“Curiosity is the key to letting go of judgment... The bottom line is that judgments are assumptions, not truths.”
Happy May Day! It is a day also known as Beltane, the mid-point between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, a day to leave tiny bouquets on our neighbors’ doorknobs. It is also International Workers Day, a day for unions to flex their muscles and a day that, this year, some are using to protest the billionaire/worker economic divide, the presence of ICE in our communities, the war with Iran, and increased voting restrictions, by striking from work or school or shopping. (See more in the Enews.)
At North Parish, May is a month for welcoming new members and engaging in the democratic process that we follow as a Unitarian Universalist congregation. During Sunday’s sermon, many of us chuckled when guest preacher James Dargan said, “When you are in community you are going to get annoyed, because being in community means that somebody’s close enough to get on your last damn nerve.” He continued, “It is a blessing to be able to be annoyed!”
The Soul Matters theme for May is “awakening curiosity”. Part of what community does (besides annoy us) is to provoke our curiosity about each other and our collective future, which we then co-create together. Here are a few reflection questions:
- Were you ever shut down or punished for being curious, especially about religious questions?
- If a crystal ball could reveal something about yourself, your family, or our collective future, what would you want to know?
- At North Parish, whom are you curious about, and how might you learn about them?
- What happens when you try being curious about the family members you know so well?
- Try spending a week looking for opportunities to be curious about people’s behaviors rather than judgmental. What do you find?
With curiosity and gratitude for life’s abundance, and for all those building collective life-affirming power,
Rev. Lee