[Here’s] the vision I hold out—fat people could walk into your sanctuary and know [...]]]> Fat-shaming in UU congregations

In a courageous, truth-telling series of posts, the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum comes out of the fat closet, and calls on UU congregations to examine the ways in which they are less-than-welcoming to those who struggle with their weight.

[Here’s] the vision I hold out—fat people could walk into your sanctuary and know instantly that they are welcomed in your church. What would it take to make that a reality? What signals might be sending the opposite message? How can they be addressed? It’s time for more Unitarian Universalists to take up this question—to preach it, to teach it, and to live it. (Rev. Cyn, June 7)

Preparing for General Assembly

The Rev. Thom Belote outlines eight things to watch out for at this year’s General Assembly in Louisville, including the election of a new moderator.

In the only contested election this year, Jim Key and Tamara Payne-Alex are each vying for the position of head of the UUA Board of Trustees. After perusing the websites of both candidates, Key is leading the way in endorsements from established power players in our movement while Payne-Alex has a young, upstart following. (Rev. Thom, June 13)

The Rev. Theresa Novak remembers her first General Assembly in 2002, and shares one of her hopes for this year’s gathering.

During GA that year, the US Supreme Court threw out all the Sodomy laws, declaring them unconstitutional. When the decision was announced in the convention hall, everyone was cheering and crying. Love was no longer illegal.

I don’t know what the Supreme Court will decide on the two cases before them now. Their decision just might be announced during this year’s General Assembly in Louisville. Hopefully, we will be able to cheer again.  (Sermons, Poetry and Other Musings, June 12)

At this year’s assembly, the Commission on Appraisal will present its new report, Who’s In Charge Here? The Complex Relationship Between Ministry and Authority; the Rev. Scott Wells wonders the report isn’t available for download.

So where, as a responsible and engaged Unitarian Universalist, do you do download the report to read? Download like all the recent reports? Download, even like some pre-Internet reports which have been subsequently scanned? Even the first, from 1936 from the American Unitarian Association. (Boy in the Bands, June 11)

Mary Benard, editorial director of Skinner House Books, says the report will be available as an ebook soon after GA.

Believing what we must

The Rev. Meredith Garmon remembers saying, thirty years ago, that as Unitarian Universalists, “We can believe whatever we want to.”  He also remembers the scolding he received from an older UU.

“You think I believe in what I do because I want to?” she said. “I believe this because I have to. You think here in Waco, Texas my life wouldn’t be a lot easier if I could be a Baptist? But I can’t. My conscience won’t let me. If this were about what I wanted to believe,” Neecie continued, “about what I found it convenient and easy to believe, you wouldn’t see my face here on Sunday morning.” (Lake Chalice, June 12)

After she preaches at an interfaith service during a UCC-sponsored youth music camp, a deacon asks Karen Johnston, “Aren’t you ever going to talk about God?”  In this post, Johnston explains what “God” means to her.

I sense a sacred glue that is all-encompassing, within and without, interpenetrating and animating. It is the deep and essential life pulse that is beyond. Beyond what?  Human comprehension, to be sure. Time and space: yup. This planet, this universe: I’d bet on it. . . .

I call all this divine, which is where my semi-orthodox Buddhism stops and my polydoxical panentheism starts up. And room for something like God enters in. (Irrevspeckay, June 11)

Expending energy, sustaining energy

The Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein challenges our congregations to become places where people actively grow in faith.

If I go to the gym and people are sprawled out napping on the floor of the aerobics studio, I will think the gym management is not just remiss, but nuts. It’s no different in church. We’re all there for heart strengthening of a different kind. Leaders should be empowered to be able to say: “Get off the aerobics floor, please. You can nap at home.” (PeaceBang, June 10)

The Rev. Tom Schade wonders if UU congregations slow down for the summer because they expend energy in an unsustainable way during the rest of the year.

My VUU buddy, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, asked, “At the end of the year, have our congregants gotten anything out of it except being poorer and more tired?”

How can we simplify? How can we focus on what is really important? How can we match our ambitions to our the reach of our grasp? How can we cut down on the administrative work? (The Lively Tradition, June 13)

Fasts and celebrations

Catie Scudera and Jeff Briere collaborate on a graphic celebrating Pride Month, quoting Universalist poet Sarah Edgerton Mayo: “Our hearts are a rainbow of varied dye, blended as softly as that of the sky.” (UU Media Collaborative, June 10)

The Rev. Dawn Cooley is participating in a Clergy Gitmo Justice Fast.

I am a pragmatist. I am aware that some of these men were probably associated with terrorists. I am aware that things happen in war that sensitive souls like my own find abhorrent.  And at the same time, I am aware that each of these prisoners deserve to be treated as human beings with inherent worth and dignity. . . . I am disgusted that my own government has allowed this situation to not only perpetuate, but to collapse into such a moral, ethical and spiritual disaster. (Speaking of, June 9)

Children and families

In a thoughtful guest post, Kelly Mahler responds to the question, ““How can we more effectively reach out to and involve young adults and families with children as fully participating congregants?”

I don’t want every meeting or event I attend to require that I use the church childcare service. I would much rather have my child be a part of it, and have her see adults modeling good behavior. I realize this is not possible a lot of the time, but perhaps we should be thinking specifically on what kinds of events could be scheduled that would create opportunities for our children to participate. (UU Planet, June 13)

The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern shares a difficult conversation she has with her young daughter, “Mookie.”

Mookie, putting wombat stuffie under her shirt: We’re a wombat family and I’m going to have a baby. . . .
Me: Oh, exciting!
Mookie: You be the daddy.
Me: Can’t we be two mommies? And you be the mama who’s having the baby.
Mookie: But then we’ll be teased.
Me, dropping out of character, but trying to keep it light: Have you had teasing about having two mommies?
Mookie: Yes. People say “that’s weird.”
Me: We can handle that. We know how. (Mookie’s Mama, June 13)

On a personal note, next month my partner and I will welcome our daughter into the world; she’s already teaching us so much, including this important lesson from our baby shower.

During the gift and advice giving, I told the group, “Liesl and I are introverts. It’s hard for us to be the center of attention like this. But from the beginning of the plans for this party, it’s been my sense that our daughter needs us to get past that. Our daughter needs us to introduce her to her village. Thank you for being her village.”

As she was leaving the party, one of my friends told me, “These people love you. Let them.” (Nagoonberry, June 10)

When people talk about how we [...]]]> ‘Good guys with guns’

On the anniversary of her aunt’s murder, the Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern writes about her uncle, the “good guy” who shot her; she also tells the story of the attempted murder of her father, who survived because the “good guy” had a knife rather than a gun.

When people talk about how we need to make sure “the good guys” are allowed guns, they are talking about people like my uncle Jimmy. He was a middle-aged, middle-class, white, college-educated English professor and poet. . . . If we had decided to arm the good citizens of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, so that they might protect us from machine-gun-wielding drug dealers and mass murderers, Jimmy could have been first in line, and he would have been handed a lethal weapon with a smile. And taken it home and used it exactly the way he did use it. (Sermons in Stones, June 3)

What do UUs believe?

A 2011 blog post by the Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell sparked a lively conversation in the UU Growth Lab this week; within a few days, more than 250 comments were made, weighing in on whether the article was an accurate representation of UU theology. (The UU Growth Lab is a closed Facebook group with more than 1000 members; it describes itself as “a free space and think tank for Unitarian Universalist change agents.”)

The Rev. Tom Schade notes that many took offense at the traditional religious language in the post.

[The] Rev. Sewell’s piece tries to answer the misconception “you can believe anything you want and be a Unitarian Universalist.” I think that it sometimes it would be more accurate to say “you can’t believe anything and say it out loud as a Unitarian Universalist without offending some other UU, who will let you know.”

It looks like Rev. Sewell just found that out. (The Lively Tradition, June 4)

In a follow-up post, Schade outlines topics a UU theology needs to cover. A third post suggests that humanists and theists move beyond entrenched beliefs to character and virtue. (The Lively Tradition, June 5 and 6)

The Rev. Dan Harper raises a separate theological issue—human nature.

