After catching a head cold over Thanksgiving from an otherwise cherubic two-year-old, I awoke at 2am on the first Sunday in December feeling rather unwell. “Oh no!” I thought, “what terrible timing!” It was to be a big day — the Board and the Community Team were meeting together for two hours after the service. … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – December 2025
Gratitude is so often the theme for November. This year, we’re practicing nourishing gratitude. What an interesting turn of phrase. I’m used to being grateful for the nourishment I receive, being nourished by the experience of giving thanks, and feeling nourished when people thank me. To nourish gratitude is to give even more life to … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – November 2025
Compassion is active There is a hierarchy of responses when we encounter suffering. Pity says, “I see your pain.” Sympathy says, “I understand your pain.” Empathy says, “I feel your pain.” Compassion says, “I am with you in your pain and I will help.” – Rabbi Esther Adler At our most recent monthly … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – October 2025
What does it mean to belong to a place or a community? And what do we want it to mean for us? We certainly do not mean it passively, treating ourselves as mere objects, the way one might say, “This shoe is one of my belongings.” No, the feeling of belonging comes when we are … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – September 2025
Our acknowledgment practice each Sunday is an opportunity to pause, breathe, and honor the ancestors of this land — the Kaw, the Osage, the Pawnee, their descendants in diaspora, and our own ancestors, wherever they may have lived. We acknowledge, too, our own future as ancestors. We, ancestors and descendants, love to be free. We thrive in the freedom to live peacefully with the … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – June 2025
Joy in the mess Do you remember the tale of the banquet, when the guests are given spoons with handles much too long to get the food into their own mouths? I like this version, from the book by Rodaan Al Galidi and illustrated with delicious cut paper by Geertje Aalders. In Al Galidi’s telling, an … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – April 2025
Leadership through Trusting the Trustworthy Community organizers are taught that power is the ability to get what you ask for. Power is generated by organizing money or organizing people, often both. Power in itself is morally neutral; but what we’re asking for — how we use our power — is morally weighty. As Dr. King … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – March 2025
Note from Pastor Isa Circle ‘round for challenging conversations Circle ‘round for freedom, circle ‘round for peace, for all of us imprisoned, circle for release, circle for the planet, circle for each soul, for the children of our children, keep the circle whole. At times like these, when our values are under attack and some of our so-called … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – February 2025
Over the holidays, I received a loaf of homemade gluten-free bread as a gift. Taped to the bag was the note, “You are loved and appreciated.” I’m gonna hang onto the note to help me remember not just the tasty bread, but also the connection I have with the baker. But it means even more … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – January 2025
I will never forget the moment. It was the third and final Wednesday Vespers for Peace and Justice service, crafted to support the UUFM community through the election. The previous vespers service, just the day after the election, had been essential for those who came, reeling from the news. But this third service: would it … Continue reading Note from Pastor Isa – December 2024
