Moving Toward Restoration

March 10th, 2010

By Mark Bernstein,  Shared Growth Consultant for CERG

Often, when I ask the musical question of congregations “Why do you want to grow?” one of the answers I get is “We want to be more diverse.”  I find this a curious response because the synonym for “diverse” is “different.”  So, to take people literally, they are saying that growth in numbers will allow the congregation to increase the differences among members.

Obviously, that is not what people mean when they say they want to be more diverse.  What they mean, I think, is that they want a congregation that better embraces diversity; that holds within its walls a mosaic of people who bring a variety of backgrounds, styles, perspectives, values, and beliefs as assets to the congregation.

We often look around our congregations and assess our diversity based on the number of people who are of color or other minority ethnicity or on the number of people who have an overt disability, either physical or cognitive, or on the number of people who we happen to know are LGBT.  But we as a population are diverse in a multitude of ways, ways that are often unseen and unnoticed.  We differ also in our marital and parental status, religious upbringing, education, economic status, work background, geographical origins, interests, hobbies, skills, and so on.

Embracing all the ways in which we are different creates a congregation where diversity is cherished and where multiculturalism can flourish.  Margaret Mead wrote, “If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.” We find those gifts in others by questioning, listening and understanding the values, beliefs and experiences that make others who they are.  In this way, we move toward growth…in ourselves and in our congregational communities.

The late and great UU Minister Reverend Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley once wrote, “What is our liberal faith for if not to teach respect for difference?”  In her Litany of Restoration, she captured the essence of embracing diversity in words both eloquent and timeless:

If, recognizing the interdependence of all life, we strive to build community, the strength we gather will be our salvation.  If you are black and I am white,

It will not matter.

If you are female and I am male,

It will not matter.

If you are older and I am younger,

It will not matter.

If you are straight and I am gay,

It will not matter.

If you are Christian and I am Jewish,

It will not matter.

If we join spirits as brothers and sisters, the pain of our aloneness will be lessened, and that does matter.

In this spirit, we build community and move toward restoration.

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Young Adults and UUism in the OMD

March 5th, 2010

One of the several ministerial hats I wear is as Spiritual Director of UCM Center for Spiritual Growth & Social Justice, an ecumenical and interfaith campus ministry serving Ohio University. In the fall of 2008, UCM held a series of lunchtime meetings called “Spirituality 2.0: Losing My Religion.” We conceived this series as a response to something shared at the previous year’s board retreat—an idea that questioning the faith you’ve been raised in, and transitioning from that faith to the one you’ll claim as an adult, is a normal developmental stage for college-age young adults. We thought that if we brought some people together who had interesting stories to tell about the changes they went through, it might normalize the experience of wrestling with one’s faith tradition for others who felt alone, and it might give people from different faith backgrounds an opportunity to see each other as whole and complex individuals, to move past the stereotypes we so often use to box each other in and dismiss each other with an “oh, I know about that guy.” The series ran, and it was a good one—well-attended, with compelling stories and good conversation across faith lines we sometimes think are impermeable: between evangelical Christians and atheists, between academics and believers, between pagans and humanists.

The title of our program caught the eye of Rebecca Tollefson at the Ohio Council of Churches, and she invited me to bring some students up to the Ohio Ministries Convocation in Columbus to present on it, as one approach to the conference theme, “Spiritual but not Religious: Challenge or Opportunity?” So in January, two students and I took the trip up to Columbus to share our stories.

What emerged in our presentation, and in our ensuing conversation with the clergy and lay people who attended, was both encouraging and challenging. Encouraging, because it demonstrated to me once again how perfectly equipped we are as UUs to walk with young adults through this transition. The idea that the energy and the integrity of your search for truth and meaning matter way more than the texts you footnote along the way was pretty threatening to some of the mainline Christian folks at our workshop, but it’s really the air we UUs breathe. And challenging, because however well we are suited to that work, the reality is that we aren’t reaching a whole lot of non-UU young adults, and we aren’t doing as well as we might at walking with our own questioning young adults.

