Insight from the Director: What I Set My Heart To

The word credo comes from Latin and has several roots or meanings, the literal translation is “what I set my heart to “On May 15th, our Coming Of Age students ended their program by sharing their faith statements, or credos, with the congregation.  For those who were not able to attend, and for those who would just like to revisit those statements, I have included a link in this article.  Everyone agreed that this is such a meaningful UU ritual.  People came up to me after service to say that they were feeling the need to examine their own credos, as adults.  This is actually something that we all should do from time to time.  We need to examine our personal credos, what do we value? what do we believe? for what greater purpose do we live? in what do we have faith? and what ultimate meaning do we bind ourselves to?  If we are going to live our lives with intention, or consciously, if we are going to have a life with purpose, even if only the purpose we assign to it, we need to examine where we stand with our beliefs today.  Surprisingly, you might find that you no longer hold beliefs from the past.  You might, for example, discover that what you used to think was important, is no longer.  We are often caught up in a cycle of working and consuming that keeps us too busy to slow down for self-reflection.  We are unable to grow toward greater understanding of our true nature unless we take the time to examine and reflect upon our life. In Unitarian Universalism, our third and fourth principles suggest “acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations” and “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning” respectively.  We are blessed to have a religion that encourages our own self-exploration to know ourselves better.  To assist in your individual spiritual paths of self-awareness and discovery, I have included a list of questions to ponder and answer to help create your own personal faith statements or credos:

  • What are some of your beliefs about how humans should act?
  • What are some of your beliefs about the origins of the universe?
  • What do you believe about how the universe functions?
  • What are some of your beliefs about a higher power?
  • What are some of your beliefs concerning life, death and the afterlife?
  • What do you think is sacred?
  • Which of these beliefs affect the way you act? How?

In faith,

Sam Jones, Director of Religious Education

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