The topic of a recent sermon at the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists church was "Is This All There Is?" In his opening, Reverend Preston Moore said that although we seldom ask until we reach a crisis, people attend church to find the answer to this question. Social scientists have said that religion helps people seek reassurance and that it tells seekers that "everything will be all right." Moore disagrees and believes that seekers of religion are looking for something deeper. Unitarian Universalists (UUs) believe it is the mission of the UU church to support the search for and evolution of spiritual life.
Many Unitarian Universalists Have Jumped Ship
Approximately 90% of Unitarian Universalists, have jumped ship from a mainstream church or religious affiliation -- Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Buddist -- because they are not satisfied with the pat solutions that they offer and the promise of an afterlife. While services, prayers, and songs may make them tingle, mainstream churches usually leave them yearning for truth. Answers that are easy to accept in the short term, don't ring true. They don't address the realization that the religion is culturally and temporially based. They don't support the desire to explore and grow. Religions espouse a certain magical thinking that is rooted in human history, embellished over time for largely political reasons. Humanity's story is a very recent one and most traditional religion doesn't place humanity within the much larger space of time.
What Spirituality Means for Unitarian Universalists
This doesn't mean, however, that Unitarian Universalists believe in everything and nothing, as 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 they are willing and able, because it helps them discover the fleeting beauty and awesome depth of life in a complex world. The church helps them focus on the fact that people feel most whole when they simplify. UUs prefer a short, deep, thoughtful, and whole existence to a "long life of half-baked hapiness" where material things and magical thinking distract from what it means to be human.
Refuge for Minds Seeking Truth
The UU church supports listening for beauty and those who are drawn to spiritual beauty like a moth is drawn to a flame. The words to the song "What is This Life?" reflect on the fact that life is not wanting for great things. It is not necessarily a "comfortable life" (according to who?). It is the ability to feel whole and human in every moment.
What is This Life?What is this life if full of care
we have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
and stare as long as sheep and cows.
No time to see when woods we pass
where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see in broad daylight
streams full of stars like lights at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance
and watch her feet how they can dance.
A poor life this if full of care
we have no time to stop and stare.
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