March Unitarian Universalist Thread - All Welcome - Page 3

[Adele_Mommy]

Happy First Day of Spring!

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[VisionaryMom]

Originally Posted by Vojerleda

I believe that positive thinking of an outcome, if thought congruently with many other people can affect the outcome in rl. So, maybe that's the 'power of prayer.' I don't call it prayer, though. So if someone says, 'pray for x or y' like a health concern, I'll say, "i'll send healing/happy/healthy thoughts your way' or something along those lines.

This is pretty much how I am. I have an aversion to saying "I'll pray for you" because a) I won't and b) I feel it's become such an expected expression that it's become trite.

Growing up evangelical Christian, we spent a lot of time learning how to pray and practicing praying in various church services. Somewhere around middle school, I grew to detest the part of the prayer (I've forgotten the names of the official parts now) where you basically had to say "God, I know I'm unworthy of your love and that I'm a sinner." I dropped that personally but continued to pray until I was in high school.

I believe that you're right on the "power of prayer." It's very similar to meditation to me in that you're really just taking a step back and often taking a deep breath while reflecting on something going on in your life. I've made discoveries about myself/tough situations through prayer and meditation, and I think it's valuable for that.

As for other people's situations - illnesses and such - I do think about them, but I don't usually do anything special. It's more like "Mary's surgery's today. I really hope things go well." In some extreme circumstances, I have lit candles for people at home. If my children weren't so small, that's probably something I'd do more often. I just can't leave candles burning right now without inviting the little ones to touch them.

[Freedom~Mama]

I hope it is okay if I join your thread. I am just learning about UU. I have been questioning my faith for a long time (grew up Presbyterian and then Evangelical) and I took a quiz online to see what religion best suits me and UU came up as 100% based on my thoughts and beliefs. I have done a bit of online researching but am still a little confused/unsure of what the philosophy of UU is. I know each congregation is different but what are the services like? At some point do you have to become a member? I am not sure if my DH would be interested in attending or would want our children to attend. He is a pretty conservative Evangelical Christian and is not interested in expanding his horizons.

Are there any good sites online to explain UU and what it is all about?

[Adele_Mommy]

to the thread ANewDay! Of course it is OK for you to join. We love seeing new people here. :

The best place to start is with the Unitarian Universalist Association.

The "philosophy", and what I think most UUs would say holds us together as a religion, are the Seven Principles.

The UUA site has a congregation finder to help you locate UU churches and fellowships near you. Many have web pages and these would give you more information about what services are like and the "feel" and philosophy of specific congregations. The format of services at my church is very similar to a mainstream protestant Christian service, though of course the content is quite different. A few threads back a bunch of us described in detail services at our churches. I will find the link and post it.

Of course, your best bet is to visit your local UU church/fellowship. You will not be pressured to join right away and most groups are delighted to get visitors. You are not "required" to join ever. There are some people who attend my church regularly and participate and have for years, but just don't want to join for a variety of reasons. We call these people Friends of the church (as opposed to Members) and they can do everything except serve on the board and vote at our annual meeting.

Please feel free to ask any specific questions you may have about UU here. Good luck on your spiritual journey!

[Adele_Mommy]

Here is the link to the thread I mentioned: December UU Thread Start with post #48.

[Vojerleda]

On a walk, I came across a local pair of Elders in the LDS faith. They live in the neighborhood, and were asking pretty standard questions about my girls and such, then asked me if I wanted to talk about their faith. I told them I had a very good family friend who was LDS who lived in another part of the state, and that we had spoken many times about the faith, but that I was a UU and my family was happy with our faith. They hadn't heard of it (! wait no, I'm sort of not surprised actually) and so I told them about it, and invited them to our fellowship. Even offered to bake them some bread and walk it over sometime.

All this from the girl who used to turn off all the lights in the house and say "shhhh" to everyone when LDS came calling around the neighborhood.

[Sisyphus]

OK, I post this every year, and have yet to drag anyone to SUUSI from Mothering... but... well...

THE SUUSI CATALOG IS AVAILABLE!!!! This is the largest meeting of UU's in the country... well over 1000 each summer and SO MUCH FUN you can't imagine! A great family vacation!!

www.suusi.org

I'm going!!!

[twentyalmonds]

Hi I thought I'd pop in to share my excitement about attending an RE class with my daughter tomorow.

She's 4.5 and we haven't been to our local UU church since she was born! Now that our girls are a little older, I'm hoping to become an active member again. Tomorrow, it will just be me and 4.5 yr old DD. I'm assuming its ok for me to stay in the class with her. Anyone want to share their experiences with RE programs? My hope is that eventually both girls will feel comfortable in their respective classes (maybe when dd2 iis 2.5 or 3?)

Also, does anyone here bring their children to the adult service in the sanctuary? Our church's website says that its ok, but I don't remember ever seeing any younger kids there.

[artgoddess]

I got to hear a sermon today : First time in many months. The space we rent for Sunday morning services was being used today so we joined with another neighboring congregation. One that has carpet on the floor of the sanctuary. It made such a difference. my 19 month old could walk around on the floor in front of me to her hearts content and it didn't make a sound. She moved her chair back and forth quite a bit and again, no noise. I got to stay for the sermon. :

Today was Justice Sunday, anyone else have a the same theme for their worship today? I would love to join UUSC but I haven't an extra dime right now.

