Mid-week Message
from our Developmental Lead Minister
March 1, 2023
“Dandelions don’t know whether they are a weed or a brilliance. But each seed can create a field of dandelions. We are invited to be that prolific.” From Emergent Strategy by adrienne marie brown (author prefer name styled in lower-case).
Friends,
Stewardship season is upon us here at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, that time of year when we intentionally consider all the ways we take care of the community we create together. We are in a season of emergence, when the springtime flowers begin to show, a time when we are still emerging from habits and routines formed during pandemic times – reconnecting and reengaging, each at their own pace and according to their own circumstances. It is a time like no other before.
I’m thinking of dandelion seeds, how they scatter with the wind and then go dormant where they land before sprouting and blooming again – a process that happens in its own time.
The sprouting has begun here at church. This past Sunday, our youth led a worship service that was heartfelt, heartwarming, and called us to action. The service was well-attended both in person and online. After the service, the playground was filled with children. Parents gathered nearby to relax and talk together. The social hall was abuzz with conversation. A group gathered in the Thoreau room to watch and discuss a film together. Another group gathered in the Bartok room to explore membership at FUUN. Yet another group gathered in Morgan House for a session of Our Whole Lives: Lifespan Sexuality Education.
I left church late in the afternoon with my heart full, remembering why this place is so important for so many people. It is here that we make life-affirming connections with each other and with our faith tradition of Unitarian Universalism. Not only that, this place is a haven for nearby neighbors in Green Hills, a sacred garden of beauty in a time when green space is rapidly disappearing as the population of Nashville grows.
The time we are in is challenging, no doubt, and will likely continue to be. It takes generous and sustained giving to nurture and support a thriving spiritual community such as ours. Changes in the world around us affect the church, too. We live at a time that calls those who are able to give ever more generously to sustain this place that is precious to so many.
I hear the call in adrienne marie brown’s words to think of ourselves as a brilliance and to invite ourselves to be prolific. Stewardship season invites us to an attitude of abundance, gathering our resources so that together we can provide what no one of us could do alone.
Yours in shared ministry,
Rev. Diane