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...

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

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...

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,...

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...

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.

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!

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?

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.

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.