Summer Institute (https://www.cersiuu.org/) is an intentional intergenerational community that gets created and re-created each summer as we come together to live fully as Unitarian Universalists. It is a vacation week to grow, relax, play, and connect. It is a time to experience workshops and new ideas. It is a place for relaxed conversations with old friends and friends you do not yet know. It is a time to recharge and live fully.

There is a diversity of both programming and worship opportunities designed to appeal to the breadth of our community. The content of the programming and the worship are meaningful, but these community-wide events also serve to create a shared experience. There is also time for quiet reflection and introspection. We each create our own balance of activity and peace. As fabulous as it is, the programming just scratches the surface of Summer Institute. At the end of our week our sense of trust and confidence in the inherent goodness of others reaches a new level. The integrity of our intentional community is reflected by simple things, such as the transformation of perfect strangers to friends over the course of a meal. We experience our diversity and celebrate our humanity. We live and breathe our Unitarian Universalist principles without explanation to each other or any sense of self-consciousness.

When the week together is over we wonder how we can bring this life experience home with us.

That is the SI magic. The result is something quite spectacular.