Joy and Spiritual Growth

Farewell to Rev. Jonathan Rogers

Rev. Jonathan Rogers will be completing his tenure at NWUUC on July 31st, having served as interim minister since February of 2018.

His major change was proposing a partnership between Northwest and the Launchpad organization, which provides logistical support for UU communities. The Northwest Board approved this partnership in July of 2018, and it formally took effect in October of that year. Launchpad is a project operating out of the Oak Ridge UU Congregation, in Oak Ridge, TN. In addition to creating a new relationship with another UU organization and congregation, NWUUC’s partnership with Launchpad has offered significant opportunities to both parties for learning from each other and streamlining processes such as rentals, vendor contracts, congregational database management, and office communications. While work remains to be done, NWUUC is smoother in terms of behind-the-scenes operations.

Throughout his time at Northwest, Rev. Jonathan served and led the Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, Multiculturalism (ARAOMC) Committee. ARAOMC topics were frequent subjects of his sermons. Those sermons included reflections on slavery reparations, the complicated racial history of the UU movement, and how allies can best contribute to movements for justice. Rev. Jonathan took part in a direct action for immigration justice in February of 2019. In an act of civil disobedience, he and other clergy in solidarity with local undocumented students were arrested for speaking out against anti-immigrant Georgia Board of Regents policies during a Board of Regents meeting. Rev. Jonathan will be pursuing additional ways to contribute to immigration and racial justice in his post-NWUUC endeavors.

Rev. Jonathan preached his final sermon from the Northwest pulpit June 16th at our outgathering service. Along with Fathers’ Day and Juneteenth, the theme of the day was socks in honor of Jonathan’s infamous Sunday footwear. Many in the congregation chose to wear ‘crazy socks’ and the RE team presented Jonathan with a gift of official UUA socks. After the service, everyone was invited to write their memories and well wishes for Jonathan on slips of paper to fill a garland of socks. There was even a special cookie cake at the potluck decorated with a cricket wearing colorful socks, an homage to Jonathan’s sermon on entomophagy.

At the conclusion of the service, Rev. Jonathan presented the congregation with a custom community word cloud generated from the Sharing Our Stores Worship Cafe on April 7th.

Rev. Jonathan will be remembered as a beloved interim minister with a keen sense of humor, a devotion to social justice issues, his weekly whimsical socks and his warm, disarming smile. We wish him well in his next chapter of ministry.

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Mother’s Day Celebration

Joy and Spiritual Growth / News Editor / May 12, 2019

Northwest continued a long-time Mother’s Day tradition with the sharing of red and white carnations. A red carnation was offered if you mother still alive and a white carnation for a mother who has passed away. Longtime member, Hugh Fordyce, brought this tradition to Northwest.

Hugh’s hometown of Webster, West Virginia was the same home of Anna Jarvis the founder of Mother’s Day.

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Northwest Seder

Community Ministry, Joy and Spiritual Growth, Loving Community, Worship Ministry / News Editor / April 7, 2019

Northwest continued its commitment of honoring the heritage faith traditions of its members with the holding of a Passover Seder on April 27, 2019. The Seder is a feast that includes shared readings, drinking of wine (grape juice for the kids), the telling stories, eating special foods, singing, and other Passover traditions.

At the Northwest Seder, led by Dave Savage, Dave shared many of his family’s particular customs. For instance, we sang the welcome to the spirit of Elijah and Miriam to the tune of Take Me Out to Ballgame.

“And it root, root, root for Elijah…”

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Reflection on OWL Education

Children and Youth Ministry, Joy and Spiritual Growth, Sermons / Rev. Jonathan Rogers / February 10, 2019

The Our Whole Lives Comprehensive Sexuality Education courses mean a lot to me. I’ve taken 7th-9th grade and Young Adult OWL. I’ve facilitated Kindergarten-2nd grade OWL, Middle School OWL, and Adult OWL. It’s an important part of my connection to Unitarian Universalism, not just in terms of lifestyle or politics, but theologically as well. Laura Horton-Ludwig wrote a piece called “Vessels of Divine Love for Each Other” that describes its theological importance. She writes:

“Union is not a myth or a pipe dream, the mystics say: it is our true nature. Buddhists speak of interbeing, the connectedness of all that is. Our Unitarian Universalist tradition gives us the beautiful language of the interconnected web of all existence, of which we are a part. Most of the time we feel separate, but connected is what we are: to others, to the whole of creation, to the energies moving in all things.”
“…We feel separate, but connected is what we are…” And nowhere in the human experience is that more true than in sexuality. Of all the aspects of life that have become commoditized and exploited under capitalism, sexuality may be the most tragic. One of the ways that the consistent media bombardment with unrealistic sexual images hurts us on a spiritual level is that it harms how we see ourselves in comparison. But a component of each of the OWL courses, is that they show participants realistic drawings of people’s bodies, usually including naked bodies of individuals and couples. The drawings are of people of many different ages, body types, and sexualities. The first time I saw these drawings I was pretty uncomfortable, and I earned a stern lecture from the facilitators by cracking jokes to my friends. But over the years, I have found myself remembering some of those pictures at times when I have questioned my own worth and dignity. They have reminded me that each of us is beautiful and deserving of respect, myself included.

I have seen students, literally, from ages 7 to 70, react with discomfort and misbehavior when presented with affirmational messages about each person’s sexuality. But usually, those same students will go home and process that information in their own way, and it’s not uncommon to hear a question or a statement weeks later that shows a high degree of thoughtfulness and acceptance. When we as a congregation weave those patterns into our lives and into our community, we are truly honoring the divine source of interconnectedness that holds us all. The word that comes closest to being able to describe this divine connection is love. Horton writes:

“The mystics tell us, this love, this energy, is always with us, but it’s so powerful that we cannot handle being fully aware of it all the time; it’s too much, it’s too overwhelming—and yet we can receive it filtered through another person. So we can become vessels of divine love for each other, not just with our hearts but with these bodies. That’s why our sexuality is so profoundly connected to our spiritual life: it helps us to feel our longing for connection and love and union, and, if only for a moment, to know the reality that connection and love and union are what we are, not just what we long for.”

May it be so, and may we be the ones to make it so.

Delivered at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation

February 10, 2019

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