[We] need not feel we have to choose between the unfashionable traditional Christian myth of original sin on the one hand, and on the other hand the combination of two myths, the Romantic myth of natural human goodness and the Enlightenment myth of human rationality. I think it’s time for a new myth. But I don’t yet know what it is. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, June 2)

Growing the future

A recent blog post by the Rev. Dan Harper suggested that bridging ceremonies invite our youth to leave Unitarian Universalism; Sara Lewis takes a different approach—trusting that UU youth will find their path.

Sometimes that journey brings them back, for a visit or to stay, and sometimes it doesn’t. But I hold all of them in my heart, lightly. May they be blessed. . . . May they find that which makes them come alive, and then share that with the world. May they be strong, may they find love, may they be whole. (The Children’s Chalice, June 6)

Peter Bowden posts this archived video of the recent Millennial UU Innovators Discussion Google Hangout, convened by Carey McDonald. (UU Planet, June 6)

The Rev. Tony Lorenzen is a fan of the UU Growth Lab and the UUA’s Growth Specialists, but he wonders if “growth” is the UU version of “saved.”

Many evangelical Christians . . . . ask if you are “saved” by which they mean they want to know if you have accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and savior so that an angry God won’t send you hell. This is something at which Unitarian Universalists recoil as a general rule. However, I wonder if our fascination with growth amounts to much the same thing. . . . Both growth and being saved strike me as being more about increasing the number of people in the fold than anything else. (Sunflower Chalice, June 3)

Hearts, minds and hands

June Herold’s initial experiences with Unitarian Universalism were very cerebral, but eventually she found what her heart was seeking.

It seemed that UUism—a faith populated by very educated individuals—asked deep questions that were in many ways philosophical and abstract. I hadn’t yet witnessed questions that wondered what the mystery of life (God’s love, for those who don’t have a problem with the G word) feels like and how to be aware of God’s presence.

Worship services . . . eventually produced that feeling, that awareness. To me, Sunday worship unraveled as a way to experience that which the heart understands and not necessarily what the eye sees and the brain defines. (The New UU, June 1)

Paul Oakley responds to a recent blog post by the Rev. Tom Schade about UU worship.

The service that persons of faith and congregations of faith give to the world is worship. What we do when we come together in our sanctuaries is liturgy. Liturgy enables worship, but it is not worship. Our “place of worship” must be the wide world not our narrow gathering places where we “charge our batteries” and reinforce our sense of oneness before we go live it. (Inner Light, Radiant Life, June 2)

Walking with signs and wonders

For the Rev. Ellen Cooper-Davis, seeing a snake while interval training is a sacred moment in the midst of an ordinary activity.

Whatever you call it, there comes every so often a moment in which there seems more at work than whatever ordinary things our senses are perceiving. These moments are there, simply waiting for us to notice them; we need only be awake and watching. . . . I call them signs and wonders. (Keep the Faith, June 3)

Running along the beach, Jordinn Nelson Long wrestles with the whisper of vocation, struggling to make sense of a call to ministry.

Frankly, there is nothing about the call to ministry that makes sense to me, not on its face. I have another career, one that I believe in and am good at. I have never considered leading a church—and in fact, my initial response to the soul-provocation I have felt in the last year was to consider leaving my church. (Raising Faith, June 3)

Walking in a cemetery, Rebecca Hecking notes that some graves have cut flowers, some planted flowers, and some plastic flowers.

The whole idea of plastic flowers really speaks volumes about contemporary culture. What does it mean when we create a permanent synthetic version (made of stuff that will take centuries to decompose completely) of a symbol of impermanence? And then use that symbol to decorate a grave? I think perhaps the deeper truth here is that we as a society are uncomfortable with not only death, but with the whole idea of the cycle of birth, growth, decay and death. (Breath and Water, June 6)

Courage and commitment

The Rev. Lynn Ungar celebrates the courage of protesters in Turkey.

Sometimes you summon up what is inside of you and do the brave thing, walk the talk. But what about all those other people, the ones who joined the protest once they knew about the water cannons and the pepper spray, once the news spread . . . of the injured and the dead? What about them? What does it take to knowingly walk into that kind of danger and chaos?

It takes, I think, an allegiance to a self that is greater than the self that feels the police batons and the pepper spray—a self that is injured not by physical indignities, but rather by moral ones. (Quest for Meaning, June 5)

Doug Muder writes that profit-making corporations are dangerous because they are amoral, and provides practical suggestions for “starving the corporate beast.”

If you try to be a purist about these kinds of things, you’ll end up living in a Unabomber cabin someplace. So the better question is: What’s the low-hanging fruit? You probably can’t (or don’t want to) disentangle yourself from corporate octopus completely, but how much of your money can you route around it without joining a hippie commune or something?

The answers below are not exhaustive and follow a few simple themes: Join co-ops, which are owned by their customers. Deal with local businesses that are owned by individuals or families. If you have to deal with a corporation (and often you do), pick smaller ones over bigger ones—and look for the occasional corporation that is owned by its employees. (The Weekly Sift, June 3)

When we hear something of resonance enacted or proclaimed by someone of another faith and then call them UU, we are doing our version of making them into “anonymous Christians.”

Not only is it a [...]]]> Manifest destiny, the purpose of worship, and digital ministry

Karen Johnston warns us about the risks of UU exceptionalism and spiritual manifest destiny.

When we hear something of resonance enacted or proclaimed by someone of another faith and then call them UU, we are doing our version of making them into “anonymous Christians.”

Not only is it a kind of religious hegemony, it is a kind of spiritual manifest destiny, claiming particular thoughts, values, or beliefs as ours and ours alone, even if others have displayed them for centuries or millennia before the arrival of us latecomers. (Irrevspeckay, May 26)

The Rev. Tom Schade continues his series on “reimagining Unitarian Universalism” by looking at UU worship.

UU Worship now serves our highest purpose; it has become a celebration of the religious community that sponsors it. It exists to please that community, be a pleasurable and meaningful experience for it. For all the changes in our worship, there is a continuity between the old “concert and a book report” to the new “happy, clappy sing-along with a personal message from the minister’s heart”. Worship is designed to please the present congregation, and show it off in a favorable light. The danger is that worship is becoming a show put on by the congregation to attract new people to join the church, so as to balance the budget. And so, the minister is up there tap-dancing and doing card tricks to keep folks entertained. (The Lively Tradition, May 25)

June Herold explains that digital ministry needs not only to attract new members, but also to support sustainable community among those who find their way to our congregations.

Digital ministry is about relating with others—about mutual caring, giving, and witnessing. It serves a higher good not a profit and loss statement. It ministers and doesn’t do traditional “church marketing.” Our digital presence must be an authentic connection with individuals with whom we want to grow; with whom we want to learn; and with whom we can give much to the world.

Our authenticity is real online in digital ministry but it will ring hollow once people visit us if radical hospitality isn’t one of the key premises on which our ministries stand and operate. (The New UU, May 24)

Nurturing ‘sticky’ faith

In this season of bridging ceremonies, the Rev. Daniel Harper explores the challenges of making our faith “sticky” for youth and young adults.

Many ministers are threatened by the thought of integrating teenagers into worship leadership, preferring that teens lead worship at cons rather than in their own congregation. Many youth advisors and youth ministers are convinced that they know what’s best for youth, that they alone can speak for youth, and they want to maintain the status quo of segregated youth groups and con culture in order to maintain their positions of power—in fact, the same can be said for many of our older youth leaders. And many adults really don’t want teenagers fully integrated into the life of the congregation; teens make a good involuntary work force when there’s scut work to be done, but dealing with teenaged exuberance and love of religion is more than some adults want to deal with on Sunday mornings. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, May 28)

Teresa Honey Youngblood created this graphic, celebrating UU Religious Education, quoting Baal Shem Tov: “Everybody is unique. Compare not yourself with anybody else lest you spoil God’s curriculum.” (UU Media Collaborative, May 27)

Observing Memorial Day

Thalassa, who is a veteran, draws our attention away from celebrations of summer, calling us to remember “the honored dead.”

