Dear Plymouth Family,

There is good news and bad news about Covid. The good news is that many who contract the virus have relatively mild symptoms and few vaccinated persons wind up in the hospital. The bad news is that there is a strong uptick in cases in Larimer County, and the dashboard color has gone to yellow (medium risk).

After a flurry of emails and calls this morning, Plymouth's Pandemic Team is strongly recommending the use of high-quality masks in worship and meetings at Plymouth, beginning tomorrow. I know this is a real bummer, but we do want to keep our most vulnerable folks safe. If you don't bring a mask to worship, there will be masks available at each entrance. Please, if you feel at all ill, we suggest using our livestream option for worship.

We're also going to be taking ancillary such precautions as encouraging social distance, not service food or drink (unless it's outside), and offering a Zoom option for meetings. 

Communion will still be offered in the manner we've managed it for the past two months. We still will have the opportunity to see one another, sing (with masks), and enjoy worshiping together. And our kids will still be able to gather outdoors.

I'm very grateful to the whole Pandemic Team and especially Melanie Huibregtse, who chairs our  Team and who has been in touch with Larimer County Health to get the best possible information.

We hope that this flare-up will settle down soon.  And I thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we keep on keeping on.

Wishing you health, grace, and peace,

Last Sunday, I preached on Revelation 21:1-5, part of which says “God will wipe every tear from their eyes…” When reading it to the congregation in the wake of this week’s news from Buffalo, New York, I felt the heartbreak in this beautiful expression of God’s compassion for Her Creation as the Divine witnessed Good Friday all over again, this time in Buffalo.

Maybe it was my recent coming out of a powerful retreat with other clergy in Holland, or maybe it was the jet lag, or maybe it was knowing a beloved former companion in ministry now pastors in Buffalo as a woman of color. Maybe it was all of it. Or maybe it was how Spirit has been working on me in recent years more and more to keep my heart open even in the midst of the painful and often violent consequences of human beings being out of touch with love and God and Creation.

Now I know the pattern of human and collective psyche in these events. When our gun saturated culture blends with the cancer of white supremacy in a lost soul, violence and tragedy are the result. The demonic lie of projection can take root in human souls such that violence against another person or group or country becomes a siren song, a tragic temptation, an illusion of solution: “if only we or I could just get rid of or control this ‘other.’” Projecting inner tensions, fears, insecurities, and unresolved trauma onto the "other" and making them an enemy, a dehumanized object, is a lie as old as Cain and Abel and at the core of what keeps humanity alienated, in conflict, and out of step with Divine Love.

And I know Jesus calls us to be conscious of all that is in us and to resist this sin of projection with an image of a plank in our own eye (Matthew 7, Luke 6). This is a spiritual practice.

And there is another spiritual practice here: faithful heartbreak.

Before I move to condemning a perpetrator and complaining about guns or racism or whatever truly misguided value and deeply distorted narrative needs resistance and redirection, I sense I need to feel the heartbreak. Jesus can be my exemplar, weeping for Lazarus in his grave and weeping for Jerusalem. Somehow, I suspect this is part of what keeps us human amidst the inhumanity, that keeps us closer to the Way of Jesus than the way of empire.

JT

“Moving On”
Maybe you expected it would come
in a wave of relief—olly, olly, oxen free--
and everything would be fine.
We’d be back in the familiar world
of hugs and handshakes and the easy
assumption of the presence of strangers.
Of course it doesn’t work that way.
Safer is not the same thing as safe.
Which turns out to have always been
more elusive than we thought.
Somehow the world opens up
slowly, in fits and starts,
and also in an incomprehensible rush.
There are more choices, and less clarity,
More possibilities, but not more wisdom.
You are not wrong to be tentative.
You are not wrong to be bold.
That’s just the way it is with grief.
That is simply the nature of spring.

By Lynn Ungar
(4-12-22; www.lynnungar.com, used with permission)

Change is rarely easy, is it? We are two years and two months from the lockdown phase of the pandemic. Life is seemingly more like the “normal” before the isolation, economic stress and fear the pandemic brought. Except for when it isn’t! We can move more freely and more often without masks. We can travel more. It is a joy to see one another. And yet, people are still dying from Covid at higher rates than from the flu. We are still waiting for a vaccine for children under 5. We are still not quite sure that another variant will raise its head and sending us back to more masking and isolation. Teachers have been working furiously this year to help children and youth catch up after two years of school on and off Zoom. Workplaces are not sure where they want workers to be – at home or in the office and they are reeling from “the Great Resignation.”
 
