Autumn Unitarian Universalist Thread - All Welcome - Page 3

[Adele_Mommy]

K!

That's great about your daughter playing Sunday School. Right after my daughter was dedicated (at age 6) she loved to play church service and she was the minister and always dedicated her stuffed animals.

I have a statement of belief that I wrote for the "This I Believe" section of an online course designed to introduce new people to our church. I have pasted my statement below, but it is not really my "elevator speech" because it doesn't explain anything about UU. I don't really have an "elevator speech" I guess. I'm looking forward to reading other people's though!

Adele

"I believe in a force for order and creation that inhabits and drives the universe.
I believe that all things are connected, that every action has an impact that extends across time and space. Because I believe this, I also believe that what I do with my life and the choices I make do matter.
I believe in love. I believe that true, enduring, selfless love can and does exist, and that love can exalt us.
I believe that all religious creeds are metaphors. They are ways to describe the indescribable and comforting answers about the unknowable. I believe that questions about accurate and inaccurate, true and false are neither applicable nor helpful in regards to religion. I believe these are helpful questions: Do this religion’s images and rituals speak to me and have significance and meaning for me? Does this religion comfort and inspire me? Does this religion help me make good choices and become a better person? Does this religion have a positive impact on the world."

[mi_amor]

Hi Mamas. I was raised a JW and recently left and was nervous to step inside a church. But I found a UU very close to my house and it meets in a community room which feels more comfortable to me.

I was nervous to go to a service, and wondered if they give sermons or take collections?

I signed up for Lessons in Simplicity sessions through them and start next month.

[aslyn]

Originally Posted by Starflower

I don't really feel much like a pagan anymore.

This is me as well. It was brought up to me about doing a CUUPS chapter at our church last Sunday. I almost feel like it would be hypocritical of me to get this up and going. I have come to a point in my life where I find Paganism as more a way of life then a deeper path, I just dont indentify with the different paths in the "pagan" traditions.

Since I started attending the UU church, I have felt free to explore within myself and find what meshes with my own ideals. I never felt that in Pagan groups..it was always "you must belive in this or that" strange I know but its the way I saw things.

As for your situation Starflower, ITA about not forcing the issue with your DD, IME forcing kids to do something they really dont want to do just makes them hate it more. And honestly I don't see the issue if you guys just need a break for awhile. Maybe visit other congregations, or just chillax for awhile and see what roads open up to you.

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by mi_amor

Hi Mamas. I was raised a JW and recently left and was nervous to step inside a church. But I found a UU very close to my house and it meets in a community room which feels more comfortable to me.

I was nervous to go to a service, and wondered if they give sermons or take collections?

I signed up for Lessons in Simplicity sessions through them and start next month.

Hi mi_amor

UU congregations and services vary.

At ours there is often a talk but I wouldn't call it a sermon. It's often given by a community member as we are a lay lead congregation and do not have a "minister". We've had talks on everything from Sikhism to how activism and spirituality connect to what moved a community member to start a donkey sanctuary. We often have Buddhist mediations, Pagan services which are very interactive, children's services etc. Rather than telling someone how or what to think, the talks invite discussion and so there is often some sort of discussion following coffee time.

There is a collection plate passed around at one point in the service on most weeks. But the service leader always tells newcomers to pass the plate as they are our guests.

I hope you will find it a comfortable place.
Karen

[Earthy Birthy]

Subbing. We've been attending our local UU fellowship for 2.5 years now, and we love it. (I also want to add that it took us 5+ years of talking about going before we actually went, so i identify with those of you who are in the "exploring UU" phase. ) We will be moving to Colorado in Feb/March next year, and while I am excited about the move, I am sad about leaving our small and pretty tight-knit UU community.

[Adele_Mommy]

Originally Posted by mi_amor

Hi Mamas. I was raised a JW and recently left and was nervous to step inside a church. But I found a UU very close to my house and it meets in a community room which feels more comfortable to me.

I was nervous to go to a service, and wondered if they give sermons or take collections?

I signed up for Lessons in Simplicity sessions through them and start next month.

mi_amor!

At my church we do have sermons at most, though not all, services. We also pass a collection basket, but like Karenwith4 said about her church, we always encourage visitors to let the basket go by because they are our guests.

Maybe after you have attended a few of your Lessons in Simplicity classes and gotten to know some people you will feel more comfortable giving a service a try. When I was facilitating a Small Group a few years ago there was a former JW in my group. He mentioned how the small group format was closer to what he was used to from "church". There are many different paths to becoming involved with a UU community. Whatever works for you!

