Dear UUCPA folks,
What a beautiful day on this beautiful planet. I hope you have some time in the company of other creatures of Earth today, in the sun and the breeze.
We usually have an appropriately-themed service sometime in April, but April was packed with other hard-to-schedule services this year, and anyway, Earth Day is every day, right? So May 14 will be focused on the healing power of connecting with our Earth–especially on healing our relationships with ourselves. We’ve come to think of humanity as a problem, even the problem, and as the botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer observes, “you cannot take care of something to which you feel you do not belong and have nothing to offer” (paraphrase by Sofya Yampolsky). We do belong to the Earth and we have a great deal to offer, and that service will help us reconnect with ourselves and our planet.
Calendar-watchers may also be wondering when Flower Communion is happening. We usually celebrate it that second Sunday in May, but for this year only, and for a very special reason, it will be June 4. That is precisely the 100th anniversary of the very first Flower Sunday, introduced in Prague by Norbert Čapek. In this annual service, observed in almost all UU congregations, we each bring a flower, make abundant bouquets from all our offerings, and then take a different flower home with us.
Speaking of growing things, many of my plants have been having babies, as they do, and I’ve been giving the babies their own pots. If you would like a spider plant or haworthia succulent to bring home, please check out the pots by my office door! These are easy to care for–otherwise, they would not be thriving with my distinctly un-green thumb–and non-toxic to the mammals who may be in your home.
Blessings,
Amy
UU Earth graphic courtesy of UU Ministry for Earth