From Our Co-Ministers

February 2007

What really matters? What’s at the heart of your living? What’s at the heart of our being a community? And when an answer comes to you, then pause and ask yourself what’s at the heart of that? And then pause and see if you can go even further to what’s at the heart of that? Can you go even further still to what’s at the heart of that?

We help each other get deep down, down to the bones, down to what matters most. We want to connect with our world, one another, and ourselves, and with what poet Gerald Manley Hopkins calls “the dearest freshness deep down things.”

Many of you have found daily (or almost daily!) practices that support you in being who you want to be—practices that reduce stress, promote wholeness and health and remind you of what you hold most dear. Practices support you in being in right relationship to your self, others, the world and to what’s at the heart of it. These practices take many forms. We have put together a hand-out of possible practices. They include practices for individuals and families. Please just ask if you’d like a copy.

What are the practices that we as a community can share that allow us to move forward so we embody what matters most?

We can practice slowing down. We can pause before heading right into the next moment or the next item on our long “To Do” lists. We can recognize when we are crossing a threshold from busyness to time to breathe. When we come through the front doors or step into the Sanctuary on Sunday mornings or when we greet one another, we can give ourselves a moment to let go of the demands, anxieties and expectations of our previous activity. Then after a time of stillness, of letting go, we can bring right attention, we can bring a sense of presence to what we do and to the person before us.

We can tend to what matters most, which is not really getting the copies made or the snacks put out or running off to meetings. We can practice being present to one another. We can ask curious questions to have heart to heart conversation.

When we as a congregation are at our best, what is it like? What does it look like? What would happen if we did more of that?

We have found something here that nurtures the wholeness of ourselves, and we want more of that for ourselves and for others who we can invite and help to find that wholeness too. Hospitality to strangers may be entertaining angels unawares.

Someone recently described UUCB as a green house. She said this community is where she is nurtured, a place where she can grow, where she can try something new just like tender, young green plants who risk growth in a place designed for their cultivation. She can move toward being her fullest, deepest, truest self. She can grow.

We all know from our own experiences. There’s no way around it. Growth is change. And that can be scary. Outcomes aren’t certain. So, we become more of a green house. We cultivate warmth, the willingness to experiment, and the sense that somehow, no matter what happens, everything will be okay. We don’t want to shrink back out of fear. We keep flexible, supple, bending, practicing resilience. We breathe and relax, develop inner joy and gratitude.

Thanks for all the ways we remind one another of “the dearest freshness deep down things.”

Barbara and Bill
Revs. Barbara and Bill Hamilton-Holway, Co-Ministers