I feel a need to defend someone who was featured in the recent UU World story on UU blogs. Since then, Matthew at Gatheringwater wrote a post correcting some misunderstandings (bottom of page) he ran across with the the reporter’s story. He was then attacked by three anonymous posters defending UUism from something or another they think Matthew did.
My favorite comment—posted from the darkness of anonymity—says this:
I hope that you stop airing the school’s dirty laundry in this forum, especially when your blog is featured in the UU World for our entire denomination to read.
I would really like to think that this comment is supposed to be funny (“airing dirty laundry”). So if it is, please forgive my zealousness. But—assuming it’s not a joke—exactly who is supposed to be making UUism look bad here?
(I’m all for anonymity—MyIrony is pseudo-anonymous, after all—but damn. Moral courage and the casual sex of anonymous comment posting don’t usually go together.)
Look! I thought it, and then someone went out and did it. But does this mean I don’t get to be rich now?
Two gems from the Happy Tutor at Wealth Bondage that I meant to share earlier. First this one:
You know, said the Head Eunuch to the Emperor, your Fool would be OK, if you just got him neutered.
And another worthy contribution to the neglected genre of the aphorism: Click to continue reading “Eunuchs and boards”
But what does any of this have to do with renewing a vocabulary of reverence?
Let’s look first at what we’ve got. If we’ve gone through the three investigations and spent time with the evocative questions, we will know (a) what is most evocative about our communities of authority’s traditions, stories, and habits; (b) how we actually describe the day-to-day going on of our religious practices; and (c) what in our stories of purpose rises to the level of myth. What we have, then, are raw materials for the foundation of a useful vocabulary of reverence. Click to continue reading “How to renew a vocabulary of reverence
(part four)”
(C) A chosen story of purpose. All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Characters interact, and plots twist. A good story is entertaining to hear and easily remembered. Our sacred stories should be no different.
Whether we choose to narrate our lives through one or several stories is an open question I won’t try to answer here. (Nor the question of which story is best or worst.) Our communities of authority have given us several stories already, stories we are expected to live out—whether we choose the role of the hero or the villain. Other stories sieze us along the way, pulling us into their narrative worlds. But we must ask ourselves which stories we want to live out, which stories reflect our deepest values. Click to continue reading “How to renew a vocabulary of reverence
(part three)”
The time for TV Lent has arrived! Let the self-loathing begin. Remember, every TV show you watch is another nail in the hand of baby Jesus.
