Welcome to a new church and academic year! This is often a time of re-starting yearly schedules after a summer break. We might be restarting school or coming back to work after a vacation. At TPUUF it means that I will be leading worship more often, and that we will be once again using ministry themes. We join with many congregations in framing worship and religious education around shared themes. They can be found here: soulmatterssharingcircle.com/themes.html.

Something that struck me this year is the action words associated with our themes. Here are examples from the first half of the church year:

September – Building Belonging
October – Cultivating Compassion
November – Nurturing Gratitude
December – Choosing Hope
January – Practicing Resistance

Each topic has a verb preceding it, containing a sense of agency. That is, we are the ones who are building, cultivating, nurturing, choosing and practicing. These aren’t just deep topics which we talk or think about and then go on with our lives. These ministry themes are upheld, created and sustained by us. If we want to have a community of belonging, we are the ones who can build it. If we want to see compassion in the world, we can cultivate it.

I am going to continue to offer spiritual practices for the month, designed as entry points to help us embody the ministry theme, to explore our own agency and how our actions make a difference. The spiritual practice for September is to reflect on belonging. Where have you felt that you belonged? What made you know that you belonged? Was it something someone said or how they acted? Did you create the space or was it there for you already? You might even use this as a springboard and think about welcoming, non-belonging or any other adjacent or opposite topics.

I am interested to hear where you have felt that you belonged (or the opposite – where you have felt ostracized). Don’t hesitate to reach out. I can be contacted via phone (412-327-3731), e-mail minister@tpuuf.org or in person at TPUUF (Thursdays, Sundays I preach; other times by
appointment).

With welcome,
Rev. Andrew L. Weber