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Rev. Chris Jimmerson, Toni Wegner, Melanie Cofield, and John Scott
July 28, 2024
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org
One of our church’s most transformative ways of deeply connecting with fellow church members and experiencing profound spiritual growth is by participating in a Chalice Circle or Wellspring ministry group. Join us for this special service and hear about the real differences they make possible.
Chalice Lighting
This is the flame we hold in our hearts as we strive for justice for everyone. This is the light we shine upon systems of oppression until they are no more. This is the warmth that we share with one another as our struggle becomes our salvation.
Call to Worship
May we be reminded here of our highest aspirations,
And inspired to bring our gifts of love and service
to the altar of humanity.May we know once again that we are not isolated beings
But connected, in mystery and miracle, to the universe,
To this community and to each other.– Anonymous
Affirming Our Mission
Together we nourish souls, transform lives, and do justice to build the Beloved Community.
Reading
From THE HEALING WISDOM OF AFRICA
by Malidoma SoméWhether they are raised in indigenous or modern culture, there are two things that people crave: the full realization of their innate gifts, and to have these gifts approved, acknowledged, and confirmed.
There are countless people in the West whose efforts are sadly wasted because they have no means of expressing their unique genius.
In the psyches of such people there is an inner power and authority that fails to shine because the world around them cannot perceive it.
Sermon
Today’s service features several folks from the church who will explore the real differences our small group ministries such as Wellspring and Chalice Circles can make in our lives.
(NOTE: This is an ai generated transcript. Please forgive any errors.)
Melanie Cofield
Good morning, everyone. My name is Melanie Cofield, and I am a white queer woman with short grayish brown hair, wearing glasses, and a blue button -up shirt. My pronouns are she /they. I welcome this opportunity to share a bit about my experience participating in First UU Small Group Ministries.
I’ll start by sharing a little of my background. Due to experiences of judgment and exclusion in churches of my youth, I have been long estranged from organized religion. During the COVID pandemic, I found welcome, comfort, hope, and peace in the online services provided by First UU of Austin. And I joined as a member with my wife in 2022.
As someone working in higher education my entire career, and relatively new to Unitarian Universalism, a logical first step for me as a new church member was to learn more about the foundations of this religious tradition.
I attended a membership information class and someone mentioned the opportunity to join a wellspring group focused on the six UU sources. So I signed up excited about a new learning adventure. Now I expected to learn about the history and foundations of Unitarian Universalism But I was surprised and moved to learn so much about myself and to connect so deeply with my fellow wellspring group members.
My spiritual life has been firmly grounded in a primal reverence for nature since childhood. And it has been a solitary, private, and somewhat haphazard pursuit for most of my years. Participating in wellspring groups has helped me deepen and fine-tune my spirituality and expand my spiritual circle. Put another way in borrowing the pragmatic motto of Unitarian Minister Reverend Mary Safford of the Iowa Sisterhood in the late 1800s, I’m learning to lengthen the cord and strengthen the stakes. Let me share some highlights from my Wellspring takeaways with you in hopes that it will inspire you to consider participation in the future. I’m pursuing deep reflection and practicing deep listening. I’m developing intentional spiritual practices. I have found a vocabulary for alter articulating my spirituality.
I’m reconnecting with my creativity And I’ve both recognized and discovered new sources of wisdom and inspiration that feed my soul. I’m slowly but tangibly letting go of self -consciousness and self -doubt in my spiritual endeavors.
And I’m moving from an exclusively solo spirituality to one based on trust and connection and community. Finally, I found space to build resilience and hope in a chaotic and despairing world. After joining that first Wellspring Sources group, I wasn’t ready for the experience to end, so I lengthened my cord and volunteered to co-facilitate a Wellspring Deep Questions program focused on the eight principles of Unitarian Universalism.
