The Love at the Center: UU Values and Covenants is a new 11-session UU Wellspring program with all updates since UUA General Assembly 2024. It is open to anyone who has been in UU circles of some sort, genrrally for at least a year, whether or not they have participated in UU Wellspring before.

Like Sources, UU Wellspring’s foundational program, there is pre-work. Plan at least an hour between the sessions. However, this program is also incorporating more experiences and storytelling into the program. There is less pre-work before the start of the program, and no additional retreat as for Sources. Attendance at the first two sessions are required to continue with the group.

Here are the books used in the program. All are available from the UUA’s Inspirit Bookstore and online retailers also offer them as ebooks. Sacred Nature may also be available from the Public library. You can begin reading Faithful Practices any time and we will assign specific chapters in the other two books.

• Beyond Welcome: Building Communities of Love, edited by Linnea Nelson, Skinner House Books. (2022)
•  Faithful Practices: Everyday Ways to Feed Your Spirit edited by Rev. Erik Wikstrom, Skinner House Books. (2018)
• Love at the Center: UU Theologies, Edited by Rev. Dr. Sophía Betancourt. Skinner House Books (2024)
• Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World by Karen Armstrong. Knopf.
  (2022)

Please complete this interest form (you add your form) and we will be in touch with you about more details in (name month). Until then, you might get a copy of Faithful Practices to begin reading.

[include your own interest form]

Want to Improve Your Facilitation Skills?

Facilitate a Love at the Center, UU Wellspring Program and receive a session led by UU Wellspring on “Facilitation as a Sacred Opportunity.” Two-hour Sessions for each facilitator are offered free since we are an enrolled congregation. A session will be offered every month from May through November at various times. Co-Facilitators can try to attend the same session, but it is not required. Sign up here if you are in an enrolled congregation. If not, please contact Dirctor@UUwellspring.org to pay $50 to attend.

How is Love at the Center Different from Sources?

Both are now entry programs for UU Wellspring! Love at the Center adds more experiences and storytelling with a CARES format (Community, Agreements, Reflections, Experiences, and Storytelling). They both hold spiritual practices, spiritual companions, deep listening, and sharing from the soul as centering practices.

Many Unitarian Universalists, young and old, are familiar with the seven principles, a statement of our most deeply held values that starts with “the inherent worth and dignity of every person” and ends with “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”

In addition to affirming and promoting the seven principles, the living tradition of Unitarian

Universalism also draws on six sources for religious knowledge and spiritual growth: direct experience, prophetic women and men, world religions, Jewish and Christian teachings, humanist teachings, and Earth-centered traditions. If the principles are what we aspire to, the sources are what inspires us.

Sources is a prerequisite for all other years of UU Wellspring. Participants in Sources are challenged by, comforted by, and inspired by each one of the six sources. They learn about Unitarian Universalism, and also how to integrate their Unitarian Universalist faith more fully into their daily lives.

Structure

Sources is divided into six units, one for each of the UU sources. Within each of the units, participants cycle through a head-hands-heart experience of the source:

• Head: When introduced to a given source, participants learn about our Unitarian Universalist faith tradition. Grounded in UU history and theology, topics such as courage, love, and justice are explored.
• Hands: For the second section, participants reflect on how taking the source seriously might change the way we live our lives. Meaningful topics are brought into the circle such as the theology of everyday life, the prophetic imperative, and reimagining God.
• Heart: During the third part of the head-hands-heart cycle, participants go deep into core spiritual themes: vulnerability, forgiveness, joy, and more. Spiritual struggles, spiritual practices, and spiritual questions are all brought forth, with the wisdom of each source as a guide.

Holding this all together are the essential components that are the heart of all UU Wellspring programs: small group connection, commitment to daily spiritual practice, monthly spiritual guidance, reflecting on the assignments, and putting our faith into action. All rest on a foundation of deep listening.

Books for Sources

1. Read as much as possible before the retreat:

• Everyday Spiritual Practice: Simple Pathways for Enriching
  Your Life, Scott Alexander, editor. Available from the UUA Inspirit Bookstore and online retailers.

2. Read Before Session 14:

• Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind by Barbara Becker. Available from the UUA Inspirit Bookstore and online retailers.

3. Read before Session 18:

• Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer.

4. Optional for Participants, Required for Facilitators: One or both, as possible, to use throughout the program:

• Voices from the Margins edited by Jacqui James and Mark D. Morrison-Reed
• To Wake, To Rise: Meditations on Justice and Resilience edited by Rev. William Sinkford.

All of the books are currently available from the UUA Inspirit Bookstore, online retailers and as ebooks.

Please complete this interest form (you add your form) and we will be in touch with you about more details in (name month). Until then, you might get a copy of Faithful Practices to begin reading.

Want to Improve Your Facilitation Skills?

If you are facilitating Sources, but you would like a refresher in facilitation, or you would like to deepen your skills, as a member congregation you are welcome to attend a 2-hour session called “Facilitation as a Sacred Opportunity” led by UU Wellspring on “Facilitation as a Sacred Opportunity.” Two-hour Sessions for each facilitator are offered free for paid member congregations.  A session will be offered at least once a month from May through November at various times. Co-Facilitators can try to attend the same session, but it is not required. If you are not part of a Member Congregation, you may attend at a $50 fee. Contact  director@uuwellspring, for payment information or more information.

How is Love at the Center Different from Sources?

Both are now entry programs for UU Wellspring! Love at the Center adds more experiences and storytelling with a CARES format (Community, Agreements, Reflections, Experiences, and Storytelling). They both hold spiritual practices, spiritual companions, deep listening, and sharing from the soul as centering practices.

Graphic with all values under consideration for General Assembly 2024.