Spiritual Resilience

Last Sunday was the first in an 8-week worship series on Spiritual Resilience, where we will together explore how tools from Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects and from Christian scripture and tradition can help us all to foster spiritual resilience through challenging times.

The beginning of the spiral at the heart of this series and of the Work is “Coming from Gratitude,” and specifically gratitude that isn’t dependent on external circumstances but instead is rooted in the deep blessing of taking part in human life, as part of the whole of Creation, with the ability to make choices for ourselves and the future.

Perhaps you already have gratitude practices of your own. If you don’t, or would like to add to them, I invite you into a practice called “open sentences.” I’ll share some of these open sentences periodically throughout the worship series, whether in service itself or here in the e-blast. Choose one or more and either spend some time journaling about them or, if you have someone at home or work who you’d like to be in conversation with, take turns responding to them in real time. If you come to realize something you’d like to share in this practice, I’d always be delighted to hear from you about it.

Some things I love about being alive on Earth are…
A place that was wonderful to me as a child was…
A person who helped me believe in myself is…
I understood myself to be part of something larger when…
Some things I appreciate about myself are…

Peace

Pastor Megan

P.S. Since several people asked, the two books I mentioned in my sermon last week were Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and Coming Back to Life by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown.

Past Posts

From Our Pastors
Rev. Megan Berkowitz
May 9, 2025
I had a lot of interest in the prayer structure I shared during last Sunday’s worship, so I wanted to write it out for you here. If you’re feeling like you’re not sure how to pray or what to say, sometimes a little scaffolding can help get you started. Don’t think that this is the ‘right’ way to pray though — any way to pray that leads you to open your heart to God is the right way! Learn More
From Our Pastors: May 2, 2025
Rev. Megan Berkowitz
May 2, 2025
There is very little in the Gospels that tells of Jesus after his resurrection and before his ascension. This period gets 5 weeks in the liturgical calendar, but only one or two stories in each Gospel at most. As Pastor Amy shared in her sermon last Sunday, after the Resurrection, Jesus spends some time eating with his disciples, even sharing a grilled fish breakfast on the beach with them one morning. Learn More
From Our Pastors: April 25, 2025
Rev. Megan Berkowitz
April 25, 2025
On Easter morning, we sang the hymn “Now the Green Blade Rises,” with its refrain: “Love is come again like wheat that rises green.” While it raises questions for me every year about how much pronunciation has changed in the last hundred years (did been/green and again/lain really rhyme?), it so beautifully captures the confluence of Easter and the coming of Spring in the Northern hemisphere. Learn More
From Our Pastors: April 18, 2025
Rev. Megan Berkowitz
April 18, 2025
Throughout Lent, we have been Making Space: for compassion, humility, discernment, generosity, and prayer. As we move from yesterday evening’s Maundy Thursday Tenebrae service, sharing around the table and recognizing the coming darkness, to Sunday morning’s joyful worship, we are given one last, sacred opportunity to reflect in this year’s Lenten season. Learn More
From Our Pastors: April 11, 2025
Rev. Amy Clark Feldman
April 11, 2025
This coming Sunday begins our walk through Holy Week. The story of this week is at the very core of our faith. We’ll travel with Jesus to confront the powers of this world that still cause so much suffering – injustice, hubris, abuse of power, scarcity, violence, and fear. Learn More
From Our Pastors: April 4, 2025
Rev. Amy Clark Feldman
April 4, 2025
This Sunday is our final Sunday before Palm Sunday and Holy Week. There is one week left before Jesus, with boldness and intention, arrives in Jerusalem to take a stand against forces of corruption, oppression, violence, fear, and hate. Learn More
From Our Pastors: March 28, 2025
Rev. Megan Berkowitz
March 28, 2025
We’re drawing to the close of our Stewardship season for this year, and we’ll mark Stewardship Sunday in worship this week with a testimony and a focus in scripture and sermon on generosity. Learn More
From Our Pastors: March 21 2025
Rev. Megan Berkowitz
March 21, 2025
I gave up social media for Lent this year. I’ve tried it in past years, and it never quite stuck. I always found reasons to log back in: an urgent question for a group of colleagues, a video of Rosey that was too good not to share, or even just an accidental slip. It’s sticking this year, though. Learn More