At first I thought the ministry theme of trust wouldn’t be meaningful for Unitarian Universalists. Our religion seems much more a personal journey rather than putting trust in any outside authority. In general, we look for spiritual and worldly truth always with a grain of salt and a focus on individual reason/research. Our religion comes from a strong tradition of personal examination and self-exploration. We don’t take truth exactly as anyone tells us, but instead use our own experiences and wisdom to inform what we believe. But this also speaks to the concept of truth, for in doing our own discernment we are showing trust in our ability and in our reason. The more I pondered the practice of trust, the more I saw that it was extremely meaningful for us!

There are many different aspects of trust. Trust can be in the form of spiritual ideas, which I was alluding to above – or it can be trust of ourselves or trust in a relationship. Trusting in the outcome of an event or trusting our romantic partner are very different ways of experiencing the same feeling. The variety inherent in the emotion and feeling of trust means that there are multiple ways for approach. March’s spiritual practice is to do an activity of trust – you may pick or compose your own or choose from the following
list of activities.

Personally, I think that I am pretty good at trusting individuals – sometimes to the extreme of naivete. I’m not as good at trusting authority, and I find myself questioning institutions of power. Is my personal trust and institutional miss-trust misguided? I’ll be mulling that over this month.

What does trust mean for you, personally or spiritually? I’m interested share our ideas. Reach out and let’s chat! I can be contacted via phone (412-327-3731), e-mail ([email protected]) or in person at TPUUF (Thursdays, Sundays I preach & other times by appointment).

With Trust,
Rev. Andrew L. Weber