My first UU service.

[SteveGrayFTW]

I really wanted to check out a UU service, but thought I'd have to wait until next week due to prior scheduling issues.

It turns out I was free earlier than I expected, so I went ahead and attended by first UU service at the First Unitarian Church in Baltimore.

To say I was nervous was an understatement, as I haven't been to any form of a church service in a very long time. But the people were really nice and welcoming.

The sermon was concerning the DREAM Act, and one of the other attendees said it tends to get very political, which is completely fine with me.

The only issue I thought I might have had was with the Christian imagery in the building. There is a huge last supper mosaic up front, and a couple of Christian statues along the side. They note these things in the program though, saying they are honored because of their history within the building, and for the art that they are, but they don't necessarily reflect the current beliefs of the church. I thought that was pretty cool.

Overall, it was a very nice experience, and I am definitely going to check it out again, as well as some of the classes they offer. Hopefully I've found somewhere I can belong to.

 

[Maya3]

That is so nice, I like the Unitarians. I went to a Winter Solstice Service once and it was amazing.
But I do think it is Christian leaning, but I might be wrong?

Maya

 

[Huey09]

Oh my God I've been trying to go to a UU service forever but college has kept me soo busy even during the weekends. You're so lucky

 

[Amechania]

That is so nice, I like the Unitarians. I went to a Winter Solstice Service once and it was amazing.
But I do think it is Christian leaning, but I might be wrong?

Maya

Aren't they the nicest people? I'm only commenting because belief-o-matic has me pegged as a Unitarian. They do seem to be Christian leaning though, which is fine with me so long as they don't lean so far they fall over. I have volunteered with them to serve Sunday breakfast to the homeless in our community. It's quite a spread.

 

[SteveGrayFTW]

The church was formally a Unitarian church, but it's very much full UU now. One of the songs spoke of God, but I didn't take it to be necessarily be a Christian song, and there was no mention of any sort of deity and anything specific to a particular religion otherwise. A lot of talk about love, acceptance and equality.

I would love to talk to more of the congregation though, find out where particular beliefs lie and what not, but I'm not sure how appropriate that is. Great group of people all around, regardless.

 

[Storm]

Wow, apparently we make good impressions!

Steve, it's probably formally a UU church that predates the merger. Most that do kept their names as Unitarian or Universalist, whereas newer ones get more of a mouthful.

Glad you liked it!

 

[SteveGrayFTW]

Wow, apparently we make good impressions!

Steve, it's probably formally a UU church that predates the merger. Most that do kept their names as Unitarian or Universalist, whereas newer ones get more of a mouthful.

Glad you liked it!

Haha, yeah, it kind of is a mouthful, isn't it?

There were a few newbies there yesterday (I know this because we were asked to stand up and introduce ourselves) and one in particular was a woman who hadn't been to any sort of religious service in over 25 years. She looked really nervous the whole time, and she left before I had a chance to ask her what she thought, but I hope she comes back.

As I was walking out 5 different people came up to me and said they hoped I'd come back, and one woman during the service was really awesome about walking me through some stuff and answering questions. Y'all are great people.

 

[Breathe]

May I ask in what way a UU service is political?

 

[Storm]

May I ask in what way a UU service is political?

Depends on the service, really. The sermons are frequently about politics rather than anything traditionally recognized as spiritual, due to our emphasis on social justice as a spiritual practice.

 

[Breathe]

Depends on the service, really. The sermons are frequently about politics rather than anything traditionally recognized as spiritual, due to our emphasis on social justice as a spiritual practice.

Ahh, I see

 

[lilithu]

Ha, apparently my advice to check it out (in another thread) was too late and unnecessary. Glad you liked it.

 

[lilithu]

That is so nice, I like the Unitarians. I went to a Winter Solstice Service once and it was amazing.
But I do think it is Christian leaning, but I might be wrong?

Maya

Aren't they the nicest people? I'm only commenting because belief-o-matic has me pegged as a Unitarian. They do seem to be Christian leaning though, which is fine with me so long as they don't lean so far they fall over.

Our roots are Christian but I would not call us Christian now. There are individual UUs who still identify as Christian but there are also UUs who identify as Pagan, or Jewish, or Buddhist.... That's why we're in the syncretic section of the DIRs and not the Christian section.

 

[SteveGrayFTW]

Ha, apparently my advice to check it out (in another thread) was too late and unnecessary. Glad you liked it.

Not at all! You made an awesome point! I definitely think I spent more time asking questions than actually checking it out for myself, because of fear of the unknown. It's easier to hide behind my keyboard and type stuff out then to get up and go.

 

[Maya3]

Our roots are Christian but I would not call us Christian now. There are individual UUs who still identify as Christian but there are also UUs who identify as Pagan, or Jewish, or Buddhist.... That's why we're in the syncretic section of the DIRs and not the Christian section.

Thank you for the clarification.

Maya

 

[lilithu]

Thank you for the clarification.

Maya

Maya, namaste. I see that you are Hindu.

