"SKINNER HOUSE MEDITATION MANUALS HAVE BEEN MY LIFELINE"

I still remember my first box of meditation collections I was a twenty-

something law student who had found Unitarian Universalism during my

freshman year in an Arkansas college classroom. Since there was no
congregation close by, I had joined our Church of the Larger Fellowship and
looked forward to its monthly newsletters, but I wanted more. So as I faced the
questions of young adulthood and the demands of law school, I ordered myself
a care package a box of books from our Unitarian Universalist Association
Bookstore, including my first meditation manuals. I can picture the covers as I
remember their titles: Longing of the Heart by Paul Carnes, The Promise of
Spring by Clinton Lee Scott, To Meet the Asking Years edited by Gordon
McKeeman, Outstretched Wings of the Spirit by Donald Harrington. Those first
collections helped me to learn more about our Unitarian Universalist tradition
and to find my own way of faith.
As I entered the work world and later became a mother, I made sure I
had the most recent meditation collections on my bedside table. Words from
those little books stayed with me and helped me to find my way in the world
and also to hear a calling to ministry. Not long after I was ordained, a retiring
minister sent me their collection, so mine now stretches back to titles printed
even before those first ones I read. I have continued to add to my meditation
collection each year, and keep them on a shelf near my writing chair, where I
find words for my own meditations and sermons. For over three decades now,
the Skinner House meditation manuals have been my lifeline. Wherever I go,
those little books will go with me.
Written by Jan K. Nielsen

Jan K. Nielsen. All Rights Reserved. Published by Skinner House Books