October 2013

-



 Conflict. Competition. Choice.

I've spent some time with these words the past couple of weeks. I've had cause to examine each as they are related to the programs that are mainstays and programs that are popping up and are offered to the Congregation. You see, we are growing. Not only in visitors, children attending Religious Education, and those interested in membership.

This growth is more subtle. The needs of the Congregation are growing. I've observed that in the past programs have been reserved for Thursday nights or that the standard programs are offered on certain days. I've also observed that any program offered outside of what we are accustomed to causes a little confusion and concern. It may even cause some anxiety when there are two or more programs being offered at the same time on the same day. We worry that programs are in competition with one another and in our minds we label this as conflict.

Our Third Principle guides us to encourage the spiritual growth of others. I take this further and see that principle guiding us to take responsibility for equipping one another to explore and deepen our spirituality as well as offer the tools needed to live out our Unitarian Universalist values. In this mindset the programs available to us in our Congregation offers us choices on how we will equip one another. As we grow, not only in numbers, we will each require something different to nurture our spirit or appeal to our sense of wonder and justice. As we grow we will require more tools and more ways to assist one another to access those tools. So programs become choices. We are able to choose which tools speak to us and engage accordingly. It is wise for us to have diversity in the kinds of tools or programs we offer in order to meet the need for connection, access to that which moves us as individuals, and programs that feed our individual sense of belonging, intellectual interest, and search for truth and meaning.

I invite you to lay down the notion of competition and conflict and pick up choice. We don't have to do it all and we can continue to schedule carefully. Choice will surely equip us to live and learn in ways that speak to us and outside of "this is the way we do it." We are challenged to consider that which will move us toward who we want to be as a Congregation. We have so much to offer those seeking a Congregation. Let us lay out these offerings outside of the box that brings us comfort and prepare a magnificent buffet from which we and our guests can choose and move toward wholeness. We are growing. Let us prepare for the journey.

Blessings, Rev. CJ

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January 2016

-
For a moment last month I realized I was human.  Having had a difficult and emotional month of ministry I found myself stepping back and not being as present as I typically am. You've noticed. I was hard on myself for taking the time to step back, discern, and increase my time for spiritual practice. I thought that as the minister this "luxury" couldn't be mine. But, I'm brave enough to say that isn't true. When stuck in difficulty we should all have the opportunity to step back. It's healthy and we return renewed and revived with deeper understandings. Sometimes we lack compassion for oneself and the compassion that we should expect from others.  I share my intimate lesson lesson with you as minister, as teacher. As a fellow human being, I too have the same struggles and emotional processes that you do. My hope is that my sharing will lead you to share with me and others. I'm stepping out of the shadows having taken the time to think and to unders
Read more

Individuality or Greater Community?

-
Image
I 'm sitting in my favorite spot in a tiny French restaurant. In front of me are two patrons speaking Parisian French. I understand a few words, very few, having a French Canadian grandmother. Beside me are two 50-something women who are obvious colleagues. I overhear religious language, so naturally my interest peaks. They were leaders of the local Catholic diocese responsible for a group of Catholic churches in the area. Between my cafe au lait and salade de la Constance, I was privy to venomous conversation. Worse than my eavesdropping was my discovery that parishes were being pitted against one another, receiving the news that they are not good enough because their Holy Thursday was not up to snuff, not as good as that of the church across town, personal attacks on leaders, all brought together with the ugly bow of insular thinking. Clearly it was a strategy based on competitiveness used to help the individual parish churches become bigger, better, and -- let's face it --
Read more

June 2014

-
Image
Dear Ones, If you've read my Facebook posts you'll know that I've been struggling with something. I've served congregations in the northeast where church begins on the Sunday after Labor Day and ends for the summer usually the third week of June. You can count on it. The congregation gathers in September and goes on their way in June. It never changes. Some congregations have summer services but they are usually quite small and held in different places. Our congregation is quite different. I'm not struggling with year-round services. We should be ready every Sunday for whoever walks through our doors. It's more of the snowbird situation I'm struggling with. In April members and friends start to migrate north, some not returning as late as November. I prefer that we stay together all of the time. I have an innate urge to herd and keep track of each of you. I need to know where you are and what is happening in your lives. I can't do that with these migra
Read more