{"id":180,"date":"2022-11-04T08:39:44","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T08:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/?p=180"},"modified":"2022-11-04T08:39:44","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T08:39:44","slug":"this-is-the-circle-of-our-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/04\/this-is-the-circle-of-our-community\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the Circle of our Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

This last week I taught my Spirit Play friends about the 7 Principles of Unitarian Universalism. \u00a0We have not used this lesson before when I have been teaching. \u00a0Church staff and I looked over the text and modified it slightly to match the \u00a0bedtime prayer that we have been teaching to the families in our community. \u00a0I started by telling the children that they might already know this lesson, even if they had never heard it before. \u00a0Sure enough as I made my way through the Principles, one child enthusiastically reported that he DID know this lesson already.<\/p>\n

 
7 Principles Beads<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We went through them all at then end. \u00a0\u201cEach person is important. \u00a0Be kind in all you do. \u00a0We\u2019re free to learn together. \u00a0And search for what is true. \u00a0All people need a voice. \u00a0Build a fair and peaceful world. \u00a0We care for mother earth and all who call her home.\u201d<\/p>\n

My friend came up to me during our work time and smiled at me and sat close. \u00a0I told him that next time I did my bed time prayer, I would think about him doing the same bed time prayer and would remember that we are a community. \u00a0He looked at me for a moment and then checked in. \u00a0\u201cBut you won\u2019t be at my house\u201d, he said. \u00a0I told him that was true. \u00a0He would be at his house with his family and I would be at my house with my family, but we would be saying and doing the same thing as a part of our community. \u00a0I told him that my thoughts and my heart would be at his house and at my house at the same time.<\/p>\n

This conversation was heartwarming to me. \u00a0The joy on this child\u2019s face as he recognized the familiar words, the extra connection with me later in class, all of these things speak to belonging. \u00a0We belong to each other as we think about and try to act on the foundations of our faith community. \u00a0This is one of the sweet moments in teaching where I become inspired about the work that I am doing. \u00a0It\u2019s not just that this child experienced his belonging, but that we created it together too.<\/p>\n

For me, I also felt my belonging. \u00a0Some nights are so difficult when my own kids don\u2019t want to do the prayers and don\u2019t lend their full presence to our end of day ritual. \u00a0Sometimes it feels like I am doing this valuable work alone. \u00a0But I am not. \u00a0We are a community; each of us in our own houses. \u00a0We are a community that sends our hearts and thoughts out to each other. \u00a0We join this community and engage in ritual to connect all the parts of ourselves and to be connected to each other. \u00a0We say in the sanctuary that we hope our church will be \u201ca place to find and keep your balance, a place where we are encouraged together to live loving lives of integrity, service and joy\u201d. \u00a0I can\u2019t think of a much better way to get centered and balanced than to remember that I belong. \u00a0I belong to myself as I seek more love and life on my own spiritual journey. \u00a0I belong to the relationships I serve, honor and engage in. \u00a0And I belong to the collective, the community which includes our church and the Mystery far beyond us. \u00a0This is the joy and the fruit of practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This last week I taught my Spirit Play friends about the 7 Principles of Unitarian Universalism. \u00a0We have not used this lesson before when I have been teaching. \u00a0Church staff and I looked over the text and modified it slightly to match the \u00a0bedtime prayer that we have been teaching to the families in our community. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182,"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions\/182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sarahcledwynblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}