{"id":134357,"date":"2020-06-21T13:42:48","date_gmt":"2020-06-21T19:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?p=134357"},"modified":"2020-06-21T13:42:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-21T19:42:51","slug":"living-our-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/living-our-values\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Our Values"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_151\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-134357-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2020-06-21_Living_our_values.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2020-06-21_Living_our_values.mp3\">http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2020-06-21_Living_our_values.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2020-06-21_Living_our_values.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/?powerpress_pinw=134357-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.austinuuav.org\/audio\/2020-06-21_Living_our_values.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"2020-06-21_Living_our_values.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Rev. Chris Jimmerson<br \/>June 21, 2020<br \/>First UU Church of Austin<br \/>4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756<br \/>www.austinuu.org<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">One of First UU Austin&#8217;s stated values is compassion &#8211; which we defined as &#8220;to treat ourselves and others with love&#8221;. What does living out that value look like, especially in these challenging times?<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Chalice Lighting<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">This is the flame of our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine on systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Call to Worship<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">ON THE PATH OF COMPASSION<br \/>Steve Garnaas-Holmes<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Begin with gratitude<br \/>for all you have received,<br \/>that you see and that you do not see.<br \/>Let your gratitude grow into trust<br \/>that you are included in a great wonder;<br \/>and entrust yourself to the grace you are given.<br \/>Let your trust blossom into compassion<br \/>for all those who are also part of this oneness<br \/>who have been excluded, used or targeted.<br \/>Let your compassion flourish into solidarity,<br \/>knowing you are one with those who suffer<br \/>and that their wholeness is part of yours.<br \/>Let your solidarity bear fruit in justice,<br \/>working for freedom and fullness of life for all,<br \/>against all evil and oppression.<br \/>And when you are most challenged<br \/>by the forces of injustice,<br \/>most weary and discouraged,<br \/>return to gratitude<br \/>that you are guided, accompanied,<br \/>empowered and saved;<br \/>and entrust yourself to the undying love of God.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>Affirming Our Mission<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><b>Meditation Reading<\/b><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p align=\"left\">GATE A-4<br \/>Naomi Shihab Nye<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: &#8220;If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Well &#8211; one pauses these days. Gate A-4 was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&#8220;Help,&#8221; said the flight agent. &#8220;Talk to her. What is her problem?<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">I stooped to put my arm around the woman and spoke haltingly.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">&#8220;Shu-dow-a, Shu-bid-uck Habibti? Stani schway, Min fadlick, Shu-bit- se-wee?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">The minute she heard any words she knew, however poorly used, she stopped crying. She thought the flight had been cancelled entirely. She needed to be in El Paso for major medical treatment the next day.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">I said, &#8220;No, we&#8217;re fine, you&#8217;ll get there, just later, who is picking you up? Let&#8217;s call him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">We called her son, I spoke with him in English. I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and ride next to her. She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of it. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and found out of course they had ten shared friends.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian poets I know and let them chat with her? This all took up two hours. She was laughing a lot by then. Telling of her life, patting my knee, answering questions. She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies &#8211; little powdered sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts &#8211; from her bag &#8211; and was offering them to all the women at the gate.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the mom from California, the lovely woman from Laredo-we were all covered with the same powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">And then the airline broke out free apple juice from huge coolers and two little girls from our flight ran around serving it and they were covered with powdered sugar, too. And I noticed my new best friend &#8211; by now we were holding hands &#8211; had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradition. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere. And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and I thought, This is the world I want to live in. The shared world. Not a single person in that gate &#8211; once the crying of confusion stopped &#8211; seemed apprehensive about any other person.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women, too. This can still happen anywhere. Not everything is lost.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><b>Sermon<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Text of this sermon is not yet available.<\/p>\n<hr align=\"center\" noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"4\" width=\"300\" \/>\n<p align=\"left\">Most sermons during the past 20 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link below to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/category\/sermons\/indexes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>SERMON INDEX<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them by clicking on the podcast link below or copying and pasting this link. https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/podcast\/first-unitarian-universalist\/id372427776<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/podcast\/first-unitarian-universalist\/id372427776\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>PODCASTS<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above. Rev. Chris JimmersonJune 21, 2020First UU Church of Austin4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756www.austinuu.org One of First UU Austin&#8217;s stated values is compassion &#8211; which we defined as &#8220;to treat ourselves and others with love&#8221;. What does living out that value look like, especially in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19,27,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-available","category-chris-jimmerson","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134357"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134358,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134357\/revisions\/134358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/austinuu.org\/wp2013\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}