You Belong Here. We're Better, Together.

As a teen, I'd tell myself the day would be a great one any time Jesse Colin Young came on the radio, singing, “You hold the key to love and fear... just one key unlocks them both, there at your command...” The song, Get Together, and the Youngbloods, peaked in popularity before I was listening to Top 40, so it wasn’t in regular rotation, making it an infrequent occurrence. And after Thursday’s Meaningful Movie, Earth’s Greatest Enemy, I needed to remember.

We hold the key.

(If you haven’t seen that documentary, it’s a tough watch, but worth it.)

In fact, I needed Rev. Marilyn Sprague’s message on Sunday more than usual: No One Outside the Circle: The Sacred Work of Belonging. And the togetherness at our annual picnic.

In community, we have more power than we think we do, and more than we have alone. That was the takeaway from Thursday’s film, too: We have more power, together, when we stand for what we believe in. It’s part of why what happens in our sanctuary on a Sunday morning matters, and how that power extends beyond our walls.

And just a side note: Under Juniper Rayne’s direction, the music was again in perfect sync with the day’s theme. (You can watch and listen here.)

The Question We All Ask

Most of us, whenever we walk into something new, whether it’s a job, a congregation, a friend group, or any transition, we ask ourselves a version of the same question: Is there a place for me here? We know what it feels like to wonder before we know for sure.

An ever-expanding circle of belonging

We're wired for belonging; it's how we evolved. So we know how to assess the answer before any words are spoken. It may be a feeling, or a small cue we pick up – a glance, a facial expression, the “vibe” we get. It tells us whether we’re safe, whether we’ll be accepted, whether we can fully be ourselves. Rev. Marilyn said, “It whispers whether we feel seen.”

But, she said, it’s even deeper than that. It begins when we recognize each other’s humanity. In the stories we tell about who we are.

Belonging isn’t something we create. It’s something we remember. Before we’re welcomed or excluded, “the truth is already being revealed.”

When Rev. Marilyn shared that our community feels like home, I felt seen.

Whole, no matter what.

Forgetting is Too Easy

This is where being human trips us up. While our instincts are well-honed, our assessments often still get it wrong.

It’s easy to get swept into stories instead of the truth. It’s part of why Science of Mind has its spiritual practices - to help us remember who we are. The truth of who we are.

The biggest lie we tell ourselves, she said, is that we’re not enough, that we don't fit. We wait for the right circumstance, the right situation, the right version of ourselves to show up before we allow ourselves to be whole and self-accepting. Science of Mind, by contrast she said, is stubbornly hopeful. It insists our essential nature is already whole. That tells me we're asking the wrong question.

As humans, we make mistakes. It’s partly how we discover who we are. I know my most challenging experiences teach me more about what I’m made of and bring me closer to my true self than when things are easy. While it may not feel good at the time, it’s always a gift I can’t get any other way.

The Circles We Draw Ourselves

Rev. Marilyn asked, “So what’s possible when we, as a community, believe the truth of wholeness?”

Rev. Marilyn referenced the mystics’ image of spirit as a circle whose center is everywhere and whose edge is nowhere. We’re the ones who draw the smaller circles — culture, race, othering  — categories we use to sort people. Spirit doesn’t draw those lines.

Seeing Differently

The real work isn’t to shrink or widen the circles. It’s learning to see differently through the lens of wholeness. We may not like, agree with, or approve of the same things, but if we can still see others as whole no matter what, what changes?

What we see shapes what we do, how we treat each other and ourselves, our life experience, and our very consciousness. We can choose: peace or doubt, love or fear, faith or uncertainty… Our lens is transformative despite circumstances. Maybe not always quickly, but it starts there.

I often come back to Eric Butterworth’s message in Spiritual Economics. It’s not what’s happening “out there,” but rather, “in here.” Rev. Marilyn put it this way: Refuse to let appearances blind us to the truth that every life comes from the same source.

Why Belonging Matters

Seeing through the eyes of wholeness opens up compassion, curiosity, generosity in our actions, and just as often, in how we listen.

Rev. Marilyn walked us through an exercise to sharpen our lens: picture someone easy to love. Then someone harder. Then someone we see often but may not know well. Can we see each of them through the lens of wholeness?

She returned to where she started: Is there a place for me here? Which truth will we choose, together, to believe? We may forget, and that’s OK. We’re not arriving at wholeness. We’re remembering it, again and again, despite being human.

What lens will we choose to see with?

The sacred work of belonging always leads back to the same truth: we’re made of the same stuff. One life. What we get in return is deeper relationships, more connection, more say over our experience.

Wholeness isn’t something to earn. It’s something to recognize and remember.

Thank You!

We closed the morning with “Dancing in the Streets” before heading to Golden Gardens for the picnic, a fitting way to celebrate belonging - an afternoon spent in community.

I'm grateful for the many friends who joined us. It's always delightful to see so many familiar faces. And, as always, a huge thank-you to Mark Ruark for his impeccable grilling skills. It was all delicious and, of course, more than enough.

With gratitude,

Laura