Nov 1, 2024 | Minister's Message
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.
Oct 4, 2024 | Minister's Message
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!
Sep 1, 2024 | Minister's Message
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?
Jul 31, 2024 | Minister's Message
Dear ones,
As we settle into the deep heat of the summer the life of the congregation quiets a little and gives us some brain space to ponder the year ahead.
2024-2025 is a double anniversary year for the congregation. In October we’ll be celebrating our congregation’s 65th anniversary. And in late March of 2025, we will have been in our own church building for 20 years. What a year! What joy it is to celebrate our past and envision what the future can be. In the early months of the fall, we’ll be engaging in conversation and discernment together as we seek to reimagine the vision and mission of our beloved community. Keep your ears and eyes out and I hope you’ll jump into those conversations with intention and commitment.
Apr 3, 2024 | Minister's Message
This month in worship and in our chalice circles, we are exploring the. Last of the values expressed in the UUA’s proposed new description of our central values: Transformation. This value is shared with these words:
Transformation. We adapt to the changing world. We covenant to collectively transform and grow spiritually and ethically. Openness to change is fundamental to our Unitarian and Universalist heritages, never complete and never perfect.
Jan 4, 2024 | Minister's Message
Hello Friends,
And the wheel of the year turns and December becomes January and a new year begins. In some ways it’s an arbitrary shift—a flip of a page in a calendar. But so many of us see this shift as an opportunity to imagine new possibilities in the year ahead.
Dear ones, in many ways, the life of the congregation continues: we worship together, we learn together, we raise the money we need to help our beloved community thrive, we grapple with the painful realities of the world and how we can understand and make change, and we engage in the work of moving ourselves and the world toward justice, kindness, and love.
