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UU identity: Initiation vs. congregational membership

02.26.08 | 6 Comments

Philocrites makes a great point. In the Christian tradition, a person’s identification as a Christian is traditionally marked by a baptism. It is a public and symbolic ritual celebrated with a gathered community.

Which is to say it is not a private or legal ritual, even when it is required for formal, legal membership in a congregation. Before it is anything else, it is and initiation ritual commanded by God.

Persons who are already baptized can then celebrate communion, a ritual hearkening back to Christ’s death. Among other things, it symbolizes continuing identification as a Christian.

And other religious traditions have their own rituals that hold similar symbolic importance.

As Philocrites points out, as a movement we have only the merest hint of a initiation ritual—signing the membership book.

To widen and deepen UU identity, we need both a movement-wide initiation ritual, rituals marking congregational membership, and rituals marking and deepening continuing identification with Unitarian Universalism.

6 Comments


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