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Hell in the suburbs, human nature, piracy, and more

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Help, I need somebody

When his two-day-old daughter will not wake to eat and is admitted to the hospital, the Rev. Dr. Michael Tino learns to say, “Help, I need somebody.”

[Interdependence] is, in fact, where the holy resides. The holy resides in our ability to ask for help and receive it. The holy resides in our ability to hear another’s cry for help and respond. The holy resides in our connections of compassion and vulnerability.

In our willingness to fall to our knees and overcome barriers of theology and pride in order to admit we need some help. The holy resides in our admission that we need somebody else. (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Westchester, November 3)

For the Rev. Robin Bartlett, newly ordained and a new-again mama, being a parent renews her commitment to “destroy hells so that we can help make a world worthy of our kids’ promise”—even when hell is the seemingly idyllic suburbs.

Hell is in our separation from one another, our loneliness and isolation, . . . our SECRETS IN GENERAL. . . . Hell is in our depression and our inauthentic relationships with the people we are trying so hard to impress. Hell is in our lack of trust of our neighbors; the way we cover up the bad things. Hell is here, and we live in it. . . .

Our mission is to start admitting to each other that parenting is hard, and that we need one another to do it. . . . Our mission is to start telling the truth about what’s real in our parenting and marriages, and to ask for help from those around us.  (Religious Education at UUAC Sherborn, November 6)

Explaining ourselves

Karen Johnston risks asking a new friend, “Why aren’t you a UU?” Her friend turns the question around and asks Johnston, “Why are you a UU?”

Being explicitly supported on a spiritual path that had no creedal box was surprising at first, then utterly empowering. . . . Coming from an understanding that faith requires an imposed box, this is a freeing understanding, but also an immature, if necessary, one.  I know now that understanding myself to be Unitarian Universalist frees me and binds me, enables me to be on a spiritual path of belief and obliges me to be engaged in spiritually responsible actions to and with my fellow creatures. (irrevspeckay, November 4)

The Rev. Ron Robinson shares his answers to frequently asked questions about Missional Church.

Missional comes from the Greek word missio (to be sent). It is about being Sent, being called, to be with and for others, especially those hurting for whom my heart breaks. It is not about having a spiffy mission statement, especially one that is all about one’s own faith community. (Missional Progressives, November 3)

Asking, “How would you drive if everyone knew who you were?” the Rev. Andrew Weber reminds us that actions speak louder than words.

Usually when we go through life—and especially while driving—there is a sense of anonymity. We don’t need to think about how our actions affect others because we don’t know them, they don’t know us and we probably will never meet face to face. . . .

Let go of the anonymity in life. Live as if everyone you interact with is your friend! (How to Drive Like a Minister, November 4)

The nature of the human heart

The festival of Diwali reminds the Rev. Jake Morrill of a lesson learned at the local Hindu Community Center.

In this old world, at all times, dark abides. Wherever you can be found—ancient India, maybe, or else only off an American highway where untold travelers, rapt with fear and desire, purchase sex toys and guns and the dream of new life in a golfing community—wherever it is, the dark will be welling up into the light, and the brightest of lighting will not put it out. Instead, light and dark in a life will at long last forge union. (Quest for Meaning, November 2)

Andew Hidas looks at inconsistent views of human nature held by liberals and conservatives.

[We] need to ask conservatives: Given what you know and espouse about human nature, why would you favor deregulated markets? . . . [We] must ask liberals: By espousing tightly regulated markets, haven’t you essentially bought the darker conservative view of human nature? . . . Liberals want to watch bankers like hawks but often go all soft and sympathetic on welfare fraud. Conservatives watch every food stamp transaction at the checkout stand to make sure the recipient isn’t buying cigarettes with the leftover cash—while imploring regulators to get off capitalists’ backs so the “magic” of the free market can be unleashed. (Traversing, November 3)

Writing at his new blog, The Liberal Pulpit, the Rev. Meredith Garmon begins a new series of posts, “Why Not Evil?”

Unitarian Universalists read the papers more than average. We know what’s going on out there, and we know people aren’t always filled with kindness and compassion. We have a pretty clear sense of human capacity for evil. Just ask a typical UU how much she trusts the board of Monsanto to do what’s best for their workers, their consumers, or the planet. (The Liberal Pulpit, November 5)

Belonging is complicated

Childhood experiences of dislocation make the Rev. Myke Johnson value belonging to community.

We start out in relationship, and our unique individuality grows out of that circle of relatedness. Not the other way around. We all need each other in order to flourish and to thrive in life.

To give Locke and others their due—the philosophy of individualism was created in rebellion against the authoritarian structures of an earlier age, the tyranny of church and monarch. To affirm relationship is not to deny the importance of human dignity and freedom. But we must recognize that relatedness comes first, and within that circle of relatedness, we find our inherent worth and dignity. (Finding Our Way Home, November 6)

The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern defends people who stay in a religious community, even when they no longer believe all of that community’s tenets.

People may stay for a lifetime in a religion that is not a perfect fit, because it’s the best fit. We don’t get to create religions from scratch, not if we want things like 5,000-year-old roots; we choose from a limited list of options. I’m really no different today than anyone who chooses an imperfect religion (or job or place to live or marriage or . . . ). Unitarian Universalism suits me very well, but not perfectly. Just the same, I’m staying here. Does that make me insincere? Of course not. (Sermons in Stones, November 2)

June Herold struggles with finding a congregational home, and a way to use the gifts she brings to our faith.

The opposite of a famous UU citation seems to be true in many places: We think alike but we don’t love alike. No one seems to be considering whether the reality of what we say in church community is actually the opposite of what is transpiring.

Early on, a minister told me that people go in and out of church communities throughout their lives for many reasons.  I understand that now.

I’m a UU but I’m wandering. (The New UU, November 7)

Pirates, peaceniks and radicals

The Rev. Dan Harper disagrees with the idea that we become more conservative with age.

I find myself getting more radical with age. The older I get, the more I realize how foolish and unproductive and morally bankrupt war is; the more I feel we have to protect our kids from war and violence. And increasingly I think most radical thing we can do is turn our kids into peaceniks. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, November 4)

For “UU Clicker,” radicalism began in a childhood commitment to defending a loved one.

I knew I couldn’t convince my father he was mistaken, but I resolved to study hard so when I grew up I would have a comeback. I would be on the side of people like Bernice. People whom my father dubbed “The Great Unwashed.”

You can see that from an early age, I didn’t believe everything I was told. I was a radical, one who looks at the roots of things. In middle age, I became a Unitarian Universalist, hoping to continue as a radical with like-minded people.  (Clicking UU Life, November 5)

John Beckett recommends piracy for working within an unfair system, while also working to change that system.

Piracy is playing the game intelligently and exploiting the rules to your advantage.  The rules of our mainstream society were developed for the benefit of those with money and power.  If we are excluded from the decision making process and denied a fair share of the benefits of the system, we should not feel constrained by the rules of the system. (Under the Ancient Oaks, November 5)


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