ISSUE 62                                                                                                                                                                                          AUGUST 2021
Sometime back, I heard a podcast which said that when shown a pie with one piece missing, humans focus on the missing piece rather than the pie. While the exact source eludes me just now, it is just another illustration of negativity bias. Our brains, for reasons which helped our species stay alive and evolve, are prone to overreact, tend and hold on to negative things more than to positive things.

Many studies have been done about this. In one, students were given tickets by a ticket broker. Immediately, the students had an expectation of where they would be sitting. If the seats were better than expected, the students didn't express any gratitude; but they were very upset if the seats were worse. 

This negativity bias can and often does influence how we feel, think, and act. Aside from how we respond to a free ticket, our hardwired focus on the negative can explain why we often focus more on insults than compliments, dwell on unpleasant or traumatic events more than pleasant ones, and attend more quickly to negative rather than positive information. In other words, even when we experience numerous good events in one day, negativity bias can cause us to focus on the sole 'bad thing' that occurred. It can lead us to ruminate on small things, worry over having 'made a bad impression,' and linger on negative comments.

This summer our Sunday services are countering that reality by diving into blessing. We aren't denying the hard spots and rough patches of our lives. Rather, we are training ourselves to live into wholeness by noticing the ways in which our lives have been blessed. Knowing that our minds naturally lean toward noticing and attending to and processing the negative stuff, we need reminders that we are likely fixating on the negative. It's  important to take time to balance it out and note the good, the beautiful and the nurturing that is here, too. 

As Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote in Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, "Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift." 

That's the thing about pausing to note our blessings. It helps us become a blessing. I am so grateful to our seven members who have paused to share their blessings. May we all accept the invitation to the same practice. I wonder how we might be changed by it.
The Blessings of Exploration
We have had some changes over the past two years around the words Religious Education. Those two words have always caused me to pause. Unitarian Universalism does not have a dogma or a set of beliefs that one must adhere to for some sense of reward. I have always hesitated when I have spoken those words. Rev. Wendy and I have had many conversations about this and came closer with faith formation, but again, it did not clearly capture JUC's intention around learning for all ages. We are not trying to form your hearts and minds but to inform them. Recently, we have shifted to Faith Exploration, and I love that term. This is what we do at JUC. We offer opportunities for you to explore Unitarian Universalism, its values, history, and what it means in your life. Exploration is a blessing! As we move closer to reopening and planning for the 2021-2022 program year, we are offering numerous opportunities for you to be engaged in your personal, as well as community, faith exploration.

Circles of Connection - This is JUC's new small group ministry for adults, which will be replacing Going Deeper groups. We are inviting all adults to become involved in a Circle of Connection. These circles are a meaningful way to get to know people at JUC in ways that facilitate love, belonging, and connection. Each group has around ten members where you will learn about one another, Unitarian Universalism, and spiritual practices -- all based on our monthly themes. This is the best way to shrink our church in a way that lets you be known to others and them you. If you would like to consider facilitating or co-facilitating, please reach out to Katie Edwards, JUC's Membership and Adult Faith Coordinator.

We will also be offering The UU Pocket Guide, a three-session discussion group covering everything from UU ministry and worship to social justice and community. The readings feature many of our faith's more recent prophetic voices, including people of all ages, backgrounds, genders, and beliefs. Another offering mirrors our 8th Grade Coming of Age program Embracing the Journey: A Coming of Age Program for Adults. And let's not forget one of my favorites -- The Heart of Social Justice, a four-session program that connects our heart to the practice of social justice. 

Our children and youth faith exploration programs begin with our youngest in Rainbow Promises where our infants and toddlers begin their faith exploration surrounded by love. Our Rainbow Promises program does not just offer childcare, but kids are nurtured with song, stories, and play, all centered in our Unitarian Universalist 7 Principles. Chalice Children for Preschoolers encourages self-awareness and teaches UU values with stories and celebrations from around the world. We encourage our youngest learners to make connections to our UU 7  Principles through stories, music, movement, and art. 

