Month: February 2020

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The printer was making its 87^th copy when someone said out loud what I’m guessing we’d all been thinking:

How ironic to be handing out the first edition of our paper newsletter on the Sunday where we’re talking about the climate crisis!

It was one of the reasons we put a hold on paper communications four years ago – to decrease paper usage.  But over time, we’ve noticed that so much can get lost when everything is sent only electronically.

So we’re trying to find the right balance. Only sending this newsletter in the mail to those who subscribe. Making it bi-monthly instead of monthly.  Providing a PDF link on the website and in all weekly communications.

After a few issues, we’ll check in and see how it’s going.  I like to think of most things in congregational life as an experiment where the main measure of success is our shared learning, and this is no different.

In case you’re wondering, 95 households subscribed and will receive a mailed printed copy.  For this first issue, we are also sending a “courtesy” copy to anyone who has been a member for longer than 25 years.  After this first edition, we’ll only send paper copies to those who subscribe.

If you want that to be you, but haven’t yet, go here: foothillsuu.org/subscribe.  And if you ever want to catch up on Foothills news – issues of the Weekly, or the Communicator, you can find them here: foothillsuu.org/news.

This decision of paper or no paper is a smallish example of the sort of complex ethical decisions we all face all the time in life today!  Starting this Sunday, we’re offering a series that we hope will help provide some tools and framework for building an ethical life.  Look for more information in a series overview email later this week.

Hope to see you Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30.  And then at 1 pm for our big congregational meeting to authorize the first phase of our building expansion! All are welcome.  Find the prep materials here.

In partnership,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Notes from The Feels: Week 4– Climate Grief   

Listen to the message

Text
The Thing Is by Ellen Bass
“The thing is to love life, even when you have no stomach for it..”

Remember by Joy Harjo
“Remember the sky that you were born under…”

Starlings in Winter by Mary Oliver 
“Ah world, what lessons you prepare for us, even in the leafless winter…”

Referenced in the Service
Dr. Bayo Akomolafe on Slowing Down in Urgent Times (The Wild Podcast)
Joanna Macy’s The Work that Reconnects

Music
We sang our series theme song, Break the Shell
Foothills member Jennifer Jolly sang Marvin Gaye’s Mercy, Mercy Me
We sang More Waters Rising by activist Saro Lynch-Thomason

Further Resources
Eco-Anxiety is Overwhelming Kids
Active Hope by Joanna Macy
Keeping faith with death: mourning and de-extinction, Deborah Rose and Thomas van Dooren

Remember
Grief can’t be fixed, it can only be felt.
Grief is meant to be held in community, in relationship.
Together we remember how to grieve, we make space for grief.
Grief is a sign of love.

How are you making space for grief today? [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I recently took one of those “which presidential candidate do you most align with” quizzes. It was a really extensive version, but even still I was surprised that one of the questions was “should college classes have ‘trigger warnings’ for their students?”

Like a lot of other things that have become politicized (and polarized) today, it’s really too bad, because it makes it so much harder to have a nuanced conversation about the idea, and its usefulness.

To be “triggered,” or what somatic teachers call “activated,” is to experience a bodily response to something in the present connected to a threat from the past. It isn’t just about past pain, it’s about danger.

Once any of us get triggered, our fight, flight, or freeze response kicks in, and the rational brain becomes inaccessible. It doesn’t matter if there’s an actual threat – our bodies experience a threat, and in that place, healing becomes impossible.

On the other hand, somatic teachers warn that we should not conflate being “triggered” with a bodily experience of pressure or discomfort – experiences that actually signal an opportunity for learning, growth, and healing. That is, if we can tolerate them, and stay connected through them.

“Healing involves discomfort,” as Resmaa Menakem writes, “but so does refusing to heal. Over time, refusing to heal is always more painful.”

To face all of the challenges of life today, we must learn to discern triggers from discomfort. And we must learn to settle our bodies, and stay present to (rather than checking out from) the pressures that our bodies experiences. Experiences that signal grief, anxiety, and also inspire us to act, and to change.

These are the lessons and challenges Rev. Kristen will be exploring this Sunday in our service on climate grief, the final in our series, The Feels. 

Hope to see you at 8:30, 10, or 11:30.

In partnership,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Notes from The Feels: Week 3 – Hush  

Listen to the message
Read the transcript

Text
Charles Bukowski’s Bluebird
“there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody
see you.”

“Freedom has a Rhythm the Body Knows” (Call to Worship)
“Despair hasn’t gotten us yet,
nor overwhelm –
which is, a kind of miracle –
surrounded as we are
by this much
beauty.”

Referenced in the Service
Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma
Rachel Yehuda: How Trauma and Resilience Cross Generations (Interview)

Music
We sang our series theme song, Break the Shell
Our Choir sang Hush and Show Us How to Love at 8:30 & 10

Further Resources
Podcast conversation: Trauma, Healing & Collective Power with generative somatics
Generative Somatics – communal body-based healing
A summary of the foundational work, The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk

Remember
Feelings happen in our bodies.
When they are under-processed, they are passed on person, to person, across generations.
To metabolize our feelings, we need to heal in our bodies, allowing the joy and the resilience that also lives there to flourish, and to be free.

