The Anvil - November, Vol. 1 Newsletter from Second Unitarian Church

We hope you are enjoying the fall and the change in routine and temperature that it brings. In this issue of The Anvil we are trying something different. Instead of sending both a weekly e-newsletter (2U News) and a monthly newsletter (The Anvil), we are going to combine the communication vehicles, reduce repetition and hopefully have the church info feel more relevant. Starting this month we are going to discontinue the weekly news and instead produce The Anvil twice a month. Weekly announcements will still be printed in the order of service on Sundays. Hard copies of The Anvil will also be available at church and via mail for those who do not have internet. Hopefully the reduction in the total amount of mail will help you read The Anvil more regularly. This change will be evaluated over the next several months and we welcome your personal opinion and feedback. Please feel free to email secondunitarian@att.net or call 773-549-0260.

Dear members and friends of the Second Unitarian Church community,

These are tumultuous times for us right now. One of the most important elections of our time is coming up in a few weeks. It is an exciting and historic campaign. There are many of us however, for whom this election is a time of real uncertainty and questions. The financial status of America is on our minds every day. Many of us are struggling with our personal finances and feel overwhelmed. Often in such times, it is hard to remember the resources that we have.

We have each other. Our church community is here to help one another. Of all of the things in our lives, the church is one that is a constant. We need each other now more than ever. We need a place where we have people we trust, people we can talk to, people who we can tell our fears to. The care that we offer each other can help us feel less alone. Caring for one another lets us know that we are part of something larger than ourselves.

This is also a time when you might have friends, family or neighbors in need of support. Invite them to church with you. Church communities rally around situations like these and it is a place that many people turn to in times of need. We are a community of people reaching for a larger purpose, and we can help each other put these events into a larger context. Finding purpose, meaning, strength and hope are essential in times like these and that is what our church community can do for all of us. We can do this for each other and for the larger world around us.

This passage from The Gospel of Universalism by Rev. Tom Owen-Toole offers some possible post-election guidance.

Give them hope and courage. These two virtures are inextricably yoked. Hopers are not mere dreamers, waiting passively. They are encouragers, doers who risk their visions. A theology of hope must finally translate into an ethic of resistance. If we cannot utterly reverse the evils of existence, we can unceasingly resist them.

On the practical level, then, hopers know that the best antidote to desperation is action, not frenzied busyness, but vigourous deeds that feed one's own spirit while simultaneously nourishing humanity. Hopers also assert that the only way to beat self-preoccupation and greed is by giving generously to life-engendering causes.