Author: Nick Laux

Hello my beloveds,

This week, I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on the fantastic event that happened recently, the ordination of our very own Brigitta Vieyra. For me, this was an afternoon filled with joy as I got to be a part of this important step in her journey, and I’m excited for what the future holds for her.

I sincerely want to thank everyone who was involved in the event, as it truly was a communal effort. To reminisce a little bit more, here are a few photos from the event.  

I hope that Brigitta has amazing experiences (perhaps some that she will share with us) as she moves forward in her chosen path. See you all on Sunday.

I LOVE Phoenix in March. Every year, I am in awe of the desert sprouting the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen. Each January as it rains, I get excited for how much floral beauty that will create.

It is so appropriate that our theme for this stewardship campaign is “Growing Your UUCP Garden.” There are so many ways that this community is like the beautiful desert flowers and a gorgeous garden. We all have our own unique patterns into the fabric of existence, and just as flowers bloom in their own time and place, so too do we, as individuals and as a collective, have the opportunity to flourish and grow.

In the Unitarian Universalist tradition, we are guided by principles that call us to honor the worthiness and dignity of every person, to seek justice, equity, and compassion, and to respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part, and what better metaphor for this interconnectedness than the humble flower?

Consider for a moment the delicate petals of a rose, or the vibrant hues of a field of wildflowers. Each blossom, though unique in its beauty, relies on the nourishment of the earth, the warmth of the sun, and the gentle caress of the wind to thrive. In much the same way, we are called to be stewards of our community, nurturing the soil of it’s activities, basking in the light of love and understanding, and embracing the winds of change with open hearts and open minds.

Stewardship is a sacred trust–a calling to tend to the garden of life with reverence and care. Just as a gardener tends to their flowers with diligence and devotion, so too must we cultivate the seeds of compassion, justice, and understanding in our own hearts and in our community.

I hope the wisdom of flowers nurtures you this week as we head into our Flower Communion. I hope you know that each one of you has the power to nurture the seeds of love and community and to help our world blossom into its fullest potential.

“Just Click The Damn Button.”

This is the line from last Sunday’s service that people recited back to me over and over. It was about clicking the button on our website to submit your pledge so we will know how to budget for the upcoming fiscal year. I think some people found it funny that I swore during the service. Some people loved the simplicity of it, some people just loved my tone of voice and some people just wanted to click the button so they didn’t have the task hanging over their head.

But there is a whole story of community behind that one line that I ad-libbed. This Stewardship season has been a testament to community members helping each other out in ways that I only dreamed of before I was a minister. In an effort to support the effort of the community, people have stepped up to do what needed to be done. Someone wrote beautiful words without being asked. Someone else made the beautiful buttons on the website, and another stepped up to handle hospitality for an event. Finally, someone else made sure there was sound for the event—something that Benjie normally did.

None of this was done with finger-pointing, questioning who should be doing it, wondering why it wasn’t done or complaining. It was just…done. With love, and selflessness. Secure in the knowledge that each little part contributed to the whole.

There are a lot of reasons I think we should give with gratitude and generosity during this season; the story behind the “damn button” is just one of many.

Happy Leap Day! What a fabulous day to leap into a favorite season of mine–Stewardship.

I know not everyone agrees, but I love the Stewardship season. It is an amazing time to think about our community and what it means to us. It is a time to recommit ourselves to the community. It is a time to hear from other members of our community what this place means to them, and it is a time to dream about our future. Yes, it is a time to also indicate how we will be financially supporting the community, but that is also wrapped up in all of these elements.

The 2023-2024 Program year was a significant one in our recovery of our infrastructure, energy and equilibrium after the pandemic. Coming from some challenging economic times, this past year we really stepped up and made a commitment. We made it through all of the challenges without significantly cutting staff or programming. In this next coming year, we will be in a position to start dreaming big again.

Our theme this year is Growing Our UUCP Garden. We will be looking at the seeds that have been planted from those who created and nurtured this community and looking at our role as the current gardeners and planters. From our Framework project that is giving us direction and dreams to our amazing youth programming to the rich adult formation classes to the wide diversity of music that we have, our soil is rich.

We are hoping we can count on you to tell us that you’ll be gardening with us in the 2024-2025 program year. Will you please fill out this form to confirm your involvement and to let us know how much financial support we can expect from you next year? You can fill out this easy form right here to help us GROW OUR GARDEN!

“I don’t know if there is evil, but there is awful.”

This is a quote from one of my ministerial colleagues and it does a great job of describing how I feel about what is happening in the world. From the continued travesties we are hearing about in Gaza to the murder of Alexei Navalny, to the increasing signs of climate change, to the hateful bills coming out of state legislatures everywhere to the dehumanizing conversations about migrants, and beyond, it is way too easy to feel like evil is all around us.

Personally, I don’t believe that people are evil. I believe in the inherent worthiness of all people and that no one is born evil, but I sure do believe in awful. I believe that terrible things happen in the world and that people are capable of terrible things. The tension between these two ideas is one of the many reasons I need to lean on my faith in these difficult times.

It is important to me that in these difficult times, that I don’t just dismiss and “other” certain human beings just because I find their statements and actions abhorrent. My faith keeps me grounded in our collective humanity so that I don’t just dismiss other humans, my faith also keeps me grounded in my moral center so I can call out awful behavior when I see it.

In this time when I know so many of you are struggling with all the awful things in the world, I hope your faith keeps you grounded and centered as much as possible.

This Sunday is the last Sunday for our Ministerial Intern–Brigitta Vieyra–with us. What a year it has been having Brigitta with us, ministering to us, and learning from us.

I’ll be sharing some of my thoughts on Sunday with you as well, but I wanted to tell you what an absolute privilege it has been for me to have Brigitta as my first Ministerial Intern. Being an Intern supervisor was one of the things I hoped I could do as a minister, but didn’t know if I’d get the privilege to do. I have had so many great mentors in my life and I don’t know where I would have gotten as a professional, as a minister, or as a human without them, and I love mentoring myself–whether that is seminarians or ministers in formation or interns (I have now had all three). Like working with youth or others who are learning, I find that exploring their questions with them helps me to be more aware of the different aspects of this call, think about why I do what I do, and ultimately, be more intentional with my own ministry. My hope is that being a mentor to others helps me to be a better minister to you.

What I do know is that it has made my work exponentially more rewarding and joyful. Ministry can be a lonely job that few understand what the call really means or both the joys and tolls that come with it. Being able to share that with Brigitta has been so enriching for me.

In the next few weeks, we are going to be in a critical time to decide if we will have another intern next year. Personally, I hope we can, but I don’t want to do it at the expense of other parts of our community. If you are able or interested in making it happen for this upcoming year, please consider giving at phoenixuu.org/intern, and thank you to everyone who made it possible for us to have such a rich experience with Brigitta this year.