March 16 Small Discussion Group

Here is the discussion of 3/16. It was attended by only two of our four CoA-ers, and two of us mentors. But we covered a lot of ground.

We went around the group and shared an experience we’ve had explaining our religion and/or spiritual beliefs to another person.

• Did I tell them I am UU?
  • I have told people I am UU, and stress that it represents “God is Everywhere, God is Love.” Then I have to explain that I only use the term “God” as an easy way for someone else to relate.
• Did I talk about my beliefs regarding God. an afterlife, fate, or good and evil?
  • Sure. People talk about that all the time, if they are close enough. But I don’t push the issue.
• How did the person/people respond?
  • Because I seem to be a reasonably sane person, at least sometimes, people take me as I am. This is because adults usually just shake their heads, and can walk away.
• Did I feel prepared?
  • Of course!
• Was I proud of my religious convictions?
  • Totally, absolutely, very.
• Was there anything I wish had been different about the conversation?
  • I wish that people would be more open-minded and willing to “try” my congregation. There is nothing threatening about an all-encompassing, loving group of people joined together to work for social and religious justice and peace.

Here is how I would present my faith to someone in a tiny short time:

• What parts of this religion are most important to me?
  • Our 7 principles and the sources of our tradition.
• Which aspects of my spiritual beliefs do I think do I think a person will have the toughest time understanding and the easiest time understanding?
  • Toughest call is the ability to hold many positions, not a single one. Easiest is that at least I acknowledge some kind of other out there. Or do I?
• What do I like best about participating in this community, and how do I talk about that to someone who isn’t a part of it?
  • I love the camaraderie between services, being able to walk over to almost any one and start a meaningful conversation. I love having a minister who is friendly and talkative and who is willing to listen. I talk to people about it with a sense of awe that I found this place.
    
• If I wanted to convince this person to consider UU (or just my church) for themselves, what would I say?
  • I would point out that there is a place where anyone can be free to follow their own truth.
• If I only had 30 seconds to describe UU, what would I say?
  • We are a faith that accepts the universal truth that there is something above us, that runs through all our endeavors, and that is love. It comes from the Earth, our Mother and permeates all we are and can be.
    

Small Group Discussion Thoughts

People often have many feelings, sometimes conflicting, when a loved one or acquaintance dies, what did you feel?

There is sadness, but a feeling for me, that somehow, it’s not over. I seek ways to remember the person, to keep their memory alive, as I would all the ancestors.

What thoughts or ideas about death comforted you at the time of that person’s death?

I never considered this thought, but I keep the memory alive and hope that my memory will live on somehow. I think of them in peace and love.

What did that person believe about death? Did he or she believe in an afterlife? Do you?

I don’t think my Uncle Jim and my Grandma thought much past what their faith, Roman Catholicism told them. That is, there would be a heavenly reward awaiting them. But what sense does that make when you are a non-practicing Catholic like Uncle, who had the audacity to marry a Jewish woman and was thereby ostracized anyway, or Grandma, who left this world in a state of mental and physical incapacitation, unaware of what was happening, at least to the observer.

How did this person’s death change your life? How did it change your ideas about death and what death means?

Both events made me want to make preparations, leave something meaningful. I also feel that we should leave the world better or at least the same as we found it. But that’s just me. These deaths did not change anything for me.

In what ways do our UU values help us when someone dies? Do the seven principles (for example) address death and what happens when we die?

I don’t find any clear advice about this, except that we are a part of the web of all creation, and as such, return to it or morph into another way of being a part of that.

After thinking about death and remembering the death of someone you knew, what gives you hope?

I want to be remembered, and I want to remember all those who went before.

 

Trip to NYC

I’m really looking forward to our CoA trip to All Souls in NYC. We’ll get a chance to visit, and I’ll get a chance to photograph a beautiful building. It will also be fun to spend time with the CoA kids; I’m sure some of them have never been to the Big Apple.
Well, there’s always a first time.
Whoops, our trip was cancelled. Will keep you posted on the new date.

