Showing up at the UUCRT for Sunday Service, where we partake in the disciples of guidance, confession, worship, and celebration, is spiritual practice. Serving the UUCRT community, by making coffee, watering the plants, moving chairs, or playing the piano, is spiritual practice. Voting at a congregational meeting, and submitting to the will of the majority when the vote does not go your way, is spiritual practice.

Abstaining from gossip in the fellowship hall; listening to others who are in distress; writing a letter with the Social Action Ministry; using your own mug instead of a disposable cup; fasting from any kind of coffee or tea that is not fair trade certified; walking, riding your bike, or carpooling to the congregation instead of driving your own car; these are all spiritual practices.

Some say: “I am spiritual but not religious. I don’t need church; I find God in the sunsets.” To that, I respond: “Wonderful!  I find God in the sunsets, too!” And, I would add, “basking in sunset beauty is hardly adequate for those serious about spiritual growth or ethical living, for that we need to be in relationship to other people.” Structures like organized religion and congregations like the UUCRT are not the only way to develop a spiritual practice, experience spiritual growth, or learn to live more ethically, but they are often a vital resource for people to achieve those ends.

This month we explore spiritual practices, a theme that is not as abstract as it may first sound. Most of us are engaged in many spiritual practices, even if we have not always recognized them as such. In fact, most of our time together at the UUCRT is time spent in spiritual practice. Naming these activities as spiritual practices can be helpful. When we name what we do as spiritual practice, we can appreciate that spiritual practices are often something more than work; we can find joy in the celebration of spiritual practices and learn to do them with greater mindfulness and intention.

 

See you on Sunday

Chris