I could go on and on about what is sort of normal but not functioning as it used to function. Churches are not sure what’s up with some people coming back to in person worship, others still on live-stream, others not coming back at all. Budgets are wonky as churches try to carry on and yet people have changed their giving patterns when they were only worshiping online. Yet there is an expectation in multi-staffed churches that all the programming that used to be up and running before will magically appear.
 
Plymouth is no exception. We are just beginning to get our bearings and to see the scope of the work that will need to be done in rebuilding the programming for Christian formation, mission/service and fellowship that we had before March of 2020. Or create new programming more suitable for the times and future.
 
All this reminds me of the Israelites as they returned from Babylon with the decree of the Babylonian king, Cyrus, they began the long work of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. The story of this rebuilding is told in the book of Ezra. It was a stop and start process with squabbling and uncertainty about having the right funding and the right workers. It took much longer than they had hoped. When they got the first foundations built the people sobbed and celebrated. Those who remembered the old temple sobbed because they remembered the old. Those who didn’t remember the old temple shouted for joy. Ezra 3.13 reads, “No one could distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, because the people rejoiced very loudly. The sound was heard at a great distance.” It is good to know that the rejoicing was louder than the sobbing, yet I think it is important to recognize the painful aspect of rebuilding. Nothing was just as it was before. And that can be excruciating as well as exciting.
 
As the poet Lynn Ungar (a UUA minister) writes, “That’s just the way it is with grief.” Some of us will move boldly into the changes needed and some of us will move tentatively. That’s also the nature of spring which is making its presence known to us more and more each day. Plymouth is going to look different in the coming months and years with new staff and new kinds of programming. We will not be able to just go back to how things were before. God sustained the Israelites and the temple was rebuilt. God will sustain us as we rebuild. Let us encourage and comfort one another as we grieve and rejoice – simultaneously at times, as we are tentative and bold. The transforming Spirit is making all things new!
 
With you on the journey,

Dear Plymouth,

I am writing as one of your pastors to say we are all in this together as we face the news of the leaked draft document from the Supreme Court that seems to give us a glimpse into the future of Roe v. Wade and abortion rights in this country.

I know many of you are reeling, as am I. Over the last several years, we have endured blow after blow of polarization and the injustice it brings, particularly to those who are less advantaged through gender, sexual orientation, economics, education, or by virtue of the color of their skin. This news that impacts those who live in female bodies and their right to choose what is best for them in their own bodies is frightening and infuriating to those of us who are deeply pro-choice. Abortion is never to be taken lightly! AND yet each person who can become pregnant has a sacred right to be able to choose what is best for them and for their family. (I am intentionally not using the label, "woman/women," so that our siblings who are born into female bodies and yet consider themselves non-binary or gender non-conforming are included in our concern. They, too, may become pregnant or could have it forced upon them by violence. They, too, along with lesbian and cis-gendered women, may need the ability and right to choose what is best for their bodies and lives.) 

I want to remind you that the United Church of Christ has been proactive in addressing issues of reproductive justice since the 1970's. You can find the Reproductive Justice page on our national UCC website. There is a wonderfully succinct handout on the UCC stance that was given to youth in a class on Reproductive Justice at the 2012 National Youth Event. I found this short piece a helpful place to start in understanding our denominational history with this important justice work.

No matter our personal views on abortion, let us stand together in concern for those whose life circumstances bring them to the place of needing to consider choosing abortion. Let us hold them in our prayers, particularly at this time when in many states their right to choose is in danger. Let us hold those in the medical profession in our prayers as well. They are navigating very difficult legal and ethical times as they seek to provide the best care possible for their patients. Let us hold the lawmakers we have elected in our prayers that they may come to see the justice issues of abortion in broader perspectives. Let us be grateful that here in Colorado abortion is protected by law. May it continue to be so and if necessary, may Colorado be a safe haven for those in need of abortion rights. 

With you on the journey,

Have you ever wondered what Celtic Christian spirituality is all about? Maybe you’ve heard snippets from people in our two Celtic groups or heard a sermon or noticed the Celtic cross in our Memorial Garden or perhaps you still wonder what all the fuss is about.

