October Theme Packet: Renewal

2014-15 Spirit Journey Groups 

The DeKalb Spirit Journey Group meets on 3rd SUNDAY (usually) of each month at 12:30-2:00 p.m. Dates are: 9-21, 10-19, 11-23 (4th Sunday), and 12-21. Location: UUFD, 158 North 4th St., DeKalb. Facilitator: Rev. Linda Slabon. To sign up for the UUFD Group: email office@uufdekalb.org or call 815-756-7089 or contact Rev. Linda. 

The Genoa Spirit Journey Group meets on the 3rd MONDAY of each month at 6:00 pm. Location: Olson Funeral Home, 202 E. Main Street. Facilitators: Misha Lentz (Rockford) and Donna Venneman (DeKalb). To sign up for the Genoa Group: email office@uurockford.org or call 815-398-6322. 

Soul Matters Theme Packet for October, 2014

(For a downloadable .pdf copy of this theme packet, click on the "Flyer" in the calendar links for the Dekalb or Genoa meetings.)

   What Does It Mean To Be a People of Renewal?

 “Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

  We talk a lot in UU circles about becoming something new.  We are a "progressive religion.” We have faith that the arc of the universe bends towards justice and a new day that better for all of us. We believe in unfolding and evolving truth.

 But sometimes the new requires a return. Sometimes renewal requires remembering and reconnecting with pieces and parts of ourselves long forgotten.

 This too is a part of our spiritual tradition. As Unitarian Universalists, we see the human struggle not as a fight against temptations that lead to impurity, but rather as a journey through cultural challenges that often leave us disconnected--disconnected from our deepest selves, life's gifts and needs greater than our own. From this perspective, spiritual renewal is first and foremost about reconnection. Mending what has been broken. Retrieving what has been lost. Going back to gather again what is so easily left behind in the flurry of our dizzying days.  

 To be a people of renewal is to ask not simply, “How do I refresh?” but also “How do I return?” The challenge in life is not just about moving forward, but moving forward without losing touch with all we hold dear.

 So hold on friends. And help each other do the same. Take the time this month to look back and reconnect, because, yes, sometimes the new does require a return.

Our Spiritual Exercises:

Option A:

Name What Needs to Return

 Renewal often comes through return. We get 25 steps down the road not realizing we had left precious pieces behind. What's missing when you look around? What have you let fall from your life? And how can you help it return? Fun? Forgiveness? Quiet? Time for yourself? That weekly night at the movies? A Saturday walk in the woods? Ambition? Art?

 Your assignment: Name something precious that you want to return to your life. Spend the month making it happen.

Option B:

Turn Away

 “In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.” — Albert Camus

 This assignment asks us to take Camus’ words seriously. Every religious tradition reminds us that renewal sometimes requires removing ourselves from the normal ways of the world.  Often we have to remove something from our life to make room for renewal to return. Remove speed and the rat race from your life by trying out the practice of Sabbath. Remove distraction and disconnection from your family by making a rule that everyone needs to put the cell phones on the shelf from dinner until the end of the night. Remove your evening practice of a couple glasses of wine and find another way to relax. Free yourself from the stereotypes about "senior citizens” and dye your hair purple or parachute out of a plane. Kick the habit of consumerism by cutting your clothes budget for a month or two and wearing the same outfit for one week at a time. (It can be done:  http://befriendinggreen.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/same-dress-different-day/ )  

 You get the idea. This culture of ours offers many gifts, but it can also lead us astray and leave us lost. Take this month to renew yourself and find your way back home by finding a way to turn away.

Option C:

Turn It Into Something New

 It's one of the most important insights along the spiritual path: Renewing the world is often the best path to renewing oneself. Whether it is working for justice or finding a way to bring a bit more beauty to our little neck of the woods, fixing the world regularly fixes us. Use this month to explore the spiritual truth more deeply.  Here are some stories about how others did it. May they inspire you to find your way: 

• Renewal Stories - 4 : http://www.tetley.ca/en/video/tetley-renewal-stories    
• How I Brought a River, and My City, Back to Life: http://www.ted.com/talks/aziza_chaouni_how_i_brought_a_river_and_my_city_back_to_life
• Washed Ashore Project http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=4168

• The Mosaic Man: http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=4369

 Option D:

Return to a Place of Renewal

 “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” ― Nelson Mandela

 This assignment asks us to take Mandela’s words seriously.  Two ways to go about this:

1. Return to a place or time in your past by physically going there or pulling out the scrapbook. Often it helps to bring someone along on the journey. Sometimes they can see things we can't.
2. Return to a place or time that once brought you renewal. That path along the river or view out over the city which helped you feel that life had possibility again after the loss of your job. Dig out that picture of the dog you had as a kid. The one who slept with you and comforted you while your parents were going through their divorce. Even though it may make you feel silly or sentimental, pull out that old wedding dress, spread it out on the bed or dare to put it on. Call up that old friend from college. The one who was there through so much change and growing up.

 Going back doesn't always mean going backwards. It often can mean gaining back something we need now. Maybe that's exactly the journey you have to make this month.

 Your  Question:

As always, don’t treat these questions like “homework.”  You do not need to engage every single one.  Instead, simply find the one that “hooks”you most and let it lead you where you need to go.  And then come to your Soul Matters meeting prepared to share that journey with your group. When was the last time laughter took hold of you and left you renewed?

1.  There are those who say renewing the world is the best path to renewing oneself.  Are your attempts to renew the world still renewing you?
2.  During fall, the trees turn their energy away from reaching out to the sun.  Instead, they let go of their leaves and seek renewal in the dark soil where their roots live?   Does this need to be a season of disconnecting, darkness and turning in for you as well?
3.  Do you feel the call of renewal coming most strongly from your body or your spirit?  Or could it be that your spirit is expressing its hunger through your body? How has your body grown tired or pained? What is that tiredness or pain trying to say?
4.  Do you live your life “in the service of renewal?”  Do you even have a concept of what that means? Is something inside you wanting to figure that out?
5.  Where has trust been broken in your life?  And is it time for that trust to finally be renewed?
6.  Are you holding on too tightly to grief? Is it possible that your holding onto grief is getting in the way of renewal? Is it possible to now finally loosen your grip?
7.  Is your avoidance of grief getting in the way of renewal?
8. Out of your hunger for renewal, are you tempted to run away? 
9.  Are you looking for things just to be fun again? Is it joy that has somehow fallen away?
10.  Do you even know what's missing?
11.  What scares you about renewal? What "cost" of changing or returning seems just too high?
12.  Are your problems with “religion” getting in the way of your spiritual renewal? Has your primary spiritual practice become rebelling against the religion of your past? What's your balance between renewing and carving out your own spiritual path versus rebelling against your old one? 
13.  Do you hunger to return to what was? Is that good? Or bad?
14.  Do you wake in the morning feeling renewed? Or is it just "another damn day”? If so, what do you need to do about that?
15.  There are those who say renewal requires repentance. Are you sure they are entirely wrong?
16.  Has Grace/God/Life ever just come out of the blue and dumped spiritual renewal in your lap?  Is it trying to do that right now? Do you notice?

Recommended Resources:

As always, this is not required reading.  We will not analyze or dissect these pieces in our group.  They are simply meant to get your thinking started, and maybe to open you to new ways of thinking about what it means to “be a people of renewal.”

 First Thoughts: