Soul Matters Lessons

Our theme this month is “Widening the Circle.”  We will reflect on widening the way we accept ourselves, understanding our insides and outsides. Our society encourages us to spend time on our outsides – what we wear, our hair length, our skin, our height, our weight, how glib or funny we can be.

We will reflect on Widening the Circle of Love, especially since we are close to Valentine’s Day. We widen the circle when we spread love to everyone, including refugees and asylum seekers. We focus on refugees and asylum seekers because they are often “not loved.” So when it comes to widening the circle, our faith clearly tells us, “Love is for everybody.”

We will look at Widening the History We Tell. Many of the stories about African Americans were overlooked or deliberately ignored. In this lesson, we will discover several figures in history whose stories deserve to be told. It is time that we, as a faith, widened the circle of the history we tell. Happy Black History Month!

Lastly, we will explore how we hope to widen the UU principles we live by and add another principle to make 8. Inchildren’s language it says: “Build the beloved community, free from racism and oppression. In adult language, it says, “journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” Our faith is a living tradition. That means that it is an ever-growing faith, pushing us to grow in the process.

Widening the Circle

This month we explore the ways in which our times call us to “Widen the Circle.” There are four ways we will explore the ways we can widen the circle.

Widening the Way We Accept Ourselves – Understanding our Outsides and Insides

Widening the Love We Share– Celebrating all kinds of love

Widening the History We Tell – Black History Month

Widening the Principles We Live By – The 8th Principle proposal