The Strength of Community
The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) is a great community of communities made up of people connected and committed to reminding each other that we are more together, that we can take turns at the resistance, that cultivating and growing communal joy is part of what helps us stay stronger and focused on the collective liberation and transformation of all.
One of the tasks of the CLF Nominating Committee is to help our community leadership stay fresh and strong. The CLF Nominating Committee knows that the lead ministry team and staff of our church need the energy and joy and enthusiasm of leaders to co-create our future. Does CLF help you grow your joy and keep your eyes on the prize? Would you like to join leadership teams to continue to work for liberation and transformation at church?
The CLF Nominating Committee is seeking individuals who are actively involved in our congregation to assist how we engage in ministry, leadership, and governance together. Specifically, we are looking for individuals to serve on the CLF Nominating Committee who are committed to matching peoples’ gifts with opportunities to contribute and who understand the role of Nominating in widening the circle of care and leadership.
We are also seeking individuals to serve on the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) Board who are deeply rooted in Unitarian Universalism. The CLF Board and Nominating Committee are explicitly seeking ways to incorporate CLF members with personal or familial experience with incarceration, as we continue the journey of involving incarcerated and recently incarcerated members in leadership opportunities.
Please watch for two opportunities in January 2024 to join a Town Hall meeting. We will chat primarily about CLF Board and Nominating Committee volunteer leadership opportunities. However, there will be opportunities to hear about the broad band spectrum of leadership! This is for the interested and the curious! The only invitation will be an invitation to additional conversation. Representatives from the CLF Board, Nominating Committee and Staff will be on hand to share their experiences and answer your questions. This will be an interesting time to explore the ways you might contribute to CLF. And I am sure we will also have fun together.
Please let us know if you or someone you know is interested in this way of investing in our community. Email nominating@clfuu.org with the subject “Board/Committee Interest” and let us know if you would like to learn more about leadership opportunities at CLF, or if you think someone in your circles would be an excellent person to recruit.
If you do not have access to email, and are interested in CLF leadership, please mail a letter expressing your interest to the CLF Nominating Committee, 24 Farnsworth St, Boston, MA 02210. If you do not have access to Zoom, please let us know and we will arrange an alternate way to explore your interest.
— The CLF Nominating Committee Members: Debra Gray Boyd, Julica Hermann de la Fuente (CLF Board liaison to the Nominating Committee), Michele Grove, and Tie Resendiz
Quest October 2023
October 2023
“The songs of our ancestors are also the songs of our children.” —Philip Carr-Gomm
Articles
Honoring Our Ancestors
Altars, places to honor our ancestors along with displays of that which we experience as sacred, were never part of my upbringing. Read more »
Ancestors
What is your relationship with your ancestors like? What shapes that relationship for you? Read more »
“There once was a child”
There once was a child who found herself standin’ at the edge of time, life she thought—could be so cold and cruel; but then there were brief moments when it could be so sublime. Read more »
Samhain (Learning to Hold Ancestors Close)
In the almost seven months since my beloved mother’s death, I have needed to learn the world all over again. Every seasonal shift, every holiday and tradition lands differently now; every detail of the world exists only in relationship with my grief. Read more »
Ancestors
What is your relationship with your ancestors like? What shapes that relationship for you?
Shawn
CLF member, incarcerated in PA
My relationship with my ancestors is very, very important. I have relationships with them just like you would with your living relations. Because, as I see it, they are just as alive as our relations, they are just on another plane of existence, yet here with us. They are around you all the time. You just may not be able to see them. Some of us can.
Ancestor worship is important to Wiccans, Druids and Native Americans. The Japanese also have ancestor worship. You can learn from them because they lived in another time and/or place. You can talk to them and worship them. Revere them. They still shape our lives as they did in the past. They flow through our veins. So it is very important to have a relationship with them. I learn from them as I would with my living relations. We have remnants of them in our Megalithic structures.
Gary
CLF member, incarcerated in NC
Growing up in the South during the 1960s was tumultuous but also a time of tremendous change. Coming from Quaker ancestry, my forebears were active in the Underground Railroad at what is now Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina.