Great Company

Today was one of the first of I hope many gatherings of the full group of mentors and mentee’s, as we call them. It was great listening to the ideas and thoughts of the young members of our group, and also the adults.

I really enjoy hearing about these issues from another point of view, and I hope it will lead to further deep thinking on my part!

Stay tuned…

Initial Thoughts

When the Unitarian/Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County started its current Coming of Age program, I happily volunteered, excited to be one of the chosen to menor and sponsor a youngster into young adulthood at my congregation.

I’ve been a member since about 2001, and thought, ah ha! Here is an excellent chance for me to explore what it means to belong to U/U, and how I can continue to evolve as a spiritual person.

I do have a spiritual path, and I am afraid that I have quite an Internet presence, between my websites and blogs that are already out there. I have a MySpace page, a FaceBook page, a Flickr photo collection (no nudes!) and many features here on my Google account. And of course, a YouTube account.

My biggest problem has been, actually, Not having any more accounts online, becuase it gets to be a hassle over what to use for a particular task.

Let me get on with some of the issues and questions we will be exploring:

* Think of someone you know who believes in God. What does he or she believe? What is God to that person? I don’t believe in “God.” I do believe that we are responsible for the health of our planet, and are children of a higher power, but that power is within, not something that comes from outside. Although it is manifested through our experience of life on earth.

So my “God” is our Mother, the earth, only in the sense that we are responsible as individuals to respect and care for her.

* Think of someone you know who is an atheist. What do you suppose he or she thinks God is? What is it he or she is saying doesn’t exist? Well, I guess I’m an atheist. I think the conventional, traditional God we hear about just is a product of people’s imagination. People need something to look up to, and I don’t believe that’s necessary. Nature is enough of an inspiration. What does not exist to me is an otuside power of any kind. Our power comes from within.

 

* Do you know anyone who is a pagan or a polytheist (a believer in many Gods and Goddesses)? What does she/he believe? Well, I guess I’m caught out as a pagan. I follow women’s spirituality, paganism and earth traditions rather than an organized religious tradition. That is where I’m comfortable, and that is where my intellect and reason takes me. I believe that traditional pre-Christian religions miss the point, taking the emphasis away from the here and now and service to each other as children of Mother Earth and focusing on some fantasy make-believe reward when we are dead. Yuccch.

* How can we Unitarian Universalists worship together if we do not all believe the same things about the divine or God? What are we worshipping?
There’s the rub! We must remember the ultimate reason we come together and join in prayer, meditation and community. We are caring for each other, and helping to direct each other’s path, no matter what it may be. All roads lead to self-realization, to borrow a term. We mustn’t let small words and poems and songs come between us. We are worshipping each other’s path and energy, something that comes from within each of us and overlaps all other things when we are together.

 

* Some might say that we are not worshipping on Sunday mornings. If not, then what are we doing? How is our Sunday service different from the meeting of a social or political club?

That’s the best thing about us. We are “worshipping” in the sense of directing our energies together to bouy us up to a higher plane. This plane is one of togetherness, love and tolerance. We are centering, and devoting ourselves to our congregation once again.

A social or a political club, and I do belong to a couple of hobby clubs, is secular. However, on a good night, I do feel that some of the work I see transcends and takes me on a higher note, with its beauty or creativity.

* Our congregation is just beginning the search for a new minister. Does it matter what that new minister believes about the divine? Why or why not?
Brief anser – yes! Brief anser – no! But our new minister must be someone who is not afraid to engage us, and to include smaller groups as well as the larger groups in services. Diversity is paramount!

 

* How do our beliefs about divinity (God or a lack of one or many) affect our daily lives?
Thinking about our congregation or about friends we have there always makes me feel good. I can reliably expect support when I’m feeling spiritual, or when I’m not. My daily life needs my goddesses, becuase I may feel that I need to connectg with that aspect of the “goddess” or not. Havng a pagan tradition is great, because your goddess may morph as you need her, showing you different sides of “spirit.” It’s all the same, so I can be very tolerant of others’ beliefs, havng my own safe and sound within me.