Minister’s Blog

Dear Ones,

This past December, our choir marked the turning of the year with “A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual,” as they have done every December for as long as Jennifer has been our Choir Director. The choir’s Solstice celebration is one of the highlights of the church year for many of us here at UCS. It is a night of music, poetry, reflection, meditation, and candlelight. One of the readings shared as part of this ritual just absolutely blows me away, every time. So I will share it here in my New Year newsletter column. This poem is by Julie Middleton, one of the authors of the Winter Solstice Singing Ritual:

It was the longest night.

People gathered from near and far,

in small groups and large,

to share their fears and grief

and the darkness in their hearts.

A year like no other, this was,

Testing us beyond what we’d ever imagined.

Day after day, week after week,

we found ourselves growing

and becoming sturdy

because there was no other choice.

And the Solstice fire was lit and the candles passed

and the light of the near year’s dawning

lifted our heavy hearts

And brought us brightness and hope.

I find such comfort from this poem every year. Especially this line: “a year like no other, this was, / testing us beyond what we’d ever imagined.” We never know what challenges we will face in the coming year. But we can be certain that we will encounter many new and unimagined things, some of them hard, or perhaps even very hard. Rather than feeling discouraged by this, we can draw strength from remembering that we have already made it through so much. As the poem says, “we found ourselves growing / and becoming sturdy / because there was no other choice.” We are built for the unknown. We are adaptable. We bleed and we heal, we move on and carry our scars with us as we go. Sometimes we even grow stronger for having been through the trials of yet another year like no other.

I want to reiterate an ask that I’ve announced from the pulpit and in a previous newsletter. Several dedicated volunteers have been helping our new immigrant neighbors who are staying in temporary shelter in Sharon on their search for housing. For those with no credit score it’s basically impossible to get a lease, even though these folks are employed and have steady income. So we have a big ask for this big-hearted congregation: we are looking for people who would consider co-signing a 12-month lease with these hopeful tenants who will be making their own rent payments. In this way, these renters will be able to establish credit and thus gain the ability to rent without a cosigner. Could YOU be the one to take this on? We are not asking these cosigners to pay any rent, though they would of course assume a small amount of risk in signing onto a lease. For more information, talk to Rev. Jolie and she can connect you to the volunteers who are working on this project. I feel confident that we will find some folks willing to do this!  For more information, talk to me and I will connect you with the  volunteers who are working on this project.

Yours in faith,

Rev. Jolie