Month: May 2019 (Page 1 of 2)

by Rev. Sean

“Some of the walls were the same. The roof was the same. Important changes had been made, but the sense of continuity which a building often comes to represent was unbroken. The continuity is one of the structure, but also of far more than that. It is a continuity of people and of memory.”

–Rev. Walter “Roy” Jones, Minister of Foothills Unitarian Church from 1972-1989, speaking at the celebration of Foothills building expansion on January 19, 1997.

Look closely enough and you notice the ways our church has grown over the years. The cornerstones in the breezeway is emblazoned with names that defined who we once were, Unity Unitarian Church and Congregational Unitarian, but are no longer. The way the hallways in the Religious Education Building suddenly nearly double as you reach the more recent addition, added in 1997. Old photos show the sanctuary absent the stone wall that now plays backdrop to our worship gatherings, the direction of the chairs at an angle facing the pulpit then placed where our piano now resides. Even this morning, when I took a moment to visit the Remembrance Garden for a moment of tranquil reflection between meetings, I noticed a plaque that read 2003.

Our walls have expanded over the years, each time meeting the needs of a time and a people. And yet, as Roy contends, through each change, there has remained a continuity of structure, of people, and of memory.

This Sunday our whole community will live and play in the beautiful interplay of change yet continuity

During our two worship services (9 & 11) we will celebrate Flower Communion, a ritual born in 1923 by the Czech Unitarian Minister Norbert Capek, who sought to build a ritual that would feel as connective as the Christian practice of communion, while inviting people of all beliefs and backgrounds to participate fully. He settled on a practice where each person brings a flower and after a blessing in the service, leaves with a different flower. Change Yet Continuity.

At 12:30 we will gather again the Sanctuary for our Annual Meeting, where we will vote on the ordination of Kristen Psaki (our intrepid ministerial resident), adding her into the lineage of ministers who were formed by and who formed this congregation. We will pass budgets and elect a slate of nominees for our Board of Trustees, Nominating Committee and our Endowment Committee, adding their faithful presence and wise counsel to our church’s leadership.

And we will see for the first time, together, the plans for our future building expansion, when Peter Ewers (the architect our church has hired) unveils a vision for our future campus to be built on our current site. Change yet continuity.  

It’s a historic Sunday, you don’t want to miss it.

P.S. The meeting will be streamed online at Foothillsuu.org/live, but online voting is not possible.

On March 10th and 17th, the Share the Plate went to Project 31:25 whose Mission reads, “Guided by a relentless pursuit of Safety, Empowerment and Strength, we will strive to heal and restore all that the trauma from abuse has stolen. Our number one priority is to deliver Clarity, Dignity and Hope through every step of your journey.” The title comes from Proverbs 31:25 – “She is clothed in Strength and Dignity, and She laughs without Fear of the Future.”

What is Domestic Abuse? “A pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain control over another intimate partner. Including methods of Physical, Sexual, Emotional, Financial and Psychological abuse. Also including stalking.” (US Department of Justice).

We’d all like to think that this never happens in Fort Collins, but it does. Do you know the Cycle of Abuse? Find out and much more are on their website www.project3125.org

Thankfully we have organizations that address the needs of survivors. And we helped Project 31:25 by donating $1,656.53 from our shared offerings. This organization is still growing, and last year our donation amounted to 10% of their annual budget, we helped six families in need.

All of the amazing Share the Plate organizations welcome volunteers. Ready to get involved? Any one them is a good place to start. Remember when worship ends, service begins.

Kudos to you, the Foothills Congregation, for your endless generosity each Sunday. You make a difference!

by Kristen Psaki, Ministerial Resident

These are the words my 3-year-old niece sometimes says on repeat: My Body My Choice! My Body My Choice! Words that my sister once offered to her daughter — still so brand new to this world, to this country, to words — so that she might feel the beginnings of agency over her body and how others interact with her body.

We have a long history — both Unitarians and Universalists — that recognizes the sacredness of choice. A history and a present that celebrates the sacred and powerful gift of sexuality, the inherent worth and dignity of all life, and the freedom of conscience — the freedom to make choices about our lives, our bodies — trusting that our own direct experience of life is one of the primary sources of religious authority.

I support the right of a person to make decisions about their own bodies not in spite of my faith — but because of it.