About that same time my minister happened to give a sermon that talked about JW missionaries. I really like that sermon and it was actually selected by the congregation vote for this year's "rerun sermon" coming up in November. Here is the sermon description from our newsletter:

“You Make the Call Sunday”
At a service a few weeks back, the congregation voted for a sermon they would like to hear Mark deliver again. “Door-to-Door Religion” originally presented in November of 2006, was the winner. This sermon tells the story of how a series of home visits from a well-meaning proselytizer of another religion inspired Mark to make some door-to-door visits of his own.

Here is the text of the sermon if you are interested: Door-to-Door Religion

I'm glad you are here on the thread and I hope you have a good experience visiting your local church.

[Adele_Mommy]

Originally Posted by TXmidwife

Subbing. We've been attending our local UU fellowship for 2.5 years now, and we love it. (I also want to add that it took us 5+ years of talking about going before we actually went, so i identify with those of you who are in the "exploring UU" phase. ) We will be moving to Colorado in Feb/March next year, and while I am excited about the move, I am sad about leaving our small and pretty tight-knit UU community.

TXmidwife!

I'm glad you're here! Out of curiosity, where in Texas are you coming from and where in CO are you going? I have lots of family scattered around TX. There are also a couple members of my church (in Iowa) who winter on South Padre Island (or at least they used to) and attended a very small UU fellowship, I believe in the Brownsville area. I lived for over 5 years in Colorado Springs. There are two UU churches there. And, of course, as I'm sure you know, the President of the UUA, Rev. Peter Morales, is from a church north of Denver. I wonder what it is like for a church to have the minister become the president of the UUA. . .

[Earthy Birthy]

Originally Posted by Adele_Mommy

I'm glad you're here! Out of curiosity, where in Texas are you coming from and where in CO are you going? I have lots of family scattered around TX. There are also a couple members of my church (in Iowa) who winter on South Padre Island (or at least they used to) and attended a very small UU fellowship, I believe in the Brownsville area. I lived for over 5 years in Colorado Springs. There are two UU churches there. And, of course, as I'm sure you know, the President of the UUA, Rev. Peter Morales, is from a church north of Denver. I wonder what it is like for a church to have the minister become the president of the UUA. . .

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm currently in Amarillo. We are either going to Denver or Fort Collins. FoCo is where we want to be (and long term plans are to build there), but we might be heading to Denver for a while--depends on DH's job.

That definitely must be a big change for Rev. Morales' church. Our congregation hired a part-time minister for the first time in years about a year ago. Major UU-typical debates and much drama later, he has really made positive changes in our fellowship. I'm going to miss all the people who love our kids, you know?

[Happiestever]

I was on here browsing a little while ago and came across that beliefnet quiz and well needless to say I was pretty amazed there was a place that fits with me. I had never heard of UU before, but I am hoping it is something I can look into more. I found a church 25 minutes away, and it sounds wonderful. I stepped back from Catholicism long ago and converted to Islam, but of couse I have issues with that as well. I want that sense of community, without being judged. I think UU will be a great fit for me, and possbily my children. Religion is one of those things in life that I cannot ever be certain of, and I think it scares my DH a bit, but hey at least I am still looking, right?!!

[aslyn]

Originally Posted by Happiestever

I was on here browsing a little while ago and came across that beliefnet quiz and well needless to say I was pretty amazed there was a place that fits with me. I had never heard of UU before, but I am hoping it is something I can look into more. I found a church 25 minutes away, and it sounds wonderful. I stepped back from Catholicism long ago and converted to Islam, but of couse I have issues with that as well. I want that sense of community, without being judged. I think UU will be a great fit for me, and possbily my children. Religion is one of those things in life that I cannot ever be certain of, and I think it scares my DH a bit, but hey at least I am still looking, right?!!

Ya know whats funny? I had dealings with UU before but never really looked that much into it, until I did that beliefnet quiz and got 100% UU..so out of curiousity I really started researching and attending the church..

I agree religion in itself is scarey, but my visiting the church here the first time with my kids was the best step I made on my spiritual journey I've ever taken thus far.

Good luck if you visit!

[Happiestever]

Originally Posted by aslyn

Ya know whats funny? I had dealings with UU before but never really looked that much into it, until I did that beliefnet quiz and got 100% UU..so out of curiousity I really started researching and attending the church..

I agree religion in itself is scarey, but my visiting the church here the first time with my kids was the best step I made on my spiritual journey I've ever taken thus far.

Good luck if you visit!

I got 100% too. I really like that UU just spreads the love instead of propaganda.

