Happy Father’s Day
- Join us for strawberry shortcake and good company on June 29 from 2-4 for our Annual Strawberry Social and Summer Raffle (Hosted by Dorcas).
- Next Death Cafe on Saturday July 27th at 4pm.
- Neighbors’ Hot Dog and S’mores Picnic on July 21st 12-3pm.
- INC Pot Luck Picnic on July 28th at 1pm.
- Village Fair and UnFair 5K on August 17th (please register and order t-shirts by July 17th).
Watch the Reflection Video HERE
We plant seeds. We tend and care for them and they flourish. We forget and neglect them and they also flourish.
I had a psychology teacher who said that we are constantly scattering seeds of emotions as we go through our days, intentionally or not. We need to be mindful that the seeds we scatter are the ones we intend to be scattering…because they become the world around us. We need to be very clear on what we intend to scatter.
This doesn’t mean to ignore our real emotions, like grief and anger. Those are real and it doesn’t help to pretend they don’t exist. We also need to remember that those aren’t the only seeds in the garden, especially in those times when it feels like they are.
The smallest of seeds grow big. They can grow into big shadowy branches that cool and comfort or a mess of tangled weeds that trap and prick. We know of those small critiques that grow into monstrous plants! The small critique someone told us that we’ve held onto for decades. Our regretted words that we hold onto for decades.
In one of my classes this month, there was a story of a mom who told her teenage daughter that she needed to lose weight. PAUSE. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. We often focus on those words and the damage to our children’s self esteem and yes, that is so important to be aware of. This story shines a different light though. The mother kept holding onto her regretted words and would come back to it and apologize to her daughter until one day her grown up daughter said, I’d long forgotten those words, but you keep bringing it up and reminding me.
Parenting is so hard. A HUGE shoutout to our parents today especially, our fathers on this Father’s Day.
Seeds planted. Sometimes, they grow the way we expect the seeds to grow, but other times it’s complicated. It grows in its own and unexpected way. Often, we don’t even realize what we’ve planted because it’s the seed…and also where it lands. We never fully know what’s going on in another person’s life that is nourished or thorned by the seeds we scatter.
I often think back on the things that were said to me when I was younger that hurt and I held on to. In my clearer (decades later) mind, I realize the words probably weren’t meant to hurt and the speakers probably wouldn’t even remember saying it. A good garden is full of complexity for bio-diversity. Maybe that’s important for us too—those words and weeds shape us. It also encourages us to wonder what things we’ve said that unintentionally planted and grew into a monstrous thing in someone’s life. Things that we’re probably completely unaware of. What things are we saying now that might be misconstrued or careless.
Seeds grow. Sometimes they grow because we tend and cultivate them. Those grudges. Those sneaky angers. Those unacknowledged fears. Sometimes, we have no idea that things are being cultivated until they unexpectedly raise their ugly heads and are suddenly dislike that turns to loathing, sadness the grows into incredible grief.
We’re never going to know all of the seeds we’ve planted.
We’re never going to only plant the good seeds.
But we can certainly try to plant good seeds by our good deeds, our good words, and our good thoughts.
We can try by thinking about the seeds we might be planting and strive to plant the good ones. We can set an intention to plant good ones and ask for help that good ones take root. This is a nice prayer—I think God likes these: help me to plant goodness prayers.
Perhaps a statement of faith is a seed intentionally planted. An: I believe (blank). I am called to (blank). I choose (blank).
We have our church statements of faith. We have a UUA and a UCC statements. We read those a few weeks back in May and they are posted on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall. These statements are our collective intentions that guide us together as community. To remind us of what our intentions are together, so that we don’t unintentionally plant tangled weeds.
All Are Welcome is one of our statements of faith as a Community Church. We believe all are welcome and we are called to actively make sure that all feel welcome. It encompasses our belief in Peace, Connection, Community, Love, Forgiveness, and Acceptance. As a group, we have our role to be sure that All are Welcome. As individuals within this community, we have our individual roles to be sure that All are Welcome.
We might not always be reciting our statements of faith, but they are there in the background anchoring us, supporting us, and guiding us together. We might not always be thinking about what our own statements of faith might be, but like seeds, intentionally or unintentionally, they are there in the background. Perhaps, it might be wise to bring it to the forefront to be sure we are anchored in an intentional statement of faith.
What might your own statement of faith include? If you had to write it down, what would it say? How would it begin?
Maybe it starts with a Call to the Divine. A reminder of something bigger than ourselves. O God…Lord…Beloved….Grace…Holy One…
Maybe it continues with a statement of belief. I believe (blank)… (I believe in a good and generous God)…
Maybe it continues with a statement of call. I am called to…a duty…a work…a way of being…perhaps a unique gift only you can offer this world…
There might be a single word that hold this statement of faith: Love, Forgiveness, Courage, Kindness, Presence…
We have our personal statements of faith. I believe. God calls me. These are our unique gifts that we have to offer. These are the individual blooms in the garden of us together.
We have our collective statement of faith. We believe. God calls us. These are the things we can do only by working together as one, like the whole garden that blossoms and blooms and grows as a One Garden of Many to bring beauty and grace in this world.
Together, these are like the fertilizer that nourishes both the individual blooms and the garden as a whole. All around us there are these blooms and gardens. There is a reciprocity to all of these gardens and blooms that nourish the gardens of people all over the world When all of these gardens flourish, they become a bigger Garden that we all belong to.
Community Church of North Orange & Tully 