As I write this article in mid December, sitting in the grief of the tragic loss of Melissa Powell and her son Riordan, I can scarcely imagine January. Still in the month of mystery, I can’t help but ask why. Why do terrible things happen to good people? Why do we waste time worrying about small things when we could receive a life-changing phone call that will make us forever wish that we had those small things to worry about. Why do some people experience unthinkable hard times and ultimately survive?
I am remembering the gift of the empty box that started the month of mystery and how appropriate that has turned out to be. We presented the box as an invitation - to wonder, to create our own stories, to be open to the unknowable. It was very easy for me, in my natural cheerfulness to view the emptiness of that box with such excitement. And I still feel that way.
However, today I see the harder part of the empty box. Some religions attempt to offer easier answers to the questions posed above but Unitarian Universalism does not. I do not know where Melissa and Riordan are now. I can’t know and I suspect that they are just gone. That’s an incredibly hard thought. So I am left with a choice. I can look into the box and find the bottom to have dropped out, that my religion has left me with no ground to stand on. Or, I can look into the box and see the incredible gift of love that is a central part of Unitarian Universalism and that has flowed out of our community since we lost these two dear people.
Love. I witnessed the love that our teen workers had for Melissa and Riordan. And I saw the manifestation of the way she loved those teens in a way that will touch them forever. I witnessed the love that Riordan’s Faith Exploration teachers had for him and that Halen’s (Riordan’s younger brother) teachers have for him. I witness my own love for Melissa, who supported me in so many ways over the years, from making costumes when her kids were in the musicals, to taking on the job of Early Childhood Coordinator with intention and love, and my love for Riordan and Halen and who were part of many choir and musical events. I witness the love of our ministers and staff as we work to try to find the best ways to hold the people who knew Melissa and Riordan the most. I witness the love of our congregation who continually reached out to check in on me. I witnessed the love in Melissa’s husband Ryan’s eyes when he spoke to me about this loss.
Our January theme is liberating love. I have witnessed clearly how love is the center of our faith and, as the song says, “will guide us through the hard night.” But how do we take that love a step further? How do we live into the idea that love is a verb, an action that is required as the first step toward liberating ourselves from our own fears, our self-judgment, our societally ingrained beliefs about our worth? How do we do the work of self-liberation that is required for us to be able to work toward the liberation of others. Melissa modeled the kind of love that was rooted in kindness, acceptance, and action; the kind of love that is needed to point us toward a liberatory path. At the start of this new year I will be keeping the memory of Melissa and Riordan close to my heart. I will be hugging my children tighter, telling my people I love them more often and re-committing myself to work toward the liberation of us all. I hope that in this month of liberating love you are able to do the same.
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Mary LeBoeuf, Trustee
“I think you bring light, first of all, by listening, genuinely listening, to the other, by responding with decency, with kindness, with respect, with goodness and, also as has been true for millions of years, you bring light with love. I think that bringing love to the world is the task of every faith.”
The above wording is quoted from Rabbi David Wolpe from an interview that he had given to Hari Sreenivasan on December 12, 2023, on Amanpour and Company. I was so touched by the comments that I listened again and again so I could properly record the words. The words were a response to a question about Hanukkah – the season of light. How does Rabbi Wolpe think we can bring light into the world?
I think most of you know about the recent service on November 12 when Rev. Kia Bordner shared some of her knowledge about what indigenous people have undergone in our country. The service was presented as an Indigenous Unlearning Service and was designed so that we could have a better understanding as to what our education and culture has failed to include of the reality of the experiences of indigenous citizens in the arrival of Europeans and the establishment of the United States.
Many of our members had strong reactions to what Rev. Bordner presented, some positive and some not. On Monday, December 4, I attended the followup Reflections on Unlearning online event. Rev. Wendy, Rev. Jen, and Sarah were all present and encouraged participants to share what the experience had been for them. Everything Rabbi Wolpe spoke about in my opening quote was present at the meeting. Genuine listening, decency, kindness, respect, goodness, and love. It was truly a pleasure to have individuals share what was on their minds and hearts and to have the staff and other members respond with care and love. Once again, I am so glad and consider myself so blessed to be a part of this church where community and connection are honored and respected in actions and in words.
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2023 Donations/Statements
Thank you all for your generosity in giving to JUC in 2023!
If you have any additional donations that you wish to make for this calendar year, they must be received or postmarked by Sunday, December 31.
2023 Donation Statements will be prepared and sent in late January. If you have an email address on file with us, that is how you will receive your statement. Watch for an announcement from me when the statements have been sent.
Happy New Year!
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What kind of Fireball are you?
Hello Beloved Community! As your new Membership Coordinator I can’t wait to join you all on a journey of community and love over the new year. To start our journey, I pose a question to you. What kind of Fireball are you? I like to think of each one of us as fireballs. We are wonderful energy filled people that can fill the world with light and beauty. We have the ability to create such amazing things together.
In Dungeons and Dragons, the famous roleplaying game, Fireball is used as the most common damage causing spell a magic wielder can have. You can use it to cause serious damage to your enemy, create light for their party to see, or clear blockages on your pathway to adventure!
