Nov 15, 2026

Dear UUSE Members and Friends:
Our ministry theme for October is healing. I love this theme. It reminds me that, in response to injury, harm, trauma, etc., living things have many ways to heal. In my November 15th sermon, I am planning to share the late Rev. Nancy Shaffer’s piece entitled “Mending,” in which she asks the question, “How shall we mend you, sweet Soul?” Her response to the question is multifaceted: “I would offer you so much, sweet soul: This banana, sliced in rounds of palest yellow atop hot cereal…. I would offer cellos in the background singing melodies Vivaldi heard and wrote for us to keep. [I] would hold out to you everything colored blue or lavender or light green.” And she goes on. There are many sources of healing.
Of course, contemplating this theme also reminds me that healing does not happen in the blink of an eye, does not happen all at once. We are rarely, all-of-the-sudden, fixed. Healing can be difficult. Depending on the injury or the illness, healing can take years if not decades. Sometimes we may not heal in the ways we hope for, though we discover other broken pieces of our lives have healed. I’ve always loved the stories in spiritual writer Rachel Naomi Remen’s books, especially her first book, Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal. Over the years, I’ve gone back to her stories again and again as prompts for my own reflections on healing. This time around, her words emphasize for me just how much patience, quiet, stillness, and time are necessary for healing. And, often, though we want to get back to our lives the way they were, the waiting and the time become gifts in themselves. Remen tells us that our waiting leads us to wisdom, and that “healing is a question of time.” And there is so much we receive along the way. My favorite Remen quote: “Anything good you’ve ever been given is yours forever.”
In this season of gratitude and cheer, mixed with so much anxiety and fear at events in the wider world, I wish for you healing. I wish for you a steady patience. I wish for you the capacity to slow down and be still. I wish for you a quiet, peaceful place for contemplation. And I pray that these things will bring healing, however you need it most.
****
As I write in late October, we have just learned that our beloved Director of Children and Youth Ministry, Emmy Galbraith, is taking an extended leave of absence. While this certainly presents our CYM program with challenges, and while we don’t yet know precisely how we will meet these challenges, I want to assure everyone that I am confident we will meet these challenges. I will do my best to communicate with the CYM families and the larger congregation about the steps we are taking as we know them. Though we want to move quickly, we also want to move, as best we can, with thoughtfulness, intention and wisdom. If you wish to connect with me about this situation, please do not hesitate to reach out at minister@uuse.org, or call at the UUSE office, (860) 646-5151.
With love and care,
Rev. Josh
#NovemberNewsletter