What does it mean to be a people of HEALING?

After learning our friends at the Soul Matters Sharing Circle had selected HEALING as our November theme, I was convinced their choice was associated with the mid-term elections happening early in the month. Regardless of the results of those elections, surely we would need to heal – both personally and collectively – from all the political nastiness.

This wounded world is certainly in need of collective healing to address the longing for justice we all feel. Unfair policies have wounded too many people; they offer no way to address those wounds, nor heal the pain they have caused. Our political leaders have trafficked in pitting us against one another, insisting the pain being experienced by their constituents was caused by The Other, whom you should therefore hate. But the need for healing is not limited to collective hurt.

What does healing mean?

The word "heal" derives from hale, an Old English word meaning "to be whole." Ultimately, healing is a process by which we move from hurt to becoming whole again. Although it is a continuous process, it does not happen in a straight line; breakthroughs and setbacks are common before true healing is achieved.

Being healed is different from being cured, which implies the complete elimination of the wound. But what healing means depends upon both the nature of the wound and the process being used to return to wholeness.

The easiest type of healing to understand is physical healing. Our bodies have miraculous ways of recovering from becoming wounded. That healing often occurs automatically, with no intervention on anyone's part; a small cut or scrape often disappears within days or weeks. If something deeper occurs, it may require assistance from either ourselves (a band-aid, perhaps?) or a medical professional (a few stitches, perhaps?). Even after the healing process is complete, we may be left with a reminder that a wound did occur, but it has healed (a scar, perhaps?).

Emotional healing is a far more challenging process. Coping mechanisms can help contain an emotional wound, preventing it from doing more damage. But true healing requires us to face the cause of the wound and resultant pain, so we can integrate it into our psyche. Doing so gives us the ability to choose how to react to it, so it no longer runs us.

Collective healing refers to the process by which a society finds ways to recover from wounds we have experienced together, as a group, so we can return to a harmonious state. Recovering from political or generational divisions are examples of collective healing. Once we get through the challenges we are currently facing in our nation's political life, the process of collective healing can begin. Because these types of wounds are both complicated and deep, collective healing can take a very long time.

Spiritual healing enables a person to transcend pain by discovering a deeper meaning and purpose for suffering. Such healing applies, for example, when one is experiencing chronic illness, or even when facing death.

Healing within our own community

Our religious community involves itself with both collective and spiritual healing. For almost a decade, we have experienced many collective wounds. They have included the loss of a longtime minister, followed by subsequent efforts to stabilize ministry; a pandemic that severely diminished our membership, particularly families with children; and an extended building renovation that presented many facilities challenges. We have already managed to collectively heal from some of those wounds, while others still require continued diligence.

The conditions we face in our lives can cause overwhelming spiritual pain. Most of us want to do anything we can to escape from that pain, but our loving community excels at making spiritual healing available to all of us. Rev. Scott Tayler, founder of Soul Matters, suggests that instead of trying to eliminate our pain, we should "lean into it … befriend it."

"What if proximity to our pain, not distance from it, is the real route to healing?" he asks. Pain is malleable, he explains; "you can transform it from a weapon that has wounded you into a bridge that connects you to the beautiful, broken hearts of others." But the first step is to "reimagine our relationship to vulnerability," enabling us to become "more deeply connected to each other than we imagined possible." By doing so, we are reminded: we are never alone.

How healing can become a path to the sacred

I am reminded of a recent experience that demonstrates the power of religious community to help heal spiritual pain. Sitting with other members of the Sacred Song Circle at the bedside of a chronically ill member of our community, we jointly leaned into the pain that was pervasive in the home, offering songs designed to bring spiritual healing. As we sang the hauntingly beautiful "Sending You Light," I noticed the spiritual-healing energy was going round and round in a circle…coming out from us, as singers, to bring comfort to the ill person and their care-givers, then coming back 'round again, to offer healing to the singers of song, all of us wounded in other ways. Click this link to listen to "Sending You Light," sung by its composer, UU vocal activist Melanie DeMore; may it offer you healing for whatever pain you might be experiencing in your life right now.

We are all wounded, in one way or another. But when we are in spiritual community together, we are able to lean into our pain, and offer healing energy to one another. We are never alone.

Seeking a deeper dive into what it means to be a people of HEALING?

• Check out the one-page HEALING Overview.

• The complete HEALING Ministry Packet is available to UUSM members and friends; to obtain the link, contact Sheila Sandow.