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The wedding service, legally speaking

2 September 2010 at 03:21

In 2004, after marriage between persons of the same sex became legal, I wrote a blog post about what a pastor might do when the couple had already vowed themselves to each other in the only spheres available: the social, religious or both.

Husband Jonathan and I are clear that our wedding seven years ago was real, if legally imperfect and that our ceremony a couple of weeks ago was not to replace it, but finish it. To underscore this, we kept the ceremony short, informal and with language echoing back to 2003.

In full, here’s what we did, or rather what the Rev. Victoria Weinstein led us in.

On July 5, 2003, at the Universalist National Memorial Church, you Jonathan Padget and Scott Wells, vowed to each other before God and the congregation, to have and to hold one another from that day
forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death shall you part. You sealed this vow by holding hands, exchanging rings, and with prayer and the breaking of bread.

Today, you come to add to your wedded state marriage under the law of the District of Columbia. Is this your intent?

Each: It is.

[Turning, holding hands.]

I, Jonathan, take you Scott to be my lawfully wedded husband.

I, Scott, take you Jonathan to be my lawfully wedded husband.

Forasmuch as Scott and Jonathan have thus pledged themselves each to the other in the presence of these witnesses, I do now, by virtue of authority vested in me by the District of Columbia pronounce that they
are married.

The Lord bless you with his love as a mantle on your shoulders, a crown on your foreheads, and a seal upon your hearts.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the companionship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Needed we more?

Thomas Potter's grave

5 September 2010 at 02:54

Thomas Potter's grave

Hubby and I honeymooned on the Jersey shore, and took in a visit to Murray Grove, the site of John Murray and Thomas Potter’s providential meeting and for more than a century a (Unitarian) Universalist camp and retreat site.

Alas, Potter’s chapel, though deeded to Murray, was never claimed by him — he never knew he was the heir — and fell into Methodist hands and was replaced in the nineteenth century. Potter’s grave, next to it in a cemetery used by the general local community, was re-marked by later generations of Universalists.

Potter's Chapel, replaced

6 September 2010 at 17:29

As I mentioned last time, Jonathan and I visited Murray Grove during our honeymoon on the Jersey Shore.

Michael Masters, Murray Grove’s Assistant Director, kindly gave us the tour, including the chapel. This is the Methodist-built chapel that replaced Potter’s original building. (It is not part of the Murray Grove property, but there’s some kind of cooperative understanding that includes access.)

The chapel has been recently renovated — and is quite a little gem of countryside religious architecture.

Chapel, exterior shot
Pump organ in chapel
Preaching desk and "elder's" chairs

The unincorporated churches option

7 September 2010 at 04:13

Following up on two former blog posts, I want to introduce the Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act. But what does the UUNAA has to do for UUs, or other people organizing religious congregations?

There are really two uniform acts — 1996 and a revised version from 2008. Fewer than a fifth of all states have adopted either, and only Nevada and Iowa have adopted the new one, so my comments reflect the older act. (The new version has been introduced in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and the District of Columbia.)

Where enacted, the UUNAA makes a nonprofit unincorporated association a legal entity, upending the common law. (As I’ve said before, do I need to say I’m not a lawyer? Or a lawmaker? If you live where such an act has been passed, check the specific language and see if there’s an in-state opinion about it.) I’m excited — not just for all those new Esperanto teaching clubs, food pantries and animal shelters — because it allows an unincorporated nonprofit association to (1) hold real property and (2) protect officials and members from legal action (though not from “piercing the shield” from malicious acts, but neither would incorporation.) A passage from the reformed 2008 model act speaks better than I can:

[This] was drafted with small informal associations in mind. These informal organizations are likely to have no legal advice and so fail to consider legal and organizational questions, including whether to incorporate. The act provides better answers than the common law for a limited number of legal problems. Its answers are more in accord with the expectations of those participating in the work of a [unincorporated nonprofit association] and third parties dealing with a [unincorporated nonprofit association] than the common law.

That sounds like some churches — new and old — I’ve known. But I’m more concerned for new churches. It’s no secret I’m deeply disturbed by the lack of an organized (or functioning) church development plan from the Unitarian Universalist Association. The “leave it to the districts” line not only doesn’t work, but the districts themselves are struggling. Locally-started new congregations are going to need all the help they can get.

And yet there’s a principled reason to be encouraged by the UUNAA. Sarah J. Hastings, writing a note in the Drake Law Review (“Cinderella’s New Dress: A Better Organizational Option for Churches and Other Small Nonprofits”; 55 Drake L. Rev. 813) makes the case that corporate structure is a poor fit for congregational and episcopal polity churches. Wouldn’t it be better for the organizational system to be drawn from the theology and polity of the religious organization? What’s the theological grounding for corporate-law directors, or are they wedged into a theological role? And does it make sense for a group of ten or twenty? Because the UUNAA is remarkably vague when it comes to these questions. Check your local law library or Lexis-Nexus account for a copy of the journal note. Worth a look.

That is, if you live in

  • Alabama
  • Arkansas
  • Colorado
  • District of Columbia
  • Delaware
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Iowa (revised act)
  • Nevada (revised act)
  • North Carolina
  • Texas
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

P.s. This might also be a handy way to organize “independent affiliate”-like groups. Hint.
P.p.s. This has nothing to do with tax-exempt status.

A real, live $100 laptop

8 September 2010 at 01:32

A few years ago, the so-called $100 laptop was the buzz of technology and development community: some favorable, others not. The idea was that a small laptop could be deployed to help the world’s children learn. I was (and am) one of the doubters, but the machine — as developed — is a handy bit of equipment and I bought one used off a co-worker. (There was a promotion three years ago, where people in the economic West could sponsor one and receive another.) The future of the XO, as the device has become known, is uncertain. It certainly costs more than $100 now.

Its greater legacy might be the introduction of the netbook format of small laptop computers. I now own three, including the XO, and my newest one — an Asus EEE PC 1005PE with the newest version of Ubuntu Linux — could easily become my lone machine, should I ever have to choose.

Now, a netbook with a $100 pricetag has been seen in the wild. There was a note of its coming (Engadget) last month, and Hubby saw one — at the CVS, a pharmacy and discount goods chain — today.  No word of it at their website. But there must have been a buzz and demand; when I went by the same store two hours later, it was sold out.

But the question is “is it worth it?”

  1. I’d love to know your thoughts, especially if you’re looking to buy a computer soon.
  2. I’ll see if I can find the specs for this machine, and see if anyone has bought it and tested it.

A change in blogging (wherein I blame the Quakers)

11 September 2010 at 05:09

After seven and a half years of blogging, it’s time again to rethink “The Boy in the Bands” — if only in a limited, experimental way. Blog is short for web log; so what of logging my thoughts first on paper, and then letting them ripen a bit before transferring them to the web? (Case in point, I’m transcribing these notes from September 8th.)

Of course, I blame the Quakers. Wednesday, I attended dinner, Bible study, singing, open worship and fellowship with the Capitol Hill Friends, an independent Conservative-leaning worship group across town. For the second time. Not sure what to make of the experience — open worship in particular is quite a challenge for me — but I feel more grounded and faithful coming out of these evenings, and less inclined to grind out a few choice words just to say I got a blog post up. Besides, as other bloggers know, writing this way is quite time consuming and now I would rather read more — including the Bible, and John Murray (rather than John Woolman) — and pray more. And perhaps even sleep more. So even, dear readers, if I’ve not posted any given day, it may be because I developing something more substantial and not because I’m disinterested.

(But a side thought. A logbook can also be a a running log of work, warts and all. And I have some church tech projects in mind, too. So there might be the odd, unripe posting. And some quickly dashed “see here” notes. I make no promises for consistency. And I’m not trading in my bands for a broad-brimmed hat.)

Two blog posts on mission and ministry

12 September 2010 at 17:07

If you don’t keep up with the Quaker blogosphere, you might miss two valuable blog posts about mission, ministry and how these speak to generational change, resources and burnout.

Micah, for those counting, is a Quaker minister, with the Capitol Hill Friends worship group I mentioned last time. You can also follow them as micahbales and martin_kelley on Twitter.

Relly work at Archive.org

13 September 2010 at 00:22

It’s hard to find the works of James Relly, John Murray’s mentor and Judith Sargent Murray‘s inspiration. His influence was on a terminal decline within the Murrays’ lifetime, and later reprints were largely of historical interest. But I’m rather keen on him, or at least the fragments I’ve found. I’ve republished as a PDF his Union: or, a Treatise of the Consanguinity and Affinity between Christ and his Church. (1759)

Today I found Thoughts on the cherubimical mystery, or, An attempt to prove that the cherubims were emblems of salvation by the blood of Jesus (1780, 1808 ed.) not through Google Books, but through Archive.org, from the original at Boston Library. I’ve not read it yet, so leave it to the wide eyes of a wondering public.

Examining extinct churches

15 September 2010 at 23:30

Long-time readers know I write about Swedenborgians, Quakers and the Christian end of the Unitarians and Universalists. In the United States, all are in decline.

But there are some denominations that are as dead as a dodo, but only died within my lifetime of 41 years. Call it my “save the whooping cane” childhood, but I nominate three for revival. (Even if it might call for a divine re-animating revelation or two.)

  • The Sandemandians (Glasites)
  • The Muggletonians [resources]
  • The Catholic Apostolic Church (Irvingites)
  • And for extra credit – since I’m unlikely to broach this subject again —  the long dead, but theologically universalist

  • Philadelphians (Leadites)
  • Wikipedia and Google scavengers, have fun.

    Free Christian "Wayfarers" site up

    16 September 2010 at 12:47

    The Free Christians are to the British Unitarians as the Universalists are here: easily elided into the Unitarian tradition without much thought of its distinctive charism. Tim Powell, whom some of you may know from the former Christian Compass magazine, has opened a new Free Christian site.

    http://www.way-farers.org.uk

    It’s worth exploring, as indeed I shall as I plow through the two volumes of The Life and Letters of James Martineau.

    Why are the Humanists selling their building?

    17 September 2010 at 01:30

    So I was reading a list of available Dupont Circle commercial properties. (You have your hobbies; I have mine.) One address looked very familiar.

    Why is the American Humanist Association (really their foundation) selling their building (or at least trying)? They do own, rather than rent. Does anyone have details? A quick search didn’t bring up anything.

    Paul Siegvolck's The Everlasting Gospel

    21 September 2010 at 04:13

    Just a quick note. It’s hard to find The Everlasting Gospel by Paul Siegvolck — pseudonym of George Klein-Nicolai — even though it’s continued mentioned in Universalist history, particularly for its value in converting then-Baptist Elhanan Winchester to faith in the universal restoration.

    Copies of a 1840s reprint hide at Google Books, anthologized in the Select Theological Library, published for a later generation of Universalists. Unfortunately, it was printed cheaply as a serial with very thin margins. Between this version (start at page 77) and this one (start at page 135, though the numbering restarts, so about half way through or page 438 if you download the PDF; better quality) you should be able to make it out.

    Welcome our PBU visitors

    25 September 2010 at 16:42

    I know I’m not the only “name brand” Universalist Christian who delights in the continuing ministry of the Primitive Baptist Universalists (dubbed such, abbreviated PBU, by Howard Dorgan in his In the Hands of a Happy God).

    Welcome PBU Elders Farley and Beavers, who have posted comments at this still-active blog post from 2006.

    "Everlasting Gospel" in PDF, October 2

    25 September 2010 at 19:32

    Well, I figured the best way to carefully read Siegvolck’s The Everlasting Gospel is to clean up a scan for re-publication. (It’s worked before.) And the best way to get to out is to promise a PDF (and text file of the LaTeX markup) to my readers.

    So, on October 2, I will publish both. I will not promise they will be beautiful. That’s for a later iteration. Both will, however, be in the public domain.

    A hymn at St. Moz's

    28 September 2010 at 01:37

    I’d totally go to church here. (I’ve been to Lutheran churches with similar interiors.) Though the theology is perhaps less Universalist than it seems at first flush. A touch of Adventism? The vegetarians ones, naturally.

    “In the future when all’s well” (Morrissey)

    Koch Fiorina fundraiser - more details

    29 September 2010 at 12:40

    Unitarian Universalist blogger Fort Boise noted “Tea Party moneybags Koch Industries PAC is hosting a fundraiser for Carly Fiorina in the California Senate race.”

    My employer, the Sunlight Foundation, has a project called “Party Time” that tracks these fundraisers and had this invitation up for some time. (Sunlight’s non-partisan, but I’m not; this comes from me.)

    Here’s the Fiorina invitation — with links to others — and I’d invite you browse the database for your favorite (or not) members of Congress and their funders. Here’s a blog post there about it.

    And spread the word: it’s eye-opening.

    Party Time (http://politicalpartytime.org)

    "The Everlasting Gospel" to download

    3 October 2010 at 01:11

    As I promised, today I’m pleased to release a PDF (and the source XeTeX file) for Seigvolck’s The Everlasting Gospel. It looks pretty good if I do say so, and it makes a thrilling — and occasionally bizarre — read.

    I’ll gladly take “bug reports” — it would help if they were keyed to line numbers in the XeTeX file — plus I’ll make improvements from time to time, including a notice that it’s in the public domain. Enjoy.

    PDF version (311 kb)

    (Xe)TeX version (239 kb)  (About XeTex)

    Open thread: best pocket book

    5 October 2010 at 02:38

    One for the ministers (of any fellowship or affiliation), ministerial students, chaplains and the like. (You get to chose if you are “like”.)

    In your hands is a small book vital to your ministry. Small enough to pop in a jacket pocket or clutch purse. What is it? (or them.)

    I’ll chime in if this attracts attention.  A context or your reasons would also help, and — as with Desert Island Discs — I’ll grant the Bible as a given.

    Beauty tips for orders of service

    6 October 2010 at 12:53

    With apologies to Victoria Weinstein, and her Beauty Tips for Ministers blog.

    One of the tasks that took the most time and caused the most unnecessary trouble was getting the Sunday service bulletin/order of service/order of worship/service sheet to look right. Those of you with limited office staff will understand.

    I’m trying to work up a simple workflow, with free and open-source tools, to make this task easier; in particular, TeX and LaTex, which might seem odd choices for church work. It will be an iterative process: the first result will be painful and ugly and should improve in ease and quality.  I’ll be doing it even if there’s no expressed interest — I leave things on this blog that take years to get attention. But if you do have a real-life need, please note it in the comments.

    Recollecting Marmaduke Gardner, 1812-1879

    9 October 2010 at 15:29

    I do like church news, even if it dates to 1872. This post started as a one-note joke about a minister in a town with a funny name, but uncovered a Universalist pioneer in Texas. According to the University of Texas archives abstract (see below), he “he moved to Texas in 1854 and subsequently organized the first Universalist Society in Texas at Smith Springs, now Lawhon Springs.” (Lawhon Springs is extinct, save a cemetery; perhaps the one below.)

    The following comes from the Board of Trustees report of the Universalist General Convention. The General Convention had the power to extend fellowship to ministers and churches in places not covered by a state convention, thus,

    Under the powers conferred by Article III, Sec. 6 of the Constitution, your Board has granted a letter of Fellowship to the Rev. Maramduke Gardner, of Sand-Fly, Bastrop Co., Texas.

    Some notes. Bastrop County is immediately to the southwest of Lee County. The UGC had just been reorganized with new powers, so it seems more like the “rehabilitation” of an experienced, senior minister with no other fellowship, pending research to the contrary. He came from South Carolina, making me wonder if he’s a descendant of the German Brethren-Universalists whose descendants survive in Universalist churches in Newberry, S.C.; Canon, Georgia and elsewhere.

    His obituary, from the papers of the 1880 Universalist Register, speak of servant whose labors were little known among the bulk of the Universalist ministerial college

    Rev. Marmaduke Gardner was born in 1812, in South Carolina, and died in McDade, Texas, May 4, 1879, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He spent the earlier part of his life in his native State, though he lived for some years in Mississippi previous to his removal to Texas, which occurred more than twenty-five years ago. Ho began to preach May 12, 1848, was ordained Sept. 2,1849, and received the fellowship of the General Convention Jan. 10, 1872. He was pastor of the Universalist Church in Williamson Co., Texas, twenty-five years, where his memory will long be fragrant in the hearts of those who best knew him. He travelled very extensively in Texas, and did a great amount of missionary work, and was a very faithful and useful minister, highly esteemed in the community where he lived for his integrity and sincere Christian spirit. His faith in the full grace of God sustained him in life, and was more fully manifested as the shadows of the tomb gathered around him, and he died peacefully and happily. Mr. Gardner was twice married — first March 12, 1833, to Miss Rhoda Ussery, by whom he had nineteen children. She died in 1878, and he was married a few weeks before his death, to Mrs. Jones, of McDade, Texas.

    And an interesting polity note. Gardner and his church locally ordained another minister, J. C. Lawhon, who then — about 18 months after Gardner’s death — ordained a third minister, J. S. Dunbar. The Universalist General Convention recognized these ordinations, given that “ordination in the regular form was at that time impractical” and admitted them into direct fellowship.

    His and family papers at the University of Texas

    Family cemetery, in Lee County, where he and family members are buried

    Feature set for LaTeX order of worship project

    11 October 2010 at 14:19

    On my netbook, tapping out ideas while my home desktop computer finishes updating the latest version of Ubuntu Linux. That massive software project makes me think about the little, somewhat procedural and documentation-focused project I’ve started. To recap, I want to help automate the production of orders of service using LaTeX, a typesetting language more associated with mathematical journals or scientific dissertations than anything religious.

    So here are the features I want to see in this project, both to cultivate some interest and to guide my work.

