Spiritually Speaking: Oops, Did You Do It Again?

When Brittany Spears released her song, “Oops, I Did It Again,” she did more than make a hit. She easily captured the tag line for many of our lives. The tough thing, I’ve found, is not that I’ve made mistakes. I can make a mistake and apologize. The harder thing is when I do it again.

And though I am only in my third decade, if the next few are anything like the last few, most of my mistakes are going to feel familiar. It’s not that I am incapable of learning. Really, I know I can learn. Nor is it that I lack the desire to learn. I really hate making the same mistake.

It’s just this one thing.

Truth be told, I’ll never be perfect. And knowing my imperfections that are as familiar as a freckle, it’s likely some of these will always be with me. No matter how much I learn, those freckles are also part of me.

While forgiveness is a challenge, it is perhaps most challenging when we have to forgive ourselves for a familiar mistake. If you’ve hurt someone with the words you used, then when another careless remark leaves injury it can be much harder to say you are sorry the second time or third. It can be even harder to forgive yourself.

Yet, it is often our reaction to these repeat mistakes that keeps us from our potential and living into the lives we’ve been called to live. And let’s face it, society isn’t always that forgiving of our foibles and failures. “Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.”

Fortunately, Unitarian Universalism is a religion built upon compassion and connection. We always believed in human potential, and human fallibility. Any religion seeking the evolution of the human spirit must make room for our full humanity, light and darkness. This doesn’t mean we don’t have to work to be in right relationship when we’ve done harm, but it does hopefully open the possibility of transformation-the kind built on honest reflection coupled with gentle compassion.

Forgiveness is a layered spiritual gift that is built upon the paradox of release and embrace.

We embrace our shadow side and in the release of our guilt, shame, anger, and even pain we open our lives to the greater embrace of compassion and kindness.

I wish you this month some embrace and release. Come gather with us in the community of compassion. Mistakes welcome.

In faith and compassion,

Rev. Robin

Last month we searched for our passion.

Last month we searched for our passion.

Some of us couldn’t find it.  Some of us have fun hobbies.  I like Fordson tractors but I can’t say it is a passion.  Some of us have great ideas and we work hard to make them happen.  Others are lucky enough to really enjoy our jobs.  Then the rest of us just try our best to serve others and make the world a better place.  Many of us do that with the help and support of our Piedmont UU Church family.  Our Board members always try to keep up with all of the good things that happen at Piedmont UU Church.  They usually are able to thank those who do the work and find ways to support at least some of the great ideas.  There are times however when we on the Board do not become aware of the hours of planning, the extra pledge, or the skillful task that has been completed, often completed many times without fanfare.  That reminds me of the sign on the wall at Linney’s Mill.  It says that “Doing a good job is kinda like wetting in a dark pair of pants. . . You get a warm feeling but nobody notices."

February’s theme is forgiveness.  We on the Board hope that you will be able to forgive us for not noticing sometimes or for taking some of your work for granted.

I hope that you-all enjoy groundhogs day and that you have a fulfilling February.

In your service, 
Karl

P.S.  I think that I have finally found my passion.  It is our Piedmont UU Church family.

Members Assisting with Pastoral Care

Looking out for each other is an activity that goes on continuously in a good church! The Congregational Care Council at Piedmont UU exists to support our two ministers in the provision of pastoral care. Everyone in the congregation is welcome to assist! Here are some areas in which the council is currently seeking volunteers to assist:

• Respond to an e-mail request from Ilene McFarland to send a message of caring or a card to a member who is ill, hospitalized, has suffered a loss, etc. The recipient does not have to be another member you know well. You share membership in the Piedmont community and you are writing as a fellow caring member!
• Respond to an occasional request to assist with food for a member or member’s family at a time of need. Usually this would entail bringing a dish to church that may be taken to the member’s home by someone else.
• Sign up for occasional assistance with transportation for another member. This may be driving someone to a doctor’s appointment or test at a hospital, etc. For example, a person living alone without nearby family may need someone to accompany him or her on an appointment.

Michelle Murphy, Congregational Care Council Chair, will talk briefly about this in February at one of the services, and she and the other co-chairs will have sign-up sheets available to interested members to sign up. You may also e-mail Anne Laukaitis at Laukaitis@windstream.net or talk to Michelle, Nancy, or Anne at any service. Our hope is that many members will want to participate in one or more of these pastoral care activities!

Nancy Delux, Michelle Murphy and Anne Laukaitis, Congregational Care Co-Chairs.

Why I am a Unitarian Universalist

I first heard about the UU Church when I was returning to Racine, Wisconsin after driving our son, Ted, back to St. Colletta School in Jefferson, Wisconsin on cold Sunday nights. The local radio station had a half hour show devoted to a local minister talking about the world view of Unitarian Universalists. Every Sunday night that I listened, I became more in tune with the beliefs and principles of what was to become my religion.

Several years later we joined the UU Church of Racine/Kenosha. When we joined we had an enthusiastic, talented, and socially conscious minister who led the congregation to growth and outreach. Our church became Olympia Brown Church and Ted later enrolled in Olympia Brown School, a public school in Racine which served as a neighborhood school and one which also served exceptional students. Olympia Brown is known as our religion’s first woman to be ordained by a congregation. She is famed as a suffragette, a UU minister, a woman who “had it all”. She had a husband and children and persevered in her drive to bring the important messages of our UU faith to everyone.

When we joined the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte, Rev. Sydney Freeman was our minister. He won me over immediately when he talked about going to kindergarten many years ago in Madison, Wisconsin! Later, we learned of his courageous acts to stand with others in the fight for Civil Rights in Charlotte.  Those of us who call Charlotte, NC home, can be so proud of our former minister and be inspired to continue his legacy of equality and justice!

Today, we have UU ministers in Charlotte who inspire us to become part of a beloved community which nourishes our congregations and also assumes a vital role in our larger community. This is our proud heritage.

Sandra Woolsey