This is the picture I took this morning at Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena, CA at the 9:30am service on May 30, 2010. Note the gorgeous chalice on the left and the flowers from the flower communion on the right.
The title of the service was "Peaceable Kingdom" and it was led by Reverend Dr. Jim Nelson, a minister with a PhD in Religion from the University of Iowa. He wore his PhD robes during the sermon, along with a piece of cloth like many ministers, this one sewed by a member of the congregation.
I had been to this church several times before, and was pleasantly surprised to see a choir seated at the front upon entering with my mother. Memorable parts of the choral service included "Hymn" which was writen on the order of service without a number... we sang number 1 from the UU hymnal. The choir was good, two songs beginning with a solo and a duet featuring one woman with a highly operatic soprano voice. Noticeable at the end as well was the rather large organ played by Stephen Grimm, the music director.
The sermon. Reverend Nelson began by talking about moments so special they stick in your mind as memories. I felt compelled to come home and write down some of my own, though typing here will have to suffice... things like hunting for worms up in Twin Lakes with a flashlight and grabbing for one while half its body remained in the ground. Or Molly's death. Or the view from the top of Harkness tower, the first time I saw the water, so close to campus and yet so... mentally far away. I will try to think of more such moments later, perhaps. The reverend encouraged us, the congregation, to be in our lives "the bride married to amazement" and "the bridegroom taking the world in his arms." As it was Memorial Day weekend, he spoke of those who have "given their lives for freedom" in this country. And then he made a remarkable turn onto the idea that we should be honoring not just those who gave their lives for freedom (ie in war), but those who lived their lives for freedom. A beautiful turn of phrase and immediately had my full attention.
As examples, he gave Margaret Fuller and Theodore Parker, two UU heroes. Both living in American in the early 1800s, they fought for the underprivileged. Fuller for equal rights for women and Parker for equal rights for African Americans. Theordore Parker was a UU minister in Boston so virulently anti-abolitionist that he had to preach with a pistol on the pulpit in order to protect himself and the escaped slaves he harbored in his congregation. What a legacy of great UUs. And indeed, both of these two fought for freedom, though neither in war, as it were.
As the reverend said, UUism is less about life after death and more about life before death. He encouraged us to live lives in the fight for freedom. Today was the first service that I remember at the Neighborhood UU church where the "we stand on the side of love" marriage equality banner wasn't mentioned, in the past usually because it was torn down or ripped the night before. UUs are remarkable about fighting for equal rights, from Theodore Parker in the 1830s and 40s to today. I just wish that the diversity celebrated was a bit more evident in the congregations, which are a majority white and elderly. But impressive nonetheless, to see elderly men and women so passionate about the fight for marriage equality. Not all grandparents are tied to that "traditional" view of marriage and thank you UUs for reminding me of that.
We finished with a "flower communion." A wonderfully sweet idea. I had read online that we were to bring a flower to service, and the reverend directed us all to approach the front and put our flower in a vase, while whispering the name of someone we honor today. I whispered my late grandfather's name. I very much liked the fact that the word "communion" was used... something I would normally associate with Catholicism and getting the blood and body of Christ; I appreciated the new interpretation of it as a ceremony simply full of love and honoring heroes this memorial day weekend. Somehow I always leave UU services feeling a little mentally clearer, with life a little more in perspective. Maybe that's all that spirituality is to me after all.
For next week, research must be done to find another church. Going to my (semi) regular UU one was a nice beginning, but soon I must strike out of my comfort zone into some real religious institution exploration. Onward and upward.
