Revisiting resurrection
The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg reexamines what Easter can mean in a UU context.
It’s not about whether there was a resurrection 2,000 years ago, it’s whether the way of Jesus can leads us to a new nonviolent insurrection today as it did in India with Gandhi, in the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. King, and most recently with Occupy Wall Street. . . .
What part might you individually or we collectively play in rising up to ensure the continued blooming of abundant, diverse life on this one planet? (Pluralism, Pragmatism, Progressivism, April 22)
Justin Almeida experiences Passover as a gentile and Holy Week as a former Christian.
Because of my history, I have no choice but to . . . let myself steep in the spirit of Jesus, the Hebrew prophets, the saints and the apostles. By participating in these Jewish/Christian days, I commemorate where I came from. I mourn for what I have lost. I am reminded of why I changed. I embrace where I have set my spiritual future. (What’s My Age?, April 18)
Events during Holy Week press Claire to remember her fundamentalist upbringing.
I actually had a soft spot for the Jesus in the Gospels–the one who went around healing the sick and blessing the poor and welcoming the outcasts and preaching unpleasant truth to those with power and influence. . . . I was never too sure about the miracles, though, or the resurrection part of the story. . . . But by the time I decided that, I knew better than to say anything. (Sand Hill Diary, April 23)
Body and mind
The Rev. Amy Beltaine has been riding the cancer roller coaster.
I’m learning about surrender. I’m learning that my mental acuity and productivity are NOT the most important parts of myself. I’m learning about the journey that we all take, that is if we are lucky, into periods of ill health and challenge and making it through, day by day. (Praise God and Pass the Potatoes, April 20)
A period of mental stability gives Andrew Mackay the space he needs to examine the interplay of anxiety and bipolar disorder.
Anxiety . . . is a symptom. A special sort of symptom, fed by hypomania followed by depression. It is the metaphorical headache that comes with reconciling two wildly different, but very real persons. . . . Each cycle one self creates commitments, strange friendships, debts monetary and not–then the other self must sift through them. A constant reminder of behavior that is both at times shameful and bizarre. Why did my depressive self let all this crap pile up? Why did my hypomanic self blow all that money? (Unspoken Politics, April 20)
Common questions
John Beckett wrestles with the frequently-asked question, “Where are you from?”
I haven’t lived in Tennessee in almost 20 years, although I visit there a couple times every year. It will always be where I’m from, and it will always have a special place in my heart. But it’s time to make Texas my home.
So, where are you from? Where do you belong? Are you home? If you aren’t, do you need to go home or do you need to make a home where you are? (Under the Ancient Oaks, April 20)
Diana McLean compares her childhood fears with the dangers her child faces, and asks, “How do we prepare our children without leaving them in a fearful state?”
My son’s school seems to have found a balance, at least in his case. He was matter-of-fact when explaining the differences between lockout and lockdown, not fearful. It’s just part of his school experience, the way practicing for tornado warnings was part of mine. (Poetic Justice, April 19)
Letting our light shine
The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum shares her strategies for alerting UU and local media about her congregation’s activities.
The moral is, don’t be afraid to be a little shameless about telling your story and getting your word out there. It’s exciting for other Unitarian Universalists to hear what you’ve been doing, particularly when it comes to justice work. We learn from reading the stories of the work done in other congregations, and we feel more connected as a movement. And in your local papers, showing that your congregation is doing justice work is not only important for getting the justice cause heard, it’s important for telling your community what Unitarian Universalism is. It’s okay for justice work to have the side benefit of raising your congregational profile in your community — let your acts shine. (Rev. Cyn, April 17)
The Rev. Sarah Stewart, reminding us that supporting new congregations is one of the UUA’s tasks, outlines different ways congregations start.
Some will organize the way Starr King UU Fellowship did in 1980, when a retired UU minister and interested laypeople gathered in homes and started a new congregation. Some will be satellite locations of existing congregations, like the South Bay campus of the First UU Church of San Diego. Some will be independent projects hosted by existing congregations, like Sanctuary Boston, which is hosted by First Church Boston and First Parish in Cambridge. And some will be a new start-up led by the vision of a minister which then attracts a community, like Original Blessing. (Stereoscope, April 18)
Continuing his series about ministerial nervousness, the Rev. Tom Schade hopes UUs will learn to encourage prophetic preaching.
Our ministers could be a thousand or more clear voices ringing out for a new spirit in these nations of North America. They could be inspiring and empowering tens of thousands of more voices, and moving hundreds of thousands of hearts toward reverence, openness, solidarity, self-possession. We need to stop stifling ourselves, and that starts by encouraging our ministers to be brave and confident. (The Lively Tradition, April 22)
Creative turmoil
Jordinn Nelson Long answers questions about the grueling experience of Clinical Pastoral Education—including the question of why do it at all.
That answer is: CPE breaks you open. You hold and hurt for and walk with other people’s pain—and your own—until you break. And then, eventually, with help, you put yourself back together. As a person who can be at peace amid pain. (Raising Faith, April 21)
The Rev. Dan Harper, experiencing a period of spiritual turmoil, examines what it is, and what to do about it.
[Spiritual] turmoil is not an illness; it is not pathological. In my own experience, and in talking with others about their experiences, spiritual turmoil results when you can no longer adequately answer one of the big spiritual questions. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, April 19)