Let their deaths be a solemn reminder on this day, and every day, to treat one another with compassion, to honor and respect our differences as well as our similarities, and to live our lives in a manner that kindles the spirit of peace a little bit stronger and a little bit longer, pushing back the darkness of war for as long as we are able. (Musings of a Kitchen Witch, May 26)

The Rev. Dawn Cooley remembers a young man she knew twenty-five years ago, whose uncontrollable anger about the treatment of veterans pushed him over the edge.

I pause and I remember what made Tim so frustrated. I think about all those who sacrificed so much that we might be here today. I think about their families, and my heart hurts for them. I think about the men and women who come back wounded in body and spirit and the high rate of suicide among returning soldiers. And if, on Memorial Day, I am in the pulpit, I summon my sorrow and my gratitude and I preach it.

How could I not? (Speaking of, May 26)

The Rev. Carl Gregg challenges congregations to imagine remembering all the casualties of war—members of the military, and civilians also.

Many of us make a weekly pilgrimage to a community of faith, to sanctuaries dedicated to reconciliation and peace. We come for many different reasons, seeking comfort and challenge, peace and perspective, insight and inspiration—enough to make it one more week. We also come to confront the problems of the world and to combine our efforts in making this world a better place for all people. And what does it mean that every day for more than a decade soldiers and civilians in faraway lands have been deeply affected by war, yet weeks and months sometimes go by where none of that is explicitly acknowledged in our public worship? (Carl Gregg, May 26)

The Rev. Andy Burnette observes Memorial Day by practicing dissent.

While I appreciate deeply the service of all the brave women and men in our military, I despise the sending of so many of our working class young people to die. So today, I want to spend some time doing the most patriotic, pro-military, pro-veteran thing I can think to do: Criticizing our military policy.

. . . . Since the Civil War, on this weekend we have honored the memory of those who have died in the US Armed Forces. It is right that we do so. But let us not be guilty of the worship of death and destruction. Let the too-short lives of those who have died prod us on toward peace.  (Just Wondering, May 26)

Living complete

The Rev. John Morehouse learns that “living complete” means, among other things, accepting that “our lives will end without being finished.”

If all I did was try to keep working, and made no room for the next generation, when would my ability to share wisdom cease to be more important  than just being in the way? Our living is made complete when we step out of the way to let others finish what we have started. . . . The point is to live and let live and then to steward others behind us to take our place at the hammers and nails of life. (Facing Grace, May 26)

Terri Pahucki asks where God is in a no-good, very-bad day.

Surely, God is present and moving in me. I feel wholeness in the movement toward compassion—in the prayers for a grieving friend, in the awareness of the fragility of life, in the hug of comfort for an overstressed co-worker, in the moment of a conversation when I know to stop laughing and be silent—to be reverent and honor the unspoken pain. It’s in the wave of so many unexpected rushes to deeper meaning and call beneath the chaos, and the moment when I stop steaming with frustration at the long wait and begin to see the people around me as human beings, struggling with their own lives. (Walking the Journey, May 28)

Inspired by the his daughter’s Coming of Age class, Andrew Hidas shares his personal credo, and asks, “What’s yours?”

I do not believe life has any inherent “meaning.” Human beings have always shown great propensity to treat it as throwaway and cheap. We have also treated it as sacred and holy and precious beyond words. As humans, we create our own meaning, in the way we live our lives, in how we spend our time, in the thoughts we entertain, the goals we pursue, the ways and the people we choose to love. (Traversing, May 24)

How I hate that phrase, act of God. As if God would come down from the clouds to smite a town out of, what, spite? Vengeance? God does not cause weather events, not out [...]]]> God was not in the wind

After this week’s devastating tornado in Oklahoma, the Rev. Lynn Ungar addresses God’s role in natural disasters.

How I hate that phrase, act of God. As if God would come down from the clouds to smite a town out of, what, spite? Vengeance? God does not cause weather events, not out of a need to punish infidels and homosexuals, and not because he needed to call his children home to be with him. You will not find God in the great wind, any more than Elijah did.

. . . . God is in all the people who see the suffering that is, and the suffering to come, and who choose compassion and justice and the hope of a better world. (Quest for Meaning, May 21)

The Rev. Dr. David Breeden, who comes from Tornado Alley, writes a poem, “Benediction for the Wind (on the occasion of a killer tornado).”

What better way for
the screaming winds
to set us praying
than the cold logic
of random chance?

What better way
to hold sanity and
loved ones close than
to set to praying? (Way of Oneness, May 23)

For Roberta Hecking, the tornado was a reminder of technology’s relative powerlessness in the face of Nature.

Entire towns were flattened in a matter of minutes. Dazed and traumatized faces dominated the nightly news. All our technology couldn’t stop a tornado. Whether we wanted to or not, for a brief moment, the culture bowed to wildness, to Nature in full fury. Did we get the message? Do we understand that the Earth is primary, and we are derivative? (Breath and Water, May 23)

Writing that “life is not safe,” the Rev. Ellen Cooper-Davis encourages us to deal with our fears by building relationships.

Coming to grips with our natural vulnerability, with the stark reality that no matter how hard we try, there is never any guarantee of safety for any of us, can earn us some freedom from fear, and the ability to live life more fully. Turn off the evening news, which makes it sound like every shadow is lurking danger, and send your kids out to play in the lengthening evening. Let go of suspicion and throw a block party so you can meet all of your neighbors. Because when disaster comes, what we will need most is not our illusions of safety, but each other. (Keep the Faith, May 22)

Mandie McGlynn created this graphic, illustrating the W.H. Auden quote, “We must love one another or die.” (UU Media Collaborative Works, May 22)

Walking the winding path

Jordinn, a new seminarian, worries about losing her faith.

Because the truth is, having known it, I don’t want to be without it. I want to feel it. I want to hold it in my hands when it’s been weeks or months or please not years of talking about God instead of connecting with God. (Raising Faith, May 21)

The Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom remembers a spirited conversation between two people about vocation and the spiritual journey.

Visually I remember the way the campfire highlighted only their eyes as they talked.  And if “eyes are the windows of the soul” then there was a true conversation, perhaps even a true communion of sorts, between those two souls. . . .

And one of the things I believe that evening did for me was to awaken a delight in such conversations that has only grown over the intervening years. . . . There are few things that bring me to life more than really engaging deeply and courageously with someone else’s spiritual journey; seeing how it’s been for them and sharing how it’s been for me. . . . And every so often I get to have one during which it seems that everything else fades away but our eyes, and I can almost smell the woodsmoke. (Minister’s Musing, May 20)

The Rev. Andy Burnette’s tattoo symbolizes his journey through Pentecostal and evangelical Christian churches to ministry in Unitarian Universalist congregations.

The image as a whole is the flaming chalice of Unitarian Universalism. I expect to spend the rest of my life as a proud evangelical Unitarian Universalist minister. But I don’t leave anything behind. Every transition I have made is a signpost on my journey, and my tattoo is a symbol of my refusal either to be forced into orthodoxy or to leave behind the lessons of my past. (Just Wondering, May 13)

Making noise for justice

The Rev. Jude Geiger thanks those “making noise” for LGBT justice, even though he feels too numb to join the protesters.

I wanted to want to join the rally. But I couldn’t draw myself out. I wanted to be normal for another day. I wanted not to have to go out and be gay—publicly. I couldn’t stir myself to feel like a rally would do anything. That same night, another gay man was assaulted, not far from my home, on the East side—as if the rally had no meaning. (HuffPost Religion, May 23)

Thomas Earthman hopes that, when Unitarian Universalist congregations participate in Pride parades, they are motivated by a desire for justice, rather than by a desire for additional members.

At what point does our mission to gather after service and carpool to the Parade simply mirror the pilgrimage of the fundamentalist group, where members may not have strong feeling about the LGBT community, but feel compelled to protest the calls for equality as a sign of their faith?

