A goodbye wish for spiritual growth!

The Canadian Unitarian Council's May 2015 Annual Conference and Meetings (CUC ACM) in Ottawa were hugely meaningful on many levels, and as always I am super grateful for the professional development funds that cover my costs to attend and get inspired. Let me share some highlights and reflections on it all!

After the banner parade for all UUs on Friday night, we celebrated being together with Matt Meyer, the Boston based percussion artist, performer and worship leader who is modeling how to live our UU values in a co-housing community that -- among other traits -- sings together every Sunday night, welcoming in their neighbours. Matt had us sing with lots of call-and-response; often saying something simple and yet profound like “singing pulls us together” words we would repeat. As he put it, he helped us “build a feeling of wholeness among those gathered,” to ‘gather the spirit.’  What a model!

Sunday morning we watched a spectacular pageant-like visual narrative of the history of Ottawa and its mighty rivers, using huge puppets and many many singers and puppet carriers (thanks to the ACM choir and Ottawa area UUs).  I especially loved the Gaia figure with arms and skirts like a giant maypole!

It was a learning experience for me to think about how awesome the production was, and what a huge accomplishment, yet also to wonder what could have made it more worshipful.  How we draw our children, youth and adults into deeper levels of meaning and relationship through shared services and other activities is always an important consideration for me as a religious educator.

My 3rd ACM highlight was Rev Stephen Atkinson’s Confluence Lecture on Sunday afternoon, called “Spirit: The Necessary Foundation of Social Justice.”
Although I would agree with the animator of our CUC 2012 Spiritual Leadership symposium, saying that "spirituality is at its core about LIFE vs non-life," Stephen sidestepped defining “spiritual.”  Instead, he delved into recent neuroscience, citing the brain as our spiritual organ, and affirming that
"Attending to our spiritual lives, individually and together, is necessary for us to be wise, committed and effective in how we address the hurt and unfairness in the world."
Stephen said he is also concerned with “our difficulty [as UUs] finding a common theological ground; not... a dogma, but a common deep, inspiring and path-setting foundation that we all respect. …"
I love how he went on to cite studies in Neurotheology,  explaining that
 "… [current research] doesn’t prove [a neurological "state of Absolute Unitary Being"], but it doesn’t contradict the possibility of a deeper self… in a Universe where all things are one. ... a kind of Rumi’s field where mysticism and humanism aren’t thought of as wrong or right."
He suggests, “...we can meet each other there, and if we can, I bet that what we do together there is grow spiritually as we more deeply accept a comfortable unity of values"....

"If we want to take flight, we need two wings, not just one: one is certainly public social action, but the other has to be greater depth, meaning and purpose, individually and collectively, and I don’t see that coming anywhere but from a spiritual renewal..."

As a Quakertarian who has loved her work in religious education, and who often communes with herons, I embrace Stephen’s thesis that:
"to live a vibrant life, we must continually grow as a person. Growth comes from living consciously: sometimes in therapy, self-help groups or spiritual practice; sometimes by facing and learning from our mistakes. Congregations at their best nourish and make room for personal growth."

If you would like to hear or see the complete lecture, visit www.cuc.ca/ACM-2015/confluence-lecture/

Finally, we all know UUs are good at questions, and Quakers speak of the big questions as "queries," so my queries for you at this time are:
How does each of you nourish your spiritual growth?
How has this congregation already (or might it in the future?) made/make room for YOUR personal growth?

Not only will I be delighted to hear of your responses, but I am sure the entire UCM community would benefit, so be sure to share them widely -- perhaps in our newsletter, or on the ucmtl.ca website.

This month I take formal leave of my role as your Director of Religious Education, with a bittersweet awareness that my body and brain are ready to rest and move on, but I will not let go of my deep connection to the entire institution and to so many of you.  Blessings on your journeys, as I take my own next steps on my own journey to simply being "a great old lady" -- my ambition since I was around age ten!