Have you been taking time to look out at the moon the past few nights? Wow.
These sorts of moments of beauty help me when I find myself at that point that Sean described last Sunday – when I just cannot imagine that this is people’s best! Beauty doesn’t make everything all better, but it does help me be better.
And still – I keep wondering if focusing only on my response to bad behavior is enough – I mean, won’t that just encourage collective slacking? Or, let bad behavior slide?
When I talked to Sean about this, he clarified that the compassion that is unlocked when we assume that people are doing their best shouldn’t excuse harmful behavior. It only shifts how we move through our response to it, cultivates our empathy and our connectedness.
So then, how should we respond – as individuals, and as a society – when someone’s “best” causes harm? What does justice with compassion look like?
This is where we’ll turn this Sunday in a service called Brought to Justice. We’ll explore the ethics and efficacy of punishment and dig into the longstanding Universalist question of whether or not “sin” itself is punishment enough.
Join us this Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30 as we wrap up our series Sinners and Saints.
| In partnership, Rev. Gretchen |
Notes from Sinners & Saints: Week 4 – Hidden Saints
| Listen to the message Music The choir offered this piece with a moving backstory shared in the video at 8:30 & 10. Christopher led us in our theme song, Emma’s Revolution’s Swimming to the Other Side At 11:30 we sang MaMuse’s We Shall Be Known Practices Lovingkindness Meditation. Here’s the lovingkindness meditation we offered in our third service. If you’re looking for a meditative community of practice, join us on Monday nights. Resources Brené Brown’s “Are People Doing the Best They Can?” conversation with Russell Brand Brené Brown on Boundaries Text Here’s the call to worship I wrote inspired by the choir piece, We Will Walk Together about a late-in-life-coming-out….it was National Coming Out Day afterall! For the words that haven’t yet made their way to your lips, the disappointments you have swallowed, the anger you have held at bay, the hope you’ve told day after day to not get ahead of itself — For the silence you have stuffed into well-locked vaults hidden deep in the well-protected corners of your heart — Here we make a place to walk together until all the stories come tumbling out, held in this sanctuary of love beyond belief – Love that cannot stop shaking loose all that shame, freeing us from all that fear, holding us until we know without a doubt: Every little part of us is worthy of the light Every moment a new chance to remember what matters and to learn again to be this brave – Come, let us worship together. Remember – Saints are everywhere, when we have the willingness in us to shift our judgment into compassion and to assume people are doing the best they can. Where are “saints” showing up in your life this week? |