We don’t need publicized missions. We don’t need uniforms. We don’t need national campaigns designed around visibility. We need people, moved by faith, doing good in every part of their lives. If we can inspire that, then we will already have changed the world. (A Material Sojourn, May 16)

Communities of grace

Reponding to the UU blogosphere’s conversation last week about the term, “Beloved Community,” the Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford shares what she has learned from studying of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beloved Community is not held within our church walls. As soon as you begin to think like that, you have moved into the exact opposite of beloved community, because in creating that definition of community, you have necessarily created otherness. There is the community inside our walls, the people who think like us, act like us, look like us. And there are the people who are not part of that community, the “others.” This is not Beloved Community. Royce distinguished between small “communities of grace” that were loyal to the greater cause of the universal Beloved Community and those who were insular, often “predatory,” in their loyalty to their own. (Boots and Blessings, May 22)

June Herold asks, “Are hurt-free, mentally-healthy working professionals turned off in our churches” by an excessive focus on “brokenness”?

I have been surprised that many of my colleagues and friends have walked into UU churches over the last few decades but never returned. Stripping away time management issues, queasiness about religion in general and other typical factors, more often than not, people I have known—highly functioning individuals—say they just don’t fit in. (The New UU, May 23)

The Rev. Tony Lorenzen writes that there is “a Pentecost going on among Unitarian Universalists.”

People are coming alive and beginning to live their lives on fire. Unitarian Universalism is wrestling in a very deep way with what it means to live life every day as if being a Unitarian Universalist can change individual lives and change the world.  Unitarian Universalist are finding that their religion is not about going to church but about being the church. (Sunflower Chalice, May 18)

Doug Muder offers “an imperfect introduction to Unitarian Universalism,” a draft of his unfinished book, Unitarian Universalism 101. (Free and Responsible Search, May 21)

Mortality is our companion on the human journey, whether we acknowledge it or not. . . Lately, I turn and nod. Mortality smiles gently back at me. We see each other. We are not yet well acquainted, but I expect we will be in due time. She has become [...]]]> Living with vulnerability

Rebecca Hecking’s forty-seventh birthday brings reflections about mortality.

Mortality is our companion on the human journey, whether we acknowledge it or not. . . Lately, I turn and nod. Mortality smiles gently back at me. We see each other. We are not yet well acquainted, but I expect we will be in due time. She has become a companion, this goddess of the finite. And I’m finding that instead of fearing her, I rather like her. She keeps me grounded. She nudges me in the direction of being mindful. She points to the night sky, to billions of unknowable galaxies stretching back countless eons, and keeps me in my place. (Breath and Water, May 16)

John Beckett writes about loving Nature during tornado season in Texas.

Nature is beautiful and terrible, creative and destructive. We are a part of Nature, but only a part: not the center and not the head. When we learn to see things as they are, we can develop a deep connection with Nature and a love for Nature, even as we mourn the losses caused by Nature. (Under the Ancient Oaks, May 16)

Terri Pahucki affirms the underlying trust that upholds us in the uncertainty of life.

Life whispers—I cannot give you promises that you will not die. I cannot give you promises that you will succeed. I cannot give you promises that there will not be pain. But I do know—yes, I know this rose will open. Get closer, and let your fears burn away by the quiet fire. Get closer, and listen, Life cries—touch me. Touch me and let your soul unfurl its wings.  (Walking the Journey, May 15)

Losing ourselves, gaining ourselves

The Rev. Tom Schade invites Unitarian Universalists to see our “peculiar history” as a path toward increasing universality.

The present generation of Unitarian Universalists are anxious and full of self-doubt. They live in a world where they think that it 5% or 10% growth in our tiny numbers would be astonishing. They think that only those who understand their very peculiar historical path would be willing to join them.

What they don’t realize is that their very peculiar history has been a process of shedding everything that stands in the way of their universality. They now stand naked, shorn of dogma, shedding their ethnicity and class, clothed only in their willingness to be open, to be reverent, to be in solidarity with others, to embrace the limits of their knowledge, to hold to their own self-possession. (The Lively Tradition, May 15)

For the Rev. Dr. David Breeden, the day when marriage equality became the law in Minnesota was “a bad day for creeds,” and a good day for the living, ever-evolving revelation of Thoreau and Emerson.

A bad day for creeds;
a bad day for stares;
a bad day for blind
obedience to blundering

oracles, as Henry put
it long ago. A bad day
for obedience. . . .

A good day to speak
of Henry and Ralph
erasing themselves

into revelation, to
you, on and on, a good
day to write ourselves. (Way of Oneness, May 16)

Walter Clark makes an extended metaphor from the skin-shedding “blue period” of his daughter’s corn snake, whose eyes are clouded and colors muted during the process.

When we think of change, we often think about our “blue period” where we will be itchy and our vision will be clouded. We may think that hibernation is a better option than change, to just sit still and let everything grow around us. We cannot grow without changing in some way, and we are always growing. Like Butterscotch, change can be difficult to adapt to, but without it, our colors will always be a little gray. (Lack of a Clever Title, May 11)

Jessica Ferguson creates a graphic from the words of the Rev. Jim Robinson:  ”Being part of a Unitarian Universalist community means being on an adventure of discovery.” (UU Media Collaborative Works, May 14)

Practicing good manners

The Rev. Lynn Ungar writes about the importance of consent in negotiating boundaries between ourselves and our neighbors.

Civility presumes a) that you understand that you are not the center of the universe, which means that other people have needs and desires that are different than your own and b) that you can find out people’s needs and desires by asking. Really, does that seem so very difficult?

. . . . We human beings are a community. We belong with one another. But we do not belong to one another, and the sooner we start acting like it, the better. (Quest for Meaning, May 15)

Thalassa shares her list of “Interfaith Etiquette” guidelines, including a “netiquette” version geared toward blog posting and commenting.

Disagreement is not a statement of unworthiness of another, or superiority of one’s self. . . . But maybe we need to learn to disagree with one another better. This is where manners come into the picture.  I don’t think that having manners means leaving disagreement behind. In all actuality, I think that part of having manners is being respectfully honest. (Musings of a Kitchen Witch, May 15)

Questioning ‘beloved community’

The Rev. Christine Robinson questions a too-glib use of the term “beloved community.”

This bit of jargon might be best used only with church leaders who can appreciate its history and unpack its meaning. Less committed folks might feel like they are being sucked into something more than they bargain for or, alternatively, may discover that the church actually can’t promise them the level of help and intimacy which is implied by that term, “beloved.” (iMinister, May 12)

June Herold wonders if “beloved community” is aspirational, particularly considering the challenge of living in right relationship.

The way congregants treat each other and ministers, and vice versa, is often way out of line.  The way the UUA and congregations relate to one another at times appears disingenuous, if not in direct conflict. . . . Meanwhile, many congregations can feel like  community centers and not houses of faith tied together by a denominational identity, despite the UUA’s best efforts to bring us all together. (The New UU, May 16)

Snubbed by an usher at a bricks-and-mortar UU congregation, and welcomed by friends in an online worship service, Sean Neil-Barron writes about the differences between the two experiences.

I found God more in a Hangout than in flesh and blood church last week. I found more connection from singing awkwardly in my living room than singing with hundreds of fellow UUs in a historic church. I found more relief from seeing my friends’ faces than listening to a great sermon in a community that seemed to pass me by.

Church is more than community. It’s more than a message. It’s more than a welcome. It’s more than just living out your values together. But when one of these things isn’t there, no matter how good the rest of it is, I know I won’t be staying. (Spark Within, May 12)

Advocacy and celebration

Talking with a stranger on a flight out of Orlando, Diane Daniel reveals that she is partnered with a woman, but stays in the closet about the fact that her wife used to be her husband.

I was digging myself deeper and deeper, all the while telling him how I felt like living an authentic life was important, and the more people could “come out” the better. . . . While I was “coming out,” I was also “staying in.”

