How blog conversations happen

If you are new to blogging, a series of posts this week demonstrates one way conversations take place between blogs. It all begins, as most good blogging does, with someone expressing a strong opinion. Love Wins, a recent book by Rob Bell, a prominent evangelical minister, has generated a lot of conversation about universalism, mostly beyond the UU community, but also within it. (You can find a lot of the UU part of the conversation with a search at UUpdates.net.)

This week, Kim Hampton says, “Until you know who Origen is, don’t read Rob Bell.” Lots of people reply in the comments. (“East of Midnight,” April 4)

Matt Kinsi posts a response, calling Hampton’s post “a load of elitist crap,” which provokes more comments. (“Spirituality and Sunflowers,” April 5)

Bill Baar responds to both Hampton and Kinsi, commenting upon the theological relevance of Origen.

I like to think that if there is a god, God would take us seriously, as beings free to reject God’s love; because our freedom, and accepting the consequences of our choices, that makes us noble creatures. More noble than God, who seems locked into a job without many choices. (“Pfarrer Streccius,” April 5)

Christine Leigh, who left comments on both Hampton’s and Kinsi’s blogs, extends her response into self-reflection.

I have a strong personality, I am stubborn, and, most dangerous, I am smart. I think quickly and it can be an asset, or it can be an instrument of gracelessness. Too frequently it is that. I know myself well enough to understand the mechanisms, the reasons, and to try to remind myself of why. (“Syracusan in Seattle,” April 6)

“Dairy State Dad” finds a personal lesson in part of Leigh’s comment on Kinsi’s blog.

I don’t know anything that has brought me up so short as that. I think practicing it might just be the work of a lifetime. (“DairyStateDad,” April 6)

Contemporary music for UU worship

“Liberal Religion Gets Loud” shares a list of music to “liven your worship, or at least to lift your playlist.” (“Liberal Religion Gets Loud,” April 1)

The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern is also looking for contemporary music for UU worship.

I’d . . . like to hear your suggestions for music appropriate in Unitarian Universalist worship that:
1. was written in the last 10 years,
2. is in some popular genre, and
3. isn’t already in a UU hymnal. (“Sermons in Stones,” April 5)

Growing churches

“UU Mom” thinks a formal designation of “lay ministry” and training could bring new interest to congregations. (“UU Mom,” April 1)

The Rev. Christine Robinson continues to make observations based on her sabbatical visits to churches.

Did you know that you can personalize and add information to your church’s Google Map listing? The person in charge of every congregation’s web presence (you do have someone in charge of your web presence, don’t you?) should check on the accuracy of Google’s guesses about you, upload a logo, and make it look like you’ve paid attention. (“iMinister,” April 2)

The Rev. Scott Wells wishes “non-theist, anti-theist, and (so-called) freethought movements” used public advertising better.

[I]f the goal is to be an appealing option to inherited religiosity or brunch culture, it needs to have a story and a way for persons to identify with it. (“Boy in the Bands,” April 2)

The Rev. Ron Robinson takes a page from the realtor’s handbook in his post, “Location, Location, Location.”

The more I experience it . . . the more convinced I am that becoming missional means choosing your location wisely, or letting it choose you, and while that has always been a hallmark of the contemporary church planting system, for the missional it means going to the very opposite places that most consider when they seek to plant a church. (Missional Progressives, April 6)

Blogging about the UUA

Matt Kinsi thinks, from his “outside, young adult perspective,” that governance changes at the UUA are moving at “a glacial pace.”

I said it is all good and well we’re excited about this, but what are we actually doing to implement this? Apparently a lot of conversations are happening and talks of coming up with a handful of covenants. (“Spirituality and Sunflowers,” April 2)

The Rev. Chip Roush ponders a suggestion that came up at the Heartland District Assembly: Should “the charter of any congregation that has neither made any financial contributions to our UUA nor sent any members to a District or General Assembly over the last five years” be rescinded? (“So May We Be,” April 4)

UUA board member Linda Laskowski has started her posts about the upcoming April 2011 meeting of the UUA Board of Trustees. (“UUA View from Berkeley,” April 6)

Around the blogosphere

The Rev. Andy Pakula, whose mother died recently, understands “the most faithful way of living” to be “to embrace life whole.”

Our lives are sometimes beautiful and sometimes terrible. Sometimes life treats us with apparent kindness and generosity and other times it seems we can’t catch a break. Even so, being complete and living fully means being present to all of this—the joys, the sorrows, the births, the deaths… everything. Holding back from any one aspect of life creates distance—not only from what we wish to avoid—but from everything. (“Throw Yourself Like Seed,” April 1)

Jacqueline Wolven remembers giving up her son for adoption.

