So we now have an instruction from the State of California that we should all stay home.
Only essential business should we remain open.
So the church office will close entirely.

What about worship on Sunday?
Cannot gather in Wylder Hall for facebook live.
We are making progress on getting a Zoom account
Two options for Sunday worship
Zoom – link on the church webpage.
Facebook live – tag team

I’ll continue to do these afternoon messages on facebook live (not Sunday or Monday)

Good news about Videoconferencing
People are learning
Harvest the Power.
Small Group Ministry
Once we get the church’s Zoom account we will get this going.  Probably next week

Connections survey
Getting the tool set up online
Recruiting folks to make the calls
Hopefully this will happen next week.

If you can continue to pay your pledge please do so.  And make your pledge for next year – you can always change it later.
Go to the church’s webpage and click on the “give” button.

•  Message

Peter Alexander, Reporter NBC
Asked what Trump would like to say to Americans who are scared.

I say that you’re a terrible reporter. I think that’s a very nasty question and I think it’s a very bad signal you’re putting out to the American people.

“The American people are looking for answers and you’re looking for hope and you’re doing sensationalism. The same with NBC and (parent company) Comcast – I call it Concast.”

What you don’t do is get angry, insult the frightened person, dismiss their question, and pretend that the situation isn’t serious.  That’s not helpful.

Here is how I would have answered that question.

American is going through a tough time right now.  Some people feel frightened.  It’s not wrong if you do.  Fear is a natural response when a situation is new, and confusing, when the threat is real, and we don’t fully know how to protect ourselves.

But if you are feeling scared.  I hope that you’ll be able to let that go.  Fear makes the situation more stressful, without solving the problem.  So let’s feel our fear, if we need to, and then let’s move on.

Here’s how to move on from fear.

Remember, Americans have gone through scary times before.  And we’ve gotten through them.  We get through scary times, by staying united, by staying aware, and by staying strong.

We stay united.  Fear makes us feel alone.  But you’re not alone.  We can’t physically come together right now.  But we stay connected.  We support each other.  We comfort each other.  We make phone calls, and send emails, and connect online.  When I’m having a bad day you lift me up.  When you’re having a bad day I can lift you up.

We stay aware.  Fear makes us feel confused and ignorant.  So we can educate ourselves.  We listen to trusted authorities, experts, and news reports, and we follow their instructions.  Unitarian Universalism is a reality-based religion.  The reality of this situation is serious.  But almost always the fantasies we invent are worse than the truth.  The more we know, the better we feel.

And we stay strong.  Fear comes from feeling powerless.  So find ways to assert your power.  What can you do?  Staying home is hard.  Give yourself credit for the hard work of staying home.  That’s power.  Clean your house.  Walk your dog.  Start reading a long novel.  Learn a new skill, like video-conferencing.  Take charge of your life.  That’s power.

When I was a young man the gay community went through the AIDS crisis.  I keep thinking how scary that time was.  We were confused.  The danger was real.  We didn’t know how to protect ourselves.

But the community stayed together, and we reached out to anyone who wanted to help.  We educated ourselves.  Information was scarce at first but then we learned more and more.  And we found our power.  We organized.  We advocated.  And we demanded the government pay attention.

And we got through it.  I’m sure you have your own story of a terrible time.  And we got through it.

And we will get through this, too.

See you tomorrow at 1pm