I’m looking forward to a weekend in Pittsburgh, PA, my birthplace, that of my children, and my home for 33 years. It is not really a place I belong anymore; I haven’t in many years longed to return to it. But I have a chance to re-connect with college friends, celebrate a milestone birthday with my in-laws, and visit my grandparents’ graves, perhaps for the last time. I’m returning this weekend not to a place, but to people I love, to people to whom I belong. And that is a good feeling for me.

Whose are you? I invite you this week into a spiritual practice defining just that. From our Soul Matters resources: “Quaker teacher, Douglas Steer gets at this beautifully:

“‘The ancient question, “Who am I?” inevitably leads to a deeper one: “Whose am I?” – because there is no identity outside of relationship. You cannot be a person by yourself. To ask “Whose am I” is to extend the question far beyond the little self-absorbed self, and wonder: Who needs you?  Who loves you?  To whom are you accountable?  To whom do you answer?  Whose life is altered by your choices?  With whose life is your own bound up, inextricably, in obvious or invisible ways?’

“It’s such a powerful and important truth: we are who we belong to. But it’s also a hard truth to remember. The world around us doesn’t help. Its focus is on becoming not belonging. It wants us to wake up every morning and ask, “Am I succeeding?” not “Who needs me?” “Who loves me?” or “With whose life is my own bound up?”

Gathering photographs is one way to name “Whose are you?” Gathering memories during a quiet meditation time is another. Whatever method you use, may you find love and acceptance in this practice. And may you remember, today and every day, that you are loved, you are worthy, you are welcome, and you are needed. May you feel it so, and may in be so.

Blessings, Rev. Rita