“I feel that the courage to expose one’s own spiritual beliefs and the ability to listen to others is essential for building community.” This is how one of you responded to the work that Peggy Ellertsen, Jenny Lerner, Andrew Morse and Devon Welles did last year as our Adult Faith Development Task Force. They reached out to you all by conducting a congregational-wide survey, organizing focus groups and one-on-one interviews to seek out what it is you are thinking and feeling about adult faith development here at FUUSN. Most importantly, they wanted to find out what it is you need.

The responses to all of the ways they connected with so many of you were deeply thoughtful and bravely honest about where you are and why. As you can imagine what they learned was as engaging as it was diverse. And yet, the overarching take-away is that there is a longing here for more opportunities to share and connect with each other.

One of the ways we are keeping the promise we made to each other to deepen the ways we connect with each other and ourselves is with our “Reflect and Connect Conversations.”

The final meeting of the year will be next Sunday the 13th before the service from 9:00 -10:00 in the Alliance Room. The hour will consist of a welcoming reading, some time for quiet reflection and then the chance to share in small groups. Everyone is welcome to gather and reflect.

We will continue to explore and deepen our connections to each other and ourselves next year and the years to come. As we go forward together I wonder how you would answer these questions: What can you speak of your faith? What keeps you grounded? What sustains you in the dark night of the soul?

What helps in the times when you feel lonely — or in times of trouble? What restores your tired spirit? What is holy to you? What is sacred? How do you find and nurture any of those answers here at FUUSN? Or do you? What do you love and long for here in your community?

I look forward to finding out the answers together.