Calming & Community Resources During Election Week
At the November 3rd Sunday service, our ministers Rev. Catie Scudera and Darrah Bryans printed resources for managing stress in the days surrounding Election Day. We’re eager to share with you digital copies of these resources, and more!
Please take care of yourself this week and beyond by committing time every day for spiritual and emotional self-care!
You can pick up a “wallet-sized” version of this calming practices image, or save the image to your phone. Our national denomination has also shared a graphic reminding us to reconnect with Earth and ancestor. You can also save or print for yourself a copy of the UU Trauma Response Ministry’s one-pager on caring for children during difficult and traumatic times. In addition to art and activities at the end of our First Parish At Home: Repair packet for November 2024, you can download and print these coloring pages from the UUA. You’re welcome to utilize the spiritual practice tools set up on the Election Anxiety into Action altar in the Sanctuary (a chalice, bouquet, water-art board, hand labyrinth, stones and shells), now through at least Thursday Vespers.
We also recommend the World Health Organization’s Doing What Matters in Times of Stress, and we’re very grateful to UU minister Rev. Laura Solomon for sharing the weeklong spiritual care packet she created for her congregation in Reading (MA) leading up to Election Day.
Supportive UUA Online Spaces
Join Side With Love, UUA Congregational Life, and UUA senior leadership for a special three-series event following the 2024 Election. Each event is at 8pm ET, and a single registration gets you access to all three events. The first is spiritual grounding on Wednesday November 6; the second on meaning-making & immediate action will be scheduled after the presidential election is called; and, the third is a planning session on “the way forward” on Tuesday November 19.
First Parish Hybrid Vespers
Thursday November 7 at 5:30, livestreamed to Zoom from the Sanctuary
Join Rev. Catie and Darrah for a special Thursday Vespers, as we process (or await) results from Election Day. All are welcome in the Sanctuary or in our regular Vespers Zoom Room.
Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/99347953574?pwd=c29zbDhnMnJ3R05iMnZaMTNFempsQT09
Meeting ID: 993 4795 3574
One tap mobile
+16468769923,,99347953574# US
Braver Angels: Disagreeing Better (11/14) and Family & Politics (11/24)
First Parish has partnered with Christ Episcopal Church to proudly co-sponsor a Needham-based Braver Angels Series: Bridging Partisanship & Strengthening our Democratic Republic. Braver Angels programming supports civil civic engagement, which is especially important during this contentious election year. The first workshop (“Depolarizing Within”) was held on 10/27, and there are two in November: “Skills for Disagreeing Better” on Thursday November 14 at 7 pm at Christ Church, and “Family & Politics” on Sunday November 24 at 4 pm at First Parish. You can attend upcoming workshops without having taken “Depolarizing Within,” and childcare will be available at both workshops. Learn more at https://uuneedham.info/BraverAngels2024
Tools for Tending: Post-Election Spiritual Care
Thursday November 21, 2024 from 7-9 pm ET on Zoom
Join Side With Love, BLUU, and DRUUMM for Tools for Tending: Post-Election Spiritual Care Space. This 2-hour special event is open to all and will help tend our spirits through somatic practices, spiritual grounding, and small group connection. Combining structured elements, reflection time, music, facilitated caucus spaces, and visioning exercises, we hope you will feel grounded, strengthened, and held. Register here.