On our monthly theme, Flourishing Together
Generosity. We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope.
We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.
– from the UUA Bylaws
In the introduction to our Chalice Circles’ small group packet for our monthly theme (which you can read here), a story is told of a circle of neighbors who financially supported three farmers in order to eat locally. When one family faced hardship and couldn’t afford to pledge one year, the group accepted a pledge of zero dollars and kept them in the circle. It’s a story of group wisdom about interdependence.
Unitarian Universalist congregations like ours don’t necessarily produce vegetables, but we cultivate gratitude and generosity in similar ways. We are nourished by mutuality and supported by financial pledges. When we say thank you to those who choose to give their money to our community, it’s not just because we feel the benefit to ourselves. Our thanks also represent our appreciation of the ways they benefit from giving. We trust that through diverting some of their money from other uses, donors are not sacrificing personal wellbeing, but achieving it through us. We are grateful to embody their investment in their own flourishing.
But mutual aid is not just about keeping our friends well-fed (literally or metaphorically), as important as that is. As Universalists, “together” means everyone. Not just our loved ones, not just our fellow members, not just our neighbors, not just the people we like. In the words of UU minister Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto, “All of us need all of us to make it.” Just as an individual donor to the Fellowship is made more whole through committing resources to community, our Fellowship is made more whole through our commitment to the wider world. That commitment includes our congregation’s financial pledges to the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (the UUA) and Kansas Interfaith Action (KIFA) and our fundraising for the Blessing Box and organizations we select through Helping Hands. Our commitment to flourishing together on a global scale is also evident in our steadfast open hearts to migrants, immigrants, refugees, descendents of the colonized and enslaved, and all those human and more-than-human beings terrorized by violent greed around the world. We recommit to flourishing together when we open our minds to new ideas to explain how our interdependence translates into responsibility, when we bring curiosity about how our own joys and sorrows are cause and effect of others’.
Flourishing together is a physical experience fed by spiritual practices. Through praying and being present to the realities of our time, we build the patience and perseverance to keep showing up for the complex relationships in our own families and neighborhoods. Practicing mutual aid at these small scales gives us the skills for collective action in larger groups. While it may feel like there’s not enough money, time, and attention to go around during this global upheaval, have faith that your loving actions at any scale are connected to the loving actions of others, many who you will never meet. You are not waiting passively for the chaos to blow over, or to be rescued — you are an integral part of the hard work we’re doing together to realize a sacred vision we are only beginning to remember and re-articulate.