We are being conditioned to shut down. The barrage of cruelty, confusion, spectacle, and spin… wears on our capacity to feel… That is the danger of this moment — not just political collapse or climate unraveling or the erosion of public trust — but the numbing of our souls…
—Rev. Cameron Trimble
We are entering my favorite month of the year, when the sunlight begins to shift, the breeze returns, and our minds turn to the realm of the liminal and our beloveds of days past. It is also a hopeful and exciting month for our community as the congregation is now in full swing with a frenzy of activities, events, and opportunities to get involved and be of service to our spiritual home and the wider community! We will build a Sukkah in the courtyard once again this year with the Santa Monica Synagogue to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot on Sunday, October 5th. Many are sharing stories of the delightful afternoons and evenings they’ve had at Dining for Dollars feasts and events in recent weeks. Our Ministerial Search Team is busy surveying the congregation and helping us to “Break Barriers, Build Beliefs” as we conduct an anti-racist, counter-oppressive, and inclusive national search with a special zoom workshop on Saturday, October 11th. Our Board and many committees are busy with the day-to-day operations of the congregation and our children and youth religious education program is thiriving — and still in need of volunteers! At the end of this month and the beginning of next month, we will have our traditional services to remember our ancestors and those souls memorialized in our Garden of Eternity. There is much to do, much to remember, and much to celebrate in these beautiful October days.
Our spiritual theme this month is Cultivating Compassion. As Rev. Cameron Trimble rightly notes, “the danger of this moment,” when so much cultural, political, and economic chaos is being sown, is the “numbing of our souls.” When the world around us is seemingly falling apart, it is especially important for us to lean into what is spiritually nourishing to us to help us be well-resourced to withstand the onslaught. It is all too easy for our hearts to harden and even for apathy or disdain to grow within when our nervous systems are being taxed relentlessly and trauma abounds in all corners of our society. In my life, this means getting back to the gym and making time for the yoga practice that provides spaciousness in my being — mentally, physically, and spiritually — and turning to my Islamic namaz/prayer practices which help me turn the world off at regular intervals to get in touch with the divine. It also means limiting the doom scrolling and finding sources of positive nourishment to replace the constant negativity on social media and in the news.
Imagine that living with an open heart is your most natural state, something which is sacred and it is in need of your attention to protect and sustain it and the love you still have to offer to our world.
Soul Matters Theme-Based Ministry has generated the following series of questions for us to consider in our Chalice Circles, small groups, committee meetings, and worship services to stir our souls and inspire our hearts and minds:
- Has compassion ever helped you find your way home?
- When were you offered compassion in an unexpected or unique way?
- What’s your first memory of being compassionate with yourself?
- Who is to thank for the way compassion “naturally” arises in you?
- Where did your unkind and self-critical inner voice come from? Or maybe the better question is, whose unkind and self-critical voice taught your brain how to talk?
- What do you need to do to stay tender and compassionate in the face of our consistently cruel political culture that wants you to go numb?
- Which of these self-diminishing cultural lies do you struggle with the most, maybe without even realizing it: 1. I am what I have, 2. I am what I do, 3. I am what other people say or think about me, 4. I am nothing more than my worst moment?
- Is it possible that your self-improvement efforts have subtly become acts of self-aggression?
- How would your feelings about and actions with that “difficult person” in your life change if you somehow discovered they were doing the best they can or that their aggravating behavior is not a character defect but a wound that runs deep?
- In a world that needs so much compassion, many of us feel tangled up in and worn down by compassion fatigue. How might that struggle be eased if you more regularly asked yourself: What’s mine to do? What’s not mine to do? What’s mine to say? What’s not mine to say? What’s mine to care about? What’s not mine to care about?
- Is it time to stop beating yourself up for that poor decision you made long ago? Is it time to remind yourself that you made the best decision you could have with the information and skills you had at the time?
- What if your busy and important life is the true enemy of your compassion?
Our Pastoral Care Team is available to provide confidential spiritual companionship and support if you are in need. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to pastoracare@uusm.org or call the church office at (310) 829-5436.
If you have a joy, sorrow, or achievement to share with the church community in our Joys and Sorrows on Sunday mornings and in the weekly church announcements, please email joysandsorrows@uusm.org.
Yours in ministry and love,
Jeremiah
Rev. Jeremiah Lal Shahbaz Kalendae
Developmental Minister
