It took me several days to comment because this post stirred up so many emotions for me.
In my old church (no longer a church but a congregation!) I served as a worship associate. We had long discussions in person and on email about what we would say in the "welcome" part of the service. There was a script that grew and grew to incorporate recognition of more identities. Most important to other WAs was making atheists feel welcome, to the point that a belief in God was assumed to be rare and believers were almost an afterthought. Then the welcome grew in all the identities someone might have. The leader of the membership committee wanted us to announce how you could join the congregation and get involved.
Meanwhile, when you come to the front door on Sunday morning you have to get through a gaggle of people who know each other well and are warmly greeting each other, catching up, etc. You have to work your way through to get to the door. I've experienced this at other UU churches too, which is a reason I haven't joined a church in my new community.
There is a good chance that the service theme is going to be insider: honoring the religious education volunteers, a guest speaker with a political call to action, reflections on life experiences of individual members, reviewing the issues facing the congregation at its annual meeting, report on GA, youth doing Coming of Age presentations, etc. Sacred music is considered too "god-y" so the music is usually an anthem from a Broadway musical and/or a pop song.
This congregation is located within a few blocks of two major hospitals, and I've encountered many people coming to church to deal with their grief at something that is happening at the hospital to someone they love; I remember one couple who came to our church because their son had just died at the hospital and they needed a place to be. Many others come to church because they are seeking comfort, solace, wisdom, and holiness. I don't think anyone goes to a new church looking for a performance by amateurs or a travelogue. Those things happen at community centers, YMCAs, and junior college auditoriums. I often say that I don't want to go to the Democratic Club on Sunday mornings!
UUs often wonder why more Black and Latino people don't come to our churches. I remember a Black man who arrived carrying a well-worn leather-covered Bible because he saw that Emerson's Self-Reliance was the sermon topic. I spoke with him before the service and he told me that Emerson was an important guide in his life and he was interested in a religion that honored Emerson. He never returned.
In my many years at that congregation I took it upon myself to engage softly with new people before the service, help them find a place to sit (luckily we still had pews) and find out what brought them to church. Almost everyone was carrying a heavy burden that they hoped would be eased in a Sunday church service.
Unitarian Universalism could be the next great religion and I think the denomination understands this; I stayed with the church because my pre-pandemic trips to General Assembly were always a source of deep inspiration for me. The congregational structure demonstrates the deep challenges of democracy that push us toward the "lowest common denominator" and exclude those who may differ with the majority on matters of faith and politics. People come to church seeking something more than they can get in non-religious community programs, and they often come with a broken heart. If we don't have room for them, they won't be back. How sad that our congregations are "the antithesis of welcoming".
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are saying, but I feel like my UU church/congregation for many years (much less so in the last 5-10) assumed that everyone at a service was fleeing a prior religious experience where their beliefs or identity was unwelcome. That doesn't say much to those folks who aren't trying to escape something from the past, but instead are trying to find something new and meaningful?
I would say that most of my non-UU social network is made up of people for whom religion was never a big part of their life (perhaps at most attending church/temple off and on growing up without having it ever be central to their identity), and if being UU primarily means escaping the confines of a prior religious identity they wouldn't see point.
I agree, Pete, and that is part of what I was saying. I get the protection of the fleeing, but I am more turned off by the militant atheism which in my opinion is in conflict with the 3rd and 4th principles. Some of the UU churches I encounter assume that everyone is an atheist who will be offended by the word "God" in an old hymn.
I had this vision of Unitarian Universalism being the new transformative religion, bringing together the essence of most religious traditions along with the contemporary religion of science and the principles of human equality in the eyes of god/nature. There is (for me) a spiritual awakening when I walk by the creek or gather with a crowd to hear music. This is more than the sum of the parts, and it is a miracle.
By the new religion I am thinking about how there was a time of worship of natural forces, and a time of worship of mythical gods and goddesses, and then the worship of one God in another dimension (heaven), and then the embodiment of God in a human (Jesus). I think we are at the beginning of turning to the next conception of the power of the universe, and Unitarian Universalism is well-positioned to help figure this out if we let ourselves get in touch with the spirit and actively practice the 3rd and 4th principles. Thank you for highlighting that there are people who are trying to find something new and meaningful!
Instead I experience many UU churches going for the lowest common denominator, which is usually social justice. I make my living in social justice so I am practicing it all week. I want to devote my Sundays to the bigger questions.
For many years UU was a place for people who (as you say) were fleeing previous religious experiences that hurt them, but I don't think that mistaking social justice for religion is a solution to that. Social justice is one important element of religion, but not the only important element. I want to find an authentically UU congregation that actively practices the 7 principles, spending significant time on 3 and 4 without the academic approach of rooting the search for meaning in criticism and argument.
