Dear UUCPA folks,
A few weeks back, I put out an email inviting people to participate in some of the ways we make spiritual connections at UUCPA. I noted that while “many people want to meet with others specifically in order to ask spiritual questions together, or undertake practices that are explicitly spiritual in nature,” it was also true that “spiritual pathways vary so much that for some people, gardening is such an opportunity, or helping prepare Second Sunday Lunch, or discussing a novel in Brown Bag Books.”
And sure enough, I heard back from some folks who said that they had a spiritual practice at UUCPA that wasn’t quite so obviously a spiritual practice as meditation or lectio divina (sacred reading). It is so meaningful to hear about those, and I know others would like to hear about them too. They have said so to the Mission Task Force:
What we give to each other is not only intellectual (e.g., new ideas, critical thinking) but also the capacity to perceive and feel more deeply and to bring our lives into greater alignment with our values.
https://www.uucpa.org/findings-from-the-uucpa-mission-task-force/
and
People value the variety of contexts at UUCPA wherein they are supported and encouraged to deepen their own understanding about the meaning of life and the implications this has for how they want to live during various stages of their life cycle—we become more fully ourselves, together.
https://www.uucpa.org/findings-from-the-uucpa-mission-task-force/
Spiritual?
Whatever that context is for you, maybe you don’t use the term “spiritual practice” for it. Maybe you think of it this way:
You feel more alive when you’re doing it.
You connect to something important in yourself.
You feel more connected to other people, or to the universe.
It affirms a part of your identity.
We each express it in our own way
Or, as respondents to the Task Force put it,
You perceive and feel more deeply
It brings your life into greater alignment with your values
You deepen your understanding about the meaning of life
You become more fully yourself, with others.
Sharing our practices is sharing our lives
Matt Rosin, Marilyn Austin and I met the other day to talk about how inspired we feel when we hear about others’ UUCPA experiences of that nature. We wanted to amplify and multiply that inspiration, and so we want to invite you to share about them–perhaps in a service, if you are comfortable with that, or if you prefer to put them in writing or simply talk to me about them, that works too. Fixing what’s broken, participating in Forum, having parking-lot conversations, making Second Sunday lunch, raking, teaching, putting away the hymnbooks after services . . . Wherever something meaningful happens to you, that’s what will be meaningful to others.
I look forward to hearing from you and to others hearing about these experiences, however small! Here are the ways to reach me.
Blessings,
Amy