The $100,000 question

Much of the heat in this week’s UU conversation online came in reaction to news of the UUA Board’s proposal to budget $100,000 to help the board and administration move past their disagreements.

The Rev. Tom Schade wrote a series of posts, beginning with the questions “How are we to evaluate the performance as Moderator of Gini Courter?” and “How do we apply the lessons of her tenure to the choice between Jim Key and Tamara Payne-Alex to succeed her?”

Gini Courter has been an extraordinarily ambitious Moderator, attempting to make the UUA Board the real leadership of the Association. By establishing Policy Governance, her plan was that the Board would begin to evaluate the work of the Administration and Staff, holding it accountable for effective work toward the goals of the Association. . . .

Behind the plan was an analysis that the problems of Unitarian Universalist drift was the a problem of governance: the people who worked for us were largely self-directed and unaccountable, even though they were talented and committed people.  (The Lively Tradition, May 1)

For Kimberly Hampton, spending $100,000 on a “marriage counselor” makes no sense in a time of staffing and program cuts.

Let me see if I have this straight. There isn’t enough money to keep some really valuable employees. There isn’t enough money to keep the MFC and RSCCs from having backlogs. There isn’t enough money to do some real church planting. But there is enough money to hire a marriage counselor. (East of Midnight, April 30)

The Rev. Scott Wells writes that “the UUA acts like the kind of legacy organization or corporation that persons my age and younger than I mock.”

It’s impossible to think anyone not on the Board would have the time or stamina to be able to follow the process, and its product looks more like generating more process than say, new congregations, building loans, print or online publications, a new hymnal, religion education materials . . . .

Performance metrics, however well-loved in the nonprofit sector today, can lead staff to “work to the test” and (at their worst) can become a kind of performance art which steer the work of the Association staff away from practical work. (Boy in the Bands, April 29)

Tim Atkins doesn’t want “governance by platitudes.”

[When] I look at the UUA I don’t see a lot of concrete stuff coming out, especially from President Morales.  I hear platitudes. I see people talking about how exciting and revolutionary those platitudes are, but I rarely see concrete action beyond a blog post. And I am all for “monitoring” with clear definitions/job roles/etc. because as someone who does contribute to the UUA I do want to know that the money is making an impact. (Tim Atkins, May 3)

The Rev. Sarah Stewart provides a board member’s perspective on the issues at hand.

Unitarian Universalists should not let any of us, the administration or the board, off the hook for accomplishing our ends, including the end of growth. Our faith can serve more people. It can thrive in the 21st century. We believe so; the administration believes so; our congregations and their leaders believe so. Demand this task of us, your leaders. It is what you elected us to do. (Stereoscope, May 2)

Finally, UUA President Peter Morales and Moderator Gini Courter have responded to questions about the board meeting in letters sent to the UU Ministers Association chat list and published with their permission on Tom Schade’s blog. (May 3)

The pivot toward equality

Responding to veteran NBA center Jason Collins coming out as gay, Andrew Mackay asks, “What is equality really about?”

Society is slowly pivoting to gays being part of the norm rather than an error, an aberration. . . . What is Collins’ action part of? The idea that gay people are woven into the fabric of this nation. . . . When he came out two days ago it was national news. Part of the goal is that one day an athlete will come out, and it’s not a media spectacle. It’s just someone living their life. (Unspoken Politics, April 30)

The Rev. Debra Haffner responds to suggestions that Jason Collins is not a Christian because he is gay.

When NBA player Jason Collins came out as gay, he noted “My parents instilled Christian values in me. They taught Sunday school, and I enjoyed lending a hand. I take the teachings of Jesus seriously, particularly the ones that touch on tolerance and understanding.”

After years of hiding who he was, this courageous basketball player needs our support. (Sexuality and Religion, May 2)

Seekers of meaning

UU World managing editor Kenneth Sutton invites us to “revel in the actual,” as he shares experiences from his recent sabbatical.

What a downer! Look at the real world and you die! Yes, exactly. Look at the real world, and the illusions and confusions of your life will, if you are lucky, die. (Refreshment in a Pint Glass, April 30)

After a weekend singing Sacred Harp music, the Rev. Dan Harper reflects on what it could teach Unitarian Universalism.

I still love my Unitarian Universalist church; Sacred Harp singing would not be an adequate substitute for what I get out of my religious community. But I can still wish the Unitarian Universalism would embrace the DIY ethos, welcome ecstasy and transcendence, include younger people, and sing better. (Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, May 2)

The Rev. Dr. David Breedon remembers trying to talk with his parents about the philosophy of Spinoza.

