I’ve never before thought about the connection of relevancy to resiliency, but I’ve been thinking a lot about relevancy lately. Religious communities must be relevant in order to survive. That is part of what the Religious Education workshop last month was pointing to. And that’s what the Unitarian Universalist Association is considering with its work done by the Article II Commission – work to make our principles and purposes relevant for the time we are now living in. Relevancy requires change and that is rarely a comfortable concept for the majority of us! Anything that risks our feeling comfortable or might jeopardize our certainty in how things “are” can be challenging at best. But I am certain that
we are resilient people.
Consider all that you have personally experienced in your life. Consider all the trials and tribulations, the difficulties and trauma. You are still here and you are a gift with stories to share. That is resiliency. We don’t all, or always, come out of those experiences unscathed, just as a congregation can carry scars and stories of difficulties in its history. But those stories, both in our personal and congregational life, are a part of our gospel and a testament to our resiliency! I have been taking time in my morning gratitude ritual to give consideration to that resiliency and accept that relevancy lies right there in its midst. I believe that is something worth celebrating as a source of strength.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it will take every member and friend of this congregation contributing some level of talent, treasure, and time, to create the changes necessary for relevancy. I will admit to you that I’m not sure exactly what changes will take place, but you will be a part of the change process as you are a stakeholder in the congregation! There is possibility of a very bright future for this congregation by way of its relevancy in the midst of its resiliency. What an exciting prospect!
Grateful for our collective resiliency,
Rev. Kathleen