Spiritually Speaking: Whose Are You?

Several years ago, the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association led a program that asked of its members, “whose are you?”  Whose am I?  I am free and independent!  I am my own!  Of course that’s not the full truth.  For many of us the “whose are you” question is understood through the lens of relatives.  We answer in accord with legal or genetic ties.  The UU Ministers Association, however, was not interested in our family trees, rather they were asking us to dig deeper and explore to whom we belonged.

It is an ancestry question.

I began to consider those persons whom I admired or felt connect to throughout history.  And then I expanded to the long line of spiritual ancestors.  Some include relatives, but most are souls that lived to their potential by serving others.  I belong to them in a larger circle of kinship that extends across generations.

Imagine if we could each develop a robust sense of ancestry.  Our lives would be situated within the context of generations before us as well as a responsibility to those who follow.  This spiritual belonging holds us to a higher standard than a constituency or present people-pleasing tendency.  When we are called by a cloud of witnesses or shared mission that stretches back and forward, then our lives can take on new purpose.

This month I invite you to consider who you would name as your ancestors.  Go beyond familial identity into a sense of belonging and call.  When you consider those spiritual guides or forbearers, what might they expect of you or ask of you now? How does their legacy and life create a sense of belonging and promise?

Ancestors have always been important to the history and development of humanity.  Now as more and more of us live apart from relatives and dislocated from the places we once called home, ancestors offer us a grounding and reconnection with the web of life.  By identifying those who came before, we begin to better understand the path before us and how we wish to walk together.

Hope you will join us for the journey,

Rev. Robin