Our country is in a world of pain. How do we love it, even as our hearts break?
Election Reflection : Friday, Nov. 2, 7:00 pm
4312 SE Stark, Rm 12., Portland
Gather, listen, talk, laugh, grieve. And reaffirm the world we know is possible. Tea and sweets offered.
Our country has entered dangerous terrain on many fronts – the deepening divides of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, income inequality, unequal access to justice, education, and opportunity, and the escalating crises of environmental destruction, species extinction, and climate change. Wow. Yes, we’re approaching a precipice, but we can’t just sink in despair, or watch and wail as confusion, ignorance, and fear grows.
This First Friday gathering will be a chance to reflect on the escalating violence and tensions crackling the air and breaking our hearts in recent weeks. It’s not about campaigns – it is opening space to gather within a lightly structured container, for folks in the community, everyone who feels confused and concerned, fearful or agitated, in deep despair, or simmering with anger.
This is a chance to rest, settle, and breathe into the spaces that open, to get a wider perspective on our own views and the views of others. Questions? Contact us!
With all our engagement, activism and service, the collective power of voting can pull us back from the edge, so voting is more important than ever, even in a flawed system like ours.
Your life matters for a million reasons. So does your love. So do your actions. And so does your vote.
We pay attention and vote, for those before us and those yet to come. Caringly, kindly, thoughtfully, with love. For love. With heaven on our side, our votes on November 6 may tilt the axis toward greater peace, justice, compassion, and connection in our communities and our world.
But voting is not a panacea, and happy outcomes are not guaranteed. Whatever the results, the fear and hatred surfacing now in our society now will not just blow away. So our hearts will need to be engaged and we will need to know each other and lean on each other, gain comfort and strength together, for the uncharted times ahead.
Remember: this is what we were born for.
