UUFSMA: “Finding Yourself in Community”

UU Service

“Finding Yourself in Community”

Rev. Tom Rosiello

Sunday, Nov. 17, 10:30 a.m.

Hotel La Aldea

by Jon Sievert

At this week’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Service, Affiliate Minister Rev. Tom Rosiello explores the importance of community in shaping us as human beings from the standpoint of Unitarian Universalist tradition and many other sources.

The spiritual journey is often thought of as a journey of “finding yourself.” Some would say this is a private journey of inward reflection but Rev. Rosiello suggests that is not the case. He proposes that it is community that makes us who we are and that our dependence upon community may far exceed what we realize. In Rev Rosiello words, the path of discovering “who we are?” starts with the question “whose we are?”

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke expresses this idea by posing this question:

What have we learnt from living since we started,

          Except to find in others what we are?

This idea of “finding in others who we are” is also found in the African concept of Ubuntu. According to Bishop Desmond Tutu, “Ubuntu is the essence of being human…. (It) speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness.”

Rev. Rosiello is Minister Emeritus of The First Parish of Stow and Acton in Massachusetts and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and Suffolk University Law School. Tom has always been active in a variety of social justice causes, ranging from AIDS and gay rights to poverty and prison reform. He served on the board of the Unitarian Universalists Urban Ministry, which serves a largely black community in Boston, and Partakers, an interfaith prison ministry that assists inmates with earning a college degree while incarcerated.

He also taught at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts and helped train new ministers as part of Harvard Divinity School’s field education program. Prior to entering the ministry, he worked for nearly 20 years as an attorney, primarily in the criminal justice system as an Assistant District Attorney and a criminal defense lawyer.

Come and explore a theology of interconnectedness and the importance of community in knowing yourself. In addition to the morning’s message, service includes a story for children, a time of sharing joy, sorrows, and concerns, an opportunity for prayer or reflection, a welcoming of new members, and music, including selections for piano and the opportunity to join in singing. Our pianist for the service is Mauro Ledesma.

For more information about the UUFSMA, including our Sunday morning Children’s Religious Education program, Social Action outreach, weekly discussion groups, social activities, and Care Team, join us any Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Hotel La Aldea or check out our website at uufsma.org.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

Members regularly post updates and information on this site. We also post meeting minutes and announcements there.

To join our Yahoo group site click on this link:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/UUFSMA/info

Click on “membership”and follow the directions.

Posting a notice on the Yahoo site is easy. Just go to your regular mail browser, type in the address line: uufsma@yahoogroups.com , type your message and hit send!

We encourage you to use this site to communicate with other local UUs.