The Simplicity of Community
The Simplicity of Community
“We’ve never closed…. we’re just doing “church” a bit differently for now.” So many times in the last year, we have reminded each other that our Center has never been closed. Indeed, we find ourselves as vibrant as ever as we embrace new, unique and different ways of creating community. These new ways have often come with challenges, yet in many ways, it’s been quite simple. We’ve pulled off parking lot services, a drive through Halloween and an outdoor prayer room. Extra hands were often needed but the people always showed up. We delivered holiday gift baskets to each congregant’s home and even mailed a few! Our holiday services happened and…. they looked different. There was definitely a poignant sadness as we all missed our beloved Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. But the point is, we continued, and we kept moving forward with life. We made it work, we kept everything intact…it just looked different.
Our Leadership: Minister, Board, Licensed Unity Leaders, Ministry Leaders and staff, continued to lead, never missing a beat, and in some ways, thriving. It was simple because people continued to raise their hand and say, “I’ll do that” or “Let’s do this, and I’ll take the lead”. People were invested in making sure we didn’t sink during this time. This made it easy to be hopeful, to be optimistic, to be brave.
As Unity people, we have a solid belief in the Divinity of all beings, no matter their behavior. We have a core belief that we are always and always have been loved without condition. It is this knowingness which has powers us forward. We have demonstrated “love in action” in our commitment to one another, our commitment to sustaining our community through any challenge. It was and continues to be a simple idea /question, “How can we serve our community’s spiritual needs?” The answer might be a bit logistically complicated but the Divine Idea is never difficult.
We are beginning to think about regathering,” Date to be Determined”, but we do have faith that someday soon our foyer will ring with Sunday voices. Using our gift of Imagination, we can see each other giving great big hugs and see huge smiles for folks we haven’t seen for “ages”! We will soon share meals, have in person classes and meetings. We affirm and know it will happen. We are also wise enough to know we won’t just pick up where we left off. Even regathering will have its challenges, but we also know we’ll be ok. We will continue to move forward in love. That is all that’s ever asked of us.
Until that time, we continue to dedicate ourselves to remaining a connected, thriving spiritual community.