This coming year, I’m delighted to continue serving the first UU community by co-facilitating and exploring a new program in the Wellspring Curriculum called Love at the Center, UU Values and Covenants. My experience has been profound and I encourage others to explore the gift of these small group ministries offered by First UU and consider participating. We hope to see you there. Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.
Jim Scott
Good morning. My name is John Scott and I’m a relatively new member here. My pronouns are he /him. I started attending here about two and a half years ago online, shortly after my father died. And I very unexpectedly, found myself, after about 30 years of not going to church, feeling like I wanted to belong to something like a church. So I started kind of looking around, seeing what was available, and what might feel welcoming to me, and gradually found my way here. So after attending online for several months, I began to feel ready to meet people and kind of be more engaged with the community.
And I love being a student. It’s one of my favorite things. So I thought, well, I’ll look for adult education opportunities. And I went online on the website and found my way to adult education and the Wellspring program. And it just sounded perfect for me, especially because when I was clicking around on the website, I found something that looked a lot like a syllabus. And there was like a reading list and homework assignments, and I thought, you know, this is for me. So I signed up. I signed up for Wellspring. And Two years later here. I am talking about wellspring This year we’re offering love at the center, and that’s the one that Melanie was just talking about That’s a foundational course for people who have not taken a wellspring program before so it’s For everyone in other words and plus it’s brand new so even if you have taken wellspring before You might just be interested in that because it’s new.
But then there’s also a second program called Spiritual Practices, and this one is for people who have already taken Wellspring in the past, a Wellspring Sources program. So I know there’s a group that’s just finishing Wellspring Sources. There are people that have taken it in years past, and this Spiritual Practices program would be especially for you because it’s one of the second year programs that we offer through Wellspring.
So just a little bit about how the groups work. We meet here twice a month in the church in the classrooms. It’ll be first and third Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9 p .m. We put the chairs in a little circle, put a stool in the middle with a candle on it as our chalice, do a brief check -in with each other just to see how we’re doing that day, how our spiritual practice is going. And then we spend most of the time reflecting on questions together. So about two weeks before we meet, the facilitators send out an email with things, and little video clips to watch, and about five or six questions to review. And for me, it would only take me maybe an hour, hour and a half over that two week period to do the homework and make notes in my journal about the reflection question.
So it’s a little bit of homework, but it didn’t feel like overly burdensome at all. And then when we’re together, twice a month, we go through those questions one at a time using Parker Palmer’s Circles of Trust. So I brought Parker Palmer’s book. It’s a really good process where when someone shares what they’ve reflected on, the rest of the group just holds that in sacred silence, just kind of deep listening. And the basic guideline is that there’s no fixing, no changing, no advising, and no setting each other straight.
So it’s not like a normal conversation. You’re deeply listening to each other, deeply sharing from your heart, and I really found this to be so helpful and nourishing. And it’s a great way to learn how to just be present with each other, which is ultimately maybe the most valuable thing we can offer to each other, is just being present with each other. So after that first year of Wellspring Sources, and Melanie was one of my colleagues, the group decided to stay together for a whole second year and do the Deep Questions program, which we just just a couple of months ago. So I think that speaks to how meaningful we all found the experience that we really bonded and we wanted to stay together a whole second year. And I just wanna give a brief shout out to my wellspring siblings, ’cause now I think of them as my siblings. So Jenny, I saw Jenny over there, and Carrie, Amy, and Melanie, Sharon, Stephanie, Aaron, AJ, and Eric. So they’re my siblings now and I look forward to having more siblings after this coming year from Wellspring. There are descriptions that I brought. If you like the syllabus like I do, I brought some of those so you can find me and I’d be happy to share those. And they will also be on the website. If you go to learning and and adults, you’ll find information about Wellspring.
Toni Wegner
Good morning. I’m Toni. I use she /her pronouns. I’m on the other side of middle age and I’m wearing a summery dress and sensible shoes. Regardless of what my record may suggest I did not join this church just to be on committees. I’m delighted to be here today because small group ministries are what nourish my soul.