. . . . So, who knows, maybe our exchange will help make a closeted lesbian’s life a little better and further the push toward gay marriage. I certainly didn’t help the transgender cause one little bit. Maybe next time? I’ll see how I feel. (She Was the Man of My Dreams, May 16)

The Rev. Meg Riley shares why Minnesota’s marriage equality victory is so sweet for her.

The self-righteous, narrow-minded, divisive thinking that led Republicans to put constitutional bans on same sex marriage into constitutions in 30 prior states—shamelessly hurting families as a Get Out The Vote strategy—backfired spectacularly in Minnesota. . . .

By the end of the Vote No campaign, 27,000 people had talked with people they knew and loved, barely knew, or didn’t know at all about marriage, love, commitment, and what kind of state we want Minnesota to be. Conversations were civil, respectful, dialogues, not name-calling or rejection. (HuffPost Religion, May 15)

The Rev. Tom Schade suggests that we have been shame-obsessed for too long, always asking ourselves the unhelpful question, “What’s wrong with us?”

Our shame is so great that we split it into two different emotions. One [...]]]> Measuring growth

Conversation continued this week about the proposed consultant who will help the Board and Administration find common ground.

The Rev. Tom Schade suggests that we have been shame-obsessed for too long, always asking ourselves the unhelpful question, “What’s wrong with us?”

Our shame is so great that we split it into two different emotions. One is grandiosity. Officially, we believe that Unitarian Universalism is the bestest, coolest, most wonderful religion possible in the whole wide world. . . . The other piece of our coping strategy is project the shame onto some other group of UU’s, whom we blame for what’s wrong with us. . . .

The question that ought to be foremost in our thinking is this: what can we do to nurture and develop open-hearted, reverent, fair-minded, self-possessed, generous and grateful people.  (The Lively Tradition, May 3)

The Rev. Christine Robinson, senior minister of the thriving First Unitarian of Albuquerque, writes about the difficulty of planning and budgeting for growth, and the imperative to move beyond conflict.

Budgeting for vitality and growth is a matter of guesses, hopes, and projections. Strategic planning is a matter of courageous guessing, not of reassuring a skeptical boss who wants guarantees of outcomes.

I do know one thing about growth and vitality, however, which has nothing to do with reports and budgets, and that is that growth and vitality do not co-exist with the kind of conflict that the board and administration have engaged in over the past four years.  . . . We live in a cultural era unfavorable to the health and vitality of religious institutions, which are shrinking, threatened, and dying all around us. This is no small matter and we are so tiny that we can not afford to waste our time on conflict. (iMinister, May 6)

UUA Trustee Linda Laskowski clarifies the consultant’s purpose.

This is not about “marriage counseling” or “a consultant to work out their relationship”; it is about a nuanced and complex set of skills needed to “measure the unmeasurable.”

. . . . How willing are you to continue to invest in an organization whose mission has lofty goals, but can’t tell you if we are making progress towards them? I do not think this is easy, nor do I think it is impossible. (UUA View from Berkeley, May 5)

The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern wonders how we might measure maturational growth, rather than numerical growth.

What if we randomly sampled a group of members each year and asked them some questions that would reveal the maturity of their spiritual lives? Or followed several over the course of several years, in a longitudinal survey? What questions might we ask? (Sermons in Stones, May 3)

Practical considerations

Kari Kopnick writes that one of the most important tasks for UU congregations is taking care of their non-clergy workers—particularly their religious educators.

I know there’s a fuss about metrics and growth and mission and vision and leadership in the big picture UU stuff right now. I don’t know what to do about that, either. But we could remember that these are people who do the work, and people who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. . . .

Pay a living wage, give time off, support professional development. And hey all you big-wigs, remember that ministers and metrics and end statements are not the only reason churches and institutions thrive or fail. Start with people, end with people and take care of the people in between. It’s not the big answer, but it’s a place to start. (Chalice Spark, May 9)

Tim Atkins proposes a UU “center for innovation” that promotes skill-sharing and skill-building.

We as a faith need a place where innovators can go and get nurtured. To learn and get those skills they need. To meet and network with other innovators, to share struggles and strategies and victories. Whether they be ordained or lay. (Tim Atkins, May 9)

The Rev. Sean Dennison quotes Tim Atkins in this image from the UU Media Collaborative.

Marriage equality

After working hard to defeat last year’s anti-equality amendment in Minnesota, the Rev. Meg Riley is delighted that marriage equality seems to be moving through the state’s legislature with ease.

The thing is, if the Traditional Marriage zealots hadn’t pushed that awful ballot initiative at us, I don’t think we’d be doing this. But all of that grassroots organizing morphed seamlessly into a fight for marriage equality we’d never thought we could win. . . . So today I’ll be walking around the Minnesota House and the State Capitol with a big grin on my face, talking to people about when, where and how they plan to get married. (HuffPost Religion, May 9)

“Marry in Massachusetts” notes, with some surprise, that marriage equality seems to have passed a tipping point.

I thought getting this far would take another decade or two. Once I saw that my boomer generation was little better than our parents on gay rights, I feared for the nation until most of us from both groups had died. I, fortunately, was wrong. America is tired of the irrational and emotional crap and its distractions. (Marry in Massachusetts, May 9)

A resting place

Several UU bloggers weighed in on the issue of a burial place for Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

For the Rev. Gary Kowalski, who currently serves as interim minister at the First Unitarian Church of Worcester, providing a proper burial is a mark of a civilized society.

Whether you consider him a heinous murderer, a misguided soul, a terrorist, or all of the above, he was also a human being: not an animal, an object or a piece of refuse. I have zero tolerance for his cause and condemn his actions, even as I grieve his victims and sympathize with the families of those who were killed or injured by his crimes.

But this is one of those decision points that reveals our own character as a people. Are we brutes, or are we members of a civilized nation?

Only the residents of Worcester can decide.  (Revolutionary Spirits, May 6)

The Rev. Fred Hammond draws on our Universalist heritage.

[Providing] a burial site for Tsarnaev is a very strong proclamation of the Love that loves us all, in spite of his sins, in spite of all the hatred he spewed in his acts of violence. He is still that little baby boy that his mother held close to her breasts when he was born. He is still that laughing child on his father’s knee. He is still that child of god. And the god that loves unconditionally, our Universalist forebears taught, welcomes him home. (A Unitarian Universalist Minister in the South, May 8)

The Rev. Tony Lorenzen thinks that a Unitarian Universalist congregation should provide a burial place for Tsarnaev.

An offer to bury Tsarnaev calls our community to be its best self. We call people away from trying to punish his family, his uncle, his undertaker, or anyone else who is of and by necessity involved in the process. When we continue to rant and rave about how such a monster as Tsarnaev doesn’t deserve to have his remains put in the ground and forgotten . . . we also continue to give a murderous criminal more press than he deserves . . . .  (Sunflower Chalice, May 7)

Celebrating Mother’s Day

The Rev. Lynn Ungar offers a virtual bouquet to all who do the work of mothering, no matter their gender or biological relation to their children.

I hope that sometime between now and Mother’s Day you get a quiet moment to remember the real gifts that you’ve gotten throughout the year: not only the hugs and the smiles and the sweet snuggling at bedtime, but also the moments when your child has trusted you enough to cry on your shoulder, the times when you genuinely laughed at your child’s joke or they laughed at yours, the flash of insight when you were able to see the world through their eyes. Truly, motherhood is the toughest job you’ll ever love. On a good day. (Quest for Meaning, May 8)

Sara Lewis reminds us that Mother’s Day began with Unitarian Julia Howe’s work for peace.

[As] Unitarian Universalists, we can lay claim to a tradition of seeing Mother’s Day as a day to call for peace. Yes, we still honor our own mothers, but if we expand that expression of love and caring to our global human family, if we recognize this as a day for honoring human relatedness and recognizing that peace is the only way to live if we are honoring that relatedness, then we have a holiday that is much more transformative and challenging. It is a truly religious holiday in this sense, calling us to reflect on that which binds us all together and seek to create a Beloved Community on earth. (The Children’s Chalice, May 9)

Beginning with an image created by Micah Bazant, Laura Evonne Steinman links Mother’s Day with the second UU principle of justice, equity and compassion; she writes, “To this day, many women are chained down while in labor giving birth in prison. Let us pray and work towards justice for all this Mama’s Day and always.”

