Dear friends,

How is it with your spirit? Take a breath and notice.

As the days grow shorter and temperatures cool, the political scene in America continues to ramp up as does the violence across the globe. I don’t know about you, but I am feeling the stress of it all in my body these days. I’ve been reflecting this week on the ways that anniversaries and memories live in our bodies, too, and seem to know where we are in space and time, emerging for attention and care at certain times of year.

Some of our bodies are beginning to remember the approaching 1-year anniversary of the mass shooting in Lewiston. Others are remembering November of 2016 as the election nears. And, of course, we all carry our own griefs and losses and memories this time of year as the veil thins. Be gentle with yourselves and treat each other with tender care. We need one another.

Your Worship Committee will lead our service on Sunday, buoying your spirits with reflections on friendship. If you’re free Sunday afternoon, I also recommend heading over to First Congregational, UCC, in South Portland for a group singing event hosted by my fabulous Portland-area clergy colleagues. No skill necessary, just show up at 2pm ready to sing and lift your spirits… maybe even bring a friend!

The following week we’ll honor Samhain, All Saints and Souls, and mark the anniversary of the Lewiston Shooting in our ritual-oriented Remembrance Sunday service. It will be heavy, but also beautiful. And our children will be trick-or-treating the UU values… balancing the sorrow with joy. Holding the both-and of life in community is what we as a church do best.

I hope you’ll continue to lean into community in the weeks and months to come. This is no time to go it alone. Until I see you, take good care and know you are held in Love.

Faithfully,

Rev. Tara (they/them)