Grace and Mercy by David Saetre

David Saetre, Speaker: “Grace and Mercy”

Dear UU Friends: I plan to dedicate my talks with you this year to the classical themes and ideas that have animated the western spiritual traditions for centuries. These great themes include core ideas like “grace”, “redemption”, “atonement”, “charity”, even the meaning of a word like “faith”. These words have also become loaded with historical baggage of church dogma. It’s occurred to me that we risk losing the power of these ideas as we move away from the traditions associated with the terms. How might these classical themes inform a lively spirituality today? Can we rediscover or recover the power and meaning these words once conveyed?

In my talk on September 11, “The End(s) of Religion” I suggested that ideas like redemption and love were the proper and sometimes forgotten goals of religious imagination and spirituality.

And, I suggested that religious communities like ours would do well to reconsider the worldhealing power contained in these classical ideas. So, my first talk in the series is simply titled, “Grace and Mercy.” What does the word “grace” mean; what is there in that core idea of the western tradition that might animate our sense of well-being in everyday experience? That seems like a good place to begin.
Future talks will include some of the other ideas mentioned above. I hope our explorations of these ideas will be meaningful contributions to deepening our spiritual lives as individuals and as a progressive, living and liberal spiritual community.

Kayak Lady Mary Shideler

Mary Shideler, Author of The Kayak Lady

Long on spirit, Mary Shideler did not let her short stature interfere with a quest to paddle all
1,007 lakes in northern Minnesota’s Itasca County. Sometimes with the help of friends, but often on her own, she carried her kayak through brush, trudged across bogs in tall boots, and put up with hordes of mosquitoes and legions of wood ticks. Along the way, she also learned to trust her own capacity to overcome obstacles, including her fear of being alone. Her book, The Kayak Lady, is a collection of stories and photos—a mix of adventure and fun—that documents Mary’s experiences over 15 years.

Mary will share with our fellowship the spiritual experience of this undertaking. A quote from
her book: “I am most open to reflection when I am alone on the water in my kayak. There I
become a willing captive. It is never too easy for me to be still, but the rhythmic activity of
paddling naturally lulls me into a meditative state. The gentle routine movement encourages thoughts to visit through subtle channels….the listening is not just with my ears; my way-downinside secret places pay close attention, too.