UU How-Tos

Helpful hints for living by your own lights

We are Unitarian Universalists 

CZ

Transcript

We are Unitarian Universalists. We are people of many paths who are brave, curious, and compassionate thinkers and doers.

Every day, people are inundated with information, overwhelmed by demands, and pulled by a culture that seeks to divide us from the web of life. Unitarian Universalism reconnects, bringing people together with meaning and inspiration. We are a house without walls, a congregation without spiritual limits, and a movement that calls you to put more faith in yourself, your community, and your beliefs. We are a faith that honors your mind, your heart, your journey.  Simply put, we are a guided path towards a better you and a better world.

Grounded in more than two hundred years of thoughtful, spiritual communities, we are people of many generations, ethnicities, genders and sexualities, and spiritual backgrounds.  People engaged in making the world a better place. People focusing on what really matters – love, justice, integrity, and hope.

Unitarian Universalists have different beliefs. but shared values. We are Unitarian Universalists, and at the same time we may also be agnostic, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, humanist, Jewish, Muslim, pagan, atheist, believers in God, and those who just let the great mystery be. The diversity of beliefs you’ll find in a Unitarian Universalist community is one of our strengths – we’re always learning how to see the world from a different perspective.

What unites us are our core principles that uphold seven real-world values:

  • Believing in the worthiness of every person.
  • Showing compassion and fairness.
  • Accepting others for who they are.
  • Growing through a personal search for truth.
  • Leading with democratic spirit.
  • Working for justice.
  • And understanding that everything is interconnected.

Seven days a week, Unitarian Universalists live these principles by doing.  When we gather we worship, reflect and remind ourselves what matters most in life. Whatever our age, we learn to live with more wisdom, more awareness, more gratitude and more soul.

We show our values by showing up to answer the call for social justice. We have a track record of standing on the side of love for civil rights, LGBTQ equality, immigration reform, environmental sustainability, reproductive justice, racial justice, and more.

Find what it means to live your deepest values out loud. Join us on this extraordinary adventure of faith!

Credits

Copyright and text – Unitarian Universalist Association

Animator – Elliott Cennamo

Voiceover – Stephanie Carey Maron

A Love of Learning and a Social Hall: Where UUism and Homeschoolers Meet

CZ

https://www.uua.org/re/blog/social-hall-homeschoolers-uuism-meet

“We can make this kind of outreach an integral part of our mission, a manifestation of our third and fourth Principles in which we covenant to support one another’s spiritual growth and searches for truth and meaning. The leap here is in seeing families who aren’t necessarily interested in joining our congregation as worthy of this effort, to see our faith grow not in membership numbers but in the dissemination of our ideals and values, and in the friends we make and the service we do in our communities.”

UUs support Standing Rock Sioux in water protection action

CZ

She [Karen Van Fossan] has three recommendations for UUs everywhere who want to join the fight to protect the sacred lands and water rights of the Standing Rock Sioux.

  1. Raise awareness of the struggle among UUs wherever you are.
  2. Encourage UUs to travel to Standing Rock, if they can, to bear witness and take the story back home.
  3. Build solidarity at home—wherever home is for you—and organize actions to stop the pipeline.

 

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/standing-rock?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=oct3

 

Remember that no matter how small your voice may be, it is still a voice.

Namaste,
Cricket

 

 

There’s a UU Book Club!!

CZ

There is a Unitarian Universalist Book club on GoodReads. It is called Justice and Spirit. There are UUs from all over reading and talking about books. This can help us all learn and and grow together while we search for truth and meaning in our world.

From the UUA “The September pick for the Justice and Spirit: Unitarian Universalist Book Club is “Cultivating Empathy: The Worth and Dignity of Every Person—Without Exception” by Nathan C. Walker. “This emotionally honest and personal exploration of conflict introduces a creative and compassionate way to develop empathetic responses using the spiritual practice of the moral imagination.” Order your copy of this Skinner House title from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop, and join the conversation with the book club on GoodReads.”

Have fun reading.

Namaste,
Cricket

 

UU Women and Voting

CZ

Here is a piece from the UUA’s Worship Web called Skit for Famous UU Women.

As our election nears, I worry about our voices being heard. I worry that there are people who will not use their vote because they feel disenfranchised, scared, tired, and alone. What I say to you, though, is that we need to raise our voices. The president is not the only vacancy to feel. There are members of congress. There are state governments and local governments.

The piece I am sharing with you today, I’m certain would be more powerful if heard, rather than read, but even just on paper it speaks to the need to raise our voices and use our votes. The point of an election is to be heard. We need to be brave like the women in this reading and speak up.

Namaste,
Cricket

Can we still be good neighbors in an election year?

CZ

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/we-can-still-be-good-neighbors?utm_source=uuworld&utm_medium=front&utm_campaign=1st

This quote from the article spoke to me, “Each presidential campaign cycle seems to have less and less to do with governing or democracy, and more to do with deepening our divisiveness. Democracy requires disagreement and the skills to manage it, listening and tolerance.”  What spoke to you?

Namaste,
Cricket

Respecting Differing Opinions

CZ

There has been a big debate about respecting other people’s ideas on social media lately. The election cycle seems to bring out both the best and worst in people.

I have a few things to say on the issue.

1) We don’t have to respect other people’s beliefs and ideas.

2) We do have to respect people for who they are.

3) Sometimes it is hard to do, but we have to try.

4) When we hold other people’s beliefs and see where they are coming from it can help us respect other and grow together in learning and searching for what is true.

This sermon from October 18, 2015 talks about how to do just those things.
Here is a link to the podcast and a link to the First UU of Austin page which has a transcript and a video of the sermon.
Hope you enjoy and are inspired.

Namaste,
Cricket

[First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin] Dialogue with conservatives => http://podplayer.net/#/?id=8244801 via @PodcastAddict

Dialogue with Conservatives