3rd Day of Chalica Wednesday 12/4/19

We light our chalice for acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

One afternoon after my cruise, my grandsons and I had been to our local YMCA to swim and as we came out of the building we saw this beautiful sunset. One of the interesting parts of my class at the YMCA is that a few of the other members are also members of my local UU congregation. 

I have also been lucky that I have found a group, Women of Faith, outside of my congregation (but again many members of my congregation are also members of this group) that has been aiding in my spiritual growth these last few years. We meet once a month for good food (potluck no meat) fellowship and a program.  The reason that our food is meat free is that we have members of the Muslim and Jewish faiths that need special treatment during the slaughtering of the meat. But we can have fish so long as the fish had scales. Interesting things you learn about when meeting people of different faiths.  That we aren't so different after all.
Happy Chalica!
Blessed be,
Kathy
below is an article I wrote for my congregation about our September Program. I call it Pilgrimages in Faith

Pilgrimage was the theme of the Sept. 17th program at the Women of Faith meeting. After enjoying a delicious potluck dinner of dishes made without meat we were treated to talks about pilgrimages by women of two different faiths that were eerily similar.  The first talk was: Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca by Salma Akbar. Salma told us about her fears of not surviving, getting her will up-to-date, about how the women dressed modestly and the men dressed all in white. About walking 7 times counter clockwise around the  Kaaba. How “once there all labels disappeared” people were people not doctors or lawyers or rich or poor. About how when she was close to the Kaaba, she stumbled or was pushed and reached out and touched the door of the Kaaba and was filled with light, hope and godliness.  It was a transforming experience for her.

Our next speaker was Elizabeth Popplewell, the rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Elizabeth talk was We Make the Way by Walking, the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage. She told us of the bones of St. James being found in a box by the sea and moved 500 miles to where they are buried. She told us of her accident and how when it happened there was a doctor there to help her and when she need her stitches out there were two nurses at the lunch table to help. About sleeping in refugios (hostels for the pilgrims), eating in outside cafes, meeting people,

She told us of how the first 10 days were a time of healing for her body, the 2^nd 10 days for her brain and the last 10 days were for her soul. She walked 15-18 miles a day. She told us about see the iron cross at the end and taking a rock to lay at the base and how disappointed she was that at that point she didn’t feel anything, but then as she walked away she felt a lighting, a healing and a reconnecting to God. A transforming experience for her.

Both these women came away with these ideals that Elizabeth summed up for us: surrender to the pilgrimage, I can do hard things, everyone must experience their own pilgrimage, embrace the unknown, be present to where you are, but look behind you to see where you have been, enjoy that climb and maybe see a fabulous sunrise, cherish the people you meet, keep going and come home.

Not all our dinner meeting have speakers some are just a chance to meet women of other faiths and to find a common ground between us.

I invited you to join us at the next Women of Faith Dinner/meeting or find one near you or start one in your area.