A Pastoral Letter on Welcoming and Hospitality
October 3, 2007
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Dear Friends:
The start of a new church year is always a time of great energy and optimism. We are gathered together once again in our sanctuaries and classrooms, and we delight in our connections to one another and to a shared past. Each autumn I am reminded that, for us, relationship is holy. Many of us will endeavor to live out this belief by inviting and welcoming newcomers, and this year we have a unique opportunity to open wide our doors and our hearts.
Our national marketing partnership with TIME magazine will promote our faith and encourage spiritually engaged dialog in the public arena. It will also bring seekers to our doors. They will be bringing gifts, and in order to accept these gifts we will need to reconsider what it means to be hospitable. We need to be ready not just to greet visitors, but to welcome them into relationship within our faith community.
To help congregations in this vital work, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has developed new resources for hospitality and welcoming. Please visit UUA.org to find ideas for receiving, retaining, and integrating visitors, as well as advertising graphics to incorporate into your own outreach materials. Our new DVD, "Voices of a Liberal Faith," was recently mailed to all congregations, and on October 3rd, just prior to the official launch date of the national campaign, we will release the first of our full-page TIME magazine ads (PDF) for use by congregations. We have never before been so well prepared for major outreach work, so I encourage you to make good use of these high-quality resources.
I know that Unitarian Universalists can be shy about sharing the blessings of our faith. We are reluctant to be pushy, reluctant to assume that what brings us joy and fulfillment would do the same for another. But, my friends, while that stance is a safe one, it is limiting—both to us and to those who yearn for the blessing of liberal religious community. If we truly believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, we are called to say to every visitor, "Come on in. Join us." Each newcomer is another opportunity to encounter the holy.
My friend and colleague Peter Morales has written, "Hospitality is not something to be proclaimed; it must be lived. Hospitality is both a spiritual discipline and an expression of spiritual health." Peter's insight is a valuable one. A healthy community has abundant emotional resources and can extend loving attention to newcomers. When we are truly hospitable, we are alert to the needs of others, and—perhaps more importantly—we are receptive to their transforming gifts. Because, while the practice of hospitality is indeed about welcoming the stranger, at a deeper spiritual level hospitality is really about cultivating openness in ourselves.
As we learn to welcome the stranger, we learn also to welcome change and growth within our congregations. As we greet this unique opportunity, let us all remember that, for us, relationship is sacred.
Together in faith and in community, may our spirits be nurtured, may our world be healed.
In faith,
Rev. William G. Sinkford
President, Unitarian Universalist Association
For more information contact info @ uua.org.
Last updated on Wednesday, October 3, 2007.
