Each month we feature a spiritual theme (see below) which we weave into Sunday worship, Religious Exploration and many of our small groups and gatherings. Each month’s theme is also highlighted in the aesthetic elements of the sanctuary. We send out the theme resources found here (eadings, spiritual exercises, and reflection questions) in an monthly worship email so you can explore the theme on your own or with your family members and friends. These theme resources come from the Soul Matters Sharing Circle,  a UU theme-based program with more than 140 UU subscribers.

Social Justice Monthly Plate Partners

Each month we introduce our Plate Partner , an organization whose work and mission are connected with our UU social justice mission and values. Rev. Sara and the Social Justice Council often explore additional opportunities through collaborative programming (ex: book discussion, arts opportunity, issue forum, workshop etc). For more information about the plate partners below, please visit our plate partner webpage.

November 2026 Spiritual Theme:

Welcome to Healing

Jewish teaching includes frequent reminders of the importance of a broken-open heart, as in this Hasidic tale: A disciple asks the rebbe: “Why does Torah tell us to ‘place its words upon your hearts’? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?” The rebbe answers: “It is because, as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and the words fall in.

     – Parker J. Palmer

Oh how we want to escape our pain.

Worry, loss, death, exhaustion, anxiety, economic instability, the unraveling of our democracy, the destruction of our planet, the ever-present trauma of racial injustice. It’s all overwhelming. We want to stitch up our protective coverings as soon as we can, so our exposed and tender nerves can rest. We want the pain behind us as soon as possible.

But what if the work is to travel toward it? What if proximity to our pain, not distance from it, is the real route to healing?

This seems to be what Parker Palmer is trying to tell us. And what our faith teaches us as well.

Here’s what else Palmer has to say: “When the heart is supple, it can be “broken open” into a greater capacity to hold our own and the world’s pain. When we hold our suffering in a way that opens us to greater compassion, heartbreak becomes a source of healing, deepening our empathy for others who suffer and extending our ability to reach out to them.”

This doesn’t just reframe pain and healing; it also helps us reimagine our relationship with vulnerability. Maybe vulnerability isn’t the cause of our pain, like some chink in our armor. Maybe, instead, it is the first and needed step toward healing our pain. Or, to put it another way, maybe vulnerability isn’t so much the problem as the ticket that allows us to get on healing’s train.

If this is true, then our instructions this month seem to be this:

Forget eliminating your pain; lean into it! Don’t run from it as fast as you can; befriend it. Hold it in your frightened and tender hands until you realize it’s more malleable than you thought. Until you realize that your strong and courageous hands can shape it. That you can take its sharp edges and mold them into pathways that connect you with other people’s pain. That you can transform it from a weapon that has wounded you into a bridge that connects you to the beautiful, broken hearts of others.

When we do this, we may discover that pain can be more than a cage cutting us off from the world. It can also become a tool that makes room, carving open an entirely new space to live in. A space where we are more deeply connected to each other than we imagined possible.

This of course doesn’t mean the hurt goes away. But it does mean we end up feeling larger, more whole, and more tightly held by the holy web that reminds us we are never alone.

And maybe that is the most important healing of all.

October’s Plate Partner: Pro Voice Project

Abortion stigma leads to silence, isolation, misinformation, and harmful policies.

In Idaho, stigma around reproductive health silences public discourse and deepens isolation for those navigating reproductive healthcare decisions. Despite the fact that 1 in 4 women in the U.S. will have an abortion in their lifetime, fear of judgment and legal retaliation fuels misinformation, isolates patients, and creates ethical dilemmas for healthcare providers.  When stories are not told, Idahoans suffer alone and harmful policies go unchecked.

We serve those most impacted by Idaho’s abortion stigma — rural, low-income, and religious communities — who remain unheard, unseen, and unserved.

The people most impacted by this climate of stigma are often rural, low-income, or religiously affiliated Idahoans who experience internal conflict between private realities and public expectations. Their voices are missing from public life, leaving their needs misunderstood and their pain politicized.

The healing is in the sharing.

The Pro‑Voice Project was founded not only to respond to legislative attacks on reproductive rights, but to disrupt the silence. The healing is in the sharing. When people speak honestly about their reproductive lives, without shame or censorship, they create the conditions for healing, solidarity, and collective action.