Next week you have an incredible opportunity to hear one of the leading scholars in this field, John Philip Newell. But he’s more than a scholar, he has been a guiding light in Celtic spirituality on both sides of the Atlantic for decades. On our Scottish Pilgrimage in 2017, we met with John Philip Newell in Edinburgh, but you don’t need to travel that far to hear him! (And we’ve been waiting to hear him again, as this visit has been delayed by pandemic twice since 2020!) 

John Philip was first with us at Plymouth in conjunction with my first sabbatical (and generous funding from a Lilly Clergy Renewal grant) about 15 years ago, and some of us still feel the impact of that first visit. 

John Philip will be talking with us about themes from his new book, Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World. What he captures in this book is rooted in the Celtic tradition of honoring, rather than subjugating, Creation. And with the specter of climate change hanging over us, people of faith need to lean into the best elements of our spiritual traditions to bolster our efforts. 
We have a new Climate Justice Ministry Team under the Mission & Outreach Board at Plymouth, and they are welcoming new folks who want to be involved. And what you will hear from John Philip may provide spiritual and theological grounding to help our activism keep going.

This coming Sunday at 10:00 at our adult forum we'll have a brief introduction to John Philip and his work, and I hope you’ll join me for this introduction. You can also have a look at a video interview if you’d like to get a feel for his presence. (It’s from The Work of the People, and your giving to Plymouth supports our subscription. You’ll need to give them your email address, but they won’t share it.)

This is also a great opportunity to bring your friends to Plymouth for an evening with no pressure. We have a gift to share with the community, and I hope you will extend an invitation.

• Who: You and your friends
• When: Wednesday, May 11 at 7:00 p.m.
• Where: Plymouth Sanctuary and livestream
• Cost: FREE! (RSVP for in-person so we don't overfill the space)

I look forward to seeing you then!

Deep peace,

P.S. Our Share the Plate partner for May is The Food Bank for Larimer County. Last month, our Share the Plate offering raised $1,472 (in addition to $8,220 in designated giving). Thank you for your generosity!

I wanted to let you all know that I will be gone for several weeks during May, and the good news why. I have two trips to Europe, each an exploration of what has come to be known as the ancient future of the church: what is ancient being rediscovered and newly adapted for our future vitality as church. The renewed interest and practice in Celtic and contemplative Christian practice are in recent years are two examples of ancient future.

On May 6th, I will fly to The Netherlands to help lead a retreat for 15 Christian leaders from Canada and the United States. This retreat is sponsored by Ligare (ligare.org), a nonprofit which calls itself “A Christian Psychedelic Society.” The retreat is a Christ centered experiment exploring the practice of praying with the support of a plant medicine sacrament, in this case psilocybin truffles (which are legal in Holland). This work is related to postgraduate training I recently completed and to learning I have been doing for several years. There is highly suggestive evidence in the literature and archaeology (The Immortality Key, Muraresku) as well as medieval chapel art (The Psychedelic Gospels, Brown and Brown) that some Christians participated in plant medicine prayer.

The second trip will occur in late May to southern France to encounter the sacred sites and the stories of the Mary Magdalene tradition and lineage. She is believed to have gone there after Jesus’ crucifixion and the Resurrection experiences to spread the healing and teaching of the Good News. Growing up as a United Methodist, I didn't learn anything about Mary Magdalene except that she was someone whom Jesus helped and seemed to be around at the end of Jesus’ life. What I've learned so far as an adult is that most of what I was told is either extremely limited, highly skewed, or outright false (such as the accusation that she was a former prostitute). More recent scholarship as well as the discovery of other early Christian texts like the Gospel of Mary indicate that she was much more, perhaps Jesus’ best student and even partner (The Meaning of Mary Magdalene, Bourgeault).

Both of these trips are for the purpose of learning what modern Christianity may have lost in ancient tradition and how it can be incorporated in a vital future. This is what makes both trips an exercise in ancient future exploration as well as an expression of The Sanctuary for Sacred Union project that I co-founded with my wife Allison which seeks to uplift the Divine Feminine and focus on the direct experience of the Living Christ.

I will be around May 1st and 15th but gone the other Sundays of May.
I look forward to sharing more of what I learn on these trips upon my return.

