I asked a bunch of Unitarian Universalist ministers to share a question that had been meaningful, challenging, or inspiring to them in their personal spiritual journeys. Here are their responses (not all of them questions!):
Who do I serve?
Where is God in the dark places?
What skills count as spiritual skills?
Where did I serve/fail Love (God) today?
How do I grow God’s kingdom?
Why is forgiving so hard?
How does Spirit call me to serve?
One day at a time.
How is my helping hurting?
What does God want to say through me?
How am I a spiritual being?
Am I living in the present moment?
Why/how is there something rather than nothing?
Don’t forget the Good News!
Self-Noself
What am I afraid of?
What’s the spiritual world like?
What does love require of me?
How long is now?
What am I resisting?
When I pray for you, what shall I pray for?
Where is the life?
How do I love them all?
How do I appreciate the now?
Did I remember: be grateful and thankful today
Perhaps it is I who am wrong?
To whom or what am I responsible?
What is my life purpose now?
What would make this fun?
What is truly trustworthy?
Is this a hill worth dying on?
Leadership is creating space for others to excel.
What is God asking of me next?
Whose voice is missing?
What’s going on underneath?
Whose are you?
(In the voice Sean Connery from “The Untouchables”) What are you prepared to do about it?
Where is the spiritual growth happening here?
Is there an opportunity to laugh or praise here?
What is the top priority right now?
What does That Which Matters Most ask of me?
Where do I belong, and why, and how?
What Time is it?
Return to your breath. You can do this.
What is life-giving?
Is it a full moon?
How do you love those who will never love you? (attributed to Susan Werner)
What is the meaning of “my” life in light of my impending death?
What is getting in the way?
There are days when I quote Socrates: “I drank what?”
Am I honoring my ancestors? (ancestors widely defined)
What does your heart say?
Don’t ever forget that a spiritual life requires.
At the turn of the year, I asked a bunch of Unitarian Universalist ministers to share their hopes and intentions for ministry in 2015. I asked them to answer in the form of haiku. Their answers are below.
The church cries, “Save us!”
I am not the messiah!
We walk together.
Thirsty? Take a drink!
Then we irrigate the desert
From our source of love.
Clarify mission;
City beyond the church doors.
Should we do small groups?
Across the prairie
A Prophetic Sisterhood
We will be reborn.
Post much work and change
‘Twill be completely the same
Only different
Evangelizing;
Southeast Georgia and beyond;
For Justice and Love!
Was planning to post
But this haiku thing is hard
So I will sit and watch
Dying of the year
Remind us of life’s cycles
Stir in us new hope
Our mission statement:
Inspire, educate and serve.
See what we can do.
Look up and not down,
Out, not in, forward not back,
And lend a hand – Hale
Do ministry now,
Build whole church of tomorrow,
And pray together.
Encourage colleagues
to trust transforming powers;
write like hair ablaze.
Inevitable
that’s what change is, they tell us
We choose progress, too
More people will be
Unafraid to be artists
In God’s creation
Wondering again
how we can hold humbleness
in the face of pride.
Love people boldly
into their own bold passions
for peace and justice.
Proclaim a gospel
of ceaseless hope, faith and love
for a broken world.
We will covenant
To be all we can become
For the love of Earth
Take care of myself
Remember my deep calling
Love all the people.
Adapt, ye leaders
from your center bend that arc
justice needs us now
despised ones clasp hands, raising
their faces to smile into the nothing
they’re free from at last
wild blue way awaits
past the horizon cast grey
slip the surly bonds
Praising, receiving
Lovingly living, working
Dreaming and doing
Love the Lord your God
With your heart and mind and your
Neighbor as yourself
look see tell watch hear
see our pain see our beauty
act love – chose love – love
Trim the hedges, find
the order, get the engine
humming, serve the world.
One less soul alone
Deliberate love action
To remove life’s hell
Possibilities
candle lighting candlelight
boldly open doors
Stewardship campaign’s
Purpose is to buy me a
staff to do stuff things
Love unceasingly
My fear will not protect me
Embrace the unknown
The Navy found me
ready and waiting to serve.
Anchors Aweigh, boys!
still seeking platforms
that connect and don’t annoy
dispirit spirits
trying to find a
new way that does not only
serve the overserved.
Figuring it out
bivocational scrambling
glad to have support
let’s have ongoing
conversations about race
and act from best selves
To the volunteers:
“You are doing a great job!”
Keep up the good work.
Try to find the way
Forward and find the new place
And get past the past
Open hearts and minds
From stillness, move to action
In love, struggle on.
Announce, welcome, sing
To everyone you meet:
friendship, oneness, love.
Love. Be curious.
Be 21st century–
no categories
Be brave. Be present.
Shout “love!” from every corner.
Hold hands and jump off.
January 2015
“You cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” —C.S. Lewis
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Recently, in preparation for my daily practice of mindfulness and prayer, I came across a stunning piece of information. In The Book of Awakening; Having the Life You Want to Have by Being Present to the Life You Have, by the poet Mark Nepo, I learned that a baby chick doesn’t just hatch. Well, it does hatch, but the process of hatching is actually a terrifying event if you look at it from the bird’s perspective. Read more →
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Transformation is part and parcel of most religious groups. The work of a faith community is to build a better world and to help each other become better people, to be open to the grace of God in our lives. Read more →
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A stream, from its course in the far-off mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert. Read more →
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The America that is best known and most resented around the world pursues unlimited economic growth, technological revolutions, and consumption, with little or no regard for their destructive impact on communities, on the environment, and on the billions of people who live in what used to be called the “Third World.” Read more →
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For the past several years, I’ve been part of a group called Transforming Families, in which families that include trans* kids come together for support, information sharing, and fun. Read more →
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I can well remember from my childhood that most adults had a very strange habit. Pretty much any time you saw one of your parents’ friends, or an out-of-town relative, they would greet you in exactly the same way… Read more →
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Read more →To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story…
—Barbara Kingsolver
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Quest for Meaning is a program of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, the CLF creates global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act.