    1. select correct standard LaTeX document style, as project basis, if one exists
    2. project creates makes 5.5 by 8.5 inch pages
    3. prints in selected typeface
    4. set up LaTeX file with comments to allow easy editing
    5. prints lines where half of the content is forced left, flush left and the rest is forced right, flush right
    6. can print as a booklet with pages in the correct order
    7. associate the correct package to allow her/his and he/she pronouns within a service automatically
    8. link file to data source, to create “mail merged” output
    9. insert an image of music, generated from a text file, such as ABC notation
    10. associate correct heading levels with sections within a customary order of worship
    11. insert hooks to pull repeated (“ordinary”) liturgical fragments

    In the neighborhood of Boston

    19 October 2010 at 13:17

    So I’m in Boston, having first attended Peter Boullata’s installation as the minister of the First Parish, Lexington. Victoria Weinstein, also known to Beauty Tips for Ministers blog readers as PeaceBang, delivered an extraordinary sermon and Tom Schade, the minister of First Unitarian, Worcester delivered a charge that made me rethink what I should be doing. More about that as it develops.

    Between that, where I saw old friends and the compass of this visit where I see others — plus the continuous and obvious signs of Unitarian and Universalist history, I’m left with a pleasant, irenic feeling that I hopes lasts a while.

    The shortest wedding service

    24 October 2010 at 17:54

    A post-church, post-lunch interlude. Found this in a decades-old Unitarian ministers’ manual. Why would someone choose this service? Perhaps for a wedding in a hospital, at a sick-bed, or for a couple in mourning where the solemnization is otherwise unavoidable. Or by two who really do want the shortest service possible!

    Later. Left out a rather important part, however implied it may be.

    From A Handbook for Ministers. Volume 1. Boston: American Unitarian Association, 1925. Page 32.

    A Marriage Declaration

    Where a mere declaration of marriage is desired the following may be used:

    ¶ The minister shall say:

    Standing as you now do in the presence of God and these witnesses, do you covenant to take each other as husband and wife, and agree to live together as God’s ordinance and the laws of the land decree?

    ¶ Then shall the man and the woman each say:

    I do.

    ¶ Then shall the minister say:

    By virtue of the authority vested in me by the State, I pronounce you husband and wife.

    Recommended Reformation Day reading

    31 October 2010 at 15:56

    Greetings, readers — My husband, Jonathan Padget and I are back from a deeply restful and energizing vacation in southern New England. Expect much of the blogging in the days to come to reflect this.

    But today, among other observances, is Reformation Day. Ours is a reformation faith; indeed when examined perhaps Protestant if not always Christian. In particular, our roots — both Unitarian and Universalist — run heavily through the English Reformed tradition, which is to say we’re of Puritan stock.

    It’s not very popular to claim affinity for Puritans these days, nor indeed for several decades. And we’re apt to say we’ve gotten past that, if it weren’t so evident in how we continue to organize and imagine ourselves. But misunderstanding (or even deliberately maligning) the Puritans won’t help us understand how we got here or what shapes our particular gifts to the religious landscape.

    On the road, Jonathan quizzed me on the difference between the Puritans and Pilgrims, the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies and the like. Having earned a religious history degree before going to seminary, I set out the distinctions in the usual way, but I couldn’t get some of the dates in the right order and began to second guess myself. God, in his Providence, made available a little book in a little shop conveniently next door to the Universalist Meeting House in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which I bough and devoured. I commend this to all Unitarian Universalist ministerial students and forgetful ministers, particularly if you can also get it used for half price.

    This book is Francis J. Bremer’s Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction (2009, $11.95) from Oxford University Press. True to the name, it is a quick read, and quite authoritative. Compact, too, and sure to keep people from bothering you on the subway.

    The biggest takeaways are its readable historical review; a good explanation of a spectrum of Puritan worldviews, with respect to social change when having different levels of political power; and background for congregational polity. In particular, Bremer reviews the precedent of Continental refugee churches for the local selection of ministers. Also, I hadn’t known of lay and ministerial conferences that carry over today in the UUA, the various ministerial study groups and independent theological organizations.

    A worthy read, also valuable I think for group study.

    Inside Universalist Meeting House

    2 November 2010 at 12:27

    Well, I missed All Saints Day and now it’s All Souls Day. Remember the unity of the human race in prayer. Nothing profound to say about it now — time is short — but I wanted to share a few photos from the Universalist Meeting House in Provincetown, which I visited last week.

    It’s one of the most conspicuous buildings in town, so there’s not the “what’s that” factor you get everywhere else. I could fall in love with P-town.

    Let me also comment the Universalist Meeting House leadership and staff for keeping it open for tourists. I just walked in, and there were signs directing me. Had I been carrying some cash, I could have also bought the self-guided tour booklet.
    Interior, Universalist Meeting House, Provincetown

    Ceiling, Universalist Meeting House, Provincetown

    Surely the trompe l’oeil paintings of the meetinghouse interior are its biggest general selling point, but I was taken by the tablet beside the meetinghouse interior door.

    Tablet, Universalist Meeting House, Provincetown

    The first part reads:

    For Sylvia and Elizabth Freeman
    who Found in the tide off Long Point
    a Book
    The Life of John Murray Father of Universalism
    So Began this Parish 1829

    This bit of unlikely, providential evangelism has happened before, if memory serves. In the Philippines, and also in South Carolina, for one of the Newberry churches, but perhaps not the extant Clayton Memorial Church. It’s one of the reasons I started developing websites as far back as 1995: with the hope that someone would run across Universalism this way.

    Commuting to church: D.C., elsewhere tool

    10 November 2010 at 00:14

    The folk wisdom about getting to church is that people will go as far to a church as they will go to work. That makes commuting data important for church plants, but failing that assume that someone won’t take more than a half-hour to get there.

    There’s a new interesting tool that maps how far someone in Washington, D.C. and a few other cities — Boston, Seattle, Dallas, New York and Chicago, among others; and Berlin, London, Auckland and Perth overseas — can get in a certain amount of time on foot and using transit. Important, too, because I have a hard time thinking the suburban “temple in a sea of asphalt” will fare well in a city, or that even near-suburban congregations can depend on this unfortunate staples of American religious life. (That said, it’s been more than a decade since I was a member of church that I had to drive to, so I’m a bit of an outlier.)

    Enough for the lead-in; the resource is Mapnificent, or to start directly with Washington, D.C.

    An old reflection on what it means to be a Universalist church

    12 November 2010 at 02:20

    A continuing concern of mine is what makes a Universalist church Universalist. I’ve gotten hints from liturgies and speeches, but nothing helps so well as polity documents, which tell more than they intend.

    So when I found the badly-typeset 1873 constitution and bylaws of the (extant) Halifax, Nova Scotia Universalist church, I was touched and interested by its combination of boilerplate and local additions. There’s quite a bit to unpack within it, so first the document itself, below the fold. I welcome unpacked observations, and I’ll be adding my own in the comments, too.


    Act of Incorporation and Constitution of the Church of the Redeemer, Halifax, Nova Scotia

    adopted June 29, 1873

    Church of the Redeemer

    Preamble:

    Believing in the Church as an association of Christian believers, for religious culture and christian work, we hereby unite for the formation of a Parish therein, and adopt for our government the following Constitutions and Bye-Laws. —

    Article I.

    Name. — This organization heretofore known as “The First Universalist Church of Halifax,” shall hereafter be designated as the Church of the Redeemer.

    Article II.

    This Parish acknowledges itself part of the Universalist Church of America, recognizes the ecclesiastical authority of the United States General Convention of Universalists, and the jurisdiction of the Maine Universalist Convention; — regards itself a pledges to enlist and co-operated in such measures for raising funds and fostering and extending all the interests of the Church, as the General Convention may adopt or prescribe; — and accedes to and shall comply with the conditions of fellowship establised by the said General Convention; provided always, that all monies raised in the Parish be under its immediate control.

    Article III.

    Membership. — [I.] An expressed assent to the Confession of Faith adopted by the General Convention of Universalists, at Winchester, N. H., A. D. 1803, shall be essential to membership in this parish, to wit.

    Art. I. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest and final destination of mankind.

    Art. II. We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.

    Art. III. We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practice good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men.

    II. — Any person who assents to said Confession of Faith and contributes to the support of the Parish, becomes a member thereof, provided that a majority of members do not object.

    Article IV.

    The Pastor. — No Minister shall be call to, or continue in, the Pastoral charge of this Parish unless he has the fellowship of the General Convention.

    II. — The Pastor shall be chosen by a majority of the congregation at a meeting called for that purpose, and three months notice shall be given on either side to terminate the connection.

    V. — Baptism.

    While this Church does not regard Water Baptism as essential of Christian discipleship, it recognizes its propriety as a symbol; and the Pastor, in case it shall be desired by one admitted a member, shall administer it or [cause] it to be administered in such a form as may be preferred.

    VI. — The Communion.

    The Communion of the Lord’s Supper shall be regularly observed quarterly in each year, in the months of January, April, July and October; it being provided that its participation therein shall not be made obligatory upon any member; and further, that at every such service all present who may feel it to be a duty or priviledge to do so, shall be invited to join its observance.

    VII. — Children and the Church.

    1. Believing that Children are born into the Church by virtue of their birth of Christian parents, this Parish regards its the duty of all christians to endeavor to train their children in a [consciousness] of their Christian obligation, and it recommends that they bring their children forward for Baptism or dedication, as a token of the recognition of this duty.

    2. To this end the last Sunday in June of each year shall, of practicable, be observed as Children’s Sunday.

    VIII. — Statistics.

    A Book or Register shall be provided, in which shall be recorded by the Pastor, in the manner and form prescribed by the laws of the General Convention, all Baptisms, Dedications, Marriages, Funerals, etc., performed or attended by him, or by another for him.

    IX. — General Committees.

    The Parish shall be divided in the following General Committees, which shall be appointed by the Pastor and Vestry, annually, on the first Sunday in April, viz: Committee on Hospitality; Committee on Visitation; Committee on Sunday School and Mission.

    The Committee on Hospitality shall seek out the strangers in the Parish, call upon them, introduce them to the Pastor and members of the congregation, and endevor to make them feel that they are among friends.

    The Committee on Visitation shall visit the sick in their respective district, — do all in their power for their comfort, — devise and put in operation the means as they deem suitable to reach and help the needy, and report the cases to the Pastor. They shall also endeavor to make the acquaintance of all members of the congregation who reside in their respective districts, call upon every person, and exert themselves to unite the Parish as one great family.

    The Committee on Sunday School and Missions shall be charged with the superintendence of these great departments of Christian work in the Parish. They shall visit the Sunday School as often as one a quarter, and report on its condition at the quarterly meeting othe Society. They shall also interest themselves in the establishment of Mission Sunday Schools, distribution of Books and Tracts, and in all other work which related to the spread of the Gospel and the good of man.

    These Committees shall adopt such regulations and plan of organization as shall seem to them advisable, shall keep a full record of their work, and be ready to report at any regular meeting of the Society, at the request of the presiding officer.

    X. — Quarterly Meetings.

    The Parish shall hold regular quarterly meetings for the purpose of hearing reports of the above named Committees, and the transaction of business connected therewith, on the first Sunday in the months of January, April, July and October of each year, at three o’clock in the afternoon.

    Please give to the Sunlight Foundation

    12 November 2010 at 19:38

    I love my employer, the Sunlight Foundation, and I bet a bunch of my dear readers would, too. It’s a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that “uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable.” Think of the intersection of unknown campaign money and political influence, for example. Or government data made less useful because it’s not in a computer-readable format, or is squired behind a paywall. Here’s a fun and insightful project. And here’s a free tool for your phone. (Android and iPhone; check your store/market.) And here’s a big bunch of data for developers to use. And there’s much more.

    Sunlight has been given a major partnership investment. With that money comes a challenge to get quite a number of small donors before the end of the year. A dollar or two (or a bit more if you like) to show your interest.

    Please give here (Amazon checkout) or here (Google checkout) or send a check to

    1818 N St NW, Suite 300
    Washington, DC 20036

    I would appreciate it much.

    Watch this space

    17 November 2010 at 02:51

    I know it’s been slow blogging of late. I’ve been working on a special project in the background, and that’s been taking up a good piece of my brain. More about that later. (No fair guessing.)

    In not altogether unrelated news, today I sent a letter to the local UCC church that I nominally hold my membership in . . . and resigned.

    A new church

    18 November 2010 at 03:00

    I’ve started planning a new church for Washington, D.C. To be specific, a Universalist Christian church. As I put it in a letter to denominational and local stakeholders:

    My vision (much less the plans) for this new church is still developing, but I see it as a traditional-postmodern church start, as found in other denominations; including, in time, hundreds of new members; having a cooperative and inspiring spirit, while being undefensively Christian; and engaging in an optimistic, adventuresome and savvy outreach model. I do not want to let this project carry on so long that it dies on the vine. My goal is to have a functioning, gathered church fit for an application to the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2012.

    Universalist National Memorial Church, my former pastorate, is a Universalist Christian church in Washington, D.C. but Washington could certainly use two (or more). The research I’ve seen suggest one would help the other, and besides, it’s not too much of a stretch to think a new church within a tradition can be planted in city every 150 years.

    My goal, for the rest of 2010 is to come up with both that vision and that plan. Some conditions — for lack of a better word — are already in place.

    • First, as the organizing minister, I feel a responsibility to take a theological and structural lead. The conventional wisdom, where the people gather and then a vision takes place, seems both to get the order reversed and has had a poor record of recent success. (In this way particularly, I think Doug Muder is on to something. See his article in the current UU World.)
    • Second, the church will be necessarily more modest materially than others. Staffing, housing and mission will have to be accomplished in unconventional ways, and this new church should share what works with the larger fellowship.
    • Third, it should be born with a concept of life-long discipleship and preparation for ministry, express the best of Universalist catholicity (now in deep eclipse in an age of Unitarian Universalist particularism), and plan for new churches.

    What I need from you is your spiritual support. In time, I shall surely ask you to ask your Washington-based friends and family to consider participating. Others I’ll ask for advice and some for material support. But for now, please spare a prayer for the success of this project.

    I’ll be blogging as this vision and plan develop.

    About the District (for non-Unitarian Universalists)

    19 November 2010 at 02:17

    For all the grief I give the UUA leadership — and sometimes I worry deeply about strategies and priorities from Boston, but that’s for another time — I’m increasingly fond of the Joseph Priestley District (JPD).

    The JPD is the regional grouping (middle judicatory in church-speak) that I live in. Encompassing roughly the greater Philadelphia-Washington corridor or the Chesapeake Bay watershed, it is often the largest (in adult membership) of the nineteen districts in the Unitarian Universalist Association, and since the devolution (or abdication) of church growth services to the districts, this is the place where I’ll have the most denominational interaction.

    So why the warm feelings?

    1. The well-wishes here and here on my last blog post where I announced the church start. These things matter
    2. A policy for applicant churches that suggests someone has thought this through.

    This policy (below the fold in HTML; the JPD site has an old version for download!) requires new starts to develop intentionally, give its Fair Share to the UUA and District and — here’s the pain in the ass; nothing’s perfect — have six members of the organizing committee attend a Health Congregations workshop. That’s over five days, stretched over a year and held middle-of-nowhere-adjacent. My experience with UUA workshops hasn’t been fond. But we live in hope.

    Policy Name: New Congregation Development

    Date: May 27, 2010

    Policy: Any new Unitarian Universalist congregation that is forming in the Joseph Priestley District and wishes to affiliate with the district and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations must develop and adopt the following items to be considered for affiliation in addition to the requirements stipulated in the Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws:
    1. Congregational Vision – It should answer the question of who do they see themselves becoming in the future five to ten years out. A vision statement answers the question: “What are our dreams? What do we want this congregation to look like in five years?†It includes specific, measur­able objectives, achievable in a prescribed amount of time. For example: “We envision that the East Cupcake Unitarian Universalist Congregation will serve 250 adults and 125 children by the year 2000. We envision our buildings to be accessible to wheelchairs on all floors of our building, that we will serve the diversity of our town as proactively as we can, that we will have seven affinity groups that will meet monthly, that we will move to two Sunday morning services as we prepare for a larger building and the capital campaign that it requires. We envision hiring a half-time professional religious educator and a half-time church coordinator in addition to our minister.â€
    2. Congregational Mission – It should answer the question of why they exist. A mission statement expresses the mission of the congregation in a memorable way that is brief and to the point. A mission statement says who we are and what we value. It says, given who we are, here is our social contract and this is how we will make congregational life more meaningful. It uses active rather than passive verbs and clearly states what good we want to do in the world and with whom. For example: “Our mission is to foster an inclusive caring community focused on personal spiritual development and service to Southern Maryland and the greater community.—The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Southern Maryland.†A congregation’s mission, deeply felt, shines out of its members’ eyes. It informs their work as a religious community so that members of the congregation—and the larger community—know who they are and what they stand for. A congregation that cares only about itself may need corrective lenses so that it will see farther than its own walls.
    3. Congregational Covenant – Covenants answer how a community of faith will be with one another. Covenants are promises to follow, not rules prescribing punishment. Covenants describe behaviors, not personality changes. Covenants are a daily, spiritual practice. Covenants can be used to monitor behaviors of leaders by periodically reviewing the covenant. Covenants can be used by leaders to model healthy and faithful behavior to others in the congregation and the community. “We, the members of The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Western Shore, covenant with each other: to encourage spiritual growth, intellectual stimulation, and the search for truth and meaning; to build a supportive church community by being honest, acting with integrity, and trusting each other; to show respect for and open our minds to each other, our viewpoints, and our individual differences; to enjoy fellowship and fun; to participate enthusiastically in our church life; and to serve our community through outreach and social action.â€
    4. Congregational Long Range Plan – A long range plan should specify in detail the activities and goals for the next three to five years which will lead the congregation to be a “full service congregation†in its community. If the plan is not to become a “full service congregation” the reasons why not should be clearly stated. The long-range plan should include the congregation’s several ministries (worship, life-span faith development, pastoral ministry to members, ministry to the community, and putting one’s faith in action) as well as the organizational elements to support that ministry (staff, facilities, membership, etc.) and the financing plan to fund the ministries and support elements. A comprehensive plan details projected growth toward fulfilling the vision and mission of the congregation in the many areas of congregational life.
    5. Full Fair Share with JPD and UUA – Every congregation needs to be in right relationship with the larger faith community of Unitarian Universalism. This includes being financially supportive of the UUA and the JPD at a full fair share of the annual requests for support. The congregation will promise to be in right relationship and indicate that relationship by committing its funds for denominational support at the level that had been agreed upon by the last year’s national and district assemblies. Depending upon when the application is made, the amount for the current fiscal year will be prorated to the closest quarter year date.
    6. Healthy Congregations Workshops – Strong congregations have at their core a healthy atmosphere in how people relate to one another. Healthy leadership fosters this emotional field. The JPD provides training in Healthy Congregations throughout each year. The steering committee of any new congregation will be subsidized to attend this series of trainings. A minimum of six members of the steering committee including the chair and vice chair must attend all workshops within a year of the congregation beginning and before being chartered as a UU congregation.

    These items are to be developed in concert with the help of the JPD Staff who bring expertise in guiding congregations. The District Executive in consultation with the Director of Growth and the Growth Committee will review the submitted documents. When they are complete and accurate the District Executive will make a recommendation to the JPD Board to approve the application for membership in the UUA. When the Board has approved the congregation’s application, this approval will be communicated to the leadership of the congregation as soon as practical by the District Executive.

    Call it Second Universalist Church

    19 November 2010 at 03:26

    When having a child, there are far more important decisions than its name — say, pre-natal care — but naming comes so naturally for human beings that I hope you’ll indulge me when it comes to naming this new church. At least I can get it out of my system for a moment.

    Call it Second Universalist Church in the City of Washington. Or Second Universalist, for all practical purposes. Here’s why.

    1. Numbered churches are a Universalist custom. Not always, of course, but the custom is to number churches in the order of their formation. Universalist National Memorial Church is obviously the first in the tradition in this city. There were no others formed here. That makes this the Second.
    2. The name resists hypocrisy, or charges therof. Consider all the churches with an attribute in the name, like Friendship or Grace. That’s a headache to live into.
    3. That said, abbreviated, it makes a cute nickname. I’m thinking here of the Unitarian churches of Chicago — First U, Second U and Third U particularly — and Fourth U (Universalist) in Manhattan. That would make this church 2U, pronounced to you.
    4. For those old enough to remember the Avis TV ad campaign, there’s a certain “we try harder” quality to the second one in line.

    And the web domains were available.

    Considering the new maxim that the cheapest real estate to stake out is on the Internet, I was sure to snag 2udc.org and seconduniversalist.org — along with my long-held dcchurchproject.org — for future use. None are currently active.

    And 2udc on Twitter.  It is active and I welcome you to follow it.

    Second Universalist Church weekend!

    20 November 2010 at 16:15

    My long-suffering husband has agreed to entertain himself this weekend while I work on the new church start. Getting the social media pieces set up, a provisional site and quite a bit of research and wordsmithing. Also researching Joomla, since it has CiviCRM integration and that might be very useful.

    And thanks to UUWorld for noting the efforts so far.

    Renewable church membership?

    21 November 2010 at 00:10

    As I mentioned a few days ago, I sent a resignation letter to the church with which I held a then-nominal membership. I joined honestly enough, but it became clear to me that they were dead in spirit and program (if not fact) and had no will to change.

    I quit to turn my attention to the 2U church start, but I could have stayed on the books forever, if I had so chosen. Or at least until the next membership purge, but we know how often those happen, especially in dysfunctional churches.

    So let me question the passive lifetime membership, so often a feature in churches.

    1. Does it make sense, if there’s no claim (as low-church people don’t claim) that church membership bestows a particular spiritual estate?
    2. Does make sense to put the burden on the church to expel a nominal member, even if that person has long gone?
    3. Does it make sense to continue membership indefinitely in churches (as seen in the low churches) where stated muual support is a basis for the church existing?

    I know you’re wise enough to see leading questions, but I’d love to hear thoughts on either side of this question. I have to think this was a live question as churches moved from a pew rent to donation basis, though I’ve never come across a debate. Perhaps society was not so mobile (or church boards were steelier) that the solution was obvious.

    But the idea of a renewable church membership — however logical — still seems peculiar. Thoughts? Examples?

    Reader's copy disclosure

    22 November 2010 at 23:54

    Greetings readers: I received a copy of Nicholas Axam’s book Heresy Saved Me: A Unitarian in the 21st Century to read. You may know him through his blog, Unitalian.

    Once I read it, I’ll make some comments. I got the book for free but otherwise do not have an interest in the work. For disclosure sake. Oh, and that I’m a terribly slow reader, so this may take some time.

    CiviCRM a try

    24 November 2010 at 13:06

    I’ll be a bit quiet for a few days — busy time at Day Job, Thanksgiving, plus much of what I’m doing is behind the scenes. Planning and preparation. (Be sure to follow me at Twitter at 2udc; anything short and timely will come out there.)

    I want to start off right, so I think I should keep good records and use constituent relation manager (CRM) software from the start. (If you use Salesforce at work, you know what I mean, but I don’t have that kind of money or established infrastructure.)

    The days of “fill out this card” — I hope — are over. I’m trying out CiviCRM, on Drupal content management — not Joomla; it doesn’t have the user controls I need — at seconduniversalist.org. Absolutely no content or styling yet, nor am I ready to accept well-wishers’ or inquirers’ info, but I offer it at the early stage as a possibly appropriate first step for other church starts. (I’ll also be reviewing what other religious organizations do with CiviCRM and Drupal.)

    He’re the guide I’d use to train people on CiviCRM, if you want to learn more. If you can install your own WordPress, you can do this. And pointers to people who are already doing this appreciated.

    How many new congregations?

    27 November 2010 at 03:38

    I’m trying to get the lay of the land, respecting new(ish) churches that have joined the Unitarian Universalist Association. I wrote about the batch that were welcomed at General Assembly 2006 — goodness! more than four years ago — and so wanted to know how many more were in.

    I was horrified by what I found. In more than four years, there are only eleven new churches. And the largest of these was the previously existing (1944) Ethical Culture Society, here in D.C., so properly it isn’t new nor a part of the Unitarian Universalist new congregation culture. Not encouraging.

    Here’s the list, with web link, current membership and date of admission. (Note: I never could find the resolution by which the WellSprings Congregation was admitted, save a reference to them having been admitted in the 2008 General Assembly minutes, thus the inexact date. Does anyone know?)

    Unitarian Universalist Church of Hot Springs Hot Springs AR 04/21/2007 http://www.uuchurchhotsprings.org/ 43
    Washington Ethical Society Washington DC 04/19/2008 http://www.ethicalsociety.org/ 150
    Prairie Circle Unitarian Universalist Congregation Grayslake IL 01/19/2008 http://www.prairiecircleuuc.org/ 72
    Heartland Unitarian Universalist Church Indianapolis IN 04/17/2010 http://heartlanduuchurch.org/ 25
    Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Chesapeake California MD 04/19/2008 http://www.theuucc.org/ 43
    New Hope Congregation New Hudson MI 06/23/2009 http://www.newhopeuu.org/ 30
    Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tupelo Tupelo MS 07/23/2007 http://www.uutupelo.org/ 36
    Unitarian Universalist Peace Fellowship Raleigh NC 01/20/2007 http://www.uupf.org/ 44
    Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Rocky Mount Rocky Mount NC 01/19/2008 http://www.uurockymount.org/ 40
    WellSprings Congregation Chester Springs PA 2008 http://www.wellspringsuu.org/ 143
    Foothills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Maryville TN 01/17/2009 http://www.foothillsuufellowship.org/ 72

    So what's a creedal test?

    27 November 2010 at 17:08

    Unitarian Universalists have an outsided fear of creeds. Outsized because the expressed fear, for example, doesn’t match the reality of how throughly the “Principles and Purposes” of the Association have become the theological touchstone of the movement, and how theological eclectism, reinforced by middle-class tastes, has become the defacto majority theological view.

    I know I’m a theological minority in Unitarian Universalist circles. I’m a Christian, a Universalist and a trinitarian to boot. But this is my home. I am as much an heir to this tradition as those who find themselves more comfortably placed in its mainline. And I think, plainly, that my end of the tradition — far from being dead or antiquarian — has more to offer the next generation than the last, and that its constellation of ethos, charisma (spiritual gifts), customs and theology can be healing, appealing and faithful to Christ and his gospel. (I have similar thoughts about Unitarian ‘biblical humanism’ or ‘lyrical theism’ but am not in a position to work on it. Perhaps someone else can.)

    I’ll keep this short because I’ve written about this here, here, here and here; indeed, this concern goes back to the dawn of this blog.

    My concern, in plain words, is that Second Universalist would not be allowed to join the UUA. The traditional Universalist way would be to have a member assent to the Winchester Profession, pledge to the financial welfare of the congregation and be bound by a compact or covenant (synonymous here). Member assent is to the Winchester Profession in general, and a congregation could come up with an alternative that, in a sense, embeds the meaning of the Winchester Profession. Some did, say the Rhode Island Catechism and the 1903 Creed, perhaps to make them more liturgically useful. (Indeed, the later “Five Principles” and Washington Avowal should be read this way.)

    When I read church bylaws that require “sympathy” to the UUA Principles and Purposes, I see a parallel development which justifies rather than supersedes my reading of Universalist polity. And if a new church cannot do this (that is, gather in the traditional Universalist way) then what does it say about current Unitarian Universalist claims to continuity with its Universalist past? What does it say to the remaining Universalist Christian churches? That you’re good enough to stay, but not good enough to have heirs?

    And, perhaps more importantly, would the powers-that-be agree with this read, or use it to keep Second Universalist out?

    Farewell to churches

    28 November 2010 at 15:04

    Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees minutes have been published online since 2003, so it’s possible — through not convenient — to see which churches have joined the UUA since then. Follow the resolutions.

    The same sections of the minutes include other congregational news: name changes, district changes, a merger (the two churches in Queens, New York becoming one) and the disaffiliation of churches.

    Many of these disaffiliations are the natural tail-end of Canadian Unitarian Council autonomy. In the other cases, the congregations left for reasons unrecorded or, more likely, died.

    So before I post a list of all the new churches since 2003, let me note those non-Canadians that are no longer with us.

    unnamed in minutes Coronado CA
    UU Fellowship Aspen CO
    Panthea Pagan Fellowship Hoffman Estates IL
    UU Fellowship of Johnson County Prairie Village KS
    UUs of Northern Kentucky Covington KY
    UU Society of the Western Reserve Painesville OH
    First Universalist Church Woonsocket RI

    As you might guess, that loss at Woonsocket particularly hurts. (Also, because these are reported losses, I wouldn’t read this as comprehensive.)

    So all those churches since 2003

    28 November 2010 at 17:36

    As I mentioned in the last post, I’ve gone back to see how many churches have joined the UUA since GA 2003. (Was that the last GA I attended?)

    It’s as if someone turned the tap down to a trickle. New congregation news used to be common, but now the “emerging congregation” pool has grown quite large. I wonder why, though I’m sure there are many reasons. And is it true — I fear it is — that churches that don’t “commit” break up? (Or perhaps that have committed with each other, but don’t bother with the UUA.)

    Here’s a hypothesis: it’s cheaper for emerging congregations not to join, and cheaper for the UUA not to serve them the same way as members. Or there’s a missing culture of planning and resources, and — like the path to congregational membership — the steps are not present. (I remember thinking “will Wildflower ever join?” But whatever it did seems to have paid off the best.) Interested in your thoughts.

    Here are the joined-since-2003 churches, in increasing current membership.

    Name City State URL Membership 2010-11
    Seward Unitarian Universalist of Seward Seward AK
    9
    Unitarian Church of Hubbardstown Hubbardstown MA http://www.hubbardstonunitarian.org/ 13
    All Souls Free Religious Fellowship (All Souls UU Society) Chicago IL 14
    Open Circle UU Boulder CO http://www.opencircleuu.org/ 15
    Florence UU Fellowship Florence OR
    23
    Heartland Unitarian Universalist Church Indianapolis IN http://heartlanduuchurch.org/ 25
    Unitarian Universalist Church of Blanchard Valley Findlay OH http://www.uufindlayoh.org/ 26
    New Hope Congregation New Hudson MI http://www.newhopeuu.org/ 30
    Unitarian Universalists of the Big Bend, TX Big Bend TX http://www.uubb.org/ 31
    Northwoods Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Ashland WI http://www.chequamegonuuf.org/ 31
    Ginger Hill Unitarian Universalist Congregation Slippery Rock PA http://www.gingerhilluuc.org/ 32
    Mosaic Unitarian Universalist Congregation Orange City FL http://mosaicuu.org/ 34
    Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tupelo Tupelo MS http://www.uutupelo.org/ 36
    Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Rocky Mount Rocky Mount NC http://www.uurockymount.org/ 40
    Adirondack Unitarian Universalist Community Saranac Lake NY http://www.adkuu.org/ 40
    Unitarian Universalists of Fallston, MD Bel Air MD http://www.uufallston.org/ 41
    Unitarian Universalist Church of Hot Springs Hot Springs AR http://www.uuchurchhotsprings.org/ 43
    Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Chesapeake California MD http://www.theuucc.org/ 43
    Unitarian Universalist Peace Fellowship Raleigh NC http://www.uupf.org/ 44
    The Unitarian Universalists of Central Delaware Dover DE http://www.uucd.org/ 51
    Open Circle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Fond du Lac WI http://www.ocuuf.org/ 52
    Unitarian Universalists of Gettysburg Gettysburg PA http://www.uugettysburg.org/ 53
    Northeast Iowa Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Decorah IA http://www.neiuuf.org/ 57
    Unitarian Universalist of Santa Clarita Santa Clarita CA http://www.uuofscv.org/ 59
    Aiken Unitarian Universalist Church Aiken SC http://www.aikenuuchurch.org/ 68
    Unitarian Universalist of Petaluma Petaluma CA http://www.uupetaluma.org/ 71
    Prairie Circle Unitarian Universalist Congregation Grayslake IL http://www.prairiecircleuuc.org/ 72
    Foothills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Maryville TN http://www.foothillsuufellowship.org/ 72
    Pathways Church Southlake TX http://www.pathwaysuu.org/ 90
    WellSprings Congregation Chester Springs PA http://www.wellspringsuu.org/ 143
    Washington Ethical Society Washington DC http://www.ethicalsociety.org/ 150
    Wildflower Church Austin TX http://www.wildflowerchurch.org/ 181

    Here’s another thought. Might the Christians “take over” the UUA church planting movement by organizing a dozen 30-member churches in the next decade? You have to hear the sarcasm or weariness in my voice to get my meaning, though.

    Where else to plan #1: micropolitan areas

    30 November 2010 at 22:42

    Since the question of church planting has struck a nerve, I think it’s fair to ask where Unitarian Universalists should prioritize new church starts, if other factors are equal. (But this implies a corporate interest in church planting; yet I live in hope.)

    Consider the 577 micropolitan areas in the United States, “as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, are urban areas in the United States based around a core city or town with a population of 10,000 to 49,999.”  Of course, some do have Unitarian Universalist congregations, but the conventional wisdom from the defunct extension office (so I’ve heard from a reliable source) is that these small towns didn’t have a core of already-UUs and that the distribution of Unitarian Universalists — then about 1 in a 1,000; always made me think of the presence of uranium ore —  meant there couldn’t be enough Unitarian Universalists.

    But faithful people are made not collected. And micropolitan areas have, in many cases, an attractive way of life. But asking people to leave one area to go — say, 50 miles — to a distinct metro area for church is as good as saying “tough to be you.”

    First step: to know what micropolian area has no church, which of these are growing, and if are any clustered. I’d examine south Georgia, for one.

    Universalist alt-history

    30 November 2010 at 23:37

    If this lighthouse had existed in 1770, warning the Hand in Hand, it might not have run aground, depositing John Murray in New Jersey to meet Thomas Potter. And the rest, as they say, would have not been history

    Of course, there would have probably been Universalists anyway, though they might have been more of a back-country affair, more identified with the Connecticut and Savannah river valleys than Boston or Philadelphia. Ot perhaps a breed of low church Episcopalian. Or yhey might have been more like Baptists in polity and theology. But since God has seen fit to keep the Universalists going this long, I’m sure there would have been some other miracle and some other apostle.

    Where else to plan #2: liberal Christian deserts

    3 December 2010 at 16:22

    I’ll keep this short. The conventional wisdom says the United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church — sometimes the Lutherans and the Disciples — have filled the ecological niche of liberal Protestantism that once included Unitarians and Universalists, thus we don’t need to form new Christian churches, or perhaps only benefit from planting those that speak from a very tight theological perspective.

    Missological concerns aside, the original premise isn’t true. Denominations have regional clusters and variations. I think Unitarian and Universalist Christian churches have room in empty ecological niches, say where the Congregationalists did not go, and where the Episcopalians skew conservative.

    The upcountry of South Carolina comes to mind; also central Virginia?  Western and southern Illinois? Pittsburgh?

    Besides that I’d scan the late-to-ordain-women Episcopalian diocese and areas with strong UCC attachment to the ostentatiously-named Biblical Witness Fellowship.

    Chinatown bus update

    6 December 2010 at 04:41

    Hubby and I got back from a trip to New York tonight. We took the bus both ways.