Blessings,
JT

The synergy of brass and timpani, organ, and a singing congregation expressing acclamations of Easter joy — jubilation. A reinvigorated Chancel Choir enthusiastically offering anthems of praise and thanksgiving with new members joining the merry band of singers — rejuvenation. The gentle peal of bells by the Plymouth Ringers during communion reminding us of the transformative message of assured hope in Eastertide — a quiet joy. The diversity of worshipers in the sanctuary on Easter morning of all ages, races and creeds, faces familiar and strangers warmly welcomed — a blessed community. And many more instances we each could share revealing those precious slivers of light in these ever-emerging days of life and vitality—Paschal blessings.

Easter Sunday morning was truly a Day of Resurrection. We have seen it manifest slowly over the previous few months with faithful hope sustaining us these past two years. But what a joy it was to experience! Even the return of Plymouth's Easter cinnamon rolls tradition (no Covid protocols this time.. just grab and eat!) carried an impact no one would ever thought possible in a pre-pandemic world.

May our cherishing of life and love continue forward. Forever.

Mark

As we move toward Easter this year, I am pondering the brokenness of the Holy Week story in contrast to the mysterious joy of the Easter story. I catch myself assuming that joy is equated with perfection. Everything just right, fixed, just the way things should be. I don’t think that kind of perfection is synonymous with joy. Joy is about wholeness, not perfection or being fixed just right. Joy can come in the midst of brokenness. It doesn’t erase the pain of brokenness, but it stands alongside, offering a glimmer of hope and healing, of the light of love.

Many, many poets, theologians, storytellers and philosophers have written through the ages about brokenness and light. There are cracks in everything and that is how the light, sometimes God’s light, sometimes healing, sometimes strength gets into life and into our souls. In A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places." 13th century Sufi poet, Rumi, wrote, 
“Let a teacher wave away the flies and put a plaster on the wound.
Don’t turn your head. Keep looking at the bandaged place.
That’s where the light enters you.
And don’t believe for a moment that you’re healing yourself.”

Leonard Cohen’s 1992 song “Anthem” sings out, “Forget your perfect offering./There is a crack, a crack in everything/That’s how the light gets in.”

In the stories of Holy Week, we see the One, Jesus of Nazareth, who came to model God’s peace, justice, love, forgiveness and true power, broken by the world. We bring our own brokenness to the hearing and experiencing of his story and there we meet the Holy. God, the Holy ONE, does not leave Jesus broken by the world. God brings a different ending to the story of death. And each year we need to hear God’s broken stories and God’s triumphant healing during this tumultuous week. If we listen closely, eventually, one of these years we will hear the Holy during Holy Week as the poet, Mary Oliver did her poem, “Everything That Was Broken” (from Felicity, Penguin Random House, ©2015)

Everything that was broken has
forgotten its brokenness. I live
now in a sky-house, through every
window the sun. Also your presence.
Our touching, our stories. Earthly
and holy both. How can this be, but
it is. Every day has something in
it whose name is forever.

With you on the journey,

Dear Beloved Community of Plymouth UCC,

Just after I turned sixty someone asked me when I would retire. I was stunned into silence. Retiring had never occurred to me. But the question had been asked and it remained because life is about living the questions. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, “The point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” 

Over the last year, as I have lived into the question of retirement, the answer has come. I will be retiring from parish ministry and ministry at Plymouth on February 28, 2023. My last Sunday will be February 26. After 24 years of parish ministry, I am being called to new ministry as a spiritual director. 

This is a bittersweet announcement. Many years ago, as I was preparing my ordination paper, I read about a minister who instructed a young seminarian with this definition of parish ministry: “Lead a fine worship. Visit the people.” This instruction has been my guiding light. The visiting takes place in meetings or study groups or the fellowship hall, even these days in email and text, as often as it does in hospital rooms or people’s homes. The worship takes place in meetings and studies and camp settings as well as in the sanctuary. These two things are what I will miss at times: leading fine worship and visiting the people. Yet I know that I am being called away from the myriad details of parish ministry into a new ministry of intentionally companioning people on their faith journeys through the art of spiritual direction with individuals and through retreat ministry. 

When I retire, I will leave Plymouth for a time and keep good boundaries with Plymouth members. I will worship in another community and will not be available for pastoral care, leading memorial services or weddings. It will be important for you to transfer connection to a new full-time associate who will be coming in 2023. I invite you to pray for this person, even though we do not yet know who it will be, as well as for our Associate Minister Search Committee which is already hard at work in the search process. 

