Living Deeply

This year I'm teaching 8th Grade Rites of Passage (Coming of Age) at my home church. After 10 years of doing district-level ministry, I was ready to get "in the trenches" with young people again.

A couple of weeks ago we did a session on after death beliefs, and we were sharing quotes about death. One quote was from Anais Nin: "People living deeply have no fear of death."

That started a conversation about living deeply, and I asked, "Do you feel like you live deeply?"

One of the youth looked at me like I was crazy, and responded, "No, we're in Jr. High and have tons of homework and stuff. We don't get an opportunity to live deeply."

Wow. That's sat with me for a few weeks and I keep coming back to it. As liberal religious people, I think Unitarian Universalists are searching for ways to live deeply, and that includes our young people. Based on my work with Jr. High and Sr. High youth over the past 13 years, they yearn for it and I think their regimented school (and even church) lives can keep them from truly experiencing life. Instead it can become a series of lessons and appointments.

We can offer better than that in our congregations. For one outside the box way of living deeply, check out uuroadtrip.blogspot.com.

zone of genius

Yesterday I drove up to Santa Barbara, and I heard a couple of things that made me think about ministries in our churches.

One was a KPFK radio program featuring Gay Hendricks, author of The Big Leap, and he suggests a "zone of genius" that each person should find in order to find a super fulfilling work and personal life.

The other was the idea that when you are doing something you love, you go to bed thinking about it and wake up excited to get to work, making your vision come alive.

Both resonated with me. One, because most days I feel like I've gotten super lucky and get to operate within my "zone of genius" here in PSWD, and two because I think an important aspect of being a religious leader is asking the right questions and encouraging others to find their "zone of genius." Getting into that zone might be uncomfortable for some, because it may require giving up current comforts in order to take a leap into the unknown. But if we are operating out of that place that gives us deep fulfillment, emanating out of our passions, many good things will come from it.