I think this is partly a function of how we have understood our ministry to young adults, and why we’ve wanted to do that ministry. Too often our reason for paying attention to young adults has been a desire to see them in our churches, and a sense of loss when they leave. And while I like their presence there as much as anyone, I think that’s not a good enough reason. To be effective, and to be worth the spiritual energy we want to spend on it, this ministry must spring from a desire to walk with and to serve these young people. It has to arise as a compassionate response to their trials and tribulations, borne of a commitment to be that place where people can come together to ask their questions about different faith traditions, to get support for their struggles with belief and unbelief, to shape their lives in service to each other, and to experience themselves as radically interconnected with the whole of humanity, whatever faith tradition they come from or move toward.

The OMD is now in the midst of taking a good, hard look at how we might faithfully rise to that challenge. The Young Adult Ministry Committee (YAMC), formed as an intergenerational group of ministers and lay leaders with the goal of promoting young adult and campus ministry, is conducting an assessment of the current state and future prospects of that ministry in the district. YAMC is seeking input from a wide range of people within our district: through regional listening-group sessions, and (soon) thorough an on-line survey. We want to know how you feel about current Young Adult ministry in this district, and what suggestions, wishes, and dreams you have for us as we move forward. Listening sessions have already started (and as a result of some of that feedback, see the newly posted links to YA and Campus Ministry resources posted on the OMD YA/CM page—http://www.ohiomeadville.org/leaders/staff/yacm.html), so look for opportunities coming to your area soon. And keep your eyes peeled for upcoming announcements about the on-line survey—we look forward to your involvement as we strive to continuously improve our Young Adult ministry in the district!

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Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes in a Post-modern World

February 28th, 2010

Do you remember the old David Bowie song, “Changes?” (http://www.lyricsdepot.com/david-bowie/changes.html)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes – happening all around us all of the time. And most folk aren’t quite sure what to do with them.   Fortunately, some are beginning to look for ways to “turn and face the strain.”

A recent article by Paul Rasor, printed in the “World” magazine asks: Can Unitarian Universalism Change?” (http://uuworld.org/ideas/articles/158175.shtml)

The article looks at how we might face a growingly diverse future and the theological resources we UUs have to draw on to create a truly multiracial-multicultural Unitarian Universalism. It’s an excellent article and asks us to explore and revive our Universalist roots of radical egalitarianism as we respond to the many changes taking place in our society.

The Faith Formation 2020 report, although not directed to UUs specifically, explores the many societal changes that all faith traditions in our society will face in the next couple of decades.   This major report looks at the growing ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity of US society as well as the growing number of folk who say they are ‘spiritual’ but not religious and/or are seeking a distinctively ‘post-boomer’, or perhaps ‘post-modern’ form of spirituality.   It asks the question:  how will religious groups face the change?

(http://www.lifelongfaith.com/ff2020-overview.htm)

We Unitarian Universalists, like our cousin liberal Christian mainline faith traditions, were founded on a modern world view as children of the Enlightenment and the Reformation. The modern world view, according to Paul Rasor, includes a a strong “emphasis on human reason, the autonomous authority of the individual, and the critical evaluation of all religious truth claims….Yet this legacy encourages us to keep our religious commitments largely in our heads, where we can hold them at a comfortable arm’s length. This gives us a sense of control; it allows us to feel spiritually safe.”

I believe, after having worked with multiple faith traditions for many years in a liberal Christian seminary setting, that the same can easily be said of many other liberal, mainline protestant traditions. We aren’t alone. We all suffer from what the theologian Mathew Fox calls cultural and religious “left-brainitis.”

Like other modern faith traditions, our modern world view has made us a people of “the Word” – even though we long ago decided that our Word would be inclusive and move beyond the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. We have been and still predominantly are Word oriented. Our worship services, for the most part, consist of words addressed to the adult intellect, which makes multigenerational worship planning a major challenge. Our gatherings, whether for business or celebration or learning or worship, are Word and Head oriented.

But the changes in our society and the growing development of a post-modern world view, have highlighted the concept that we humans are more than just our intellects, even though our intellects are important and necessary. In brief, post-modernism (as I use the term) carries the idea that the world is an interconnected ‘system’ best described in wholistic terms and that constant change is the new status quo. A post-modern world view is “anti-ideological” and has been positively associated by some social researches with the feminist movement, racial equality movements, gay rights movements, and even the peace movement.

In a post modern world view, we humans have multiple ways of learning. We are supported by our emotional commitments. We find meaning in working together in concrete, practical ways that support our values – whether that be building houses, planting trees, cleaning polluted waterways, helping the disadvantaged obtain food or jobs, and much more. We seek spiritual meaning and know that it is tied to a healthy sense of personal esteem and identity.

