Flaming Chalice symbol

Richmond & Putney Unitarian Church

AN INCLUSIVE RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY OF OPEN MINDS AND OPEN HEARTS

Our Approach to Spirituality

In this community you will find many approaches to spirituality. We are enriched by each new person who comes through the door, bringing their individual perspective. Below is a sampling of some of the approaches you might find if you come to one of our services or events.

  • Wisdom traditions

    Some of us feel a special affinity with elements of a particular tradition, for example: the teachings of Jesus on love and forgiveness; celebrating the Celtic Wheel of the Year festivals; or the Buddhist practices of mindfulness and loving kindness.

  • Peace and reflection

    Some are drawn here simply by a need for time and space to reflect on their lives. We find in our hour at church on a Sunday a haven of peace and warm companionship amidst the busyness of life.

  • Comfort, inspiration and a call to compassion

    Some come seeking inspiration or comfort or support or challenge or spiritual growth. Some will find in worship a call to live lives of greater depth and integrity. We find ourselves opening to the sufferings of the world and are stirred to compassion.

  • Social action

    Some will understand spirituality primarily in terms of social action, seeking to create a more just and peaceful world. We devote time and energy to voluntary work and campaigning organisations.

  • Kindness

    Some will have a deep sense of spirituality based simply on kindness. This permeates our daily lives and way of being in the world.

  • Gratitude, joy, mystery, wonder and beauty

    Some will come in gratitude for the gift of life and feel great joy. We sense the mystery and wonder of our existence. We appreciate the beauty we find in the world. Often this will be in moments in natural surroundings or when we feel a particular connection to other people and our sense of separation and loneliness dissolves.

  • Stillness, slowing down and waking up

    For some of us, spirituality is about slowing down and waking up. We feel called to find stillness by letting our busyness of mind and body settle and coming into the present moment.

  • A language of reverence

    Some of us are comfortable with talk of God. And others are not. Some will speak of the great mystery or of the divine or the soul or the Spirit of Life or the human spirit. For some of us, it is hard to find a language of reverence or appropriate words that honour the religious impulse we feel. Some would like to reclaim some of the language of faith and belief that has become tarnished by narrow interpretations.

  • Our minds

    Some of us like to express our spirituality through focused thinking and by using the gift of our minds. We like to read and explore topics and reflect carefully in a search for meaning, truth, clarity and understanding and in an attempt to create a philosophy of life that makes sense to us.

  • Imagination

    Some find our greatest spiritual connection through the imagination and the creative arts or through crafts. We respond to the power of story or poetry or are stirred by great music.

  • Mysticism, oneness, the great mystery

    Some have had moments when we felt an underlying oneness of being and seek to connect to and know once more our oneness with the great mystery that transcends all words, images and concepts.

  • Creativity

    Some of us are interested in the link between spirituality and creativity. We like to sing or dance or make music or paint or write or practise a craft such as knitting or quilting or sewing or jewellery making. Or we express our spirituality creatively in the work we do, for example in teaching and ministry.