On Certainties and Convictions
Timing is everything.
What an inspirational UU church service I attended this morning! And as I sat there in somewhat shock as to what was happening, I was wondering to whom could I write of this experience, and how would I describe it.
I have just now arrived home . . . and to your email of weighty questions that are near unanswerable.
[The email was from my young friend in Belgrade, http://saunterersjournal.blogspot.com/) And like many of his notes, this told again of his spiritual journey, his questions, the conflict between being spiritual and being religious, and the search for “conviction and clarity” within his belief system.]
But of the UU service today . . . April Fools! As serious as the service was, the whole thing was a spoof.
Undoubtedly you have listened to Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion. So you would know how he picks on the Unitarians with his folksy jokes. Except they are not jokes! They are true.
Unitarian-Universalist church services are begun with a little ceremony of “lighting the chalice.” A very short little reading about why the chalice is being lit for this occasion. And the chalice lighting designee for this morning was a man of about my anthropometrics and demographics, and his recitation was focused on the word “light.” The light of spring, daylight saving time this morning that does not actually save day light, the light in the story of Genesis, many other pithy little sayings that include the word “light,” “Jeannie with the light brown hair . . . “ and the minister was now shoving him from the pulpit with his final staggering explosive “Bud Lite.”
From that moment forward, everything was a mock of hilarity.
The choral music, Yiddish music from somewhere that was very funny. And as the minister introduced it, she was telling of how she will advertise the name of a sermon several weeks in advance, but sometimes will change her mind at the last moment. Except that causes problems with the choir when they have already been rehearsing music for a different topic, which, she said, the topic for today was originally to do with lent and Passover and stuff like that, hence the “Hebrew” music that we would now hear.
Of course there were the Unitarian jokes. About the man who finally had saved up his small fortune and bought the car of his dreams. A brand, spankin’ new Lambargini. And so he wanted this new treasure in his life to be blessed. He went to the Catholic parish, knocked on the door, and the priest asked what he could do for him. The man said that he had just purchased a new Lambargini and would the priest be willing to bless it for him. “Of course,” the priest responded, “ but what is a Lambargini?” The man then realized that a blessing from this priest was not what he wanted or needed, so he found himself at a synagogue. Knocked on the door and the rabbi asked him what he could do. The man went through his request again, with the same kind of response. Disappointment. Where and how could he get his car blessed. He had heard of the Unitarian-Universalists and so found one of their churches. Again, he knocked on the door and was met by the minister. After going through his little history again, the minister remarked about how wonderful a car a Lambargini was and how he wished that he could own such a beautiful machine, but what was a blessing!
But in all seriousness, it is so unfortunate that there is no UU congregation in your area. I suspect you would find it to be a welcoming congregation for a number of reasons.
If you read the little story about pots and kettles on my blog, you might recognize those seven questions that I asked at the end as being very loose applications of the seven principles of the Unitarian-Universalist organization. They are printed on the back cover of most every UU church order-of-service program.
But your concern about “but I sure would like to be able to speak with more certainty and clarity about my own convictions . . .”
As it was “joked” in the service today, some people go to their religion to find the answers. UU’s go to ask the questions.
And the jokes continued about the “uncertainty” within in the belief patterns of the members. But even though the quips resulted in laughter, the message was dead serious.
UU is a “religion,” if one must even call it that,” that thrives on the freedom and the responsibility of the individual to question and to believe what is reasonable and rational to them at this point in their personal spiritual journey.
And even though I am not quite a member of the UU church here, I will turn the question back to you . . . “why would you even want to speak with more certainty and clarity about your own convictions?
It is not that you shouldn’t have convictions . . . it is that convictions are living, dynamic, and “evolve” over one’s life-time of experience. And so I now find comfort in that uncertainty and vision in that ambiguity.
And yes, I am ashamed that I spoke with “certainty and clarity about my own convictions” at a certain point in my life. For those certainties and clarities, I now see, were “certainties and clarities” within a paradigm that I now find an anathema.
And so you closed your note by sharing your intention to indulge in one of life’s greatest pleasures, to sip your cup of tea.
And if you have more than 10 types of herbal teas in your pantry, then you are already a Unitarian-Universalist!
Take care, my young sauntering friend (http://saunterersjournal.blogspot.com/) for your convictions and certainties are but steps in your journey.
