Dear Friends, In these days of isolation, some people may be craving interaction and contact. Others may be simply afraid for their health. Our Caring Team has been reaching out and contacting some of you, but the needs may be greater than that. I’m writing to you about two opportunities for regular connection. First, … Continue reading Caring Letter
True wisdom comes in understanding that sometimes, you are both the prison and the key. — Johnathan Jena Jena is right. Liberation is much more complicated than we usually tell ourselves. It would be so much easier if life really was divided up neatly between the good and bad guys, between those trapped and those … Continue reading Liberation (April 2020)
We are in liminal space. That means, we are in between. In between normal and what we do not yet know. By the time you read this, the world will have spun around a few times, and a bunch more things will be different. I’m not sure what or how or why, but I am … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – April 2020
Crisis Center and MESI Still Need Our Support! The needs at Manhattan’s shelters are greater than ever. So, even though we are not meeting in person, we will continue with our normal April collection of in-kind donations. Items will be collected on the front porch of Clovia House, 1200 Pioneer Lane. You can place your … Continue reading Social Action News – April 2020
Helping Hands In March, Helping Hands contributions will be collected for Wonder Workshop, providing opportunities for growth and learning to area children. Learn more at www.wonderworkshop.org. Your Suggestions Requested for Helping Hands Recipients If there is a local helping organization that you wish we would include in the Helping Hands offerings, please let us know. … Continue reading Social Action News – March 2020
We have a congregation full of caring, concerned people. Several of us met recently to discuss what we do well as a congregation to take care of one another, and what we can do better. Though we don’t have a regularly meeting committee, we do have a Caring Team, a bunch of people who extend … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – March 2020
When the topic of wisdom comes up, so do the usual images. Walls and walls filled with dusty old books. Elders with the wisdom of many years carved into the wrinkles on their faces. Diplomas framed and filling one’s office wall. Endless letters placed in front and behind your name (Dr, PhD, LCSW, JD, Rev, … Continue reading Wisdom (March 2020)
History matters. This year we celebrate the sesquicentennial of the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) and the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920). Before you rush to google to remember what those are, they’re both about voting. The former gave the vote to black men, and the latter to all women. That’s a reminder that for generations, … Continue reading Jonalu’s Journal – February 2020
When did we decide that resilience was a solo project? It’s not that we consciously defined it that way. It’s just what we were taught, from the time we were little until, well, today. The same thing was – and is – said in so many ways: “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps”; “You’re … Continue reading Resilience (February 2020)
What Does It Mean to Be A People of Integrity? Wholeness is never lost; it is only forgotten. Integrity rarely means that we need to add something to ourselves: it is more an undoing than a doing, a freeing ourselves from beliefs we have about who we are and ways we have been persuaded to … Continue reading Integrity (January 2020)
