We are spiritual beings by birthright. We are not human beings seeking a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings encountering a human experience. What we do here is Human Being Training. ―Steven Mead, Religious Educator Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the great Jewish Reconstructionist theologian, mused that "Religion asks three things of us: to believe, to behave, and to belong." Covenantal as we UUs are, we put a lot of freight into behaving and belonging. But being theologically ornery, not so much in believing—now, don’t misunderstand, we think believing is important, but not one way or another usually. So I would like to suggest that we Unitarians are asked to Behave, Belong, and to Be something. Being. Now to Be something, that takes training—Human Being Training. That’s what we do here—in our sanctuary, in our classrooms, in our meeting rooms, and in our community. And for Unitarians, there is scarcely a more urgent obligation than teaching our children and youth. Of their Becoming. Now, Human Being Training is a long process and if you think yours is over, I remind you of Paublo Cassals, one of the world’s greatest cellists. Throughout his entire life he maintained a disciplined regimen of practicing for five or six hours every day. On the day he died, at the age of 96, he had already put in several hours practicing his scales. A few years earlier, when he was 93, a friend asked him why, after all he had achieved, he was still practicing as hard as ever. “Because,” Casals replied, “I think I’m making progress.” I think I am making progress. If this isn’t an expression of Becoming, I don’t know what is. Young or old, we are all Becoming—so that we are comfortable in our own skins—with our identity—that we live a life of grace and graciousness in our community, and that we understand that we a part of something greater than ourselves. There’s your Unitarian bonafides for you: right relationship with self—our unique self—with others—our communal self—and with the sacred—our universal self. What’s your story of Becoming? See you in church, Steven Mead Interim Religious Educator
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“Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.” Archimedes, the ancient Greek philosopher and engineer, has famously said, “Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.” Our Place to Stand is right here. In this Special Place. When you fall down here, as one of our second graders said when asked what they like about this place, “When you fall down here, someone helps you up.” Gives you a place to stand. We believe that a life of sacred purpose contains at its core, elements of reverence, right relationship, service, and lifelong learning. Thus, we offer here interwoven experiences of meaningful worship, opportunities for deep connection with others, engagement with the wider world, and spiritual practice and study—the levers that are critical to your wellbeing, the wellbeing of your family, and the wellbeing of the world. These levers—right relationship with self, with others, and the ultimate—are what we need as individuals to move through the world with grace, and to move the world as a congregation. Now we need a fulcrum; something to lean against to give our lever power. We are covenantal here. We care more about belonging, behaving, and being than believing. Our fulcrum in this covenantal relationship with one another—working together. That’s where our power as a healthy congregation comes from—from leaning on one another. Working together. The important question here is what difference will this church make in the world, for whom, and for how much? This is the work of this church. Your job is not to be on the board, to run a committee, or go to a potluck—it’s to give back to this world your gift that someone else needs. And when you do, your life and the lives around you will never be the same. And it won’t be about you. It will be about us. All of us, Together. There’s work to do and we need to do it. Not to endure, but to transform. To make a difference for someone. To care about someone. To experience and embrace the world and ourselves. Find your place to stand. See you in church, Steven Mead Interim Religious Educator |
Steven Mead
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