Rev. McKinley L. Sims, M.Div.

Of our 8 Principles, one of the ones that often gets overlooked or taken for granted, in my experience, is the 3rd. Stop! Think! Do you know what it is off the top of your head? I had to look it up, too! I always remember 1, 2, 7, and 8. I know democracy is in there somewhere, along with world peace and harmony…but I often forget #3.

“We covenant to affirm and promote acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations.”   

That seems reasonable enough. Most people should be able to do that, right? Accept one another and encourage spiritual growth in our congregations. But what does that look like? What does it look like to encourage spiritual growth in one another and in our congregations?

To me, acceptance, growth, and healing are all interconnected. These have been on my mind a lot these past weeks, as our Methodist siblings gathered for a special session of General Convention to try to become a more inclusive and loving faith body and voted against that Love. For many, the pain of denominations like the United Methodist Church or the Roman Catholic Church, who reel from constantly reopened wounds around clergy misconduct and sexual abuse, is very real and very fresh. It’s hard to imagine spiritual growth alongside such pain.

Mainline Christianity has hurt many, many people, both in past centuries, and today, yesterday, and tomorrow. Some denominational stances on our LGBTQ siblings was close minded and ignorant, and plenty of folks left their spiritual homes never to return. That might apply to you, or to the person sitting next to you in your pew.  As a living tradition, we UUs do a great job of acceptance of one another, but it’s harder when there’s still hurt surrounding our previous church or congregational homes. That’s why we’re talking about reparations this week. We have a lot of oppressions still abound in America, and our UU denomination is not immune. We’ll talk about racism and white supremacy, but we still have Eurocentrism and patriarchy, heteronormativity and classism (most of which, if not all of which, I am a paragon!). There are hurts that are not healed. Part of our faith structures are designed to encourage us as a congregation to help one another heal and grow spiritually. This isn’t to say we’re here to give one another advice, although by sharing our stories and examples, we might be a mirror for one another- and that’s usually a good thing!

My offering has been and will continue to be, check with each other’s spirits. Ask how it’s going, is all well with your soul? What did you think of that? What’s speaking to you. What resonated with you from that? There are bound to be a lot of feelings attached to Sunday’s service. Be present and mindful of that.

Our emotions are connected to our soul, and they tell us what’s going on in our depths. If you have feelings that come up during service, during small group, during the vigil, give thanks for that. That’s a moment of spiritual growth and transformation underway.

And send some good energy and prayers towards our siblings in other denominations who need some encouragement for spiritual growth for themselves. The world needs all the Love we can muster, and it starts from deep within. May it be so. Amen.