Finding the Right Service

One year ago, I wrote about the Sunday Service and how important the service is to UU Christians who are a faith minority in the UU Church. The topic has come up again in our Christian Fellowship group. For almost 2 years we have been experimenting and creating a small group service that fills our spiritual needs. Our discussions have illuminated that our group feels a need to have the following items in our service--items that are not regularly included in the Sunday UU congregational service:

• Communion with both bread and wine/juice;
• Traditional prayers;
• Bible reading with discussion, insights from Christian ministers, or silent reflection; and
• Hymns which use the original Christian lyrics and/or music from contemporary Christian artists.

None of us is a professional minister and we're a small group, so even with a service in place, we still feel the need to connect with a larger Christian body. We've done a bit of digging and found several churches in our area who have self-identified as Progressive Christian churches (no easy task in North Carolina), and have begun a series of "field trips" to visit these churches. We hope to bring back ideas for our own small group, explore more of what each of us as a progressive Christian needs, and perhaps establish a partnership with one of the churches we visit.

I recently had an opportunity to visit the Episcopal Church which I attended for many years in Michigan, and knew for certain that what I miss most about the Christian Sunday service is the Bible reading and the sermon on the Word, usually with a hefty dose of encouragement to get out and LIVE the Word.

I love my UU congregation and the Sunday Service is spiritually and mentally invigorating. But I know I still need fellow Christians. I'll continue to seek out opportunties that I can add to my personal routine that will keep me connected to my Christian roots within the UU framework.

As I said a year ago, if your church service is not providing your connection to the Thin Places where God is found--or provides it only rarely--keep looking. Perhaps a visit to a Christian church once a month will help. Getting together with other Christians for Bible reading and discussion may be what you need. Be creative. Be imaginative.

God will show you what you need.

Blessings!

Worship Is The Word

From Webster's New World Compact School and Office Dictionary, 1982:

worship n. 1. a service or rite showing reverence for a deity 2. intense love or adoration.

From "The American Heritage Dictionary", 3rd ed.:

worship n. 1a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol or a sacred object. b. The ceremonies, prayers or other religious forms by which this love is expressed. 2. Ardent devotion; adoration.

Reverence. Love. Devotion. Adoration. Worship.

Many Unitarian Universalists shy away from the word. Some feel there's nothing to worship. Others feel that the word is too...irrational, holy-roller, emotional. But UU Christians? Ah-h-h. We are more likely to use the word, act the word, at Sunday service and in our daily lives. It is the element of the UU Sunday service that we often say we miss, that we crave. I'm a strong proponent of ritual for its value in preparing us to enter a spiritual space of worship. A friend reminded me that, in general, Christian services with their visual drama, music and repeated prayers and actions provide a chance for us to encounter what Celtic language calls "thin places" where we can encounter God and can experience God's power, greatness, awesomeness. And worship with people similarly moved by the Spirit.

Some UU Christians are not Deists, do not believe in God, but they follow Jesus--Jeshua, the man, the rabbi, the moral teacher--and have an experience of his presence in their lives. I don't know how the word worship fits into their vocabulary, but I intend to ask at the UUCF Revival in October.

That's what we do as UU's--embrace the infinite colors of belief to come a little closer to the Truth. That's what we do as Christians--come together to learn how others experience the Divine, the Spirit of Life, Jesus.

I'm looking out my window at the summer sunlight filtering through the woods behind my house, the leaf green here, deep and vibrant, there, cut with patches of bright yellow green. An occasional breeze shifts the patterns. A beautiful morning full of promise, full of God's life.

A time for worship, indeed.

Jesus, Laughing

In two weeks, our Consulting Minister is leaving for a new ministry in Cape Cod. Today, she delivered her last sermon to our congregation. Among other words of wisdom and humor, she encouraged us as a congregation to play more, to laugh together. In essense, she said that, of course, our groups and teams--all poised for social action, spiritual exploration, or ministry--are wonderful and needed. But groups of people who work together, live together and love together also need to laugh together.

