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Last year in a conversation with leaders (Google drive video) of First Parish Church of Groton, MA my colleague Meck Groot and I were introduced to their phrase “spacious grace” – an all-embracing term to describe the “breathtaking” quality of welcome, acceptance, trust, kindness and...
By Joe Sullivan | September 1, 2023 | From NER News -
To change, you must face the dragon of your appetiteswith another dragon: the life-energy of the soul.~ RumiI remember sitting in the foyer of the conference center of my first ever General Assembly after I was hired to work for Mass Bay District....
By Meck Groot | September 1, 2023 | From Practice Makes Possible Blog -
My grandparents had a découpage plaque by their front door with President Kennedy’s famous words, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” A simple collection of words I could read for years before I started to really consider what they meant, and what...
By Wren Bellavance-Grace | August 21, 2023 | From Practice Makes Possible Blog -
To change, you must face the dragon of your appetites with another dragon: the life-energy of the soul.~ RumiI remember sitting in the foyer of the conference center of my first ever General Assembly after I was hired to work for Mass Bay District. I watched as someone constructed a tower out of...
By Meck Groot | August 1, 2023 | From NER News -
A few weeks ago, I joined Joe, Meck, and our Region’s Spiritual Leadership for Culture Change Community of Practice (join anytime!) for a conversation on Tending Our Tradition through Reparations. We were looking at how this practice of Spiritual Leadership invites us to bring forward the gifts...
By Hilary Allen | July 27, 2023 | From Tending to Tradition -
[This post is a follow up to "When We Wonder Together" (Practice Makes Possible - March 7, 2023)] In March, the theme for the bi-monthly gathering for our community of practice Spiritual Leadership for Culture Change (SL4CC) was "Discernment for Faithful Risking." We distinguished discernment fro...
By Meck Groot, Joe Sullivan | June 21, 2023 | From Faithful Risking -
Among the things that has kept regional staff busy lately is conducting transition interviews. When a settled ministry ends, we meet with the departing minister to get their responses to a set of questions designed by the Transitions Office. We also meet with the board and ask them the same...
By Meck Groot | May 31, 2023 | From Tending to Tradition -
“Have you been to the bathroom yet?” It’s not the typical pre-workshop conversation my colleagues and I share as we set up projectors, easels, and workbooks for participants. My answer was no, so my colleague proceeded to describe what she found there. There was a beautiful painting in an...
By Wren Bellavance-Grace | March 7, 2023 | From CovenantingTagged as: Covenant -
In our experience, most Unitarian Universalist congregations are not culturally predisposed to using discernment as a way to determine direction, focus or action. Our congregations generally use "the democratic process" in which group decisions are made by majority vote....
By Meck Groot, Joe Sullivan | March 7, 2023 | From Faithful Risking -
Each Sunday I step into the pulpit and call to worship the congregation sitting in the sanctuary of our 1842 New England Meetinghouse. The sanctuary is simple and elegant. Tall windows line each side, reaching up two stories to the high ceiling, with four chandeliers. The clear panes bring...
By Ellen Spero | February 22, 2023 | From CovenantingTagged as: Covenant