Read this week’s edition of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal April 8. If you are not currently receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

Our April Faithful Action newsletter is now available here! This newsletter contains information about our Faithful Action Community Partners and provides concrete ways to get involved and take action through our Faithful Action Community Partner organizations. In this newsletter you will find invitations to volunteer, advocate, give, and learn with others at First Universalist and in our broader community through the work of our partner organizations. You can learn more about our Faithful Action Community Partners and find out how to get involved in their work in this newsletter.

Read this week’s issue of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal April 1. If you are not currently receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

“Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again.”  – James Baldwin, Just Above My Head

It’s been suggested that the spiritual practice of accountability is being answerable to someone who helps you stay on target for your spiritual goals and your other life endeavors. In this frame, accountability is something that happens between two people (or a small group of people) who are open, honest, and transparent with each other about what is really happening in their lives, the struggles they are facing, and how they are responding. Together, they check in on each other, encourage each other, and remind each other of the promises and commitments they’ve made. Who are you accountable to in your life? 

In the political framework, we speak about holding our elected officials accountable to the will of the people, particularly those most impacted by various injustices, as opposed to elected officials being accountable to corporate interests or a select group of citizens.

 Closer to our (religious and spiritual) home, the proposed 8th Principle of Unitarian Universalism says, “We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountability dismantles racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”

In all of these framings, accountability is a kind of responsibility – to be responsible to one’s own heart and goals, to be responsible to those one represents, and to be responsible for creating the Beloved Community. 

Accountability and responsibility can be abdicated. But if we refuse abdication and choose accountability, then we begin again. We choose to change our behaviors and institutions. We tell the truth about how we have fallen short and listen to the truth of those we have impacted. We care for those around us and center those who have been most impacted by our actions. This is how we begin again in accountable relationships. 

Read this week’s issue of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal March 25. If you are not currently receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

Read this week’s issue of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal March 18. If you are not currently receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

Read this week’s issue of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal March 11. If you are not currently receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

Read this week’s issue of the Liberal here: The Weekly Liberal March 4. If you are not currently receiving our newsletter and would like to, sign up here.

During our worship service on Sunday, March 14, we will mark the one year anniversary of the pandemic, of lives lost, of the church closing and our ministry moving online, and the ways we have navigated these past twelve months.

We need your help! We would like to create several video montages to use in the service that highlight, month by month, the things we as a congregation have been through during this pandemic year. We welcome your submission of images, words, and video snippets that help tell the story of this past year. 

We invite you to use this calendar to write down key moments in the lives of you and your family members over the past year. You can share that calendar with us electronically or you can take photos or scans of the relevant months. You may also submit standalone images/photos and short videos (~5 seconds) that represent moments/months during the past year. Please send your submissions to us at communications@firstuniv.org by Monday, March 8, at 11:59 p.m.. If you have any questions, please reach out to Rev. Justin at Justin@firstuniv.org.

You can learn more about this invitation and find more detailed submission information here.

Our chalice lighting every Sunday ends with this promise we make to one another: “To dwell together in peace, to seek the truth in love, and to help (to care for) one another.” 

In other words, we care for one another at First Universalist Church. We care about living our values and beliefs. We care about being engaged in the needs of the world and we care deeply about one another. Over the years, we have developed a ministry of the church that extends care services to its members in a variety of ways. We provide rides to the doctor, meal trains for families in a crisis, and grief kits when a loved one dies. Another important service is one offered by our Care Companions. Care Companions are trained individuals matched with a careseeker in the congregation that needs someone to talk with on a semi regular basis. 

But care is not limited to trained professionals and trained volunteers. There are dozens of ways to care for one another and those in our community, and dozens of ways to be cared for. At its core, care is about compassion, the root of which means to “suffer with.” Care and compassion move us beyond sympathy to deep and profound empathy, to understanding and sharing the feelings of another, to suffering and rejoicing with another human being. This is the heart of caring. This month, we will explore the rich ground of how we give and receive care, and how we can take care of ourselves, avoiding burnout and caregiving fatigue.