May is quite the month for ministers and ministry. As we round out the spring, with all its burgeoning energy, and head toward summer when many of us travel, take more time for rest, or just generally shift schedules, we’re always packing things in. Just look at the activity around UU Asheville this month – concerts, performances of all kinds, special worship (guests! Credo Sunday! 75th Anniversary! Pulpit interviews! The celebration of Rev. Claudia’s ministry! Music Sunday & annual meeting!) – plus budgets and all the ongoing strain of constitutional faltering…we all have reasons to be grateful and to be a bit exhausted.

Something that becomes more apparent than ever at this time of the year is how much of a collective, collaborative effort is our congregational life. None of the things we do or have ever done get done by leaders alone. They require so many hearts and hands, efforts large and small. As we were putting together our lists of people who have volunteered this year, it was incredible. So many. And every one of them needed. Of course, there are those names that appear on multiple lists…those are the volunteers no congregation can do without, worth their weight in gold. But it remains true that we are all in this together, and anything you do to lend a hand makes a difference. We’re so grateful to each of you who has made UU Asheville possible this year.

I was reading something that really boosted my spirits in a tired time. Sam Ames (they/he) is a civil rights attorney and policy strategist with roughly 15 years of leadership in the LGBTQI+ rights movement, with a particular focus on the protection of transgender youth and the intersection of justice and mental health. Sam is a UU, working in leadership with TrUUsT and other UU groups. In a recent Substack post, Sam reminds us: “Thich Nhat Hahn says those who do justice work need to balance the same number of hours they spend advocating and caretaking with equal ones healing and nourishing. “Touching suffering is our practice,” he says. But the only way to remain equipped to lessen that suffering is to be in touch with joy: “the sky, the birds, the trees, the flowers, children… You have to enjoy walking meditation. You have to enjoy your tea. You have to enjoy the company of happy people… [Y]ou need to get the right nourishment every day.””¹

I hope that UU Asheville is helping you find “the right nourishment” every week. We work hard to offer it.  

And as we enter the last weeks of the church year, please be sure your calendars are marked to celebrate Rev. Claudia’s last Sundays with us: this Sunday, May 31, when she will offer a pulpit interview with Jacob Oakes, and her Celebration Sunday, June 14th – plan to stay for cake and hugs! 

With love, Rev. Audette

¹ https://sames.substack.com/p/how-to-survive-a-crusade