The Rev. Tom Schade wrote a series of posts, beginning with the questions “How are we to evaluate the performance [...]]]> The $100,000 question

Much of the heat in this week’s UU conversation online came in reaction to news of the UUA Board’s proposal to budget $100,000 to help the board and administration move past their disagreements.

The Rev. Tom Schade wrote a series of posts, beginning with the questions “How are we to evaluate the performance as Moderator of Gini Courter?” and “How do we apply the lessons of her tenure to the choice between Jim Key and Tamara Payne-Alex to succeed her?”

Gini Courter has been an extraordinarily ambitious Moderator, attempting to make the UUA Board the real leadership of the Association. By establishing Policy Governance, her plan was that the Board would begin to evaluate the work of the Administration and Staff, holding it accountable for effective work toward the goals of the Association. . . .

Behind the plan was an analysis that the problems of Unitarian Universalist drift was the a problem of governance: the people who worked for us were largely self-directed and unaccountable, even though they were talented and committed people.  (The Lively Tradition, May 1)

For Kimberly Hampton, spending $100,000 on a “marriage counselor” makes no sense in a time of staffing and program cuts.

Let me see if I have this straight. There isn’t enough money to keep some really valuable employees. There isn’t enough money to keep the MFC and RSCCs from having backlogs. There isn’t enough money to do some real church planting. But there is enough money to hire a marriage counselor. (East of Midnight, April 30)

The Rev. Scott Wells writes that “the UUA acts like the kind of legacy organization or corporation that persons my age and younger than I mock.”

It’s impossible to think anyone not on the Board would have the time or stamina to be able to follow the process, and its product looks more like generating more process than say, new congregations, building loans, print or online publications, a new hymnal, religion education materials . . . .

Performance metrics, however well-loved in the nonprofit sector today, can lead staff to “work to the test” and (at their worst) can become a kind of performance art which steer the work of the Association staff away from practical work. (Boy in the Bands, April 29)

Tim Atkins doesn’t want “governance by platitudes.”

[When] I look at the UUA I don’t see a lot of concrete stuff coming out, especially from President Morales.  I hear platitudes. I see people talking about how exciting and revolutionary those platitudes are, but I rarely see concrete action beyond a blog post. And I am all for “monitoring” with clear definitions/job roles/etc. because as someone who does contribute to the UUA I do want to know that the money is making an impact. (Tim Atkins, May 3)

The Rev. Sarah Stewart provides a board member’s perspective on the issues at hand.

Unitarian Universalists should not let any of us, the administration or the board, off the hook for accomplishing our ends, including the end of growth. Our faith can serve more people. It can thrive in the 21st century. We believe so; the administration believes so; our congregations and their leaders believe so. Demand this task of us, your leaders. It is what you elected us to do. (Stereoscope, May 2)

Finally, UUA President Peter Morales and Moderator Gini Courter have responded to questions about the board meeting in letters sent to the UU Ministers Association chat list and published with their permission on Tom Schade’s blog. (May 3)

The pivot toward equality

Responding to veteran NBA center Jason Collins coming out as gay, Andrew Mackay asks, “What is equality really about?”

Society is slowly pivoting to gays being part of the norm rather than an error, an aberration. . . . What is Collins’ action part of? The idea that gay people are woven into the fabric of this nation. . . . When he came out two days ago it was national news. Part of the goal is that one day an athlete will come out, and it’s not a media spectacle. It’s just someone living their life. (Unspoken Politics, April 30)

The Rev. Debra Haffner responds to suggestions that Jason Collins is not a Christian because he is gay.

When NBA player Jason Collins came out as gay, he noted “My parents instilled Christian values in me. They taught Sunday school, and I enjoyed lending a hand. I take the teachings of Jesus seriously, particularly the ones that touch on tolerance and understanding.”

After years of hiding who he was, this courageous basketball player needs our support. (Sexuality and Religion, May 2)

Seekers of meaning

UU World managing editor Kenneth Sutton invites us to “revel in the actual,” as he shares experiences from his recent sabbatical.

What a downer! Look at the real world and you die! Yes, exactly. Look at the real world, and the illusions and confusions of your life will, if you are lucky, die. (Refreshment in a Pint Glass, April 30)

After a weekend singing Sacred Harp music, the Rev. Dan Harper reflects on what it could teach Unitarian Universalism.

I still love my Unitarian Universalist church; Sacred Harp singing would not be an adequate substitute for what I get out of my religious community. But I can still wish the Unitarian Universalism would embrace the DIY ethos, welcome ecstasy and transcendence, include younger people, and sing better. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, May 2)

The Rev. Dr. David Breedon remembers trying to talk with his parents about the philosophy of Spinoza.

On that day driving along the New Madrid Fault, I realized that Spinoza could not speak to my parents. And I discovered something else: I had the power to destroy the faith of poor, oppressed people such as my parents who had nothing else to fall back on. I stopped the argument when I was eighteen, and I have never argued religion again.

The chance to think abstractly, to pursue truth wherever it leads, is a powerful gift. A privilege. As with all power and privilege, it must be used responsibly and humbly. (Quest for Meaning, May 2)

Christine Organ remembers the Sundays of her childhood, and recommits to a regular day of rest.

As a kid, there was no mistaking when Sunday rolled around. Sunday was so clearly different than any other day. . . . The day moved on a special schedule, with a cadence and rhythm all its own.The day was slower, quieter, calmer. The day was sacred. (Christine Organ, May 1)

John Beckett considers the relationship between truth and meaning.

My search for truth and meaning has led me to Nature. . . . Along the way I’ve found bits and pieces of truth. I’ve found meaning so strong that when I’m caught up in it I have no doubt it’s true. I order my life as though it’s true.

But I still recognize that meaning is not truth. If I find evidence my beliefs are false and my practices are unhelpful, or that something else is better, I’ll change what I believe and what I do. (Under the Ancient Oaks, April 30)

I don’t know . . . how the Earth will look a hundred or a thousand years from now, but I do think it’s fair to say that biological diversity will be diminished, and long-term damage will still be very much [...]]]> Observing Earth Day

As Earth Day approaches, Rebecca Hecking considers an article about working through environmental grief.

I don’t know . . . how the Earth will look a hundred or a thousand years from now, but I do think it’s fair to say that biological diversity will be diminished, and long-term damage will still be very much in evidence. Those of us who care even a little bit fall somewhere along the road from denial to acceptance, although we may not experience the stages in quite such a neat linear package since the object of our grief isn’t a person who has died, but rather a planet in a state of decline (for now).  (Breath and Water, April 19)

The Rev. Carl Gregg observes Earth Day by writing about Wendell Berry, “earth breathing,” climate change and interdependence.

[From] Boston to West, Texas, we’ve been reminded this past week of just how vulnerable and precious our lives are. We can’t always control what happens around us, but we can learn to have more influence over our response to people and events. And one way to do that is to remind ourselves that we are more than isolated individuals bumping into one another; we are each part of the interdependent web of all existence. (Carl Gregg, April 22)

Jessica Ferguson’s Earth Day graphic quotes the Rev. Carol Hepokoski, who says, “I used to think maybe we need to save the Earth. Now I think maybe it is Earth that is saving us.” (UU Media Collaborative Works, April 22)

Making sense of the world

When faced with complex problems, the Rev. Naomi King suggests the power of not knowing.

I loathe not knowing the answer. I feel scared and vulnerable and very much at risk when I reach not knowing and have to confront that I do not know what comes next, what to do, how to fix what is broken or not working. But when I am with that not knowing, turning the problem over and over, seeking a new way, the fear drops away and curiosity and wonder take the lead. (The Wonderment, April 21)

The Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford wonders why the tragic explosion in West, Texas, received so much less attention than the bombings in Boston.

