If you find yourselves asking, “who will do all this work?” we joyfully share a way one congregation recently re-centered in giftedness.

Last June Rev. Emily Bruce and Rev. Susan Chorley reached out to us on NER staff to ask what kind of gathering we could help them have with their neighboring congregations to work on building relationships, collaborating, and supporting each other.

This deep knowing is at the heart of religious community. The word religion comes from Latin roots that mean, to bind together. We are bound together by covenant; by our shared values; by our love for one another, and our willingness to disagree without disconnecting.

This world is full of all the things - the beauty, the horror, the promise, the pain, the long stretch of forever, and the tiny instant of time we are given to experience it all. Where will our help materialize?

How do we navigate, together, in an uncertain direction? By Love. My certainty stems from my faith in our Universalist heritage that affirms there is no being outside of the transcendent force of Love.

It is an act of faith, to insist on Joy, and always entails some level of risk. Just as the crocus pushing through mud risks an April snowfall, we are also part of the nature of things that rise up from the muck over and over again, season after season.

How will we commit to be with one another - in times of ease as well as times of anguish? What promises are we called to make to our congregational community? How will we act in alignment with our highest values? How does our shared covenant hold us in times of conflict, harm, and repair?

What are your coping mechanisms in this time? Which ones serve you best? In all things, how can we reduce harm to our bodies, minds and spirits? What are you willing to do to strengthen your empathy? What sacrifices are you willing to make to be of better service to others?

In some quiet moments I’ve reflected on this journey from coveting, to claiming, to interpreting, integrating, and embodying. In my actions and choices, this is what I aim to do, what I feel my faith calling me to do: to Love Justice, to Seek Mercy, and to Go.

Let us not lay waste our power now. Remember who we are. Remember whose we are. Remember who we intend to be.

Mid-October is shifting seasons and losing light and hurtling toward the end of the year - only three more months to achieve those New Year’s resolutions, friends!

It’s September - time to welcome back our UU congregations returning for the 2024-2025 church year. Of course, not all of our congregations are on the agrarian / academic calendar, and whether we are returning to a brand new church year this month, or rolling into it from a busy summer of...

This church year, a small group of leaders and religious professionals from New England congregations gathered together as the Contexts Learning Community. We had a shared interest in exploring more deeply what is happening to church attendance and participation, especially amongst younger people...

It will be Love that leads the course of healing for First Parish. A Love that will hold space for tears, for fear, for outrage and betrayal. A Love that will encourage (a word whose derivation is ‘to make strong’) the congregation toward not just healing, but growth.

Summer’s coming! Kick off those flip-flops and slather on the SPF! We’ve got five surefire tips to get more out of your congregational life this summer!

What is bringing you JOY? How can we make things EASIER for you? Last month, we focused on the first question. This other question - how can your congregation make things easier for you? - is both powerful and in a way, countercultural.

What is bringing you JOY? How can we make things EASIER for you? What good questions for all of us. Whether we are parents, children, youth, or elders; whether we are long-time engaged volunteers, or occasional worship-goers, trust me-your congregation wants to know the answers to these questions.

The practice of Tending Our Tradition asks us to be stewards of Unitarian Universalism by bringing forward what remains liberatory and life-giving from our past while addressing the harms that have also been part of our story.

Love is the doctrine of this church….Love is the spirit of this place….We Side with Love…

For those of you not embroiled in this particular time of year known as search season, now is when many of your sibling congregations have compiled their “records” to be shared with candidating ministers. It is a busy time of collating months of conversation and inward reflection about the...