Spirit Play for Kindergarten and 1st Graders is based on Montessori learning that seeks to engage children in big questions about life within the context of the Unitarian Universalist faith. During your child's faith exploration, they will actively listen to beautiful stories and are encouraged to explore centers in movement, contemplation, spiritual practices, music, and art. Head, Heart, and Hands for 2nd and 3rd Graders explore monthly themes using stories and activity centers. Each center honors individual learning styles and encourages children to make choices in the centers and activities that speak directly to their learning interests, connecting them closely with the source of awe and wonder. Faith in Action for 4th & 5th Graders will encourage children to use their power with mindful action. During their time in faith exploration, these young people will discover a deeper connection to the values of diversity, the power of love, and the importance of community. Most importantly, they will learn how to put their faith in action to create change in the world.

Neighboring Faiths for 6th Grade explores world religions to increase understanding and appreciation for religious diversity and reflects on the uniqueness and universality of religious experience and how it relates to Unitarian Universalists' Sources of the Living Tradition. Our Whole Lives for 7th Graders is a comprehensive and progressive sex education curriculum that supports participants in making informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, Our Whole Lives provides facts about anatomy and human development and helps participants clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality. 

Coming of Age for 8th Graders guides young teens into a deeper understanding and connection to their faith exploration. This year-long program invites a closer examination of Unitarian Universalism, inquiry into personal identities, beliefs, relationships with others, and their connections to the world. Youth will explore their own identity and the identities of others, spend time in reflection and discernment about their own beliefs, work toward sharing a creative process about their beliefs with the congregation, and culminating these learnings into a group service and justice trip. The Senior High Youth Group is invited to attend service, sit together on Sundays at 11 a.m. as a youth group, and socialize after service. Sunday evening, they will gather to practice ways to put faith exploration into action every day by daring to be real, showing acceptance and support, leading with courage, and acting for justice.

So let us explore our faith together beginning on Sunday, September 12 -- because there are so many blessings of exploration! And if you are interested in joining our JUC 11 a.m. teacher teams, contact Jules or Karey.
In This Issue
Transitions
Former member Ken Pierce died July 9. Click here for an obituary.
Board of Trustees Report
In August the Board will begin working with the Unity Consulting Group on the renewal of JUC's strategic objectives, which will help JUC envision its future and refresh its understanding of its purpose and relevance.

The Board will identify opportunities to strengthen partnerships with other JUC leadership groups, including the Shared Mission Team and the Leadership Nominating Committee.

The Board will continue to work with the congregation and leadership on its resolutions recommending the consideration of a name change and the adoption of the 8th Principle.
Blessings and Planned Giving
Blessings are around us all the time. We only need to be still and use our senses to recognize and appreciate them. The many blessings from Mother Earth and our relationships with others literally sustain us.

The JUC community has been a great blessing especially during this pandemic time. Including JUC as beneficiary in your estate plan will help keep JUC here for future generations
Contact JUC's planned giving coordinators: Bud & B.J. Meadows, Mike Kramer or Carol Wilsey
What a summer to contemplate the theme of blessing. No year has been quite like the past one to bring into sharp relief the blessings in our lives: hugging, meals shared with friends and family we don't live with, and seeing smiles on the faces of strangers, to name just a few.

I was just thinking about my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, and how we'll actually get  to celebrate it again. Last year, the meal which usually brings one or even two dozen loved ones to our table was shared by only my husband and me. I anticipate a record-setter this year. When the time comes to go 'round the table and share what we are thankful for, I expect many tears and cups that runneth over.

This November will mark 400 years since the Wampanoag tribe shared its lifesaving bounty with English colonizers, only to suffer greatly for the blessings they bestowed. I don't want to put a damper on anyone's blessings. They are to be met with gratitude and joy. At the same time, we have learned during the pandemic that blessings, capricious, unearned things that they are, do not fall evenly on all. If ever there was a year to share what blessings we have -- material, if we made it through the pandemic on solid ground, or even a brilliant smile bestowed upon a stranger -- this is the year.
Blessings Through Songs
Singing the Living Tradition and Singing the Journey are filled with hundreds of songs emanating from many sources. One of the great Unitarian Universalist songwriters whose music permeates these hymnals is Shelley Jackson Denham. 

