This has been an especially hard week. Let us all recognize that nearly everyone’s nervous system is working overtime. 

Floods came, again. Bringing damage, again. And for those Vermont communities directly impacted ~ Barnet, Barre City, Plainfield, Burlington’s own Intervale, and more ~ devastation, again. 

We hold in our hearts the families of the two individuals who each died in these floods: Dylan Kempton and John Rice. May their families be embraced by communities of care and comfort.

Gratitude to the swiftwater teams and all first responders and volunteers who showed up and continue to do so. Yes, to #VermontStrong. And also: let us make room for the grief, the anger, the overwhelm, the not-again-ness.

And then yesterday: an assassination attempt on the former president running for re-election. As the Reverend Elizabeth Stevens, who will be preaching at First UU on September 1st, has described it, 

“This incident is both evidence of the fragility of our democracy -and a further stress on it.”

Let us ~ each of us individually and all of us as a congregation ~ find our way to place Love at the center in how we respond at this fractured moment: 

Notice the pull towards despair, helplessness, fear, anxiety, numbness, rumination, or certainty. Notice this in others. Do not be pulled in. More importantly, notice this in ourselves. 

Let that noticing be a small pause that reminds us: we do not have to react immediately, but can slow down just a bit, choosing our response. We can invite that pull – the fear, the anxiety, the certainty – to sit beside us, not reside within us.

We can remind ourselves by using our thumb to touch each of four fingers, that WE. ARE. HERE. NOW.

We recognize the bystander who lost their life in this act of political violence, as well as the two people who were critically-injured, none of whose names have been yet released. We hold them and their families in our hearts, praying comfort and care. We pray for their ability to process what has happened to their loved one without being made into a spectacle or used for political purposes.

We pray for the former president’s recovery, as well as for the hope that this assassination attempt is not used to further strengthen authoritarian forces that too often seek to use such events to seize power or incite violence.

Friends, let us seek safety in connection – connection with our deepest, truest selves; connection with each other; connection with our neighbors; connection in service of community. In the words of the Reverend Ali KC Bell, 

with love, Rev. Karen (Senior Minister, First Unitarian Universalist Society Burlington)