How can you pay attention to the wisdom, and the wounds present in your body, today? What is a move towards wholeness? [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ever since Sunday’s service, where Rev. Sean described how emotions are just feelings with a story attached, I’ve been trying to pay attention to the stories I’m caught in.

What I’ve realized is – there are so many! And trying to parse them out, let alone, unravel them – it feels like swimming through syrup.

It’s the risk of the theories Sean was describing. That it will seem like we can/should be able to just “let go” of the stories – like we have some sort of ultimate control. Or worse, the theories might lead us to dismiss or demean our emotional experiences as fictional/constructed.

In reality, the stories that our sensations attach themselves to are so powerful, they often take years – and collective engagement – to truly shift and release. And the stories are real, with real impact.

Shifting and shaking loose and swimming through syrup….all of these are good reminders of the ways that releasing our stories happens not just by naming, and claiming our feelings in words, but also, with what happens in our bodies. In time. Through movement, and grace.  This is what we’ll be exploring this Sunday at 8:30, 10 & 11:30.

One more really important thing:

This Sunday at 1:00, our Board of Trustees will be presenting the costs for a first phase of construction, and what our options are for bridging the gap between what we’ve raised in our capital campaign so far, and what we’ll need to proceed. It will be live streamed, and we’ll send out a summary early next week, but if you can be there, your presence would be so appreciated. It will help ensure we can all be fully ready to vote on March 1st at the congregational meeting.

I so look forward to seeing you Sunday – and until then…blessings on all the feelings, and all the stories!

Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Notes from The Feels: Week 2 – Name It, Claim it.   

Listen to the message

Referenced in the Service
How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett 
Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Music
We sang our series theme song, Break the Shell
We sang Peter Mayer’s Blue Boat Home
The medley of songs from our members included: Here Comes the Sun, When She Loved Me, Masters of War, Mad World, and Christopher sang You’re So Vain
At 11:30 we sang MaMuse’s Oh River

Further Resources
You Aren’t At The Mercy of Your Emotions, Ted Talk by Lisa Feldman Barrett 
What’s Wrong With Emotional Intelligence

Remember
Emotions are feelings with a story attached.
We can actively intervene in the stories we’ve attached to our feelings
and produce a different outcome in our lives, and in our world.
What story are you working with in your life today?

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There’s something about the car that (still) puts my middle-school-age children in bad moods. It’s why I start every car ride asking them what song we should play. Or, if things are really bad, I choose one that is irresistibly feel-good… our current go-to: Lizzo’s Good As Hell!

Music has that effect–it can move us from one emotional state to another, sometimes without us even realizing it. And music can help us name feelings we don’t even know we’re having, and hold these feelings with less judgment and less anxiety.

If we were all getting in the car right now, I might be putting on David Bowie’s Changes. Because this week’s email marks an official shift in the communications realm.

As of this issue, this email becomes the “Weekly.” The name Communicator will transfer to our new bimonthly paper newsleter that will feature literal church news and hit physical mail boxes at the end of this month–if you want to subscribe, click here. (If you don’t subscribe, you will still get access to the PDF version.)

In the last couple of months, we’ve already made some shifts in this weekly email. But as we make this change more official, I want to take a moment to let you know what we’re thinking.

It starts with our realization. A realization that that there are 168 hours in a week. And yet, if we’re lucky, we see most of you for one of those hours. Sure, about 40 of you, we’ll see in a potluck or choir rehearsal or team meeting or small group during the week. And, ok, about 10 of you we see nearly everyday! But the vast majority of you are connecting in community one or two hours every month. It’s just a reality of life today.

And yet, what we also know is that the sort of impact we want to have, the impact our congregational vision asks of us–the impact where courageous love is not just some nice-sounding words on a mission statement but a way of living in the everyday–requires engagement and connection not just on Sundays for an hour, but in the everyday.

Which is why this email is an invitation and reminder to take what we offered on Sunday and bring it out into the other 167 hours in a given week.

Our Weekly will include the texts and music from the service, as well as follow up resources, and a reminder of the core message. And, it’ll offer info about upcoming programs that help you deepen in community, service, spirituality or giving–the catalysts of our Unitarian Universalist path. And, because we are a community built on the promise of walking together, we’ll share any news about your fellow members as they travel the journey of life. (If you have something you’d like to share, be sure to go to foothillsuu.org/caring.)

This email is your encouragement to take the courageous love we embody together on Sundays and to live it out, everyday. And it is your invitation to return again next Sunday where we will strengthen each other, grow together, learn in new and surprising ways, and give in ways that make more of a difference than we could ever manage on our own.

The journey is not the same without you. Which is why we hope to see you this Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30 when Rev. Sean will be leading a service on naming and claiming the full range of our emotions–from the anger evoked by certain pieces from Beethoven, to the grief conveyed from a song from Toy Story. And everything in between.

Hope to see you there.

