Why not a UU (ritual, reject, mysticism, evolve, preach)

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Stairs In My House

What would this look like? Are you talking about a sentence, a paragraph, an essay, a book? What misunderstandings or misconceptions would it prevent or correct? How would it be different than whatever it is we do now?

No, I am talking about something much deeper. I am talking about a cultural revolution within the UUA, and yet I still say that it would just take a small adjustment.

Rev. Sinkford caused an uproar a few years back when he suggested that we all practice speaking with a "lanugage of reverence." Many took him to be trying to move UU back towards Christianity. Perhaps I thought that as well at the time. But now I see that what he was addressing is our need to see ourselves as religious people. We do great social justice work. Do we know why we do it? We teach sex ed in our churches because the schools don't. Do we know why that's important? We support a woman's right to choose? Why?

When I marched in the March for Women's Lives, I marched as a UU, not just as a person who is pro-choice who just happens to attend a UU congregation. When I go to protests against the war, I show up as a UU, not just as a peacenik who happens to attend a UU congregation. We can't just identify with our religion on Sunday mornings. It has to be in every aspect of our lives. For as long as we keep our faith seperate from our social justice work, others will see us just secular.

Our values are already in place. There is a reason why we do all these things and more. But we don't know quite how to articulate it. For as long as we fail to articulate it, then we will be seen by outsiders (and some of our own as well) as nothing more than a group of people who like to get together to discuss religon and do social justice work.

[Scuba Pete]

Originally Posted by Stairs In My House

Could you provide some examples of these? They don't have to be UU-specific, just general examples of what a church's purpose or direction could look like. I am not arguing about your experience, but I am having a lot of trouble understanding what you and lilithu seem to be talking about. Examples help me better than explanations.

The stance AGAINST Haliburton's war struck me as way too conciliatory. It is my burning hot button at the moment, and the church that is ready to storm the White House over this atrocity will probably garner my admiration. I felt that many felt constrained in their ability to express strongly emotional views out of a desire to not offend.

I was raised in a UU household that was part and parcel a part of the Equal RIghts movement of the 60s and 70s. We belonged to the ACLU, the NAACP and the Women's movement. I was adamantly against the Vietnam War and the Miles, our minister was instrumental in helping me to establish my CO status. We were community that was driven for social justice, but even then, the evangelical church I went too EXCEEDED our efforts in many ways and had a burning purpose to seek and save the lost.

Personally, I need purpose and direction. Without it I am merely a vapor driven by any prevailing wind.

[Scuba Pete]

Originally Posted by lilithu

When I marched in the March for Women's Lives, I marched as a UU, not just as a person who is pro-choice who just happens to attend a UU congregation. When I go to protests against the war, I show up as a UU, not just as a peacenik who happens to attend a UU congregation.

Rabid UUism! I love it, but I didn't see that here in Orlando.

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Stairs In My House

Could you provide some examples of these? They don't have to be UU-specific, just general examples of what a church's purpose or direction could look like. I am not arguing about your experience, but I am having a lot of trouble understanding what you and lilithu seem to be talking about. Examples help me better than explanations.

Stairs, for all I know, you already do these things. I just know that within the UUAC as a whole, we are still lacking.

Here would be an example of practicing giving voice to our purpose and direction:

"Because I believe in X, I do Y." where X is a religious value and Y is an action that we do in the world.

Religious value does not have to refer to God. Buddhists have religious values even tho they are non-theistic. But it has to be a statement of faith, of value. For example, "Because I believe the scientific evidence that greenhouse emissions are rising..." is not a statement of faith. Whereas, a Christian environmentalist can easily say "Because I believe that God created the earth as good, and God made us stewards of the earth...." and that is a statement of faith. There is explicitly stated value in there. The earth is good. It's our sacred duty to protect it. What would a UU statement of faith be?

[Stairs In My House]

Wow, those are good answers, thank you both. I will have to think about this.

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Scuba Pete

Rabid UUism! I love it, but I didn't see that here in Orlando.

lol, I consider myself evangelical, not rabid.

We are in Washington, DC afterall. That makes a difference.

How big is the Orlando congregation? One thing that I learned as a UU and that has changed me is that if I see a problem or a lack, I can do something to change it. It's not just hierarchical, accept things the way they are or leave it. I have influenced my own church and I bet you could influence the Orlando congregation. It would probably be slower and more frustrating than you want, but that is the price of community.

It might also interest you Pete that at the last General Assembly, the UUA chose "Peacemaking" to be its next CSAI (congregational study action issue), so for the next 3+ years, UU congregations are supposed to be thinking about war and peace, which may make it easier for you to get them to address the subject if you're meeting resistance/apathy.

No guarantees. I'm just putting the information out there.

[Scuba Pete]

As a visitor, I don't feel that interference in the church's business is appropriate. I USED to be UU, but I left it in 1975. That's more than 30 years ago.

When you join a community, you don't do it to change them: you do it to join them in what they are doing or to change yourself. Having a specific direction to go in helps to give me a goal to work towards. Maybe I will go back this Sunday and tell them that Lilithu thinks they need to change.