Would a good Unitarian Universalist hoard?

As people rush to stockpile provisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, stores have placed restrictions on the purchase of basic goods and medicines.

When supply chains are vulnerable to spikes in demand, one person’s stockpiling can mean another person’s shortage.

As a philosopher who has studied ethical action in difficult circumstances, I know that when many people fail to act ethically, it can seem that each individual has less of an obligation to act well.

At this time, American political philosopher John Rawls’ theory of justice can offer useful moral guidance.

For more click here.

Q & A - Are atheists welcome in Unitarian Universalist congregations?

Today we are beginning a new feature on UU A Way Of Life called "Q & A" for question and answer.

Question:

I know people who say they are still atheists but who go to church for the people. They like the people. They want a social group of some kind. Sometimes they go with a partner who is devout for moral support. Do you think atheists that go to church are hypocrits?

Answer:

UU churches welcome atheists, humanists, secularists, agnostics, "nones" Francis David the Unitarian pioneer in the 16th century said, "We need not think alike to love alike."

While some fundamentalist churches require acceptance of their creed for membership, Unitarian Universalism does not. Unitarian Universalism requires the acceptance of an ethical orientation which is stated in their seven principles but no acceptance and adherence to a creed.

The fourth of the seven principles involves affirming and promoting the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and so atheists, humanists, as well as believers are all welcome and receive support in their personal formulation of their own profession of faith in whatever it is that they want to put their faith in.

At UU A Way Of Life we don't see UU as a belief system but rather as a frame of reference within which one can navigate through the waves of life. Atheists as well as people from all the world religions are in this thing called "life" together. Everyone is welcome to travel with us.

Lenten Reflections, topic 15, Love or Money? now available on Flipgrid

Lenten Reflections, topic 15, "Love or Money?" has just been posted on Flipgrid. You can access it by clicking here.

Read, listen, respond, share. Thanks!

Lenten Reflections, Day Forty one, Monday of Holy Week, Love or Money?

Day Forty one, Monday of Holy Week

Love or money?

John 12: 1-11

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “ Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” ( He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 

Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” 

When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

The plot thickens as Judas has issues with Mary doing nice things for Jesus and now the Chief Priests want to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus because Lazarus’ life is a sign of Jesus’ good works and because of these good works people believed in HIm.

Isn’t that often the case that when people do good things for others, there are always some people who resent it whether they are jealous, envious, competitive, and/or fearful that they are losing control and dominance.

When people do good things, there will always be people who want to shoot them down, but you should do good things anyway.

Jesus is demonstrating to Judas that love is more important than social activism. Paul has told us that social activism without love are dead works.

Does Mary know that Jesus is going to die and she is giving Him an early send off anointing HIs Body with fragrant oils? This is one of those stories where the reader or listener can read all kinds of things into it. Are you on the side of Judas or the side of Mary? How would you like to be in Lazarus’ position?

At this time of Lent we are reminded to renounce the things of the ego and to pursue the things of the Spirit. Simply put, what is more important: love or money?

In Praise of Phone Calls by Sharon Larson

From The New Yorker on 03/18/20, click here.

Lenten Reflection for Palm Sunday available on Flipgrid

Lenten Reflections for Palm Sunday now available on Flipgrid by clicking here.

How do you celebrate Palm Sunday if at all?

What do you make of Holy Week in the Christian tradition?

Lenten Reflections, Day Forty, Palm Sunday, Journeying through Holy Week

Day Forty, Palm Sunday

Journeying through Holy Week takes us to Truth.

Matthew 21: 1-11

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 

This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, “ Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

The crowds were asking then as they do today in regard to Jesus, “Who is this guy?”

Some were saying that He was a prophet, but many perceived Him as a trouble maker. Some of my acquaintances today say that He was a revolutionary and a terrorist.

Jesus is the screen onto which people project all kinds of things. What people project tells us more about their minds than who Jesus was, and still is in spirit as a character in a world gripping drama which has been repeatedly told for over 2,000 years.

Palm Sunday is the first day of holy week in the Christian tradition which starts with Jesus’ acclamation and idealization and then descends into ignominy, suffering, and death, and ends with the resurrection of the Spirit into hope for Love, peace, and bliss.

The Lenten season is about giving up the things of the ego for the things of the Spirit. Palm Sunday, paradoxically, can be interpreted as the glorification of the ego. This idealization and glorification of the ego gets quickly flipped on its head as fear and hatred take over and Jesus is arrested, tortured, and killed. How does a person in the minds of the crowd go so quickly from hero to villain?

The world of the ego is a fickle place and reflective people come to the point where they understand it is not to be trusted. There must be something better to put one’s faith in. This question of what’s better leads to a search. We are looking for something beyond the world of the ego and this search takes us to the realm of the Spirit. This is the realm that the story about Jesus finally takes us if we choose to go there.

We come to realize that we are not bodies. We are not bodies with spirits, but spirits with bodies and it is the Spirit that ultimately is where peace, bliss, and Love lie. Holy week demonstrates this truth if only we can discern it..