At this time of year, when some say the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest, we pause to remember loved ones who have died. Some honour this time of year with rituals, drumming, or speaking the names. Some of us celebrate with costumes and trick-or-treating or parties. With the time change, we all get an extra hour for whatever our Saturday evening holds.

We’ll build the structure for the altar of remembrance at UUSS on Friday at 4:00 pm. if you would like to help set up the tables, fabrics, and autumn decor, we would welcome you to join us and then stay for game night.

We are also approaching Election Day and many of us may be having many feelings. If you’d like to do something with those feelings, UUSS is offering some options. Our #UUtheVote Team is hosting a phone banking event in partnership with New Voices for Reproductive Justice. See the announcement below and register ahead of time. We can buoy one another’s spirits especially if someone is feeling nervous about doing this for the first time. It takes a little practice and has often been shown to result in more people voting the next day because they realize that a person they don’t know cares enough about democracy and was willing to call them to ask them to participate. If you don’t drive at night, you can still sign-up and participate from your living room!

If you would also like some time for quiet reflection or to send positive energy into the world, we’ll have a cloth labyrinth set up on Sunday for after worship and on Monday evening, as well. As we shared last month in worship, there are many aspects of social change. Some feel called to resist, others to reform, or build, and/or heal. As our common read last year by Deepa Iyer taught last year, we need to build eco-systems for social change where each person’s gifts can have a meaningful impact.

Whatever the election results next week, remember that you have this community to lean on, that you have spiritual practices to nurture and sustain you (we’ve been practicing a lot of them during worship for months/years now), and that democracy is strongest when we participate in it, including asking questions and requiring accountability from our elected officials. If someone is doing a good job, call or write to them to thank them. If someone isn’t, let them know how they can better serve our community/nation. We hope we are engaging the sacred work of building beloved community through celebrating…and if we are not, then let us be dedicated to the sacred work of building beloved community by supporting one another through these trials.

This Sunday we’ll also take a group picture of everyone who helped with the 6000+ postcards and thank the #UUtheVote Team. We hope to see you there!

In faith,

Rev. Wendy and Rev. Lynn