TRANSFORMATION
As the season of Spring transforms the earth, we explore the universal yearning for and promise of personal and societal transformation. We honor the religious storeis and rituals of the season that transform fear into love, ignorance and arrogance into wisdom, greed into generosity, despair into hope. We look for and celebrate the return of green to the hillsides, of birdsong to the morning skies, and the lingering colors of delayed dusk.
These annual changes are a joy to the heart; a reminder of the mysterious complexity and creative resiliency of the natural world. As metaphors, these changes urge humanity to trust that beneath the cold, dark seasons of life lie many seeds, preparing to transform the landscape of our future. More often than not, those seeds were planted by hands other than our own.
And so, it is with gratitude that we think of those who came before and seek to walk tenderly through the garden of their vision. And, to plan our own seeds.
Applying this metaphor to congregational life, you are invited to notice and celebrate the flowering of relationships; to relish this ever-transforming garden of liberal religious values. And, to envision its future.
Which roots would you wish to see strengthened? Which shoots do you envision reaching up and out? How might the garden of religious community invite, serve and transform the larger community. Your vision will make whatever "seeds" you plant much more likely to grow and thrive. And, to be a source of joy and inspiration to all.
As the season of Spring transforms the earth, we explore the universal yearning for and promise of personal and societal transformation. We honor the religious storeis and rituals of the season that transform fear into love, ignorance and arrogance into wisdom, greed into generosity, despair into hope. We look for and celebrate the return of green to the hillsides, of birdsong to the morning skies, and the lingering colors of delayed dusk.
These annual changes are a joy to the heart; a reminder of the mysterious complexity and creative resiliency of the natural world. As metaphors, these changes urge humanity to trust that beneath the cold, dark seasons of life lie many seeds, preparing to transform the landscape of our future. More often than not, those seeds were planted by hands other than our own.
And so, it is with gratitude that we think of those who came before and seek to walk tenderly through the garden of their vision. And, to plan our own seeds.
Applying this metaphor to congregational life, you are invited to notice and celebrate the flowering of relationships; to relish this ever-transforming garden of liberal religious values. And, to envision its future.
Which roots would you wish to see strengthened? Which shoots do you envision reaching up and out? How might the garden of religious community invite, serve and transform the larger community. Your vision will make whatever "seeds" you plant much more likely to grow and thrive. And, to be a source of joy and inspiration to all.