For a New Beginning

A friend sent a poem as an encouraging send off. Because today marks the end of the old year leading into a new beginning of 2009 and because everyone daily has new beginnings, both large and small, I include an excerpt of the poem by Irish poet John O'Donahue.

FOR A NEW BEGINNING
(from "Benedictus")

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

Destination Meadville Lombard

I am headed toward one of of the two Unitarian Universalist seminaries in the US, Meadville Lombard. (For much of its history Harvard Divinity School has been associated with the Unitarian church and graduates a significant number of UU ministers).

Meadville has a modified residency program that enables me to earn a Master's of Divinity by spending four January's taking intensive classes. What Meadville does not offer I take at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa. I am getting the best of two great academic and spiritual communities.

Meadville aims to "educate students in the Unitarian Universalist tradition to embody liberal religious ministry in Unitarian Universalist congregations and wherever else they are called to serve. We do this in order to take into the world our Unitarian Universalist vision of justice, equity, and compassion."

Leaving to arrive

This blog will be a small diary or a stack of postcards for family and friends so I can share images and impressions.

The title for this blog comes from a favorite song of mine by artist and musician Terry Allen. It doesn’t really say “Cathey’s Going to Unitarian Seminary in Chicago for January,” but I make the case that seminary, all spiritual work for that matter, is about letting go of ego. Besides, all the names about journeys, following a path, or setting off in a new direction seemed taken. Hopefully the title is inspiration and just right.