Cup of Joe, March 31, 2023
After such a snowy March, what I’m looking for is snowdrops. We’ve passed the vernal equinox, but I still feel like I’m waiting for spring. Spring is a time of renewal and rebirth and resurrection. It’s the time of Passover and Easter and this year its also the time of Ramadan. Much of the point of Passover and Easter as well as of Ramadan is renewal—renewal of spirit, but also of mind and body. So for this month of April, I’m focused on renewal as a theme.
More profoundly, I’m feeling a need for renewal and reconnection to hope as a result of the recent school shooting in Nashville and the way some politicians are using it as an excuse for ramping up even more their targeting of transpeople when today (March 31) we should be celebrating the Transgender Day of Visibility. Too many are renewing their commitment to guns and violence. Locally, we have seen the continued criminalization of Black Lives Matter activism in the actions of the Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner as well as several local news articles about persistent racist hate speech and harassment in Saratoga Springs schools.
Amid this strife, I think if we pause just a moment, we’ll discover we have renewed hopes for our UU congregation: We want to be a source of renewal and strength of spirit! We want our congregation to be a people and a place that helps individuals weather storms and move in the direction of healing and wholeness. We want our congregation to be a force for openness and inclusivity in the larger community. We want to help people move in the direction of reparation, liberation, and wholeness. We want our congregation to be both refuge and change agent. And just sharing these renewed hopes with one another is the first step toward realizing and renewing them.
Of course, one of our main efforts now toward renewed hope is our work toward a new home for our UU congregation. The New Home Task Force will be making a short report to the congregation after the service this Sunday, April 2, and I hope all of us take part.
Our Sunday services on April 2 and Easter Sunday April 9 will also focus on renewal. On April 2, we’ll explore hope and faith as a needed resource in a riven world. And on Easter Sunday, April 9, we will look both seriously and playfully at mistakes as sources of renewal.
On April 16, we’ll celebrate the renewal of spirit that is the ministry of our wayside pulpit, carefully stewarded for many years by Alan Bartenhagen.
On April 23, we’ll celebrate a renewal of UU spirit by joining together with the four other Hudson Mohawk UU congregations.
And on April 30, we’ll celebrate the renewal of spirit and community to be found in our participation with the local interfaith community garden.
On Thursday, April 20, at 11am, I’ll be leading a practical session on How to Google Drive — & I’m doing that because I want continued renewal in our ability to collaborate with one another and support one another!
Finally, many of us have been finding renewal in our Wednesday Braver/Wiser group which will continue throughout April at a slightly revised time: 12:30pm, Wednesdays. Join in!
On another note, while I had fully expected that we would be hosting Friday midday prayers this Ramadan, the local group we’ve been working with is still in the very earliest stages of forming and are finding themselves still needing to focus on some discernment. I’ve offered them my support and made sure they know our offer to host prayers on Fridays still stands. I hope they are able to take their next steps soon.
May renewal of spirit be yours this month!
Rev Joe