Don’t get me wrong—it wasn’t easy. It still isn’t. It is the feeling that you missed out on something, will never know the “what if’s,” and had to 100% hope for the best—for someone else. It wasn’t about me, it was about giving the world of possibilities to three people I didn’t know—my son and his new parents. (“MoxieLife,” April 1)

John Beckett looks at “an interesting article on polytheism from a Hindu perspective.”

As a polytheistic Unitarian (how’s that for a religious paradox?) I prefer to say that all gods and goddesses—and humans and all other living things—exist within one God/dess. (“Under the Ancient Oaks,” April 1)

Doug Stowe thinks the “slow food” movement has something to teach us about our whole lives.

It seems that much of our hurry is driven by the metaphor, “time is money.” But time is not money. It is the opportunity to invest care, carefulness, attention, listening. What if our new metaphor for time was craftsmanship? (“Wisdom of the Hands,” April 4)

“Lizard Eater” shares a sermon on the purpose of being a church.

[A]t its core, church is where we are gathered, before being sent back out. We are a gathered and sent people. We are gathered together to strengthen our souls … and we are sent out to strengthen the world. (“The Journey,” April 4)

The Rev. Jeff Liebmann unpacks children’s prayers from old primers.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
Guard me Jesus through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.

In this version, the threat of nocturnal casualty remains. But, now our prayer preempts the menace with Jesus, the ultimate ward against boogeymen. (“uujeff’s muse kennel and pizzatorium,” April 4)

“Strange Attractor” responds to those who call the Rev. Terry Jones’s burning of the Qu’ran terrorism.

Burning books might make you a great many things, including not invited to my home, but it does not make you a terrorist and we diminish terrorism’s horror when we say that it is. Personally I am offended by Jones’s message and his actions. I not only condone, but encourage people to denounce and shun him. (“Strange Attractor,” April 4)

Anna Snoeyenbos says the pause in posts on her blog is a response to “living more fully into the Lenten season.”

I was sick of myself and I missed God. (“Deep River,” April 4)

Barbara Ford responds to the nuclear accidents caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

We are presented with the opportunity to grow our faithfulness and love for our world in our willingness to bear witness. We can learn to breathe through our fear in order to perceive the profound interconnectedness we have with all of life. We can learn to see ourselves as vessels of compassion, of the holy, rather than as needy consumers, or powerless victims. (“Spiraling Through,” April 4)

Heather Christensen contributed to this week’s post.

Snark alert

I love snark, but I so rarely have the opportunity to feature it here at “The Interdependent Web.” This week I’ll take the liberty of pointing to two bloggers, one a longtime UU blogger and the other a recent addition.

The Rev. Dan Harper notes (and himself makes) a “snarky assessment of Mary Oliver’s poetry”:

Now I know why my fellow religious liberals seem to like her poetry so much: it’s the equivalent of cage-free or free-range eggs. (“Yet Another Unitarian Universalist,” March 30)

The new kid on the UU blogging block is Angie, a sociologist who is blogging the Bible with considerable style and wit, and just a touch of naughty language. Check out a recent post: “Jacob is a liar and a thief.” Now that’s not mincing words!

Why blog the bible? Heck, why read it? Well, it is a prominent cultural artifact. And the basis for a very popular religion. And many people think it holds the Key to Life Itself. And my mom wants me to read it. (“A Unitarian Universalist Blogs the Bible,” About)

‘Love Wins’

“Earthbound Spirit” has now read Rob Bell’s notorious book Love Wins, which may or may not espouse universalism, and has come to a conclusion:

Rob Bell is a theological tease. (“Earthbound Spirit,” March 27)

John Beckett found the book “concise and engaging”:

Rob Bell and I don’t tell the same story, but we share a vision of the way things could be. Rob Bell and Christians like him are our allies and we need to support them. (“Under the Ancient Oaks,” March 28)

Becoming welcoming and inclusive

The UU Growth Lab has created a blog to provide topics for UU bloggers.

This week our public blog challenge asks “How to create a congregational attitude that welcomes young adults even if there are no young adults already in the congregation?” (“The UU Growth Lab,” March 25)

Matt Kinsi is frustrated at the barriers to young adult UUs filling leadership positions.

