Showing posts with label UU theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UU theology. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

How many cat sermons can you listen to?


One of the interesting observations about people who attend Unitarian Universalist congregations is that they know very little about their faith.

It is hard, if not impossible, to share one's faith with others if one knows nothing about the faith oneself. If you asked most people at a UU church what the seven principles are that they covenant together to affirm and promote, 90% can't tell you. Could they even name two of the seven?

Try it. Go to a UU church next Sunday, any Sunday, and ask the people in the congregations if they can name two of the seven principles they supposedly covenant together to affirm and promote.

The ministers don't help either because they rarely preach on the foundations of the faith. It's a shame really. This coming Sunday in a local church , the sermon is entitled, "My thirteen years with Mary Beth." The description states that "Mary Beth" is the preachers cat and the sermon will be about what we can learn from our relationships with our pets.

Really?

I could get this on YouTube and it probably would be more enjoyable.

I wonder if the preacher will be sharing pictures as one preacher did at a sermon I walked out of when she started passing around pictures from the National Geographic.

Something is wrong with the living tradition of Unitarian Universalism when it focuses on pop psychology and pop culture. Are we that desperate to fill the pews on Sunday mornings? A community not well grounded in the basic understanding of their faith is a dying community.  It is written in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Unitarian Univeralism is perishing because the people have lost touch with the vision of the faith.






Thursday, January 25, 2018

Forgive and forget

One of the major theological problems with Unitarian Universalism is it does not have a strong value of forgiveness.

Much has been made in UU of gratitude which is all well and good, but gratitude does not arise until people are able to forgive their perceptions of injuries.

When people say "forgive but don't forget" they still have not forgiven because there is a reservation and fear that prevents healing. The separation continues.

For healing to occur, it is better said, "Forgive and forget," rise above the injury and understand that it never really occurred on the path of the spirit. The imagined injury occurred on the path of the ego because no one can be injured on the path spirit.

Our injuries are an illusion because no one and nothing can injure us when we are consciously aware of our true nature.

Forgiveness, which is a miracle, is a shift in perception and awareness, from the path of the ego to the path of the spirit. Jesus says as they are killing him, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." The same could be said of all our injuries.

It is not our job to judge and punish error. That should be left for the Holy Spirit. It is none of our concern what has contributed to the errors of our brothers and sisters. Our job is simply to rise above the errors on the path of the ego and recognize our well being on the path of the spirit and wish the same for our brothers and sisters that they may join us there.

So, by all means, forgive and forget and get on with your life. You deserve to be happy and enjoy a high quality life and a simple request of "Father, forgive them and me for most of the time we know not what we do" will add tremendous healing to the world and hasten the realization of the At-One-Ment when everybody loves every body all the time.
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