This month we explore The Path of Creativity. Our May Soul Matters theme reminds us that we are all creative. Some of us are performers and activists, others are writers and artists, and still others are gardeners and teachers. But together we are meaning-makers and community-builders – people who travel the creative path of story-telling and sharing together.

Years ago I attended a watercolor workshop with an old artist mentor who encouraged me to stretch my creative boundaries and let go of the inner critic. While I love to garden, cook, and write poetry, creating visual arts takes me outside my comfort zone. But creativity is not about production or perfectionism; it is, I believe, about connecting with the spirit of life and allowing a new expression or way of seeing to come forth.

Here at UUC we have many opportunities to create together: from Writing and Fiber Arts Groups to Teaching Religious Education classes and Worship Leading. Services this month will look at gender diversity and multigenerational relationships as two important ways we work to create beloved community.

The month of May reminds us that we also create through our mothering. I recently listened to a podcast reading of a beautiful essay by Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder in which she looks at mothering as “the good work of being in service to all of life’s beings”. So many of you are doing this work of mothering– whether it is in service to your own children, your aging parents, or the earth and her creatures. This too is the work of creativity.

In the spirit of mothering, creativity, and meaning-making, I would like to share a gift that was shared with me by one of our congregants. Amy Greenberg wrote this poignant essay about her relationship with her own mother who had Alzheimer’s, which was recently published in an online literary magazine called the Heimat Review. Maybe there are parts of Amy’s story that resonate with you. Amy invites you to reach out to her here.

Let us continue to make meaning and create together by sharing our stories and artistic expressions with one another in the month ahead.

In peace,
Rev. Terri