From the Ministers

Rev. Kelly Crocker, Co-Senior Minister

Courage is often attributed to acts of bravery, summoning resolve when faced with challenging circumstances, and other almost-superhuman responses to life's unpredictability. We say people are courageous as though it's a trait you possess or not. Courage, it seems, is for the few. Yet courage is required in almost every human endeavor and encounter.

Poet David Whyte writes about courage in his famous book Consolations. In it, he calls us to consider the original meaning of courage. Rooted in the French word for heart, coeur, "courage is the measure of our heartfelt participation with life, with another, with a community, a work; a future." Whyte insists that courage is not an act but a way of living from the essence of who we are.

To allow oneself to love and commit to another takes boundless courage. Committing oneself to the care and nurture of a child is a courageous act. Being creative and daring to bring beauty into this world begins with courage. Taking a stand for something we believe in calls forth the courage that lives deep within us. Getting old demands courage.

Having the courage to do as Whyte suggests and live from the heart, our soul, is to move in the world with vulnerability. Not in the sense of oversharing personal stories, but showing up as who we are at our core. As Brene Brown reminds us, “vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.” Brown goes on to say that the most accurate measure of courage is the level in which we engage vulnerability.

Perhaps the most beautiful connection about courage that both Whyte and Brown make is that it is the core of belonging. To belong is not to fit in but to be embraced for who we are. To show up, in all our vulnerability, as who we are, is to live from courage. Belonging requires us to continuously risk that we will be embraced, loved, and celebrated simply for being us. In community, belonging asks us to offer others this embrace in return.

As we embrace this new program year, as we continue to find our way in a world undone by a pandemic, we invite you to live from courage, from your heart. Belonging is at the heart of who we are called to be as Unitarian Universalists and as members of First Unitarian Society. We belong to each other. We invite you to find your place here and create a place of belonging for others. May we live courageously, from the heart, together and beyond our walls.