As I hope you know, Plymouth is one of the flagship congregations in the Rocky Mountain Conference and I venture to say in the UCC. We are a vital, caring and socially active community. We strive to be healthy and transparent in our communication with one another. I have no doubt we can meet the challenges of the changing landscape of faith communities in our tumultuous times. After I served Plymouth as Sharon Benton’s sabbatical interim in 2010, I never thought I would get to serve with you on staff again, even though I knew I felt called to serve in a congregation much like Plymouth. Spirit works in mysterious ways! I am so very grateful!

Over the next eleven months with you, I will still be planting seeds of ministry programming with the boards and committee I serve as staff liaison – Deacons, Outreach and Mission, Christian Formation and Nominating Committee. I will endeavor to leave an enduring organizational legacy for Plymouth’s lay ministry programs in pastoral care and adult Christian Formation. And I will enjoy leading worship and visiting/being with all of you!

Thank you for the privilege of serving among you these last seven years. It continues to be an honor to be part of Plymouth’s staff and in this beloved community.

Blessings on the journey,

Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson
Associate Minister

Two years ago, we taped palm fronds on the ramp leading into Plymouth’s Fellowship Hall, because we couldn’t be together due to Covid. The pandemic foiled our plans for “loud hosannas” last year as well. But this year is different. After yelling “Hosanna!” (Save us!), our cries have been heard (by God and the CDC), and we get to worship in person this Sunday as we begin Holy Week.
 
Holy Week is strange because it leads from triumph to tragedy and then back to triumph. We know the cycle of Palm Sunday’s parade, the intimacy of the Last Supper, Good Friday and the cross, and celebration of resurrection Easter Sunday. But the followers of Jesus had no idea how it would all turn out. For us it may seem like seeing a favorite movie over again, even if we know the ending. (How differently did you see The Wizard of Oz as a kid and how do you see it now?) Maybe you will see, hear, or feel something different when you walk through Holy Week this year. Perhaps the Spirit is saying something new to you after two years of isolation! These Sundays are also great times to invite your friends to Plymouth.
 
We have opportunities for you to worship with us starting this Sunday.

• Palm Sunday worship at 9:00 & 11:00 a.m.
• Maundy Thursday Simple Soup Supper at 6:15, Tenebrae service at 7:00 p.m.
• Good Friday Musical Meditation & Reflection at 12:15 p.m.
• Easter Sunday Resurrection Services at 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. (cinnamon rolls and Easter Egg Hunt @ 10:00)

 
Also this Sunday, we are beginning an experiment in which we will Share the Plate, consciously and joyfully giving away half our undesignated Sunday offering to address a concern in our community or the world. Each month, we will support a new Share the Plate recipient.
 
Beginning this Sunday and extending until the end of the month, we will Share the Plate with the  UCC Ukraine Emergency Appeal , an effort that provides shelter, food, and other care to war refugees and internally displaced people. Find out more about this new giving avenue and how the UCC's fund is addressing the crisis in Ukraine at the Share the Plate page on our website. There you will find a link to a dedicated giving form.
 
We encourage you to join our effort by giving in the Sunday offering plate or electronically. If your check on Sunday is intended to help fulfill your pledge or other designated purpose, please note that in the memo (example “Pledge 2022” or “Flowers”). All non-designated Sunday offering donations will be shared 50% with the UCC Ukraine Relief Fund. When giving by text or online, select the “Share the Plate” fund (text keyword SHARE) to participate in this new venture.
 
Thank you for supporting Plymouth and for your generosity in extending our reach!
 
Blessings,

As I was reflecting on what the theme and goals could be for this year, I kept coming back to the concept of working for the common good. I kept thinking about how our country has moved away from this value, particularly over the past decade or two. Surely, there are people who continue to believe and actively work to make it a reality. Wouldn’t it be nice to hold them up and celebrate their good work? I slowly moved from this phrase to express it a bit differently with Beloved Community, as expressed in our new strategic plan.

You might ask as I did, what does beloved community mean and where did this phrase first originate?

“Philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce, who founded the Fellowship of Reconciliation, coined the term Beloved Community in the early 20th century. It was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, who popularized the term and invested it with a deeper meaning.  King's Beloved Community is justice, not for any one oppressed group, but for all people. As Dr. King often said, `Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ He felt that justice could not be parceled out to individuals or groups, but was the birthright of every human being in the Beloved Community.”