[Starflower]

Update on my church going issues:

We have decided to "chillax" as a previous poster put it. I found one church that sounded like the RE would be a good fit for us but it's pretty far from here. DH doesn't want to invest more time in new friends who live a fair drive away. (We already have mostly out of town friends.) I don't really want to go way out there on my own all the time. The closer church I looked into sounded just like ours, and frankly, I'd rather just stay with the familiar one if they're so similar. Our current church is less than 5 minutes from here. I do like the people. My main issue is with RE, so I am going to not use RE. I am also not volunteering for anything for a while.

I am not going to push DD to go. If I feel moved to attend, then I'll just go on my own.

The funny thing is that I have found two homeschooling UU families that don't go to any church right now. I found them through a local homeschool group. I have also found some other secular homeschoolers, so I am focusing my energies more on those people and the homeschool group for now. It's feeding a need that the church was not.

------------------------------------------

RE: Pagan dogma. I was with an active pagan group in another state before I moved here and while they claimed they didn't have dogma, the longer I was with them, the more it seemed like a dogma to me.

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by Starflower

The funny thing is that I have found two homeschooling UU families that don't go to any church right now. I found them through a local homeschool group. I have also found some other secular homeschoolers, so I am focusing my energies more on those people and the homeschool group for now. It's feeding a need that the church was not.

There's also a great UUhomeschoolers yahoo group. It's one of my faves.

[Starflower]

I was in that yahoo group for awhile but left and we tried an alternative school for a while last year so I dropped it. I may revisit it again though. I also just joined Secular Homeschoolers. (I do like it, but DD asked me to put that smiley after the word "homeschoolers.")

[mammal_mama]

Every time I take that beliefnet quiz I seem to score a bit different. The other day neopaganim was that the top. Today mainline to liberal Christianity was at the top. UU is always pretty close to the top, though.

It seems like UU would be the safest place for someone in constant change as I am. Adele_Mommy, I really like what you said about religions being like metaphors.

Oh and I've been meaning to add that I really liked what you shared, ziggy.

[mi_amor]

Originally Posted by Adele_Mommy

mi_amor!

About that same time my minister happened to give a sermon that talked about JW missionaries. I really like that sermon and it was actually selected by the congregation vote for this year's "rerun sermon" coming up in November. Here is the sermon description from our newsletter:


Here is the text of the sermon if you are interested: Door-to-Door Religion

I'm glad you are here on the thread and I hope you have a good experience visiting your local church.

Thank you for the welcome! The sermon was really interesting to read, thank you for sharing.

I checked all my previous beliefs at the door, took a beliefnet quiz, and was 90% UU. I'm looking forward to starting a new spiritual journey.

[revolting]

Has anyone read Tending the Flame? It's a new book about Unitarian Universalist parenting. It's very new - published this year. I can't find a review of it anywhere, so I thought I'd ask if any of y'all had taken a peek!

Anyway, my daughter and I were in the car talking about homelessness and God. My daughter told her that she thought God is the "beauty in our lives." I wonder if that's something she picked up from Sunday School or something she really thinks - the language doesn't sound like hers, but she always tells me that they don't talk about God at Sunday School.

I don't know. I've just so been enjoying watching my child's spiritual development lately. I don't know how much of this is coming from regular church involvement and to what extent it is her age, but she just tells me the neatest things about what she thinks about God and where we come from. For example, we were on the swings and she said, "We're dragons. I'm the big kid Dragon; you're the mama dragon; my brother is the baby dragon; and Daddy is the daddy dragon. Daddy dragon is at work." And I told her that I was going to breathe my fire at her, but she told me, "No, breathe your fire into the sky." We pretended to breathe fire up into the sky for a while while roaring and having fun. After a bit, she told me, "Look! We made the sun," and then went back to roaring and breathing fire. What a cool creation myth she made! I'm just so thrilled to see her wonder about the world and where it came from surfacing in her play and to have a chance to see her nascent spiritual development like this. This is what the "free and responsible search for truth and meaning" looks for a three year old, I think.

[Adele_Mommy]

I have not read Tending the Flame yet, but I want to. I browsed through a copy at my little church bookstore and it looks good. The book can be used with a UU parenting group and there are lots of discussion questions available on uua.org. The author also has a UU parenting blog that can be found here: UU Parenting.

That's great that your daughter is getting so much out of RE. I love your dragon family myth! Very creative, especially for a three year old!

[Stargirl]

Thank you so much for such a lovely post Revolting!!!

[columbusmomma]

I'd like to join this thread! We just attended our first UU service on Sunday. Need to come back and read!