I, too, am a newcomer to this faith community. As Consulting Minister I’m only here in Kelseyville one weekend a month and that’s only been since February 2011. Throughout this time though, I have continued to feel myself drawn deeper into the loving, genuine and empowering embrace of this congregation. I heartily invite you to visit us and experience our warm embrace and witness who we profess to be.
We are a strange religion, us Unitarian Universalists, in the sense that we devote our spiritual lives to outcomes in the here and now, not to beliefs built on promises of a hereafter. We come together, not in a shared set of religious beliefs – a creed – but in a shared set of religious ends or objectives. We focus on these ends because “we are a religion of deeds not creeds.”
And our deeds are deeds of love, of justice, of mercy, of openness, of peace, of reconciliation, of inclusion, of hope, and of promise. These deeds, and these ends, are what we have chosen as the objectives of our unique, individual religious devotions. We seek to bring them into being everyday of our lives.
This year, Unitarian Universalism celebrates its 50th Anniversary. Our movement was borne of the consolidation of the Universalist Church of America and the American Unitarian Association, each of who had deep Judeo – Christian roots and deeply Christian identities. Each tradition claims ancestors in the bold heretics of the Protestant and Radical Reformations. Over time both separate denominations began to recognize and respect the teachings, and scriptures of the other ancient faith traditions. And closer in time to us, both experienced the Holy in nature and human capacity and even in the most marginalized, dehumanized people of their times.
While most Unitarian Universalists no long identify as Christian, some still do. While we seek guidance and wisdom from world religions, most of us do not identify as practitioners of those faiths. While many of us pray, most of us look to the direct experience of our conscious minds for help in discerning the big questions of life. And we like to do this together – on Sunday mornings, at Saturday potlucks and picnics, in small groups and by daily bringing our values to life here in this beautiful county.
Join us on our journey toward becoming better selves and creating a better world for us all.
