The purpose of a guardrail is to guide and protect cars from hitting each other or going off the road. The purpose of guidelines is to keep us in our own lane! The purpose people often cite for bringing their children to church is to offer them some kind of moral and ethical instruction. How do these metaphors help us understand how we do this—at church, school and home?
As our Jewish friends engage with the spiritual discipline of Yom Kippur, we are witnesses to a national debate about the impact of decades of ill-advised immigration policy on our economy and this country’s soul. The UUA General Assembly voted in June to make immigration the focus of our next three years of study and action for Unitarian Universalist congregations. The ministers will ask us whether an attitude of atonement rather than political name-calling is the place where we should begin.
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What’s the relationship between Wholeness and Holiness? Are people who aren’t conventionally religious any less happy than people who are? Are people who make commitments to serve others happier than those who don’t?
We use water to dedicate children because water is both commonplace and extraordinary. As we start a new church year, we’ll hear the story of the “Water Boy” and consider water’s many meanings. For the Water Ceremony in this service, bring any water you collected that symbolizes something about the summer that had meaning for you. We alternate the forms of the sharing we do, and this year people will be invited to offer a brief word about their symbolic water.