Dear ones,
An ad was placed in The Desert Sun in October of 1959 that asked readers “Are you a Unitarian and don’t know it?” It was placed by the Rev. Ray Manker, from Riverside. And then on the evening of Wednesday, October 19, 1959, a diverse collection of people—a few humanists, liberals, and at least one person who was already Unitarian—gathered for the first time at the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce office.
Since then, this community has grown and thrived, through struggle and wandering in the desert, through ministers coming and going, through dreaming and hard work. And here we are, 65 years later, stronger than ever!
One of the joys of my time here as your minister has been hearing your stories of this community: when you joined, why you joined, what your favorite things about this place and these people are, how you’ve overcome challenges and conflict.
We’re going to celebrate all of this together on Sunday, October 13, as we gather our community together for a new church year.
Later in the year, in March, we’ll also be celebrating the 20th anniversary of this community worshiping, learning, meeting, and thriving in this building—our own community space, first inhabited by us in 2005.
A year of celebrating milestones and the past is a wonderful opportunity for us to imagine—together—what our future might be. Who do we want to be as a community? Who will we welcome through our doors and into our community life? How will we love each other more deeply? How will we affect the neighborhoods and neighbors around us.
In December, we’re going to start having some focused conversations about our values, vision, and mission. I hope you’ll be intentional about joining us in these conversations which we hope will lead to new vision and mission statements that will guide us and our community into the next 65 years.
I hope you’ll join your voice and vision in the ongoing weaving of the cloth of this beloved community.
peace and love
Rev. Ian
Minister's Message Recent Posts
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Bread Not Stone: Singing Resistance
As I’m writing this, my ears and my heart are ringing with the sounds of voices making powerful music. Our glorious choir, under the direction of Jim Tong, brought us deep and healing worship earlier in March—signing to us songs of inspiration and resilience and...
Bread Not Stone: Looking Forward with Hope and Curiosity
Dear ones, the new year arrives as it always does. Whatever we do, the day and nights and the seasons continue in their cycles. My heart is full thinking of our community and the ministry we do together: a ministry of healing, a ministry of transformation, a...
Bread not Stone: A Singe Garment of Destiny
In an essay called “Credo,” Rebecca Solnit wrote, “Take care of yourself and remember that taking care of something else is an important part of taking care of yourself, because you are interwoven with the ten trillion things in this single garment of destiny that has been stained and torn, but is still being woven and mended and washed.”
Recently, Rod Belshee (our Board president) and I participated in a meeting of the Inland Congregations United for Change group—an early gathering of clergy and lay leaders from congregations in the east of the Coachella valley, coming together to collectively plan for how we might all respond faithfully to the painful reality of our current situation—how we can weave and mend and wash together.
It was an early meeting, nothing concrete was planned yet, but this is one way that we in our congregation are finding ways to live into our interconnectedness in our valley home. I have also begun meeting with clergy of various faiths in Palm Springs to coordinate and support.
And a small group of congregants has been researching and listening and learning what is going on over the whole of the valley to see where we might act in support of our values and in support of our neighbors who are threatened, attacked, or ignored by the current federal administration.
This is the work of “frontline responders” as Deepa Iyer describes in Social Change Now: “addressing community, crises by marshaling and organizing resources, networks, and messages.”
Our Social Justice team already leads us in work that helps and supports our community and we are seeking to broaden and deepen that work in the face of the current crisis. Keep your ears and eyes open over the coming weeks and months as we share together ways to be faithfully effective and ways to nurture local relationships.
We do this because it is the right thing to do. We do this because our neighbors are in peril and we want to protect them. We do this because the values we profess—of justice and interdependence and pluralism and generosity—hold us to this work. We do this because we are interwoven into a single garment.
in peace and love
Rev. Ian
Bread Not Stone: Growing Spiritually
Our theme in worship for the month of April is “Growing Spiritually” and our Sunday services will be inviting us deeper into spiritual reflection and practice as we continue to live into the reality of the wider world. I’m delighted that we are welcoming Rabbi Jules...
Bread Not Stone: Learning from Each Other
A couple of years ago now, I got my first tattoo, on the inside of my left forearm. It is the worlds of Geoffrey Chaucer: “The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne.” It reminds me, every time I look at it, that there are always opportunities to learn new things,...
Bread not Stone: Bright Joy and Nurturing Darkness
This is the time of year when the days get shorter and shorter and the night gets longer and longer. When it feels like we live more in darkness than we do in light. And so the festivals and celebrations of this time are all about light: the light of candles, the...
Bread not Stone: Together in Love
Dear ones,
As you read this we are heading toward Election Day on November 5. Though we know (and fear) that we won’t know for sure the results of the election on that day, it will certainly be a moment of great change in our political and social lives.
I know that many of you carry anxiety and fear and anger and disbelief at the state of our political and social lives. I do as well. And I am reminded strongly in times like these why we come together in community. To care for each other. To share our fears and anxieties so that we can feel heard and seen and so that we can see and hear those we care for. To share our joys and hopes so that we can strengthen and enliven our individual and collective possibilities.
Bread not Stone: Crafting Relationships/Coming Together
Dear ones,
Our theme for the month of September is Nurturing Sustainable Relationships. As we live into our value of Interdependence we commit to create and nurture sustainable relationships of care and respect, mutuality and justice.
As this month goes along I’ll invite you to ponder and consider your closest relationships and your more casual relationships. How do you choose to nurture these relationships? Do you pay active attention to how they’re going? Do you check in with your partner, your friends, your acquaintances and figure out together how to make your relationship stronger, richer, and more sustaining?