Heritage means many things. Just as each individual is unique but also complex, so too is one’s ancestry.
Jacob
CLF member incarcerated in AR
My relationship with my ancestors is definitely not what I want it to be. I have barely explored it and feel like I am ignoring parts of their sacrifices and wisdom. I know some of my father’s side but have not been in the situation where I have been able to explore my Cherokee ancestry. My great grandmother Easter Sunrise dropped off the Trail of Tears in Missouri. I do not know much of anything about my mother’s side of things. Who are her ancestors? Due to all of this I have decided to start trying to learn more of both sides. I truly want to know where I came from, where my ancestors’ beliefs came from and what shaped them.
Quest September 2023
September 2023
“Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude.” —Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Articles
Embracing Repair
In a world marked by imperfections and the passage of time, the concept of repair takes on a profound significance. Read more »
Repair
What does repair look and feel like to you? Have you experienced significant moments of repair in your relationship with yourself or others? Read more »
Writing My Wrongs
There is nothing exactly like living in Hell, but there is something close to it: jail and prison. Read more »
Updates from the CLF’s 2023 Annual Meeting
The CLF held its Annual Congregational Meeting on Sunday June 11, 2023. Read more »
Repair
What does repair look and feel like to you?
Have you experienced significant moments of repair in your relationship with yourself or others?
Unitarian Universalist Principles & Values
Our Unitarian Universalist faith is bound by covenant — the sacred promises we make to one another — instead of by creed or dogma. The covenant that connects all of Unitarian Universalism is articulated in Article II of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) bylaws. As of 2023, the language of that covenant is in transition; a new articulation of our shared faith values is under discussion, and may be voted in as the official language of our faith in 2024. We have included both the new language, and our existing Unitarian Universalist principles (which were adopted in 1985) below.
UU Principles
Principles 1–7: adopted by the UUA 1985
Principle 8: adopted by the CLF in 2020
We, the member congregations of the UUA, covenant to affirm and promote:
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The inherent worth and dignity of every person
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Justice, equity and compassion in human relations
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Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations
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A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
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The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large
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The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
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Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part
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Journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions
UU Values
Language proposed by the Article II Study Commission in 2022; up for a vote to adopt denomination-wide at UUA General Assembly in 2024
Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love. Inseparable from one another, these shared values are:
Interdependence
We honor the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. With humility and reverence, we covenant to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation, creating and nurturing sustainable relationships of repair, mutuality and justice.
Pluralism
We celebrate that we are all sacred beings diverse in culture, experience, and theology. We covenant to learn from one another in our free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We embrace our differences
and commonalities with Love, curiosity, and respect.
Justice
We work to be diverse multicultural Beloved Communities where all thrive. We covenant to dismantle racism and all forms of systemic oppression. We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregation and the society at large.
Transformation
We adapt to the changing world. We covenant to collectively transform and grow spiritually and ethically. Openness to change is fundamental to our Unitarian and Universalist heritages, never complete and never perfect.
Generosity
We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope. We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.
Equity
We declare that every person has the right to flourish with inherent dignity and worthiness. We covenant to use our time, wisdom, attention, and money to build and sustain fully accessible and inclusive communities.
The History of the CLF
The following graphic traces the history of the Church of the Larger Fellowship from the first Unitarian “Post Office Missions” in the 1800s, through to the present day. To view a larger version of this visual timeline, click on the image below, or on this link.
From Our Members
We love hearing from members and friends of the Church of the Larger Fellowship about what our church community and the wider world of Unitarian Universalism mean to them. The following page includes testimonials from members and friends of the CLF.
“My name is Michael. I have been incarcerated for eleven years. I was raised in the South. Very fire and brimstone stuff. No acceptance. Six years ago I found the CLF’s address and completed your New UU course. It was the first time I questioned what I believed in and why. It changed my life and showed me to love people in a way that I had previously not known was possible.
Your letters and publications are filled with such love and acceptance, it brings joy to my heart. It has allowed me to stop some prejudices that I was brought up in. I try to share true love with everyone around me. You are great examples and inspirations. I know I am only one voice, and it may not seem like much, but this one voice spreads the value of Unitarian Universalism to everyone he meets. I hope this is your goal. I can honestly say that I would not be in the spiritual state I am in without your ministry. From my heart and soul, thank you.”