A long-time musical and spiritual leader at The Mountain -- a UU Retreat Center in North Carolina -- Shelley crafted songs that were heartfelt, with original lyrics promoting values and concepts like these:

Empathy
"If you will show me compassion, then I may learn to care as you do." (#1012 When I am frightened)

Transience
"We laugh, we cry, we live, we die." (#354, by same name)

Speaking out / action
"Help me bear witness to all I believe." (#194 Faith is a forest)

When the hymnal commission for Singing the Living Tradition was constructing and assembling that collection of UU hymns and songs -- a compilation intended to stand for 20 - 30 years as a snapshot of UU music and theology of the generation -- the commission engaged Shelley Jackson Denham to create a hymn that, counter to so many images of light and dark in traditional hymnody, lifted up the beautiful qualities of darkness. 

"Dark of winter, soft and still,
your quiet calm surrounds me.
Let my thoughts go where they will,
ease my mind profoundly.
And then my soul will sing a song,
a blessed song of love eternal.
Gentle darkness soft and still,
bring your quiet to me." (#55)

One aspect I appreciate in many of Shelley's songs, is a kind of "complete theology." A way of looking at the world, and one's place in it, with imaginative words that hit the center of what one person can aspire to. 

"Blessed spirit of my life" (#86) inspires me in that regard. It's a prayer, a request, but it is also an aim. "Fill me with a vision, clear my mind of fear and confusion" is a petition and a recognition of all that clutters up the clear view. "Help me live my wordless creed as I comfort those in need" acknowledges both a guiding framework and the imperative to act in compassion.

In this season of blessing at Jefferson Unitarian Church, may these lyrics be a blessing to you.

"Blessed Spirit of my life, give me strength through stress and strife; 
help me live with dignity; let me know serenity. 
Fill me with a vision, clear my mind of fear and confusion. 
When my thoughts flow restlessly, let peace find a home in me. 

Spirit of great mystery, hear the still, small voice in me. 
Help me live my wordless creed as I comfort those in need. 
Fill me with compassion, be the source of my intuition. 
Then, when life is done for me, let love be my legacy."
2021 Legislation Supported by Together Colorado:
Criminal and Housing Justice Reform
Kathy Smith and Steve Gebhard

JUC's Community Action Network (JUC CAN) is affiliated with Together Colorado, a statewide non-profit, non-partisan, multi-racial, multi-faith community organization. Together Colorado led and supported legislation in 2021 that advances human dignity in Colorado communities. This legislative session proves what our collective power can do when we stand in faith and solidarity with one another.
 
In criminal justice and police reform, House Bill 21-1142: Eyewitness Identification Showup Regulations was signed into law. This bill was started as a grass-roots effort by Together Colorado to reform the harmful police practice known as a showup, which is an unreliable identification procedure used by law enforcement where a lone individual is presented in person to an eyewitness to determine if that individual committed the crime. Showups are discriminatory and lead to wrongful convictions. This bill standardizes and limits the use of showup procedures and expands training and data collection about the procedure across the state.
 
Gov. Polis signs HB21-1142
For housing, JUC CAN and Together Colorado supported bills that provide new protections for tenants, address Colorado's affordable housing crisis, and allocate millions of dollars for affordable housing.

Senate Bill 21-173 Rights in Residential Lease Agreements, becomes effective on October 1, 2021, and strengthens protections for tenants by putting a limit on late fees, extending the grace period for late fees, requiring fee transparency in leases, and allowing more time for tenants to pay back rent to avoid eviction (while not extending the eviction timeline). This bill also includes eviction court reform and establishes a penalty for landlords who illegally lock out their tenants. One in four Colorado renters spend more than 50% of their income on housing, and this financial burden can be exacerbated by excessive late fees. Extending the time to pay rent before incurring late fees can improve housing stability by allowing tenants more time to find rental assistance, legal assistance, or to receive a paycheck.
 
House Bill 21-1121 Residential Tenancy Procedures, is effective now and allows tenants up to 10 days (instead of 48 hours) to vacate the property after a judge approves an eviction. This bill also limits rent increases to once during a 12-month period. Housing instability and forced moves have adverse impacts on tenants that can lead to poor health outcomes, job loss, poverty, and homelessness. Housing instability can be especially burdensome for children, older adults, and persons with disabilities, and low-income women and Black and Hispanic populations face a disproportionately high risk of eviction.
 
