Five Things I Love about My Local UU Church

1. After having veterans stand for appreciation (it’s Veterans’ Day), the minister asked those with family members currently in the military stand, those who had any relatives or ancestors dead or alive who served in military stand, and, finally, those who had been conscientious objectors stand. There was talk of peace and of objections to war without any dishonor of either current soldiers or veterans. (We were encouraged to avoid stereotypes and instead listen to their stories.)

2. The minister is a woman. ‘Nuff said.

3. The congregation overflows with children, and no one cares if the kids sit in the aisles, walk around the sanctuary, and even wander onto the raised platform at the front in the middle of the service (which Sally just might have done today). No one expects kids to be perfectly obedient and no one bats an eye when I breastfeed.

4. Today everyone filled out cards with what they were thankful for, and the minister read them aloud. At least one in four mentioned being thankful for Obama’s electoral victory or for Obamacare. The universal commitment to progressive politics and social justice never ceases to feel revolutionary.

5. Rather than asking the congregation to take a pledge to read through the Bible in a year or spend X minutes in prayer each day, the minister has asked everyone at the church to take a pledge to lower their carbon footprint.

I only just started attending the local Unitarian Universalist church at the end of this past summer. More posts on this to come.