Wholeness in All Ways Possible
Gathering Song
Wanting Memories by Sweet Honey in the Rock
Welcome into Our Sacred Space
At the Mountain Top, we believe that all our lives are sacred texts, and we come together to share them with one another. The Mountain Top was created as a space for people of color along with their families who are exploring, reclaiming, reconciling, and celebrating their identities in a UU context to experience wholeness and belonging, built on deep relationships of trust. I welcome you into this space.
Here at The Mountain Top, we do not shy away from naming things that need to be named. We recognize that it is often the first step on the path of healing. We cannot know all the stories or all the burdens each of us carries when we bring our whole selves to this space. So when emotions come up for you as we are sure they inevitably will, please know that our community is here to hold space for your experience, whether spoken or unspoken.
If you are find yourself in need or distress during our time together, please message one of the co-hosts and we will do our best to address your needs in the moment. If you have a pastoral or spiritual concern that comes up outside our gatherings, please do not hesitate to contact our chaplains at chaplains@themountaintopuu.org. You are our first priority.
Because tonight we are welcoming our guest speaker, Antoinette, and her community of Activists in Liberation Movements, some elements of our session tonight will be taken from The Mountain Top and others from Calm Sessions. We hope you enjoy both the familiar and the new.
As a ministry based on relationships here at The Mountain Top, we invite you to get comfortable, relax, eat and drink if you are hungry and thirsty, sit, stand, lie down or move about as your body prompts you, step away from your device as needed, and turn your video on or off as suits you. You are welcome to remain as long as you want and depart whenever your mind, body, or spirit is ready.
We are here to be a mountain of support and community.
Introduction/Land/Labor/Life Acknowledgment
Thank you to The Mountain Top for hosting me and my community and for allowing me to center your community in this moment. CALM was created in 2021 by a group of UU friends, hoping to bring care into our lives. Over time, the order of elements have changed or our focus has narrowed, but the goals are still the same. We co-create this space so that you may have a container of care and remove judgment so you may show up as yourself, not your ideal self.
Because we cannot build from a place of scarcity, I offer, in this space, a fullness you may not have elsewhere. Your faith, your queerness, your history, and your breadth of human experiences are welcomed here.
We also like to call this a slow space because we take our time with intention. The pauses between elements are not rushed so that you may set down the weight you are carrying in this moment with an extra breath. Even though we may speak openly of pain or sorrow, this space is a space of healing, joy, and making meaning in and of our world.
Each of our elements is wrapped in music. Music can invigorate us and soothe our souls, so I invite you to sway when you are called to, sing when it feels good, and clap to your heart’s content. But please, do it on mute. Participant microphones will be muted so that we can keep distractions away.
I also want to acknowledge that I live on the unceded lands of the Tongva, Chumash, and Tataviam nations. I speak aloud their names in solidarity with Native tribes across the world, to remind us that they are the original keepers and protectors of this land.
I am also a descendant of enslaved Africans who were forced to build the empire we all suffer under today. Our shared commitment to embrace that every person is inherently worthy condemns the chattel slavery and continued oppression of descendants of Africans.
I know little about the lives of my ancestors, but I know that their strength leads me to this moment of grace and community. I speak to the horrors of their suffering to honor their memories, to acknowledge and honor their hands as those who shaped the land.
For we are not separate from the land. We are the personified existence of the ground we walk upon and the stars we look up to. This acknowledgment is my spiritual commitment to build a global community of peace between us, surrounded by love, that is rooted in justice and equity.
May we recognize the complexities woven into our past, present, and future.
Prelude
Seeds by Rissi Palmer
Covenant/Chalice Lighting
*As we light our chalice I will share our Mountain Top Covenant
We covenant to:
Recognize the diversity of identities and experiences of people of color
Honor our own and others' identities and lived experiences
Respect each person’s agency to self-determine and set their own boundaries
Listen deeply to one another and speak our own truth bravely
Prioritize the health of the community and its members when conflict inevitably occurs, using restorative practices
Chalice Lighting Song
Abundance by Beautiful Chorus
Reading
The Embodiment of Abundant Love by Rev. Karen G Johnston
In our lived lives, family comes in different shapes and sizes and constellations.
It is in this variety—this diversity—that our lives are made fuller and our individual selves made more whole.
It is in this variety, it is in this diversity, that we look back to the ancestors, recognizing no monolith, but instead a rich texture that informs the foundation beneath us.
It is in this variety, it is in this diversity, that we perceive forward to the future, choosing to be good ancestors ourselves rather than dutiful descendants.
If we live our lives in recognition of this truth, there is no reason to act as if this is not true in death.
Let us live into the truth so many of us lean on in times of loss: that love lives on even in death.
As this is the truth of this family in life, so is it true for this family in mourning, giving free reign to all who willingly offer themselves as voice and embodiment of Abundant Love.
So may it be true for all.
Guided Meditation
I invite you to join in an embodied ritual that I learned from the Rev. Stevie K. Carmody, a previous Emerging Adult Ministry Associate with the UUA. He created this to remind us of our theological histories, centering ourselves in the present moment.
(Breathe x2)
When we raise our arms like this (raised high above our heads), we remember the transcendent wonders of the universe (elaborate on the wonders of nature)
When we bring our hands over our hearts (swinging them down to cover our chest), we remember that each of us is inherently worthy and sacred, no matter what (elaborate)
When we put out our arms like this (arms out, bending straight up at the elbows as if to block), imagining that we are connecting forearm to forearm with everyone on this call, we remember that we are a part of an interdependent, interconnected web of being, that we can’t do this alone (elaborate)- here to bind together in community
And when we put out our arms forward (as if to offer something to you), we remember that our living tradition is action, is love, is care to one another. That we are called to do justice in this world (elaborate)
We then come back to the center with prayer hands, (palms touching in front of our chest), remembering that we belong to a oneness of being.
So as a reminder, and we’ll do this silently a few times through,
Transcendent wonder (raised high above our heads)
Inherent dignity no matter what (swinging them down to cover our chest)
The interconnected web of community (arms out, bending straight up at the elbows as if to block)
Doing justice and service in the world (as if to offer something to you)
And- a oneness of being (palms touching in front of our chest),
Breathe with me again and then we shall move through our embodied prayer (Breathe)
(movement x3)
(Breathe)
Amen, Ashe, Blessed Be
Joys & Sorrows
A Moment of Community Reflection: Carry Your Kin by The Breath
Ours is a welcoming community where your whole self and whole experience is welcome and we can rely on our community to hold space for what brings sorrow or joy into our lives.
Because when a “sorrow” is shared it is lessened,
and when a “joy” is shared it is amplified…
… we take this moment to reflect on our joys and sorrows, and to acknowledge the mutual support of our community.
During this song, we invite you reflect on your joys and sorrows, as well as the joys and sorrows you are holding of others. We also invite you to light a candle (or two) in your space so that you may see your joy or sorrow reflected back at you.
You may also leave a comment on this post with your joy/sorrow so that wider community can hold you.
Reflection
Wholeness in All Ways Possible by Antoinette Marie
Reflection Song
Church by Samm Hershaw
Chalice Extinguishing/Benediction:
Created in the Image of Love by Karishma Gottfried
Each of us was created in the image of Love.
Wherever we come from, wherever we’re going.
Whoever we are, whomever we love.
We proclaim with Love on our side:
Our bodies are sacred. Our minds are blessed. Our spirits are beloved.
May we be open to receive more love, always more Love.
Closing Song
Bless Up by Beautiful Chorus