Giving Up Unitarian Universalism For Lent
Happy Lent!
Lent is my favorite season of the liturgical year. While I haven’t actively given up anything for the past few years, this year I think I’m giving up Unitarian Universalism for Lent.
Why? Because I hear the same conversations going on now that I heard when I first started being involved in Unitarian Universalism more than 10+ years ago. So it’s time to step back and see if my expectations are out-of-line with reality.
This Lent I’m going to go in search of black Madonnas and continue my research on memory and remembering.
Happy Lent!
This does not make me happy, but I will try to practice non-attachment and, rather than hoping you end up with us, try to simply hope that you will end up where you most need to be.
…But I hope that that turns out to be within UU. I love what you bring to each conversation we’ve shared.
So this means that we’ll see you after Easter?
I have a couple of posts that I’ve been editing that would naturally fit into February, so I’m not going to be completely quiet. But I’m going to focus on history and not on the present when I post.
But I’ll be back talking contemporary issues after Easter.
It’s a good thing that you’re not an ordained and fellowshipped UU minister just yet Kim or you *might* be hauled before the UUMA or MFC for having the audacity to plagiarize Rev. Scott Wells.
Hello,
I’ve read your blog with interest over the past few months. I have certainly found myself in a similar kind of place with Unitarianism / UUism and relate to your frustration – I think you do the right thing though, rather than reject it outright, to take a step back.
I no longer define myself primarily as a Unitarian / UU and it has lifted a weight off my shoulders, it has ironically set me free. However, I do still attend a Unitarian chapel from time to time, and I do retain membership of the Unitarian Christian Association – whilst also connecting with Quakers and Progressive Christians.
I think, once the cloud of the denomination is lifted, you will see there are some great individuals within the Unitarian / UU community, who will continue to give you inspiration.
Blessings,
Matt
PS. ^That was my serious reaction – my first reaction was similar to Steve’s, are you going to fast and then feast!
My kneejerk reaction is “Haven’t most religions been having the same few conversations for hundreds of years?”* but I assume if you’re reacting to UUism this way, your answer to that is “no.”
Suffice to say, I concur with those who hope you stay and I think your voice is a valuable one. Every time I don’t know something about UUism that I feel I should, I imagine you wagging a finger at me. Given that I don’t really know what you look like, this is challenging, but my brain somehow manages it.
CC
*The kosher status of genetically modified food is the first relatively new religious discussion I can think of. Except it is arguably more of a cultural discussion. Also, it has been going on for more than a decade.
Um CC. . .
I *could* be mistaken but I don’t think that Kim was referring to centuries old religious “conversations” when she spoke about “the same conversations going on now”. I *could* speculate about which “conversations” Kim is talking about here but maybe she can clear everything up by informing everyone exactly what decade old “conversations” have caused her to “step back” and try to determine if her expectations of Unitarian Universalism are “out-of-line with reality”.
I happen to think that many disillusioned people’s great expectations of Unitarian Universalism are “out-of-line with reality” because “newbie” Unitarian Universalists are quite regrettably “illusioned in the first place” by highly misleading and even outright fraudulent UU religious propaganda. . .
Hi Kim,
My comment responding to CC magically disappeared into thin cyberspace.
I expect that you will find it in your SPAM folder. . .
Now you’ve got me thinking—what would it take for UUism to have a new conversation? Any suggested topics?
The conversation that I think needs to happen (but I’m not holding my breath waiting for it to happen) is the following….
How do we authentically go into the places that we have traditionally ignored with the gospel of liberal religion?
I feel like Naomi King talks about that a lot, but I may be defining my terms differently from the way you define them.
[...] in it, giving up alcohol, changing diets, learning new instruments, forgoing lunches out, and even giving up Unitarian Universalism for the forty days that began Wednesday, March 22, and continue until Easter. I’m [...]
I think Naomi does talk about it–I’ve talked about it with her. But she is one of a very few.
There has to be a re-framing of the conversation, because the conversation that’s be going on has been going in circles. Instead of the usual “Why aren’t we growing?” and “Why haven’t we seen growth when we do x/y/z”, I think the conversation should be “How do we help those who want to take the gospel out there?”
I guess I’m saying that we’ve tapped out the people who fit the usual demographic. There are only so many upper-middle and upper class whites with 18+ years of education to go around. There are only so many college towns and exurban areas with Walden Woods to plant churches.
At some point, there has to be the recognition that growth is going to come from SE Washington D.C., Spanish Harlem, the southside of Chicago……all of those “wrong side of the tracks” places. The abandoned places of empire (to paraphrase Ron Robinson).
But instead of the real conversation that needs to happen, the conversation that is happening (at least as I’m seeing it on the Congregations and Beyond discussion) is how do we get connected to/stay connected to those who “fit” the part…those who are “like us”.