What does it mean to belong to a place or a community? And what do we want it to mean for us? We certainly do not mean it passively, treating ourselves as mere objects, the way one might say, “This shoe is one of my belongings.” No, the feeling of belonging comes when we are honored for our choice to join. We feel we belong when we are respected for our unique gifts and quirks. As David Breeden says, “Belonging is the story that changes because you arrived.” For Unitarian Universalists, the meaning of the word harkens back to the active root of the word longing — stretching. A true sense of belonging comes when hearts have opened wide and been willing to change in order to welcome us, just as we are.

 

Building Belonging is a necessary theme for people of faith right now. Our political leaders are defaulting on the social contracts that have undergirded many of our practices of stable belonging. My heart breaks with the egregious disrespect of Palestinian belonging being funded by our government. My heart breaks with the violent targeting of immigrants in this country and the predictable ways that this targeting endangers anyone who looks like an immigrant and all who don’t look like the colonized norm. My heart breaks with the closing of the Spectrum Center on campus, one among so many assaults on LGBTQ well-being. Practices of Building Belonging are salve for this heartbreak, even if they can’t undo the damage. It is healing to persistently express our personal and religious freedom to be kind, loving, caring, and generous. Let us insist on life, tapping into creativity, resilience, and hope as we continue to build the beloved community, one conversation at a time.

 

This month one of the ways we are practicing Building Belonging is by welcoming each other back from summer activities. We begin on September 6th with our annual Water Communion, a ritual of pouring our waters into a common bowl to symbolize the ways we flow together from diverse sources. Throughout the month, we’ll explore what it means to feel at home and how we can support others in feeling this way. We conclude the month on September 28th with a potluck meal and an opportunity to Build Belonging for the Fall.

 

Keep reading for various ways to engage. Welcome. Welcome to the new church year. You belong here, and we belong to you.