 2024

In our faith tradition, we speak not of the kingdom or kin-dom to come, but of the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part. It is about here and now, as we collectively work to shape the yet to be.

As empowering as that is, it asks us to live interdependently. That is both a tall and counter-cultural ask. In it we are reminded of the wisdom of Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer:

And if it’s true we are alone,

we are alone together,

the way blades of grass

are alone, but exist as a field.

Our survival as a species and as a planet requires us to recognize that we are in this together. That we need one another. That it is not healthy to only experience life as helper. Sometimes we are in need. It is in that reciprocity that we live into our interdependence. Wahtola Trommer puts it like this:

Sometimes I feel it,

the green fuse that ignites us,

the wild thrum that unites us…

In this divided, prickly, dangerous time, it is difficult to feel the wild thrum. For me, that only means we need to listen more closely. For as Eckhart Tolle guided us: “You are not IN the universe, you ARE the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately, you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.”

What a miracle. What a gift. What a responsibility.

I can’t wait to remember together who we might return to these truths.

April Theme: The Gift of Interdependence

To really experience interdependence, it is important to recognize that who we are is deeply intertwined with where we live. And yet our connection to and with our nearby world is often frayed. So, in an effort to reconnect with your sense of place, we invite you this month to go on some “micro-adventures!"

Here’s more information to explain it and guide you along your way:

In this month of interdependence, it is once again time for us to consider the ways in which our JUC community and the wider community beyond our walls are dependent on one another to survive, to thrive, and to effect change! Unitarian Universalists have a long tradition through our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors of working within our wider neighborhood, local, and city partners to bring about justice and care for those who need it.

As you may know, each month, JUC gives one offering away to partners and projects beyond our walls. In previous years, we’ve given up to $50,000 to community partners that might not have been given otherwise. Giving in this way allows us to live out and spread our JUC values of openness to awe, wholeheartedness, compassion, joy, integrity, and equity and inclusion past the bounds of our congregation.

This spring, Justice Council will once again be accepting applications for special plate recipients for our next church year. Justice Council will carefully select recipients from this pool. Application Link

If you are considering making a special plate suggestion for the coming church year, here are some general guidelines. Organizations must be a 501(c)(3) tax exempt entity. They are more likely to be approved if they:

Operate in Jefferson County or Colorado generally
Are small enough that $2-4,000 would make a meaningful difference in their budget
Help larger numbers of people
Have ties to the members of Jefferson Unitarian Church, particularly if our members are, or are able to be, actively involved in their work
Align with our Unitarian Universalist values and traditions

Twelve special plate applications are approved each year, and a few organizations are automatically included every year, including the Action Center, Family Tree, Habitat for Humanity, and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

As you are thinking about who you might nominate, I invite you to keep in mind JUC’s mission:

At JUC, we nurture religious community in which we:

Deepen spiritually
Connect authentically
Serve respectfully
Love radically

Please have applications in by Sunday, May 5! Thank you, friends, for all you do here at JUC and beyond to live out our values, and for all you will do!

Transitions

June McMillen passed away March 13.

Board of Trustees

Meeting Summary

At the March BOT meeting, we reviewed ideas from Rev. Jen and the Racial Justice Team to engage the congregation in the UUA’s 8th Principle (working to build a diverse, multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions). The Congregation will vote on whether to adopt the 8th Principle at our May 19 Congregational Meeting. The Board also discussed the reasons to recommend a new name for Jefferson Unitarian Church, and appointed a subgroup to work on a process to involve the congregation.

The Gift of Transformation and Planned Giving

Beyond the mechanics of planned giving, there can be a deeper layer of giving that creates lasting change. Transformational giving is always working its way upstream, identifying an issue and following the trail all the way to the source.

Planned giving isn’t just about dollars, it can be a testament to your values and aspirations, shaping the world long after you’re gone. It’s a story of transformation, leaving a legacy that transcends time and benefits others. JUC has a rich history of stimulating transformations both in its members and society. Your legacy gift will help keep and strengthen this work. Contact our Planned Giving team: Bud & B.J. Meadows or Carol Wilsey

We all need each other! We depend on each other. Interdependence underlies almost everything we do in the world. The ecosystem that is JUC illustrates this fact. Rev. Wendy often points out that while it is important to have a competent staff, we would be nothing without the congregation. Standing in front of the church and speaking is meaningless if we aren’t in relationship with the people listening; and the relationships between congregants are even more important. Without the congregation we would have no church and without the staff the congregation would have extra work to do! Interdependence!

It is similar in Faith Exploration classes. The FE teams could come up with wonderful lessons each week but if there are no kids to attend classes the lessons are useless. The presence of the kids, the feedback they give both directly and indirectly, offer the teachers the chance to evaluate their lessons and make them better for next time. That, in turn, inspires the kids to have more fun and meaningful experiences in class. Interdependence!