I spent two years in wellspring up until the pandemic and I highly recommend the program for those who can make the time of commitment. I continue to zoom the spiritual advisor I had during that program. She was a lifeline during the pandemic and currently in my transition to retirement. I participated in Chalice Circles for a couple of years before Wellspring and for the past two years.
We currently use the Soul Matters curriculum which has themes each month that tie into the themes for the sermons and into RE, themes like renewal, mystery, generosity, heritage. We get a package of materials two to four weeks in advance that have readings and quotes, video links, spiritual You can pick you pick one spiritual exercise and one question to talk about when the chalice circle meets once a month And you can even make up your own question It’s very flexible with lots of options to choose from and you can spend as little or as much time on the packet As you’d like so there doesn’t have to be a big-time commitment It’s a fun and interesting curriculum that challenges you to think and to feel, I personally was definitely on the shorter time commitment end.
The group I met with was on Zoom, which I found very convenient, but other groups meet in person, which also have positives. Many of the activities have been creative and interesting, like identifying a family memento that has a hold on you or realizing your mother saved nothing, taking a weird walk, doing something generous while remaining anonymous, making a list of delights in your life, taking quizzes on our political misperceptions, or exploring how each of the homes you lived in has shaped and helped create you. I came away from each of the exercises and questions with insights about myself, some positive or comforting, others not so much, but always feeling like I had a better understanding of why I am the way I am.
In the chalice circle, after an opening reading and check-in, each person has the opportunity to talk about the exercise they did and the question they answered. This is completely without interruption, usually three to four minutes each, so very similar format to Wellspring. After everyone has had a chance to share, there’s a brief period for responses and reflections, again following Parker Palmer’s no fixing, saving, advising, or setting each other straight.
Here’s what I loved. I loved that even at this age I am learning things about myself that feel important, that I can talk about things that I have ever talked about with anyone else in my life, with full confidence of confidentiality, that all of us share things that make us vulnerable, and in doing so, we form a deep bond. And that I feel a deeper connection to members of the first UU community than I would have ever felt through coffee hour or committees. We had an end of year child event in June where people from all the different childless circles got together to share reflections on the program.
And having gone through the program, I felt a bond with many of these people, even though I had never met some of them before. People overwhelmingly enjoyed the curriculum, which has something for everyone. There were also lots of positive comments about the value of having uninterrupted time to talk with others listening, the practice of deep listening, and the bonding that comes from this depth of sharing.
I’m really glad that our church offers these small group ministries and hope that everyone looking to make connections or go deeper will consider signing up this year. You commit a couple of hours a month and you get a lot of nourishment for that. For those who are skeptical, as most you use are, I hope you’ll consider participating in a taste of soul after church on August 4th or 11th to let you see what this experience will be like.
Check the newsletter for more information. Finally, I haven’t mentioned yet that I was a co-facilitator last year and will be one again this year. Why do I co-facilitate? Well, pragmatically, the more facilitators we have, the more spaces available for people to participate. Also, you get to pick when and where the group will meet, so that’s kind of a plus, hence online. There’s a really good two -hour online training and opportunities to meet with other facilitators and other than that facilitating takes like less than 15 minutes a month more than participating. So you can facilitate even if it’s your first chalice circle. And I was a co-facilitator getting to work with and to know my co-facilitator has been a highlight of my last year, so please consider it. I hope that I get to know you better in a chalice circle someday.
Extinguishing the Chalice
We extinguish this flame, but not the light of truth, the warmth of community, or the fire of commitment. These we hold in our hearts until we are together again.
Benediction
As we go back out into our world today, may we carry with us the love of this, our beloved religious community.
May we center our lives in love, just as we center our faith in love. May the melody flowing through our souls be a river of love that carries us forward until next we gather our spirits again.
Amen and Blessed Be. Go in peace.
Most sermons during the past 24 years are available online through this website. Click on the index link above to find tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on a topic to go to that sermon.
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