Belonging
Belonging was the theme woven through the UUA Membership Professional Conference I attended in March. What does belonging mean to you? How do you know that you belong? This is certainly a relevant topic in today’s world. For many, their sense of belonging is being shattered. My thoughts and feelings of personal belonging include the knowledge that this is currently a sensitive and hard place for many.
Unitarian Universalism is a religion of belonging. All are welcome into this faith. Our doors are open to each person as we offer Beloved Community. We offer a place of belonging. Where did that start for you? Perhaps being asked to volunteer for something or seeing a task to be done and doing it? Maybe it was more of a gradual commitment to the values and mission of UUCV. For many people, committing to Membership was a catalyst to becoming integrated in the church community or was the byproduct of a growing sense of belonging.
Belonging includes responsibility. It is about staying at the table in a crisis. It is about being accountable to one another. It is so much more than feeling “at home.” It is recognizing that each and every one of us has value and dignity, we all deserve equity and compassion, and we are foundationally connected not only to each other, but to every part of the web of all of existence.
What does belonging at UUCV require of you? How do you live out the values of Beloved Community in our local community and beyond? May we deepen in our trust of one another, practice loving accountability and take risks that result in both success and failure. May we cultivate, tend and share this gift of belonging.
— by Beverly Jordan, Membership Manager