October Unitarian Universalist Thread - All Welcome

[Adele_Mommy]

Welcome to the October support, community, information, conversation, and fun thread for UUs and UU curious.

Here is the link to the previous September Thread.

Come on in and say "Hi", ask a question, tell a story, or feel free to just lurk for awhile.

I can't believe it is October already. September seemed to just fly by! This week is one of those weeks where I start to feel like I am living at church. Tuesday was our Get Acquainted Gathering for vistors and prospective new members. Wednesday was our regular Wednesday night family activities. Tonight is the first meeting of a new six-month session of Small Group Ministry that I am facilitating. And tomorrow night I will be at the church playing bridge with the church First Friday's Bridge Club!

Good thing I love my church!

"This church is dedicated to the proposition that beneath all our diversity, behind all our differences, there is a unity which makes us one and binds us forever together in spite of time, and death and the space between the stars." ~ Rev. David E. Baumbaugh Jr.

Wishing you all a month full of peace, joy, love, and wonder.



Adele

[lolar2]

Hi! I'm here.

[finchstacy]

Hi! I'm fairly new to UU. I attended a church a few time a decade ago, but wasn't up to dealing with my southern baptist grandma's wrath. LOL!

I'm Wiccan at heart and love the UU church. I'm part of a Steering Committee for an emerging UU congregation in our county. We celebrated the soltices/equinoxes for the last year and hope to start monthly or bi-monthly services by the end of the calendar year. It has brought together an awesome group of people. I'm also chairperson of the ARE committee. Actually, I think I'm still the only member of the committee. I'm starting the ARE program with NWEI discovery circles. We have a program scheduled in 2 weeks as an information session about the circles with our local mentor.

Anyways, nice to meet other UU's.

Stacy

[Vojerleda]

We have our "Blessing of the Animals" service coming up. This should be good! I was considering bringing my cat in her carrier, but she isn't good with other animals, so I think we might bring a picture instead. I think the first bark she hears would put her in a tizzy, and I'd rather not stress her out if I don't have to, kwim?

Also, as an aside, my baby loves hummus! Although now she smells a bit garlicky- wait. I do too. We match!

[Peacemamalove]

Vojerleda that sounds lovely. Peace and love to everyone!

[artgoddess]

Happy October all, welcome Stacy!

[mad4mady]

Hello, My dd and I just started attending a UU near where we just moved. DH is still weary of going anywhere that is like "church". Hopefully he will come around but, if not thats okay too. Its really nice to meet people that can be open minded and accepting (especially in orange county,ca)!
Megan

[Teenytoona]

Hi all! I"ve been taking my DD almost regularly to services for about a month, woohoo! I"m actually going to dip my toe in and get a little more involved. They are starting up some Small Group Ministry groups (I think they're also called Chalice Groups) and I've signed up to be in one. I'm looking forward to it, it's been a long time since I've had a chance to concentrate on my spirituality and well, I really need it these days.

Finchstacy, I consider myself a Pagan UU, too! I know we've got a small CUUPS group at ours it's just a matter of time until I get involved, I think.

[Stargirl]

Happy Thanksgiving this weekend everyone! Ok, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend everyone.

[Adele_Mommy]

Happy Thanksgiving, Stargirl!

On the weekend before Thanksgiving (US Thanksgiving) my church has a special intergenerational service about being grateful and the kids' choir sings with the adult choir and we usually have some sort of communal food ritual as part of the service.

Does your church do anything special for Thanksgiving?

[Adele_Mommy]

Stacy, Teeny, and Megan!

I'm glad to see this thread stay active even when I slack off for a week.

Thank you to all the regulars!

[naturegirl7]

Hi! I am not a practicing UU member but am thinking about checking out my local UU church (almost an hour away!). And I have tons of questions!

I was raised catholic wiht my mother's open-minded slant and DH was raised with no religion or even spirituality at all. haven't been to church in a very long time. I lean more towards Paganism I guess - I believe in Divine Force/God and that God includes a male and female (mother and father) aspect - just as all of nature needs that balance. I am more nature minded than anything else. I have always felt closest to God when out and about in nature - even as a child.
Now we have a 4yo and I am trying to teach him about our (well my) idea of God and find that I miss being part of a community - I miss that sense of community that comes with a church.
A few years ago, while we still lived up north, I had gone to a UU church occasionally and really enjoyed it. I am thinking it is a good way to get community that is open minded. I like that it is all about supporting each other in a personal journey. But now that we are in FL, I am also nervous that it will be really Christian based here. We are in a very pro-christian everything area, and I don't know how to "put out feelers" for the local UU church.
Also I have questions about what sort of kids programs are available. Do they have kids religious ed the way other churches do? How is this taught? Does it encompass all faiths? Or is it based upon whatever the local UU church decides? How much independence does each church have?

Look forward to getting to know you all and learning more about UU

[Adele_Mommy]

naturegirl!

It sounds like you and your family would fit in great at a UU church and probably be very happy there.

