Minister’s Message for October 2026

Theme: Dancing with the Shadow

Rev Abigail Schairer

There are parts of ourselves we love to introduce to the world: the joyful parts, the confident parts, the spiritually evolved parts. And then there are the other parts.

The parts that get afraid. The parts that want to hide. The parts that whisper, There isn’t enough. I don’t have enough. I am not enough.

October invites us to stop running from those parts and learn to dance with them.

Our monthly theme, Dancing with the Shadow, asks us to explore what happens when we bring compassion to the places we’ve rejected or feared. This month, we’ll especially explore the shadow of scarcity and how it shapes our relationship with abundance, generosity, and receiving.

Because scarcity doesn’t just affect how we feel. It can affect how we give.

When we believe there isn’t enough, we naturally hold tighter. We protect what we have. We worry that if we give something away, there will be less for us.

But our spiritual teaching offers another possibility: abundance is not simply what we possess. It is something we participate in and circulate. And that is at the heart of our Intentional Giving campaign (which kicks off on October 11), What We Bring, Becomes.

We are not giving because CSLB is lacking. We give because we are creating something we believe is worth bringing into being. Our presence, our gifts, our generosity, and our vision become the spiritual community we want to experience.

So this month, I invite you to get curious about your own shadow of scarcity. What happens when you move from “What if there isn’t enough?” to “What can I bring?”

Because what we bring becomes.
What we share enriches.
Together, we become more.

With love,

Rev. Abigail Schairer
Spiritual Director