I can see the connection between working for the common good and beloved community.  Therefore, the Leadership Council has adopted the following theme for 2022 - “Extending and Embracing Beloved Community.” What an amazing difference this can make in how we interact with all people and creation. Some will say this is only a dream. They are correct unless we commit to finding the various ways, both individually and corporately, we can breathe life into reality.

Leadership Council cannot do this alone. We need all of our church family to be engaged. Let us find ways to celebrate those among us who are putting this dream into action. Please reach out to me or to other Council members with names of groups or individuals we need to recognize and thank for their efforts.

Peace and blessings,
Claudia
2022 Moderator

The theme of this year’s Spring Youth Retreat was “Stories.” While retreating in the gorgeous Black Forest, we spent our time focused on learning what it means to co-create our own stories with God, mostly by learning from each other. I had a great time building new and old relationships with other leaders and students across the UCC Rocky Mountain Conference. But on the first night, the camp staff reminded the adult leaders that the weekend was all about the campers first. So with that spirit in mind, I interviewed one of our students for this week’s reflection. I hope you enjoy this perspective as much as I did.

Q: What do you want the church to know about the retreat?
A: The retreat was so fun and super inclusive. The community and environment was so accepting, and it just felt like one big family. I made new connections right away! I honestly would love to go back.

Q: What did you learn?
A: The stories shared really gave a different perspective as well. it helped me learn that everyone comes from a different background, but they grow and change.

Q: At Plymouth, we call some spiritual or Divine experiences “God sightings.” Did you have any “God sightings” this weekend?
A: There was a moment in the chapel when stories were being shared where I genuinely felt the Divine’s/God’s presence. It was very powerful. It was almost like God was being shown through the stories, which made me feel like He was watching and giving people the courage to share their story.

Q: Traditionally at La Foret, the older students lead all the younger students in a processional towards the chapel for worship. It’s a deeply reverent walk around the whole campground. Students were carrying flashlights and singing old hymns. What was it like for you to help lead the processional?
A: It felt like one big family/community just genuinely connecting with God as well as each other. God’s presence was shown through the songs and connections. It’s hard to explain, but in a way it felt like everyone was at peace, and everyone was thankful to be able to connect with God through each other.

Q: What is one big idea you’re taking away from the retreat?
A: It is really easy to assume someone’s background story just by looking at them. And even though this is a very human thing to do, that doesn’t make it right. Everyone comes from a different background, but in the end we can always find support through each other and God. Community is very important. If you find one that’s accepting and inclusive, it’s the easiest to find God through it because it opens your eyes and makes you feel like you can have these connections without feeling judged. Instead of assuming, ask questions. It’s important to ask questions within someone’s comfort zone because it can help you really understand them better without assuming where they come from.

Brooklyn

Breathe in, breathe out.

Which is better? More necessary?

Neither, of course, both are necessary to life. If you try to inhale and hold, what happens? A sensation, a force, shows up that wants something else. The held breath wants a complement, the CO2 buildup inspires a tension, a drive of energy to exhale it, to complement the inhale.

I’ve used this breathing cycle illustration in my preaching recently and will again this Sunday. It is simply the best teaching tool that I know of for connecting people with the basic truth of polarities. Gestalt therapist Barry Johnson is credited with originating a systemic lens called polarity thinking that tracks the principle of complementarity. It’s a systemic view that helps us see the plot of the story of a person, a relationship, or a collective in terms of poles and to then move the story in the direction of an integration of poles that generates vitality and health.

Polarities are simply the base interdependent energies or values in a given issue or system. Like the inhale and exhale, they do not resolve and are not "either/or" choices. Polarity thinking involves "both/and" thinking in an attempt to create a virtuous cycle (inhale and exhale) where both energies are leveraged for the greater goal (adequate oxygen + lowered CO2 = vitality).

When a pole (value) is neglected and feared while its opposite is idolized and inflated, you have a polarization that leads to a vicious cycle. For example, if the common good and shared responsibility are always pejoratively called “communist” and individual freedom and choice are always seen as pure and good (like the political organization Freedom Works does), the outcome will be a vicious cycle that leads to diminished resources for most (and eventually all) in a disorganized and/or dog-eat-dog world. The opposite, of having only conformity and the collective, will also produce a vicious cycle. We need both freedom and responsibility, both the individual and the group. It is always a matter of AND, never "versus." This pole AND that pole in search of a virtuous cycle.

Why share about this?

