Read the full issue of this week’s newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal December 12

In this week’s issue, Rev. Justin Schroeder writes:

On Sunday, as I listened to Rev. Karen Hutt preach her sermon, “Home: A Philosophical Problem,” she so stirred my heart, that I took out my journal and jotted down some notes, to capture what I was thinking and feeling. I sat with both the comfort and discomfort of these questions: “Where do I feel homeless in my life? Where do I feel homeness and at home?” Since Sunday, I’ve been sitting with these questions, and they are pushing me toward new ways of being, new ways of exploring how I can be at “home” in a variety of settings and with a variety of people. 

 These questions also make me think about our Holiday Giving Project, and being at home in a new set of holiday practices. Specifically, this year, the entire congregation has been invited to reconnect with core spiritual values, and to re-imagine what joy and justice might look like this holiday season (a time that that is often filled with consumption, hecticness, and overwhelm.) We were invited to reduce our spending and consumption, not as a sacrifice or punishment, but as something good for the planet and good for our spirits, and then to pool our collective savings to give a gift to Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), our Holiday Giving recipient.

This Sunday, during both worship services, we will collect our special Holiday Giving offering for BLUU. In giving and receiving this Holiday Gift, we begin to find a new “home” for ourselves in the winter holidays, one that is focused on what brings us joy and is in alignment with our values, one that cares for creation by reducing consumption, and one that calls us to support black leaders and leadership as a part of our lives. These practices invite us into a new way of being, both around the holidays, and throughout the year. 

This is the work of our church. 

With care,
Justin