It may interest you to know that there is a significant Hindu influence in Unitarianism too. As I said, our roots are Christian. Unitarianism started off when some Christians rejected the doctrine of the trinity and decided that they believed that God is a unity. Sometime later a Unitarian minister named Ralph Waldo Emerson, together with his friends who made up the Transcendentalists, studied Hindu and Buddhist scriptures. The Hindu way of conceiving of God resonated with Emerson who wrote an essay on it called "The OverSoul." You might recognize that as a translation of ParamAtman. In it, Emerson basically described Hindu theology using Christian terms. So Unitarians continued to use the same words that Christians do but the way of looking at God was actually more Hindu than Christian. That was in the 1800s.

It is because of Emerson that I am a UU.

 

[lilithu]

Not at all! You made an awesome point! I definitely think I spent more time asking questions than actually checking it out for myself, because of fear of the unknown. It's easier to hide behind my keyboard and type stuff out then to get up and go.

Steve, forgive me for saying this but that is such a UU thing to do.

 

[Maya3]

Maya, namaste. I see that you are Hindu.

It may interest you to know that there is a significant Hindu influence in Unitarianism too. As I said, our roots are Christian. Unitarianism started off when some Christians rejected the doctrine of the trinity and decided that they believed that God is a unity. Sometime later a Unitarian minister named Ralph Waldo Emerson, together with his friends who made up the Transcendentalists, studied Hindu and Buddhist scriptures. The Hindu way of conceiving of God resonated with Emerson who wrote an essay on it called "The OverSoul." You might recognize that as a translation of ParamAtman. In it, Emerson basically described Hindu theology using Christian terms. So Unitarians continued to use the same words that Christians do but the way of looking at God was actually more Hindu than Christian. That was in the 1800s.

It is because of Emerson that I am a UU.

Namaste Lillithu,



I have noticed that too, it is really nice.

I like how you get inspiration from all religions and that you respect all of them.
Hindus believe the same basically, we believe that everyone will reach Moksha (enlightenment/God) eventually, which religion you practice in doesn't really matter.

Actually my nephew and his wife got married by a Unitarian Pastor, they had a beautiful ceremony!

Maya

 

[Darkness]

Depends on the service, really. The sermons are frequently about politics rather than anything traditionally recognized as spiritual, due to our emphasis on social justice as a spiritual practice.

Does not this encourage factionalism? Upon deciding to re-convert to Christianity, one of the greatest reasons I chose Catholicism was because they seek to unite difference around a common liturgy. Protestant churches for instance insist on preaching theology to you. I have not heard any divisive homilies from my priests so far. The homily is usually about the Eucharist, or compassion, or faith in general. I left one Church because the priest kept preaching on socio-political issues, and I disagreed with his views on them, considering I am staunchly progressive and he was staunchly conservative.

 

[Storm]

Does not this encourage factionalism? Upon deciding to re-convert to Christianity, one of the greatest reasons I chose Catholicism was because they seek to unite difference around a common liturgy. Protestant churches for instance insist on preaching theology to you. I have not heard any divisive homilies from my priests so far. The homily is usually about the Eucharist, or compassion, or faith in general. I left one Church because the priest kept preaching on socio-political issues, and I disagreed with his views on them, considering I am staunchly progressive and he was staunchly conservative.

No, not really. Social justice is built into the foundation of the religion, unlike more traditional faiths centered on theology.

 

[lilithu]

Does not this encourage factionalism? Upon deciding to re-convert to Christianity, one of the greatest reasons I chose Catholicism was because they seek to unite difference around a common liturgy. Protestant churches for instance insist on preaching theology to you. I have not heard any divisive homilies from my priests so far. The homily is usually about the Eucharist, or compassion, or faith in general. I left one Church because the priest kept preaching on socio-political issues, and I disagreed with his views on them, considering I am staunchly progressive and he was staunchly conservative.

UU congregations can vary quite a bit and mine uses much more religious (usually Judeo-Christian) language than Storm's does. While a great many of our sermons have political content, they are usually looked at thru a religious lens. Most UUs are pretty left-leaning, so the sermons tend to be left-leaning and congregants tend to agree. I do very occasionally hear complaints from politically conservative UUs (there aren't many but they exist) that they feel marginalized, and I feel bad for them, but otoh, I don't want to muzzle our political discussions because, like Storm said, social justice is core to us.

To translate the UU worldview into Christian terms**, we believe that the Kingdom of God is here and now, on this earth, and it's up to us to make it a reality. There may or may not be an afterlife, but our focus is on this life. So we have to protect the earth, do away with discrimination, poverty, war... "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, ON EARTH as it is in heaven." So you see, we can't be apolitical. We have to talk about climate change, and racism and homophobia and Islamophobia and gun violence, etc, etc, if we are going to build God's kingdom on earth.



**Non-Christian UUs, please don't gripe with me about the language. I'm just translating our faith into Christian terms. It doesn't mean I think we should all think or talk this way. I only do it when speaking to Christians. If I were speaking to Buddhists I'd be saying "UUs believe that the Pure Land is here and now."