Trust is an experience. It’s an action, and it is a very particular kind of action that is really challenging these days. Trust is the act of letting go, allowing, relaxing, opening and receiving the worthiness, the wholeness and the holiness of another. The opposite of trust as this kind of experience is resistance.
Right now, in the U.S. there are a number of things being done and said by governmental officials that we cannot trust. We cannot trust lying about known facts. We cannot trust the abuse and maltreatment of human beings because of who they are (their skin tone, ethnic background, gender identity, sex identified at birth, health, et al). We cannot trust the dismantling of social safety nets that cause hurt and loss for millions of people. We cannot trust the elevation of individuals simply because they are wealthy.
In the face of all of that distrust, we must, in a variety of ways, resist, and our community is organized to share various ways that we can resist with intent and good effect.
And, in the face of all that distrust, there is still a deep necessity for trust. Our community is also organized to help us deepen our trust, our ability to let go, allow, relax, open and receive the worthiness, wholeness and holiness of others. We engage this kind of trust in multiple ways and opportunities. Consider how we do that in:
- every Sunday Worship service
- every covenant group meeting
- congregational conversations
- rituals and gatherings offered by CUUPS, Sylvan Sanctuary, Men’s Group, Women’s Group, Belief Explorers, children and youth Religious Exploration, Game Night, making music together with the choir and the UUCG band; working on the property, and creating safe spaces for all of these and more activities.
We have to resist when we see harm being done. But, if all we do is resist, the day will come when we find that we have become bitter and cynical. While we resist harm, let us find these other places and people where we can let go, allow, relax, open and receive all that we bring to each other. This is how we live love through the practice of deep trust.
~Bob Patrick
