Today my roommate’s girlfriend, Sarah, called me up and invited me to attend the evening Unitarian service with her. We had been talking about going together since I knew she went every week and I had been missing the weekly ritual of meeting with people and discussing spiritual matters I had experienced growing up. Granted, growing up as a Southern Baptist was far from completely positive, but there was always something I sorta liked about seeing the same people every week and thinking quietly about those feelings inside me and my relationship to the universe and to other people.
The service itself was novel yet familiar. They appear to have some ritual (the voluntary lighting of votive candles to remember a loved one or to commemorate something) but at the same time are very hands off and liberal. Tonight they had some sort of Persian group playing music. It was pretty neat.
The sermon was very intellectual and mentally stimulating, references to Jung and world religious ideas were made to ask certain philosophical questions. The main thing I like about the Unitarians is that they reject the divinity of Jesus and the idea of original sin. At times I was uncomfortable with the openness of it, but that’s mainly my own reticience and self-maintained distance. I recommend checking it out.
how cool! I’m probably going to start going to that church, too…with kate and my friend megan.
we should go together!
definitely! Yay! Are you going to become a member?