UUs only: I have a dream (Buddhism, church, experience, scriptures)

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by applewuud

It's a great idea to have a web site like that, and I'd love to contribute.

Why not harness the energy our clergy and laity put into their sermons and put it on the web? We have perhaps 1,000 new sermons preached in UU churches in the U.S. every week. Every minute in the pulpit usually takes an hour to write...so a typical 20-minute sermon represents 20 hours of thought by a religious professional. Sermons are, in effect, carefully crafted and thought-out "posts" delivered to a limited audience of from 50 to 400 people...and then they disappear.

What's needed is a process to harness this energy, and let the most exciting new ideas and thoughts gain a wider audience. You can't "surf" through all those sermons...any more than you can go through all the threads on RF. But RF offers a good model to "let the cream rise to the top". Find a group of people willing to read perhaps 5 sermons, then rate them, and post the results.

The UUWF (Women's Federation) runs a sermon contest every year. I once had the job of retyping all the entries so the judges couldn't tell who had written what. It was really interesting.

There are lots of problems to overcome...but it would be great if every week, we could see a list of the "top 5 UU sermons" from the previous Sunday. This would be a way for the laypeople to give feedback to the clergy of what we find inspiring.

It would be especially cool for people without a UU church in their area if they could watch a video of the sermon/service.

Hi applewuud, namaste.

I really like the idea of "harnessing" the great sermons that our clergy and laity put out. In fact, I had a few of my favorite sermons on my old site (haven't transfered them over to the new CMS yet). I have also suggested to some at the UUA that they do this on their site.

BUT it's A LOT of work, and I am overwhelmed by the idea that "we" would be reviewing the sermons given from over 1,000 congregations each week. "We" refers to me and anyone who will help. And I can only do this in my spare time, as I have a job and also spend quite a bit of time working within my congregation. And I'm sure that most who would help would be similarly busy.

How about a compromise in which those of you who wish can add the sermons that you most liked from the ones you've been exposed to. Not all, but most of the sermons I've chosen are from my ministers, because that's who I'm exposed to. (I've also found a few I like online.) But if we can get contributions from around the country, it would start to be more representative of our diversity. And if the site is established as a resource, then hopefully more UUs will start contributing. At that time, I would be happy to consider a committee who would go thru and review sermons to pick "the best."

We could most certainly add the UUWF winner, along with other awardees each year.

The cool thing about the CMS I've chosen is that you can categorize entries and then sort them by different parameters. So we could potentially have a library of sermons and be able to display them by topic (for example, sermons on marriage equality or immigration or... dare I say it?, the Easter resurrection) or by location (if we wanted to do such a thing).

As an aside, I would also like to do this with worship materials. We UUs don't have much in that regard: the flower and water communions, the child dedication ceremony... but I know that in my congregation, we sometimes come up with creative "liturgies" (for lack of a better word) that may be of interest to others.

Hartlandcat and I are discussing the site in the forums over there right now, if you are interested: www.wizdum.net/?q=forum

[hartlandcat]

Originally Posted by lilithu

BUT it's A LOT of work, and I am overwhelmed by the idea that "we" would be reviewing the sermons given from over 1,000 congregations each week.

I can't really imagine that anywhere near all the sermons from the over 1,000 congregations in the United States plus the 300 or so other English-speaking congregations elsewhere in the world would be submitted every week. I think it's more a case of finding a relatively small number of widely spread ministers (and perhaps lay pastors) who would be willing to contribute sermons not necessarily every week, but on a fairly regular basis.

How about a compromise in which those of you who wish can add the sermons that you most liked from the ones you've been exposed to. Not all, but most of the sermons I've chosen are from my ministers, because that's who I'm exposed to. (I've also found a few I like online.)

This also sounds like a good idea. Presumably this would involve asking the minister if s/he'd be willing to send the sermon to the website, or?

But if we can get contributions from around the country, it would start to be more representative of our diversity.

In addition, I would be able to encourage contributions from Britain by writing an article about this website (when it exists in a more completed form than now) for The Inquirer (our main monthly Unitarian magazine).

And if the site is established as a resource, then hopefully more UUs will start contributing. At that time, I would be happy to consider a committee who would go thru and review sermons to pick "the best."

Also sounds good. (I seem to be contradicting myself here though; on the one hand, I'm saying that it would be better if a few ministers contributed on a regular basis, whilst on the other hand, I'm saying that it would be better if there were lots of contributions).

As an aside, I would also like to do this with worship materials. We UUs don't have much in that regard: the flower and water communions, the child dedication ceremony... but I know that in my congregation, we sometimes come up with creative "liturgies" (for lack of a better word) that may be of interest to others.

