Happy 2026 Greetings and SalUUtations!
I hope you and yours enjoyed a lovely and restorative holiday season, and wish you all the best in the new year.
I’m writing to say that I’ve been putting together some thoughts that link outlooks on the human soul to personal and societal well-being; and how in my view the modern absence of the first contributes to a severe shortage of the second. And starting this Sunday I’ll begin sharing these via an ongoing series of reflections I’m calling Soul Focus.
These merge cultural and religious history, mythology, social commentary, poetry, remarkable true stories, and more. My aim is to reclaim the soul’s reality and significance for modern people, and show how this helps foster personal and communal health.
All this will take some time to unfold. In this it’s similar to a TV series you might enjoy. The narrative may have many facets, and few if any main storylines are fully wrapped up in a given week. But gradually things come together—and over the months Soul Focus will do likewise. (And like TV serials, smaller partial-closures will happen along the way.)
Yet particularly at the start, some of what I propose may sound foreign to some contemporary ears. So please know that while questions may arise, most of them will be answered as we go. Hence I ask you to listen with what Buddhism calls “Beginner’s Mind,” an attitude of open-mindedness mixed with a bit of patience with the unfamiliar.
On a logistical note, occasionally other service topics will pre-empt the series; for instance Rev. Cat’s Feb. 1 Installation (please plan now to attend!) and some pledge drive services and guest speakers in March. But I’ll mostly share Soul Focus installments the rest of this year, and continue next fall.
As I proceed I’ll recap some key points as needed. And like every other UUCPA talk they’ll all be available as audio recordings on the website. https://www.uucpa.org/worship/past-worship-services/ So anyone who cares to can catch any missed installments, or listen again, before the next new one.
I hope you find what could be summed up as reflections on “the soul and society” as enriching in the hearing as formulating them has been for me.
Many Blessings,
Rev. Peter