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101 Gifts — Flower Communion – May 18, 2008
101 Gifts (Flower Communion)
May 18, 2008
Ellsworth, Maine
Leela Sinha
There’s been a lot of depression going around lately. I, myself have been depressed for the last four days. This is a triumph—in years past it might have been four months before the fog was lifted–and yet today already I can feel that grey veil peeling back to reveal a world in full color. I mentioned my depression to a friend who said that it was happening to everyone she knows— not usual for early May—and she suggested that the earthquake and the cyclone and the continuing war are creating a collective weight that is pressing down on all of us, too much death and destruction for our mere humanness to bear.
She could be right. Spring may have arrived, but there are so many people struggling for the threads of their lives that we can’t help but be affected; we can’t help but be pushed. We are not living in isolation, and while we never have, technology brings the crises closer than ever. From here there is so little we can do—and it calls up memories of other similar times: Columbine and the tsunami and riots and cults and we are stuck in our comfortable lives wondering when the weight of the guilt will paralyze us for good. It’s not a hard leap from there to feeling helpless and from there we slide easily to hopeless and from there it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump—or a slump—to depression. When we add our own personal losses to the mix this puzzle of depression’s surge is no longer a puzzle. The puzzle then is, what are we going to do about it? See the trick to depression is that it’s not a thing to be fought, because it feeds on negative energy. It’s not a thing to be pushed back against. It’s a condition to be managed, to be worked around, to be slyly evaded. Brute force rarely works; what works is a clever and persistent underground resistance.
Some of that resistance is medical—rearranging the chemistry that causes the slump either by medication or by conversation. Some of that resistance is routine—making easiest the things that are best for us. Some of that resistance is educational—when we shine a light on depression it shrinks a bit. And some of that resistance is social—using the power of community to keep us in good health.
Community has power. It has tremendous power. People who don’t have any idea why else they come to church come to church to be in community, because there’s something about it that we can’t get by ourselves. Even when we don’t understand it we want it—in fact, we crave it. Humans are built to be social animals and we respond to the presence of others. When we come to church we come bringing ourselves, bringing the gift of whoever we are, however we are. Whether we think we need it or not, someone needs it—someone needs us— perhaps to hug, perhaps to reject, perhaps to reflect, perhaps to educate, perhaps to soothe. When we come here we come here as 101 people bearing 101 gifts, and we give those gifts to each other.
And nothing helps us feel unpinched like giving it away.
If we believe in abundance; if we believe in strength and hope and joy; if we are having a hard day and believe in nothing; if we are fearful; if we are inspired—what we bring to the community makes the community. We are the community. And when we feel the depression grasping our hearts we still have something to bring. Even weeds flower. Even the weeds in our own yards flower. We always have something. And the community, the transforming power of community, means that we will find a way to use it—but for that transformation to occur, we must be willing to let go.
One of the hardest things for institutions is being given large financial gifts with long lists of restrictions. Organizations have been disbanded while holding major gifts that were entirely unusable, like a huge organ endowment for a church that is desperate to fix its foundation. What good is an organ if the roof leaks and the pews are sinking through the f[...]
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By Unitarian Universalist Church of Ellsworth, Maine101 Gifts (Flower Communion)
May 18, 2008
Ellsworth, Maine
Leela Sinha
There’s been a lot of depression going around lately. I, myself have been depressed for the last four days. This is a triumph—in years past it might have been four months before the fog was lifted–and yet today already I can feel that grey veil peeling back to reveal a world in full color. I mentioned my depression to a friend who said that it was happening to everyone she knows— not usual for early May—and she suggested that the earthquake and the cyclone and the continuing war are creating a collective weight that is pressing down on all of us, too much death and destruction for our mere humanness to bear.
She could be right. Spring may have arrived, but there are so many people struggling for the threads of their lives that we can’t help but be affected; we can’t help but be pushed. We are not living in isolation, and while we never have, technology brings the crises closer than ever. From here there is so little we can do—and it calls up memories of other similar times: Columbine and the tsunami and riots and cults and we are stuck in our comfortable lives wondering when the weight of the guilt will paralyze us for good. It’s not a hard leap from there to feeling helpless and from there we slide easily to hopeless and from there it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump—or a slump—to depression. When we add our own personal losses to the mix this puzzle of depression’s surge is no longer a puzzle. The puzzle then is, what are we going to do about it? See the trick to depression is that it’s not a thing to be fought, because it feeds on negative energy. It’s not a thing to be pushed back against. It’s a condition to be managed, to be worked around, to be slyly evaded. Brute force rarely works; what works is a clever and persistent underground resistance.
Some of that resistance is medical—rearranging the chemistry that causes the slump either by medication or by conversation. Some of that resistance is routine—making easiest the things that are best for us. Some of that resistance is educational—when we shine a light on depression it shrinks a bit. And some of that resistance is social—using the power of community to keep us in good health.
Community has power. It has tremendous power. People who don’t have any idea why else they come to church come to church to be in community, because there’s something about it that we can’t get by ourselves. Even when we don’t understand it we want it—in fact, we crave it. Humans are built to be social animals and we respond to the presence of others. When we come to church we come bringing ourselves, bringing the gift of whoever we are, however we are. Whether we think we need it or not, someone needs it—someone needs us— perhaps to hug, perhaps to reject, perhaps to reflect, perhaps to educate, perhaps to soothe. When we come here we come here as 101 people bearing 101 gifts, and we give those gifts to each other.
And nothing helps us feel unpinched like giving it away.
If we believe in abundance; if we believe in strength and hope and joy; if we are having a hard day and believe in nothing; if we are fearful; if we are inspired—what we bring to the community makes the community. We are the community. And when we feel the depression grasping our hearts we still have something to bring. Even weeds flower. Even the weeds in our own yards flower. We always have something. And the community, the transforming power of community, means that we will find a way to use it—but for that transformation to occur, we must be willing to let go.
One of the hardest things for institutions is being given large financial gifts with long lists of restrictions. Organizations have been disbanded while holding major gifts that were entirely unusable, like a huge organ endowment for a church that is desperate to fix its foundation. What good is an organ if the roof leaks and the pews are sinking through the f[...]