On that day driving along the New Madrid Fault, I realized that Spinoza could not speak to my parents. And I discovered something else: I had the power to destroy the faith of poor, oppressed people such as my parents who had nothing else to fall back on. I stopped the argument when I was eighteen, and I have never argued religion again.

The chance to think abstractly, to pursue truth wherever it leads, is a powerful gift. A privilege. As with all power and privilege, it must be used responsibly and humbly. (Quest for Meaning, May 2)

Christine Organ remembers the Sundays of her childhood, and recommits to a regular day of rest.

As a kid, there was no mistaking when Sunday rolled around. Sunday was so clearly different than any other day. . . . The day moved on a special schedule, with a cadence and rhythm all its own.The day was slower, quieter, calmer. The day was sacred. (Christine Organ, May 1)

John Beckett considers the relationship between truth and meaning.

My search for truth and meaning has led me to Nature. . . . Along the way I’ve found bits and pieces of truth. I’ve found meaning so strong that when I’m caught up in it I have no doubt it’s true. I order my life as though it’s true.

But I still recognize that meaning is not truth. If I find evidence my beliefs are false and my practices are unhelpful, or that something else is better, I’ll change what I believe and what I do. (Under the Ancient Oaks, April 30)

Observing Earth Day

As Earth Day approaches, Rebecca Hecking considers an article about working through environmental grief.

I don’t know . . . how the Earth will look a hundred or a thousand years from now, but I do think it’s fair to say that biological diversity will be diminished, and long-term damage will still be very much in evidence. Those of us who care even a little bit fall somewhere along the road from denial to acceptance, although we may not experience the stages in quite such a neat linear package since the object of our grief isn’t a person who has died, but rather a planet in a state of decline (for now).  (Breath and Water, April 19)

The Rev. Carl Gregg observes Earth Day by writing about Wendell Berry, “earth breathing,” climate change and interdependence.

[From] Boston to West, Texas, we’ve been reminded this past week of just how vulnerable and precious our lives are. We can’t always control what happens around us, but we can learn to have more influence over our response to people and events. And one way to do that is to remind ourselves that we are more than isolated individuals bumping into one another; we are each part of the interdependent web of all existence. (Carl Gregg, April 22)

Jessica Ferguson’s Earth Day graphic quotes the Rev. Carol Hepokoski, who says, “I used to think maybe we need to save the Earth. Now I think maybe it is Earth that is saving us.” (UU Media Collaborative Works, April 22)

Making sense of the world

When faced with complex problems, the Rev. Naomi King suggests the power of not knowing.

I loathe not knowing the answer. I feel scared and vulnerable and very much at risk when I reach not knowing and have to confront that I do not know what comes next, what to do, how to fix what is broken or not working. But when I am with that not knowing, turning the problem over and over, seeking a new way, the fear drops away and curiosity and wonder take the lead. (The Wonderment, April 21)

The Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford wonders why the tragic explosion in West, Texas, received so much less attention than the bombings in Boston.

I think it was something far more basic: we are visual people, and we viscerally connect with pictures of other people. Quick, think of a picture of the Boston marathon bombing. The man with half a leg missing, being pushed in a wheelchair? The 78 year old runner knocked to the ground? The police, running toward the explosion?

Now, think of a picture of the West, TX explosion. The fireball? The cloud? The stripped-out apartments?

The lack of faces defining the explosion are, actually, perhaps the saddest part. (Boots and Blessings, April 20)

UUA Trustee Linda Laskowski begins her series of posts about the April UUA Board meeting with her experience of being in Boston in the aftermath of the bombings.

Being with a group of Unitarian Universalist lay leaders and ministers was not a bad place to be this week. We shared a lot of tears, poetry and prayer. . . . (UUA View from Berkeley, April 22)

Visiting with family in New York City, the Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein overhears a conversation about the two bombing suspects.

“All of them… family . . . fathers . . . uncles . . . say they so beautiful. He’s a beautiful young man . . . everything is beautiful.”

“No bad boys.”

“Everybody thinks their kid is beautiful, man.” (PeaceBang, April 19)

The Rev. Tom Schade responds to the question of why spiritually liberal people feel compassion for Dzhokar Tsarnaev.

Compassion is not judgment, which makes choices and priorities. Judgment weighs and measures and reasons. Judgment, which we give to the judicial system to exercise finally, will deal firmly with Tsarnaev. It’s a whole other thing.

But at every moment, someone has your attention, and in that moment, you will be feeling some emotion: compassion, hatred, indifference, affection. Spiritual liberalism notices that if you build a habit of compassion, you will be happier, healthier, more able to love and receive love.