It can be easy, in a large church like JUC, to miss the way that interdependence weaves the fabric of our church together. In our church, there is no doubt that Faith Exploration will happen each week. The quality of the experience for the children, however, varies depending on the number of kids who attend each week and whether they attend regularly. We can have created the best lesson possible but if we only have one child show up on a particular day, or if we randomly have 20 show up but we have planned for only 10, the experience will not be as effective or meaningful (these types of number fluctuations happen on a regular basis). The children depend on the teachers to provide a space that is nurturing and fun where they can build meaning and connections. The teachers depend on the children to come to church to inhabit the spaces they have created. Interdependence!

It is a wonderful feeling to know that, counter to the individualist, consumer driven water in which we often swim, JUC provides a place where each of us truly matters, that our contributions are truly needed, and that we all depend upon each other to make JUC the welcoming, supportive church home that it is for so many of us.

I hope you will attend two of the very concrete manifestations of interdependence this month! On Sunday, April 14, our children’s choir, under the direction of Laura Lizut, will explore the theme of environmental interdependence as they lead worship that day. On Sunday, April 21, guest artist Francisco Ruiz will lead the service through exploring interdependence with circle singing. He will also be offering an all-ages interactive concert on Friday, April 19.

As you move through this month, take extra care to notice all of the ways that you depend on others and the ways that others depend on you. I feel grateful to be part of this interdependent community in which I can offer my gifts to others and also receive so much.

This April, JUC will be hosting Los Angeles-based musician, Francisco Ruiz for the weekend of April 19-21. He'll be with us for Sunday worship services and a special Community Concert on Friday. In meeting with Francisco and planning this weekend of music experiences, I am grateful for his thoughtfulness around the theme of interdependence, and how we might use music to allow people to experience interdependence in a new way.

To me, the word “interdependence” tends to evoke a mental picture of life cycles and food chains, very scientific examples of interdependence that we learn about in elementary school. It brings me peace that interdependence is simply a fact of life, that it exists whether I acknowledge it or not. However, in exploring this idea more with the worship team and Francisco these past several weeks, I’ve realized that I often take for granted so much of what interdependence can be if I actively participate in it and take the time to notice its beauty.

Quite a bit of Francisco’s work with us this month will be through Circle Singing, which is when songs that are easy to learn and memorize are sung together in a group, often layering many different parts on top of each other. It is a practice that emphasizes community togetherness and being in the moment, and empowers participants to tap into their creative side through improvisation. Think of the ways that we have used those concepts in our worship services through songs like “Meditation on Breathing” or “Come, Come, Whoever You Are.” Francisco is going to help us expand on these ideas!

As Francisco was sharing his thoughts and ideas on the theme of interdependence, he pointed out that Circle Singing is a beautiful example of interdependence. Circle Singing may be made up of really simple parts, and those parts on their own are fine, but when all the parts are layered together, we end up with something that no one could create with their own single voice.

It’s worth noting, though, that this doesn’t just happen, we have to put effort into this type of music-making. Each participant will be asked to contribute their strengths, and those strengths might be different from the person next to them which I think is beautiful. Francisco mentioned that when he’s setting up these sessions of Circle Singing, he likes to remind us that the sounds that are about to be made will never be made in this way with this unique group of people ever again. Again, so beautiful.

When applying this more active approach to interdependence to real life, I realize that there are ways in which I frequently take my role in this interdependent web for granted, and I hope that this experience with Francisco and with all of you will help me notice interdependence in new ways. Even if you do not consider yourself to be a “singer,” I hope that you’ll join us in these new experiences where your voice can contribute to something bigger.

Richard Burrows, Trustee

Our theme for March was Transformation. This has a specific meaning in Christian theology, but at the time of writing I’m eagerly awaiting insight on what it means to UUs in general and JUC in particular from Revs. Wendy and Jen.

So, I’ll think more about transformation in a secular sense. These days it can seem like the World is transforming as we watch, and for the worse. We are confronted with wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the rise of autocratic political movements seemingly everywhere, and, of course, climate change. It was startling to have rain on the ski slopes at Steamboat in February, something unthinkable just a few years ago.

It can become hard to keep faith that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Here is one big way that it is indeed bending in that direction.

Today, 700 million people around the world live in extreme poverty. That is an unspeakable injustice and represents 9% of all people on the planet. And extreme poverty is indeed extreme. It is a level of income at which food, water, clothing and shelter are all insecure. However, in 1985, less than 40 years ago, and well within most of our lifetimes, there were over 2 billion people living in extreme poverty, a staggering 38% of all people (ourworldindata.org/poverty). Those are big numbers, and hard to visualize, but think of it this way: During each and every Sunday service, and every other hour during that 39-year period, night and day, almost 4,000 people escaped extreme poverty. This was achieved despite almost all of the World’s population growth happening precisely in the areas with the most extreme poverty. Now that’s a transformation.