How many leadership positions get filled by a search/nominating committee that people don’t even know exists? If it’s not open and transparent with instructions available to anyone on the web, how will young adults even know how to apply? It’s often a “well, this is how it’s always been done in this denomination/district/congregation” and you’re expected to already know that – it’s akin to the good old boys political network. And it keeps out change agents. It keeps out the motivated convert. It keeps out a vast majority of UU Young Adults. (“Spirituality and Sunflowers,” March 28)

The Rev. Naomi King notes that “when people join a religion they haven’t belonged to before, both the religion and the people joining change”:

If you’re newer in your religion/spiritual tradition, take this week to reach out to someone who’s been around a lot longer – like inherited the tradition from several generations. What might you learn? What might you teach?

If you’re an inheritor of a religious/spiritual tradition, take this week to reach out to someone who’s been around considerably less time—say, under five years (after five years, folks usually have a reasonably good sense of the culture). What might you learn? What might you teach? (“City of Refuge,” March 29)

The Rev. Christine Robinson is visiting churches during her sabbatical, and has “not been too impressed with the welcome, frankly.”

I’m from out of town. I didn’t need to be followed up on or to get a newsletter. I came to worship that day. That’s all I did, and that’s all I wanted to do. It happens that I’m a UU. I knew I’d be in tune with the message at this church. If I’d been a seeker, I’d have been even less interested in giving my information to these people . . . until I was sure I’d want to come again. But short of being rude, it was impossible. (“iMinister,” March 30)

Around the blogosphere

The Rev. Thom Belote uses the experience of Leeland Davidson to illustrate white privilege:

The citizenship surprise came when Mr. Davidson went to apply for an enhanced ID so that he could travel to visit his cousin in Canada. Not only was he denied the ID, the paper pushers advised him to let the matter drop. They warned him that if he pursued his attempts to get identification he might wind up losing his social security benefits. He might even face deportation. (“RevThom,” March 26)

A story the Rev. Kate Braestrup tells in her book Here If You Need Me inspires Andy at “thoughts ON” to apologize after an encounter with a street evangelist:

“Have you heard the good news about Jesus?” she asked.

“Oh for chrissakes, no, I don’t want a tract.” I said, rudely walking away from her. (“thoughts ON,” March 30)

The Rev. Lisa Ward shares her struggles with “the ‘T’ in LGBT”:

Outwardly, I made gestures of equality and was truly engaged and eager for community. Inwardly, I was uncomfortable and judgmental. Fortunately, I knew my inner response to be a fear response, but it woke me up out of smugness and into, I hope, deeper authenticity. (“Pondering on the Path,” March 31)

The Rev. Scott Wells suggests a radical departure from “today’s customary printed worship order of service”:

In place of a weekly order of service, publish a quarterly (or so) booklet of 40-64 pages. Have it include an outline church calendar and leadership/contacts directory. Have it include a thumbnail church history and outline of governance. Have it include how to join and how to leave a bequest. Have it include a order of service—it needn’t be listed as usual, but should have descriptions of what’s done in worship, and so far as possible, the reasons why the service has this or that element. It should include most of the usual responsive readings, psalms or litanies. Also the hymns most commonly sung in that quarter, to help build familiarity. Directions on how to use the booklet at home, or prayers for spiritual emergencies or table graces for extra credit. Have it also include a readable excerpt from a good sermon, faithful proverbs or both.A bit of art, a well-chosen poem or even a recipe can finish the work. It should be more handbook than service leaflet. (“Boy in the Bands,” March 31)

Bearing witness—and taking the heat

The Rev. Robin Tanner “bore witness . . . to reproductive rights, after hearing from friends and colleagues of the tactics employed by anti-abortion groups in Charlotte, NC.”

Murderer. Killer. Lost. Liberal. Those are the words I was called last Saturday. At least they gave me one compliment (liberal). (“Piedmont Preacher,” March 18)

The Rev. Thomas Perchlik wrote to his local paper that God and the Bible support gay marriage. “The response was quick.”

My favorite final email about this came from a member of my congregation: “How could I have known I was being led astray by you, a ‘well-meaning pastor’ who ‘misleads . . . regarding the Bible’? Keep up the good work.” (“Rev. Thomas Perchlik’s Weblog,” March 23)

Silence on Libya?

Joel Monka thinks the silence in the UU blogosphere about Libya is “very odd.” (“CUUMBAYA,” March 23) “Strange Attractor replies, “I can tell you why I haven’t written about it yet—because I have been hiding my head in the sand trying to pretend it isn’t happening.”