    Bus travel in the northeast corridor got a new lease on life several years ago when a number of bus companies, based out of Chinatowns and catering originally to kitchen workers, attracted non-Chinese riders. (I was an early adopter, even making one leg from New York to Boston in a van. But for $15 I wasn’t complaining.) This created waves of intra-Chinatown competition, followed by non-ethnic-Chinese imitators in the charter bus business and most recently as low-cost “establishment” players entered the market. The highway back tonight had a constant stream of Megabus, Bolt, Eastern and other smaller carriers. Linking Washington and Baltimore to Philadelphia and New York, and onwards to Boston is no longer news. And if you pay more than $25 one-way to New York from Washington, you’re getting ripped off. And it had better have wifi.

    The news is that, from Manhattan’s Chinatown at least, the network is spreading. Granted, two or three years ago, I noticed some small signs on Chrystie Street (map) in Chinese noting locations (in English) in the Midwest. I assumed then this was the kitchen worker shuttle continuing farther than many other riders would suffer, and now I’m sure.

    On East Broadway and Allen Streets, there are now buses that will take you to small regional destinations like Smyrna and Dover, Delaware and in the south as far as the Carolinas, Georgia and as far as Biloxi, Mississippi. I was tooling around this neighborhood last night and asked some people outside one of the ticket offices where there were going and how they found the service. Well, only one had a first-hand opinion for the trip to Greenville, South Carolina but each had some experience with a different run, including one who went to Pittsburgh. The verdict. It’s cheap and faster than driving.  And, perhaps like me, they enjoy the flexibility (you can often just walk up and pay with cash) and are willing to sacrifice some comfort to do without the increasingly unpleasant experience of air travel. And I should note, everyone I spoke with was African American. These routes had already jumped away from being a kitchen worker shuttle.

    Now, I should note that Megabus, a British company running on a similar model, recently expanded service from Washington, D.C. to Charlotte and other places due south, but not as far as Greenville. But now I’m thinking it’s only a matter of time. And with similar, smaller networks hubbed out of Chicago and Los Angeles, perhaps we’re seeing the beginning of an informal national coach network — to rival Greyhound (though they own Bolt)  and to capture a larger part of the travel market.

    Oh, and I’ll probably take the bus to General Assembly next year. (Not my first time, and not the furthest: D.C. to Quebec City.) Any takers?

    The missing State Convention

    8 December 2010 at 02:02

    While proposing this new church, I think it’s important to support it with as many of the charisms, or distinctive gifts, that Universalist Christianity has developed, whether or not they are actively appreciated.

    Not that every distinctive was a charism, or deserves this attention. The Universalist habit of debating theological opponents — our alternative to tent revivalism — died (after decades of decline) in the 1920s and I intend to leave it buried. But Universalists approached theological freedom and congregational polity in a different way than did the Unitarians, and these need to be considered deeply.

    If there was a Universalist golden age, it was probably in the years after the Civil War until the 1920s. The institutions were at their strongest and Universalists were at their most confident. (If not most distinctive: I take Ann Lee Bressler‘s read of postbellum Universalism’s betrayal of its early radical global communitarianism seriously.)  As far as I can tell, they grew numerically, and had a keen sense of mission in the United States and abroad.

    One feature of Universalism in those days was the system of churches, state conventions and the general convention. A church member would have the fellowship of the church, the churches and ministers would have the fellowship of the state convention (or be directly fellowshipped in the places that didn’t have a convention, like the District of Columbia) and the state conventions would have the fellowship of the general convention. The appropriate level of governance would make recommendations or coordinate action for its setting.

    Interestingly, with the 1961 consolidation, some actions — ministerial fellowship in particular — became more centralized. Other prerogatives like as the licensing of lay ministers and the recognition of mission-focused organizations — the independent affiliates — have been given up.

    A new Universalist-minded church would have to identify what parts of the state-level system survive in the UUA districts and as a whole, and which have to be reconstituted — in trust, in a sense — at the congregational level. I suspect recognition of non-local lay ministries fall into this category. And perhaps in time, should there be a plural number of Universalist Christian churches in fellowship, some of these powers — meant to support and calm the sometimes turbulent free-spiritedness Universalists know — might be shared in common.

    How you can help Second Universalist

    8 December 2010 at 02:14

    For new readers, or those landing on this page, Second Universalist Church is a project I’m developing for a new Universalist Christian church in Washington, D.C.

    I’m using this blog to work out some of the initial steps, but what it needs now more than anything else are interested parties, and I plan on using every avenue open to me.

    Are you, or do you know, a person looking for a broad Christian church where God’s universal salvation and human solidarity is clearly proclaimed? Are you in or near Washington, D.C.?

    If so, please let me know, or let your friends know that this work is in progress.

    Thank you.

    The church calendar, liberal Christians and the sanctoral cycle

    9 December 2010 at 13:46

    Three guiding principles for Second Universalist’s worship. It should be, where possible and principled, in union with the ecumenical middle of the Christian church; its liturgical resources should be commonly owned, liberally licensed or in the public domain; and the cycles of the church year should be publicly stated and approved.

    As a collorary, would be no room in worship for events of a purely national or social nature. What, exactly, is the Christian significance of the Fourth of July, save it being evidence of churches being co-opted by patriotic respectability? And how comfortable are we with Mothers Day if — as I’ve seen in some churches — the definition of motherhood has to be stretched out to accommodate the childfree and men?

    But perhaps a more conspicuous change from Unitarian and Universalist Christian practice is a richer sanctoral cycle than has been commonly used. The Christian church year recounts the life, mission, death and resurrection of Christ, with Christmas and Easter as its two poles. On top of this, Christians have a calendar of saints and observances — independent of Christ’s life — that is the sanctoral cycle. Normally, we associate this practice in its most elaborate form with the hierarchical churches: Orthodox, Catholics, Anglicans and to some degree Lutherans. One sign of Protestant reform is to pare away the saints, perhaps removing all but the saints mentioned in the New Testament. Or, dropping the sanctoral cycle, leaving only the observances related to Jesus himself. Or taking it down to just Easter and Christmas. Or at the radical end, seeing Sunday alone as the only observance.

    But, we have seen, with the vacuum this creates other observances creep in, like the Fourth of July and Mother’s Day, or quasi-Christian ones like Bible Sunday. In this way, ironically, mainline Unitarian Universalism has then re-filled a secularized sanctorial cycle with observances that seem saintly. Consider the United Nations Day (October 24) observances that were so common until recently: functionally, a secularized version of (itself modern) World Communion Day? And how many UU churches have a Martin Luther King commemoration in January? And the surviving practice of All Souls Day fits in this scheme. (Some, however, are just ghastly. Consider Chalica. Or don’t.)

    All in all, I think I’d rather go back to the traditional approach, if somewhat more reformed than even the Episcopalians have. (And Martin Luther King would be remembered in April; death dates, not birth dates, are the norm.) Here’s the article that several years ago introduced me to the idea of a modern Protestant sanctoral cycle revival.

    And hold on to your hats, for I think the Eastern Orthodox and conservative Lutherans have something to offer: the commemoration of Old Testament figures. So the dates and some resources (Bible readings, prayers, hymns) wouldn’t have to be invented from whole cloth.

    And last, add in very judiciously a handful of Universalist observances, including some commended by the Universalist General Convention itself. That is, were selected and voted upon by our spiritual ancestors.

    Now that I’ve presented the concept, I’ll soon recommend a calendar.

    Weekend inspiration #1: Church of South India church calendar

    11 December 2010 at 20:50

    Ever since I bought a copy of the 1963 Church of South India Book of Common Worship on a trip to London in 1997, I’ve been impressed by its liturgical quality and how it negotiated various forms of churchmanship. (It has since been succeeded for use in the CSI, but the English versions of parts of the new book leave me cold.)

    I’ve praised the old book before, so check here, here and here for details and links, including liturgy portions and a spreadsheet I made for what I’m calling tier one below.

    But it also proves helpful for the sanctoral cycle project I’ve embarked on.

    1. It takes the church year and breaks it into three tiers: Sundays and main holidays; saints days and other commemorations; and a way to commemorate others who are specifically named.  This is helpful, because it implies an increasing level of optionality, making the whole scheme more useful for different kinds of churchmanship. (A “low” evangelical can stop with the first tier, but an extensive devotion of the saints can be locally preserved by reaching out to the third.)
    2. The second tier is relatively modest and reformed. The sometimes-inflaming word saint isn’t used, for one. I could be quite happy with if if the national pieces were removed, the lone CSI observance substituted for something Universalist, and if All Souls were added. (That also being a Universalist distinctive.) A provision for additional persons, including Old Testament figures, could be added using the third tier.
    3. There’s relatively limited jargon, once you know what a “proper” is — and its an efficient and meaningful term worth learning, if you’re planning worship.
    4. The third tier uses what the Episcopal Church (USA) and others call “the common of the saints.” Helpful if you’re starting from scratch and don’t know if a particular person or group have quite become observance-worthy. And with a small tweak, can be helpful for funerals, especially for spiritually weighty people.
    5. It’s worth remarking that I intend the sanctoral cycle I propose to be used with Second Universalist, Washington, and isn’t offered as a general resource for Universalist Christians. But it may be so adopted and the rubrics below suggest a way that other churches may modify a calendar for their own reception.

    So here are the headings and categories for the three tiers, or tables (their term). No further content, since it’s in copyright, but once you have the categories (and dates), it makes hunting for resources easier. The bracketed dates in Table III suggest alternatives; note particularly the suggestion that Stephen’s commemoration be moved, to not get lost within Christmastide.

    The Propers

    Bible Readings, Collects, and Prefaces, Proper for Sundays and Special Days, Seasons, and Occasions

    Table I

    Sundays and Other Special Days of the Christian Year

    Table II

    Special Days on Fixed Dates (Other than Christmas Day)
    Nov. 30     Andrew
    [Dec. 26    Stephen]
    Jan. 1      Covenant
    — 25       Paul
    — 26       Republic Day
    [Feb. 2     The Presentation]
    Feb. 15     Stephen
    Mar. 25     The Annunciation
    Apr. 25     Mark
    May 6       John the Apostle
    June 11     Barnabas
    — 24       John the Baptist
    — 29       Peter
    July 22     Mary Magdalene
    [Aug. 6     The Transfiguration]
    Aug. 15     Independence Day
    Sept. 21    Matthew
    — 27       Inauguration of CSI
    — 29       Michael
    Oct. 6      Thomas
    — 18       Luke
    Nov. 1      All Saints
    —         Harvest Festival
    —         Meetings of a Synod
    —         Dedication of a Church

    Table III

    Common Forms for Commemorations
    Unless the Synod shall authorise a list of persons who may be commemorated in the public worship of the Church, each diocese may make its own rules.
    1. Apostles
    2. Martyrs
    3. Faithful Women
    4. Preachers of the Gospel
    5. Pastors
    6. Teachers
    7. Doctors of the Church
    8. Healers of the Sick
    9. Prophets and Reformers
    10. Pioneers and Builders
    11. Servants of the Church

    Flags raised over UUA building sale idea

    14 December 2010 at 03:29

    Today’s new story from UUWorld online (“UUA looking into possible sale of Boston buildings“) raises more questions (and red flags) than it settles. In short, the indebted Hebrew College — whose campus was carved out of the Andover-Newton Theological School campus — is selling its admittedly impressive building. (The first and only time I was at ANTS it was going up.) And remember, Meadville-Lombard, one of the two Unitarian Universalist ministerial colleges, is selling its Chicago campus to Godknowswhom to create a multifaith theological university or somesuch at ANTS, details TBD.  (Let’s leave to one side the irony that Andover was founded to get away from Harvard Unitarians.)

    I grant that the UUA’s current cluster of buildings on Beacon Hill are old and difficult for persons with disabilities. But even if all were sold — a politically difficult position, and besides UUA president Peter Morales says there’d be a continuing presence there — the proceeds wouldn’t come close to buying the Hebrew College property, even if their $32 million debt is double the sales price of the property.

    So would the idea be that the UUA and Meadville-Lombard share the property? Sounds a bit like a solution looking for a problem.

    Would there be a capitol campaign to raise the difference? With service cutbacks so severe it threatens to reshape the Association, not likely. What then?

    And here’s the thing that worries me. If ANTS and Meadville-Lombard are serious about creating a multifaith university, you’d think that there wouldn’t be a lot of room available for the better part of a denomination’s administration to move in.

    Something doesn’t add up. And there’s a lot of detail missing from the Meadville-Lombard process that would be helpful to understand the motives here.

    Comments and thoughts, please.

    E-books, say, for Christmas

    15 December 2010 at 00:03

    I asked in March, but I’ll ask again, seeing as some good (and bad) girls and boys will be getting electronics in a December holiday —  like tomorrow’s Zamenhofa Tago — and the market has changed somewhat.

    Who uses a book reader? Who hopes to get or buy a book reader? Who uses a computer or phone like a book reader?

    I’m gauging if I should start producing ebooks from Universalist and Unitarian files I have.

    Thoughts on local ordination

    17 December 2010 at 03:18

    Peter Bowden (UUGrowth.com) is musing about local ordination, following some buzz on a UUA mailing list. (Which, I wonder?)

    I responded at length; see below. Since I know some of my readers have an interest in polity I’m repeating my answer here, and invite you to participate in the conversation on his site. (Unless you have a date for the UUA bylaws change I mention below; please comment here.)

    Of course there was ordination before the Association, but as for polity it’s important to distinguish between the mainline Unitarian and Universalist practices of congregationalism. Universalists usually ordained and fellowshipped ministers at the state convention level. Unitarians ordained locally and were fellowshipped through special (vicinage) councils called from local churches for the purpose of examination. Our current practice is a hybrid.

    The old Unitarian form of practice is still held by the “continuing Congregationalists†so see here to see how it was: http://www.naccc.org/ministries/OrdinationsAndInstallations.aspx

    In short, what you describe is independent ordination, not congregational(ist) ordination. Yes, the ordinand is minister for that church — and any other that chooses to recognize it. And I bet others might. Our faltering systems fail many good candidates, some of whom proceed with independent ordination. The UUA note above — damning as it is with its hollow voice — makes me wonder if it’s not more common that commonly thought. [Note: he quoted from and linked here.]

    I wrote about this here: http://boyinthebands.com/archives/can-the-uua-recognize-ordinations/ and perhaps other places. It’s a bit of a bugbear for me.

    There used to be UUA licensed lay ministers — an inheritance from the Universalists — but the practice died out (I suspect killed off) and finally written out of the bylaws. In the 1990s I think. But I don’t see much value in institutionalizing the practice, seeing as the ministerial college would almost surely rally against it. Hurts the guild or some nonsense like that.

    Ecumenically-rich hymns in "Hymns of the Spirit"

    19 December 2010 at 06:03

    Sixty-eight of the 150 hymns selected by the late-1970s (perhaps early 80s?) Consultation on Ecumenical Hymnody were present in the 1937 (in print until 1981) joint Unitarian and Universalist Hymns of the Spirit, which despite its age is still used in a number of Unitarian Universalist churches, and especially the Christian ones. There are some odd omissions of common hymns that I well recall having to tip-in the order of service, like “We gather together” and “All honor, laud and glory”. But on the whole it holds up. And with some additions, would be a core of a modern if traditionally minded rational-reformed Christian church. (I’ve written about what some of these additions might be.)

    For the record, here is the list of the 150 hymns, keyed to those that are in Hymns of the Spirit. Please send corrections. Below the fold.

    Hymn HotS
    A Mighty Fortress 304
    Abide with Me 127
    Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended?
    All Creatures of Our God and King 198
    All Glory, Laud and Honor
    All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
    All My Heart This Night Rejoices
    All People That on Earth Do Dwell 496
    All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night 110
    All Things Are Thine, No Gift Have We 460
    Angels from the Realms of Glory
    Angels We Have Heard on High 175
    As with Gladness Men of Old 153
    At Even, Ere the Sun Was Set
    At the Name of Jesus
    Away in a Manger
    Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne
    Blessed Jesus, At Your Word
    Blest Are the Pure in Heart
    Bread of the World, in Mercy Broken
    Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light 492
    Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning
    Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
    Come Down, O Love Divine
    Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire
    Come, Thou Almighty King 10
    Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
    Come, Ye Thankful People, Come 141
    Come, Ye Thankful, Raise the Strain
    Crown Him with Many Crowns
    Dear Lord and Father of Mankind 250
    Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness 494
    Eternal Father, Strong to Save
    Eternal God, Whose Power Upholds
    Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round 349
    Fairest Lord Jesus 483
    Faith of Our Fathers 546
    Father Eternal, Ruler of Creation
    Father, We Praise Thee Now the Night Is Over
    Fight the Good Fight
    For All the Saints 428
    For the Beauty of the Earth 32
    From All Who Dwell below the Skies 498
    From Heaven Above to Earth I Come
    Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken 393
    Go to Dark Gethsemane
    God Moves in a Mysterious Way 244
    God of Grace and God of Glory 345
    God of Our Fathers 376
    God the Omnipotent
    Good Christian Men, Rejoice 177
    Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
    Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise
    Hail Thee, Festival Day
    Hail to the Lord’s Anointed 151
    Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus
    Hark! the Herald Angels Sing 170
    Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face
    Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
    Holy, Holy, Holy 17
    How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
    If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee
    Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise 30
    In Christ There Is No East or West 413
    In Heavenly Love Abiding 249
    In the Bleak Mid-winter
    In the Cross of Christ I Glory 190
    Jesus Christ Is Risen Today Not to be confused with the Charles Wesley hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today (192)
    Jesus Shall Reign
    Jesus, Priceless Treasure
    Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee 205
    Joy to the World 163
    Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee 42
    Judge Eternal, Throned in Splendor 323
    Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
    Let All the World in Every Corner Sing
    Let Us with a Gladsome Mind
    Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates! 179
    Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
    Look Ye Saints, the Sight Is Glorious
    Lord Jesus, Think on Me
    Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing 470
    Love Divine, All Loves Excelling 50
    Make Me a Captive, Lord
    May the Grace of Christ Our Savior
    New Every Morning Is the Love 98
    Not Alone for Mighty Empire 373
    Now Thank We All Our God 262
    O Come, All Ye Faithful 156
    O Come, O Come, Emmanuel 150
    O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing
    O Gladsome Light
    O God of Earth and Altar 381
    O God, Our Help in Ages Past 145
    O Holy City Seen of John
    O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts
    O Little Town of Bethlehem 165
    O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea
    O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright
    O Perfect Love, All Human Thought Transcending 453
    O Sacred Head Surrounded 191
    O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright
    O Worship the King
    O, Ye Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing
    Of the Father’s Love Begotten
    On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry
    Open Now the Gates of Beauty
    Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow 499
    Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens 2
    Praise to the Living God 1
    Praise to the Lord 7
    Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
    Ride On, Ride On in Majesty 182
    Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name
    Shepherd of Souls, Refresh and Bless
    Silent Night 167/168
    Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
    Son of God, Eternal Savior
    Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayer 55
    Strong Son of God, Immortal Love 204
    Sun of My Soul 108 As ‘Tis gone, that bright and orbed blaze
    Take My Life and Let It Be 277
    The Church’s One Foundation
    The Day of Resurrection
    The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended 120
    The Duteous Day Now Closeth 112
    The First Nowell 174
    The Head That Once Was Crowned with Thorns
    The King of Love My Shepherd Is 87
    The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
    The Lord Will Come and Not Be Slow
    The Strife Is O’er
    There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy
    This Is My Father’s World
    Thou Art the Way, to Thee Alone
    Thou Whose Almighty Word
    Through All the Changing Scenes of Life
    Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying
    Watchman, Tell Us of the Night 154
    We Gather Together
    We Plow the Fields and Scatter 142
    Were You There?
    What Child Is This?
    When All Thy Mercies, O My God 225
    When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
    When Morning Gilds the Skies 92
    Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life 218
    While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks 155
    Ye Servants of God
    Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones

    Hymnals should be open

    19 December 2010 at 18:12

    Long-time readers will understand why I carp on hymnody, and why I return to the subject now.