We humans are more than our intellects. We are individual ‘systems’ that include Heart and Hands and Spirit as well as Head, and as individuals, we are all tied together in the interdependent web of existence. So when we come together to worship (that is, to publically ascribe worth to that which we hold in highest esteem and ultimate concern), we ideally should be able to engage our whole being in the act.  Our youth have been worshipping with a focus on wholeness for years. But most of our congregations are still struggling with a mono-focus on Word.

Can we Unitarian Universalists change?   That’s the big question.

(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes

Do we have the will to face the strain of change?   Can we move beyond the Word, and let our ‘lift-brainitis’ be challenged by others who see the world differently?

Can we move into a world where we UUs feel comfortable fully celebrating Head, Heart, Hands and Spirit in community?

Can we learn to accept change as a blessing rather than a discomfort or curse?

Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man

I want to say “Yes, we can.”  I believe we can.  But the question of whether we will or not —– is still up for grabs.

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How Do I Grow Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

February 21st, 2010

By Mark Bernstein, Shared Growth Consultant for CERG

Ask a congregation the question, “Why do you want to grow?” and chances are you’ll get answers like, “We need more people to do the work of the church” or “We need more children for our RE program” or “More people means more money to cover the costs of running our congregation.”

These are all good reasons to grow, but they focus only on numerical growth.  It is the first thing we think about when we think about growing.  Certainly, numerical growth (attendance, budget, activities, membership, etc.) is critical to the sustainability of a congregation.  If we don’t grow in numbers, we eventually die.  Some statistics point to an annual attrition rate of 8 to 10 percent in our congregations.  That means that in order to maintain our numbers, we must grow by at least 10% a year.

While Unitarian Universalism has been growing by an average of 1% a year in an era when other religions are losing members in droves, we still remain a small denomination and a mere blip on the religious radar screen.  In the recently published American Religious Identification Survey put out by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/ Unitarian Universalism was included in the category entitled “New Religious Organizations and Other Religions.”  Others in this category included Scientology, New Age, Eckankar, Spirtualist, Deist, Wiccan, Pagan, Druid, Indian Religion, Santeria, and Rastafarian.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not denigrating these religions.  If Unitarian Universalism has taught us anything, it’s to respect and embrace all beliefs and ways of life and besides, some of my best friends are Druids.  But our faith differs from others in this category in that we are compelled to make a difference in the world.  We stand up and speak out against oppression and war and environmental deterioration.  We abide by principles that require us to treat others with respect and dignity and that remind us of the importance of our relationships with others who share this world with us.  I don’t see Santeros participating in peace marches.  I haven’t noticed any ECKists leading the fight for same sex marriage.  When was the last time you heard a Scientologist expound on the importance of ethical eating or peacemaking?

So growing in numbers is important.  But it is only one way in which a church grows and becomes strong and healthy.  Loren B. Mead, in his book, More Than Numbers: The Ways Churches Grow talks also of maturational, organic and incarnational growth.

Maturational growth is the ability of a congregation to challenge, support and encourage its members to grow in the maturity of their faith, to deepen their spiritual roots, and to broaden their religious imaginations.  It means asking the questions, Are people traveling their religious journeys? Do they know and truly live our principles? Are there opportunities to further explore issues around spirituality?

Organic growth refers to the task of building the community, creating organizational structures, and developing policies and procedures that result in a stable and dependable network of human relationships.  It asks, Is there a process in place for choosing successors to the Board, developing new leaders, and making decisions?  What is the relationship of the Minister to the Board and to the other lay leaders?  What is the relationship between the Board and paid staff?  How will the congregation deal with conflict?

Finally, Incarnational growth is the involvement of the congregation in the world or the ways in which the congregation wants its faith to make a difference in the world.  How involved is the congregation in social activism and causes of justice?  How extensive is the degree of caring for the community?

Mead points out that each of these ways of growing interact with one another in such a way that when one area grows, the others invariably grow as well.  For example, numerical growth means that more members are available to engage in social justice issues (incarnational growth).  If a congregation sustains maturational growth through the continued understanding of our principles, members are more likely to talk about our faith with others, thereby attracting greater numbers to the doors of the congregation (numerical growth).   As a congregation grows in numbers, it becomes more incumbent on the organization to stabilize its structure, thereby resulting in organic growth.

