As we continue to move through the cycles of grief and worries of what acts of hatred may come or ways the incoming administration will try to thwart democracy, we consider the stories, poems, songs, and practices that can teach us how to effectively resist, to help us get through hard times, and to remember who we are. We have lifted up several of those in worship all fall, and especially in the last few weeks.

Sikh activist Valarie Kaur wrote a prayer for America back in November of 2016. She wrote, “What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb?

What if our America is not dead but a country still waiting to be born? What if the story of America is one long labor?” We have been in presentations with her as she spoke of revolutionary love.

And she reminds us that the midwife says- first we breathe and then we push. Right now, as we feel our feelings and start organizing and strategizing for what’s to come, we are breathing, getting clarity. And soon, it will be time to push-to cast out hatred and acts of harm, to protect those we love and those we do not yet know who will be targets. We are in this together-even though we will experience it differently. But no matter what comes, if we face it in community, we can be more effective.

Today, consider checking on the resources and resilience hub here. Have conversations with your kin and friends about who and what you value and what you will help to protect. Come to worship and be filled by being together, by singing together, by listening together, by praying and/or meditating together. We hope to see you on Sunday for one of the long-time traditions at UUSS of bread communion-May all be nourished, may all be fed.

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn