Why I Belong

statements from a few in our community about the reasons

they are members of First Unitarian Church of Alton

 

 

from Audrey Wiseman:

I love Unitarianism because it stands for the right to inquire.   We seek to understand.   Our religion, our way of living, depends on actions that enhance, make better, this world.   We support environmentalism.   We long for peacemaking and do that which is in our power to influence others in this endeavor.   We acknowledge differences and try to include in our group those whom we do not quite understand, but whose uniquenesses we rationally appreciate.   For over fifty years I have lived in this church family and have grown in understanding and the wealth of ideas I have found here.

 

 

from Diane Thompson:

My mother died in a car accident in August 2004.   Many in this church community knew her.   She was active in this church, though not a member.   When I sit here, I sit in a place she sat, I hear readings she heard, I sing songs she sang.   The first time I stood in this pulpit was at her memorial service.

On that day, the church was full.   Hands, unseen to me, set out tables and silverware, brought flowers and food.   What I remember saying on that day was how much my mother had loved the people gathered here.   What I felt on that day, though, was empty, cold, and black.

This church and the love I found here has been part of my way home from that time.   Here are hands to tend and love my children.   Here is unconditional love for me.   Here is a place I can sit with sorrow until it gradually becomes more bearable—a place where I am learning to integrate that sorrow and see beyond it.   Here I can bring sorrow and joy and have both recognized and shared.

This church saved my life.   And my soul.   And continues to open my heart.

And I am so grateful.

 

 

from Mark E. Tade:

I belong to this Church because several years ago I unexpectedly discovered that I am a Unitarian.

It all started with a baby…   Shortly before our daughter Lily was born, about 12 years ago, Cathy and I agreed that it would be essential for our children to be raised with an understanding of our American culture’s religious – predominantly Christian – heritage.   However, we also mutually assessed that neither of us was fully qualified to provide such religious teachings.   We did not attend church, and we shared comparable misgivings about the teachings of the churches we grew up with – she a Catholic, and I a product of the Protestant of the Month Club.   Nevertheless, we thought that exposure to religious principles and beliefs would be an important part of our children’s education and ability to understand a significant inspirational force in our world.   We concluded that we needed to find a church, but which church?   Our respective experiences had given us a ready list of churches that we could not join in good faith.   (And I mean that quite literally.)   So we did what one did in the days of 1200-baud internet access:   we went to the library and found a hardcopy encyclopedia of the world’s religions.   Cathy did the research, and we were both surprised when she found a church that seemed a match for us, the Unitarian Universalist Church.   As fate would have it – maybe even a little divine intervention – Davis, California, where we lived at the time, had a Unitarian Church.   It only took a few visits to know we had found our place.

So that’s how I found the Unitarian Church - but why do I belong here?   Why do I deliberately return to this Church most every Sunday?   Why am I willing to pay money to be a member of this Church?

I neither believe nor agree with everything I hear from this pulpit – from our Minister or from my fellow members or guests.   And I don’t find myself surrounded here by people who all believe what I believe.   So why do I belong here?   Why am I willing to raise my children in this Church, and entrust their religious education to this community?

 

I belong to this Church because NOBODY here believes or agrees with everything preached from this pulpit – and that’s OK.   That’s how it should be.   That’s what makes me – and I believe all of us – Unitarians.   I don’t come to church wanting to be filled with someone else’s unquestionable truths.   I want to hear different points of view:   things that make me think;   things that make me question what I think I know;   things that rattle the very foundations of my beliefs.   Thought-provoking discourse is spiritual food.   And this is where I come to feed my spirit.   Agreeable or not, the things I hear in this Church are worth hearing, worth considering.   They promote my spiritual growth and lead me to a better understanding of what is Truth.  

Attending this Church makes me a better person.   It plays an important part in keeping my life in balance.   It lifts my consciousness above the fray of day-to-day living and refreshes my focus on things that really matter.   I learn here.   And I carry those lessons outside these walls, as I believe we all do.   They influence who I am and what I do.   In that way, this Church has a positive influence in my extended community.

So 12 years later, I can think of no better community in which to entrust the religious education of my children – or myself – or anyone else.   That’s why I belong.   That’s why I support this Church.