As we think about growing, we must think holistically, knowing that growth occurs in many ways.  Just as a variety of seeds results in a beautiful and diverse garden, we must also plant the varied seeds of growth in our congregational gardens in order to have a bountiful harvest.

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OMD District Assembly

January 28th, 2010

It’s time to start thinking about District Assembly. And you might be asking just what is District Assembly?

District Assembly is, at it’s base, the annual business meeting of the Ohio-Meadville District. It’s where our budget is approved, bylaws are changed, policies and procedures are set and the business of the district is conducted by the delegates from our 44 UUA affiliated congregations.

But District Assembly is much much more than a business meeting. In fact the meeting is just 1.5 hours of the weekend. So what is District Assembly? It’s a time for group worship, workshops, networking, and gathering resources. At this meeting you can visit with old friends and make new ones; learn about new programs and ideas that the UUA and the OMD are working on; discover the inventive ways your fellow UUs are approaching a variety of challenges; meet with other church leaders in your cluster; and even shop for UU books and other items.

This year’s District Assembly theme is Transformational Living and will feature Rev. Meg Riley as our keynote speaker. Her talk will focus on the Standing on the Side of Love campaign begun at General Assembly last year. We will offer a special Interfaith Leadership Training for Youth and Youth Allies as part of the weekend. A panel discussion on anti-racism, anti-oppression will be presented. On a lighter note, we’ll be entertained by Uncle Eddie and Robin with Appalachian music and honor our award winners for this year.

Overall this year promises to be even more exciting and energizing than before. Please visit www.ohiomeadville.org/annmtg/ to read workshop descriptions, learn about scholarships and to register.

If you have questions, please let me know.

And I’ll see you in my home town of St. Clairsville March 26-27, 2010 for District Assembly.

Beth

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Our Future and Our Faith: Faith Formation 2020

January 5th, 2010

Hundreds (if not thousands) of writers before me have already noted that it’s a new year and a new decade. So….I’m a little behind the time. But still, there’s no time like the present to take a brief look toward the future.

What will this coming decade bring for Unitarian Universalism in our region? What challenges and opportunities will our congregations face?

Maybe we will all embrace fully the “Standing on the Side of Love” campaign, vocally and visibly increase our support for the civil rights of LGBTQ people and help end discrimination in those states that are part of the Ohio-Meadville District.

Maybe we will see the benefits of real health reform that will enable the most disadvantaged among us to finally benefit from the miracles that modern medicine have brought to the wealthy in our society.

Perhaps we will realize that we have never had so much power before to shape our larger social conversations and take action on issues that we passionately care about.

Maybe we will create a new sense of optimism and commitment such that we can change the status quo and make a real difference in the world, a difference that will last for generations to come.

As we start a new decade, the question is, how will we confront in a future that is pregnant with new and complex risks as well as new and exciting opportunities? And what will we do differently as we face this future together?

I think we all have to try to understand how the risks and opportunities of the 21st century can affect our congregations and our lives and our Unitarian Universalist faith. We need to work to prepare ourselves for the possible realities we might face.

Others have been thinking about the big picture of social change and are exploring how certain current realities and future trends might affect all faith communities in the United States. They have written an excellent report titled “Faith Formation 2020” which analyzes several possible future scenarios. The report can be found at: http://lifelongfaith.com/faithformation2020.htm. Or one can simply Google “Faith Formation 2020.”

I would love to see the congregations in Ohio-Meadville read this report, talk about it, and work with one another in developing innovative ways to meet the future opportunities that will certainly be part of our future. And in this way, we can make a real and positive difference in our world that will last long past 2020.

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Ministers Denounce Anti-Islamic DVDs

October 3rd, 2008

Many of the ministers, chaplains and minsterial students in the Ohio-Meadville District crafted the following statement concernng the DVD’s of the film “Obsession” that are currently blanketing cities in the so-called presidential “battleground” states. 

———————

September 30, 2008

 

We, the undersigned Unitarian Universalists ministers, chaplains and student ministers of the Ohio-Meadville District, wish to express our shock and dismay at the recent distribution of the inflammatory DVD “Obsession” in the newspapers and mailboxes of those of us living in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other so-called “battleground” states in this election year.  