Because solutions to our personal and collective struggles rarely come from neglecting or demonizing one of the poles or values. Because when we see others, ourselves, and collectives from this point of view, we can see them more compassionately and creatively as we see them trying to meet their needs or express their values, but tragically and painfully excluding something out of fear and shadow projection. Polarization is a sign of a system poorly and painfully meeting its needs through exclusion.

I believe the Good News of the Gospel is profoundly inclusive. The truth that sets us free and that fills us to the brim (our Lenten theme) is a truth that integrates energies, poles, and values for the purposes of Life. See if in your Lenten reflections about missing the mark in your life, in our church, or in our nation if there might be an active polarization with a dominant pole and a demonized or neglected pole.

JT

Better is one hand full of quietness 
than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. 
Ecclesiastes 4:6

Hello, Friends! 

It’s good to be back among you after two months of sabbath time rest. Thank you for the warm welcome in worship this past Sunday. What a joy to be together after another pandemic hiatus in live-streaming land! My favorite part was greeting the children up front during Children’s Time. I pray we can continue to come back together in person in “old, normal and familiar” ways, as well as many creative, new ways in the coming months. 

Many of you asked on Sunday, “How was your time away? Are you feeling more rested? Where did you go? What did you do?” Here are some answers…Yes, I am feeling more rested and rejuvenated.  And my hope is that I have developed some new habits for incorporating Sabbath rest into working life. It took me time to slow down my body to soul speed. 

In January I was in Fort Collins, resting at home, due to the pandemic and to the kind of rest I needed. I read books, novels and non-fiction, that I had been hoping to read. Three of them were for the Spiritual Direction training that I started in November: Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer, The Discerning Heart, by Wilkie and Noreen Au, Owning Your Own Shadow, by Jungian analyst, Robert Johnson. I highly recommend all of them and each of them would make a good Plymouth adult book study. I watched all the Harry Potter movies again and some fun TV series. I took many naps. I did as much yoga as I could with online helps since it did not feel safe to be at the gym. I did a lot of reflection – on my own and with therapists and my spiritual director. I journaled a lot about the past five or so years of my life, dealing with the challenges of my beloved’s cancer journey and the loss of my son, Colin, to suicide in 2018. 

By February, I felt rested enough to travel and the covid numbers were starting to go down. I spent six beautiful days on a yoga retreat with other Fort Collin’s women at the Trailwinds Eco-Lodge just outside San Francisco (“San Pancho”), Mexico, about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta. This exquisite place is situated in the jungle on the side of mountains that go down to the beach and the Bay of Banderas. The accommodations are partially open-air. Under my mosquito net, I drifted off to sleep to the sound of the waves, the insects, and the wind in the palm trees. During the day we swam, did yoga in a palapa overlooking the beach, sailed and whale watched and enjoyed each other’s company.  It was definitely a wonderful break. I returned to the snow of Colorado for three days then headed to Guilford, CT and New York City to visit with my “sister” friend, Tina, my sister and brother-in-law, Julia and Jerome, and my son, Dylan for six days. This time was very precious. I had not seen my friend and sister for over two years or Dylan’s new brownstone apartment in Brooklyn. Lots of visiting, some museum and movie time just being together. 

Once again to Colorado in snow, just in time to be in Denver on 2/22/22, for the celebration of the mini-documentary on the Meow Wolf Denver installation that my son, Colin, and his friend, Pepe Apentanco, designed before Colin’s death. In the worst of the pandemic (late 2020 through fall of 2021) Pepe and many of Colin’s friends in the Denver DIY art community made, “Aquakota,” a nightclub run by alien space lemurs and featuring Colin’s best dance music, a work of art! 222 was Colin’s favorite number. It signified to him movement and getting things, art, done and out in the community.  Thus we celebrated in the installation space on that auspicious day, 2/22/22, with a concert by two of Colin’s music colleagues, Ben Donehower and David Castillo. If you go to Meow Wolf in Denver (and I suggest you do! You have never seen an art installation quite like Meow Wolf!) check out “Aquakota” on C Street. It’s down the little alley next door to the movie theater. You can find the Westword article from 2/21/22 that launched the mini-documentary here. After all of that excitement, I came back to Fort Collins for more snow and painting the family room in our house as a way of returning to a work schedule! LOL!

I had a lot of good fun, some very meaningful times with dear ones, and good rest. As I think back, did I learn anything to share from my sabbatical time?