Immediately I thought of the DeColores Christian renewal weekend I attended 10 years ago. The leader of the weekend had picked the portrait of Jesus Laughing as the weekend's guiding image and theme. There were women at the weekend who balked at the image. To them Jesus was laughing AT them--for their faults, for their failures, for who they were. During the weekend, we supported each other to see the image as the leader intended--as Jesus laughing WITH us. In joy for our presence. In happiness for who we are and the potential of whom we can become.

I remember reading somewhere in the works about the historical Jesus, that the Bible has hints that Jesus liked a good party. He was always having a meal with friends, new and old, visiting, talking, and--I have no doubt--laughing. You do not weep at the news of a friend's death, as Jesus did for Lazarus, unless you have shared tears AND laughter with that person.

In our world, I'm sure you'll agree, we need more laughter among us, among groups, among nations.

I know some of you are facing troubles. I know some of you are celebrating joys. In troubles, find a way to laugh through the tears, not to minimize the sorrow, but to remind yourself of the sweet in life. Laugh with life's joys in full appreciation of the blessings you've been given.

Laughter strenghtens relationships. Laughter relieves stress. Laughter heals.

Today, laugh a little with Jesus. He'd have enjoyed that.

Life Is Short

"...life is never as long as we want it to be, and wasted time can never be recovered."
J.D. Robb, Divided in Death

This line from one of my favorite authors echoes a personal motto, forged at the sudden death of my father when I was 17: "Death may come when I least expect it. Let me do as much as I can."

I wondered if that echo can be found in the Bible; I had a hunch it could not. I found the following:

The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. (1 Peter 4:7)

Show me, O LORD, my life's end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.
You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man's life is but a breath. (Psalm 39: 5-6)

The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short
(Proverbs 10:27)

Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men! (Psalm 89:47)

Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonias 5: 1-3)

Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matthew 24:42-44)

I find these all rather depressing because the emotion surrounding each is FEAR. Watch out, be careful, be alert. That thief is out to get you.

There are many more verses that emphasize Eternal Life, the joy of it, the wonder of it, the ecstasy of it. As a UU Christian and a scientist, without hard evidence one way or the other, I don't worry so much about life after death. I worry about the here and now. "The Kingdom of God is at hand." (Mark 1:15)

But here is one of those places that quoting the Bible distorts The Way of Jesus. Because the bulk of the parables in the Gospels--the stories, not the single verses-- are Jesus' way of urging us to live in the here and now, to do as much as we can right now. Do good, we're shown, not out of fear, but out of love.

We don't need to quote the Bible as much as we need to digest it, eat it, chew on it and make it part of our very being. Otherwise, we miss the point.

Jesus rocks!

Multiple and Diverse Talents

It had always mystified Harry that protocol seemed to dictate that a person was allowed only one area of success--if that. The idea that a man might pursue a variety of disparate interests seemed to intimidate those who held the purse strings. Afterall, no one had ever been able to explain why God would give a person multiple and diverse talents and then not be troubled when the person chose one of those God-given talents and disregarded the rest.
An Unexpected Suitor by Anna Schmidt, Chapter 8, p.111

This passage from a recent romance gave me pause, because I am one of those people with "multiple and diverse talents"--and interests for that matter. I've been watching the Olympics and when I observe others with one outstanding gift, I wish I were more focused. Measuring success when many activities fill your time and pull you in different directions is a challenge.

How do we define success? Synonyms might be mastery, pinnacle, wealth, reaching hundreds, single focus, superiority, driven, accolades, awards, balance, inner peace.

How does God define success? Service, love, acceptance, respect, balance and inner peace? Shorter list, different approach to life.

We all have multiple and diverse talents, in varying amounts, and we do have a choice as to which one(s) we choose and which we disregard.

What about your talents? Have you chosen to disregard some in favor of others? How was your choice influenced? Do you think that you might want to realign some of those choices, bring some of those hidden talents to light?

What's God got to do with it?