12/19/2018 by Shannon Day

DRE Column for December: The Gift of the Bengali Tea Boys

Difficult situations are gifts.  Gifts we often resist and usually don’t appreciate.  They teach us about our blind spots. . . if we stop and listen to what is happening inside us.  You may want to return these gifts, but resist!  Sticking with the feelings and experience pays off. When my buttons get pushed, I start wondering what is going on in me.  What do I believe is happening?  What should the other person be doing?  Wanting the other person to be different only because they are driving me crazy is my cue to reexamine the situation more carefully. American Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema

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11/28/2018 by Shannon Day

DRE Column for November – Growth-full Grieving – Rev. Cynthia Westby

I’ve been finding grief catching me unawares lately. Any transition triggers feelings but usually it is bewildering and surprising when I realize I’m in the midst of a grief response to transition. Especially when the transition is happy. For me, there is the strange grief coming after my ordination. This huge transition marks the end of a year-long push to be ordained. Of course, I am happy to have completed my goal. Thrilled. But I also have this an odd empty feeling. The work has defined almost all of my personal time. Now what shall I do with all this

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11/07/2018 by Shannon Day

Sign Up for Beloved Conversations Groups

Good morning, Westside UU and the Racial Justice Change Team will be launching Beloved Conversations in January. Beloved Conversations uses a small group ministry format to explore the role of race/ethnicity in individual and congregational lives. It was developed at Meadville Lombard Seminary by the Fahs Collaborative and has been implemented by over 140 Unitarian Universalist, Quaker, and Jewish congregations. Starting in the January 2019, 48 Westside members will be participating in four different groups led by lay facilitators. It is with great respect that we invite your participation in Beloved Conversations in Winter 2019. General Registration is open now

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10/31/2018 by Shannon Day

Minister’s Musings Among the Mountains – Week of Nov. 2

“What’s Up with Changes in Worship at Westside” I’ve heard there’s some distress about all the changes in Sunday worship in the last years. I wanted to address it here and my reasons why we are in an experimental year of worship planning and performance. First, it’s natural to want stability in a liminal season when things are chaotic. Sunday services are the anchor for a religious community like this one. There are many who find great meaning and comfort in traditional, stable and meaningful Sunday services. Any given Sunday we walk in the door and pretty much expect what

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10/24/2018 by Shannon Day

Cynthia Westby, DRE Column October 2018 – Transitions

As we transition into fall, with this glorious weather, watching the leaves drift down into colorful piles on the ground, I am looking forward to a deepening richness in my position as DRE. I am excited to be ordained and it gives me great joy to be a minister! I am deeply touched by the beautiful stole that was presented to me on Sunday morning, October 21st during service. The lovely presentation by Alex Holt, Nola Balch, RE Council Co-Chair and RE Council members Cara Mathison and Laura Strand on behalf of the congregation was so moving. Shannon Day picked

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10/03/2018 by Shannon Day

Minister’s Musings Among the Mountains – Week of Oct. 5

“Boys will be boys” I heard that comment above quite a bit in the last two weeks and especially after the Senate hearing last week with Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh. I also remember hearing those words when I was growing up. Sometimes it was directed at me. My room would be a mess, or I’d talk back to the people who brought me up. There’d usually be a sigh from the adults, and some variation of ‘boys will be boys.’ It didn’t stop there. There would be a lesson given to me that while indeed ‘boys will be boys’

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09/26/2018 by Shannon Day

September Update from Minister Search Team 2019

Happy Belated Fall Equinox, Westside! As much as I am disappointed by the briefness of summer, I do feel ready for fall. It’s my favorite season, and it does suit the Scorpionic and Halloween loving tendencies of many Seattleites well. Bring on the saffron colored leaves and ancestor honoring ceremonies and frightening front lawn decorations and comfy sweaters! Fall is also your Ministerial Search Team 2019’s busiest season thus far. As we begin to munch on the rich results of the Congregational Survey, we would like to take a moment to thank the many of you turned out to answer

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09/25/2018 by Shannon Day

Ordination of Rev. Cynthia Westby, DRE

I was ordained as an Interfaith Minister on Saturday, September 15th by the Chaplaincy Institute Interfaith Community in Berkeley, California.  The beautiful, powerful two-hour long ceremony was held in the early evening at Christ Church in Berkeley.  It was an emotional, deeply moving ceremony and I am thrilled to now be Rev. Cynthia Westby.  With my husband, Eric, and seven other good friends who live in the area as my support and witness, I felt held in community and blessed by them, by all of you, and by the Chaplaincy Institute Interfaith Community.  It was an incredibly memorable experience. Below

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09/05/2018 by Shannon Day

Minister’s Musings Among the Mountains Week of 9/3

“So, what’s up with Worship Council?” Several Westsiders have asked me that question in recent days. I had mentioned some changes in my August 19th sermon called “Living in a Liminal Season.” I talked about being in a time of radical and unpredictable change which we all are now. This is what I said in that sermon (paraphrased): “Here’s one example. The Worship Council has had a long history of providing professional and wide-ranging Sunday services here. I mentioned that Chaplain Mark led the group for a decade. Last year Lisa Reitzes facilitated Worship Council during a time of profound

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08/29/2018 by Shannon Day

Let Us Rejoice Together – Margo Rinehart, Ministerial Intern

August 31st marks the end of my twelve-month ministerial internship at Westside. With that life flashing before us, I desperately try to slow down the spinning orb in order to spend more time in grace and gratitude. Time to take inventory of all we have learned together. In this holy work of building a religious community, we have: Come to better know one another’s dreams, sorrows, and longings Celebrated awe, wonder, and what is life-sustaining and true Explored a one-dimensional, distorted story of immigrants and have stood in solidarity with the persecuted Spoken for truth and justice even knowing that

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