I learned it took much longer than I thought to unwind, to be rid of the “shoulds.” Early in January, I found myself asking daily, sometimes more than once a day, “Shouldn’t I be doing something productive?” This prompted the more important soul question, “Well, what is ‘productive?’ Is productive getting all the tasks that I have assigned to myself for this day done in record time so I can do even more? Is productive meeting everyone else’s needs before I find time to meet my own call of the soul? Is productive being so busy you don’t notice how the snow is falling so beautifully or how the dog is rejoicing, literally jumping and racing and rolling, in the falling snow?”

What I learned – what I am continuing to learn, for learning is practicing ¬– is to remind myself to move a little slower through life so that I can take in moments that I often raced through with anxiety. God is in these quiet, connective moments. As our Lenten devotional poet tells us in her poem, From Here in the Sand,* God stands with us in all moments, the relaxed oasis moments and the fiercest sandstorm moments of the desert wilderness called Life. God has been there all along, way before we got to any of our moments. And God stands with us singing songs of water in the desert even during the most stinging winds. 

I invite you to find some Sabbath moments with God this Lent whether life is coming to you gently like a breeze through palm trees or like the blast of a storm. God is with you in all moments, inviting you to notice the wonder and/or bleakness of the scenery. Inviting you to notice God’s steadfast presence as the fleeting glimpse of an exotic butterfly or a long drink of cold water. Don’t let the “shoulds” of life overtake you! Notice who you are in God’s presence, where you are, and what gifts are being given in every moment. 

Blessings and with you on the journey,

*Rev. Sarah Speed | A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org

Dear Plymouth Family,
 
For many, many months, I have been waiting to write this letter containing joyous news from the Pandemic Team: We are taking another great step forward as a congregation in liberalizing pandemic restrictions! This takes effect tomorrow.
 
Covid numbers in Larimer County have fallen precipitously (see above), and the Pandemic Team feels that it is time for us to move to a mask-friendly (or mask optional) stance. CSU also lifted its mask mandate this week. At Plymouth, this means that if you feel comfortable coming to church in a mask, that’s great! If you are alright being unmasked, that’s great! The lovely blue tape that marked off every other pew will also be removed!
 
Many of the things we took for granted two years ago (singing from hymnals, passing friendship pads and offering plates, greeting the ministers after worship, standing within six feet of another human being, hearing our choir and seeing their faces, having potlucks and meals together, welcoming outside groups into the church) will all be resumed with immediate effect. (Note that we will not offer nursery care for the time being.)
 
What have you learned in the past two years not to take for granted? A hug with a dear friend? A glass of wine at FOG? A friendly word offered to a guest at Plymouth? Hearing an entire congregation sing a favorite hymn? Sitting in the pew that you think of as yours? Seeing another worshiper face to face? Receiving communion face to face from a minister and a deacon? Hearing the small voices of our youngest UCCers coming forward for Children’s Time? It's time to reacquaint yourself with those joys!
 
My invitation to you is to come on back! The science is with us, and if you wish to wear a mask, please do so! (The clergy will be masked when not speaking.) And if you really feel more comfortable continuing to livestream, know that we love you and respect that decision: that’s why it’s available!
 
On March 2, 2020, our Pandemic Team had its first meeting. At that time none of us would have guessed that it would be almost exactly two years before we would resume a sense of normalcy because of Covid. I am grateful for the expertise, patience, and wisdom of this group, which has guided us each step of the way. I am part of a CREDO group of four UCC clergy in Colorado, Connecticut, California, and Maryland. Our is the only one of those three churches not to have had members die from Covid-related causes, and our Pandemic Team is part of the reason. If you see any of them at church, a word of appreciation would not go amiss.

• Melanie Huibregtse, chair
• Barry Beaty
• Claudia DeMarco
• Greg Ebel
• Bob Jeffrey
• Judy Lane
• Jim Medlock
• Bruce Ronda
• Nancy Sturtevant
• George Theodore
• Harmony Tucker

 
I give thanks to God for medical breakthroughs in the past two years.
…for the patience of our members and friends.
…for the faithfulness of volunteers who continued to go above and beyond.
…for staff colleagues who have been through hell together.
…for lay leaders who have been willing to make unpopular decisions.
…for your faith in God to see us through.
 
As the chancel choir anthem says, “God has work for us to do!” Let’s get at it!
 
See you in church!