Sian's Shenanigans
Reverend Sian Wiltshire, Minister
By all means reach out and say hello! I can be reached by email, revsian@ocuuc.org, or by church phone at (714) 556-2882 (x302). Mondays are my day off, but I’m generally at the church during normal business hours T-Th and happy to meet with people at a time that is convenient to both of us during other times of the week.
~Rev. Sian

Repair
One of my favorite poems is called “The Guest House” by Jalaluddin Rumi (12th C. Sufi Poet). It speaks to the wisdom that each of us have different “parts” – (“a joy, a depression, a meanness…”) and to welcome them all (“Welcome and entertain them all!”). That is, include them in who you are because each of these “parts” has something to teach you (“each has been sent as a guide from beyond”). But we often want to exclude these…
Stories
I love stories. Some of my earliest memories are of my father reading Winnie the Pooh and the Madeline books to me. These stories made me laugh, gave me hope, and taught me how to have courage and the joys of friendships. Stories also opened my mind to new ideas. I remember a children’s book about how the number 13 was a lucky number, not a bad one. And that witches were good, not bad. It made me think about…
Presence
As many of you know, I was up last week helping celebrate my sister’s 70th birthday. A milestone for sure! When I asked her what she would like for her big birthday, she said: “Just your presence.” It got me thinking about how many people in my life are my “present;” that is, a gift to me. I thought of my twin and her husband, my niece, my dogs, my friends, my colleagues, and, of course, my wonderful congregation. But…
Restoration and Repair
If you’ve ever owned a house, you know that it’s kind of a pain. There are always repairs to be done – the roof leaks, the dryer quits on you, the dog chews up the linoleum floor… (yah, that really happened!). At OCUUC, we have a wonderful team of people who repair that which is broken. Led by Jennifer Thomas of the Buildings and Grounds Committee, they do everything from fixing gas leaks, plumbing issues, painting the building, and making…
Active Listening
We’ve all been told that listening and hearing are two different things; that hearing is passive, whereas listening is active. So, we can hear what someone is saying, but we might not be listening, which involves not just the words, but the emotions and ideas being expressed both verbally and physically. Listening is quite hard, actually. It requires us to pay attention to the entire person. As we take in the information from the other person, it is very natural…
An Invitation
The monthly theme this month is “invitation” which is, for me, at the heart of Unitarian Universalist worship. We don’t have creeds or dogmas that “tell” people what to believe. We have people sitting in our pews that have all kinds of different beliefs – theists to atheists and everything in between. So it’s important that we respect the pluralism of our faith by making everything inviting. You might have noticed that I always “invite” people to meditation or to…
Rest and Renewal
Last Sunday as part of Question Box Sunday, someone asked if I loved my job. I do! I absolutely love being your minister. I don’t want to be or do anything else. And being a minister is also exhausting. Isn’t that strange? We can love something, but it can also cause us “harm” – lose energy, feel run down, even burnt out if we let it. As a minister I notice that my work is in fact never done -…
Multitudes
We contain multitudes. And yet we are one. It’s a strange paradox. I’m struck by two quotes I found recently. The first is from Winona LaDuke: “The first thing I am is a person… But people either relate to you as an Indian or as a woman. They relate to you as a category.” How true that is. It’s part of human nature to find those categories that we can relate to (or not), and to put one another in…
Enough
“When is enough, enough?” This question ran through my mind when in a business meeting in my 30’s, when the president of the company complained that a competitor was charging more than we were. And yet we were quite profitable, we did good work helping people, and we were respected (they were not). I asked the question to the president, and he looked annoyed and never answered. One of the challenges with capitalism, as Eric N. recently reminded me, is…
Transformation
Butterflies have always intrigued me. I mean, they start out as a caterpillar, a weird long bug with a bunch of stubby legs that eats leaves, and then transform into this winged creature with only six long legs that drinks nectar. In fact, caterpillars get put in a kind of blender that jumbles them all up and has them coming out differently. That can’t be painless or easy. It’s not hard to find the human equivalents, let’s be honest. Who…
Justice and Equity
In “Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith,” the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is elected and declares the emergence of the first Galactic Empire. Palpatine is elected by the galactic senate and given absolute power to deal with what people assume is a threat to the Republic, but don’t realize that Palpatine is actually a Sith Lord (bad guy) and created the threat. Senator Amidala, who is mourning the death of her beloved Republic, whispers horrified, “So this is how liberty…
Liberating Love
Love can sometimes be really annoying. It’s often inconvenient; it’s often very difficult; it can ask us to change or do something that is terrifying; and it can be exhausting. But when we let it in – when we take a deep breath and let it fill our hearts – it can be energizing and exciting, giving us strength, purpose and hope. I’m thinking about all the love we’ve had for our Ukrainian guests as a good example. When we…