Spiritual Knee

I love to ski. It's one of the ways I connect with the highest truth and the deepest love -- I feel the oneness of everything when I'm floating downhill with those long flat things stuck to my feet. Songs of the universe pass through my head and the sky opens up to let the energies of the heavens connect with those of the earth. In the days when I had a partner who shared skiing with me, a day on the slopes generally served as the best appetizer for an evening of high-powered love. Both the skiing and the lovemaking are/were spiritual practices for me.

So now this year, I come to a time when my right knee has enough arthritis in it to provoke a flareup. At first, I didn't know what it was. I spent weeks contemplating life with a sore knee. I limped up and down stairs. I couldn't do yoga. I couldn't take long walks. I couldn't ski. It was awful. "So this is how it feels to be in your 80's," I thought. I was so unhappy. I'm quite a few years away from being in my 80's, not at all ready to go there. Though many people my age have real physical limitations. I thought of them and felt grateful. Acceptance, I thought. That's the spiritual practice for this knee. And it was.

But non-acceptance was also a worthwhile practice. I went to the doctor and accepted a shot of cortisone and a prescription for anti-inflammatory pills. I took my friends' advice and started taking glocosamine. Finally, after weeks and weeks of one thing and another, I can dance and I can ski.

First, it was dancing. I go contradancing, which although it is quite energetic, is always done in places where you can stop and go home with very little trouble. Somebody told me to get new shoes with less resistance to turning. I did, and it was great! Then, I went for an afternoon to a smoothly groomed, pretty boring ski place. I got cold from not exercising enough while heading down hill, but my knee came through beautifully.

I paid attention to my knee. I let it tell me what to do. And it did. One step after another became clear as I paid attention to what it said.

So my spiritual practice of accepting the truth and paying attention to my knee has led me from despair to readjustment. Maybe I'll never ski aggressively again, or maybe I will. I'll pay attention and not just make up some story about what's going to happen. I will be guided in the way that works. After all, It's my spiritual knee that will take me to where I need to go.

Experimenting with Worship Time

We're experimenting with worship time. Some members and friends of the congregation work nights or Sunday mornings and find it really difficult to get to church on Sunday at 10:00 AM the only time church "happens" for us. One mother confessed that she has a tight turnaround with taking her son to a sports practice and almost never makes it to church -- plus, she really, really isn't a morning person! To those of us who have been Unitarian Universalist forever, it seems very unnatural to think of church happening at a different time. I still wish they wouldn't have youth sports practice on Sunday mornings, because we still really can't have Sunday School any other time. But with our experiment, now Mom can come, but only once a month, at 5:00 PM on the second Saturday of the month, January 12, this month. (check our website for other months: www.uumanchester.org)

I can tell you it's very sweet. There's something about the silence outside in the evening -- no doubt this will change when spring comes, but for now, silence -- and the smaller congregation makes it more intimate. We sing together, keep silence together, take our time in sharing joys and concerns, and reflect together on the theme of the week. Sometimes the sermon is cut short to allow for discussion, so it's less formal. The light is different, the stained glass windows look different, and there's just something about the calm energy of that time of day that makes everything flow together nicely. Then, sometimes, we go somewhere to get a bite to eat and socialize afterward.

I'm hoping many more people discover this experiment with worship time. Maybe you if you're nearby? We'd love to have you!