October Volunteer of the Month – Al Nathan

Al Nathan is the Volunteer of the Month for October. Al was a member of the Healing Task Force and is a member of the Diversity Team and the Racial Justice Task Force. Al had never heard of Unitarian-Universalism until he started dating Eli Briggs and heard about it from her. He started coming to UUCSS with her but it took awhile for him to warm up to it. He took Unitarian-Universalism into his heart four or five years ago when he joined the Diversity Team and began participating in a deep, honest, and loving exploration of our experiences of racism, sexism, and all forms of dehumanization along with the nurturing of our spiritual bonds with each other which inspired a vision of how we could be together as a church and as a human family. These experiences exposed to him a synergy between his professional experiences as a psychologist and psychoanalyst and what was happening at church.

While he found Rev. Liz’s sermons inspirational, he first realized on a deeper level what it meant to be ministered to when Rev. Leon came to UUCSS. It deepened his spiritual connection to UUCSS. Rev. Leon taught him to find the joy in doing racial justice work. Al will always be thankful for that lesson. Al believes that the heart of our UUCSS is our belief in the essential worth and dignity of every human being. He sees UUCSS now moving to work on interconnectedness. Al recommends that new members and friends seek out deep and serious relationships with other members of the our Beloved Community and do what they feel called to do to express their faith. Al believes that our relationships with one another deepen our spiritual connections.