Once in a while, I go to church, just to go. Most of the time, I doing something, leading a service, going to a meeting, preaching. But sometimes I go, just to go. On these occasions I have been able to observe.
I went to church Sunday, and I noticed the announcements. The lay speaker was good, the music was good, the service was well put together, and well led. It was a good service, especially for August. Unitarian Universalists are not always at their best in August. I noticed the announcements, I usually don't notice the announcements. Someone announced that the goddesses would be getting together in the evening, it was a women's study group. The next person announced that the Secular Humanists, and Agnostics Group (SHAG of course) would be meeting on Tuesday. The next talked about Appreciative Inquiry discussions which were being held during the summer, all this would lead to a vision and mission process in the Autumn. The next announced that the anti racism group would not be meeting that week, but rather would meet of last Sunday of the month. And finally there was announcement that the choir was needing new singers, and the announcer suggested that that the choirs standards were not all that high, after all he was a choralist, and if he could do it, so could you.
Usually, I stand with other Unitarian Universalist ministers in opining that announcements are abomination. The members should read the back of the bulletin where it is all printed out. Only important events should be urged on the congregation as part of the worship service. Announcements I proclaim are like doing business when we have company, they are too inner, and besides they make it hard to end the service on time.
But I was observing Sunday, I was a guest of this congregation, and had no obligation to end the service on time, and no preconceived notion about how I would like the service to flow. What I noticed about the announcements on Sunday as how well they illustrated the inclusive pluralism that Richard Grigg writes about in his To Re-Enchant the World; A Philosophy of Unitarian Universalism. Grigg asks "Why are we here.?" And he answers "we are here to champion the dignity of the human person over against the dehumanizing forces of commodification. We are here to celebrate the human being's ability to discern the sacred and to stand awestruck, before Mystery But now we can add another answer to the question of why U.U.s are here to an answer that is perhaps not as immediately obvious as the first answer. Is it not our unique contribution to present to society the possibility of inclusive pluralism."
The New Generations: August 2005 Archives
Jeff Wilson at Transient and Permanent wonders if there isn't something troubling about the distinction of "birthright" UUs as compared to UUs who have been converted from some other religion. He describes the convert as being angry with Christianity and which he says is related to the "Diehard Secular Humanist Syndrome."
This idea of the angry ex-Christian as rejectionist is an enduring image, and it may have been apt several decades ago. But based who is joining us now, I think it needs to be retired. Converts or "come inners" may be Christians searching for more liberal Christianity, Christians who have decided that they wanted a more humanistic and more universalistic religious community but are not angry at Christianity, people from a non Christian religious community that find Unitarian Universalism attractive, and finally, we have many new UUs who have never been part of any religious community at all. I have found new Unitarian Universalists much more open to searching for a religious meaning and less interested in rejecting. What all these groups have in common is the narrative of discovery, they found Unitarian Universalism.
On the other hand there are those who came to Unitarian Universalism through the agency of their parents, and who were supported by the religious education program for children of a liberal congregation, and shared the experience of Liberal Religious Youth, or Young Religious Unitarian Universalists. The experience of coming of age within Unitarian Universalism is an intense experience, people who have had that experience seek out others to share their narratives, to tell each other their common stories. I continue to experience solidarity with ex-LRYers after forty five years.
At the Convocation of Unitarian Universalist ministers held in Birmingham, Alabama held several years ago, a group of ministers who shared the experience of being brought up Unitarian Universalist got together. We rejected the term "birth right" Unitarian Universalist. Jeff is right that the term has elitist connotations. But there was another reason, if one was a child when one's parents discovered Unitarian Universalism, one has had a similar experience as someone whose family has been religious liberals for generations. The narrative of being raised UU and the narrative of discovery are radically different. When I am teaching a new members class, I share my mothers story of discovering Unitarianism as a rebellious Catholic seeking freedom, and I share the story of my spouse and partner as a parent seeking religious education for her inquisitive child, because these stories resonate with the seekers. When I want to talk to parents who are raising children within Unitarian Universalism, or to our own young people, I share the stories of my own Unitarian childhood, because these stories are closer to their experience than any "how I found Unitarian Universalism story." It is the seeker story that dominates our community faith narratives.
I think we need to be able to share our raised up UU stories, we will continue to lose young Unitarian Universalists if they never have their story told and hear others with a similar narrative tell their story. Perhaps the "elitism" that Jeff has experienced among some who use the term "birth right" UU, is a cry for recognition, recognition that could be granted without privileging their child dedication ceremonies over the new member classes by simply telling both stories.
Building shelves today, got tired and decided to rummage around in some old (electronic text) files from about 12 years ago. Lo and behold, I found some old email on an ancient list (called Coffee House) which included some of our usual suspects who since they wrote those missives have gone off to theological school, finished, and have found their ministries. Lot has happened in 12 years, those who wrote on this old list that I now know as colleagues are still writing about the similar concerns.
We make big decisions, give up one life and go to back to school. The school does its job of transformation, our first settlements do their job of formation, and we continue to engage the same "great questions."
The atomic bomb named "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 bomber, at 8:15 in the morning of August 6, 1945. This watch was on the person of one of the victims.
Christians speak of the crucifixion of the rabbi Jesus as a turning point in history. I am more of an Easter man myself, but I agree. Something old ended, something new came into being.
I would only add, history has a way of turning, making radical turns. Once it was possible to speak of democracy versus totalitarianism, and science versus superstition. After Hiroshima, such ideas no longer had the clarity and power that they once held.
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