In partnership,
Rev. Gretchen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Notes from The Feels: Week 1 – Inside Us

Listen to the sermon  

Text 
adrienne maree brown’s “how to feel a feeling”
Victoria Safford’s “Call to Worship”

Mentioned in the Service
“My Feelings Are Not My Enemies” by Miguel Clark Mallet
The amazing Atlas of Emotions
“The Self-Hatred Within Us” by Sharon Salzberg

Music 
We sang our new theme song India.Arie’s Break the Shell 
At the 11:30 we sang All That I Am 

Remember 
Despite messages culturally and religiously that emotions are to be avoided, contained, rushed through or hidden, our feelings offer us a window into truth that is made just for us.

Rather than choosing between rationality or emotionality, we can embrace both as legitimate sources of truth and wisdom.

What are your feelings trying to teach you and tell you today? [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]What are you feeling right now?

Sometimes it’s impossible to know–or at least it can feel that way.

Joy. Fear. Love. Disgust. Sadness. Ecstasy. Confusion. Hope. Anxiety. Shame. Attraction. Grief. Restlessness.

Emotions are sneaky, inefficient, disruptive–they can pull us under or allow us to fly– and feelings are real. You have them, and so does every single other person around you.

Feelings are absolutely a part of life. So many of us have learned that emotions need to be denied or controlled–that emotions do not hold value or meaning.

But what if just the opposite were true? Showing up in our bodies–the tightness in your chest, the heat in your palms, the pain in your stomach–emotions are some of our closest teachers waiting (and sometimes demanding) to be acknowledged.

As religious liberals, we praise intellect and the gift of reason in the pursuit of truth– and threads of our very own Unitarian Universalist history lift up the human capacity to feel as a gateway to the sacred–a gateway to a life of purpose and connection. A life of aliveness.

What if what you feel–and what each of us feels–really does matter? What if emotions are an untapped source of knowledge in a moment when Love demands we bring all of our tools to the table?

This Sunday, we’re kicking off our new series, The Feels – exploring all these questions…the ways emotions drive us (whether we like it or not), we’ll probe their origins, grapple with their purpose, and celebrate the choice we have to respond when they show up.

We’ll remember the gifts of music and movement to move emotions through us, and we’ll remind each other of all the ways we have everything we need right now to fully engage this world carried inside us.

Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday at 8:30, 10, or 11:30.

Rev. Kristen[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/GYN7MyqVE58″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Series Spiritual Practices

To explore the themes of this series more personally, we invite you to try out our series spiritual practice:

Somatic Awareness Practice
Our body responds constantly to all external and internal impulses even before our brains are aware of it. In this practice we’ll develop a more fine-tuned and accurate sense of felt experience by noticing sensations in the body. Somatics integrates the body as an essential place of learning and transformation. We will offer this practice throughout the series at the 11:30am service.  Explore it on your own with the help of this podcast.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Series Featured Ministry

New for 2020, our series will each lift up one of Foothills’ ministries that provides an opportunity to embody and engage the series’ themes.

This month, our series featured ministry is Foothills’ Caring Network – a web of support available when life gets hard, when you want someone to celebrate with or when you just need a little extra love.

Parish Visitors – This trained team of Foothills members listen, connect, and care for other members in times of transition, loss, or illness, and help homebound church members stay connected to the community.

Meals Network – In times of illness or loss, we reach out with home-cooked meals.

Cards Ministry – On Sundays, we invite church members to send loving wishes of joy or sorrow.

Comfort Shawls – We provide a shawl knitted by a Foothills member to those experiencing treatment, illness, or after the arrival of a new baby.

Ministerial 1:1 – In addition to the support provided by our parish visitors, our ministers provide one-one-one pastoral support for members, especially after a significant shift in someone’s life – a new diagnosis, the final stages of life or in a loved one’s life, when a relationship is dissolving, or in times of discernment around other significant life decisions.

Ministers’ Discretionary Fund – An emergency fund available to Foothills members in times of crisis.

Share your need for prayer, connection or support at foothillsuu.org/caring.

If you are interested in joining our Caring Network, complete the form at foothillsuu.org/serve.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/tuKvUKSFDq0″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We always choose one song for each of our worship series that we sing or perform in every Sunday in the series. It’s usually something you’ll find yourself singing later in the day, without even realizing it. Because music connects in the deepest parts of our brains, the idea is that we’ll connect more fully with theme, and bring it into our everyday lives.

This month, we’ve selected the song Break the Shell from India.Arie. It’s a song that engages both our resistance to dealing with our deeper feelings, as well as the gifts available when we do. We look forward to learning and experiencing it with you all month.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Explore Further 

Tools to Engage:

The Atlas of Emotions – an interactive map of emotions commissioned by the Dalai Llama and co-created by emotion scientist Dr. Paul Ekman and emotion researcher and trainer Eve Ekman.

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows –  a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language—to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don’t yet have a word for.

Podcasts to Check Out:

NPR’s Invisibilia – Emotions

Healing Justice – Relational Somatics with Lucién Demaris of Relational Uprising

Articles and Books to Read:

“Connecting Emotions to a Felt Body Sense” by Daniel Leven

“My Feelings are Not My Enemy” by Miguel Clark Mallet

Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief edited by Cindy Milstein

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.