Introducing: Roots & Wings

In a few weeks, I start a sabbatical from my role as a congregational minister. Today, as I journaled on a postponed day off, I felt a strong pull towards an idea I've had in the back of my mind for a while -- writing for UUs (and potentially other progressive faith communities or seekers) who are interested in what the future of faith community might look like.

​This is one of the great questions that intrigues me:

How can spiritual community evolve to meet the needs of the present and future?

Evolution and the future -- that's the "wings" part of the roots and wings here.

My mind and heart circled back to this guiding question, partly because I know I will have the sort of spaciousness soon that allows one to step back from the everyday and contemplate the bigger questions. That is, in fact, part of the point of sabbatical. (Plain ol' rest is also a big part of it.)

​This question is on my mind partly, also, because of conversations the lay leadership and I have been having in the church I serve -- including at last week's board meeting. Conversations about the role of a shared sense of mission and vision in the life, longevity and vibrancy of a religious community such as ours.

And it's on my mind partly because of a conversation I had with several colleague-friends over tacos a few days ago. I'm in the weekly rhythms of ministry at the congregational level -- which also is where innovation most often happens​ -- while these two fine people are both serving our faith tradition at the national level, in touch with wider currents.

​But we were animated by some of the same big questions. Including this one:  if we were to start from scratch -- without buildings (let alone pews) and Sunday morning worship as the unconscious archetype of church -- how might we create religious community today?
​
I have a lot of ideas, that I've been collecting from hither and yon, and a few original ones too. We've even tried some of them in the congregation I serve, like Brunch Church (shout out to the folx at Nourish) and Soulful Songs Sundays.

​Those actually fit within the building and the Sunday morning worship container. We don't *have* to throw it all out!  I'm not really the burn-it-down kind of person, hence the theme here of the evolUUtion of spiritual community.

The catch is, though, it's hard to be REALLY creative, or get beyond quite incremental change, when you are confined to the Way We've Always Done Things. Like in a churchy building on Sunday morning.

When you're churning out 52 worship services a year as a community (religious professionals and lay leaders together), that doesn't leave a ton of energy left for experimenting with things that *are* beyond Sunday morning and/or beyond the building.

Roots hold me close, wings set me free.
​Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.
​~ Carolyn McDade (123 - Spirit of Life)

Another of those big questions might be phrased, what is transient vs. what is permanent in liberal religion? What are the roots we hold onto, whatever else changes?

Theodore Parker famously asked this question about Christianity in 1841, when Unitarianism was a newcomer in the radical wing of the Protestant Reformation. (That was before Unitarian Universalism evolved into what many consider a post-Christian tradition -- though one that still deeply honors its roots in the wisdom and example of Jesus.)

I like Parker's question about what is passing and what endures. Only I want to ask it not just in relation to the sources from which we draw inspiration, or how we give voice to the ideas and commitments that ground us -- as a Living Tradition, we collectively revisit and update those on a regular basis, as we have quite recently.

I want to ask about the transient vs. the permanent also in the forms and practices of our shared religious life. Like when and where we gather... what we do in those times together... how we stay connected to each other in-between... and as the lives and capacities of members change, and the patterns of professional support for spiritual life shifts, how we will continue to nurture these precious communities.

Such exploration is the purpose of this blog. As I write, I'll share new pieces on social media, including BlueSky, where anyone can follow me. (I'm on Facebook and LinkedIn too, but I only accept connection requests there from people I either know personally, or who are colleagues.)  If you know how to use the RSS feed, that's up at the top right of this blog page.

If you are interested in my writing not so much for (or not just for) those who have chosen organized religion or other formal types of communities, but who are free-range seekers, check out my other blog, The Savvy Seeker (also available, with email subscription option, on Medium).

Members of the congregation I serve can continue to find articles about that particular church, from me and from other staff and lay leaders, on the church's own blog.