House Bill 21-1117 Local Government Authority Promote Affordable Housing, clarifies state law and empowers local officials, if they choose, to promote affordable housing through inclusionary zoning policies as long as those policies offer additional options, such as cash-in-lieu or land donations. There is a statewide shortage of nearly 121,000 affordable rental units. Local governments need tools to provide housing that is affordable to their workforce and community.
 
The 2021 legislation allocates millions of dollars for affordable housing. Through House Bill 21-1329 American Rescue Plan Act Money to Invest Affordable Housing, Colorado lawmakers directed $550 million from the state's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to be used for affordable housing. In addition, House Bill 21-1271 Department of Local Affairs Innovative Affordable Housing Strategies, uses state stimulus funds to create three grant programs within the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) that incentivize local governments to increase their affordable housing stock and to remove regulatory barriers that impact affordable housing. Senate Bill 21-242 Housing Development Grants Hotels Tenancy Support Program allows local governments and nonprofits to apply for funding to rent, acquire, or renovate underutilized motels, hotels, and other properties to provide temporary, transitional, or long-term affordable housing.
 
Coloradans have identified housing affordability as the biggest issue facing the state. Between 2012 and 2019, Colorado fell from being one of the most affordable states to one of the least affordable states in the country based on the median home price to median income ratio.
 
This session, Together Colorado members sent 1,202 letters to legislators, and 501 statewide Faith Leaders signed onto letters in support of police reform, housing justice, and tax fairness.
 
Quoting from Together Colorado's Core Covenant:
"Rooted in our sacred traditions, we work together to move from fear to liberation, from violence to life, from isolation to beloved community, so that our thoughts, words and actions place human dignity and care for creation at the center of public life. One person, one act at a time, linked together, creating the world that we know is possible."
 
Additional information can be found on Facebook and on the Together Colorado website.
 
If you would like to be added to the JUC CAN Action Alert list to receive timely updates about this and other Colorado legislation, please send an email to [email protected].
Habitat for Humanity Update
Andy Melick

2021 Home Blessing
On Friday, June 25, JUC participated in a blessing ceremony at the new home which Jeffco Interfaith Partners (JIP) is sponsoring at the site of H4H's Aria Homes (2801 W. 53rd Avenue, North Denver). Along with representatives of other churches in JIP, we hung origami peace cranes from attic rafters and in between the studs of walls which were not yet drywalled, and we also posted formal home blessing declarations from each congregation in the faith coalition. Future homeowner Shelby and her six-year-old son Jaydn were present, and we all wrote informal, personal notes of blessing on exposed sheathing and unpainted wallboard. Shelby and her husband Isaiah are hardworking parents of Jaydn and one-year-old Isaiah Jr. Thanks to Habitat for Humanity, they have an opportunity to achieve stability and independence through affordable home ownership.
 
A Build Day, Finally!
It had been 16 months since we were able to have a new construction day with Habitat for Humanity. JUC participated in Habitat Metro Denver's very last volunteer build day (March 14, 2020) before the pandemic struck and shut down all volunteer activities. H4H is still limiting volunteer opportunities, but on Saturday, July 17, JUC showed up with 4 volunteers to work at Aria Homes. Kudos to the Andrus family (Julie, Ken, and Jake) for putting in 8 hours' work on a hot day. We teamed up with a group from Mile-Hi Church and worked alongside future homeowners Shelby and Isaiah as they accumulated their required hours of "sweat equity."

Volunteer Opportunities
Habitat Metro Denver continues to take individual volunteers on a limited basis at
their Restores and Production Shop. Work is structured to prevent potential Covid-19 exposure and ensure the health and safety of volunteers and staff members. For details, visit habitatmetrodenver.org. Our next build day is yet to be determined, depending on how the pandemic plays out and H4H ramps up its operations. In the meantime, our annual pumpkin patch fundraiser will commence on Friday, October 8 in Lakewood, and Wednesday, October 13 in Arvada. Mark your calendars to help unload the thousands of pumpkins we will sell to raise money for next year's home sponsorship. Any questions or for more info, please email Andy Melick.