I'd also be interested in having a section for hymns, since that's something that I'm particularly interested in. I'd be happy to make a significant contribution to such a section.

[lilithu]

So what kind of info would a UU website have that would cause you to return to the site? (ie - what kind of resources might you want?)

[Green Gaia]

A website that successfully incorporates activism and spirituality. Most seem to concentrate on one or the other. For me, both are vital to feeling complete in my faith.

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Green Gaia

A website that successfully incorporates activism and spirituality. Most seem to concentrate on one or the other. For me, both are vital to feeling complete in my faith.

Yes, I agree! I have in mind a section on spiritual resources and a section on social justice. I'm just not sure how to incorporate it. I'm more clear about the spiritual resources. I'd like to assemble sermons and readings and rituals and other elements of worship that UUs could use.

But activism.... Should it be listings of opportunities for activism? Should it be theological reflections about why we do activism? Should it be general information the issues? I just don't want to duplicate what the UUA's website already does, and possibly what other sites do.

[Green Gaia]

Originally Posted by lilithu

But activism.... Should it be listings of opportunities for activism? Should it be theological reflections about why we do activism? Should it be general information the issues? I just don't want to duplicate what the UUA's website already does, and possibly what other sites do.

One of the things that is most inspiring to me is reading other people's stories of activism. From the quiet activism of just living your life in the face of injustice to the over-the-top, yes-we're-doing-this-to-bring-attention marching in the streets and waving signs activism. Stories of just everyday, regular people like me. I do think many people would appreciate a listing of opportunities for activism. Many times I hear the comment, "I want to help, but I don't know how or what to do." So perhaps a section that helps people connect with activism opportunities would be very useful.

I know we have the listserve mailing lists that almost every UU I know is subscribed to at least one of, but I don't know of anywhere (besides the UU forum of RF!) where any UU can share what is happening in their congregation, ask for help with a worship topic, etc. That may be beyond the scope of what you were thinking, but compared to adherents of other religions, we're so spread out that having one central location to do that could be neat.

(p.s. I'm finally working a entry to post!)

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Green Gaia

One of the things that is most inspiring to me is reading other people's stories of activism. From the quiet activism of just living your life in the face of injustice to the over-the-top, yes-we're-doing-this-to-bring-attention marching in the streets and waving signs activism. Stories of just everyday, regular people like me.

That is something that the UUA is trying to do, collect stories from congregations and share them with other congregations. Altho that still isn't as personal as you are talking about.

Originally Posted by Green Gaia

I do think many people would appreciate a listing of opportunities for activism. Many times I hear the comment, "I want to help, but I don't know how or what to do." So perhaps a section that helps people connect with activism opportunities would be very useful.

I do want to do that. I'm just not sure how. It would be better if we had a large number of UUs from all around that could post opportunities from their areas. Otherwise, it would just be me/a few of us posting more general things.

Originally Posted by Green Gaia

I know we have the listserve mailing lists that almost every UU I know is subscribed to at least one of, but I don't know of anywhere (besides the UU forum of RF!) where any UU can share what is happening in their congregation, ask for help with a worship topic, etc. That may be beyond the scope of what you were thinking, but compared to adherents of other religions, we're so spread out that having one central location to do that could be neat.

It's not beyond the scope of what I'm thinking. I'm just afraid it's beyond the scope of what I/we can do. What I had in mind was building an online UU community across congregations. I want to strengthen our ties with each other. The UUA website has information, but not so much things that build community across congregations. The CLF has community (I assume), but it's meant to be a congregation for people who don't have any other congregation. And this forum on RF has achieved a bit of that , but I would like to couple it with the ability to offer more long term information.

Originally Posted by Green Gaia

(p.s. I'm finally working a entry to post!)

Working an entry? You mean an article on the site? Cool. What is it about? I will move you to "author" status so that you can post it. Regular members can only post in the forums. I wanted to make sure that people who sign up can't automatically add whatever they want to the site.

[lilithu]

I've added some of my favorite UU sermons to my website:
http://www.wizdum.net/?q=taxonomy/term/49

There are others but unfortunately, they're not transcribed and I don't have the time to do that right now.

If you have heard/read sermons that you thought were particularly good, please share! One of the cool things about this CMS is that we can categorize them and then only display certain categories. So for example, if we had a library of sermons, we could display just the UU sermons that were given on marriage equality, or against the Iraq war...

[uumckk16]

Hey lilithu!

I'm a bit late in seeing this but I'd like to offer my assistance however I can.

I already have an account on your website's forum but for some reason it won't let me log in. Hm.

Have you thought of compiling a list of UU-related podcasts on the new site? I think it could be a useful resource.