Unitarian Universalist
...a welcoming spiritual community
190 Academy Rd, North Andover, Massachusetts,
01845-4022 978-687-7948 office@northparish.org
UU Elevator Speeches
Unitarian Universalism is a free-thinking faith, whose purpose is bringing more love into the world.Rev. Lee Blumel
During my visit to the sleepover for the Coming of Age class, one of the questions that the youth asked me was “How do you describe Unitarian Universalism in ten words or less?” There was general agreement that it can be hard to describe our faith succinctly to one’s friends.
Those of you who receive the UU World magazine (a perk given to all members) may have been reading the entries in the “elevator speech” challenge: the challenge to describe our faith in the amount of time it would take to share a few floors of an elevator ride with a stranger. There have been many good suggestions. Below are a few of my responses, some of which I shared with the Coming of Age class. I invite you to write in to the next Steepletalk with your own elevator speeches.
What is Unitarian Universalism?
Unitarian Universalism is a free-thinking faith, whose purpose is bringing more love into the world.
Some faiths focus on salvation after death. Unitarian Universalism focuses on salvation, or life, in the here and now. Are we truly awake in the here and now, or do we let our lives just pass us by? Our faith is about our human response—ethically, spiritually, communally-- to the precious gift of life.
Theologically, Unitarian means “one God” or one reality; Universalism means “all are saved”. 175 years ago, American Unitarians thought that Jesus was a prophet and teacher, not God, and that it was his teachings, not miracles, that made him important. 200 years ago, early American Universalists believed that all would be reunited with God after death, not sent to hell, because God’s mercy and love is wider than we can comprehend. We continue to proclaim and expand on these ideas.
We believe all are part of the same Creative Process, part of an interdependent web. All are at home in the universe; all are welcome at the table; all come from and go back to one reality/one God. While we are not naïve when it comes to human weakness, we agree to affirm and promote human worth and dignity. All are welcome among us, as all were welcome at Jesus’ table fellowship.
Are you Christian?
Unitarian Universalism is Christian and more. While we are rooted in the Protestant Christian tradition in America, we now call upon a wide variety of traditions for religious wisdom, including Judaism and Christianity, religious humanism, nature-based religions and other world religions such as Buddhism.
Unitarian Universalism attempts to be a religion OF Jesus, not a religion ABOUT Jesus. Some of our ideas go back to the earliest days of the Christian movement, before Christian doctrine was created and voted on at bishops’ conventions like the Council of Nicea in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 381.
It depends what you mean by that. If you mean to ask “Do you try to follow the teachings of Jesus as best you understand them?”, then yes, you might call many of us Christian. If you mean to ask “Do you believe Jesus is part of the Trinity, or your personal Lord and Savior?”, then no, most of us would likely not fit into your definition.
In Unitarian Universalism, can’t you believe anything you want?
No. We can only believe what our experience, our ethical principles and our engagement with sources of religious wisdom leads us to believe.
No, although it sounds like you’ve heard of our theological diversity! Modern Unitarian Universalists look to many prophets, teachers and enlightened beings for wisdom and believe there are many paths to truth or to God. There are Jewish-UU’s, Buddhist-UU’s, humanist-UU’s, pagan-UU’s, Christian UU’s, panentheist UU’s, agnostic UU’s—you name it! But we can’t believe whatever we want. We can only believe what our experience, our ethical principles and our engagement with sources of religious wisdom leads us to believe.
No. Of course, among us there is a wide spectrum of theological understandings. There is room to figure out what we believe, and there is a life long challenge to examine and if necessary, alter our beliefs. But in the end, Unitarian Universalists are bound together by our reverence for life, by a long tradition of religious inclusion, freedom, reason, justice and love, and by our commitment to our ethical Principles and Sources of wisdom. Would you like to read a copy of them? (At which point, one hands out a wallet card of the UU Principles and Sources!)
No. Our children are challenged to be the eyes, hands and feet of Love in the world. That’s not always easy, but it is what we believe we are called to do!
How would you answer any of these questions? Submit your answers to the next SteepleTalk by emailing them to sadams@aappm.org
In faith-- Lee
©2004. Rev. Lee Bluemel. All rights reserved. Published in March 2004 Steepletalk.
Welcoming Congregation
North Parish is a Welcoming Congregation, consistent with the guidelines of the Unitarian Universalist Association. We actively welcome lesbian, gay. bisexual, transgender, and intersex people as full participants in the life of the church. For more information, see our Welcoming Congregation page, or contact our Interweave chapter.