September 2007
In-Gathering Sunday is upon us. I hope you have had a restful and recuperative summer and are ready to do your part in taking our church to the next level of excellence. Being a Unitarian Universalist is a way of being religious in (forgive my bias) the best possible way. It means caring less about what a neighbor professes to believe and more about how he or she behaves. It means being good for the sake of being good and not out of fear of divine retribution. It means taking responsibility for oneself to examine for oneself the burning questions that have divided people of faith for millennia. Questions like: Does God exist? If yes, what is the nature of God? What is God’s intention for humankind? If the answer is “no” what compels human morality? Is there something of the “self” that survives after physical death? The questions are endless of course and most religions have institutional answers to these questions. We do not. It is an error to assume that because we have no institutional answers we do not care or that we think the questions are unimportant. The difference is that we trust the individual to come to his and her own conclusions by the use of reason and direct experience. Inevitably, Unitarian Universalists come to different conclusions. In many human institutions, and churches are not exempt, this would result in the formation of factions and the creation of adversarial institutions. We say there is a better way. We come together in Beloved Community respectful of conclusions that differ from our own and proclaim that love serves humankind better than do contempt and fear. And thus we find on any given Sunday across our magnificent land a liberal Christian sharing a pew with a dedicated humanist. On one side of the same pew might be a devout Buddhist and on the other side an equally devout neo-pagan. And the possibilities do not end here. As unlikely as this might sound our Unitarian Universalist congregations have demonstrated that it can and does work providing wonderful opportunities for interesting dialogue.
Many folks no doubt agree that this is a common sense way of “doing religion” but only those who join Unitarian Universalist congregations actually demonstrate that it works. My point is that it is exceptionally difficult if not impossible to be a Unitarian Universalist in absentia. One can only be part of a community by being in community. Regular church attendance is of course a habit and it requires a commitment. With the new church year please consider being a part of this vibrant community by being present for its weekly gatherings. You never know what might happen on any given Sunday. A hymn might touch your heart; a piece of music sung by our magnificent choir might touch your soul; a testimony given during our sharing of joys and sorrows might evoke a powerful response; a particular sermon might speak to you in just the right way. You never know what might happen but you can sure that not much will elicit anything from you if you’re not present.
See you in church!
Amities and love,
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