In some cultures it is believed that fireballs, swung in the dark, are meant to represent the sun. There is also a pre-Christian theory that fireballs purify the world by consuming evil and warding off evil spirits.
Even in science, Fireballs and bolides are astronomical terms for exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to be seen over a large area. WOW!
Some fireballs are fighting evil while others are creating light for their party to see further. As we are starting out a new year, we get to find out what kind of fireball we want to be! Are we burning brightly and showing our colors? Are we using our skills to clear a path for adventure? How can we truly share our brilliant light with our beloved community? I can’t wait to light up this community together! So come say hi to me on Sunday and let me know how you shine!
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Welcome Baskets for Miller Street Residents
Bruce and Cathy Martin
JUC has an offer to help welcome the residents who will be moving into the newly constructed duplexes built by Metro Denver Habitat for Humanity (MD H4H) on Miller Street in Wheat Ridge. Through Danielle Faris, the Compass Montessori School, which backs up to the duplexes, was made aware of the soon to be new residents in the neighborhood. They gladly took on a project of making welcoming banners for the new neighborhood families. However, they ran out of time to complete a project of raising funds and collecting cleaning products to make “welcoming baskets” before the families will move in.
So Danielle, Cathy and I, with the support of JUC will run a fundraising effort on Sundays January 7 and 14 to raise money to fill the “welcome baskets” for the eight families moving in. The goal for the project if $400 and any excess funds raised will be contributed to the general funds of MD H4H. Look for a Jeffco Interfaith Partners/Habitat table in the commons area on those two Sundays to ask questions or offer your donations. We are called to be a welcoming and generous community. Thanks for your support!
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Advocacy by the Faith Community Can Create Positive Change
JUC Community Action Network
For the past couple of years our JUC Community Action Network (JUC CAN) team has been advocating for Jefferson County to provide more resources for our unhoused community during severe and extreme weather conditions. In early October several members of JUC CAN, our Revs. Wendy and Jen, Pastor Ben of Lakewood United Methodist Church, and Linda Barringer with Colorado Safe Parking met with Jefferson County Manager Joe Kerby and staff to share our concerns about the county’s response to sheltering the unhoused during severe and extreme weather. Several of us from JUC CAN also testified in front of the county commissioners.
The past week we received an update from Mr. Kerby that contains many positive steps that the county has taken, and we’d like to share them with you. Here are excerpts from his response, with key results in bold:
“Our staff has been working to identify process gaps within our organization and to implement solutions that will better serve the community in the event of severe and extreme weather. We have identified key personnel to receive updates from the Severe Weather Shelter Network which will allow us to begin immediate communication to the public once severe or extreme weather is declared. Cassie Pearce, who is responsible for public communications for the County, …and her team have created a visual banner that will be published on the County’s front page of our website when severe weather is declared. When someone clicks on this banner, they will then be redirected to a page with information regarding severe weather resources within our area. This page will include information from Heading Home and Severe Weather Shelter network sites. Our team will be able to adjust information quickly as it changes. In addition, on the front page of our website, news flashes with details regarding the incoming storm/severe weather and information with links to resources will also be displayed. These news flashes are also sent out to nearly 10,000 subscribers who have registered to receive notifications. Lastly, in situations where we anticipate that the Severe Weather Shelter Network will open, our team will push those resources out on social media ahead of time, so people have more time to prepare. I continue to monitor our progress and ensure we keep this topic as a top priority for the County.
“We are very excited and fortunate to have hired Kerry Wrenick as our new Regional Homeless Coordinator. … Kerry joins Jefferson County with a career dedicated to addressing social issues that create barriers for the underserved and underrepresented. She is excited to serve in a capacity that removes silos, convenes decision-makers, and elevates the root causes towards preventing and ending homelessness… With Kerry’s extensive background, we look forward to her being able to fill the gaps we have recently experienced. Kerry will be responsible for pursuing the Severe Weather Blueprint recommendations. We look forward to introducing you to her in person in the near future.
“I am very proud to share that Jefferson County, as part of our 2024 Budget, received the support of the County Commissioners to fund 4 additional full-time positions to advance our work in the area of housing and homelessness. … the County has also received money from the State who will assist with funding 3 outreach workers for 3 years. While we have identified funding to get us through 2024 to support funding all 7 of these new positions, we have more work to do to identify sustainable funding sources for these positions long term. This is a significant investment by Jefferson County in new resources for 2024 and well exceeds an annual investment in excess of $750,000.
“Lastly, just last week I had an extensive discussion with representatives from Adams County regarding the challenges we all face in providing transportation to the severe weather shelters. I plan to hand this information off to Kat Douglas/Kerry Wrenick and ask them to evaluate and pursue the model that Adam’s County is currently using which seems to address many of the challenges surrounding transportation.”
There is still work to be done to make sure that the unhoused can access shelter outside of severe and extreme weather, and JUC CAN, along with other faith leaders, plans to continue this work. If you are interested in joining us, our next online meeting is Sunday, January 7. Look in Weekly Connections for the meeting. You can also receive updates for legislation around affordable housing and renters’ rights via our Community Action Alerts. Just email communityaction@jeffersonunitarian.org and ask to be added.
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