One of the things I love about our church in the summertime is that we are reminded that we are a part of an even larger community. We all have experienced times in our lives where we feel like we must live in a small bubble. As we watch the current administration tear apart our democracy, there are times where it feels like the majority of our country have lost their mind. We may feel like the number of people who share our same values is few and far between. Then the week goes by and on Sunday we look around during service to see the same beautiful people each week and we are happy in our bubble.
Then summer hits and it is time to break out of our small bubble and welcome our larger faith community. Summer is the time where we can connect with people from other UU congregations in the area when we host services at our church or take the opportunity to visit the congregations in our area when it is their turn to host. Each time I attend a service with the larger faith community, I leave feeling a little less isolated and knowing in my heart that there are many people fighting for our basic rights. We are not alone! And I learned this summer that there are even more UUs out there in the wild.
I had the opportunity recently to spend an extended weekend in my hometown of Dubuque, IA. If anyone would have told me when I moved out of that city in 1991 that I would someday return as a tourist, I would have called you crazy. Growing up in Dubuque, I always felt like an outsider. I felt the city was close minded, behind the “times” and without any opportunity for me. When my children were small, we would occasionally return to visit family in the area so they both grew up thinking the city was a fun vacation spot. Now, I no longer have family near Dubuque so have no reason to go back except recently when my kid told me that they would like to go to Dubuque for our mini-vacation. I figured why not? That long weekend ended up being a very surprising and uplifting time.
It started when we were leaving the restaurant which has a James Beard nominated chef in the kitchen. I thought that fact was surprising enough. Why would an amazingly talented chef want to live in Dubuque? As Elliott and I were leaving the restaurant, we noticed that there was a band and people dancing in a nearby parking lot. As we approached the parking lot, we saw people laying out a timeline of the earth on the cement using candles and informative cards. There was a metal artist preparing to pour liquid aluminum into a large mold of the moon in another area. There were people all around that had water bottles with similar stickers to my own bottle. I found some people that felt approachable and asked what type of event was taking place. Elliott and I happened upon different art installations that were taking place to raise awareness about the impact of climate change. The more I chatted, I came to learn that the woman I had approached was a member of the Dubuque UU congregation. UU’s in Dubuque?! After picking my mouth up from the floor, I felt an overwhelming sense of hope that a place that seemingly never shared my values, actually has a group of people that SHARE MY VALUES!
I know that there are some who do not attend church in the summer as life gets busy with vacations and camps, but I want to suggest that you take the time and effort next summer to attend a service with the other congregations. We all need reminders at times, especially with all of the negativity in the news, that our bubbles are larger than we realize.
Shawn Kalloway
Board of Trustees Secretary
