February Spiritual Theme – Loss

By Rev. Bill

Our Monthly Spiritual Themes guide our Chalice Circles, which are small, intentional groups
of members and friends that gather for spiritual enrichment through personal sharing. For more
information on Chalice Circles, please email Linda Benson at chalicecircles@uuprinceton.org. Our
Chalice Circle thoughts and questions around the theme of Loss this month are:

“Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking
around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.” ― Edna St. Vincent Millay
What loss or losses feel like holes in your world?

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings
we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.” ― Haruki Murakami
Has a sense of loss ever led you to a sense of life?

“It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.” ― John
Steinbeck
Has the darkness of loss changed over the course of your life? Has it softened?

“You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad
news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good
news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through.
It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold,
but you learn to dance with the limp.” ― Anne Lamott
What loss has led you to live with a “limp?”