— Michael, incarcerated CLF member
“I feel more connected to the wider world of Unitarian Universalism through the CLF.
Belonging is an emotional value for me and the CLF fulfills that portion of my spiritual need.”— Ira Lerner, free world CLF member
“Of all my formative experiences, none have shown me a clearer vision of possibility as my internship at the Church of the Larger Fellowship. Covenantal relationship is at the heart of UU faith, and the CLF offers a radical interpretation of that message. Not only are we to be in relationship with the people near us, but we have an ability and obligation that is greater than that, that spans the globe and connects people with similar work and similar aspirations. As an intern at the CLF, I experienced church without a building or primary worship gathering to hold its center, where the essence of religious community was laid bare: A church is not just the gathered body; it is also the spider-webbing networks of relationship and being that hum around the clock, woven into the fabric of our lives.”
— Sarah Prickett, former CLF Learning Fellow
“The CLF is one big, strong, beautiful, spiritual family, full of loving people from all walks of life. It’s a place where you won’t be judged from your race, gender, or sexuality. I humbly respect all members of the CLF, especially those of you that are in staff positions, because it is you all who are holding it all together. Thank you for being strong. Thank you for being loving. Thank you for being here for me in my time of need. Because of you all, I feel blessed every day I wake up. I’ll be a member of the CLF for all of my life.”
— George, incarcerated CLF member
Quest for Seekers – July/August 2023
July/August 2023
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, we create global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act. —Church of the Larger Fellowship Mission Statement
Articles
Intro to the Special Edition: Quest for Seekers
Welcome! Welcome to Quest, welcome to the Church of the Larger Fellowship, and welcome to Unitarian Universalism. This is a special issue of Quest meant specifically for those who are new to the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) and Unitarian Universalism, and want to learn more about both. Read more »
Unitarian Universalist Principles & Values
Our Unitarian Universalist faith is bound by covenant — the sacred promises we make to one another — instead of by creed or dogma. Read more »
The History of the CLF
The following graphic traces the history of the Church of the Larger Fellowship from the first Unitarian “Post Office Missions” in the 1800s, through to the present day. To view a larger version of this visual timeline, click on the image below, or on this link. Read more »
Our Flaming Chalice: History & Current Use
In the 1940s, as the German army began to impose its totalitarianism across Europe, many people fled in fear of their lives. Read more »
10 things to know about Unitarian Universalism
Despite the theological diversity within Unitarian Universalism, there are many things that we agree on and hold sacred within our communities. Read more »
Our Theological Mandate for Liberation
Christina delivered the following sermon during a worship service titled “Liberation, Incarceration, and Our Faith,” at General Assembly 2023. Read more »
From Our Members
We love hearing from members and friends of the Church of the Larger Fellowship about what our church community and the wider world of Unitarian Universalism mean to them. Read more »
The CLF: A Teaching Congregation
The Church of the Larger Fellowship is a teaching congregation. Each year, we welcome intern ministers to our staff and community, they serve our church for a two-year fellowship. Read more »
Quest June 2023
June 2023
Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else. —Tom Stoppard
Articles
Navigating Transition
The months of May and June often bring transitions related to academic promotions, graduations, and other milestones related to the culmination of years of dedication and hard work. Read more »
Transition
How do you relate to transition? What role has transition played in your life? Read more »
Rethinking the Transition Out of Prison
“Transition” has become a byword in the corrections field over recent years. It has come to encompass classes bearing such fanciful titles as “Thinking For A Change,” “Crossroads,” “Men In Transition” and “Ethical Choices.” Read more »
The Gift of a Sensitized Soul
My experience has taught me that many adults who seek a new spiritual connection have, like myself, been particularly sensitized to the suffering of the world. Maybe some people have been taught to be sensitive in this way. Read more »
Beyond the “End”
Do you believe in heaven? Then there is no end. Do you believe in hell? Then there is no end. Read more »
