Hi Friends,

I had a wonderful time at the UCE campout on June 6-8. Over 50 UCE folks from preschoolers to elders participated, some staying in a tent at the campground and some staying at the hotel adjacent to the state park. There were group activities as well as free time. You can see in the photo that I’m enjoying some free time in the hammock that Mickey and I set up at our campsite. The flag over the hammock was made by a friend to mark the entry to the outdoor chapel for our wedding many years ago. On the Saturday afternoon of the campout, Rev. Eileen and I drove back into the city for a Serendipity Auction event, the Ministers’ Progressive Lunch. As we progressed through the lunch, folks at two of the three tables asked me about my call, so that is something I have been thinking about the last two weeks, in addition to the national and world events unfolding around us.

During seminary, I spent time purposefully reflecting on my call. I am able to trace my call back to a moment I experienced at the age of 16 around a campfire at a Methodist summer camp. It is a moment that committed me to a life of creating sacred space. I understand sacred space to be a setting in which one is able to connect with that which is larger than us. Each of us experiences “that which is larger than us” differently, it may be love, a deity, the cosmos, community, or something one cannot express in words. My call is a call to create sacred space.

I believe many of us have a call in the sense that we have something that we lean toward and cannot get away from even when we are not experiencing it. For some, our vocation goes hand in hand with our call, such as being a writer/artist or working with children/elders or being a first responder/heath care provider. I write this understanding that not everyone in such jobs would claim their employment as their vocation or their work as their call. For some our job or volunteering provides a way for us to live out our call in an unlikely setting. For many years, my job as an attorney provided me opportunities to create sacred space for couples and families experiencing adoption, estate planning, or divorce that allowed them to grapple with the existential questions embedded in such experiences. This did not happen all the time, but I was often able to live out my call in the secular world. A call does not have to be something that only happens in the sphere of religion and theology. What would it look like to acknowledge that thing in your life that gives you purpose as your call?

I know many of us are overwhelmed right now and making time to think about one’s purpose or one’s call or a vision of the future is daunting. When you are feeling overwhelmed by what is happening in your life or in the news, please make time to take care of yourself. If you need some support, please fill out a Request for Care form or email me, Rev. Eileen, or Rev. Elizabeth. What is happening in our country needs our attention. And our attention is more focused and more effective when we are rested, when we know ourselves, and when we are able to support each other.

After being introduced to Unitarian Universalism, I chose to attend seminary and embrace a vocation that allows me to live out my call in more explicit ways, such as through Sunday morning worship and pastoral care conversations. And my version of sacred space might not look like yours, and what I experience in a moment might be different than what you experience. It is for each of us to know ourselves and claim or label our call as we experience it.

One way I am living out my call to sacred space right now is through the community space I am creating with others on the corner of Dempster & Ridge every Thursday. In the first two weeks, these Beacons of Light gatherings have allowed our neighbors to join us and drivers to honk their support for a positive vision of our country’s future. I have had really good conversations with folks from the neighborhood and, when appropriate, shared with them about UCE. I invite you to join us. We will gather every Thursday from 7:00-7:30 pm through August. If Dempster & Ridge is not near your home, please feel free to join the folks gathering at the same time weekly at Chicago & Main or Central & Lincolnwood.

Yours in our shared future,

Rev. Susan