It took me several days to comment because this post stirred up so many emotions for me.
In my old church (no longer a church but a congregation!) I served as a worship associate. We had long discussions in person and on email about what we would say in the "welcome" part of the service. There was a script that grew and grew to incorporate recognition of more identities. Most important to other WAs was making atheists feel welcome, to the point that a belief in God was assumed to be rare and believers were almost an afterthought. Then the welcome grew in all the identities someone might have. The leader of the membership committee wanted us to announce how you could join the congregation and get involved.
Meanwhile, when you come to the front door on Sunday morning you have to get through a gaggle of people who know each other well and are warmly greeting each other, catching up, etc. You have to work your way through to get to the door. I've experienced this at other UU churches too, which is a reason I haven't joined a church in my new community.
There is a good chance that the service theme is going to be insider: honoring the religious education volunteers, a guest speaker with a political call to action, reflections on life experiences of individual members, reviewing the issues facing the congregation at its annual meeting, report on GA, youth doing Coming of Age presentations, etc. Sacred music is considered too "god-y" so the music is usually an anthem from a Broadway musical and/or a pop song.
This congregation is located within a few blocks of two major hospitals, and I've encountered many people coming to church to deal with their grief at something that is happening at the hospital to someone they love; I remember one couple who came to our church because their son had just died at the hospital and they needed a place to be. Many others come to church because they are seeking comfort, solace, wisdom, and holiness. I don't think anyone goes to a new church looking for a performance by amateurs or a travelogue. Those things happen at community centers, YMCAs, and junior college auditoriums. I often say that I don't want to go to the Democratic Club on Sunday mornings!
UUs often wonder why more Black and Latino people don't come to our churches. I remember a Black man who arrived carrying a well-worn leather-covered Bible because he saw that Emerson's Self-Reliance was the sermon topic. I spoke with him before the service and he told me that Emerson was an important guide in his life and he was interested in a religion that honored Emerson. He never returned.
In my many years at that congregation I took it upon myself to engage softly with new people before the service, help them find a place to sit (luckily we still had pews) and find out what brought them to church. Almost everyone was carrying a heavy burden that they hoped would be eased in a Sunday church service.
Unitarian Universalism could be the next great religion and I think the denomination understands this; I stayed with the church because my pre-pandemic trips to General Assembly were always a source of deep inspiration for me. The congregational structure demonstrates the deep challenges of democracy that push us toward the "lowest common denominator" and exclude those who may differ with the majority on matters of faith and politics. People come to church seeking something more than they can get in non-religious community programs, and they often come with a broken heart. If we don't have room for them, they won't be back. How sad that our congregations are "the antithesis of welcoming".
I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are saying, but I feel like my UU church/congregation for many years (much less so in the last 5-10) assumed that everyone at a service was fleeing a prior religious experience where their beliefs or identity was unwelcome. That doesn't say much to those folks who aren't trying to escape something from the past, but instead are trying to find something new and meaningful?
I would say that most of my non-UU social network is made up of people for whom religion was never a big part of their life (perhaps at most attending church/temple off and on growing up without having it ever be central to their identity), and if being UU primarily means escaping the confines of a prior religious identity they wouldn't see point.
I agree, Pete, and that is part of what I was saying. I get the protection of the fleeing, but I am more turned off by the militant atheism which in my opinion is in conflict with the 3rd and 4th principles. Some of the UU churches I encounter assume that everyone is an atheist who will be offended by the word "God" in an old hymn.
I had this vision of Unitarian Universalism being the new transformative religion, bringing together the essence of most religious traditions along with the contemporary religion of science and the principles of human equality in the eyes of god/nature. There is (for me) a spiritual awakening when I walk by the creek or gather with a crowd to hear music. This is more than the sum of the parts, and it is a miracle.
By the new religion I am thinking about how there was a time of worship of natural forces, and a time of worship of mythical gods and goddesses, and then the worship of one God in another dimension (heaven), and then the embodiment of God in a human (Jesus). I think we are at the beginning of turning to the next conception of the power of the universe, and Unitarian Universalism is well-positioned to help figure this out if we let ourselves get in touch with the spirit and actively practice the 3rd and 4th principles. Thank you for highlighting that there are people who are trying to find something new and meaningful!
Instead I experience many UU churches going for the lowest common denominator, which is usually social justice. I make my living in social justice so I am practicing it all week. I want to devote my Sundays to the bigger questions.
For many years UU was a place for people who (as you say) were fleeing previous religious experiences that hurt them, but I don't think that mistaking social justice for religion is a solution to that. Social justice is one important element of religion, but not the only important element. I want to find an authentically UU congregation that actively practices the 7 principles, spending significant time on 3 and 4 without the academic approach of rooting the search for meaning in criticism and argument.
May it be so.