[Adele_Mommy]

Yesterday we had a special all-church celebration service to end this year's pledge campaign. It was great.

One thing the minister said that I liked was that he knew some of us were scared we might lose our jobs and be unable to pay our pledge. He said a pledge is not a contract and if we lose our jobs or our situation changes and we can't pay just tell him/them. He said, "we are not a creditor, we're your church". I liked being able to make a pledge that I will really try to keep without having to worry that maybe I was pledging too much because I wasn't reducing it to allow for the possibility of a catastrophe. This also reaffirmed my reaction to the story that was told earlier in this thread about the family who was basically kicked out of the church because they could no longer pay their pledge. That is not the way it is supposed to work.

[Adele_Mommy]

Originally Posted by twentyalmonds

Hi I thought I'd pop in to share my excitement about attending an RE class with my daughter tomorow.

She's 4.5 and we haven't been to our local UU church since she was born! Now that our girls are a little older, I'm hoping to become an active member again. Tomorrow, it will just be me and 4.5 yr old DD. I'm assuming its ok for me to stay in the class with her. Anyone want to share their experiences with RE programs? My hope is that eventually both girls will feel comfortable in their respective classes (maybe when dd2 iis 2.5 or 3?)

Also, does anyone here bring their children to the adult service in the sanctuary? Our church's website says that its ok, but I don't remember ever seeing any younger kids there.

twentyalmonds!

When I first started attending my UU church, my DD was too young for RE, so I went to the Saturday evening service by myself and left her with her dad rather than use the church childcare. When she first started attending RE she did not want to go by herself, so I went to her RE class with her during the first service and then she went with me to the second service. I helped out where I could as an additional parent volunteer and nobody seemed to have any problem with my staying in the RE class with my daughter. Afterwards at the service, my daughter would look at books or color or something to keep herself entertained. She was usually fairly well-behaved and there were no problems with her attending the service with me. Now my daughter does go off to RE when the kids leave and she no longer needs me there. There are not too many kids in the regular services, and I think this is because once a child gets comfortable she has a lot more fun in RE!

[twentyalmonds]

Thanks for the welcome We did go to RE on Sunday and left Dh and youngest Dd at home. I stayed with her the entire time and she seemed to have fun. I'm not sure if she'll be comfortable staying by herself, but I like the idea of taking her to the adult service with me and then letting her choose where she wants to attend. I would love to be able to eventually attend as a family, but I don't know really what that will look like.
(I have unpleasant memories of being left at sunday school as a kid and absolutely dreading going to church. So, I want to be involved, but I want my girls to be happy,too.)

Nice to take the first step at least towards becoming involved with the congregation again.

Artgoddess: I didn't attend the service, but I did pick up a program and saw that it was a Justice Sunday theme as well.

[Freedom~Mama]

Thanks so much for the welcome! I am very excited and am going to do some more research and maybe try going to the UU church near me and see what I think. Also thanks for the info!

[Adele_Mommy]

Time for a new monthly UU thread! Please come join us on the April Thread!

[hrsmom]

Thanks for the new link, and thanks for letting me lurk! I wish there were a UU church closer to where I live, I would definitely love to visit. Thanks for the informative links that were posted, also! In the meantime I search for a church in my home town that is "open"! (They're open and nice and welcoming at my current church, but at the end of the day you have to believe in Jesus or you're doomed... I don't want to raise my daughter in a church like that.) I'm sure I'll be lurking some more here!

[HikeMama]

questions!

Hi-

My husband and I have always talked about how it would be nice to be part of a community who supported each other, etc. without "gods" and "Jesus"s. The other day we stumbled upon the UUA. We are atheists and have never believed in organized religion. Is this what we are looking for? How much do you rely on the bible? -it is not something I would want to teach my children... I feel very torn right now, to the point where I'm not sure whether or not to even visit a UU "church". Any input would be good, thanks.

[Adele_Mommy]

Originally Posted by JamieHornych

Hi-

My husband and I have always talked about how it would be nice to be part of a community who supported each other, etc. without "gods" and "Jesus"s. The other day we stumbled upon the UUA. We are atheists and have never believed in organized religion. Is this what we are looking for? How much do you rely on the bible? -it is not something I would want to teach my children... I feel very torn right now, to the point where I'm not sure whether or not to even visit a UU "church". Any input would be good, thanks.

Hi Jamie! You should come over and join us on our April thread, but I will give you a quick answer here: YES I think UU would absolutely be what you are looking for. I am agnostic myself, and there are atheists who are members of my church. Readings seldom come from the Bible and when we do use the Bible it is considered a text like any other writing with no more or less authority than other texts we might learn something from, or that might give us something to think about. Some UU churches are more Christian, but most are not.

[Stargirl]

Child Dedication

Hi everyone,

For those of you who have had your children dedicated and have chosen sponsors for them, what name did you use? We don't want to use Godmother for example but still convey a spiritual and special person. Fairy Godmother is already taken. ha ha ha

Many thanks in advance,
~Erin

[~PurityLake~]

Spiritual Mentor? Or maybe this or something like this meaning in another language that makes it sound prettier or cuter.