“Spring Is Sacred For Everyone”
Sara Phinney Kelley (she/her), Director of Religious Growth and Learning, UUCSV
First written for the Sunbury Daily Item March 2026
Yesterday we marked the Spring Equinox – it’s officially Spring, my favorite season of the year. It is the time in our northern hemisphere when daylight begins to win out over darkness. It is such a hopeful time, when we are watching the first flowers bloom and buds start to appear and when we hear robins and spring peepers begin to sing.
When we mark time with seasons, and notice the changes in our surroundings like we do in Spring, we are following human practices dating back millennia. Pagan and indigenous nature-based spiritual practices still actively honor the Spring or Vernal Equinox. Most of us may not follow their spirituality, but we can recognize and appreciate their focus on changes in nature this time of year.
To me that is the heart of one of our Unitarian Universalist Values, Pluralism. The official wording is “We celebrate that we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology.” This is the ideal time of year to live out the Value of Pluralism.
Most people in the Valley are preparing to celebrate Easter. Like Christmas, it is an important Christian religious holiday but also a ubiquitous cultural holiday. Easter egg hunts abound, along with chocolate bunnies and Pennsylvania-native Peeps. It is a holiday that recognizes rebirth and regularly uses flowers and nature to symbolize the resurrection of Jesus.
Not everyone believes in the divinity of Jesus or the literal resurrection story. There are other religions in this Valley with different teachings. I know that is likely a surprise for some readers. The idea of Pluralism celebrates the variety in our theology – so at this time of year we can also recognize Passover (intricately tied into the Easter story), Ramadan and Eid, Holi and Vaisakhi, Ostara, and Vesak. Each holiday is important to its respective religion, and we can celebrate that they all exist.
We can also learn from all the different holidays and religious observances, just as we
can learn from a wide variety of sources of wisdom. Another important piece of the Value of Pluralism is that we learn from others in “our free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” We do not believe that revelation is sealed in any form. The world changes. Humans change. Reality changes. Understanding changes. This is true in every religion, and UUs celebrate the living tradition and know that must always be learning.
As the final sentence in the Pluralism paragraph says, “We embrace our differences and commonalities with Love, curiosity, and respect.” We may not share each other’s religious beliefs about a supreme being, or the interaction between humans and the universe, or even which church fits our own personal theology. But we should respect and even celebrate that everyone is on a journey to find those core beliefs for themselves. And we can be curious about their holidays and how they observe their beliefs at home and in public, while recognizing that nobody gets to tell us how we have to believe.
I grew up going to Easter egg hunts with my family, leaving the licorice jelly beans for my mother, and wearing fancy new springtime clothes. Now our family has other spring and Easter traditions, although I still don’t eat black licorice. Over the next few weeks I will be sending Pennsylvania Peeps to my out-of-state relative, because that has become our personal springtime connection. She’ll be celebrating the end of Lent and Easter with her family while another relative will be preparing to welcome family for their annual Passover Seder, while other relatives will be walking in the sprouting gardens. My family loves each other, and respects our differing beliefs. We are living Pluralism as an extended family.
Today, if you are able, I encourage you to go outside and breathe the spring air. Bask in whatever sunshine there may be in our changing Susquehanna Valley weather. Notice the rebirth all around you, and rejoice that you, your family, your friends, and your neighbors are all sacred beings with all the variety and Pluralism that brings. That’s worth celebrating with chocolate!