I do not understand the philosophy or methodology by which the Obama administration is choosing whom to help. Why are we not intervening to protect civilians in Yemen, or Bahrain, Syria, Sudan, Congo, or the Ivory Coast? (“Strange Attractor,” March 24)

Making meaning

The Rev. Christana Wille McKnight expresses a central part of her religion when challenged to answer “What is Unitarian Universalism?” in less than 30 seconds.

To love all people and to think. That’s the heart of what has kept me in the UU faith for the last several years, and it is what has sustained my ministry. (“Ordinary Days,” March 21)

The Rev. Fred L. Hammond asks “how do we offer healing to our congregants?”

Religious community is about transformation. It is about healing. It is about conversion. It is about transcendence. Why would we try to protect people from these processes? Why would we want to keep people in bondage to their wounded and traumatic past by avoiding words, songs, texts that are tangential to their experience and do not need to be paired with those experiences any longer? (“A Unitarian Universalist Minister in the South,” March 22)

The Rev. Ellen Cooper-Davis reminds us that we are all “called out of self-absorption and into the presence of others who are both like and unlike us.”

So listen. Listen carefully. All are called. All are chosen. All can serve. (“Keep the Faith,” March 23)

The Rev. Chip Roush responds to a study that claims religion is dying out in nine countries.

The mysteries of life and death, and our human hunger for purpose, will not die out. Our desire to make meaning together will not go extinct. We are finding new forms of meaning-making, and some old forms may well go extinct, but organized religion will not disappear. (“So May We Be,” March 24)

Who’s a Universalist?

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum is making her way through Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins, and reflects on the universalism that he denies.

It’s easier to not be something that you paint as ridiculous, of course. I’ve been accused of doing that with theism, so I know. I also know this because I teach the straw man logical fallacy in English composition classes to first-year college students. (“Rev. Cyn,” March 24)

Joel Monka hopes you’ll read more than just a couple of paragraphs of his essay about why he’s not a Universalist, and not “decide it was yet another Unitarian criticizing Christianity and the church he was raised in.”

I never felt oppressed by Christianity, never had any church related trauma… but it never connected with me, either; it was no more real to me than the Greek and Roman mythologies. What follows is not a bitter criticism of Christianity, but the description of one person’s religious journey—a journey that passed through Universalism. (“CUUMBAYA,” March 24, and Part Two)

Around the blogosphere

Matt Kinsi tells why he does the social media for his congregation.

Website + Facebook + Twitter + Tumblr + Youtube + An Active Team = Vibrant, Multigenerational Internet Ministry. (“Spirituality and Sunflowers,” March 17)

Tom Wilson is concerned that Starr King School for the Ministry’s website (among others) is transforming the Seven Principles into a creed.

In the context of the By-Laws, these are just some principles for which an association of congregations is formed. But minus the “congregations affirm” wording, this starts to look like creeping creedalism. (“Musings and Essays,” March 17)

The Rev. Scott Wells finds that his blog posts get more readers when they are critical of the UUA.

I don’t relish a reputation as a crank or malcontent. Still, there aren’t many people who write critically of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and there’s clearly a market. (“Boy in the Bands,” March 19)

Tom Wilson has noticed the same thing, and wonders if it is a result of suppressed dissent.

The result is that a lot of dissent is bottled up. And blog posts about dissent become attractors for someone who says “gee, someone else besides me has a beef with Unitarian Universalism.” The number of blog hits that we get are probably a measure of this suppression. (“Musings and Essays,” March 19)

The Rev. Sam Trumbore believes we are facing a “future with less stuff.”

The most important way our congregation can help in response to the crises to come is spiritual. If, as is expected, our material standard of living declines, the quality of our lives need not. The satisfaction of community, personal growth and development, and generosity are not dependent on how much stuff we have. Having less may help us discover that a meaningful life isn’t measured in material success. (“Rev. Sam Trumbore,” March 22)

The Rev. Hank Pierce has hosted an annual “Hot Stove Report” on Facebook to show “who is being invited to be the candidate at what UU church?” The Rev. Dan Harper has made a list version on his blog. (“Hot Stove Report” on Facebook, “Yet Another Unitarian Universalist,” March 22)

Rebecca Hecking suggests a different kind of spring cleaning.

Spring is a perfect time to get un-stuck from unhealthy patterns. Know what I mean? We slip into ruts of our own making, into a habit zone (a close cousin to comfort zone) and end up in a place where we can’t see beyond our own noses, much less see the forest for the trees. The comfy habits that may have served us well through the winter (the seasonal winter or our own personal psychological wintertime of rest and healing) may need a little shake-up as we move into the changes of spring. (“The Sustainable Soul,” March 24)