A Moment of Faith

Sunday, April 25th was a day of spiritual uplifting the likes of which I seldom experience! My traditionalist friends and colleagues may be moved by the spirit every Sunday in their religious services of choice, but my most meaningful spiritual moments happen outside the sanctuary more frequently than in a church, although this weekend’s granting of grace was within a religious service.

I, like many others, began my Sunday morning within the walls of a sacred space. In my case the Unitarian Universalist Church of Sterling in Sterling, Virginia. On this spring day, the Youth Group was to offer their gift of a service completely conceived, developed and delivered by the 14 to 19 year old members of the congregation. This annual event is always highly anticipated by the congregants as a UU service presented by the youth is a bit like the news presented by John Stewart; hip, smart, always irreverent and with a stripped away truthfulness that only people of their ages can achieve. This year did not disappoint! My daughter and her fellow youth group members – all young men – presented a program filled with thought provoking ideas and images that included the angst of teenaged friendships, unicorns, Mr. Rogers, juggling, achieving relationships through art and the Cookie Monster! The connections were amazing! One attendee commented that if the future of the world relied on the creativity of these young people, we were all going to be just fine.

As is traditional following this service, members of the congregation asked questions of the Youth Group, both about the service and their feelings about growing up in this less well known faith. This group of young adults had been a part of UU-ism for as long as they could remember. They all spoke with intelligence, passion and reverence for their place in the congregation and their place in the greater world. It was a proud moment for every parent of every youth member. In a world where you are never quite sure if the choices you offer your children are the best ones, we were all blessed with the knowledge that bringing our children into this faith community was the right choice.

A Different Kind of Valentine's Day Celebration

I am single…unmarried…unattached. Urban legend says that at my age, I have a better chance of being captured by terrorists or struck by lightning than finding a mate. As one might imagine, Valentine’s Day was not high on my list of eagerly awaited holidays. So, amid boxes of chocolates, florist’s windows ablaze with red roses and endless rows of pink and red sentimental greeting cards, I decided to look in a different direction this Valentine’s Day. I had the opportunity to “Stand on the Side of Love”…not the romantic, dizzying, sweaty palms kind of love, but instead the love of my fellow humans; of justice and fairness and standing up for the right thing.

Standing on the Side of Love (SSL) is a public advocacy campaign, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association, promoting respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Working on national and local government levels as well as having an international presence, Standing on the Side of Love promotes the harnessing of love’s power to end oppression, exclusion and violence against people based on race, religion, gender, immigrant status, political orientation, sexual orientation or any identity.

On February 14, 2010 the Unitarian Universalists of Sterling joined over 100 communities nationwide as they hosted a forum and discussion about the rights of our gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning brothers and sisters. Loudoun County School Board Chairman John Stevens (Potomac) and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors member Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) joined Wendi Manuel-Scott a professor of African American Studies at George Mason University and Joy Cobb, a lesbian parent and Mountain View Elementary School (Purcellville) PTA President on the dais.

Professor Manuel-Scott, who recently completed a documentary about gay, black men talked about trying to make herself available to students needing support. Chairman Stevens, whose wife, Lori Stevens, is President of the Loudoun Education Alliance of Parents and a board member of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of Washington, DC spoke of the difficulties gay and lesbian students face in a oft times unwelcoming school environment. My daughter, a senior at Briar Woods High School commented that the Gay Straight Alliance club at school was virtually nonexistent because gay and lesbian students are fearful of "coming out". Ms. Cobb spoke of the difficulty she and her partner faced when trying to adopt their children and how something as simple as completing a school form can feel exclusionary when you must fill in a mother’s and father’s name instead of a parent’s. Supervisor Miller talked about his recent successful experience proposing the addition of language prohibiting discrimination in county government hiring practices due to sexual orientation and gender identity.

A question and answer session followed with the audience primarily asking what they could do to help. I felt it was a constructive discussion and some thoughtful questions and enlightening comments were voiced. My disappointment was that most of those attending were of like mind, in effect we were “preaching to the choir”. I wished some of the individuals on the other side of the aisle had seen fit to come and dialogue with the attendees for I believe progress can only be made when people of differing opinions are willing to listen to each others point of view.

Standing on the Side of Love goes beyond advocating for the rights of gays. It calls upon us to use love to stop oppression whether it is of immigrants and other marginalized groups here in the US or gay and lesbian men and woman in Uganda fighting a government supported anti-homosexuality bill. When we choose to respect every person as someone of worth how can we help but Stand on the Side of Love?

Olympic Ups and Downs

When I flipped through the channels at 8 pm last night, I didn't intend to stay up until midnight watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. I thought I'd watch the parade of athletes, admire their flags, their outfits and play the "Place This Country on a World Map" game.
I was first drawn in by the remarkable display of the native peoples of Canada, such wonderful variety in costumes, colors and dance. Then the parade of athletes...I wondered if Iran and Israel separated only by Ireland in the queue might actually put their politics aside and get to know each other. Just as I was about to turn off the TV and do something productive - like finish my tax return - a snow storm began inside Vancover's BC Place. Executive producer David Atkins with his 100 projectors and incredible creative vision had me transfixed! A convincing ice melt, followed by a flood then a pod of whales spouting seawater from the stadium floor! I wished I had invested in a wide screen HDTV. The images continued to delight. A polar bear floating over the "ice"; a forest growing before spectator's eyes; a young man running then flying across the plains; the Rockies emerging as if we were witness to a 100,000 years of geographic change in an instant! A true masterpiece!
The speeches and musical numbers that followed were less inspired, but I had already invested my entire evening, surely I'd see it through to the lighting of the Olympic flame! Unfortunately, as the world witnessed what should have been the most stirring, emotional and climatic moment of the evening... the mechanism lifting the cauldron failed to perform (pun intended). I read that a Twitterer Tweeted "After all, Canada invented insulin, not Viagra".
It saddens me that as spectacular as the preceding performance had been, what will be remembered is the malfunction that ended the evening, and the death of a young Georgian athlete striving to be the best at a particularly dangerous sport.
As the cauldron was never-the-less lit with three torches instead of four, I was excited to be a witness to yet another Olympics; an opportunity for the world to experience both national pride, international understanding andglobal goodwill.
I am a Unitarian Universalist. The symbol of my religion is a lighted chalice, much like the Olympic cauldron. Whenever we meet, for services, for gatherings even for committee meetings, we light a chalice as a symbol of a "spiritual light" guiding us along our way. My wish for the athletes of the 2010 Winter Olympics is that the torch helps to light their way not only as they try to achieve their personal best physically, but mentally and spiritually as well.

The Blizzard of 2010 - We were there!
The beauty of a winter storm cannot be denied. The purity of the snow covers up much of the unattractive additions and subtractions we have imposed on our natural landscape and lets us imagine how things might have looked, and sounded and felt in an earlier time.