    • Hymnals have been practical works of theology in churches in the modern era; hymnals shape our religious vocabularies.
    • Unitarian Universalists are theologically plural — in theory anyway. So why is there a lone denominational hymnal? Even the British Unitarians have current choices and there are scarcely more of them that show up to General Assembly.
    • The current (but not new; 1993) hymnal is a disaster for Christians, meaning Christians use it but have to supplement heavily; use extra-denominational hymnals; or (most commonly) use hymnals two or three generations old.

    Add in my own conviction that such foundational ideas of worship need to be commonly controlled, liberally licensed or in the public domain and it’s clear that we need some options. But without deep pockets or a deep talent pool, the best I can offer is the bits and pieces I pick up along the way.

    One of the most interesting projects I’ve found is the Open Hymnal Project, operated by Brian J. Dumont. It’s active, and what you will find there is a fine selection of public-domain Christian hymns — with a bent towards the Lutheran, which I hardly mind — downloadable as PDF or GIF scores, MIDI (and some MP3) sound files, and the ABC notation files that allow for adaptation. And this looks like a labor of love; there’s no evidence of a staff behind this work. And it’s so active that there’s a new (December 17) omnibus version that has come out since I started researching for this blog post. Thank you Mr. Dumont!

    There is — and this pleases me — evidence of open-source software (particularly in how the file were originally edited and transformed for publication) and standards behind this work, my love of which coming from my belief in the liturgical commons.

    Like the Hymns of the Spirit list yesterday, I’ve noted which of the hymns he’s worked on are on the Consultation on Ecumenical Hymnody list, below the fold, in bold.

    Lastly, Mr. Dumont has created some derived resources, including a Lenten pack, a Christmas pack (topical, no?) and the most interesting, a service book for visitation. And there are MP3s which you can “put . . . on a cell phone or MP3 player with a little speaker when you visit the sick.” Brilliant.

    Hymn
    A Mighty Fortress
    Abide with Me
    Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended?
    All Creatures of Our God and King
    All Glory, Laud and Honor
    All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
    All My Heart This Night Rejoices
    All People That on Earth Do Dwell
    All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night
    All Things Are Thine, No Gift Have We
    Angels from the Realms of Glory
    Angels We Have Heard on High
    As with Gladness Men of Old
    At Even, Ere the Sun Was Set
    At the Name of Jesus
    Away in a Manger
    Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne
    Blessed Jesus, At Your Word
    Blest Are the Pure in Heart
    Bread of the World, in Mercy Broken
    Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light
    Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning
    Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
    Come Down, O Love Divine
    Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire
    Come, Thou Almighty King
    Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
    Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
    Come, Ye Thankful, Raise the Strain
    Crown Him with Many Crowns
    Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
    Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness
    Eternal Father, Strong to Save
    Eternal God, Whose Power Upholds
    Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round
    Fairest Lord Jesus As Beautiful Savior
    Faith of Our Fathers
    Father Eternal, Ruler of Creation
    Father, We Praise Thee Now the Night Is Over
    Fight the Good Fight
    For All the Saints
    For the Beauty of the Earth
    From All Who Dwell below the Skies
    From Heaven Above to Earth I Come
    Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
    Go to Dark Gethsemane
    God Moves in a Mysterious Way
    God of Grace and God of Glory
    God of Our Fathers
    God the Omnipotent
    Good Christian Men, Rejoice
    Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
    Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise
    Hail Thee, Festival Day
    Hail to the Lord’s Anointed
    Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus
    Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
    Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face
    Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
    Holy, Holy, Holy
    How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds
    If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee
    Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
    In Christ There Is No East or West
    In Heavenly Love Abiding
    In the Bleak Mid-winter
    In the Cross of Christ I Glory
    Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
    Jesus Shall Reign
    Jesus, Priceless Treasure
    Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee
    Joy to the World
    Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
    Judge Eternal, Throned in Splendor
    Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
    Let All the World in Every Corner Sing
    Let Us with a Gladsome Mind
    Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates!
    Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
    Look Ye Saints, the Sight Is Glorious
    Lord Jesus, Think on Me
    Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing
    Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
    Make Me a Captive, Lord
    May the Grace of Christ Our Savior
    New Every Morning Is the Love
    Not Alone for Mighty Empire
    Now Thank We All Our God
    O Come, All Ye Faithful
    O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
    O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing
    O Gladsome Light
    O God of Earth and Altar
    O God, Our Help in Ages Past As Our God, Our Help In Ages Past
    O Holy City Seen of John
    O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts
    O Little Town of Bethlehem
    O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea
    O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright
    O Perfect Love, All Human Thought Transcending
    O Sacred Head Surrounded As O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
    O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright
    O Worship the King
    O Ye Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing
    Of the Father’s Love Begotten
    On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry
    Open Now the Gates of Beauty
    Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow
    Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens
    Praise to the Living God As The God of Abraham Praise (variant hymn)
    Praise to the Lord
    Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
    Ride On, Ride On in Majesty
    Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name
    Shepherd of Souls, Refresh and Bless
    Silent Night
    Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above
    Son of God, Eternal Savior
    Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayer
    Strong Son of God, Immortal Love
    Sun of My Soul
    Take My Life and Let It Be
    The Church’s One Foundation
    The Day of Resurrection
    The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended
    The Duteous Day Now Closeth As Now Rest Beneath Night’s Shadow
    The First Nowell As The First Noel
    The Head That Once Was Crowned with Thorns
    The King of Love My Shepherd Is
    The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
    The Lord Will Come and Not Be Slow
    The Strife Is O’er
    There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy
    This Is My Father’s World
    Thou Art the Way, to Thee Alone
    Thou Whose Almighty Word
    Through All the Changing Scenes of Life
    Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying
    Watchman, Tell Us of the Night
    We Gather Together
    We Plow the Fields and Scatter
    Were You There?
    What Child Is This?
    When All Thy Mercies, O My God
    When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
    When Morning Gilds the Skies
    Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life
    While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
    Ye Servants of God
    Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones

    Follow up: what hymns need Unitarian and Universalist Christians need?

    27 December 2010 at 16:29

    Goodness: eight days without a blog post. Much longer than usual, but between the year-end rush at Day Job and Christmas itself, I’ve been a bit preoccupied.

    So, following up from the last blog posts, what hymns would a Unitarian or Universalist Christian church need, in addition to those commonly found in ecumenical hymnody, to meet the usual needs? “O Life that Makest All Things New” comes to mind.

    What would you add?

    Bjรƒฦ’ยถrn and Benny (from ABBA) play Jingle Bells

    27 December 2010 at 22:00

    Happy Christmastide! For more Christmas pop-fabulousness, see this.

    What hymns are distinctive for Unitarian and Universalist Christians? Lists proffered.

    28 December 2010 at 15:17

    Yesterday, I blogged wondering what might constitute a Unitarian and Universalist Christian hymn corpus. In essence, this would seem to me to be those hymns most commonly found in Unitarian and Universalist hymnals (the Universalists wrote few enduring hymns themselves and tended to rely on the Unitarians as much as anyone) less those hymns commonly found in any number of hymnals.

    I steeled myself for a bit of a research project — we all have our hobbies — then discovered a tool that probably give as good a result in a fraction of the time. The Hymnary.org site indexes American hymnals. Ideally, each hymnal should have each consituent hymn notes withits particular version of the text, plus the tune and distinguishing metadata. In many cases, however, all there is is a list of hymns, noted by a standardized name. This includes a large number of Universalist and Unitarian hymnals. (The 1993 Singing the Living Tradition is noted, but alas doesn’t even have a list of hymns.)

    A feature at Hymnary.org is the ability to compare two hymnals by common content. So I thought: if someone took a list of the hymns found in both the 1937 Hymns of the Spirit and the 1964 Hymns for the Celebration of Life, less those hymns found in the Consultation on Ecumenical Hymnody list, you might have a working list of distinctively Unitarian and Universalist hymns.

    A few caveats:

    • Some hymns thought as distinctly Unitarian might not be on the list because they were adopted ecumenically.
    • Some ecumenical hymns were re-written for a particularly Unitarian audience — usually to remove references to the Trinity; Holy, Holy, Holy leaps to mind — and so may be thought of distinctive, but remain with the ecumenical list.
    • Several hymns on the “distinctive” list were not written by Unitarians and Universalists; this is only a reference to adoption.
    • Some hymns, however distinctive, are so out of fashion that their current adoption is unlikely. So this list should be read both from a practical and historical point of view. Not Alone for Mighty Empire — on the ecumenical list — comes to mind.

    So here’s the distinctive list: many items that seem just right, others that needs bear scrutiny.

    A noble life, a simple faith An open heart and
    Abide not in the realm of dreams
    Again, as evening’s shadow falls
    All are architects of fate
    All beautiful the march of days
    All hail the pageant of the years
    All my hope on God is founded
    As tranquil streams that meet and merge
    Awake my soul, stretch every nerve
    Awake, my soul, and with the sun
    Behold a sower from afar, He goeth forth with might
    Beneath the shadow of the cross
    Bring, O morn, thy music
    Creation’s Lord, we give Thee thanks, That this Thy world is incomplete
    Fair is their fame who stand
    Forward through the ages
    From age to age the prophets [how grandly] rise
    From heart to heart, from creed to creed
    Gather us in, thou love that fillest all
    Gird on thy sword, O man
    Go not, my soul, in search of him
    God is in his holy temple, all the earth keep silence here
    God is my [our] strong salvation
    God of the earnest heart
    God of the earth, the sky, the sea
    God send us men whose aim will [shall] [’twill] be
    God’s trumpet wakes the slumbering world
    Hear, hear, O ye nations, and hearing obey
    Heaven and earth, and sea, and air God’s eternal
    Heir of all the ages, I
    Heir of all the waiting ages
    High o’er the lonely hills
    How happy is he born and [or] taught
    I cannot think of them as dead
    I saw the city of the Lord
    I walk amidst thy beauty forth
    Immortal Love, forever full
    In the lonely midnight, on the wintry hill
    It came upon the [a] midnight clear
    It sounds along the ages
    Let the whole creation cry
    Let there be light, Lord God of Hosts
    Life of ages, richly poured, Love of God, unspent and free
    Light of ages and of nations
    Lord of all being, throned afar
    Lord of all majesty and might
    Make channels for the streams of love
    Man’s comradeship is very wide
    Men whose boast it is, that ye
    Morning has broken, Like the first morning
    Morning, so fair to see
    My country is the world, My flag with stars impearled
    My country, ’tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty
    Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee
    No longer forward or behind
    Not always on the mount may we Rapt in the heavenly vision be
    Not gold, but only men can make
    Not in vain the distance beacons
    Now is the time approaching
    Now while the day in trailing spleandor
    O beautiful for spacious skies
    O brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother
    O day of light and gladness, of prophecy and song
    O God, beneath thy [your] guiding hand
    O life that maketh all things new
    O prophet souls of all the years
    O sometimes gleams upon our [my] sight
    O star of truth, down shining
    O thou great Friend to all the sons of men
    O thou whose gracious presence shone
    O thou whose power o’er moving worlds presides
    O Thou whose Spirit witness bears
    O worship the King, all glorious above
    O ye who taste that love is sweet
    O’er continent and ocean
    Once more the liberal year laughs out
    Once to every man and nation
    One holy church of God appears
    One thought I have, my ample creed
    Our God, our God, thou shinest here
    Out of the dark, the circling sphere
    Past are the cross, the scourge, the thorn
    Praise to God and thanks we bring
    Prayer is the soul’s [heart’s] [saint’s] sincere desire
    Rank by rank again we stand
    Remember me, the Savior [Master] said
    Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky
    Rise up, O men [man] [youth] of God
    Say not the struggle naught availeth
    Say not they die those martyr souls
    Seek not afar for beauty
    Send down thy [your] truth, O God
    Sovereign and transforming grace
    Spring has now unwrapped the flowers
    Thank we now the Lord of heaven
    The crest and crowning of all good
    The harp at nature’s advent strung
    The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want
    The morning hangs its signal
    The spacious firmament on high
    The voice of God is calling its summons unto men
    These things shall be, a loftier race
    Thou, earth, art ours, and ours to keep
    Thy kingdom come, O Lord, wide circling as the sun
    Tis winter now, the fallen [gleaming] snow
    To mercy, pity, peace and love
    Turn back, O man, forswear thy foolish ways
    Unto thy temple, Lord, we come
    Veiled in darkness Judah lay
    We come unto our fathers’ God
    We move in faith to unseen goals
    We praise thee, God, for harvests earned
    We pray no more, made lowly wise
    We thank you, Lord of heaven
    We three kings of [from] Orient are
    When courage fails, and faith burns low
    When my Love to Christ [God] grows weak
    When Stephen, full of power and grace
    When the gladsome day declineth
    When thy heart [with joy] o’erflowing Sings a thankful prayer
    Where is our holy church
    Where is your God they say
    Wisdom has treasures greater far
    Wonders still the world shall witness
    Ye [You] that have spent the silent night
    Ye shepherd plains of Bethlehem
    Years are coming, speed them onward

    And for the record, here are the ecumenical hymns found in both hymnals

    A mighty fortress is our God
    Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
    All creatures of our God and King
    All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice
    All praise to thee, my God, this night
    Angels we have heard on high
    Come, thou almighty King, Help us thy name to sing
    Come, ye [you] thankful people, come
    Dear Lord and Father [Master] of mankind [us all], Forgive our foolish ways
    For all thy [the] saints, who from their labors rest
    For the beauty of the earth
    God moves in a mysterious way
    God of grace and God of glory
    Hail to the Lord’s anointed
    Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Early
    Immortal, invisible, God only wise
    Joy to the world, the Lord is [has] come
    Joyful, joyful, we adore thee
    Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates
    Not alone for mighty empire Stretching far o’er land and sea
    Now thank we all our God
    O come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant
    O come, O come, Emmanuel [Immanuel], And ransom
    O God of earth and altar
    O [Our] God, our help in ages [seasons] past
    O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see
    O Sacred Head now [once] [sore] wounded [surrounded]
    Praise to the living God All praised be his name
    Praise to [ye] [we] the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation
    The first Noel, the angel did say
    Watchman, tell us of the night
    Where cross the crowded ways of life
    While shepherds watch [watched] their flocks by night

    And here are the ecumenical hymns found only in the Hymns of the Spirit. (Having not worked with Hymns for the Celebration of Life, I don’t have a list of those ecumenical hymns for only in it.)

    All Things Are Thine, No Gift Have We
    As with Gladness Men of Old
    Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light
    Deck Thyself, My Soul, with Gladness
    Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round
    Fairest Lord Jesus
    Faith of Our Fathers
    From All Who Dwell below the Skies
    Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
    God of Our Fathers
    Good Christian Men, Rejoice
    Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
    In Christ There Is No East or West
    In Heavenly Love Abiding
    In the Cross of Christ I Glory
    Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee
    Judge Eternal, Throned in Splendor
    Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing
    Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
    New Every Morning Is the Love
    O Perfect Love, All Human Thought Transcending
    Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow
    Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens
    Ride On, Ride On in Majesty
    Silent Night
    Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayer
    Strong Son of God, Immortal Love
    Sun of My Soul
    Take My Life and Let It Be
    The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended
    The Duteous Day Now Closeth
    The King of Love My Shepherd Is
    We Plow the Fields and Scatter
    When All Thy Mercies, O My God
    When Morning Gilds the Skies

    Mapping the UUA

    30 December 2010 at 23:05

    These days, if you use the church finder at UUA.org, a nice map of your state pops up with it. I’m not ungrateful, but I did want a global view — perhaps with a bit of clarifying detail; see below — and when you work with a bunch of terribly clever people, some of whom scrape, repurpose and report on data every day, I was just prone to take matters into my own hands.

