Blog
We believe the purpose of congregational life is to equip everyone in the congregation to live into their Spiritual Leadership. Here we share reflections to inspire and support Unitarian Universalists tending to Spiritual Leadership in themselves and their community.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 48.
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By Wren Bellavance-Grace |Leadership in our dominant culture tends to evoke images of politicians inspiring crowds with fiery speeches, or breathless heroes leading the charge. But church leadership isn’t a political campaign or an action movie. Many of us engage in church life through meetings — of boards, committees,...Filed in: Doing Our Inner Work
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By Wren Bellavance-Grace |It’s the waning days of 2022 as I write this; it will hit your inbox in early 2023. The turning of the Gregorian year begins with January, named for the Roman god Janus, the god of two faces - one looking ever backward, one looking ever ahead. God of transitions. Of liminal spaces. Of moving out...Filed in: Tending to Tradition
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By Erica Baron, Meck Groot, Joe Sullivan |In 2020 General Assembly delegates voted to begin a review of Article II of the UUA Bylaws. Article II is the covenant between and among UU congregations. It currently contains our seven Principles and six Sources. It also has language about inclusion and freedom of belief....Filed in: Faithful Risking, Tending to Tradition
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By Joe Sullivan |In a recent post titled Imagine New Patterns, Rev. Erica Baron invited leaders to envisage ways of doing church that are deeply enriching, fun, fulfilling; that reflect and advance core values and mission, unconstrained by long-standing habits, as if you were starting anew. “What would we create...
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By Meck Groot, Joe Sullivan |The point of a community of practice is for people who want to get better at something to learn from each other through regular interaction. Even people new to a field can help the group learn. Their observations and questions can identify unrecognized practices and raise awareness of which...Filed in: , Covenanting, Doing Our Inner Work, Faithful Risking, Tending to Tradition
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By Wren Bellavance-Grace |“I will not sink to your barbaric behavior.” I was ten; my sister was six. I knew more multisyllabic words than she did and she leapt at me with her little fists. I just sat there until mom arrived and punished her for hitting. Of course I loved my sister, but I’d already learned that words...Filed in: Doing Our Inner Work
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By Erica Baron |There is a cave, the story goes. In the cave, there is an old woman. She has been in the cave for as long as she can remember, weaving. Like so many stories, this one has been told in many places, and so it has many variations. Here’s how I heard it....
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By Wren Bellavance-Grace |“How are you?” I asked my DRE colleague on our recent phone call. Her response was not exactly typical, but becoming more familiar. She’d had a bout of Covid about six or eight months before. Although she’d been quite sick, it could have been much worse, and she was grateful for the vaccines...Filed in: Doing Our Inner Work, Faithful Risking
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By Meck Groot |For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyard and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a year of sabbath rest....Filed in: Doing Our Inner Work
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By Wren Bellavance-Grace |Recently, I gathered around our dining room table with my daughter and her 7-year-old to play a game of Right, Left, and Center. It’s a portable game involving dice and chips that get shifted to the right, left, or into a center pot. As bedtime neared, we packed the dice into their box and my...Filed in: Doing Our Inner Work, Tending to Tradition