Church?! What?! Part 2
Everyone with whom I have had conversations that have moved beyond pop culture and politics knows that spirituality is very important to me. I could sit for hours talking about mystery and connectedness and faith and tradition. Though I appreciated the kindness and goodness of spirit I saw from the Baha'is of my dad's faith, I never connected with the Judeo-Christo-Islamic lineage, so how could I accept their next teacher as my own? But Unitarian universalism (UU) philosophies encompass and expand upon my experience. That is why I went, and will go again.
The ways of practicing Unitarian Universalism may vary slightly in each place of worship based on the congregations, but overall they seem to be a organization for uncomfortable agnostics. They speak of the "holy one" or "everlasting spirit" but seem to lend no man nor woman authority to dictate what "the everlasting spirit" wants, needs, or does, except that they collectively believe that there should be a message of love and inclusion.
As a side note, they more than accept people living together unmarried, they support GLBT people
The church we have visited is two blocks away from our place. They still have ministers and hymns and traditionally Christian church-y things, but these are intermixed with quotes from a collection of Islamic, Hindu, Christian, Humanist, Buddhist texts as well as poetry that expresses wonder at the Mystery.
Anyway, so far we have gone twice and though I am still a little unsure about the whole thing, we felt more comfortable, welcome, and intrigued than the first time. At first it seemed a bit more focused on a Christian-feeling worship, where the second service was much more worldly. An Indian singer sang the interlude pieces, and the hymns (still very church-y) spoke the views of many spiritual Traditions* and the sermon was by Houston Smith, a scholar of world religions. It was regarding the Nepalese mandala personifying the 7 stages that humans go through all of the time and that knowing that it is a circle, we know that in time we will move out of one of the more negative(?) stages into a better one if we just have patience.
This type of thing is the greatest part of why the message of UU resonates with me. It connects psychology and spirit and this, I currently believe, is the purpose of spiritual tradition. Joseph Campbell has influenced me heavily.
I must say that it does feel weird and saying that I am going to church on Sunday is a little hard to get used to. My association with church is for the most part tainted by me grandparents' Pentecostal church in the southern tip of Illinois. But it is just something that I have to get over.
And in case anyone else is interested in going with us anytime to see what it's about... let us know or just surprise us. Though there are pews, organs and hymn books, the sermons have actually been interesting (the first regarding immigration and the second given by Houston Smith) and more like a lecture, talk or conversation than anything else.
Anyway, I welcome anyone else to come and catch brunch with us in our hood afterward. Or just the brunch... we understand.
*I think that word, "Traditions," is a fitting way to describe my new way of looking at the old religions. The word doesn't have the negative associations that my experiences have attached to the world Religion. I was speaking with someone the other day regarding religion and we were unsure whether, if one could balance the good things which have come from religion vs. those ill, the good would outweigh the bad and I kind of doubt it. By labeling them traditions, I am more accepting of hearing them out and it removes them from any paradigm of god-sent-messages into human interpretations of the great mystery and therefore more easily dismissed as human error and not divine.
So why go to church with that mentality? Because I think that tradition, rituals, and rites are important in life. It is important to match these things with personal experience of the Other and find out where one fits for these rituals to make sense and to have value. I think when these traditions fit, they provide a spring from which one can draw inspiration and reconnect with others who share the same feelings. And the milestones and rites of passage help one anchor themselves in space and time. Fill in some of the gaps in a way he/she can accept so that other important things can be focused upon.
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5 Comments:
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I'm a big fan of Universalists. If you've got to come together with other people in a formal setting to discuss faith, I think theirs is one of the healthiest environments to do so.
By
I looked into this stuff pretty extensively a little over two years ago and learned a lot from the following websites. I suggest you check them out.
http://www.secularhumanism.org/
http://www.uua.org/
-mehmet-
, at 9/29/2006 2:09 PM
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of course now I notice that you have a link to a uua.org site in your post after rolling over the links.
By
Anyway, that secular humanism site is what spurred me to check out UU as a lot of their authors are unitarians.
-mehmet- , at 9/29/2006 2:11 PM
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Thanks for the link and comments.
By
So I presume that in the end you decided it wasn't for you?
We are still in the investigation phase and last week's service was a low point for us. It was focused around passover, reinforcing my feelings that this congregation in particular still emphasizes the Judeo-Christian lineage. Not bad for them, per se. Just not right for me. We will keep going to see how it feels for us.
It seems like it is the individual at the church (especially the kids) that seem to show me more about spirituality than the hymns. Oh well. Still time to discover.
Are you still looking at Taoism? I have to check into that again. There were things about it that had repelled me before, but maybe my experience now will lend those aspects more credibility.
Taoism has always seemed to me to be looking at the world as if god on a mountain - watching the silly humans go about their craziness - on its face a smile of mixed emotions.
Ian, at 9/30/2006 9:26 AM
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I decided that after looking into this and comparing my beliefs and feelings I was able to feel comfortable enough with them that I wouldn't need to go and talk about it with a bunch of people. Additionally, I am not comfortable with organized religion as I am of the opinion that it will always lead to the "my god is bigger than your god" attitude, even if it's simply a "we like everybody's beliefs and you should too." The third nail in the coffin was that I realized a good portion of my motivation to go to this sort of gathering would be too meet girls and I am not capable of deceiving myself enough to ignore that.
By
Yeah so I'm kind of a jerk when it comes to religion.
Regarding Taoism, I didn't go much further than examining its basic principles when I discovered a lot of similarities with Stoicism and became very enamored with Stoic thought. I identify with Stoicism and Nihilism (like the real kind, not stupid black metal fake crap) more than just about anything and feel a bit of an attraction to Taoism as well. So you could say I'm a Stoic Nihilistic Taoist, if you really wanted. But that probably wouldn't be accurate. If I still had time to study philosophy, I could write volumes on the reconciliation of those schools of thought and belief, but I don't, so I won't. Suffice it to say that I am very comfortable with my spiritual philosophy and how it relates to myself and the rest of the world and that is good enough for me.
-mehmet- , at 10/02/2006 3:34 PM
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I like to eat my Stoic Nihilistic Toast with Black Currant Jam.
By Ian, at 10/03/2006 5:44 PM
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