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Stewardship: A Bridge to Belonging

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Our church on Court Hill is where we practice our beliefs and actions – crazy as they seem to others. It is where we take risks. It is where we can leave our comfort zones.  It is a place to humbly try to live outside of one's self.   That is why I'm here. That is why I support First Unitarian. Please join me in this important work. -- Jay Lavelle


At the Prudential Committee retreat in June, we came up with a set of goals for the year 2020. The first was “Create a diversity of modes of spiritual experience for members, friends, children and youth."
My own path is relatively diverse: austere New England Trinitarian Protestantism based on service, charity, and being of good will, a dash of Charismaticism, and a heaping spoonful of Tibetan Buddhism. And that is not that uncommon. I know Catholics, Jews, Buddhists of all denominations, and Sufis in my ken, all of whom find a home at First Unitarian. There are agnostics and atheists living by the light of reason. And there are some who just don't know what they are.
So how do they all fit into a church – an institution usually defined by specific beliefs and practices that everyone agrees to? How does this private, internal quest fit within a large group of people, within an institution that is 231-years old? And why is this important?
The French philosopher and mystic Simone Weil talked about “experimental certainties.” An experimental certainty is something that can be only known through practice; something that can be only known when used in the presence of others. And those places of presence are churches. Our church on Court Hill is where we practice our beliefs and actions – crazy as they seem to others. It is where we take risks. It is where we can leave our comfort zones.
A church is a place of safety where one needn't fear. It is a place to humbly try to live outside of one's self. It is a place where, to paraphrase Robert Frost, they have to take you in. But there are some who haven't realized that yet, some who may have come from more rigid traditions where a diverse, fluid approach to faith and worship is not appreciated. Or maybe they never thought of that question before, but only know something is gnawing at their core. They have a place with us, and we owe them the opportunity for growth and self-expression.
Our church is a place where the life of the spirit is taken seriously. It is also a place of content, comfort, and camaraderie. The goal of the Prudential Committee to expand that to include and welcome diverse spiritual experiences will make our church a more personal place, uniquely vital to everyone involved.

That is why I'm here. That is why I support First Unitarian. Please join me in this important work.

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