Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church

Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church Members and Friends,
Last Sunday a member said, laughing, “Reverend Mitra you make me have too much to do. You say I have to be compassionate and giving, justice seeking and honorable, loving and life affirming, a participant and also care about the world! It is too much.”
What a wonderful comment. Yes! The answer is, Yes. Not, Yes—you should be overwhelmed. But, YES! Find the Yes in you! What this means is something a colleague recently reminded me of; words from the Reverend Dr. Howard Thurman who said, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”
Coming alive is a hard thing to do these days. It is the middle of winter and life seems to be sleeping. The world is covered in a blanket of snow and deep breaths can chill the bones. We are all waiting for signs of spring.
As I watch the passing days of winter, I have been musing about passion, the kind of passion that comes from within an individual. It is passion that leads us to move, speak, and breathe with hope. Passion can be expressed through love, sarcasm, anger, desperation, longing, among other things. Passion is the waking expression of something within that has emerged. That is why religion is a manifestation of passion; it is that which is on the very edge of emergence. What a blessing it is to witness the abundance of passion in our religious community.
Ironically, passion is fed by a deeper stillness. The kind of stillness you find in the winter, stillness that opens our hearts and allows us to breathe deeply. For when we are still, even for a minute, our longings, hopes, and love can become present. In our stillness we can find power and clarity. And it is in the root of both stillness and passion that will lead us to be the people we want to be. To be, as our member expressed, compassionate and giving, justice seeking and honorable, loving and life affirming, a participant in a world we care about!
Let us live out the rest of winter with intention. The intention to find a stillness that will sustain our passions. The passion found at the church these days is rooted in you, the individual. Therefore, may our individual passions create a church community where each and all (re)discover what makes you “come alive.”
With Love,
Rev. Mitra