Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman

For Unitarian Universalists, September is a time of homecoming. It’s a time of coming home to church and renewing ourselves and our faith commitments. That means engaging questions of faith and reconsidering what is being asked of us, individually and collectively. It means “[asking] yourself what makes you come alive. And then [going] and [doing] that.”

What will make you come alive? What will refresh your body and heal your spirit? What ethical, religious commitments are asking to be renewed or re-imagined in you, by you? Is your energy and passion moving you to more fully honor human worth and dignity, engage the democratic process, respect our interconnectedness, and/or renew the search for truth and meaning? How is our newest principle, the 8th Principle, coming alive in you and inspiring you to act in order to “accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions”?

This month, I hope you will each reflect on areas of your faith life that are being renewed in you and bringing you to life.

Yours in faithful renewal,

Rev. Dr. Sandra Fees