During this time of pandemic AND social unrest AND now wildfires raging all around – all in a context of we’re-heading-over-a-cliff Climate Change AND eroding trust in the pillars of Democracy – with ALL OF THIS HAPPENING it is easy to experience fear, anxiety, depression, anger, and something not named often enough: Despair.  But when we allow ourselves to experience these feelings fully in the right context, we open ourselves up to a heartfelt, passionate, deep knowing of our interconnectedness and our own capacities to be flow-throughs for restoration, recovery, healing, and even joy.  Rev.  Stephen Landale, hospice chaplain from Eugene, returns to preach on some of the early writing and teachings of Dr. Joanna Macy, Buddhist, systems theorist, and groundbreaking root teacher of Despair and Empowerment Work, now called “The Work that Reconnects.”

(note: Rev. Landale originally scheduled for this date a sermon on Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Without Mediator or Veil” but decided that the once-again unusual circumstances dictated that this topic be punted again).