In 1963, ten years before the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States — Roe v. Wade, 1973 — the Unitarian Universalist Association made a public commitment to equal access to abortion care.* And as a tradition, we have been the leading liberal religious voice in the movement for reproductive rights.

Hearing the news about Alabama’s law to criminalize health care providers and to force survivors of rape and incest to bear children as a result of an actual criminal act — almost physically knocked me over. But in this moment, I remember that we are fortified by a liberal religious lineage well practiced in speaking justice loudly and well fueled by an infinite source of Love. 

As many of you have read in recent days, we know that an estimated 1 in 3 people who can carry pregnancies will have an abortion in their lifetime, which means that likely 1 in 3 of you reading this who are capable of carrying pregnancies have had an abortion.

Your story is sacred, your choice is sacred. If you have a sacred story of abortion that you want to speak in community and to have witnessed in love, we invite you to join our sharing circle: 

Sacred Choice: Our Stories of Abortion
An intimate and informal circle of sharing and witnessing for those that have been touched by abortion. 
Wednesday, May 29th
6-7pm
In the sanctuary

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*The 1963 social justice statement made at General Assembly — the annual gathering of Unitarian Universalists:

REFORM OF ABORTION STATUTES

WHEREAS, we as Unitarian Universalists are deeply concerned for dignity and rights of human beings; and
WHEREAS, the laws which narrowly circumscribe or completely prohibit termination of pregnancy by qualified medical practitioners are an affront to human life and dignity; and
WHEREAS, these statutes drive many women in the United States and Canada to seek illegal abortions with increased risk of death, while others must travel to distant lands for lawful relief;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED: That the Unitarian Universalist Association support enactment of a uniform statute making abortion legal if:

1. There would be grave impairment of the physical or mental health of the mother;
2. The child would be born with a serious physical or mental defect;
3. Pregnancy resulted from rape or incest;
4. There exists some other compelling reason — physical, psychological, mental, spiritual, or economic.

Over the past year, Foothills has been gifted by the presence of an exceptional ministerial resident, Kristen Psaki, who has supported lay leaders and teams in the newcomer ministry, justice ministry, small group ministry, and pastoral care, and whose willingness to stay with us for another year has allowed the congregation to give Rev. Gretchen Haley a long-overdue and much-deserved sabbatical these next few months.

While serving Foothills this year, Kristen has been granted preliminary fellowship by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, the ministerial credentialing body of the UUA, and she now meets the recommended criteria for ordination.

She has asked Foothills if we would be willing to ordain her, and the Board of Trustees has convened a task force to discern whether we should bring this to a vote of the congregation at the annual meeting June 2, 2019.

The task force held an informational gathering Sunday, May 19th, at 10 am (Middle Hour) to explain what ordination is and how it is a right and a responsibility of all UU congregations, and to invite questions and dialogue around how we have experienced Kristen’s ministry.

Ordination is the act of a congregation affirming that they see a minister fit to serve our faith community in a candidate and it is one of the fundamental ceremonies that congregations are responsible for performing in our Unitarian Universalist religious tradition.

Unitarian Universalism, unlike other religions, reserves certain rights for congregations alone, and not a centralized church leadership, such as: the right to name the ministers that serve the tradition, the right to own their own church properties, and the right to democratically govern themselves.

Ordination is for life, and represents a dedication of one’s life to service and leadership in Universalist Unitarianism. It is not the same as calling a minister to serve a particular congregation. It is a UU congregation solemnly declaring that we recognize a minister fit to serve the Unitarian Universalist movement.  

Should we vote to ordain Kristen, we would be affirming that we find in her a strong and capable minister for our faith.

It is a rare honor and occasion for a congregation to be approached by a minister who is ready for ordination. Foothills went 25 years without the opportunity to participate in this final symbolic, practical, and spiritual step in the process of becoming a UU minister, until we were asked and voted to ordain Rev. Sean Neil-Barron in 2017.

Kristen came to us from Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, where she completed her ministerial internship. She is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York City. As a life-long seeker of wisdom and justice, Kristen’s UU identity sits on the shoulders of a formative Christian childhood and an earnest adult search for the sacred. Called to work at the intersections of healing and justice, Kristen finds guidance in daily spiritual practice and the prophetic voices of queer people and people of color. She trusts in the transforming power of Love and believes church is where we come to remember our truest selves and to reconnect with each other.