    Click here — no embedding, I’m afraid — for a Google map of the UUA, as I see it anyway. (A screenshot follows, for reference.)

    Map showing distribution of Unitarian Universalist congregations in the CONUS

    Or you can download the KML file directly from http://boyinthebands.com/uua-map.kml but for God’s sake don’t use it in Google Earth, since it’s my first serious attempt at this markup and it could use some work.

    A couple of things. Even from space, it looks like the Unitarians and Universalists filled in the United States, east to west, as far as I-35 and then realized they were running out of paint. “Dab in the Front Range, outline the Pacific coast and we’ll get those square states later.”

    But zoom into the map and you’ll see there are big gaps in the fabric east of the Alleghenies, too.  And the Deep South has huge unserved areas, even where there are market towns of considerable size and regional influence. (My next attempt at mapmaking will be to superimpose micropolitan areas onto this map, to point out some likely places to spawn new church development.)

    I color-coded the pins, matching the UUA size categories, and in one case subdividing it.

    • White. Emerging congregations.
    • Light blue. Congregations with 35 or fewer members. These are included in “small” but function differently than larger ones — and make up such a large number of recently-developed congregations.
    • Blue. Congregations with 36 to 149 members. These are the rest of the “small” churches.
    • Green. Medium-sized. 150 to 549 members.
    • Red. Large. 550 members and more.
    • Yellow. I’ve put the Church of the Larger Fellowship (a postal and internet extension church) and the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines (really a national denomination in its own right) in their own category, as they don’t quite map on to this schema.

      Get out your checkbooks; ministers need you

      31 December 2010 at 15:40

      Today’s the last day of the year: the perfect time to write a check — or checks — to the ministerial discretionary funds of ministers you know or trust. (I make the check to the church, memo it to the ministerial discretionary fund and mail it to the minister.)

      These funds are part of an intangible safety net and often fill needs that have no program or public support. I’ve given from, given to, and received from ministerial discretionary funds.

      Please consider helping.

      Year of the King James Bible

      1 January 2011 at 16:09

      This year, the King James version of the Bible, also known as the Authorized Version, turns 400 years old.

      There’s a bit of a buzz in Britain about this, including a rather interesting radio documentary, which was the first thing I heard after London midnight last night. This version, so it goes, shaped the language, arguably empowered the poor and outcast, shaped British identity (don’t care about that so much) and is plainly beautiful.

      You have seven days to listen to it, too.

      Perhaps it was preaching to the choir, but when it comes to the Bible read in worship, I do prefer the King James. I know that’s quite out of fashion for liberals, but I know what stirs me and what doesn’t, and none other come close. I suppose that’s not only because the King James is written in English, but helped shape what English has become. And besides, this was the language that nurtured the Murrays and Ballou and really nearly all English-speaking Protestants until a hundred years ago, and very many now.

      Plus, in the United States, it is in the public domain. By use, it has become the people’s voice. By law, it cannot be alienated from them. Worth a fair consideration by Unitarian Universalists.

      The Unitarian Universalist micropolitan area breakdown

      3 January 2011 at 13:39

      How small a town can support a Unitarian Universalist congregation? In time, I hope to answer this, but for the moment want to consider the middle scale of United States habitations: the micropolis.

      As I’ve mentioned before, a micropolitan area “consists of one or more counties and includes the counties containing the core urban area, as well as any adjacent counties that have a high degree of social and economic integration (as measured by commuting to work) with the urban core.” (Cite, with data products) The urban core area of a micropolitan area, as opposed to a metropolitan area, has at least 10,000 but fewer than 50,000 persons. In a less statistical frame, we might call them small cities or market towns, with the understanding that they include outlying areas. Mount Pilot, and by extension Mayberry, say. There are 581 micropolitan areas in the United States.

      I spent much of the New Year’s Day weekend grapling with UUA membership list and OMB and Census data to connect main congregational address zip codes with Census Bureau Statistical Area code, and thence to those identifying micropolitan area. (Some other time I’ll filter out which congregations are in metropolitan area, and which area in rural areas.) Yes, there may be some errors, and when I publish my data files, I would appreciate your review and comment.

      Remarkably, there are 186 Unitarian Universalist Association member congregations in 157 micropolitan areas. Yes, some areas have more than one congregation and in one case there’s a cluster of congregations. Most of these congregations are among the smallest in the UUA, but it should make us a bit more grateful and graceful towards those who can continue a ministry in less-populated areas and often at quite a distance from other congregations.

      There are plenty of interesting statistics, but after all that work, I don’t want to give them up all at once.

      So what’s the smallest micropolitan area with a UUA-member congregation?

      Kodiak, Alaska. Home of the Kodiak Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Membership, 16; area population (2009 estimate), 13,346. Its nearest congregational neighbor by boat or air — Kodiak is on an island — is in Seward, 232 miles away (and 10 hours by ferry).

      The CONUS runner-up is Vermillion, South Dakota. Home of the ambiguously named Unitarian (Universalist Fellowship of Vermillion. Membership, 7; area population (2009 estimate), 13,490. Its nearest congregational neighbor is 58 miles away in Sioux City, Iowa.

      Next: the biggest areas without a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

      The largest micropolis without a Unitarian Universalist congregation

      5 January 2011 at 00:33

      So if you wanted to fill in the largest places that don’t have a Unitarian Universalist congregation, where would you start? This is a continuation of the series I begun yesterday.

      First, some caveats. Would Queens, one of the boroughs of New York City, be considered its own entity, or given its population — 2.3 million; bigger than 15 states and the District of Columbia — count each neighborhood as an entity? There’s a single Unitarian Universalist congregation in Flushing. So what about Astoria or Sunnyside or Jamaica, for example? (And there are none in the Bronx; with 1.4 million people and more populous than Hawai’i.)

      And not all metropolitan areas have Unitarian Universalist congregations; I’m working up a list next. And I’ll leave aside the thorny issue found in many places and in all denominations about congregations that have essentially stopped engaging with their communities and so can hardly be thought to serve them.

      That brings us back to the micropolitan list, which, to review, is a county or contiguous group of counties, with an urban core between 10,000 and 50,000 in population. Some are scarcely above 10,000, while others function as diffuse suburbs without a large core: more like a network of towns or settlements than a metropolis. Some of these are adjacent to larger metropolitan areas; some aren’t.

      Strictly by the list, and noting what’s on the UUA site, the largest unserved micropolitan area is Hilo, Hawai’i, on the Big Island, with a 2009 estimated population of 177,835. (Indeed, the only member congregation in the state is on Oahu.) But I recalled that many year ago that there was a district-affiliated fellowship there. And when I searched I found the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Puna, claiming about 25 members. Bless them and their work.

      The second-largest on the list has a better — or would that be worse? — claim, anyway. There are no congregations in an area of North Carolina from the northern suburbs of Charlotte to the south, and the cities of Winston-Salem and Greensboro to the north. Interstate highway 85 runs between the two points, and on this line you’ll find Lexington, home of the famous barbecue, twinned with Thomasville, famous for furniture manufacture and together anchoring Davidson County (2009 population estimate 158,582). There is no Unitarian Universalist congregation there. Neither is there one in Salisbury, in Rowan County (2009 area population estimate 140,798) bordering to the southwest. It’s number seven on the unserved micropolitan list. And forget that poor blighted (former) “city of looms” Kannapolis, though arguably its close enough to Charlotte to be within its ecclesiastical orbit.

      Admittedly, I have a personal interest. My husband’s alma mater is in Salisbury, but it seems strange that such a well-connected and populated pair of areas have not churches of our fellowship.

      For more marvels, see the next 20 list of ungathered micropolitan areas, with their 2009 estimated populations and how many Unitarian Universalist congregations are within 25 miles (as the crow flies), below the fold.  Albany, Oregon may be close enough to Corvallis to allow a pass, but the rest of these are functionally unserved.

      Ottawa-Streator, IL 153206 0
      Pottsville, PA 146952 0
      Kahului-Wailuku, HI 145157 0
      Chambersburg, PA 144994 2
      Salisbury, NC 140798 1
      Lumberton, NC 129559 0
      Albany-Lebanon, OR 116584 2
      Dunn, NC 115761 1
      Allegan, MI 113449 1
      East Liverpool-Salem, OH 107722 0
      Bluefield, WV-VA 106828 0
      Meridian, MS 106139 0
      Ashtabula, OH 100767 0
      Adrian, MI 99837 2
      Shelby, NC 99274 0
      Sebring, FL 98704 0
      Paducah, KY-IL 98609 0
      Enterprise-Ozark, AL 96782 0
      Clarksburg, WV 92441 0
      Opelousas-Eunice, LA 92326 1

      Fire consumes Unitarian Universalist church

      6 January 2011 at 00:06

      Terrible news from Klamath Falls, Oregon, where yesterday a fire destroyed the meetinghouse of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. The building, a century-old wooden former school, is a complete loss.

      I’ll list updates and any fundraising appeals here.

      A photo of the building before the fire (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Klamath County site)

      Photos of the fire (KDRV.com)

      HT: @mattkinsi

      The real reason why I review church figures

      6 January 2011 at 23:52

      If in the micropolitan — soon to include metropolitan — data series I make no other impression, let it be this: Unitarian Universalists, in their different theological stripes, are made not found. Anyone can become a Unitarian Universalist; we need not wait for some unbidden force to convince the stranger that he or she belongs. If might be easier so to do: it helps preserve our historic class prestige, takes less effort and invites fewer conflicts over resources or self-identity. It is, of course, unfaithful and self-defeating, as evidenced by our years of stagnant membership and institutions.

      Further, not only may Unitarian Universalists be found anywhere, but (generally speaking) congregations may be gathered anywhere. While I have been an open critic of a creeping form of congregational fundamentalism that’s taken hold in Unitarian Universalist circles, I would agree that it is our basic locus of discipleship. Unitarian Universalists are made, and are usually made in congregations.

      Congregations may be found just about anywhere, but that does not mean that we can expect them to follow a common kind of success. In low population areas, just keeping a congregation together — with occasional worship, a ministry of personal support and some kind of enriching faith sharing — might be success, and worthy of attention, even praise. And so the second take-away, if we really think we have something worth sharing, it needs to be available where people are. First, in their own towns. But also, in their own class and culure, language and expectations.

      A word about rural churches

      7 January 2011 at 13:22

      I was going to move directly to metropolitan areas, but thought I would detour first to those congregations that are neither in metropolitan or micropolitan areas. That is, rural churches. These are very few — only about 5% of all Unitarian Universalists congregations — and most (from personal knowledge) are in small towns, not in open country. Indeed, I was ordained by one, in Canon, Georgia.

      The full list, plus notes, below the fold.

      A couple of notes.

      1. This list is up for revision. It is entirely possible that a church may have property or a mailing address in the country, but that’s because of donated or cheap land, or a willing correspondence clerk. It might really “belong” to an adjacent (say, one zip code over) town and so would be in a metropolitan or micropolitan area.
      2. Many of the churches are of the older Universalist variety, but I wonder if some of the newer ones have a resort or retirement locus as their draw. And college towns.
      3. Of these college towns, Middlebury, Vermont, is home of the largest rural church: Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society. 167 members.  Even more interesting is that is doesn’t date to the Dawn of Time, but 1988. Yes, rural churches are small but don’t default to the 25-40 range that new congregations have settled into. [Cripes. I stared right though the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship listing . . . .]
      4. Zero membership means an emerging congregation.
      5. Several are in Oxford County, Maine. Universalist, of course.
      6. Islands are also well represented in Alaska, Massachusetts and the Virgin Islands.
      Congregation Members Church ID State County
      Sitka UU Fellowship Inc. 18 2012 AK Sitka City and Borough
      Seward UUs 9 2001 AK Kenai Peninsula Borough
      Quimper UU Fellowship 292 8228 WA Jefferson County
      San Juan UU Fellowship 14 8215 WA San Juan County
      Central Coast UU Fellowship 31 7127 OR Lincoln County
      Socorro Uus 20 6112B NM Socorro County
      UUs of the White Mountains 0 375345 AZ Navajo County
      Two Rivers UU 32 2626 CO Garfield County
      Pagosah UU Fellowship 32 2630 CO Archuleta County
      UU Fellowship in Alamosa, Colorado 25 360818 CO Alamosa County
      UUs of the Big Bend 31 7718 TX Brewster County
      Eureka UU Fellowship 56 2030 AR Carroll County
      UU Church of Stockton Illinois 63 3421 IL Jo Daviess County
      Unitarian Fellowship 24 5514 MN Itasca County
      Blue Hills UU Fellowship 32 8426 WI Barron County
      Chequamegon UU Fellowship 31 8329 WI Ashland County
      Northwoods UU Fellowship 79 8417 WI Oneida County
      UU Fellowship of Door County 90 8428 WI Door County
      Northeast Iowa UU Fellowship 57 3617 IA Winneshiek County
      People’s Church 72 5333 MI Mason County
      Mountain Light UU Church 23 3041 GA Gilmer County
      Georgia Mountains UU Church 64 3039 GA Lumpkin County
      Canon UU Church 10 3112 GA Franklin County
      Thermal Belt UU Fellowship 28 6639 NC Polk County
      UU Fellowship of Franklin North Carolina 83 6636 NC Macon County
      First Universalist Church of Sampson County at Red Hill 15 6715 NC Sampson County
      Rockbridge UU Fellowship 0 508554 VA Rockbridge County
      UUs of the Eastern Shore 0 342444 VA Accomack County
      UUs of the Blue Ridge 0 532465 VA Rappahannock County
      UU Fellowship of the Rappahannock 41 8118 VA Lancaster County
      UUs of the Chester River 62 4039 MD Kent County
      First Universalist Church 93 7214 PA Susquehanna County
      Upper Delaware UU Fellowship 18 7316 PA Wayne County
      Universalist Society of West Burke 7 8026 VT Caledonia County
      First Universalist Parish 33 7934 VT Orleans County
      Universalist Unitarian Congregation 36 8015 VT Caledonia County
      Champlain Valley UU Society 167 7937 VT Addison County
      UU Fellowship of Stowe 0 375025 VT Lamoille County
      All Souls Church UU 100 7925 VT Windham County
      First Universalist Church 40 3926 ME Somerset County
      UU Church of Belfast 121 3817 ME Waldo County
      The Caribou UU Congregation 29 3824 ME Aroostook County
      Unitarian Society of Houlton 19 3912 ME Aroostook County
      First Congregational Society (Unitarian) of Eastport 6 3833 ME Washington County
      UU Church of Ellsworth 83 3834 ME Hancock County
      Midcoast UU Fellowship 65 3837 ME Lincoln County
      The UU Church of Sangerville & Dover Foxcroft 34 4018 ME Piscataquis County
      UU Congregation of Castine 71 3825 ME Hancock County
      First Universalist Church 23 4022 ME Oxford County
      First Universalist Church of South Paris 37 4013 ME Oxford County
      First Universalist Church of Norway UU 41 3922 ME Oxford County
      First Universalist Society 5 3911 ME Oxford County
      First Universalist Society 4 3821 ME Oxford County
      UU Fellowship of the Eastern Slopes 111 5817 NH Carroll County
      UU Society of Martha’s Vineyard 66 5121 MA Dukes County
      Second Congregational Meeting House Society UU 150 4733 MA Nantucket County
      UU Fellowship of St Croix 21 8028 VI St. Croix Island
      The UU Fellowship of St John 28 8029 VI St. John Island

      What's wrong with fellowships?

      8 January 2011 at 18:04

      Before I return to my previously scheduled congregational data, I have to ask the assembled readers — those who know Unitarian Universalists, at least — what’s wrong with the Fellowship Movement?

      I know there are reasonable points for both praise and concern — perhaps even scorn — but there’s something about the Fellowship Movement that causes sensible people to spit blood.

      Why is this, and what are the specific charges? I suspect some of it can be grouped under their difficulty for American Unitarian Association and later UUA staff, and perhaps their unwillingness or inability to grow, or their propensity to die.

      Thoughts?

      And some background, from UUWorld.org.

      Yesterday in Arizona

      9 January 2011 at 14:23

      Terrible news, as I’m sure you all know, from Arizona: a mass shooting, centered on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She is in critical condition (after falsely being declared dead in several media outlets, and particularly NPR) but six others, including a federal judge, are dead. Time to pray for the living and the dead.

      But I’ve heard too many pre-emptive suggestions that people should not “get political.” That is impossible: the intended target was a member of Congress, and follows an electoral season with bulls’-eye target ads and — this is more important — sloppy, stirred-up and violent electioneering. Yesterday’s shooting, whatever the state, condition or number of its plotters, was inherently political.

      And worse, there’s a make-nice tendency, especially but not exclusively in the middle-class center left to say that everyone’s guilty of this behavior and we should all do a better job of being civil. Since this is a key Unitarian Universalist demographic, let me preach. A cheap equivocation extinguishes the search for answers and avoids a meaningful resolution. Polite falsehoods and easy words are fine for cocktail party chit-chat, but foster a festering wound in a divided nation. Now, we need candor.

      Let’s start with the rhetorical; we’ll return to other matters later.

      No, not everyone resorts to figurative fist-shaking. Some people can finish a sentence about national legislation without injecting the word death. Some players are worse than others, and shouldn’t be shocked if an unstable or unsettled person starts shooting. It’s happened before — in a Unitarian Universalist congregation, no less — and fear it’ll happen again. And I fear this is only the opening fever to a long era of political stagnation and popular malaise.

      The instinct to care for the dead and injured, and their families and ken, shouldn’t stop frank discussion about the miserable state we have in United States politics.

      Places churches rent to meet

      10 January 2011 at 03:45

      Perhaps not rent. But the following list is of churches in the Unitarian Universalist Association I identified that meet other people’s space. This is temporary-use space; I’m not including rented storefronts. In part, I wanted to know if the old stereotype of Unitarian-era fellowships meeting at the Y hold true — I’ve preached in one! — and to see if any of the home-based fellowships have survived. (One has; I’ve written about it before, but even they rent space occasionally.) I also to see what kind of space might be available for new churches.

