A ship, sailing past a desert island, spots a man who has been stranded there for several years. The captain goes ashore to rescue the man and notices three huts. “What’s the first hut for?” he asks. “That’s my house,” says the castaway. “What’s the second hut for?” “That’s my church.” “And the third hut?” “Oh, that?” sniffs the castaway. “That’s the church I used to attend.”
Every religion has a program, formula prescription for healing, meaning and purpose. Today I will give a flyover view of ours and pay special attention to the ways we value individuality and the collective.
UU view and approach to religion is very moderate. It falls between two extremes of outright rejection of religion and “my religion is perfect.” We know that religion has the potential to do harm and good. We strive to keep ours in the latter category.
We affiliate with UU congregations for three reasons. The first is socializing. We are social animals. The second is spiritual, relationship with something greater than us, and growing in our ability to live with love, peace and integrity. The third reason is to be part of a body that does good in the world. This refers to community service and social justice advocacy.
Whichever of these you, we are glad you have kept coming back. Like the message painted on our walkway says, all are welcome here. We value inclusion. I admit I have a professional bias toward spiritual development. I try to see that there is an invitation to greater spiritual growth in all of our activities. you decided to come. Whatever the reason we keep coming back, I trust that the force for healing and liberation that is our faith will have effect on us.
The rainbow walkway and the all welcome give a very important message for the times we live in. We are proud to have a banner that welcomes LGBTQI+. However it’s not completely true that we welcome everyone. We welcome anyone who wishes to participate in the ministry of this church.
If you don’t care to be part of our religious program, specifically if you disrupt or interfere with our shared religious life, we will show you the door! That may not sound very UU.
And its true that we make every effort to avoid putting anyone outside our circle. I’ll say more about our efforts to include people in our community and activities. The point is that UU is not “oh whatever.” we are actually here for definite and specific reasons. about how we try to do this.
And attempts to include, attempts to avoid casting people out is central to who we are. We are trying to learn to do better than most cultures have done. Most cultures have phrases like “run out of town,” “put outside city gates.” Where do you think we get the word “outcast.”
Even the concept of hell might have evolved from such an idiom. Christian scriptures do not include the word hell. A word often translated as hell was Gehennon. Its a Greek translation of a Hebrew name _______ that was place outside of Jerusalem where their garbage was burned. The word penitentiary come from a Quaker practice of confining people convicted of a crime. The quakers wanted to give people time to reflect on what they had done, ie penitence.
How are we different? Well UU tradition ask that all our activities, all our relations be consensual. We prohibit the use of coercion or force. Instead we build our commonwealth through voluntary participation!
What is our religious program? What is our Ministry? Ministry refers to the tending of souls. Our ministry tends to individuals and to soul or wellbeing of the church itself
We do this by creating covenants, promises and agreements about what we will do together and how we will treat other.
I believe it helps when we spell out our agreements specifically. However, often agreements are implicit. I believe our primary perhaps too implicit agreement is to learn, practice, share and advance UU living tradition.
Everything we do is intended to pro mote Faith Development. All we teach is Unitarian Universalism, and the congregation is the curriculum!
We come together with the shared intention of co-creating an environment rich in respect, Inclusion. Our gospel is that all souls are sacred, loveable. We need love not for good behavior but by virtue of our being alive.
I’m reminded of a prayer posted on FB by Matt Moberg, the Chaplain for the Minnesota Timberwolves. This is a short excerpt: And underneath all of it,
every ritual,
every doctrine,
every smoothie with chia seeds,
the prayer is the same:
Please let me be loved.
Please let me be forgiven.
Please let this strange little life
mean something
We share in our ministry by remembering the historic UU phrase “We need not think alike to –love alike.” We participate in the church’s ministry by supporting a free and responsible search for truth & meaning. We do so by valuing diversity, pluralism; multiculturalism, honoring different perspectives, preferences
UU Ministry reaches across differences to facilitates connection.
