UUFSMA: “Everybody Makes Mistakes”

UU Service

“Everybody Makes Mistakes”

Rev. Ned Wight

Sunday, February 23, 10:30 a.m.

Hotel La Aldea

by Paula Peace

At this week’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Miguel de Allende (UUFSMA) service, the Rev. Ned Wight shares hard-won wisdom about human fallibility. Acknowledging that “everybody makes mistakes,” Rev. Ned assesses how we might better manage our mistakes—minimize them, learn from them, grow from them.

Coming to terms with mistakes and determining what course corrections to make going forward is the work of a lifetime. Rev. Ned invites you to join him in considering these tales of woe from his own life in order to cast light on the resilience that all of us need to cultivate in order to deal with the inescapable fact that we are fallible.

Nobody makes it very far in their lives without making mistakes–some trivial, others spectacular. Mistakes and missteps are built into the risky business of living as human beings whose knowledge, judgment and attention are sometimes flawed. Rev. Ned Wight will share some of his own mistakes and the lessons he’s learned over the years.

“Inadequate knowledge” was the basis of mistakes that led him to make—and lose—a bet with his mother and preach a sermon to end all sermons. “Faulty judgment” resulted in “The Great Toaster Disaster” and “The Great Piano Incident.” “Inattention” led to an unfortunate collision. The truth is that the biggest mistakes in life often involve all three factors—inadequate knowledge, faulty judgment, and inattention.

Rev. Ned Wight, who grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan and Gresham, Oregon, retired in August 2019 from his position as Interim Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, New York. Prior to that, he served for a decade as Executive Director of the same congregation’s UU Veatch Program, a national grantmaking program supporting progressive social change organizations. He has also served UU congregations in La Mesa, California and Belmont, Massachusetts. He holds degrees from Harvard Divinity School, Boston University and Stanford University. He currently chairs the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, partnering with grassroots organizations to champion human rights at home and abroad.

For more information about the UUFSMA, including our Sunday morning Children’s Religious Education program, Social Action outreach, weekly discussion groups, social activities, and Care Team, join us any Sunday at 10:30 at the Hotel La Aldea and check out our website at uufsma.org. Wheelchair accessible. UUFSMA welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

Members regularly post updates and information on this site. We also post meeting minutes and announcements there.

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https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/UUFSMA/info

Click on “membership”and follow the directions.

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