Beyond Welcome: Building Communities of Love

I’m excited about a new book, the first I have edited for Skinner House Books. It’s called Beyond Welcome: Building Communities of Love. Seventeen essayists have written about their own, very personal experiences in Unitarian Universalist settings. Questions are posed to the reader to uncover our own biases as well as questions for groups to discuss, making this a great books for boards, staff teams, book groups, and small group ministry.

Watch for it! It will be available early January 2022 from Inspirit, the UUA Bookstore and via ebook in 2021. (also available for pre-order now:)

Starting the New Year

As we begin to welcome one another into the new church year, some of us in person and others online, we need to continue doing the work of opening our own hearts and our own souls. As we better understand ourselves, we can move more gracefully, purposefully, and in tune with nature. Our insights help us to see the spirit of life all around us and the divine in and around ourselves. Spiritual direction offers that spacious, sacred space.

I welcome you into a session to explore your spirit and connect with your soul.

What is Spiritual Direction?

I’ll begin with a few stories of my own spiritual direction. I encountered spiritual direction years ago when I took UU Wellspring, a year long spiritual deepening program for the first time. One of the layers of experience was to engage with a spiritual director. I had no idea what that was!

What I learned is that a spiritual director serves as a companion on your own spiritual journey. As I thought about my past spiritual journey that included religious experiences as well as mystical moments, I realized that this journey could both connect me to the great beyond and the divine as well as to help myself to better understand myself.

My first spiritual director was a person who was not trained, but had a wellness background. It was more of a mentoring relationship and once I realized I wanted to delve into the spiritual realm, I began working with a trained spiritual director. This director was also an author and only worked with people who were exploring their spirituality through the expressive arts. This was a great fit and when I needed to take a brief break, my spiritual director’s publishing took off and she was no longer meeting with directees!

I then decided to choose a spiritual director who was of another faith, mainly as part of my own training as a spiritual director. This was an interesting couple of years and my own translation of my faith to her and translating her faith to mine was very beneficial.

Eventually, I moved to a Unitarian Universalist Spiritual Director and this has been a great fit. Of course, as a spiritual director I will also remain in a peer supervision group with other spiritual directors for my own learning.

Resources for UU and Spiritually Seeking Families

My name is Linnea Nelson and I am a Unitarian Universalist Religious Educator serving as Executive Director of UU Wellspring and as the president of the Liberal Religious Educators Association. I am also studying to become a Spiritual Director serving the Unitarian Universalist community and anyone who is a spiritual seeker as they seek meaning in their lives. My companioning will begin Winter 2020.  Contact me today if you would like to discuss working with me.

I will be creating resources that support families in their quest for truth and meaning, compassion and kindness, respect for the interconnectedness of life. From hands on materials and videos to support RE teachers at www.sacredskills.org to books that engage us in deeper emotional and spiritual work, such as Comfort and Reflection in a Time of Separation and Loss.