A great conundrum of our living is that we each operate as distinct individuals even as we long to feel part of a group, a community that echoes who we understand ourselves to be.

We each view reality out of the front of our heads—out of our eyes, out of our frontal lobes, processing and making sense within the hive of our unique brain. Each of us is always doing this. Some with the “third eye,” a deeper perception, yet still from the center of our own experience. And we each become aware of our solitude whenever we notice a neighbor’s lighted window and realize that our neighbor is sharing the experience of being the center of their own world. We recognize our separation when we hear a perspective on an issue of the day that is so very far from our own idea of that “same thing.”

Yet we seek each other, longing for a tribe, a clan, a group of “like-minded” individuals who think or act or believe as we do, even if that group is a bunch of outcasts or outliers. As much as we affiliate upon our similarities, we wish to be loved and accepted for our uniqueness as well. At least it seems so to me.

We long to belong. We long to feel connected. We long to be heard and understood. May we long for a place and a people where we can become our fullest, our best, our most expansive selves. In the words of American neopaganist and ecofeminist Starhawk, “Somewhere, there are people to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power. Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Someplace where we can be free.”

As you live into your deepest longings, may we together create this religious community as a place where you belong. May you feel it so. May it be so.

Blessings, Rev. Rita