Tending to Spiritual Leadership Blog

Blog header image. A grove of green aspen trees, with title text reading, "Tending to Spiritual Leadership: Practice Makes Possible."

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 17.

  • a black person facing away from camera holding a sign which reads, "It is a privilege to educate yourself about racism rather than experiencing it!"
    We have to assume that if we are engaged in dismantling white supremacy, then we will have to encounter it along the way.
    by Hilary Allen |
    Filed in: Doing Our Inner Work
  • a bee on a white and yellow flower
    The following is based on content presented as part of the “Staying the Course” workshop at the New Day Rising Conference in February 2021. The full workshop is available to conference registrants through Whova and to new participants who enroll in the UULI course.
    by Meck Groot |
    Filed in: Centering Gifts
  • planting
    Wisely, many faith leaders, writers, and activists have offered a more reflective third dimension between the tensions of before-times nostalgia and new world futures. They invite us to seek and reflect on insights and lessons wrought from a year of altered time.
    by Joe Sullivan |
    Filed in: Binding to Tradition
  • imperfect fern
    Friends, move toward your purpose. Remember what is most essential. Let the rest go. We are here if you need help. 
    by Erica Baron |
    Filed in: Doing Our Inner Work
  • black heart
    Today, I sing praise for the gift of Black Lives. For precious, irreplaceable lives: Emmett, Trayvon, Eric, Tamir, Freddie, Treasure, Sandra, Breonna, George, Skylar, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and.... whose names I recall at all because Alicia, Opal and Patrisse and all the...
    by Meck Groot |
    Filed in: Centering Gifts
  • happy new year
    I imagine you, too, saw the unique holiday cards from the incomparable year just completed with messages like “Just say no to 2020,” “OH OH OH,” and “Merry Christmas from a distance.” Just some of the G-rated messages. We might as well laugh. Humor can be one of our more benign coping...
    by Joe Sullivan |
  • five points cluster logo
    As we go about our work at this time, the NER staff team keeps learning about the faithful ways UU congregations are meeting the challenges of being and doing church during a pandemic.
    by Meck Groot |
    Filed in: Faithful Risking
  • An open book in green grass with yellow leaves around it.
    “Whenever we try to envision a world without war, without violence, without prisons, without capitalism,” writes Walidah Imarisha, “we are engaging in speculative fiction. All organizing is science fiction. Organizers and activists dedicate their lives to creating and envisioning another...
    by Meck Groot |
  • lavender in snow
    It’s been a hard fall. We made it through a virtual summer after our very first all-virtual General Assembly last June - and here we are already anticipating another all-virtual GA in June of 2021. The election season was both astonishing and surreal. As I write this, many of us are preparing for..
    by Wren Bellavance-Grace |
    Filed in: Centering Gifts
  • Minister Robin Bartlett and a congregant of First Church in Sterling, MA wearing t-shirts that read “We can do hard things!” participating in Operation Food is Love in May
    Earlier this year, just as the reality of the pandemic was unfolding, the New England Region was planning to host a workshop on “Faithful Risking,” one of our Practices of Spiritual Leadership. Ultimately we ended up cancelling the workshop. While we could have adapted to an online format,...
    by Hilary Allen |
    Filed in: Faithful Risking