Going to Church with the u.u.s (again)
As a Spiritual Wanderer open to The Mysteries and to Awe, I was called to attend my local Unitarian-Universalist church this third Sunday in January.
Due to a series of unpredictable and interesting events, I found myself most easily participating, by “You-tubing in” through live-streaming for the 10 a.m. service. And, being on my laptop this a.m. led me to review my Youtube postings, regarding my double decade long relationship with another protestant-sourcing community: The Quakers:
First thing that I noticed, was that the Quaker connection had me “quieting” myself/ self policing with regards to my heart-felt intentions, and my awareness of IMPACT on others, as I became a regular attendee at various Quaker meeting houses in Western Massachusetts. From my enthusiasic, body aware, heart opening style of communication:
https://youtu.be/ouUhlKKhAcg (two minutes)
I became more and more QUIET:
In Quaker Meeting, in Cambridge Mass in February of 2013:
https://youtu.be/FFgOfBZrbKI (one minute)
And, in December of 2014:
https://youtu.be/tVQtjAChpAs (two minutes)
So many experiences of Quaker meeting space quiet, across the spectrum. On one end, the strange urban quiet of Seattle’s stunning meeting house on top of a hill with airplanes flying over head every ten minutes. On the other end, the pin drop quiet space of a rural meeting house in the woods of Vermont.
I can say with an open heart and a fair amount of wordsmith-led clarity, that I am bouncing out of that “I’m just TOO MUCH for them” space, as I experience coincidences, signs and portents just too big to ignore:
a “calling” to attend my local U.U. church this a.m. (with a mighty resistance grumbling away inside)/ which is only a five minute walk from my home/ just enough distractions leading up to 10 a.m. to allow me to adjust my plans, strategizing instead to be present through the live stream/ the first quotation read being words of THE ONLY BLACK U.U. MINISTER I KNOW/ the song, one I know well/ the next song one I ALSO know well/the topic for the sermon has that “broaden the base” message, that picks up just where we left off when I moved away from U.U. community.
Post C.U.U.P.S charter. https://www.cuups.org/
Around the time we women caught fire through the “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” religious education program.
I am reclaiming my seat at this open conversation (in name only?) on The Beloved Community and Unitarian-Universalist beliefs, just in time for participation in ongoing conversations regarding Finding a Wider Center. I’ll participate from the edges; anchorite style:
https://youtu.be/H0QIdgmSp7o (seven minutes)
Excited, about what this religious community has newly revealed to itself. That it holds LOVE as central to worship, yet in critiquing its own principles, finds that LOVE is only mentioned ONCE.
Time to get courageous, and fire up that heartspace. https://www.podbean.com/pa/pbblog-tqnge-e0b55a