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Baptized as Assembly of God, raised in a strict Penecostal tradition by a very religious family, left God behind at 17 after questioning beliefs and realizing all the hypocrisy inherent in any dogmatic paradigm. Studied Buddhism, Judaism, Satanism, and Wicca before declaring myself a pantheist, and then ultimately, an atheist. The death of my wife on Sep. 15, 2009 has cause me to rethink and challenge many of my beliefs. This blog is a reflection of and a reaction to those challenges.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Week 1 - Unitarian Universalist

At the invitation of my friends Scott and Cathy, my first service will be at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Rosa, 547 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA.

(Coincidentally, this congregation's building is located at the site of the former UA 5 Cinemas where I worked as a teenager, right around the time I began questioning my religious upbringing).


The topic this week is "Love & Loss":
"Loss is an inevitable part of life. Even the luckiest and happiest of people knows loss as an inevitable quality of this ever-changing Universe. Some losses can severely test our faith and our spirit, such as divorce, the death of a close loved one, or our own departure from this mortal coil. There is also a way, too, that such losses can often reveal just how precious and amazing life and love really are. We’ll help each other find that way today."
Sounds perfect. :)

LINKS FOR REFERENCE OR FURTHER STUDY:

Additional topics for different services at the Santa Rosa Congregation can be found here
 The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
 Wikipedia's entry on Unitarian Universalism
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3 comments:

  1. vallorSeptember 14, 2010 at 10:06 AM

    BTW, I should mention that Cathy & I have only been going to the UUCSR for a few months. However, I've found there a place where I can feel comfortable with my own ideas about God and spirituality, while learning others' ideas.

    Besides, they are a great bunch of folks. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarcyTSeptember 19, 2010 at 8:53 AM

    Unitarians tend to be pretty cool dudes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ellen EtcSeptember 23, 2010 at 9:31 AM

    Here's a YouTube video of the song "How Could Anyone":
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxyQPa2_bcE

    I posted your report to the congregation's email list, and several people who had to miss the service wrote that they really appreciated it and felt like they were there.

    We loved having you with us! Maybe you could come back to some of your favorite congregations whenever you need a week off from the project.

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