I took this photograph as I was sliding by on a moving sidewalk at an airport during my recent trip to Europe.  That’s my reflection in the image.  “Together we thrive”, yes we do.  Only together.  Human beings are social animals.  We depend on each other.  We need each other.  We thrive in community.

The more I spend my life with Unitarian Universalism the more I’m convinced that the real purpose of our faith is to encourage people to come together in community.  Even more important than the content of our faith, the theology and so on, is the container of our faith:  that we provide a place for people to gather, with just enough content to keep our gatherings interesting and enough commonality so we can have the feeling that this is the right community for us to belong to.

But if it is the purpose of faith to “grow a soul” I think the best tool we have is not the seven principles, or the sermons, but the being together:  the learning how to work together, to support and care for others, to let ourselves be cared for, to try out being a leader, or to be an enthusiastic follower, to hear the stories of lives unlike our own and find connections there, to make new friends, to say goodbye to old friends.

Whether at church, or at an airport, our human lives are always interdependent with others.  Learning how to do that well may be the best skill we can develop in life.

If you’re looking to make deeper connections with other members of our Fellowship, I encourage you to sign up for a Covenant Group, or to lead a Covenant Group.  Elaine LeCain is working on organizing groups that will start this Fall.