I have a couple of questions for UU members

[Guest Cindie2dds]

My Dad and his family just joined a UU Church in Houston. This morning my stepmom and sister went to Sunday School only while Dad stayed home to visit before we left. Can you sum up what their sermons are? If it's not any specific belief, how do you give a message, Sunday school, etc. I didn't know what church it was until this morning and we didn't have a chance to sit down and discuss it. I would like to know more about it so I can talk to my Dad about his choice.

 

Thanks!

[LibraryLover]

Here is a handy website:

 

www.uua.org/visitors/index.shtml

 

This, too:

 

 

 

 

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
  
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
  
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
  
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
  
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
  
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
  
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
  

Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many sources:

• Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
  
• Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
  
• Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
  
• Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
  
• Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
  
• Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
  

Are you worried? It's not a cult or anything. Well, not one in the Jim Jones sense...A lot of evangelicals pray hard for UUs. ;)

 

My Dad and his family just joined a UU Church in Houston. This morning my stepmom and sister went to Sunday School only while Dad stayed home to visit before we left. Can you sum up what their sermons are? If it's not any specific belief, how do you give a message, Sunday school, etc. I didn't know what church it was until this morning and we didn't have a chance to sit down and discuss it. I would like to know more about it so I can talk to my Dad about his choice.

 

Thanks!

Edited August 23, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Ravin]

At the UUF I used to attend, you never knew what was going to be next. It was small, and they had no pastor, so different members of the congregation would take turns giving a presentation. One week it would be the poetry of Rumi, the next it might be about the origins of the Easter Bunny. It was always interesting and often thought-provoking.

[Rivka]

Here are some sermons from my church, if you want to browse through and get an idea of what a UU religious message might be like:

 

http://www.firstunitarian.net/publications/sermon/index.asp

 

But UU churches can be pretty different from each other, so the best thing may be just to ask your father what his church is like.

[Country Mouse]

But UU churches can be pretty different from each other, so the best thing may be just to ask your father what his church is like.

:iagree:

[Melinda in VT]

I'm not a UU, but my husband joined a UU church in our last state and I attended 2-3 times a month with him.

 

The book A Chosen Faith is a great intro to UUism. It's a very quick easy read.

[chiguirre]

Here's the link to First UU of Houston's website. I'd really love to join, but it's just too far away for us to be active members. There are other UU churches in the Houston area, but this is the biggest I think.

 

http://www.firstuu.org/index.php

 

If this isn't their church, you can find other Houston area UU congregations here:

 

http://www.uuhouston.org/

 

As far as I know, UU is the only organization for freethinkers that would like a congregation in Houston. I couldn't find an Ethical Society or Liberal Quaker meeting.

[SailorMom]

I've looked into UU - and it is probably the only church we would now join - but the closest one is about 35 minutes away.... can't convince dh it's worth it :glare:

[Matryoshka]

But UU churches can be pretty different from each other, so the best thing may be just to ask your father what his church is like.

 

:iagree: UU churches are very, very diverse. And as someone else pointed out, even in the same church one sermon can be very different from the next.

[Saille]

What everybody else said, with the addition that the sermons/services do always align with the principles. So, this year we had a service run by a member who had gone on a mission along the Amazon river, we've had sermons from our minister that would be familiar in spirit to a lot of Christians about being mindful in your daily life, we've had services run by a professor of religion who happens to be a member on various religious history topics, etc..

 

Our RE classes run a program called Spirit Play right now. It's a Montessori-based program with a story-telling focus. Each story has a basket with props, and is either about one of our principles, or some aspect of a major world religion. This is a pretty common focus in UU RE, b/c we tend to hold the view that a lot of religious and ethnic conflicts arise from flawed understanding or lack of knowledge about other people, and b/c the principles demand that our members have free access to *good* information about a variety of belief systems. Last year in the ten and up group, our curriculum was about UU sources, history and traditions. This year, I'm running a curriculum called Neighboring Faiths, in which we learn about other religions and take a field trip once a month to a neighboring faith community.

 

The UU Church is not a cult. John and Abigail Adams, Ben Franklin, Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony, the Alcotts, Thoreau, Horace Mann...all have ties to the Unitarian Church. Like someone else said, we are a community of freethinkers similar to Quakers.

[KarenNC]

Another link to some past sermons:

 

http://www.puuc.org/past_sermons/

 

Here's one Religious Education curriculum that you can see in its entirety. It's an introduction to world religions for children. We've used it in our church before.

http://www.smuuchurch.org/index.php?page=re-curriculum

 

We're hoping to be able to find space/a way to do Spirit Play at our church as well for the younger kids.

 

UU's are very focused on issues of social justice. In our RE program, the kids spend one Sunday a month doing social justice activities (most recently they made crafts to sell to raise money to buy school supplies for homeless kids in our community). At the high school level, in our church the group is very self-directed, usually picking a topic about which they are passionate, studying it and taking action around it.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Are you worried? It's not a cult or anything. Well, not one in the Jim Jones sense...A lot of evangelicals pray hard for UUs. ;)

 

Nope, not worried, just have never met anyone who went to a UU Church. I don't know anything and this place is full of information! Thank you.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

Here's the link to First UU of Houston's website. I'd really love to join, but it's just too far away for us to be active members. There are other UU churches in the Houston area, but this is the biggest I think.

 

http://www.firstuu.org/index.php

 

If this isn't their church, you can find other Houston area UU congregations here:

 

http://www.uuhouston.org/

 

As far as I know, UU is the only organization for freethinkers that would like a congregation in Houston. I couldn't find an Ethical Society or Liberal Quaker meeting.

 

They joined Emerson UU. Thanks for the links.

[Guest Cindie2dds]

I just wanted to thank everyone for your links and replies. I have a lot of educating to do. He was Catholic most of his young adult life and then searched since then. I think this is a church he, my stepmom and their daughter can all agree on. I don't know anything at all about it, so I wanted to hear about it from people who actually knew about it and attend or have attended in the past.

 

Again, thank you so much for your replies! :)

[Mejane]

Agree with everyone who said UU churches can be very individual in their philosophies and worship styles. There are two in our area, and they are as different as night and day.