I was looking for the lyrics to a UU hymn today and found a blog post titled "I Attend a Unitarian Universalist Service". This was my response:
"How ironic is it that two people go looking for lyrics to UU hymns (and yes, there are some definitively terrible hymns, made even worse by not so great choirs sometimes) and end up finding your blog post? Since you don't have an update for 2012, I'd like to add my few cents worth.
I go to a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and don't attend services. I don't go for religious nor spiritual fullfillment. I don't go for enlightenment. I don't go to be told what I need to do or don't do which is good because there is no dogma, no lecture on karma, nor direction on what to pray to or for. No one tells me that I am a sinner. The other members do remind me sometimes, though, that I am far from being a saint, but in a nice way.
I go to a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and don't attend services. I am a UU Pagan and go to the UU Fellowship for just that, fellowship. I help set up or clean up coffee and try to keep the kitchen clean and running smoothly. I help with just about every activity, event, and special occasion they hold. I act as a steward for events that non-members hold. I got roped into teaching the sexuality program called Our Whole Life to the teenagers and am now fanatical about the program. I work with the Envirmental Action Group, the Senior High Youth Group, and the Covenant of UU Pagans.
I go to a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and don't attend services. At the Fellowhship, however, I am enabled, encouraged, and supported in following and sharing my own spiritual path when the spirit calls for me to do so. I am challenged by some of the most intellectual and spiritual people I have ever met. I get to meet and talk to people from all paths and walks of life, expanding my mind and my opportunities to learn and grow, sometimes outside my comfort level. I go to the UU Fellowship for the people. I get up every Sunday and commune with those who accept me unconditionally and inspire me want to be a better person. That, to me, is spiritually fullfilling.
No two UU Fellowships are the same, as the people who attend are a different mix in different places. It is my belief that you get what you put into it, whether it is a community, a job, a piece of art, or a pot of stew. I think you fulfill your own expectations by what you choose to see and experience. I put all of who I am into my Fellowship and often get more back than I ever expected. I hope that others may open their hearts, drop their expectations, and try and see beyond the surface. Maybe they will end up seeing what I do, something spiritual in something that seems so mundane. And it doesn't have to happen at a UU Fellowship.
Blessings
Shannon Heather"
