I'm a UU Now

I have been going to my local Unitarian Universalist church since July 2010.  I take a few weeks off here (ahem, the whole month of December) and there, but I’ve been trying to go on a regular basis.  I’ve joined the choir and my son is taking part in the Religious Education (RE) classes.  It’s a great community of folks who get together and try to be better.

The services are full of inspirational quotes, things to think about, and respecting each other for who they are.  One of the beliefs of UU is a recognizing the inherent worth and dignity inside everyone.  That is the sort of thing that keeps me coming back.

And that is the sort of thing that led me to signing the membership book on Sunday. 

I have been a Pagan of some flavor or another for the past thirteen years and almost all of that time, I have been a solitary.  I have practiced by myself, on my own, without talking about it to anyone.  Only in the last year have I regularly met with a group of like-minded people to share.  I joined a group a friend of mine started at the UU to follow the Diana’s Grove Mystery School packets on Persephone’s Journey. 

I am solid in my belief in the gods and earth-based spirituality.  The beliefs of the UU match my personal ethics and standards wonderfully.  It seemed like a good fit but when I started the new membership class I felt weird.  At the beginning it was fine, it was when we started talking about membership that I got weird.  I understood that the UU welcomed all faiths and non-faiths.  I knew it was open to Pagans.  Hell, there are are the CUUPs – Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and one of the tenents is learning from earth-centered spirituality.

So why did I feel weird? 

I think it may have been that I was in a class full of seekers.  No one really knew what they believed and they were looking for a spiritual home, a place to belong, and a set of beliefs they could get behind.  I already knew what I was and I was looking for a community to hold me up, to raise my child in, and for support.  Somehow I got stuck on the thought that becoming a member of the UU church would be like baptism, I would ‘become’ this new thing and I didn’t want to let go of my old one.

I talked with a Pagan friend who is a member of the UU and she helped settle some of my discomfort.  I think it might just be a word issue too.  I keep saying the UU beliefs, but the UU doesn’t believe anything, they have a set of principles it’s members adhere to.

By joining I gave up nothing of my beliefs.  I gained nothing new but an understanding that I was now a member of a group of people who stood up for the same sort of principles.  I was affirming my code of ethics, my principles, and allowing a community to help me on my way. 

And it feels good.