For the past eleven years we have worked with an annual theme as a way of focusing our attention and energy amidst the many activities of the Fellowship. Themes have included Love, Courage, Deepening, Faithfulness, Building A New Way, and more. In the coming year, our focus will be “Ancestors, Descendants, and Us.” It is inspired by a song in our hymnal, based on words of the artist Paul Gaugin: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” In the life of the Fellowship and in our individual lives, these are timely questions.
“Where do we come from?” refers to our histories – who were the people and what were the ideas and events which shaped the evolution of Unitarianism, and of the Fellowship. What were their dreams and challenges, their successes and failures, and how have those affected the lives we live now? And for our individual lives – what have we inherited and how have we been shaped by what we have inherited from our own ancestors?
“Where are we going?” refers to the future, which we do not know but which we are shaping through our present lives. Where do we hope to go? What kind of world do we want for the generations who will follow us? Are these ideas and ideals realistic, possible? How might they come into being?
Both of these questions inform and affect our lives in the present moment. What do we still need to learn about our histories that can help us make good choices for our present lives, so that our present lives can help shape the futures we aim for? What kinds of ancestors do we hope to be, and what is required of us now for that to come true?
In this church year we will be telling and listening to many stories, we will be encouraging one another to live up to our ideals, and we will be working together to envision a future worth striving for. Our religious values play a very big part in all of this work. I invite you to begin your reflections now and I encourage you to enter into the conversations: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