I think it was something far more basic: we are visual people, and we viscerally connect with pictures of other people. Quick, think of a picture of the Boston marathon bombing. The man with half a leg missing, being pushed in a wheelchair? The 78 year old runner knocked to the ground? The police, running toward the explosion?

Now, think of a picture of the West, TX explosion. The fireball? The cloud? The stripped-out apartments?

The lack of faces defining the explosion are, actually, perhaps the saddest part. (Boots and Blessings, April 20)

UUA Trustee Linda Laskowski begins her series of posts about the April UUA Board meeting with her experience of being in Boston in the aftermath of the bombings.

Being with a group of Unitarian Universalist lay leaders and ministers was not a bad place to be this week. We shared a lot of tears, poetry and prayer. . . . (UUA View from Berkeley, April 22)

Visiting with family in New York City, the Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein overhears a conversation about the two bombing suspects.

“All of them… family . . . fathers . . . uncles . . . say they so beautiful. He’s a beautiful young man . . . everything is beautiful.”

“No bad boys.”

“Everybody thinks their kid is beautiful, man.” (PeaceBang, April 19)

The Rev. Tom Schade responds to the question of why spiritually liberal people feel compassion for Dzhokar Tsarnaev.

Compassion is not judgment, which makes choices and priorities. Judgment weighs and measures and reasons. Judgment, which we give to the judicial system to exercise finally, will deal firmly with Tsarnaev. It’s a whole other thing.

But at every moment, someone has your attention, and in that moment, you will be feeling some emotion: compassion, hatred, indifference, affection. Spiritual liberalism notices that if you build a habit of compassion, you will be happier, healthier, more able to love and receive love.

The world will be better, too. (the lively tradition, April 20)

Andrew Hidas takes a different perspective—resisting pressure to forgive.

Talking about the need to forgive perpetrators of heinous acts before victims’ bodies have even turned cold is premature at best, presumptuous at worst. . . .

Righteous anger or at least revulsion is an appropriate response to a horrible act. The closer your “connection” to it, the more right and perhaps necessity you have to fully experience and express such anger. Full submersion is in many ways the precursor to the healing you ultimately seek. (traversing, April 20)

The Rev. Chip Roush shares opening words for worship after the Boston bombings.

Slowly but surely, the universe is evolving
toward greater freedom,
toward reason,
and toward tolerance.
This morning, and every morning,
may we be more aware
of the Spirit of Life
evolving in and through us,
drawing us
toward deeper compassion
and firmer courage. (So May We Be, April 19)

Unitarian Universalists online and “in real life”

The Rev. A. C. Millard explains why a practice of “checking in” is important.

Even when attending a meeting that is entirely centered on some item of business, we bring with us our whole lives and everything that has been going on in our lives, and that affects how we interact with each other.  I know I’ve been in meetings where someone was behaving in an uncharacteristic way, only to find out later that something significant had happened to them; if we had heard about that at the start of the meeting, the rest of us might have been more understanding and our time together might have been better for all of us.  (UU Fellowship of the Peninsula, April 25)

Thomas Earthman writes about the role of blogging in sharing Unitarian Universalism’s message.

The state of technology is that everyone can be a preacher. Everyone can be a journalist. Everyone can be an advertising agency. . . . It is only by recognizing those who have the ability to shape and stimulate conversation that we can ensure that people hear our message of salvation. We don’t need to sell it, but we need to make it accessible and we need to get people talking and asking questions. (A Material Sojourn, April 25)

June Herold discovers that negotiating Facebook privacy is tricky, even for tech-savvy people.

[Despite] privacy controls, heavy Facebook users—even the most advanced—can easily forget that once something is said on Facebook, it can take on a life of its own. . . .

Making assumptions—where to post; what to copy online; and what we should realize—can easily become a slippery slope. One that we all can slide down—including me. (The New UU, April 22)

The Rev. Meg Riley hosts a UUA Moderator Candidate Forum with Jim Key and Tamara Payne-Alex.

The Rev. Tom Schade objects to the candidates’ answers to the forum’s last question: “What can you do to make sure that those of us who are right of center still feel welcome in UU congregations?”

If the things that we religious liberals care about most deeply were held equally by both political parties, we could continue to act as though belonging to either party was just a personal preference that didn’t much matter. But that is not true, and we know it.

What religious liberals value and what contemporary political conservatism values are so in conflict that it is hard to be both. (the lively tradition, April 26)

Jessica Ferguson added music and photos to the words of a prayer by the Rev. Sue Phillips.

Bart Frost has deep roots in Boston, and his reaction [...]]]> Boston Marathon bombings

Many UU bloggers wrote this week about the Boston Marathon bombings. This is a small selection of those responses; for additional blogging about the attacks, visit UUpdates.net.

Jessica Ferguson added music and photos to the words of a prayer by the Rev. Sue Phillips.

Bart Frost has deep roots in Boston, and his reaction is raw and honest.

Boston is my home. It is my birthplace. It is a city whose summers are filled with sunshine, whose winters are unpredictable, and whose people, though often characterized as cold or stubborn or unfriendly, are traditionally hard-working blue-collar folk. . . .

Today, Boston weeps and I with her. . . . I have no wisdom or wit to share with you today, I have only myself and my tears. May you remember that the good outnumber those that do evil, and forever will. (Vive le Flame, April 15)

Sean Neil-Barron, a recent transplant to the city, responds with prayer, and reflection about violence beyond Boston.

I am sure that the  speculation as to the cause will probably run the same misguided,  nearsighted and probably racist ways it always does. . . . I also know the speculation and the information that will unfold will never find any blame within us. Never look to the children round the world from Pakistan to Palestine who live in fear of death coming from above in drone attacks. . . .

Do we not think they love their children too? (Spark Within, April 15)

Andy Coate writes that it is “okay to mourn at a different level when the city you live in and love in is attacked.”

My dear Bostonians, let yourself mourn if mourning is what you need to do. Let yourself mourn without guilt that your mourning is a ‘first world problem.’ Let yourself stand in community or solitude, whatever feeds your soul. Cry out to your God, or your gods, or simply into the stillness for an end to needless violence without worrying that you aren’t crying out for the ‘right’ things. Let yourself be grounded in resolve to work for peace and healing. Let yourself breathe. (thoughts ON, April 16)

The Rev. Tom Schade, until recently a Massachusetts resident, distills wisdom from his colleagues into a list of needed virtues.

Honesty—Humility—Gratitude—Reverence—Openness—Compassion—Self Possession. These are the needed virtues on the day after Patriots Day in Boston.

These are the virtues of liberal religion—the gospel that is needed for this time—the reminder we need to recommit ourselves to what is best, and wholesome, and holy and healthy when it is so tempting to be hateful, or vengeful, or tribal, or otherwise less than our best selves. If we can commit to these ways of being in the world, we make it possible to discern the way of Love in the present situation. (the lively tradition, April 15)

For the Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford, moving beyond rage to compassion is too much of a stretch.

There are some who already, or from the very beginning, had hearts of compassion not only for those hurt, but for the person(s) behind this. They prayed that the killer might find a way to the love ethic that they themselves feel. They felt sorrow that anyone might hurt so much they were willing to do this.

I am not so spiritually advanced. (Boots and Blessings, April 17)

When the Westboro Baptist Church threatens to picket Boston Marathon funerals, the Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein suggests that Bostonians “ laugh them out of town.”

Poo on the Westboro posse! If they come to town, I think we should stage a Theatre of the Absurd festival and dance around them. I think we should join them with signs and music and wonderful costumes. Someone could dress as SNL character Linda Richman and carry a sign that says, ”THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH IS NEITHER BAPTIST NOR A CHURCH: DISCUSS.” (PeaceBang, April 16)

Action in an age of fear

The Rev. Bill Sinkford reacts with anger and resolve to the Senate’s vote on background checks for gun purchases.

When I heard the news, I felt an anger that is rare for me. I wanted to personally confront the 46 senators and demand that they inspect their consciences, look carefully in the mirror, pray for forgiveness, and change their vote. I, too, wanted to shame them. There are mornings when my prayers begin and end in anger. Today was one of them.