The Refectory Manager
What an inspirational UU church service I attended this morning! And as I sat there in somewhat shock as to what was happening, I was wondering to whom could I write of this experience, and how would I describe it.
I have just now arrived home . . . and to your email of weighty questions that are near unanswerable.
[The email was from my young friend in Belgrade, http://saunterersjournal.blogspot.com/) And like many of his notes, this told again of his spiritual journey, his questions, the conflict between being spiritual and being religious, and the search for “conviction and clarity” within his belief system.]
But of the UU service today . . . April Fools! As serious as the service was, the whole thing was a spoof.
Undoubtedly you have listened to Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion. So you would know how he picks on the Unitarians with his folksy jokes. Except they are not jokes! They are true.
Unitarian-Universalist church services are begun with a little ceremony of “lighting the chalice.” A very short little reading about why the chalice is being lit for this occasion. And the chalice lighting designee for this morning was a man of about my anthropometrics and demographics, and his recitation was focused on the word “light.” The light of spring, daylight saving time this morning that does not actually save day light, the light in the story of Genesis, many other pithy little sayings that include the word “light,” “Jeannie with the light brown hair . . . “ and the minister was now shoving him from the pulpit with his final staggering explosive “Bud Lite.”
From that moment forward, everything was a mock of hilarity.
The choral music, Yiddish music from somewhere that was very funny. And as the minister introduced it, she was telling of how she will advertise the name of a sermon several weeks in advance, but sometimes will change her mind at the last moment. Except that causes problems with the choir when they have already been rehearsing music for a different topic, which, she said, the topic for today was originally to do with lent and Passover and stuff like that, hence the “Hebrew” music that we would now hear.
Of course there were the Unitarian jokes. About the man who finally had saved up his small fortune and bought the car of his dreams. A brand, spankin’ new Lambargini. And so he wanted this new treasure in his life to be blessed. He went to the Catholic parish, knocked on the door, and the priest asked what he could do for him. The man said that he had just purchased a new Lambargini and would the priest be willing to bless it for him. “Of course,” the priest responded, “ but what is a Lambargini?” The man then realized that a blessing from this priest was not what he wanted or needed, so he found himself at a synagogue. Knocked on the door and the rabbi asked him what he could do. The man went through his request again, with the same kind of response. Disappointment. Where and how could he get his car blessed. He had heard of the Unitarian-Universalists and so found one of their churches. Again, he knocked on the door and was met by the minister. After going through his little history again, the minister remarked about how wonderful a car a Lambargini was and how he wished that he could own such a beautiful machine, but what was a blessing!
But in all seriousness, it is so unfortunate that there is no UU congregation in your area. I suspect you would find it to be a welcoming congregation for a number of reasons.
If you read the little story about pots and kettles on my blog, you might recognize those seven questions that I asked at the end as being very loose applications of the seven principles of the Unitarian-Universalist organization. They are printed on the back cover of most every UU church order-of-service program.
But your concern about “but I sure would like to be able to speak with more certainty and clarity about my own convictions . . .”
As it was “joked” in the service today, some people go to their religion to find the answers. UU’s go to ask the questions.
And the jokes continued about the “uncertainty” within in the belief patterns of the members. But even though the quips resulted in laughter, the message was dead serious.
UU is a “religion,” if one must even call it that,” that thrives on the freedom and the responsibility of the individual to question and to believe what is reasonable and rational to them at this point in their personal spiritual journey.
And even though I am not quite a member of the UU church here, I will turn the question back to you . . . “why would you even want to speak with more certainty and clarity about your own convictions?
It is not that you shouldn’t have convictions . . . it is that convictions are living, dynamic, and “evolve” over one’s life-time of experience. And so I now find comfort in that uncertainty and vision in that ambiguity.
And yes, I am ashamed that I spoke with “certainty and clarity about my own convictions” at a certain point in my life. For those certainties and clarities, I now see, were “certainties and clarities” within a paradigm that I now find an anathema.
And so you closed your note by sharing your intention to indulge in one of life’s greatest pleasures, to sip your cup of tea.
And if you have more than 10 types of herbal teas in your pantry, then you are already a Unitarian-Universalist!
Take care, my young sauntering friend (http://saunterersjournal.blogspot.com/) for your convictions and certainties are but steps in your journey.
The Refectory Manager
posted by The Refectory Manager | 12:50 PM
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