Read the Order of service.

In 2007 the Unitarian Universalist Association began a national marketing campaign which had as its tagline:  “Nurture your spirit; help heal the world.”  This might sound like a grandiose objective, were it not for that first word, “help …”  When we set our goal as helping to heal the world we do several things:  we make the goal actually attainable; we increase the effectiveness of our own efforts by allying ourselves with others; and we have the opportunity to work on healing our own often inflated egos.

[Note:  this is a Social Action Collection Sunday – TJMC UU Food Pantry]

Theme Question:  What does it mean to be a community of healing?
Abigail Van Buren, the original “Dear Abby,” has been quoted as saying, “A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”  This echoes words attributed to Jesus, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  We UUs don’t use words like “saints,” “the righteous,” and “sinners” all that often, yet we ought to listen through those particular words to hear what’s being said – religious communities exist, at least in part, for the work of healing.  And each of us can no doubt think of a great many things in need of healing – from our own personal heartaches, right up to the health of the planet.  What would it mean for us to see TJMC as “a community of healing?”  What might we do differently?  How might we be different?  This is a month to explore such questions.