As we welcome in a new year, some of us celebrate Epiphany; many of us remember with disdain the events of Jan. 6, 2021 and the efforts to erase the harm done and lives lost; some of us are concerned about health care and the cost of heating our homes; and caring for our neighbors and families. It is easy to get overwhelmed by it all. And for this moment, as you are reading the newsletter from your faith community, we invite you to notice your breath. And then to notice the strength you already have-the tenacity you have exhibited just by getting out of bed this morning or opening this email. And then, perhaps, you might focus your attention on this poem that Jan Richardson, wrote- The Year As a House which appears in How the Stars Get in Your Bones: A Book of Blessings.
THE YEAR AS A HOUSE
Think of the year
as a house:
door flung wide
in welcome,
threshold swept
and waiting,
a graced spaciousness
opening and offering itself
to you.
Let it be blessed
in every room.
Let it be hallowed
in every corner.
Let every nook
be a refuge
and every object
set to holy use.
Let it be here
that safety will rest.
Let it be here
that health will make its home.
Let it be here
that peace will show its face.
Let it be here
that love will find its way.
Here
let the weary come
let the aching come
let the lost come
let the sorrowing come.
Here
let them find their rest
and let them find their soothing
and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.
And may it be
in this house of a year
that the seasons will spin in beauty,
and may it be
in these turning days
that time will spiral with joy.
And may it be
that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace
and light spill from every window
to welcome the stranger home.
And may it also be that UU Schenectady is a place of ordinary grace where we can name reality, support one another in our personal challenges and celebrations as well as acknowledge with courage what we are facing, together, for as James Baldwin reminds us in an article in the New York Times Book Review from 1962, “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
Breathing. Learning. Changing.
Courage to us all,
Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn