Desert Notes October 23, 2025

This weekend I attended both the “No Kings” Protest in Chandler with VUU members, which had about 5,000 estimated in attendance, and also attended the Phoenix Pride Parade with Arizona Trans Youth and Parent Organization. (AZTYPO.) Our sibling congregations in Surprise and Phoenix marched in the Pride parade with their ministers and members with decorated vehicles. It was good to see them and cheer them on. I would love to see a group of us plan to march next year and promote our congregation.  

We do have a table at Chandler Pride on Saturday November 15 from 10-6 and I need some folks to help set this up and share about our congregation to folks who come the table. If you’d like to help organize that table and its volunteers, please let me know ASAP! I know that VUU members and friends live all over the metro–if you have an event you’d like to have me participate in or would like to sponsor a VUU table at, let’s talk!  

Outreach is not something I can do alone–your ideas about where we can be visible and engaged in important community events is needed. In January, Chandler hosts a Multicultural Festival which we have had a table at before. I will be on sabbatical, so I need to know if there are folks who want to help organize a group to host a table at this event again this year. (MLK weekend.)

This week I am sharing a lot of upcoming events with you, and I hope you will find ways to join me at some of these as well. Being visibly engaged in our community is one of the ways we can grow as individuals and as a congregation. Cultural exchanges like the ones offered via the Satsang America event on our campus and the Gratitude Gathering help us practice pluralism across a wider range of differences, which I believe is important to building and maintaining a healthy democracy. Wednesday of this week I will be attending a prayer Vigil with Corazon. I hope to share more with you about these events and how we can make a difference in our community.  

We still have some emergency supply bags for unhoused folks for you to take, add a snack or some dollar bills to, and pass out. I’ll have them at service this Sunday.  

In gratitude, Rev. Sarah