January 26, 2025
First Unitarian Universalist Society Burlington
Finding a posture of dignity, one that connects you with your breath, with this here, with this now, may these words find an open place within you..
[chime]

Into this circle of care we bring deep gratitude for the courage of the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, the Archbishop of Washington, DC, in speaking truth to power, in persisting in the insistence on mercy.
In this circle of care we hold one among us whose co-worker died, unexpectedly, a person who was kind to everyone without fail.
Into this circle of care, we hold Ky Bradley Hamilton‘s family, dear friend of FUUSB member, Suzanne, for Ky – a young trans woman, lost her struggle with PTSD the day after the election and her family is devastated.
In this circle of care, we offer the fiercest embrace to those in our midst, our neighbors and friends and ourselves, whose lives are targeted by the new administration’s fiendish campaign against immigrants, particularly immigrants of color.
In this circle of care, we offer the fiercest acts of solidarity and protection to those in our midst, our neighbors and friends and ourselves, whose queer and trans and gender expansive lives are being denigrated and narrowed by those same people in power.
Into this circle of care, we bring gratitude for those poets and philosophers, artists and healers, writers and creators, and even the rare politician, who can help us connect with a sense of purpose and hope in the midst of the rapid-fire threats to this American experiment in democracy.
Into this circle we offer our best wishes for the recovery of stability and safety of the hostages and political prisoners who have returned home as part of the ongoing ceasefire in Palestine and Israel.

May Greenland stay Greenland.
May Gaza stay Palestinian.
May the World Health Organization find a way to be effective without U.S. membership. Same with the Paris Climate Agreement.
May there be comfort for those families who have lost loved ones in shootings, mass or otherwise, though it will continue to be cold, that comfort, until there is ethical and real regulations of fire arms in this country.
May those who are still in harm’s way due to the fires in Los Angeles County know safety and refuge long enough to begin to recover from the trauma of evacuation and loss.
May all that goes unspoken in our hearts – the joys, the sorrows, the gratitudes – be honored in this circle of care as well.
Let us spend a few moments of shared stillness together, connecting with the yearning within each of our hearts, until the chime rings again.
[chime]
Amen.