With great anticipation, we invite you to UU Wellspring! UU Wellspring is a year-long Unitarian Universalist program of spiritual deepening and connection. Our hope is that over the course of the next ten months, we’ll deepen our individual spiritual lives and our connections to one another through an intentional program of spiritual practice and direction, study and reflection, and online small group meetings.
RSVP to the September 4 Retreat by emailing clovell@allsoulschurch.org.
Meetings
Our opening meeting is a required online retreat for all participants. It is an extended class time of 2½ hours and will be held on September 4 at 2:00 pm and ending at 4:30 pm US Central Time on Zoom. Email Corey to access the link. (If you attended the August 28 retreat, there is no need to attend again.)
Rev. Tina Simson, Minister Emerita-First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY, will facilitate our Wellspring Retreat!
Our regular meetings will be held on the first and third Sundays of the month, beginning on September 18, 1:00-2:30 pm US Central Time. The only deviation from this will be in January when we will meet on January 8 and 22. We will wrap our time together on July 2.
Please let us know if you would prefer to meet in person at All Souls or if you’d rather meet online via Zoom. Email Cory at clovell@allsoulschurch.org with your preference. We will form our groups of 10-12 participants based on your responses.
Your facilitators will be determined in the coming weeks and will be in touch with their names and contact information and your meeting details. Please put all of the dates (and Zoom information if applicable) on your calendars when you receive it so that you can protect the time.
Prerequisites
Please bring these materials to the retreat:
- Journal: either a device to write online or paper and pen
- Two smooth stones and a marker
- An open mind and an open heart
Preview the materials below now to get a sense of the time you may need to fully take in the wisdom offered. We understand that this is a lot of information and prep work. This is more than you will be asked to do the rest of the time. You can do it! Just plan out your time to read and journal before the retreat.
- Read Everyday Spiritual Practice, edited by Scott. W. Alexander. Choose one or two spiritual practices from the book that seem like something you might want to try.
- Respond in your journal: How do you describe your spiritual life?
Note that there is about 70 minutes of video recordings to watch prior to the retreat. This is far more than a regular session. Please add about 10 minutes to each Retreat Video (50 minutes total) to allow for your written responses to the prompts. The very minimum preparation time for the Sources Retreat is two hours plus the time it takes to read Everyday Spiritual Practice.
NOTE: The books in the curriculum are generally available through the UUA Inspirit bookstore or through your favorite online or local bookseller. If you are unable to purchase books and cannot find them at the library, let us know.
Online Etiquette
Here is our protocol for successful online meetings: If possible, use a headset and microphone, even the earphones that may have come with your phone will be helpful in keeping background noise at bay and will help others who may have hearing challenges hear you more clearly.
- Please log in a few minutes early and check your audio so that when we open the waiting room and begin the session you will be able to hear and be heard. If you sometimes use headphones and other times do not, you should check to make sure it is working with your headphones.
- Please have your video on and be ready to mute your microphone when we begin. We will all be muted except when speaking.
Finally and importantly, please watch this short video on respect since we will be introducing ourselves using our pronouns.
- Why Respecting Pronouns Is So Important (3 ½ min)
It will be so good to be together as we learn to listen deeply to our stories and reflect on what is most important in our lives. Please RSVP to clovell@allsoulschurch.org to let us know if you are able to attend our retreat and learn more about Wellspring.
With great anticipation of our journey together,
Shannon Boston, Cory Lovell, and Rev. Barbara Prose
All Souls is a welcoming community. Everyone, regardless of age, race, culture, economic status, gender identity or sexual orientation is welcome at All Souls. Our membership includes people from all walks of life, who hold a broad spectrum of personal and political views. We unite in the spirit of Love Beyond Belief.
All Souls offers programming throughout the week and two distinct services on Sunday. To learn more, visit our website at allsoulschurch.org.
Read more about our history at 100 Years of All Souls.
