Sincerity. Let me explain. When I got my first job out of grad school, it was through an agency. My work was spread out over several towns. I rarely went to the main office, but every paycheck had the boss’s signature and a sticky note saying “Thanks for your great work”. I had no doubt … Continue reading Why My Heart is Here: Sincerity
This is the third article in the series of ‘Why My Heart is Here’. This series showcases how individual congregants’ roles and activities at Concord UU help them find connection to and meaning in their lives at church. By spotlighting these individual stories, we hope to show how you might also find your heart’s home … Continue reading Why My Heart is Here: Service and Community
We are beginning a series, called Why My Heart is Here, that will showcase how individual congregants’ roles and activities at Concord UU help us find connection to, and meaning in, our lives at church. By spotlighting these individual stories, we hope to show how you might also find your heart’s home here. I’m offering … Continue reading Why My Heart is Here: Coordinating Our Memorial Receptions
“Deeply Listening Within” was the theme for our service on Oct 13th – the one where I had us pay attention to the sensations in our big toes… It was motivated by my quest to have my reactions be more constructive, more intentional, more in line with my aspirations and values, and the impact I … Continue reading From Big Toes to Response Filters
How connected do you feel to other people at church? If you wish you felt a bit more connected, there are many ways to get there – and I want to give a shout-out for the Tuesday’s Welcome Table weekly dinners as one delicious, delightful way to feed your body and your spirit while getting … Continue reading Tuesday’s Welcome Table
This play on the Rumi lyrics to hymn #188 (Come, Come Whoever You Are) is not only the theme for our auction (Sunday, June 11 @ noon), but also the core of my invitation, my appeal, my plea to you all. I love that we have enabled all our spaces for remote access. That was, … Continue reading Come, Come, Wherever You’ve Been
Our theme for worship and faith development this month asks us to explore this question – and I encourage you to think about how you will explore it intellectually, how you will explore it emotionally, how you could incorporate the question into your personal spiritual practices, and how you might act as an agent of … Continue reading What Does It Mean to Be a People of Healing?
Our mission has never felt as relevant as today: Connecting in love and service, growing spiritually, transforming ourselves and the world. In record time, we’ve had to transform ourselves from a brick & mortar, relish-in-person-proximity, love-to-share-food-and-hold-hands kind of congregation into an online, phone-line, keep your physical distance kind of community. None of us know the … Continue reading Church in a Time of Pandemic
October’s themes of Belonging and Commitment are a serendipitous pairing. Our Children’s Sunday School theme is Belonging while our worship theme is Commitment, and that raises some deep questions for me and maybe for you. What does it look like to be a congregation committed to the idea that children belong to the congregation? What … Continue reading Belonging and Committment
“We stopped coming and no one ever said a word.” “The only call I ever got from the church was about my pledge.” “I went through a rough time but the church didn’t seem to notice.” In other words: You didn’t care about me as a person. Hearing the disappointment and hurt expressed in … Continue reading Staying in Touch