Respecting difference is the starting point for our spiritual growth.
Conflict, differences in beliefs is where we start learning together.
Another way to participate in our ministry is to promote democracy in our congregation and in society. This is our spiritual practice resting on the assertion that every person matters. To fulfill our ministry, our congregation must create ways and means for people to have influence, agency.
It DOES NOT mean we need to vote on every decision.
We develop faith by authorizing leaders, by structuring and practicing accountability
Years ago I read an article in the UU World titled “Who owns the church? Your first response might be that the Church belongs to its members. The author says “No.” We might think that the church belongs to its members. We might think that members belong to the church.
The author said something I had never considered. It changed the way I’ve thought of church ever since. He said “A Church belongs to its mission”
Huh? Well one way I can understand this is legally. Every person serving on a board of a non profit organization should know that all funds must be spent in a manner congruent with the mission. You raised money for a specific purpose, you can’t just decide to spend it whatever benefits you personally. Unless, you are the president of the US.
And we are not just talking about the church building or property. The mission directs and guides & directs the congregation’s religious life. All decisions should be made with the mission in mind.
Many of you may remember the UUA’s Breakthrough Congregations Program. Every year at General Assembly, the UUA would feature, celebrate and honor a small number of “Breakthrough Congregations.” (BC) To receive this designation, the congregation needed to meet specific criterion. BC experienced a significant expansion of the membership. They had thriving programs; social, religious education, community outreach and social justice.
Each BC expressed their UU faith and values in unique ways. However they each had one thing in common, a shared sense of purpose that permeated every aspect of church life. Each BC had a quality of enthusiasm, and members who demonstrated eagerness to contribute to the church’s mission.
I saw some of the same dynamics at work at the Kerrville Folk Festival. KFF is the longest running folk festival. It takes a lot of volunteer hours to put it on. Hundreds of people volunteer not just for the music, probably even more so because of the warm welcoming community. There is bond between volunteers, staff, patrons and performers because together we create something wonderful!
UUCHC Mission is: “We journey together guided by UU values to seek, nurture and serve our loving church family, our community and our world.”
This mission statement reminds me of my favorite UUA ad slogan: “UU Congregations, nurturing souls to help heal the world.” We nurture each other in a way that increases the chances that we will bring love, respect, justice and dignity into society.
The church’s mission statement expresses the “I & We in UU tradition.” It says that individuals matter and the collective matters too.
I like how Rabbi Hillel said it two thousand years ago: “if I’m not for me, who will be? If I am only for myself, what am I? …If not now, when?”
Our tradition asks us to care and act for the betterment of society as part of our own spiritual growth. Our congregations ask us to use and practice keeping covenants within the congregation. This requires us to make us to make changes within ourselves and with other people. By participating in our ministry, by falling short and being wiling to learn together, we become better equiped to influence society through our faith, love, respect, presence, consciousness and skills.
We stand upon the shoulders of our ancestors. Unitarians didn’t just reject the trinity, the affirmed the unity of the divine. Universalists didn’t just reject the poisonous doctrine of eternal damnation. They affirmed that G*d is love, and all would come to reconciliation and understanding of our humanity, the blessed creation in us all.
Our ancestors formed Unitarian and Universalist churches. They were followers of Jesus seeking the “kingdom of heaven. In the 19th century a movement called “Transcendentalism” taught us we could commune with the divine in nature. At the same time we began acknowledging the validity and value of other religious traditions.
Today we call our vision of heaven, “the beloved community.” To usher in the Beloved Community, we must work on ourselves while we seek to bring our sense of holiness and righteousness into the world.
We agree to come together to affirm and promote respect for the “web of existence, of which we are a part.” We have a spirituality of interdependence. Individual spiritual growth depends upon unity in our shared ministry. Without UU congregations there are no Unitarian Universalists. We need individuals caring for the collective. We need the collective caring for individuals. That’s the I and we in UU.
Each person must take their own steps, and yet we have a shared journey. Happy Trails!
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