So the upcoming Unitarian Universalist Blog Carnival - I think it’s an excellent idea.

The opening topic:

Our first carnival theme, then, is an oldie but a goodie for UU’s. What is our purpose? Or, alternately, what is my purpose being within a Unitarian Universalist congregation?

This has garnered some criticism, but (as an eternal optimist) I’d like to look at it as an opportunity to revisit the topic of denominational and individual purpose in a more meaningful way rather than, as PeaceBang puts it, to indulge our “sense of terminal uniqueness.”

Unitarian Universalism is unique. There’s nothing wrong with that. Where it gets dicey is when we think and act and talk and write as if there isn’t any room for any more uniqueness, or that our uniqueness makes us better than others.

Perhaps in reflecting a bit more deeply, the UU blogging community can come up with a Carnival that will not just be about cheerleading, but about expressing individual opinions that as a whole draw us closer together and open our doors wider for more people to come in. There is room for my opinion, yours, and the neighbor down the street or across the globe. It is our freedom to express these opinions and learn from one another, to my mind, that makes Unitarian Universalist community so rich and rewarding.

It’s the listening part we really need work on, where we’re not so intent on expressing our own opinion that we can’t hear anyone else’s.

I’ve been working on an archive of “Best of UU,” collecting posts and sermons that exemplify, I think, the best that the online Unitarian Universalist community has to offer. Not so much, “Rah, rah, yay us!” but things that challenge us to be better than we are, to reflect, and to act on our beliefs for the betterment of the world. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to work on it, lately, so it’s kind of languishing. I hope that this new Carnival will inspire some of the kind of writing I want to feature, particularly as I work on expanding the archive and migrating my whole site into Word Press at a new home.

If anyone has some suggestions for additions as it stands now, please send them to me! My email is in the sidebar.