The topic of today's sermon at the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists church: "Is This All There Is?"
A loaded question, of course, and one that is seldom asked until life presents us with a crisis. I found the WUU church about 15 years ago ... after a crisis. I return time and again to center myself on this very question and to focus on being "at one" with the world.
Like 90% of Unitarian Universalists, I jumped ship from a mainstream church because I wasn't comfortable with pat solutions and a promise of afterlife. While services, prayers, and songs made me tingle, the mainstream church usually left me cold. Answers were easy to accept in the short term, but they didn't really address my yearning to explore, learn, and grow. Magical thinking didn't do it for me because is rooted in one historical story, embellished over time for largely political reasons, and humanity's story is a very recent one at that.
I found what I needed in the Unitarian Universalists church and I was reminded of this today. The minister discussed the fact that Unitarian Universalism isn't a church that believes in everything and nothing, as it is often portrayed. Rather, the UU church attracts those who are drawn to depth and a spirit-centered life. The UU church supports people in their exploration of the great questions of life. It supports people who have discerned that materialism is not the answer and that, after all, life is short. It supports people who value thoughtful spirituality.
The UU church supports people who value wholeness. Wholeness is spiritual and to get there we have to move beyond the material realm. The UU church is a place UUs support on Sundays and other days, as we are willing and able, because it helps us discover the fleeting beauty and awesome depth of life in a complex world. The church helps us focus on the fact that we feel whole when we simplify. We prefer a short, deep, thoughtful, and whole existence to a "long life of half-baked hapiness" where material things and magical thinking distract us from what it means to be human.
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