The world will be better, too. (the lively tradition, April 20)

Andrew Hidas takes a different perspective—resisting pressure to forgive.

Talking about the need to forgive perpetrators of heinous acts before victims’ bodies have even turned cold is premature at best, presumptuous at worst. . . .

Righteous anger or at least revulsion is an appropriate response to a horrible act. The closer your “connection” to it, the more right and perhaps necessity you have to fully experience and express such anger. Full submersion is in many ways the precursor to the healing you ultimately seek. (traversing, April 20)

The Rev. Chip Roush shares opening words for worship after the Boston bombings.

Slowly but surely, the universe is evolving
toward greater freedom,
toward reason,
and toward tolerance.
This morning, and every morning,
may we be more aware
of the Spirit of Life
evolving in and through us,
drawing us
toward deeper compassion
and firmer courage. (So May We Be, April 19)

Unitarian Universalists online and “in real life”

The Rev. A. C. Millard explains why a practice of “checking in” is important.

Even when attending a meeting that is entirely centered on some item of business, we bring with us our whole lives and everything that has been going on in our lives, and that affects how we interact with each other.  I know I’ve been in meetings where someone was behaving in an uncharacteristic way, only to find out later that something significant had happened to them; if we had heard about that at the start of the meeting, the rest of us might have been more understanding and our time together might have been better for all of us.  (UU Fellowship of the Peninsula, April 25)

Thomas Earthman writes about the role of blogging in sharing Unitarian Universalism’s message.

The state of technology is that everyone can be a preacher. Everyone can be a journalist. Everyone can be an advertising agency. . . . It is only by recognizing those who have the ability to shape and stimulate conversation that we can ensure that people hear our message of salvation. We don’t need to sell it, but we need to make it accessible and we need to get people talking and asking questions. (A Material Sojourn, April 25)

June Herold discovers that negotiating Facebook privacy is tricky, even for tech-savvy people.

[Despite] privacy controls, heavy Facebook users—even the most advanced—can easily forget that once something is said on Facebook, it can take on a life of its own. . . .

Making assumptions—where to post; what to copy online; and what we should realize—can easily become a slippery slope. One that we all can slide down—including me. (The New UU, April 22)

The Rev. Meg Riley hosts a UUA Moderator Candidate Forum with Jim Key and Tamara Payne-Alex.

The Rev. Tom Schade objects to the candidates’ answers to the forum’s last question: “What can you do to make sure that those of us who are right of center still feel welcome in UU congregations?”

If the things that we religious liberals care about most deeply were held equally by both political parties, we could continue to act as though belonging to either party was just a personal preference that didn’t much matter. But that is not true, and we know it.

What religious liberals value and what contemporary political conservatism values are so in conflict that it is hard to be both. (the lively tradition, April 26)

Boston Marathon bombings

Many UU bloggers wrote this week about the Boston Marathon bombings. This is a small selection of those responses; for additional blogging about the attacks, visit UUpdates.net.

Jessica Ferguson added music and photos to the words of a prayer by the Rev. Sue Phillips.

Bart Frost has deep roots in Boston, and his reaction is raw and honest.

Boston is my home. It is my birthplace. It is a city whose summers are filled with sunshine, whose winters are unpredictable, and whose people, though often characterized as cold or stubborn or unfriendly, are traditionally hard-working blue-collar folk. . . .

Today, Boston weeps and I with her. . . . I have no wisdom or wit to share with you today, I have only myself and my tears. May you remember that the good outnumber those that do evil, and forever will. (Vive le Flame, April 15)

Sean Neil-Barron, a recent transplant to the city, responds with prayer, and reflection about violence beyond Boston.

I am sure that the  speculation as to the cause will probably run the same misguided,  nearsighted and probably racist ways it always does. . . . I also know the speculation and the information that will unfold will never find any blame within us. Never look to the children round the world from Pakistan to Palestine who live in fear of death coming from above in drone attacks. . . .

Do we not think they love their children too? (Spark Within, April 15)

Andy Coate writes that it is “okay to mourn at a different level when the city you live in and love in is attacked.”

My dear Bostonians, let yourself mourn if mourning is what you need to do. Let yourself mourn without guilt that your mourning is a ‘first world problem.’ Let yourself stand in community or solitude, whatever feeds your soul. Cry out to your God, or your gods, or simply into the stillness for an end to needless violence without worrying that you aren’t crying out for the ‘right’ things. Let yourself be grounded in resolve to work for peace and healing. Let yourself breathe. (thoughts ON, April 16)

The Rev. Tom Schade, until recently a Massachusetts resident, distills wisdom from his colleagues into a list of needed virtues.

