The Unitarians
I attended church today, after taking the sacrament with the Saints, with the Northshore Unitarian Universalists. It was a very interesting service. It lasted almost exactly one hour. The minister was out; he spends one weekend per month helping out in Gulfport.
The form was not at all unusual: Greeting song, lighting things, hymn, readings, reflective song, responsorial, hymn, and a talk. I like what they called passing the basket - “An opportunity for generosity.” The congregation asked questions and gave feedback to the speaker, there was a brief responsorial, and another hymn/song.
I enjoyed it, but being accustomed for the last 20 years to the LDS way of doing things, and before that as a Roman Catholic, it was hard for me to take the UU service very seriously. It was interesting, but not as worshipful as even the decidedly “Low Church” Mormons. It was certainly more modern in tone, and the presentations were very interesting. But overall, it was kind of…I don’t know, “squishy.”
The people I met were very nice. A woman I sat next to, the congregation’s vice-president, didn’t know there were any Mormons in Louisiana.
I’m going to go for a month. I certainly won’t be able to just blend into the background; their numbers have been decimated by the storm. Googling their web site, I found that a congregation in Massachusetts is paying their mortgage for a year, and a congregation in New York is matching that. The UU headquarters is paying salaries for the ministerial staff through the end of February.
They were having their annual meeting today after the service, where they were going to decide on a budget and elect officers. Those concepts alone are a striking difference from LDS practices.
The form was not at all unusual: Greeting song, lighting things, hymn, readings, reflective song, responsorial, hymn, and a talk. I like what they called passing the basket - “An opportunity for generosity.” The congregation asked questions and gave feedback to the speaker, there was a brief responsorial, and another hymn/song.
I enjoyed it, but being accustomed for the last 20 years to the LDS way of doing things, and before that as a Roman Catholic, it was hard for me to take the UU service very seriously. It was interesting, but not as worshipful as even the decidedly “Low Church” Mormons. It was certainly more modern in tone, and the presentations were very interesting. But overall, it was kind of…I don’t know, “squishy.”
The people I met were very nice. A woman I sat next to, the congregation’s vice-president, didn’t know there were any Mormons in Louisiana.
I’m going to go for a month. I certainly won’t be able to just blend into the background; their numbers have been decimated by the storm. Googling their web site, I found that a congregation in Massachusetts is paying their mortgage for a year, and a congregation in New York is matching that. The UU headquarters is paying salaries for the ministerial staff through the end of February.
They were having their annual meeting today after the service, where they were going to decide on a budget and elect officers. Those concepts alone are a striking difference from LDS practices.
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