Report #2 on UU University - Theology track

Worshiping with the "Theology" track at GA's UU University was an amazingly beautiful way to start the day! We entered to gorgeous music and stunning images from the worlds' religions. The University of Utah Singers provided a capella music for the service, and they were a religious experience just in themselves. The various elements of the service were just excellent, weaving into our minds and souls and calling our every cell and pore into praise, humility and gratitude. Rev. Dr. Galen Guengerich (Senior Minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in NYC), presenter of this track, described aspects of the formal Mass/ Holy Communion reflected in Mozart's Mass, and gave us a homily that was elegantly crafted - it connected like a deep gift that simply said "Here. Join me in this moment of meaning and memory." This is the church I want to belong to!

Here are some of the tidbits I wrote down from this morning's presentation:

• "Faith is a leap of the moral imagination that connects the world as it is to the world as it might become."
• "Our brains cannot be changed merely by adding new information or knowledge. What is required is new behavior: a different way of living."
• "Humans are dust waiting to happen"
• "If there were a church of a new millennium, what would it look like? One that embraces mystery, but not magic, one that believes that reason is a source of revelation, not its opposite."
• "The goal of faith and religion is to develop character - to transform our inner lives by the force of our beliefs... Religion is about who we are within ourselves."
• " Worship is where we learn the discipline of gratitude."
• Rev. Tony Campolo: "Rituals keep us from forgetting what must not be forgotten and keep us rooted in a past from which we must not be disconnected."
• Rev. Wayne Muller, in his book "Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal and Delight in our Daily Lives" (note from Janine - this is one of my favorite books - I highly recommend it!) points out that ritual is meant to be repeated because "We are not supposed to do it right the first time and then be done with it. We are not supposed to do it better each time until we get it perfect... The perfection is in the repetition. This is not about progress, it is about circles, cycles and seasons, about the way time moves, and things we must remember, because with ever faster turning of the wheel it can become easier to forget."
• "The cyclical nature of time reminds us that some aspects of life are not about progress... An hour of worship is an invitation to recall the nature and purpose of our lives as a whole, and to consider how our nature is to be honored and our purpose fulfilled... Each hour is a page in a book of hours that we cumulatively call life."
• "The shadow side of morality is cast by people who create repressive moral rules and try to force everyone else to follow them."
• "We need a higher standard than individual preference on which to base our code of conduct."
• "Find one thing and do it with all your passion." Don't get sucked into overdoing. Just do your one thing. Trust that others doing their one thing will make up the whole.

The cool video for today was U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

The presenter feels pretty good about summarizing the root of UU as Gratitude. In the expansive way he understands this as spiritual practice, it seems reasonable and even useful. My problem with this kind of boiling down to a primary essence is that I'm afraid that most people would say "oh - o.k., that's what we're all about" and apply this satisfying answer very superficially. This would end up lessening our spiritual depth, not deepening it. The important thing, I think, is for each person to engage thoroughly in the search and come to the true, real, deep, boundless and ever evolving meaning of your religion -- and to embody it through constant and challenging spiritual practice. Anything less, I think, is less than we deserve and less than we are called to be in the world.