Practice Makes Possible Blog

Aspen tree forest w/ sign reading ''practice makes possible 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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  • Welcome and a smiley face are written on a green chalkboard.

    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.

    By Erica Baron | March 15, 2024 | From Tending to Tradition
  • A row of tea lights are lit against a dark background, only the one in the foreground is in focus. The flames morph into hearts as they descend backwards.

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

    By Wren Bellavance-Grace | January 29, 2024 | From Covenanting
  • From a perspective set above is a red and yellow hot air balloon against a grassy field.

    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...

    By Hilary Allen | December 14, 2023 | From Doing Our Inner Work
  • From above, seven people hold hands around a table before eating.

    We are a species wired for connection, for collaboration, for community; various fields of study have affirmed and documented this. But when did you know it? Maybe you were fortunate to grow up in a country, a culture, a church, a home where community was as central an element as water and air....

    By Wren Bellavance-Grace | November 29, 2023 | From Practice Makes Possible Blog
  • An arrangement of various flowers and leaves on a marble top with the words "DO", "LOVE", "HOPE, "PEACE", "CARE", and "LIVE" written in black sharpie on pieces of masking tape.

    Julian, do you not know? Do you not know about sorrow? And Julian, do you not know? Do you not know about pain? As our November newsletter was approaching final edits, horrific news of our country’s 565th mass shooting of the calendar year broke out of the city of Lewiston, Maine. As sometimes...

    By Wren Bellavance-Grace | October 31, 2023 | From Centering Gifts
  • A collage of autumnal gatherings from nature on a dark background.

    This month we are delighted to share a voice from our pews. Author Rumni Saha recently shared a version of this essay with her congregation, and sent a copy to our NER office as well. We asked her permission to share it with you. Doing so is a faithful risk by our sibling in faith, and Faithful...

    By Rumni Saha | September 27, 2023 | From Tending to Tradition
  • An illustrated mirror image of two dragons blowing smoke or fire in a gray to teal gradient.

    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
  • A wooden sign reading 'WELCOME WE ARE OPEN' hangs on twine from a bright blue, open door.

    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
  • A black and white photo from the March on Washington, with a crowd of protesters, the reflecting pool, and the Washington Monument in the background.

    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
  • A group of people sit on chairs together in a circle under the sun and trees.

    [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