#Unitarian Fellowship

[prideparadenet]

GAAMC Weekly Meeting In Morristown at Unitarian Fellowship in Morristown NJ

Every Monday - 6:00PM to 9:00PM EST

More Details: http://www.prideparade.net/events/view/united-states/morristown-nj/unitarian-fellowship-1/gaamc-weekly-meeting-in-morristown-at-unitarian-fellowship-in-morristown-nj-83

#PrideParadenet #LGBTQ #GAAMC #UnitarianFellowship #Morristown

[hootenanie]

gender of the day: boomers who would have been on exogenous hormones had the informed consent model been implemented in 1968 but instead redirected into being hippies and stayed there

[samhainvenus]

Sucks to finally be part of a spiritual community that I don't have to push past the theology I don't accept to be part of only for it to collapse a month later.

[huntingtonnow]

Fundraiser to Benefit Huntington's African American Museum

A fundraiser set for Saturday will benefit the nascent Huntington African American Museum. Panelists, including Denice Evans-Sheppard, director of the Oyster Bay Historical Society; Dr. Jermaine Archer, professor of African American studies at SUNY Old Westbury; and Dr. Georgette Grier-Key, director of the Eastville Historical Society, will discuss African American history on Long Island. Joye…

[ncdweller]

Unitararian Universalists in our town

We went to our first UU service here today.

Much like our Atlanta UU, and so many other UU buildings, the sanctuary is in the round.

I don’t know if the UUA at one time had architectural guidelines requiring this, but I’m all for it.

It’s a tiny membership these days, 40 people total. Because of this, there is no money for a music director or official Grand Pubsh. It’s all volunteers.

In general I think that’s a good thing (side-eyeing the mega churches here), as it seems everyone contributes in some way.

It’s not a Christian organization, per se, but I think Jesus would approve.

The best part is toward the end of the service, they ask if anyone wanted to speak, and it must have been half of the people there spoke. One speaker explained that this is because this is a safe space.

So yay small fellowships!

After the service, everyone went downstairs for coffee (a Universal Unitarian Universalist event), where, being the new kids there, we met everyone. This introvert is still recovering from that, but it was great talking to so many interesting people.

The election outcome pushed us to go today, but we should have attended before that.

[joy-haver]

It honestly frustrates me how much I have to tell people I am not a Christian. Anytime I talk about praying, or going to the fellowship, or reading sacred texts, people assume I am a Christian. I love Christianity and think it is very beautiful just like many other religions, but it’s not my path and it’s not what I am. I am glad to be allowed to participate in certain rituals and to be counted among them for ceremonies where it is relevant, but that is not a declaration of my own system of inundation with daily practice and is more a statement of my willingness to find joy in the dominant culture by which I am surrounded. I know that religious centers have a lot of value in the strive towards liberation, and the local ones are vast majority Christian. So I spend time with them, learning to understand.

But I myself am an anarchist. That is my religion. I practice this in the context of Unitarian universalism, which itself is not Christian. But ultimately, I can only be what I myself really am. And I becoming exhausted by assumptions surrounding it.

I think the most culturally Christian notion you can have is to assume every religious or sacred practice is exactly what you were raised in and to leave it at that.

[unloneliest]

it has been a really long time since the anchorage unitarian universalists broke my heart like longer than this blog has existed but i'm going to [current city]'s fellowship today for the first time to see if there's a home for me there and i just like. want to tell you guys

[dhaaruni]

