In the May 2012 newsletter, Susan Caldwell (All Souls Director of Religious Education) asked you to consider sharing your personal spiritual story, your beliefs and ideas about this life, and perhaps some of the experiences that brought you to this stage of your journey.
We call ours a Living Tradition in the knowledge that beliefs, along with all living things, evolve. What we hold in common is not a belief system but a covenant, not only to support each other on our personal religious paths, but to hold each other accountable to our personal and collective spiritual journeys, and ultimately, to do what we can, together, to make the world a better place.
Although we require no adherence to a common belief system, each one of us forms beliefs about ourselves, the people around us, the universe, where it all came from and where it’s all going, every day. Even knowing these beliefs may change … will change, given all the changes in our daily lives … it is good for us to unpack them from time to time, to hold them up to the light and examine them to see if they still match our experience.
This congregation is a safe place for you to do that. Our third principle is “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.” Or in the children’s words which I love, “Our churches are places where we accept one another and keep on learning together.”
In that spirit, Susan Caldwell would love for you to go back and read her column in the May 2012 newsletter on page 4 (which will mysteriously make parts of this article seem quite familiar) and use the questions there … some from me, some from UUA President Rev. Peter Morales … to craft your own “Credo” statement.
This is something we ask our youth to do at different stages along their journey, and it is a good discipline for us as adults. It is also just one of many ways we can get to know each other better. And if you would like to read Susan Caldwell’s story of faith, it is in the June 2012 newsletter on page 4.
Columns will be printed (one per month) in the order of their arrival, and after awhile, compiled into a book to share with our members.
Please keep your column to 1000 words or less. The “word count” feature in Microsoft Word and other word processors is a much easier way to keep track of this than counting the words individually. You can also do your writing at the website 750Words.com which will count your words for you and is a good place to establish a practice of daily writing.
Email your story to Susan Caldwell by 10:00 AM Tuesday, 26 June 2012 in Microsoft Word format or “rich text format” if your word processor does not save in Microsoft Word format.