Not for a minute does this mean that we can sit back and be satisfied – people escaping extreme poverty are mostly still experiencing poverty. There is no shortage of injustice on global and local scales, and hopefully you have been able to take part in the Social Justice challenge organized by our wonderful Justice Council.

Trash Talk

As a community that has care for the environment as one of our Ends Statements (transform our relationship to the earth and act for climate justice) I encourage you to be aware of our waste streams. We have three:

Compost - anything that was alive (all food scraps) and all of our servingware (cups, flatware, plates, bowls). Remove fruit and veggie stickers! Those are leading contaminants.
Recycling - cans, bottles, cardboard, paperboard, paper, plastic containers. Our compostable servingware items don't belong in recycling.
Landfill - everything else. This includes coffee cups from elsewhere. Unfortunately, Starbucks doesn't use compostable cups. You can check for a compostable label on products to see if they are compostable or not.

For compost and recycling, the main message is "if in doubt, leave it out." But that doesn't mean don't pay attention to our signs and just use landfill. We purposely spend precious dollars to buy compostable products so that our landfill stream is minimized. Please take a few seconds to use the correct bin! That also helps us save money on trash pickup.

We will be putting new signs on our containers that will help you understand where to toss items. If you are not sure, don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask someone for help. If you are one of our "experts," please make yourself an "ambassador" to help others.

We have a great compost service (Compost Colorado - nicknamed CoCo) that we are working closely with. They have their own local compost facility and we will be getting feedback from them about contamination (along with a contamination fee) and how well our items are composting.

CoCo also provides a community drop-off option and we have those bins here. If you are interested, you can sign up and drop your compost off in those dedicated bins. Great option if you don't have compost pickup at home.

Please help us do a fantastic job with our waste streams! It makes a difference!

Colorado Racial Equity Study - A Proposed Bill at the State Legislature

JUC CAN

As UUs, our congregation is discussing the 8th Principle, which asks us to accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions. Racial equity is also a topic at the State Legislature this session.

Senate Bill 053, the Colorado Racial Equity Study, establishes the Black Coloradan Racial Equity Commission within the state Legislative Department. The Commission would conduct a study and make recommendations relating to the historical and ongoing effects systemic racism on Black Coloradans from the perspective of state policies and systems. Historical research will be conducted by History Colorado, which must submit the study and recommendations to the Commission within 2.5 years. At that point, the Commission would enter into an agreement with one or more third-party entities to complete an economic analysis of the financial impact of systemic racism on Black Coloradans. The costs to conduct this study will be paid through private gifts, grants, and donations; there is no cost to the State to conduct this study. Please see the Factsheet.

Senate Bill 053 had its first hearing on February 1, the first day of Black History Month. Community members shared their stories of discrimination and inequities that Black Coloradans have experienced while living in Colorado and the lasting impacts on their lives. Some of the testimonies were heartbreaking… At the end of the hearing, the bill passed the committee by a 3-2 vote (3 yes votes, 2 no votes). The bill then passed through two other committees, with some “no” votes from members of both committees. At the time of this writing, the bill is waiting for a final vote by the full State Senate. If it passes the Senate, then it will travel a similar journey through the State House.

Because there is no cost to taxpayers to conduct this study, one might ask why there is opposition to this bill. Yes, a lot of these data already exist in different places; however, much of the data are anecdotal and qualitative. The Colorado Racial Equity Study will compile the data, quantify systemic disparities experienced by Black Coloradans, help guide State policies moving forward, and provide a baseline to evaluate the effectiveness of policies. Yes, there are other marginalized groups in Colorado that have experienced and do experience discrimination and disparities; however, Black Coloradans are among the most oppressed in our state. Addressing civil rights issues for the most oppressed group will also help other groups who experience discrimination and disparities and can help forge a different path and vision for Colorado’s future.

Our Colorado Black Caucus legislators are asking us to support conducting this study and to collectively confront Colorado’s history and the disparities experienced by the most oppressed. Following the 8th Principle, we all benefit from accountably dismantling racism and other oppressions in our state.

What Can You Do?

JUC is a member congregation of T ogether Colorado, a statewide nonpartisan, multi-racial and multi-faith community organization that supports transformative legislation that uplifts human dignity for all. Please see Together Colorado’s Antiracism Statement. Passing Senate Bill 053 is a high legislative priority for Together Colorado; please sign up to help Together Colorado pass this important bill.

To learn more, please listen to the first half-hour of this radio show (KGNU community radio, 88.5 fm/1390 am, Connections, February 16, 2024) about the Colorado Racial Equity Study bill.

If you have questions and/or would like to be added to the JUC CAN Action Alert list to receive occasional important alerts and updates about housing issues and legislation, please send an email to communityaction@jeffersonunitarian.org.