These southern cultures developed what anthropologists call a “culture of honor tradition” in which males treasure their honor and believed it can be diminished if an insult, slight or wrong were ignored. “In an honor culture you have to be vigilant about people impugning your reputation and part of that is to show that you can’t be pushed around,” says University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign psychologist Dov Cohen, who conducted a series of experiments with Nisbett demonstrating the persistence of these quick-to-insult characteristics in university students. White male students from the southern regions lashed out in anger at insults and slights that those from northern ones ignored or laughed off. “Arguments over pocket change or popsicles in these Southern cultures can result in people getting killed, but what’s at stake isn’t the popsicle, it’s personal honor.” [...] By contrast, the Yankee and Midland cultural legacies featured factors that dampened deadly violence by individuals. The Puritan founders of Yankeedom promoted self-doubt and self-restraint, and their Unitarian and Congregational spiritual descendants believed vengeance would not receive the approval of an all-knowing God (though there were plenty of loopholes permitting the mistreatment of indigenous people and others regarded as being outside the community.) This region was the center of the 19th-century death penalty reform movement, which began eliminating capital punishment for burglary, robbery, sodomy and other nonlethal crimes, and today none of the states it controls permit executions save New Hampshire, which hasn’t killed a person since 1939. The Midlands were founded by pacifist Quakers and attracted likeminded emigrants who set the cultural tone. “Mennonites, Amish, the Harmonists of Western Pennsylvania, the Moravians in Bethlehem and a lot of German Lutheran pietists came who were part of a tradition which sees violence as being completely incompatible with Christian fellowship,” says Joseph Slaughter, an assistant professor at Wesleyan University’s religion department who co-directs the school’s Center for the Study of Guns and Society.

[uufellowshipburlia]

A Message From the Lay Minister

I apologize for the length of this post. To summarize, I am going to ask our Council to authorize removal of the UUFB Facebook page based on recent changes to Facebook/Meta policy regarding members of the LGBTIQ+ community.  A more detailed explanation follows.

Meta has changed their online conduct policy for their products (Facebook, Meta, and Whatsapp), and the new policy was posted today.  The request I am making has to do specifically with the policy contained in this section:

Please refer to Tier 2, the section on Insults.  The policy states: "Mental characteristics, including but not limited to allegations of stupidity, intellectual capacity, and mental illness, and unsupported comparisons between PC groups on the basis of inherent intellectual capacity. We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like “weird.”"  (Bold added) The Principles that we as a UU Congregation still hold to in our religious community begin with the following statement:  "We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person." It is my belief that the new policy from Meta creates a situation where our continued presence on Facebook will be seen as a tacit support for a policy that directly contradicts one of the fundamental principles of our faith.

As the individual who setup the page and has been managing it for several years I realize that it has likely been our most successful outreach tool.  It allows us to reach well beyond the physical boundaries of Burlington and Southeast Iowa to connect with members who live a distance from us in places like California, Colorado, and Ireland. I also realize that removing ourselves from Facebook will make it somewhat more difficult to keep our connections with these members going forward. To the notion that our leaving Facebook is merely "virtue signalling" and will have no impact on the new policy I offer this response. This is not about sending a message to Meta, Facebook, or any of the groups who may or may not see this post. This is about the message we send to our membership, especially members in the groups who are targeted most by this policy. I believe that in the coming months, possibly years, we will see a very difficult time for our LGBTIQ+ members and friends. We will need to stand with them and offer them a safe harbor from what could well become a dangerous environment for some of them. By stepping away from Facebook at this time we send our friends a very strong message of support, even if that support has a cost attached to it. I could go on, but hopefully you have a sense of what I feel is at stake here.  I will be presenting this request to our Council at the next business meeting on January 26. If you have input concerning this that you feel is relevant I would encourage you to share it via e-mail or social media message, or even as a comment here. I will make sure all responses are passed on to the Council members so they have a full picture of the will of the congregation.

Richard Johnson Lay Minister Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship at Burlington, IA

[skinnerhousebooks]

In Breaking and Blessing, the 2020 volume of the inSpirit Poetry Series, Rev. Sean Parker Dennison imagines letters from angels, draws on the natural world, and reflects on love and calling. They chart a path, moving here and there, as if across a constellation—connecting mathematics to love, stars to saplings, and breaking to blessing. Rev. Dennison’s striking debut will serve as both solace and flame to readers looking for them in equal measure.

