UUs to consider how ‘our lives are our message’

Posted

By Pauline Benetti

Special to The PREVIEW

When asked to give a message to a reporter, Gandhi shouted from a departing train, “My life is my message!” When Dr. Pam Kircher, our lay speaker, heard that phrase years ago, it really resonated with her. She thought, “That short sentence sums it all up!”

The truth is that how we live our lives exemplifies what we really believe. Many spiritual paths emphasize openness, warmth and compassion. Managing in the world emphasizes productivity and survival skills. When faced with everyday life, how do we navigate these different aspects of life? The sum total of all of our small decisions include not only acts, but also words, and even thoughts. When it is all added up, those decisions result in creating who we are at our deepest level.

In this presentation, Kircher will give some examples of how the awareness of “my life really is my message” has influenced her life. We’ll all have an opportunity to explore our own beliefs and how those beliefs play out in everyday life. And we’ll do it all with curiosity, not judgment — and with great self-compassion.

Kircher has been a member of Pagosa Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (PUUF) for over a decade. One reason she values UU is its support of an individual’s search for truth and meaning. Being aware that her life is her message, Kircher has served as a family doctor, a hospice physician, done medical work in Guatemala and Fiji, helped develop the TLC program and the labyrinth at Mercy Medical Center, taught tai chi for health to elders in the Navajo Nation and throughout the country, facilitated conscious aging sessions in Pagosa Springs, written a book and lectured internationally on near death experiences, integrative medicine, and issues around death and dying.

Ours is a welcoming congregation; we invite everyone to share in our faith community. Usually, leadership is by Pastor Dean Cerny on third and fourth Sundays; this Sunday, Kircher, one of our lay leaders, will preside.

The Religious Exploration program has reached its end for this school year, but will start up again in September. For more information, contact Anna Ramirez at afrancis_@hotmail.com.

Find us in Unit B-15 of the Greenbriar Plaza. From North Pagosa Boulevard, turn right onto Park Avenue and right again into Greenbriar Plaza, then turn left and continue around the complex until you see the Unitarian Universalist sign as it faces the mountains. Join us. For further information about PUUF, visit pagosauu.org or call 731-7900.