On the night following the election, a number of us gathered together in the chapel to be a sanctuary for one another, holding space for the grief, fear, anger, and numbness. We sang, prayed, and listened to each other’s hearts. Children of this congregation also gathered with Aria for a Children’s Chapel to light candles for their own joys and sorrows. At the end of our vigil, all ages gathered outside of the church, holding candles and singing We Shall Overcome, Spirit of Life, and There is More Love Somewhere.

This past week, the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, UUA President, released a pastoral message reminding us that We Are a Sanctuary People. Throughout the past century, we have provided safe harbor for people, whether that has been by welcoming asylum seekers into our congregations and homes, helping European refugees escape Nazi Germany in WWII, or supporting Trans Beloveds in relocating through the Pink Haven Coalition from states where their rights are currently being attacked. For many decades, we have provided a spiritual home for people religiously traumatized and those whose questions or identities set them searching for a religious community where their whole selves would be affirmed. This past Wednesday, as we gathered in the wake of the election, we were living into this religious heritage, being a sanctuary for one another and then taking the illumination of that shared flame into the night. So much is uncertain about what is about to unfold in our nation. However, come what may, we will continue to be a Sanctuary People, within and beyond our walls.

As we sat together in meditation, I felt myself held, rooted almost, in the Ground of Being. We are alive in existential times, so allow me to explore some existential thought with y’all. The language of the Ground of All Being was created by Paul Tillich, a German theologian and philosopher who fled to the US in the 1930s for his critique of Nazi Germany. The Ground of All Being was how he languaged God, not as a personified deity, but as the very foundation and source of existence from which all things emerge. God not as a being, but Being itself, beyond human qualities and limitations. I sat in the chapel, held within the sanctuary that we created together and I felt connected to that deep source, the wellspring of all existence which connects us all. Feeling myself rooted within this ultimate reality, I imagined myself planting seeds into the Ground of All Being.

As a gardener, each summer I partner with the earth each spring to grow flowers that delight the senses and call in the pollinators, and food that nourishes the body and community. Whatever lies ahead will undeniably include travail. As we have needed to time and again, we will be called upon to defend our institutions, our rights and the rights of our Beloveds. What seeds will we plant that might sustain, nourish, resist, create, and strengthen ourselves and our movements for change? Here are some of the seeds that I intend to keep planting, as I partner with the sacred, to face whatever lies ahead. Taking what I learned from 2016 and moving forward with intention, courage and compassion.

• The Seeds of Spiritual Practices: What this nation does not need is more dysregulated people. What are your spiritual practices that support you to enter into the fullness of your experience? What practices connect you to this present moment and the joy, connection, and beauty that persist alongside devastation? What are your practices that help you to discern, refill your cup, and ground your courage or embolden your compassion? Now is the time to prioritize those practices. One of the strategies of authoritarianism is to exhaust the people and our attention spans. We’ll need what renews us as a people, grounds us in what we love, and helps us discern where to put our energies so that we keep the flame burning.

• The Seeds of Relationship and Trust Building: It is said that “Change happens at the speed of trust, and trust happens at the speed of relationships.” So many people are deeply isolated right now, in echo chambers that separate them from reality, or living in such a way as to avoid engaging across differences. In order to build up our collective power, we need to be prioritizing relationships of all kinds. In my eight years at UUC, the justice work that has had the most impact in both the lives of members and in the wider community has been deeply rooted in relationships. Love is a sustaining and fierce power when brought together with justice.

• The Seeds of Organizing Principles: We have been reflecting often at church recently on the stories of the Civil Rights Movement following the Common Power Delegation trip to Alabama and Georgia. Let us also be students of the strategies and sustaining energies of that movement and of other organizing traditions. UUC is a member of the Sound Alliance and we have just joined the Faith Land Initiative with the Church Council of Greater Seattle, two coalition based groups organizing in our region. Let us learn and practice the skills and principles of community organizing and to join our energies within broad-based coalitions so that we can show up not only faithfully, but strategically. Together, we can build collective power.

I’ll end this reflection with an invitation to practice:

Friday, November 15, 6–8 p.m. and Saturday, November 16, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. in Knatvold

Next weekend, UUC will be hosting a Sound Alliance Leadership Training in which we will be learning organizing skills including about the organizing cycle, organizing practices rooted in relationship, and how to cut an actionable issue from a big, thorny problem. We were founding members of the Sound Alliance with the vision that it would bring us into relationship with not only other faith communities different from us, but unions, tradespeople, and educators, to make change together. In reflecting on the election from this past week, that vision is as essential as ever.

The training will be Friday, November 15, 6:00-8:00 p.m. and Saturday, November 16, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. in the Knatvold room. Lunch will be provided on Saturday.

Please email me by Monday, November 11, if you would like to join in the training.

Let us plant the seeds of spiritual practice, relationship, trust, and collective power together!

In covenant,

Rev. Beth