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I am a firm believer in the power of language. How we communicate with our physical presence and how we communicate verbally with others begins to open the door to the message of Acceptance. Thinking 'spherically" allows us to open doors to our own souls, and allow others, perhaps for the first time, to open their own. Acceptance leads to trust, and trust can be transforming.
This service was Live Streamed on our Facebook page (Facebook.com/uulowcountry). The service can also be viewed below.
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A Message to the Congregation from the Board of Trustees
The White House this past week has ordered that churches be open for services. Fortunately, the administration does not have the authority to enforce church openings. The Board wants you to know that we have been diligently working on your behalf during this pandemic. While we terribly miss having the opportunity to gather together, we are following scientists and their data and recommendations regarding safety and meeting guidelines. These will guide the decision of when and how to open. In light of the fact that the Coronavirus is not yet contained, and the fact that most of us are in a high risk category, we have no plans to reopen the church in the foreseeable future. This means for services, meetings, and our renters. Our primary concern is for the health and safety of our members, friends, renters, and visitors. Many church leaders have spoken out to say, “We are the church, and the church is in us, not a building.“ We continue to do the work we are called to do by serving others and the larger community. We continue to remain in contact with each other and contribute in all the ways we can. Please do not attend Sunday services being held for streaming. Only those who are involved in giving or streaming the service should be present. Attending to show support is just not safe, and doing so compromises your safety and that of those who have to be present in order to continue this service. Most of the spread of COVID-19 documented so far has been from asymptomatic individuals. Please respect your safety and that of those who have to be there! In fellowship, Carol Stephens Board President
Our Third Principle – that of acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth - is a Big Deal. Through sharing some of a personal journey, Nancy will explore some of the thoughts, feelings, and other sensations that accompany the phenomena of feeling accepted by others, by the Spirit of Life, and by self. We will also think about how encouragement to spiritual growth is woven together with acceptance in the same Principle.
This service was live streamed on our Facebook page (Facebook.com/uulowcountry) it will also be available to view on our homepage for a short time. Let's take a moment to get to know Nancy a little better: Nancy’s personal, professional, and faith development have influenced her journey to find a home in the UUCL. Originally from Maine and the third child of parents who divorced when Nancy was five, Nancy grew up as a Quaker Church drop out. Her spiritual formation came from Nature and contentedness with summer beach combing, exploring, and boating on the ocean. When Nancy was in her twenties she learned that both sides of her family were assimilated Jews – Polish and German on one side and Russian on the other. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Nancy began a conversion experience that called her to a spiritual life through the new age spirituality of Shakti Gwain. She was in the midst of a career of much travel as a statistical and behavior psychological professional engaged in process and quality improvement consulting work with companies in remote places – Yukon and Northwest Territories of Northern Canada, as well as Baffin Island. As the Spirit called to her increasingly, she found home in the gifts of faith in Christianity and the Catholic Church. After many years as a Catholic convert, she was called to the profession of chaplaincy and in 2017 completed a several year education journey to become a board-certified Catholic chaplain. In addition to her full-time employment as a hospice chaplain, she began to do service work for her parish as a chaplain. Shortly in the process of helping the Church, Nancy’s sexual orientation as a lesbian got caught in the cross hairs of a powerful enough homophobe in the Catholic church to set Nancy adrift and feeling spiritually bereft. Lucky enough to continue her life as an explorer, she continued to search for a place to give her spiritual life form. She came to the UUCL service one Sunday with friend Martha Girardi somewhere in the Summer or Fall of 2018. She continued attending on a somewhat regular basis until a permanent return home to Maine in December 2018. After a few months in Maine she learned that South Carolina and Bluffton – not Maine - had become home. As explorers are prone to do, Nancy returned in July of 2019 and soon became a name tag carrying member of the UUCL. The sense of belonging and acceptance that Nancy feels at UUCL makes today’s message a punctuation mark in a wonderful continuing spiritual journey.
“Spiritual growth isn’t about a vertical ascent to heaven but about growth in every dimension at once. It’s spirituality in 3-D. Growth in spirit doesn’t measure one’s proximity to a God above, but rather the spaciousness of one’s own soul—its volume, its capacity, its size."
Rev. Rob Hardies, All Souls Church Unitarian, Washington, DC This Live Streamed service is also viewable at Facebook.com/uulowcountry https://www.facebook.com/uulowcountry/videos/583220282576694/ Sunday May 10, 2020 - A Special Video Message from Rev. Pat Jobe "Do We Need A Deeper Dive?"5/10/2020
May 10th is Mother's Day, which of course, we remember was originally advocated by a Unitarian.
Do We Need A Deeper Dive? And will that deeper dive bring us closer to an experience of what is really going on? Can we think our way into a richer and more meaningful spiritual walk? Is that even something we’re interested in? We don’t want to end up babbling and crazy like some spiritual seekers, but would a deeper diver into our own inner life bring us more of a sense of confidence in all that is going on? And could we use silence to get there? Best to all in these troubled times. This service is a series of three videos. Each video is available below. Included, is a Prelude and Postlude featuring John Sheppard.
One God, Mother's Day, truth seeking, the neighborhood of Boston...these are a few of our Unitarian roots.
This service was Live Streamed on our Facebook page. |
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110 Malphrus Road Bluffton, SC 29910
Temporary Office Hours: Tuesday 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Temporary Office Hours: Tuesday 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.