Covenant Group Session 9 – Articulating Your Faith #1

Adapted from the book, Articulating Your Faith by Barbara Wells and Jaco  B.Ten Hove

Chalice:  Unitarian Universalists share many scriptures, not just one, and a belief in the here and now, not just the hereafter.  We value freedom, reason, tolerance, and love as overarching values.  We honor deeds, not creeds, as we try to live our faith.  We believe everyone should be forthright about religious living by using that old ethic from high school math class, “show your work.”  Ours is an evolutionary theology, understanding that language changes with time and growing awareness.  In the final analysis, we believe we are saved by love and made holy by character.

Rev. Daniel O’Connell

Check-in:

Reading:  How many of my own individual beliefs or attitudes may I need to release in order to be in a deeper relationship with people who are very different from me?  This gets to the heart of what I see as the challenge embedded in our (UU) history.  For many of us, what makes being a Unitarian Universalist so appealing is our religious tradition’s emphasis on the value of the individual.  For most UU’s, particularly if we were raised in a more traditional religion, to be given the freedom to think for ourselves religiously is powerful medicine.

Barbara Wells

Life Questions:

1. Complete these statements and discuss:

  I have always believed ________________

             I used to believe_________but now I believe _______________

2.  What are the experiences you’ve had in sharing your beliefs with someone other than a Unitarian Universalist?

3. How important is it to you to be able to articulate your religious beliefs?

Does this change depending on environment, setting, or company?

4.  If someone said to you “As a UU with no dogma or creed, you can believe anything you want, right?”  what would be your personal response?

Closing ritual:

We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth,

The warmth of community,

Or the fire of commitment.

These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.

Check-out

Read article on What Do I Say after I Say  , “I am a Unitarian Universalist?” to discuss at next meeting