There is a place in religious life for anger and for righteous indignation. . . . But the religious impulse needs to move beyond righteous indignation into a place of remembering how we hope to live and a place of commitment to that vision. (Rev. Sinkford’s Blog, April 18)

The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern raises questions about divestment as a strategy for dealing with “the environmental catastrophe that is already upon us and only getting worse.”

There seems to be a groundswell for the idea that the best way to do so is to divest from fossil fuels. So I have been reading up on divestment, and finding that no one . . . has explained to me yet how this movement would further the goal of reducing fossil fuel use.

A change movement has to ask, what change are we hoping for and what’s the leverage that will bring it about? . . . The situation is too dire for symbolic gestures. We need to take real action. (Sermons in Stones, April 17)

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum offers advice to parents in an increasing violent, fearful world.

Childhood is different now, and parenting is different now. And there are a whole lot of different and acceptable responses to these circumstances. So parents, be gentle with one another. And non-parents, be gentle with us. This is new, and we’re just trying to do what’s best for our children. Trust us to be the ones who know what that is, even if you would do things differently. (Rev. Cyn, April 18)

Theology and spirituality

The Rev. James Ford provides a short overview of liberal religion, as seen in Unitarian Universalism.

By the Twentieth century [the Unitarian and Universalist] styles emerged as a naturalistic religion, concerned with life in this world. For a while it would be closely identified with humanism, but unlike organized humanism Unitarian Universalism felt no need to disassociate itself from the family of religions. However this religion was a radical departure from the Abrahamic faiths. Through its own evolution a religion emerged that more closely resembles the traditions of ancient China, Confucianism and particularly Taoism than any of the other Western traditions. (Monkey Mind, April 13)

Walter Clark encourages Christian-phobic UUs to examine their anxiety around religious words.

We all have a past. All of us have things in our past that hurt when we are reminded of them and words are great reminders. The challenge is to let go of what we were taught so many years ago and to rethink, to question what those words really mean and to find the good within their meaning. . . . Keep examining those words that give you pause. The unexamined word is not worth hating. (Lack of a Clever Title, April 15)

The Rev. Carl Gregg invites us to explore a spirituality of spring.

Spring is a time of dawning light, new life, new birth, and new hope—a time of warmth, exuberance, dancing, and blossoming. And if spring is your favorite season, the most natural corresponding spiritual practices might be artistic, creative endeavors—or if metaphorically you are in a springtime season of your life. (Carl Gregg, April 14)

Peter Bowden shares a paper written by UU musician Matt Meyer, called “A UU Theology of Community Organizing.”

The storytelling, mutual discernment, and relationship building that are woven into the process of organizing reflect the basic Unitarian Universalist conceptions of covenantal relationship, democratic process, and interdependence.

Organizing is also effective. Unitarian Universalism believes that a life of faith calls us to move beyond bearing witness into concrete action. (UU Planet, April 18)

Viewers and panelists responded to the show on Twitter, both in real time and after viewing the YouTube video.

Kari Kopnick found the show’s focus on ministerial transitions uninteresting, now that she has [...]]]> Did you see The VUU?

This week the Church of the Larger Fellowship debuted a new morning talk show, which they’re calling The VUU.

Viewers and panelists responded to the show on Twitter, both in real time and after viewing the YouTube video.

Kari Kopnick found the show’s focus on ministerial transitions uninteresting, now that she has transitioned out of congregational leadership.

There was a time when I’d have been very interested, but no more. It was great for lots of people, but I’m just not there anymore. I want to see my friends and be a part of a community who cares about one another and does a little good on the planet. That’s enough. (Chalice Spark, April 11)

Interfaith adventures

After attending an interfaith gathering, the Rev. James Ford writes that the distinctiveness of our different faiths are as important as common ground.

Interestingly, the hardest thing is getting people to agree we don’t all think the same things somewhere deep down. For the majority people in our crowd I think it is a gentle imperialism, claiming the other is really just us. Much better than its ugly cousin, the other is unclean and needs to be expunged, read killed, but ultimately just as wrong headed. (Monkey Mind, April 11)

Magin LaSov Gregg guest posts on her husband’s blog about their interfaith marriage.

What I’d tell interfaith couples getting cold feet . . . is that marrying out was the leap of faith I needed to cure my cultural myopia and well worth the risk.

Love is never all you need. It is enough to give your mixed marriage a chance to bloom. (Carl Gregg, April 10)

An interreligious course at Hartford Seminary gives Karen Johnston an opportunity to learn more about Jonah, the reluctant Biblical prophet, and to talk with the Rev. Chris Antal, whose prophetic words earned him an early return from service as a military chaplain in Afghanistan.

Imagine that you are connected to the war’s devastation, that you are connected to the military, that you are connected to this war’s legacy—because you are. Because I am. Because we all are. Remember that interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part? That web is this: our culpability; this confession, aspirationally collective. (irrevspeckay, April 11)

The complexity of support

When Mandie McGlynn became an LGBTQ ally, she didn’t have a personal reason for doing so; she does now that her child self-identifies as a “girlboy.”

When you speak, or even think, about gay men or transgender women, there is every possibility that you are speaking of the hopeful future of this sweet little person in my lap. . . .

If my son grows up to be my daughter, or if my little boy grows up to be a man who loves men, will you think less of him, of me? Will you try to change his beautiful heart? (Mandie McGlynn’s Blog, April 10)

Andy Coate’s graphic asks, “Have you policed the trans community today?” (thoughts on, April 11)

The future of faith

Christine Organ suggests changes the church needs to make to avoid religious apocalypse.

Religion may actually be falling, with the Church and its people holding the power to influence which way it falls. May we have the courage to help the sacred tree stand tall, or at least, help it lean away from rigid, divisive animosity and in the direction of relevant, spiritual sustenance. (HuffPost Religion, April 10)

When a polity class sparks anxiety about the future of Unitarian Universalism, Jordinn forms a theory about our survival.

We must construct the beloved community, and, having built it, we must dedicate ourselves to its care and feeding. We must know and value our freedom, and the individualism that demands it—and, holding that freedom, we must nonetheless choose “we” over “me.” And friends, building a “we” is going to start, end, and move forward by truly learning to listen to one another. (Raising Faith, April 11)

For the Rev. Dr. Matt Tittle, the key to Unitarian Universalism’s future is that we “need to let go of rejectionism as a primary value.”

[Modern] UUs are better able to articulate what they aren’t and what they don’t believe, than what they are and do believe. This has been true for far too long. (Godzone Preacher, April 11)

The Rev. Andy Burnette hopes that “we will continue to grow into a faith tradition which can keep a level head and refuse to throw out baby Jesus with the baptismal water.”

Like teenagers rebelling against Mother Church, we Unitarian Universalists sometimes are emotionally reactive to the faith tradition which gave birth to our movement. . . .

Don’t get me wrong. . . . I have seen the body of Jesus dragged into debates ranging from birth control to gun rights to whose football team will win the Super Bowl. . . . But when we disregard what Jesus said simply because it has been abused, we react out of emotion rather than logic. (Just Wondering, April 11)

Beloved, imperfect community

Choices made by the General Assembly Planning Committee make the the Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern “wonder about our movement’s commitment to children and their teachers and families.”

If there are logistical or funding problems with LREDA’s programs or camp for younger children, I hope the GA Planning  Committee will say so. If LREDA’s proposed speaker wasn’t good and the committee wants them to suggest someone better, I hope they’ll say so. Taking away these programs without explanation or comment tells us that children don’t count. And in ten years, we will be wondering why those teenagers are drifting away. (Sermons in Stones, April 11)

Following his “cranky-snarky post” about the UUA Board’s recent survey, the Rev. Dan Harper makes a list of some of the UUA people whose work he appreciates; he encourages others to add their own favorites in the comments. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, April 5)

Jess Cullinan created this graphic with feedback from the UU Media Collaborative, incorporating the Rev. Victoria Safford’s call to action in a messy, wonderful world.