Honesty—Humility—Gratitude—Reverence—Openness—Compassion—Self Possession. These are the needed virtues on the day after Patriots Day in Boston.

These are the virtues of liberal religion—the gospel that is needed for this time—the reminder we need to recommit ourselves to what is best, and wholesome, and holy and healthy when it is so tempting to be hateful, or vengeful, or tribal, or otherwise less than our best selves. If we can commit to these ways of being in the world, we make it possible to discern the way of Love in the present situation. (the lively tradition, April 15)

For the Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford, moving beyond rage to compassion is too much of a stretch.

There are some who already, or from the very beginning, had hearts of compassion not only for those hurt, but for the person(s) behind this. They prayed that the killer might find a way to the love ethic that they themselves feel. They felt sorrow that anyone might hurt so much they were willing to do this.

I am not so spiritually advanced. (Boots and Blessings, April 17)

When the Westboro Baptist Church threatens to picket Boston Marathon funerals, the Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein suggests that Bostonians “ laugh them out of town.”

Poo on the Westboro posse! If they come to town, I think we should stage a Theatre of the Absurd festival and dance around them. I think we should join them with signs and music and wonderful costumes. Someone could dress as SNL character Linda Richman and carry a sign that says, ”THE WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH IS NEITHER BAPTIST NOR A CHURCH: DISCUSS.” (PeaceBang, April 16)

Action in an age of fear

The Rev. Bill Sinkford reacts with anger and resolve to the Senate’s vote on background checks for gun purchases.

When I heard the news, I felt an anger that is rare for me. I wanted to personally confront the 46 senators and demand that they inspect their consciences, look carefully in the mirror, pray for forgiveness, and change their vote. I, too, wanted to shame them. There are mornings when my prayers begin and end in anger. Today was one of them.

There is a place in religious life for anger and for righteous indignation. . . . But the religious impulse needs to move beyond righteous indignation into a place of remembering how we hope to live and a place of commitment to that vision. (Rev. Sinkford’s Blog, April 18)

The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern raises questions about divestment as a strategy for dealing with “the environmental catastrophe that is already upon us and only getting worse.”

There seems to be a groundswell for the idea that the best way to do so is to divest from fossil fuels. So I have been reading up on divestment, and finding that no one . . . has explained to me yet how this movement would further the goal of reducing fossil fuel use.

A change movement has to ask, what change are we hoping for and what’s the leverage that will bring it about? . . . The situation is too dire for symbolic gestures. We need to take real action. (Sermons in Stones, April 17)

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum offers advice to parents in an increasing violent, fearful world.

Childhood is different now, and parenting is different now. And there are a whole lot of different and acceptable responses to these circumstances. So parents, be gentle with one another. And non-parents, be gentle with us. This is new, and we’re just trying to do what’s best for our children. Trust us to be the ones who know what that is, even if you would do things differently. (Rev. Cyn, April 18)

Theology and spirituality

The Rev. James Ford provides a short overview of liberal religion, as seen in Unitarian Universalism.

By the Twentieth century [the Unitarian and Universalist] styles emerged as a naturalistic religion, concerned with life in this world. For a while it would be closely identified with humanism, but unlike organized humanism Unitarian Universalism felt no need to disassociate itself from the family of religions. However this religion was a radical departure from the Abrahamic faiths. Through its own evolution a religion emerged that more closely resembles the traditions of ancient China, Confucianism and particularly Taoism than any of the other Western traditions. (Monkey Mind, April 13)

Walter Clark encourages Christian-phobic UUs to examine their anxiety around religious words.

We all have a past. All of us have things in our past that hurt when we are reminded of them and words are great reminders. The challenge is to let go of what we were taught so many years ago and to rethink, to question what those words really mean and to find the good within their meaning. . . . Keep examining those words that give you pause. The unexamined word is not worth hating. (Lack of a Clever Title, April 15)

The Rev. Carl Gregg invites us to explore a spirituality of spring.

Spring is a time of dawning light, new life, new birth, and new hope—a time of warmth, exuberance, dancing, and blossoming. And if spring is your favorite season, the most natural corresponding spiritual practices might be artistic, creative endeavors—or if metaphorically you are in a springtime season of your life. (Carl Gregg, April 14)

Peter Bowden shares a paper written by UU musician Matt Meyer, called “A UU Theology of Community Organizing.”

The storytelling, mutual discernment, and relationship building that are woven into the process of organizing reflect the basic Unitarian Universalist conceptions of covenantal relationship, democratic process, and interdependence.

Organizing is also effective. Unitarian Universalism believes that a life of faith calls us to move beyond bearing witness into concrete action. (UU Planet, April 18)