This past Sunday a service was presented at the Unitarian Universalist congregation where I am a member. The presenter talked about Yom Kippur and the Autumn Equinox. She then did a short Mabon ritual and a guided meditation. I'm not normally moved by guided meditations, but lately they have had some impact upon me.
Part of the imagery of the meditation was to enter a cave and go to a room in the cave where a large scale rested. On one side rested your worries, fears, and weaknesses and on the other your strengths, hopes, and dreams. When I walked up to the scale the side containing my weaknesses was heavy and touched the floor, while the side with my hopes and dreams was in the air. During the course of the meditation I saw myself pull out my beating heart and put it on the scale of my hopes and dreams and the scales came to balance.
I was then lead, during the meditation, to the side containing my weaknesses. To attempt to remove them -- in hopes of easing my burden. What I saw was striking. I saw a large serpent coiled around my worries, fears, and weaknesses and she would not let me touch any of them. I looked into the eyes of the serpent and saw Wisdom. I then heard a voice inside my head, "You need what is here to make you stronger." She, the serpent, then opened her mouth and my heart came out -- which I quickly grabbed and put back into my chest. I noticed the scales were now even and the serpent was gone.
This was my experience with Sophia.
Note: The issues I have/had with Religious Education, and being a director of religious education, at the UU congregation I belong to seems to be clearing up. This is a very good and it seems that positive change is slowly starting to happen -- change for the good.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
...No place to rest my head.
Luke 9:58: Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
This passage from Luke adequately describes how I feel as a Unitarian Universalist. The politics and frustrations with being a Co-Director of Religious Education might be escalating to a point where my frustrations exceed any degree of financial value and overall fulfillment. My congregation has no minister, but when I spoke with a nearby congregations minister she informed me that Religious Education was the most difficult position within a Unitarian Universalist congregation and I believe her!
The youth that I work with are a wonderful group of young people! Today when I was facilitating our program with the youth we went over such things as wants and dreams. One young man in the program in stating his wants said, "I want to be like..." and he said my name. He could have been placating me, certainly, but it was a good feeling knowing that I am making an impact on the lives of at least some of these young people.
I will be spending the next week at Between the Worlds, and during my time there I'm going to think about my place as a Director of Religious Education and as a member of the Unitarian Universalist congregation I belong. This is no light decision for me to make because the youth in our Religious Education program are innocent teenagers who know nothing about the worries and frustrations of the adults amongst them. I don't want to walk away from them, but if my relationship with the congregation is not working out then I need to acknowledge this problem and what is best, in the long term, for myself and my own mental well being.
Another brick in the wall....
There is so much I could write about, but since this is an open blog I don't want to go into too much detail for obvious reasons. In my attempt not to get too negative I'll end here.
This passage from Luke adequately describes how I feel as a Unitarian Universalist. The politics and frustrations with being a Co-Director of Religious Education might be escalating to a point where my frustrations exceed any degree of financial value and overall fulfillment. My congregation has no minister, but when I spoke with a nearby congregations minister she informed me that Religious Education was the most difficult position within a Unitarian Universalist congregation and I believe her!
The youth that I work with are a wonderful group of young people! Today when I was facilitating our program with the youth we went over such things as wants and dreams. One young man in the program in stating his wants said, "I want to be like..." and he said my name. He could have been placating me, certainly, but it was a good feeling knowing that I am making an impact on the lives of at least some of these young people.
I will be spending the next week at Between the Worlds, and during my time there I'm going to think about my place as a Director of Religious Education and as a member of the Unitarian Universalist congregation I belong. This is no light decision for me to make because the youth in our Religious Education program are innocent teenagers who know nothing about the worries and frustrations of the adults amongst them. I don't want to walk away from them, but if my relationship with the congregation is not working out then I need to acknowledge this problem and what is best, in the long term, for myself and my own mental well being.
Another brick in the wall....
There is so much I could write about, but since this is an open blog I don't want to go into too much detail for obvious reasons. In my attempt not to get too negative I'll end here.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Classism and the "Water Ingathering."
Last week I told the youth in the Religious Education program I teach on Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist congregation I work at that they had to attend the Sunday program today -- Water Ingathering. The Water Ingathering is where people come up and add water to a fountain. At my congregation they come up and talk about where they went this summer, or bring water from their home. The custom has potential to have some significance. However, what it seems to be now is an opportunity for some people to be "socially active" and talk about how much we need to conserve water and how we are too privileged in this country. Other people use it as an opportunity to share with the rest of the congregation all the nice places there were able to afford to visit on vacation throughout the summer. Alaska is so beautiful in the summer. Niagra Falls is such a wonderful place. Oh, Colorado is suffering from a drought, and so is Michigan.
I sat back and thought, "What if you are too poor to take cruises to Alaska, or go to the mountains in Colorado and then sojourn over to Michigan, blah, blah, blah." What might have been more meaningful would be for people to make a water offering in honor of something or someone. Or perhaps to share with the rest of the congregation a piece of wisdom they learned over the summer.
Something else the congregation could try is a water communion ceremony where we gather water (and we would have to make sure it is all potable) together and then charge the water with energy, through a song or intention, so that everyone in the world will "never thirst." Something like this I could really get into, and I facilitated such a ritual at Midwest Leadership School (a UU week long leadership program). What I sat through at my congregation today was the most excruciating program I think I've attended at said congregation. I typically don't attend the programs because I'm with the youth or doing "Director of Religious Education" stuff. This was the first full program I've been to in over eight months that I have not had a role in and I was incredibly disappointed. When it was all over I felt bad for the youth who had to endure it, and also felt my own "economic class."
On a different and totally unrelated note, on Saturday I received a letter of acceptance to Methodist Theological School in Ohio, the graduate theological school I applied to this summer. I'll scheduled to start there Fall 2008 contingent upon graduation from Wright State University. I was pretty happy to have that news.
I sat back and thought, "What if you are too poor to take cruises to Alaska, or go to the mountains in Colorado and then sojourn over to Michigan, blah, blah, blah." What might have been more meaningful would be for people to make a water offering in honor of something or someone. Or perhaps to share with the rest of the congregation a piece of wisdom they learned over the summer.
Something else the congregation could try is a water communion ceremony where we gather water (and we would have to make sure it is all potable) together and then charge the water with energy, through a song or intention, so that everyone in the world will "never thirst." Something like this I could really get into, and I facilitated such a ritual at Midwest Leadership School (a UU week long leadership program). What I sat through at my congregation today was the most excruciating program I think I've attended at said congregation. I typically don't attend the programs because I'm with the youth or doing "Director of Religious Education" stuff. This was the first full program I've been to in over eight months that I have not had a role in and I was incredibly disappointed. When it was all over I felt bad for the youth who had to endure it, and also felt my own "economic class."
On a different and totally unrelated note, on Saturday I received a letter of acceptance to Methodist Theological School in Ohio, the graduate theological school I applied to this summer. I'll scheduled to start there Fall 2008 contingent upon graduation from Wright State University. I was pretty happy to have that news.
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