      Here’s the list of key words I used — yes, grep -f, for those who know. The first ones are searching for synagogues; the one at the end assume negation (i.e. “not fixed” “no permanent address”). Then I had to hand-filter false positives, like the various Community Churches and churches in towns named Templeton and Bethel.

      temple|sinai|b’nai|beth|israel|ymca|ywca|home|homes|center|community |senior|theater|theatre|hall|building|presbyterian|methodist|lutheran |club|school|library|room|rooms|fixed|permanent|moves

      I would appreciate notes of corrections and additions. I will also add links to those congregations that have websites, as time permits. Active website links up. Have noted a couple of location changes. Now, sites for the hosts, where available. The best links I have found are up.

      Juneau UU Fellowship Temple Sukkat Shalom 211 Cordova St Juneau AK
      Kodiak UU Fellowship Allegro Arts Center 1220 E Rezanof Drive [map] Kodiak AK
      UU Fellowship of Jonesboro Temple Israel [info] Fellowship Hall 203 W. Oak Jonesboro AR
      Sedona UU Fellowship Sedona Creative Life Center 333 Schnebly Hill Rd Sedona AZ
      UU Fellowship of Yuma First Presbyterian Church 598 S. 7th Ave. Yuma AZ
      Live Oak UU Fellowship 1300 Grand Street (in the Home of Truth Spiritual Center) Alameda CA
      Mission Peak UU Congregation First United Methodist Church, 2950 Washington Blvd. Cole Hall Fremont CA
      UU Community of Lake County Kelseyville Senior Center 5245 Third Street [street view] Kelseyville CA
      UU Fellowship of the Mendocino Coast Mendocino Community/Rec Center School and Pine St. Mendocino CA
      UUs of Santa Clarita Valley Santa Clarita Valley Senior Ctr. 22900 Market Street Newhall CA
      UUs of Petaluma Petaluma Woman’s Club 518 B St. Petaluma CA
      UU Congregation of Whittier East Whittier YMCA 15740 Starbuck Whittier CA
      UU Fellowship in Alamosa 330 San Juan Avenue (north unit of the Presbyterian Church) Alamosa CO
      High Country UU Fellowship Summit County Comm & Senior Ctr. Peak One Boulevard Frisco CO
      Namaqua UU Congregation Ferguson High School 1101 Hilltop Drive Loveland CO
      Prairie Crossing Elementary School 11605 S. Bradbury Ranch Dr. Parker CO
      UU Fellowship of the Farmington Valley The Ethel Walker School 230 Bushy Hill Rd. Simsbury CT
      UU of Central Delaware Congregation Beth Sholom 340 N Queen St Dover DE
      UU Congregation of Lake County The Woman’s Club [Wikipedia] 227 N. Center St. Eustis FL
      Buckman Bridge UU Society Mandarin Community Club 12447 Mandarin Rd Jacksonville FL
      Community U U Church Dudley’s Memorial Chapel 1108 North Dixie Highway (US Rt. 1) New Smyrna Beach FL
      UU Fellowship of Sun City Center Temple Beth Israel 1115 Del Webb East Sun City Center FL
      North Idaho UUs Harding Family Center 411 N 15th Coeur D’alene ID
      New Garden Community Church – Unitarian Universalist United Electrical Workers (UE) Hall 37 S Ashland [street view] Chicago IL
      All Souls Free Religious Fellowship Culltural Center 9351 Michigan Ave [street view] [residential?] Chicago IL
      Gaia Community Shawnee Mission UU Church 7725 W. 87th St. Overland Park KS
      UU Community of Frankfort 3rd Floor, Mc Clure Building 306 West Main St [possibly] Frankfort KY
      UU Meeting of South Berkshire Claire W. Teague Senior Center 917 S Main Street [street view, but more tree view really] Great Barrington MA
      Channing Memorial Church Northfield Elementary School 9125 Northfield Road Ellicott City MD
      UU Fellowship of Southern Maryland Chesapeake Charter School 20945 Great Mills Road Lexington Park MD
      Midcoast UU Fellowship Skidompha Public Library 184 Main St Damariscotta ME
      Community Unitarian Universalists in Brighton Brighton Education Community Center (BECC) 125 South Church Street [map] Brighton MI
      Keweenaw UU Fellowship BHK Head Start Center 700 Park Houghton MI
      UU Fellowship of Central Michigan ArtReach Center of Mid-Michigan 319 S University St. Mount Pleasant MI
      Northwoods UU Fellowship Nisswa Community Library 5533 County Rd 18 [street view] Nisswa MN
      UU Fellowship of West Plains Yellow House Community Arts Center 409 W Trish Knight St West Plains MO
      UU Congregation of Tupelo Temple B’nai Israel 1301 Marshall St. Tupelo MS
      UU Fellowship of Bozeman Bozeman Senior Center. 807 North Tracy Bozeman MT
      UU Fellowship of Lake Norman Davidson College Tomlinson Res. Hall Conf. Room [info] Corner of Glasgow St & Patterson Count Cir Davidson NC
      All Souls Church UU Walltown Children’s Theatre 1225 Berkeley Street Durham NC
      UU Congregation of the Sandhills Pinehurst Executive Center 300 NC Highway 5 S Ste 7/8 Pinehurst NC
      Thermal Belt UU Fellowship Tryon Youth Center Route 176N Tryon NC
      Kearney UU Fellowship Campus Lutheran Ministry [map] 2715 9th Avenue Kearney NE
      Dorothea Dix UU Community Crosswicks United Methodist Church Intersection of Church St & Ward Av Crosswicks NJ
      UU Congregation of the Palisades Flat Rock Brook Nature Center 443 Van Nostrand Ave Englewood NJ
      UU Ocean County Congregation Holiday Mall Shopping Center 734 Route 37 West [street view] [storefront?] Toms River NJ
      Eastern New Mexico UU Fellowship Greyhound Arena, Classroom #7 Eastern NM University Portales NM
      Brockport UU Fellowship Brockport Exempts Club 248 West Ave [street view] Brockport NY
      Hornell Alfred UU Society Hornell Senior Ctr. 198 Main [street view] Hornell NY
      Delaware UU Fellowship Peale Chapel, Hamilton-William Center Ohio Wesleyan University Delaware OH
      UU Fellowship of McMinnville McMinnville Senior Center 2250 NE McDaniel Ln McMinnville OR
      Wy’east UU Congregation Hollywood Senior Center 1820 NE 40th Ave Portland OR
      Upper Delaware UU Fellowship Berlin Township Community Ctr. [map] 50 Milanville Rd. Beach Lake PA
      WellSprings Congregation The Montgomery School (Bell Hall) 1141 Kimberton Road (Rte 113) Chester Springs PA
      UU Fellowship of Lower Bucks Pen Ryn School 235 South Olds Blvd. Fairless Hills PA
      Joseph Priestley UU Fellowship Members’ Homes Lewisburg Area Lewisburg PA
      UUs of Puerto Rico San Juan Community Library Biblioteca BUCAPLAA Avenida Apolo at corner of Topacio Intersection of Rt 1 and Rt 199 Guaynabo PR
      UU Fellowship of Beaufort Wardle Family YMCA 1801 Richmond Ave Port Royal SC
      Black Hills UU Fellowship Canyon Lake Senior Citizens Ctr. 2900 Canyon Lake Dr. Rapid City SD
      Foothills UU Fellowship Everett Senior Center 702 Burchfield St Maryville TN
      UU Fellowship of Murfreesboro Center for the Arts N 110 West College Street Murfreesboro TN
      The UU Fellowship of St John St. John School Community Room Giftt Hill St. John VI
      Cedars UU Church The Island School 8553 NE Day Rd Bainbridge Island WA
      San Juan UU Fellowship Mullis Community Senior Center 589 Nash Street Friday Harbor WA

      A good resource for supervising ministry students?

      11 January 2011 at 02:11

      If anyone is serious about local ordination, licensed ministry, or finding new alternatives for ministry — say, as Episcopal bishop Pierre Whalon suggested in 2000 for expanding the cultural and ethnic base of his denomination — then we’ll need strong, alternative models for ministerial formation.

      I have Regina Coll’s Supervision of Ministry Students, a Catholic work, but something from a Congregational/Free Church ecclesiology would be ever better.

      A metropolis without Unitarian Universalists; no, dozens, really

      11 January 2011 at 05:02

      Later. Title changed to its opposite to correctly reflect the facts herein. Oops.

      Dear readers, to recap. I data-hacked the Unitarian Universalist Association directory and mapped it to Office of Management and Budget-defined areas: some metropolitan, some micropolitan, the balance rural. More or less. I wanted to find which low-population areas had Unitarian Universalist congregations and which high-population ones didn’t. I hoped to find insights, if not patterns, and have appreciated all the interest in this project.

      So what is a metropolitan area? This is a county or counties, bound by commuting and social patterns, and having an urban core of 50,000 or more in population. I was frankly horrified to find dozens without Unitarian Universalist churches.

      Two caveats:

      1. Some metropolitan areas are wedged between or nestled against areas that have churches, and could — if you made the point — be said to be evangelized. But these should be noted as opportunties for growth. The largest of the bunch is Vallejo, California (2009 pop. est. 123,109) in the Bay Area. It is neatly ringed by congregations, except to the east, and none is its county (Solano; 2009 pop. est. 407,234) and none closer than ten miles. For somebody’s to-do list.
      2. Then there is Puerto Rico. There’s only a single emerging congregation in the whole commonwealth, and it has only 10 members. Given that lack and its particular history and cultures, a Puerto Rican strategy — and its 6 completely unserved metropolitan areas — should be considered separately.

      So within the 70 unserved metropolitan areas, I’ve worked down from the top and found 8 significant cities with no church within 25 miles, some with none within 50 miles and one with no church even in 100 miles. Let’s think on these first.

      But here are those stats:

      Fort Smith, AR-OK Metropolitan Statistical Area 293063 pop.
      Holland-Grand Haven, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area 261957
      Laredo, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area 241438 nor one within 100 miles
      Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area 202973 nearest in New Orleans
      Lake Charles, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area 194138 nor within 50 miles
      Joplin, MO Metropolitan Statistical Area 174300 nor within 50 miles
      Monroe, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area 174086 nor within 50 miles
      Jacksonville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area 173064

      I drove to Fort Smith from Tulsa during my internship, feeling the loss — such as it is — even then. But the three in Louisiana are even more interesting.

      I’ll revisit this list after the 2010 census numbers come out. The full list of ungathered metropolitan areas in alphabetical follow under the fold.

      Aguadilla-Isabela-San Sebastián PR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Albany GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Altoona PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Anderson IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Anderson SC Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Anniston-Oxford AL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Battle Creek MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Bay City MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Burlington NC Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Cape Girardeau-Jackson MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Carson City NV Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Cleveland TN Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Dalton GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Danville IL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Danville VA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Decatur AL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Dothan AL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      El Centro CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Elizabethtown KY Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Fajardo PR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Fort Smith AR-OK Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Gadsden AL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Gainesville GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Great Falls MT Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Guayama PR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Hanford-Corcoran CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Hinesville-Fort Stewart GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Holland-Grand Haven MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux LA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Jackson TN Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Jacksonville NC Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Johnstown PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Joplin MO Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Kankakee-Bradley IL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Lake Charles LA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Laredo TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Lebanon PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Lewiston ID-WA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Longview WA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Madera-Chowchilla CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Manhattan KS Metropolitan Statistical Area (see comment below)
      Mayagüez PR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Michigan City-La Porte IN Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Monroe LA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Monroe MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Morristown TN Metropolitan Statistical Area
      North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Ocean City NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Oshkosh-Neenah WI Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Palm Coast FL Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Pascagoula MS Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Pine Bluff AR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Ponce PR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Saginaw-Saginaw Township North MI Metropolitan Statistical Area
      San Angelo TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
      San Germán-Cabo Rojo PR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Springfield OH Metropolitan Statistical Area
      St. George UT Metropolitan Statistical Area
      St. Joseph MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Steubenville-Weirton OH-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Sumter SC Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Texarkana TX-Texarkana AR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Vallejo-Fairfield CA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Vineland-Millville-Bridgeton NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Warner Robins GA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Wichita Falls TX Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Williamsport PA Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Yauco PR Metropolitan Statistical Area
      Yuba City CA Metropolitan Statistical Area

       

      Putting the congregational data project to bed; requests?

      11 January 2011 at 23:26

      It’s been a fun series, crunching though United States towns and cities and matching them with Unitarian Universalist congregations. Feel free to comment away; I certainly will, since there are also issues about Unitarian Universalist culture implied there. Here are the blog posts, in reverse chronological order.

      This was a trial run and a learning exercise for when the 2010 block-level Census data comes out in a few months, when we can pick up the fun in earnest. That said, is there any kind of data you’d like pulled out with respect to Unitarian Universalist congregations?

      I’ll also have the basic spreadsheet I used to draw some of these conclusions available for download — once I add some meaningful headers. Go and do likewise.

      Update. Download uua-congregations_data_20110111 (244 kb, CSV)

      Next project: church administration tools for the smallest congregations.

      A Unitarian Universalist minister in Ebony magazine

      13 January 2011 at 00:28

      The following published in the December 1962 issue of Ebony — you may or may not be able to see the page images — is a sermon by Unitarian Universalist minister Eugene Sparrow, then director of field services for the Midwest Unitarian Universalist Conference. Needless to say these were early days for a black Unitarian Universalist minister in so public a position, and for the UUA — then barely a year old — itself. Despite the title, it seems a better-than-average and pleasingly personal example of period “biblical humanist” thought.

      Eugene Sparrow, “Why I Believe There Is a God.” (link)

      The non-sense of austerity policy

      15 January 2011 at 19:26

      Andrew Brown, Unitarian minister and blogger (Caute) wrote:

      Readers of this blog may be interested this short video presentation which is, I think, worth five minutes of anyone’s time.

      I agree, for several reasons, not the least of which is warning about misleading civil preachments of virtue.

      Do watch this.

      Best of PDFs?

      18 January 2011 at 04:32

      I had this great idea that I would blog four times over the long weekend. That didn’t happen.

      But I did begin cleaning up, cleaning out and tagging more than a decade of PDF files. About 2,500. Many wonderful resources, some of which would be appropriate for the forthcoming church administration blog post series.

      Is there something you’ve been seeking? Taking requests.

      Two (more) unhappy numbers about Unitarian Universalism

      19 January 2011 at 02:27

      I’m no statistician, but I know that the facts we use to understand ourselves shape how we see ourselves — that sounds more like the work of a theologian, doesn’t it? — so bad or outdated facts give ourselves an incorrect self-understanding.

      So, first, what proportion of the American population is Unitarian Universalist? We’ve suffered under this one for a long time — indeed, nineteenth-century Universalists were so apt to inflate membership numbers that you still hear how we were once the sixth-largest denomination in the United States. This was never the case. And I hear echoes of the boast/lamentation every time someone quotes the study that suggests that 450,000 Americans identify as Unitarians. It also matters because we rely far too much on attraction instead of evangelism. What then is the correct answer?

      When I was a younger man, I heard it said that one person in a thousand was a Unitarian Universalist. But by the time I was in seminary — in the mid 90s — I calculated that ratio had dropped to eight in ten thousand. The proportion of adults (15 and up) in the United States in 2008 was 79.4%. (I was 16 when I joined my first church, so 15 and up seems right.) Today, there are about 312 million Americans, suggesting 247.7 million adults. There were in 2009 164,684 Unitarian Universalist members (PDF). Adding up the numbers I gathered recently, that number is 164,279.

      Either way, that’s 6.6 per 10,000. Gulp.

      Second, how are the big churches doing? Even though I have a special place in my heart for small churches, it’s clear that in many metropolitan areas, a single large congregation dwarfs the memberships of all other churches combined. (Washington, D.C. is an exception.) Membership loss in the largest congregations can have a profound effect.

      In 1994, Unitarian Universalist minister David O. Rankin, said in a speech, “Truth Telling to Unitarian Universalist Large Church Leaders” at Tulsa, Oklahoma — I was in my internship then, and there was a conference at All Souls Church —

      Apparently, the UUA has not been successful in developing and maintaining large churches. I have been told:

      In 1966, there were about 54 UU congregations above 600 members.
      In 1994, there are about 33 UU congregations above 600 members.

      Today, that’s 32 — not much of a loss — though that includes the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines and the Church of the Larger Fellowship, and I have several times stated that we should think of these each in their own unique category. (But they were at least that large back then, so I’ll include them now.)

      Now, there’s no natural law that says large churches must needs stay large. Some churches have shrunk beyond recognition and I’m sure some of the current 32 have grown into that status meaning others (plus one) have shrunk below it. Even consolidating with other local churches can’t stop the leak if the demographics are against you; here, I’m thinking of how two of the largest Universalist churches in the country were in Lynn, Massachusetts and Peoria, Illinois.

      So, what would happen if the 30 non-UUCP and non-CLF 600+ churches shrank to 150 members: a common size for churches with ministerial staff? The UUA would drop by 20,865 members, a number equal to the memberships of the smallest 497 non-emerging congregations; that is, every church with fewer than 87 members.

      Gulp.

      So then, with the facts, who are we? A small community of people who need to come up with new ways to manage our relationships, find new ways to provide services, create new opportunities to welcome current outsiders and gather new congregations for worship, formation and service.

      Two Danvilles, two Monroes and no church

      20 January 2011 at 03:49

      A map by request. Here is where all those metropolitan areas without Unitarian Universalist congregations are. The usual caveats apply, but note how most are east of the population fall-off line around Interstate highway 35; these are not lost in the desert. Funny how there are two cities each named Danville (Illinois and Virginia) and Monroe (Louisiana and Michigan) on the list. Less is funny is that they’re on the list at all.

