Inspiration

UU thoughts, sermons, music

Beloved Community and What it Means

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8th Principle: “We the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountability dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”

“In progressive religious circles, you will often hear calls to “build the Beloved Community,” but I’m not sure we always appreciate the full historic resonance of that phrase. The term “Beloved Community” was coined by the early twentieth-century American philosopher Josiah Royce (1855-1916). But most of us learned it not from Royce but from The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who often spoke of the “Beloved Community” as his ultimate goal.” In his essay, “What Do We Mean We When Say, “Building the Beloved Community”?” Rev. Carl Gregg expounds upon this idea.

Month of Widening the Circle

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Our theme for the month of February is Widening the Circle. We will be posting about it and incorporating it into our services.

While we will be discussing and posting about many things concerning the monthly theme, I think we will start with the report from The Commission on Institutional Change. Widening the Circle of Concern began “At a gathering convened by Unitarian Universalist Association co-presidents Rev. Sofia Betancourt, Rev. William Sinkford, and Dr. Leon Spencer in Atlanta in 2017, Unitarian Universalist leaders of color were asked to share their insights into how the Association could continue moving forward in the midst of another racially charged moment.” Here is the full report both as text and audio. The UUA has also provided a study guide for the book should you be interested.

Here are two songs to think about this month:

Month of Living with Intention

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Our theme for the month of January is Living with Intention. We will be posting about it and incorporating it into our services.

Here is a poem to get us started:

I Will Not Live an Unlived Life by Dawna Markova

I will not die an unlived life
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

Here’s a song:

Music Brings Joy

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Music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies. – Edward Bulwer Lytton

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without. – Confucius

Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering. – Haruki Murakami

Music can heal the wounds which medicine cannot touch. – Debasish Mridha

Month of Opening to Joy

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Our theme for the month of December is Opening to Joy. We will be posting about it and incorporating it into our services.

Here is a poem to get us started:

Joy is Hard by Rev. Joe Cherry (Permission secured by Soul Matters)

Joy is hard.

Joy requires us to feel safe enough,

to be safe enough, to open to vulnerability.

To feel joy, you must be brave.

Joy walks into a room after the space has been cleared

Cleared of shame,

Cleared of doubt

Cleared of self-recrimination.

Joy is hard.

Joy is hard

and joy is worth the hard work of preparation.

Preparing oneself and setting down all the defenses

all the shoulds and could’ves,

all the should not haves and might haves.

Joy is worth the work.

You are worth the work.

You can start small:

the simple pleasure of your favorite tea,

the grand freedom of a full belly laugh.

Invite Joy to be your companion.

Here is a song: