- May -

We are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, says the US Surgeon General, and it's negatively affecting our physical, mental, and spiritual health. The cure is connection. Join Rev. Sara as we reflect on the painful reality of loneliness and the joyful healing that can happen when we gather in authentic community.

Rev. Sara Smalley is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northfield.

Potluck will follow.

“Poet Yehuda Amichi writes, “From the place where we are right, flowers will never grow in the spring. The place where you are right is hard and trampled like a yard.” If we want to plant the seeds of a more loving and just world, we will need to till the soil of our hearts and communities so that our seeds can take root and grow. We all love to be right, but insisting on our own righteousness usually comes at the cost of being an effective force for change. Our ability to cultivate the fruit of transformation may depend on the degree to which we can take pluralism seriously and “embrace our differences and commonalities with Love, curiosity, and respect.”

Meleah is following her call to Unitarian Universalist ministry and is in her third year at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. A lifelong UU, she spent two decades engaging stakeholders in environmental policy development and implementation. She holds a master’s degree in environmental management from the Yale School of the Environment and was a part of the 2019–20 cohort of the Humphrey Policy Fellows.

Meleah serves as a trustee for Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice and as an active member of First Universalist Church of Minneapolis.