Dec 4

Minister’s Message

Dear Friends,

This month’s Soul Matters theme is “Awe,” an invitation to realize the marvel and the amazingness of the vast web of which we are a part. Our expression “awe” is rooted in the Greek word áchos which also gives us the word “ache.” That vastness we experience in awe opens an ache in the heart, and by doing so, expands it.

Such “ache” might come from observing great natural beauty or work of human artistic creation in paint or stone or sound. Such “ache” might come from witnessing tenderness or kindness or compassion between people when you least expect to see such grace. Such “ache” comes from relaxing sets of expectations or habitual ways of thinking and allowing the mundane and surprising and mysterious elements of living enter and resonate within us, to be still for a moment in the rush of life and experience, simply being in the moment.

I invite you to a spiritual practice of entertaining “awe,” of allowing it into your lives in this season of expectation and pressure and busy-ness. Our partners at Soul Matters have arranged for all of us a daily dose of awe. Think of it as taking a regular “Awe Break.” Put everything down for just a few minutes and let awe soak in. They’ve put together 31 online doses of awe, one awe-filled YouTube video for each day of the 31 days of December.

Here’s the link to the YouTube playlist that contains all 31 of the videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvXOKgOQVYP7ZpFA1YKzco1SkOZHkkn7v . If you’re having a particularly hard day, feel free to watch a couple of them.  Here’s one that I particularly enjoyed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRNqhi2ka9k&list=PLvXOKgOQVYP7ZpFA1YKzco1SkOZHkkn7v&index=6&t=0s . Gives me chills and brings me to tears every time. I’d be glad to know which one moved you.

So, take a daily awe break, today and every day, as you remember you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, And May it be so.

Blessings, Rev. Rita