Minister’s Column
I am writing from the Lindenwood retreat center in Indiana, where I have spent two days with fellow ministers from the Heartland chapter of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. The chapter includes Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky. I serve as chapter president. On our retreat we have our annual business meeting, discussions of trends in ministry, and a workshop totaling eight hours over two days. Our workshop this year has been Exploring Spiritual Self Care through Restorative Art, presented by JeKaren Olaoya.
The workshop invited us to do a series of short art projects, each one connected to the theme of spiritual self care. As ministers, we are reminded that spiritual practices ground us in our work. My spiritual practices include journaling, yoga, exercise, music, breathing, singing, poetry and more. For everyone in the congregation, for everyone who may be reading this minister’s column, I extend to you the same wishes and invitations for self care that I received in the course of the last two days. Here are two examples of the art projects we did:
Tree of Life
Each of us drew a tree, labeling the leaves with who we are and want to be while labeling the trunk and roots with our ancestors, those who have helped us in life, and our life experiences. The visual depiction illustrates the connections between our past and present self.
Mini-book (Zine) of Good Wishes
This zine was my favorite project. Participants in the workshop started with the prompt “I wish for you…” and wrote a wish for spiritual self-care for the other participants. Each entry was a line in a poem, and after each one was composed and illustrated the paper was passed on to another participant. Thus the end product was a poem composed by the whole group. Here is mine, which I offer to you as a blessing:
I wish for you:
Delicious coffee,
Joyful Celebrations and
Quiet moments of reflection,
The ability and grace to LET GO
when you need to…
moments of joyful surprise,
And good friends who take your 3 am calls
PRAYER
Spirit of Life, may each of us make time for spiritual self-care, improving the quality of our lives and grounding ourselves for the life-giving work we are called to do.
May the blessings of rest, self-acceptance, exercise, and joy come to all human beings with no exceptions.
Blessed be.
Rev. Drew Frantz
October 18, 2023