 

The kind of propaganda and hate speech found in this anti-Islamic DVD incites fear of an insidious nature. The weak disclaimers with which the film begins and ends, that peaceful Muslims are excluded from condemnation, does nothing to counter its violent images, the web of untruths woven around those images, or its fantastic and illogical claims of links between Nazism and Islam.  We stand in solidarity with our Muslim sisters and brothers to protest the indiscriminate distribution of malicious propaganda. We reject the politics of hate and fear.

 

Unitarian Universalists are well acquainted with the harmful effects hate speech can have on some members of our society.  On Sunday, July 27 of this year, an unfortunately mentally ill individual was prompted by common forms of media hate speech to develop a belief that liberals, including religious liberals were destroying our country.  Inspired by this belief, he opened fire on a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Knoxville on Sunday morning during a children’s musical performance, killing two adults, wounding many others and traumatizing an entire congregation and its children.   While the shooter was certainly mentally ill, the violent acting-out of his illness was aided and abetted by the proliferation of hate speech in our society. 

 

With such a recent memory of the effects of hate speech in our society, as Unitarian Universalists we are compelled to question why these DVDs are being distributed to residents in the so called “battleground” states during this presidential campaign.  Why these places?  Why now?   At this obviously anxious time in our collective lives as Americans, we strongly object to this overt attempt to influence voters.

 

We Unitarian Universalists have long upheld the values of tolerance and inclusivity. We consider diversity to be a genuine blessing!  Our core principles call us to honor the inherent worth and dignity of all people. We believe that honoring that worth and dignity includes honoring our diverse religious beliefs.

 

Nearly 500 years ago, a Unitarian reformation theologian, Francis David, articulated it well when he said “We do not need to think alike to love alike.”  And the Hadith of Bukhari 2:6 states “None of you has faith unless he loves for his brother [or sister] what he loves for himself.”

 

It is our hope and prayer that all Americans may learn to live in the spirit of these words.

 

Rev. Lynn Acquafondata

Rev. Wayne Arnason

Rev. Steve Aschmann

Rev. Mark Belletini

Rev. Colin Bossen

Rev. George Buchanan

Rev. Daniel Budd

Ellen Carvill-Ziemer, student minister

Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer

Rev. Peggy C. Clason

Rev. Rose Edington

Jeremy Elliott, chaplain

Kathleen Fowler, chaplain

Rev. Cynthia Heilman

Rev. David Herndon

Rev. Mel Hoover

Rev. Christine Jones-Leavy

Lori Lerner, ministerial intern

John Henry Martin, Jr., ministerial intern

Suzan McCrystal, chaplain

Rev. Greg McGonigle

Rev. Eric H. Meter

Rev. Mary Moore

Rev. Chris Neilson

Rev. Michael D. O’Kelly

Renee Zimelis Ruchotzke, student minister

Rev. Arthur G. Severance

Rev. Elizabeth Schuerman

Rev. V. Elaine Strawn

Rev. Rod Thompson

Rev. Joan M. Van Becelaere, district executive

Rev. Kenneth Watts

Rev. Maurine (Renee)Waun

Evan Young, student minister

 

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LGBT Civil Rights in Ohio

June 3rd, 2008

On May 14, I spent an extremely educational day at the third annual Lobby Day for Equality at the State House in Columbus.  The following day, the California Supreme Court overturned that state’s ban on marriage equality. Many of Californian Unitarian Universalists gave a great deal of time and effort to the movement to lift that ban.  This is great news for California.  In contrast,  I was truly shocked to learn that here in Ohio, members of the LGBT community have no basic protections in regard to employment, housing and public accommodations.   I heard stories that would surprise and shock many of you. Ohio is trying to pass a basic Equal Housing and Employment Act (SB 305)  The going is rough and it might very well not make it through the legislature this year.  Legislation guaranteeing basic civil rights for LGBT folk has been defeated in Ohio the last two years and might be defeated this year as well. As Unitarian Universalists, I believe that we need to confront this blatant bigotry. We must take a stand for basic civil rights in employment and housing.  We can not stand idly by and allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity to go on in Ohio. I hope you will urge others both in and outside our congregations to communicate with their state senators and representatives about the Equal Housing and Employment Act SB 305. Direct communication with the legislators, whether by card, email, phone or letter is needed.   I agree with the many proponents of this legislation that passing this legislation “really is the right thing to do.” Please visit www.dowhatsrightohio.com to learn more about these efforts.  Joan Van B.

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