UU is a congregational religion, which means each church has a lot of autonomy. There is no hierarchy like the Catholic church has, just an association of congregations. Consequently, UU churches can vary a lot. However, there are at least a couple people from FL who have posted to these threads (and who may come back and give you more specific info) and the impression I have is that UU churches in FL are not particularly or unusually Christian slanted. Also, all UU churches that are part of the association agree to not have any creedal or test of belief requirements for membership. Interesting side-note: yesterday's sermon at my church talked about how UU as a faith needs to be more tolerant and accepting of Christians.

Religious Education, for children and adults, is an extremely important part of Unitarian Universalism. Each church does choose its own RE curriculum, but there are curricula offered by the UUA and other sources that are used by many churches. I can tell you about the RE offerings at my church, which I get the impression are fairly typical overall. We do offer a class that explores different religions. We use Neighboring Faiths, which provides kids the opportunity to visit other places of worship in their community. At my church this class is usually done at the 4th-6th grade age range. Very young children (kindergarten and below) tend to have a curriculum about community building and feeling at home in the church such as Chalice Children. Slightly older kids (first - second grade) at my church learn about what it means to be UU. We use Free to Believe at my church. Last year my dd was in third grade and they did the heavily nature-based curriculum, Experiences with the Web of Life, which she absolutely loved. This year she is doing You the Creator, an art and creativity-based class. She loves this too. Many churches, including us, offer the UU sexuality and faith class, Our Whole Lives to some age group. This year for the first time, we have a Coming of Age program that encourages kids in 7th-8th grades to develop their own theology. High school kids tend to have groups rather than classes with a formal curriculum.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask any other questions you have. We're glad you're here!

[Vojerleda]

Originally Posted by naturegirl7

Hi! I am not a practicing UU member but am thinking about checking out my local UU church (almost an hour away!). And I have tons of questions!
..... < snip >
Look forward to getting to know you all and learning more about UU

Hey naturegirl! welcome to the UU thread

[Vermillion]

So we attended our first UU service this morning. I wanted to go for the last 2 weeks but we had Saturday events that kept us up late and I just couldn’t manage to get out of bed early enough! Anyway, I made sure we were up and out on time for today!

I enjoyed it a lot. The people all seemed very nice and welcoming and the service topic was exactly what I needed. It was all about healing and grief, which has been the main source of all that is negative in my life for the past 2 years since losing my baby. Part of the reason why I even wanted to attend church in the first place was so I could find some inspiration in getting back in touch with my spirituality, as I’ve really struggled these past 2 years to regain any sort of faith in the universe, in myself, and in others… So I thought it was pretty neat that this was the topic for my first service.

My son attended the children’s group, and he said he enjoyed himself and would like to go back, so I’m happy about that as well! My husband isn’t usually into this sort of thing, but he wanted to go with me and is keeping an open mind since it’s important to me.

So.... so far so good!

[Adele_Mommy]

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to a UU church, Liz. I'm so sorry for your loss and I'm glad the service was helpful to you.

This month at my church we are having a "Caring Ministry Minute" each service when a member of Caring Ministry talks about what Caring Ministry does and why she(or he) is a part of it. Today's speaker talked about how she went looking for a spiritual home after losing her baby. She joined a UU church in a different community and their caring ministry not only helped her through her loss, but supported her through two nerve-wracking subsequent pregnancies. When she moved to our community and started attending our church we were just forming a new sub-group of our Caring Ministry team to assist new parents. The speaker is now the head of that group.

I hope you and your family continue to enjoy attending your church and that it comes to provide the supportive and comforting community for you that mine is for me.

[s_kristina]

After moving in June I have not found a UU church I was really happy about. I really liked our church where we had lived with a very active CUUPS chapter in a smaller church. None of the churches I found in Pinellas were anything like that. We just moved closer to my work 2 weeks ago and less then 10 miles away is a smaller UU church with links to their CUUPS chapter on the front of their webpage and info about their Samhain ritual Now I just need to be awake enough or not working so I can make it on Sunday. I currently work overnights and am looking to change my shift, but my big requirement is to not be working Sunday morning. Hopefully it all works out and this fellowship is as great as it looks. The kids and I all miss that support.

[s_kristina]

Hey naturgirl if I remember correctly you are from the other side of the state where we used to live. I know something about the UU churches there if you want to know more about them. We were lucky that the one closest to us then, in Cocoa, was a good fit for us. I would have been happy to drive much further to have the wonderful people there as friends.

[naturegirl7]

Originally Posted by s_kristina

Hey naturgirl if I remember correctly you are from the other side of the state where we used to live. I know something about the UU churches there if you want to know more about them. We were lucky that the one closest to us then, in Cocoa, was a good fit for us. I would have been happy to drive much further to have the wonderful people there as friends.

Kristina - yeah I recognized your name too! it seems like so long ago we met up with teh kiddos at the zoo - and then life got hectic for us all and we never managed to hook up again.
So you enjoyed the one in Cocoa? I was thinking about checking out the one in Melbourne - any opinion on that one? Cocoa is just way too far for us to drive. Vero is much closer, but seems large and overwhelming from their website - plus we are more involved in activities in Melb anyway. Would love any input you have!

[naturegirl7]

thanks for the welcome ladies!