By now, all are aware of the terrible tragedy that befell the people of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Here is a list of resources for ways in which you can help:

• Pray.
• Donate to the Relief Fund
• Leave a message at the Supporting Our Friends in Knoxville blog
• Attend a vigil, many will be held across the country
• Send a paper crane to the children of the church:

  c/o Brian Griffin, Director of Life Span Religious Education
  TVUUC
  2931 Kingston Pike
  Knoxville, TN 37919

• Join the Facebook group, Thoughts&Prayers–Knoxville UU
• Pray.

Please comment if you have other items to add to this list.

Another poem, in honor of National Poetry month, that you might hear in a Unitarian Universalist worship service or other setting, this time by Billy Collins. Mr. Collins was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001-2003 and is known for expressing big ideas with simple words.

I find this piece to be a wonderful metaphor for a spiritual journey, in addition to calling to mind many pleasant walks in the woods.

Directions

by Billy Collins

You know the brick path in back of the house,
the one you see from the kitchen window,
the one that bends around the far end of the garden
where all the yellow primroses are?
And you know how if you leave the path
and walk up into the woods you come
to a heap of rocks, probably pushed
down during the horrors of the Ice Age,
and a grove of tall hemlocks, dark green now
against the light-brown fallen leaves?
And farther on, you know
the small footbridge with the broken railing
and if you go beyond that you arrive
at the bottom of that sheep’s head hill?
Well, if you start climbing, and you
might have to grab hold of a sapling
when the going gets steep,
you will eventually come to a long stone
ridge with a border of pine trees
which is as high as you can go
and a good enough place to stop.

(Read on … )

So we started on Monday with examples of individual congregational mission statements: statements trying, with varying success, to communicate the purpose of gathering in a particular religious community.

Today we explore congregational covenants, the promises that members of a religious community make to one another in determining how they will be together in that community. The lines between these two kinds of statements can be somewhat blurred, but I have tried to select examples that illustrate the difference of intention behind them.

The Unitarian Universalist Association’s Principles and Purposes, part of the by-laws that govern the national organization, are framed as a covenant between congregations, and many individual members use them as a guideline for what a Unitarian Universalist community strives to be, but many congregations have their own statements for how they will be together in addition to the Principles.

The denomination’s Commission on Appraisal wrote a report entitled “Engaging Our Theological Diversity” (very long PDF worth reading), published in 2005, in which they took a snapshot of the state of our congregations and how the movement as a whole copes with the unique position of building communities of faith without the bindings of theological creed. They found that about half of the responding congregations recite a covenant in worship each Sunday (see page 102), and the most commonly used statement is the Williams Covenant, with some variations on the text.

For consideration: How is a covenant different from a mission statement? How does a congregational covenant reflect into the daily lives of individual members?

Covenants

Love is the doctrine of this church, the quest of truth is its sacrament and service is its prayer. To dwell together in peace, to seek knowledge in freedom, to serve humanity in fellowship, to the end that all souls shall grow into harmony with the divine, thus do we covenant with each other and with God.

~J. Griswold Williams, Singing the Living Tradition #471 with common adaptation

(Read on … )

This week I’m exploring the things that bind Unitarian Universalists together in religious community. Since our liberal faith does not rely upon a specific doctrine of religious belief or creed, each congregation has a different way of expressing the promises members make to one another in how they will be together as an organization.

Today we look at mission statements from several congregations around the country. I’ve chosen examples of those statements by congregations that express what it is they gather to do as a community, both within and outside the walls of the church.

For consideration: What does a mission statement say about a religious community? How are you, as an individual member of a congregation, part of the mission?

Mission Statements

We, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills [Kingston, New York], have a mission to:

• Provide a supportive place for spiritual, philosophical and intellectual development
• Celebrate and affirm, through the democratic process, our commitments to social activism, cooperation, caring and love
• Seek ways, for both individuals and the congregation as a whole, of providing service to the community
• Invite and welcome persons in our geographic area to become part of our religious community.

We covenant with each other to:

• Accept the responsibility to maintain a congregation in which to develop the best possible relationships, to love ourselves and others and to encourage our children to realize their potential
• Provide a respectful place for people of diverse backgrounds, views, and religious beliefs and foster a sense of well being for everyone in our religious community
• Respect, recognize and appreciate each and every individual’s spiritual search and unique nature, and provide for alternatives to traditional forms of religious practice
• Affirm our special responsibility, and that of our members, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, color, sex, disability, sexual orientation, age or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed.

We are a community built on interdependence.

(Read on … )