Rev. Sean Parker Dennison is the minister at Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Ashland, Oregon. Ordained in 2000, Rev. Dennison has served congregations in California, Utah, and Illinois and cofounded TRUUsT, an organization for transgender UU religious leaders, in 2004. They are also an artist, parent, poet, and grandparent.

Available from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop at shopinspirit.org.

[anastasiaoftheironwood]

Oracular Seidh Ritual, November 26, 2023

The Seidhjallr Team of Hrafnar Kindred presents a ritual of Oracular Seidh on Sunday, November 26, 2023. The November event features a journey to Helheim, to ask the Ancestors questions for the people. Given the time of year, we expect the dead will be quite active and ready to speak!

Hrafnar is a Troth-associated Kindred.

Would you know more prior to attending? Check out “The Hrafnar Seidh Ritual” at https://seidh.org/articles/seidh/

Disclosure: I am a member of the Seidhjallr Team, and will be the Cyber Warder for the event.

It will be a hybrid event: *in person at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU) at 1924 Cedar Street, Berkeley, CA. *via Zoom for those unable to attend in person.

Doors and the Zoom meeting will open at 5:00 PM PST for set up, and the pre-ritual information talk will begin at 5:15.

DM me for the Zoom link.

There is no set fee, but for those who can, we will pass the hat to help defray the cost of the hall.

[woodpengu]

For the first time in about 16 years... I stepped foot into a church, a place of fellowship and communion, a building of a particular type with a particular purpose. And for the first time in my life, it healed me.

No, I'm not a Christian, nor will I ever be... to my parents' disappointment. This was a Unitarian Universalist organization, the first I've ever stepped foot in (though have been curious about since the first time I saw one in another city what feels like a lifetime ago). I had no idea what to expect, but my nervous system draws its own conclusions from trauma rather than logic. Bless my fiance for her effortless and endless patience (no pun intended) as she held my hand, massaged my knuckles, and kissed my cheek through the entire experience. I was there for her sake more than my own, but part of it was also for me.

One never knows how a new thing will go until they do it, and that is a much more terrifying statement to one who is both neurodivergent and severely traumatized. Risk aversion is a steadfast companion. My normal walking into such a place in the past was met with niceness, not kindness. A "Welcome" for being here leaden heavily with conditions for daring to exist in such a space, and a strict propriety. So, of course I was mute with anxiety and terror from the moment I woke up this morning, sleep fitful, appetite altered, senses tuned to suffering and a heightened awareness of being somehow seen as deficient.

I did not expect jeans and t-shirts. I did not expect kindness and welcome. I did not expect a service paying homage to the necessity of democracy on the coattails of an attempted assassination. I did not expect the open admittance of many of the congregation to be in agreement with my own feelings. I did not expect to be approached with genuine grace and warmth, especially after admitting my experience with religion. I did not expect to walk in shut down and walk out opened as a lotus to the sun.

We'll be going back. The exposure therapy is working in this one regard.

[weirdcultstuff]

Today I watched a Unitarian Universalist service on zoom. It was really very nice!

Kind of bittersweet.

Lately I’ve been really, really missing the aspect of having weekly rituals and community. Just the part about having somewhere to go once a week, a reason to get dressed nicely, bake something for a potluck, sing in a group, make small talk with familiar people in between the rows of chairs. So I thought I’d give it a try.

“Unitarian Universalist Fellowship” is what my local one is called. I remember looking them up a while ago, maybe last year? And I wasn’t interested then because the group is open to people worshipping anything and any deity, and I felt it would be too triggering to be around the word “god” a lot. But I read the website a lot and they’re open to atheists and agnostics too, and I figured it might be an okay space to engage in some of my weirdo traditions (like wearing a head covering but not in the way that MEANS things) with all the different religions they’re okay with.

And it was genuinely really nice! I kinda want to go in person sometime now, just to see.

