Our Beliefs - The North Parish Church of North Andover

At North Parish we believe in making room in our lives for...

Word cloud of things we make room in our lives for - love, hope, life passages, gratitude, remembrance, curiosity, community, questions, joy, celebration nature, wonder, goodness, sustainability, integrity, creativity, mindfulness, democarcy...

What do we believe?

Unitarian Universalism (UU) is a “big tent” religion, meaning that we include people with various theological beliefs but common ethics and practices under one tent.

A UU atheist might be sitting between a UU theist and a UU pagan.
A UU raised in a Jewish home might be sitting next to their Christian-raised spouse and their Humanist brother-in-law.
A UU who most often turns to the teachings of the Buddha might be sitting next to someone who turns to Jesus, someone who turns to the Hebrew prophets, and someone who seeks out women as their teachers.
A single pew might include people who believe in a personal afterlife, or in reincarnation, or in a union with Source or Love, or in the glory of returning to the earth.

A focus on love and interdependence
A desire to build beloved community and to honor the sacredness of life
A foundational commitment to integrity and welcoming the wholeness of who we are
A deep exploration of what it means to be human in this place and time
A commitment to turning to multiple wisdom sources and to observing ethical principles in our communal life
An ability to hear “our note” in the chord of a religious language that welcomes all, as in “Spirit of Life, spirit of Love, spirit of God”

For another perspective on our beliefs, read Five Smooth Stones/Five Jagged Rocks. Adapted from the Bible story of David and Goliath, it speaks to the power of small building blocks – and a path that is not always smooth-going.

Our Sources

Our faith is a living tradition of wisdom and spirituality drawn from six diverse sources:

Direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder
Words and deeds of prophetic women and men
Wisdom from the world’s religions
Jewish and Christian teachings
Humanist teachings of reason and science
Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions

From these sources UU congregations developed eight principles through grassroots efforts. We affirm and promote these as strong values and moral guides – not dogma or doctrine.

Collage of symbols from nature, music, heart - our diversity

Our Principles

The inherent worth and dignity of every person
Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part
Journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions

On February 14, 2021, Reverend Bluemel spoke about our beliefs. Here is a text excerpt from that sermon.

And here are Zoom excerpts of a few sermons this last year:

Find much more information about Unitarian Universalism – our diverse and inclusive faith, our history, our principles and sources – through the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) website.