The Art of Growing Wise

There is an unconscious message in UU communities that says, "We don't invite people to church because that is uncouth and pushy. We're not like those people." But what if we reimagined the idea of invitation and saw it not as recruitment, but as giving people the opportunity to find connection and meaning? This Sunday we explore what changes when we stop thinking about invitation as taking from p...

When sea otters sleep in the  kelp  forests off the Pacific coast, they hold paws so the currents don't pull them apart in the night. When storms come, they wrap themselves in  kelp  strands and become a "raft" that helps them weather, together, what they can't manage alone. This is what we've been building toward all November. We ate bread as companions, discovering we inter-are. We remembered th...

In April 1916, Ernest Shackleton left 22 men on Elephant Island with minimal supplies for four months. They all survived because they became responsible for each other. Last week we became companions through the breaking of bread. This week calls us to explore what it means to be a crew; accepting that shared bread demands shared responsibility. Or as Marshall McLuhan said it: "There are no passen...

There is an old story of an enlightened sage sitting quietly in gratitude and appreciation. But does this story still fit our present needs? What if awakening is something that happens in community, not in isolation? Join us for our annual All Souls Communion service as we explore how the shared meal embodies our deepest truth: there are no passengers here, only crew. In breaking bread together, w...

Welcome to the Art of Growing Wise. My name is Rev. Ian White Maher, and I'm the minister of the Unitarian Church of Montreal. We created this podcast for people searching for something deeper than self-help and religious platitudes. People looking for a community that not only can offer them guidance but also ways to contribute and help others. In a world drowning in information but starving for...