Their opening statement was “love is the spirit of this fellowship and service gives it life. Celebrating our diversity, and joined by a quest for truth, we work for peace, and honor all creation. This is our covenant.”

I’ll never be religious again the way I was. I will never be the most devoted member of any religious group, even open ones like these. I don’t want to be, and I can’t anyway. My brain is super skeptical of things like “quest for truth” and “creation” and “spirit.” But I can light a candle for someone concerned about their niece’s cancer, and it won’t be vibes or prayers or energy, but it will be a token of support and community and solidarity, and it will be a way to appreciate and process events happening around me.

And I never thought I’d be able to have that part again, without it hurting too much. But I guess that’s how healing works. Who knows 🤷‍♀️

[thekimspoblog]

Fantasy of the Day is inspired by a fanfiction I read a while ago, but I can't remember the author.

The Riverton Unitarian Interfaith Church threw a baby shower for Kim; it's something they would do for any member of the fellowship. The fact is Kim doesn't really like the congregation. Her friendship with the other women is superficial at best, and after that crap some of them pulled during the wedding, she doesn't trust them.

On top of this, she's just uncomfortable being the center of attention.

But if she really doesn't like it, she can leave, and she won't, because she wants access to the organization's resources. She doesn't hate any of these people as individuals; she just pities them for being so easily conned. And their passions as a mob were something she simply couldn't fathom.

They kept referring to she and Jimmy as "Abraham and Sarah", and that was... worrying... But it's best not to look a gift horse in the mouth; smile and open the presents.

[ncdweller]

Wowser. What a good read.

Historically Unitarians have been the wealthy class, and didn’t mind “helping” the poor, but didn’t want them in their church. Libertarian at that.

Universalists were the unwashed masses. Farmers, tradespeople, ex-Baptists. They believed everyone goes to heaven. Everyone.

Unitarians did not like the Universalists.

Our fellowship has both groups evident.

Last night we watched a series of films about women in outdoor sports. But the conversations before the film were just as interesting. Sailboats. Not little Sunfishes.

Unitarians.

And placename dropping about living in exotic places (carbon footprint anyone?)

I’m definitely in the Universalist camp.

[cambriancrew]

We've been pretty meh about our spirituality for most of the time since our divorce. But lately, that's been changing. We've been participating more in communities like /r/OpenChristian, which is an explicitly welcoming to queer people community. We've been looking at Scripture again, using the YouVersion app to compare translations of our favorite passages. We've been listening to (carefully curated) Christian music. (Absolutely hate a lot of it, especially Skillet's "I hate myself I'm a terrible person" vibe, and a lot of the "Jesus is my boyfriend" songs, "I will die for you" persecution complex songs, and the very boring clearly designed just to be easy to play and sing in church music.) We've been looking at churches to attend when we get a car again. There's an Episcopalian church not too far that looks like it has a good sized congregation, not too small and not too big. And there's a Unitarian Universalist fellowship we found that we really want to go to.

But mostly it's just been like... This is something we need. Not just for the inbuilt community and support. But also because, at least for us-Willows and Varyn and Jas, this is something strengthening for us. It's a crucial part of our identities, and a crucial part of how we view the world.

We're never going back to being a Bible-thumping, apologetics-focused, "we're right y'all are wrong" kind of Christian that we were growing up and for a lot of the time when we were married. That was a toxic mindset. Our faith is important because it's part of the reason we're so full of love for people. And THAT'S the mindset we want to curate for ourselves. Not just in matters of faith, but in ALL matters. This ESPECIALLY includes discourse.

On our Uber ride to work today, the driver was playing a show where a Christian was debating a Muslim about who Jesus is. And it was so painful to listen to, knowing that not that long ago we would have been cheering on the Christian for "winning" the debate. Except he was clearly just better skilled at debate, not in actually caring about the other man.

We don't want to be like that.

It's not going to be easy, but we are going to do our best to try.