UUFSMA: “Networking Earth’s Interconnected Web” [] *ONLINE*

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Online Service
“Networking Earth’s Interconnected Web”

Rev. Tom Rosiello, Affiliate Minister

Sunday, April 26
10:30 am

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040
Password: 294513

By Joseph Plummer

UUF Secretary

With the observance of Earth Day as a backdrop, UU Fellowship of SMA Affiliate Minister Rev. Tom Rosiello considers spiritual traditions guiding humanity’s relation to the natural world. Biblical authors present an adversarial conquest of the Earth and the reaping of its gifts without reflecting upon damage to Nature’s system. Native Americans extoll kinship with Mother Earth, Father Sun, Brother Forest, and Sister Sea. In contemporary spirituality, such contradictory spirits reconcile, as in Unitarian Universalism’s seventh principle affirming an interconnected web of existence.

Whether interconnected web or whirlwind of destruction, humanity can lose control of their place in nature, as CoViD-19 demonstrates. Then Dr. Martin Luther King Jr sounds almost clairvoyant, “For we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

For these times, Rev. Rosiello reflects upon the goodwill, ingenuity and steep learning curve that enables the UU Fellowship, like many other organizations, to continue pastoral and social work. Online media, he notes, make Dr. King’s “network of mutuality” uncannily tangible. As in this presentation, on five previous Sunday mornings, Rosiello speaks to the Fellowship from his San Miguel home as more than 120 households turn on electronic devices that Zoom into Rosiello’s living room. In a cautionary foreshadowing of global climate risks, Rev. Rosiello reminds us that humankind has the tools at hand to nourish the human spirit even when nature asserts dominance of Earth’s interconnected web.

The Fellowship likewise reaches out virtually online to continue almost every other service to which it committed resources before the pandemic. Its online CoViD-19 Task Force distributes science-based information to the Fellowship. The UU Care Team meets online each week, sustains virtual contact with members living alone or managing illnesses, and supports the needs of the unwell for contact with other services. A UU Women’s Group meets every week online. UU discussion groups assemble by Zoom at their individual venues. Members who return to the United States and Canada can continue to participate. The busy UU Fellowship is committed to serving and connecting members with each other during these challenging times of isolation.

Pianist Paula Peace will share music to celebrate the Earth, including “From a Distance” and Kim Oler’s “For the Earth Forever Turning,” a movement from Paul Winter’s Missa Gaia/Earth Mass.

To participate in the online service, members and visitors are invited to download the Zoom Cloud Meetings app through their smartphone, tablet, or on a laptop or desktop computer at https://zoom.us/download. Join the service at https://zoom.us/j/414604040. The password is 294513. Sign-in between 10:15-10:25 am. The UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. For additional information, visit www.uufsma.org.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

Members regularly post updates and information on this site. We also post meeting minutes and announcements there.

To join our Yahoo group site click on this link:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/UUFSMA/info

Click on “membership”and follow the directions.

Posting a notice on the Yahoo site is easy. Just go to your regular mail browser, type in the address line: uufsma@yahoogroups.com , type your message and hit send!

We encourage you to use this site to communicate with other local UUs.