      And even if Unitarian Universalists did exist like a mineral (at 6.6 parts per 10,000), there’s no reason why there wouldn’t be a medium-sized church in metro Fort Smith, Arkansas.

      Why isn’t there one, or rather, why isn’t there help for the people of that and other cities?


      View Larger Map

      Read this blogger

      21 January 2011 at 00:08

      Micah Bales is, among other things, a blogger, Quaker minister and a far better Esperantist than I am. He and his wife Faith Kelley and a small group of others are the Capitol Hill Friends worship group.

      He’s got quite a bit of cachet among Quaker bloggers but I think he deserves more exposure. He’s got a great voice for Christian mission and wrestles effectively about his own tradition in a manner that might prompt us to do the same.

      The Lamb’s War

      Washington, D.C.'s lost congregation

      22 January 2011 at 14:18

      Today, the District of Columbia has three congregation members of the Unitarian Universalist Association, each quite distinct from the others, but none is what you’d call new.

      There was, for a while, another: the Sojourner Truth Congregation. I’ve only hear bits and pieces about it. It was born in the Internet era, but it was effectively gone by the time I moved to Washington in 2000. It met at William Penn House, on Capitol Hill, co-incidentally the same place where the Capitol Hill Friends worship group I mentioned in the last post meets.

      An archived copy of its website remains.

      There was – incorporated at least — another:  the Edgewood Community Church, Unitarian Universalist, but though I can guess a few things about it from the name, know nothing for sure about it. Today, the Unitarian Universalist presence in the Edgewood neighborhood is the noteworthy Beacon House ministry, and any church I’d start would include it among its priority ministries.

      The underwear post

      23 January 2011 at 22:44

      I’m just going to grit my teeth, be grateful that the last two months of blog posts are back, summarize the facts of the substantive post I wrote today — now it’s gone! — and then back up my databases . . . .

      I found some sweatshop-free underwear I like. Boxer-briefs. Not too snug. Made by this union shop in Pennsylvania and sold by this workers’ co-op in Maine. Be warned: they don’t have all colors (normally, white, black and grey) in all sizes.

      They’re cheap if you buy your skivvies in a box, but expensive if you get them in plastic bags.  I like them, and recommend them.

      This isn’t the first time I’ve written on the subject — links there for women, too — and here’s my most recent general clothing shopping guide.

      Now, back to blog and church administration . . . .

      Unknotting thoughts about a tax court case

      25 January 2011 at 13:23

      What is a church?

      For all the sweat spilled in theological thought about ecclesiology, there’s a more earthly reason for the question: taxes. In the United States, churches — and I use that word deliberately — are untaxed and donations to them are tax-deductible. And unique in the charitable world, churches (plus denominations and their integrated organs) have no requirement to file the form 990, the “non-tax” form for nonprofit organizations. Contrast this with a “religious organization” — say, a religious publisher — that even if it is tax-exempt still has to file papers. (That’s no mean task, and suggests a work of a second-lass.)  Clearly, if your entity can be a church, so much the better.

      But mere assertion isn’t enough. Most of us have heard of “mail order ordination” or its newer equivalent online. It has become a trope in countless television shows,  but relatively few know about the next step: the churches organized around these newly-minted ministers. Most are — or were — bald tax dodges. Since the IRS lacks congressional guidance for what is or isn’t a church — that’s its term, which is why I use it — it has its own set of standards, about which there’s some ambiguity because of tax court cases. On the one hand, there’s a weighted list of characteristics, including the training of ministers, whether members are all of one family and if the church has a written creed. These have been institutionalized in Schedule A (“Churches”) of form 1023, the one used to apply for tax-exempt status.  (Though churches and very small organizations can claim it without filing with the IRS.) Another test of church-ship is whether members regularly meet. This associational test is at the heart of a case that stripped a church-claimant of the status: Foundation of Human Understanding v. United States. (link to PDF of the ruling)

      If you’re interested in such things, it’s worth reading the tax and law blogs about it, such as “Recent Decision Casts Doubt on Virtual Worship as a Qualifying Church Activity“ (Nonprofit Law Report) and “Court: Internet Church Is Not a ‘Church’ for Tax Purposes” (TaxProf Blog).

      I’m no lawyer, but I did read the decision and this seems like very bad law to me. Indeed, it has been bothering me for months. The IRS image of a church is so laden with old conventions that it would fail to catch a more clever tax-dodger, but could easily ensnare a new or minority religious group. I can easily imagine a language-minority ethnic religion whose rites are largely home-based or held privately, but has an overarching need to establish a cemetery or school (and thus needs to raise funds), and so teaches and encourages its dispersed membership — which may be largely or exclusively from one family — through Internet chat because the distances and costs are currently too high. That sounds like a church to me, but I doubt that would fly with the IRS.

      So before I go too far, here are some loose thoughts about this

      1. Unitarian Universalists benefit from our mainline roots. The word church, though ostensibly including synagogues, mosques and temples, speaks volumes. I think there’s encouragement to pass as conventional, even for those who are trying to create something innovative.
      2. The idea that a minority religious group has to pass using elements of majority religious culture is hostile to human rights.
      3. Ditto the would-be accommodation of being a “religious organization” when there’s legal and social value to being esteemed a church.
      4. But there’s something to be said for being cagey until one can secure those rights. And helping those whose practices are out of the mainstream. Sounds like a role for Unitarian Universalist witness to me.
      5. While the Foundation’s use of technology doesn’t allow for association, other kinds do. Consider Facebook for reuniting long-lost friends. But this case will surely chill experimentation.
      6. And from a missological point of view, radio and television ministries authentically minister to some far-flung people, however much some of us might find them distasteful or money-grubbing.

      There’s more, but rather than ramble I’ll defer to your thoughts.

      Keeping (and not keeping) records

      26 January 2011 at 23:07

      Congregational Library — one of my favorite places in Boston; near UUA headquarters for those familiar with Beacon Hill — has resources for church records management (including a policy template) and one — mostly links to other resources and vendors — for church librarians.

      I saw these promoted with a workshop on March 2 in the ‘burbs for planning for a church anniversary.

      A simpler way to manage church document-writing

      29 January 2011 at 12:12

      Quite a while ago — years, really — I thought there must be a simple way to write a document for church (or NGO or what-have-you) that is easy to share and once complete could be easily transformed into different products, like a print publication and webpages. I have found such a tool, and am learning it for my use at home and work.

      It’s actually two tools. The first is Markdown, a simple markup language. Anyone who has edited a Wikipedia article knows the concept, where a grammar of oddly-placed punctuation creates links, makes text bold or italics and so forth. Preachers who started on typewriters can certainly understand this, for as much evidence I have seen with random asterisks, underscores and dashes added to shape a sermon manuscript. This itself seems to be a modification of earlier proofreaders’ marks. But Markdown is so stripped down that I actually prefer one that’s been extended a bit. Which brings me to . . .

      Pandoc, “a universal document converter” that takes a flavor of Markdown and can make it into the different kinds of document I mentioned. And it can be matched with an external template or style sheet. So now that document can be made into HTML (the format behind websites), a file for an electronic book reader, a rather clever kind of slide show (that also might be useful for non-manuscript preachers; it even includes its own clock), a word processor document, a TeX document for a rather sophisticated kind of typesetting or encoded to be added to Wikipedia and others. It can be installed into just about any kind of computer, and because the input files are plain text they can be easily stored, read by human beings in their own right and — provided the file isn’t corrupted — be read by future generations indefinitely.

      Nice ideas, but now I’m trying to come up with some real-life applications for smaller churches that rely on volunteer work groups.

      IKEA for communion ware

      1 February 2011 at 04:15

      snaps glasses It’s been almost five years since I’ve written about using items from the Swedish dry-goods store IKEA for ecclesiastic purposes, but then Hubby and I don’t own a car anymore and it takes an effort to get to our nearest outlet.

      But we did so yesterday, and enjoyed ourselves down to the meatball-free dinner in the cafeteria. I even had lingenberries for dinner tonight.

      There I saw a cute set of little glasses — they called them snaps glasses; how Swedish —  but they were pleasingly domestic for a low-church communion set. Not as tiny as those normally used for communion, and not as wasteful as plastic. Probably cheaper, too, at less than $3 for six. And less off-putting for those, like me, who get queasy at the thought of someone’s fingers bathing in the common cup during the ostensibly more-hygienic practice of intinction.

      Alas, if you want these, you’ll have to go to the store yourself. They don’t ship these. They also call for some kind of tray, but more about that later.

      POKAL snaps glasses

      What? "UUA Fires Pacific Central District Executive"

      3 February 2011 at 12:09

      I didn’t expect to see the headline “UUA Fires Pacific Central District Executive” at Tom Wilson’s blog (Musings and Essays) this morning.

      What I’d like to know is if this is fallout to resistance (which may or may not exist) to the district consolidation initiative, signs of deeper than known budget problems or something entirely unrelated to the UUA’s troubles.

      I’ll leave this comments open.

      The word you're looking for is decimation

      4 February 2011 at 13:29

      Unitarian Universalist minister and blogger Dan Harper ran some of the UU congregation membership numbers, following the close of the 2011 certification period. In order to have a voting representation at General Assembly, congregations must certify their operations (held elections and worship services) and their membership. They must also make a financial contribution.

      This last one is important, as non-giving suggests an unspoken or non-public grievance, since I gather even a single dollar would qualify (if not be terribly useful). But that’s for another time. What we have now are fresh membership numbers.

      Three observations, with the caveat that that the facts behind these seem so volatile that I wouldn’t make any predictions from them. I’m comparing the newly certified numbers with last year’s, including any congregations admitted in midyear.

      1. Some congregations grew quite well. On a percentage basis — and ruling out the very small and a federated churches as outliers — the top two are
        • Unitarian Universalist Church of Cortland (Cortland, N.Y.), to 57 from 31.
        • Sacred Journey Fellowship (Garland, Texas), to 41 from 26.

        Congratulations.

      2. But what of two congregations? I was pleased how easily last year’s last mapped to this year’s list, with two exceptions.
        • Rainier Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation (Seattle, Wash.), 45 members.
        • Universalist Church of Westbrook (Westbrook, Me.), 24 members.

        These churches have an expired domain and a calendar un-updated since 2008 respectively. Is it too much to think they disbanded, merged with another congregation or disaffiliated? And if so, why is it so hard to get information about former churches; this used to be announced like a life passage. I welcome news about these. [Later. Found this blog post that mentions Ranier Valley’s closure in passing. Near the bottom.]

      3. And the big news, which occasions such a miserable blog post title. 147 congregations lost 10% or more of its reported membership in the last year. Some of these members can be surely recovered, but it’s hard to account for the diminished morale in losing fellow church-members, not to mention the lost donations. Some of these congregations were very small to begin with, so it might only take a couple of people to loose 10%. Some, too, are federated and seem to be loosing their Unitarian or Universalist part. But these two groups (federated, and where 10% or more means 3 persons or fewer) is only 14 churches. And four congregations with more than 500 members in 2010 lost more than 100 members when reporting for 2011.
      4. Assuming the two lost congregations aren’t simply a case of clerical error (pun intended), then the net change from last year is 1,152. A loss of 1,152.

      gLabels template for file folder labels

      6 February 2011 at 16:45

      This is for my Linux-using chums out there, and a tiny piece for church administration — provided you use the Gnome desktop, like Ubuntu Linux.

      gLabels — “a program for creating labels and business cards for the GNOME desktop environment” — is the easiest way I’ve ever found to create and print labels, and can merge information from a CSV (comma-seperated values) spreadsheet onto little bits of paper, sticky or otherwise. It can even add barcodes. In the next few weeks, I’ll show how to make tickets, flashcards, name tags and membership cards using nothing more than ordinary office paper and index cards. Call it a hobby of mine.

      The program has hundred of standard label templates, including one for the Avery 5202 and identically-sized file labels. These are the handy sheets — 4″x6″ — with seven labels for manila file folders. Between work (yes, I use Ubuntu Linux at work) and home, I use hundreds of labels each year, and I prefer them to be nicely printed.

      But I think I have a problem with my printer. Though it can hold the 4″x6″ label sheets, it interprets the medium as being letter-sized and so almost completely misses printing on the labels. I suppose I should have fixed that problem, but seems like over-engineering, seeing as all I wanted was tidy file folders.

      My solution: to create a template that thinks the 4″x6″ sheet is part of a letter piece of paper. Top and center. That one works like a charm, and since I’ve already made it, I want to share it.

      Download here. Right-click to save the file, or click to review it; it’s simple XML.

      Place it in ~/.glabels — in my case, that’s the directory (folder) /home/wells/.glabels (If you use the default Nautilus file manager, be sure to View > Show Hidden Files.)

      Improvements and variations are welcome.

      Disclaimer: Avery is a trademark and I don’t own it. Also, I don’t make any warranty for the template.

      Next numbers I'd like to see: ordained and fellowshipped ministers

      6 February 2011 at 18:23

      I’ve been enjoying reviewing Unitarian Universalist Association numbers and now ones I’d especially like to see related to ordained and fellowshipped ministers. Some of these numbers, admittedly, may not exist.

      • How many ministers are there?  (That one should be easy.) How many are retired or have long-term disabilities? How many can we expect in the next five years?
      • How many ministers are in compensated congregational ministries? Full-time? part-time? Uncompensated?
      • How many ministers are related (sponsored) by congregations, but make their ministry and living elsewhere?
      • How many ministers (like me) have make-do ministries and work in secular employment?
      • How many ministers are unemployed or underemployed?
      • How many ministers have more than $10,000 in student debt? $25,000? $50,000?
      • How many congregations have ministers of other fellowships, or none?
      • How many congregations have debt-remediation plans? plan to offer internships?

      All of these — there may be other questions just below the surface — come from my sense that the “market” in ministers is so super-saturated that we are developing different classes of ministers. Haves and have-nots — and it has been my experience that simple talent and spiritual gifts are not what puts people in one category or another. It is also my sense that the standing ministerial systems (especially the UUMA) have done little to correct inequity or assist ministers outside the traditional compass of “real ministry.” (That’s one reason why I refused to renew my UUMA membership some years ago.)

      Ministers seem to me a cheap resource despite their huge investments of time and money, and are treated accordingly.

      Meeting to worship; why ten?

      8 February 2011 at 04:31

      In the UUA Rules comes this tidbit:

      For purposes of determining compliance with Section C-3.5 of the Bylaws, a member congregation shall be deemed to have conducted “regular religious services” if it has held at least 10 services during the fiscal year.

      The fiscal year is July 1 to June 30, but that’s not the important part. Section C-3.5 concerns certification, and with it General Assembly voting rights. Being uncertified three times opens your church up to being categorized as inactive, though I suspect the fact of inactivity precedes the administration of it.

      So why ten services? Why not twelve, or two?

      I think this rule is noteworthy for two reasons. First, it sets a minimal objective standard by which activity can be measured, and so distinguish running congregations from summer chapels — which persisted until the 1980s — or from encouraging an entity that uses the name and cachet of “church” to operate some other kind of organization, however useful or well-intended.

      And this standard protects congregations from the (unlikely) charge of not meeting regularly enough for worship. I’m referring back to the associational test the IRS has for churches. I don’t think this is a coincidence, particularly since one of the questions a church-applicant (and recall a church doesn’t need to apply, but may to have a verifiable determination from the IRS) answers (PDF) is

      Do you have regularly scheduled religious services? If “Yes,” describe the nature of the services and provide representative copies of relevant literature such as church bulletins.

      This may not be the main reason, but the floor of ten services does seem to offer cover, and the UUA seems to have good counsel with respect to the Almighty IRS.

      Second, I hear an echo to circuit riding, as a former circuit rider myself. Thinking back a few decades (or generations), church could expect to get a minister to lead worship at least once a month. But sometimes harsh weather made summer worship unbearable in the South, and winter worship impossible in the North. And while air conditioning has (largely) solved the first problem, icy roads and the cost of heating oil does little for the second. I’m sure I’ve seen instances of New England congregations close in January, or move to an alternative facility.

      Worship once a month, less the hardest months, sounds like ten services a year to me. Other theories?

      General Assembly 2011 shout-out!

      8 February 2011 at 13:13

      Here!

      I will almost certainly go to General Assembly in Charlotte, N.C. this year: the site of the first GA I attended (1993) and the first one I will have attended since Boston in 2003.

      I’m not in a pastorate and I have no vote. Most of the sessions leave me cold. Then why go? To see friends, of course, but that’s not the most important reason. General Assmebly is as much about informal business as the set agenda. I hope to meet people about my new church start and other matters.

      Will you be there?

      Once I find a room and get a flight — oh, and Hubby might be able to join me; he went to college nearby — I’ll start making (and taking ?) appointments.

      My first and ordaining church has a website again

      8 February 2011 at 23:13

      Thanks to Derek Parker for pointing out that Canon Universalist Church (a.k.a. Canon Unitarian-Universalist Church, Canon Universalist Unitarian Church) of Canon, Georgia, has a new website.

      This little church — a rural church — in northeast Georgia was my first pastorate out of seminary, and who ordained me in 1999.

      I’m happy to see it, and a bit whistful.

      Moving domain registrars

      9 February 2011 at 03:55

      Greetings all: I’m moving most of the domains I don’t have at NameCheap.com — which I recommend — to them, including boyinthebands.com.

      There may be some down time, but I’ll try to keep it short.

      Later. Done. Not a blip.

      The big news at the last UUA Board meeting is not Arizona

      9 February 2011 at 13:46

      The big, unrecognized news at the last meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Association wasn’t about the 2012 Phoenix General Assembly — see http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/175338.shtml — but internal matters: things we can effectively change. Indeed, can be changed with a bit of red pencil. One relates to internal transparency — more about that later — and the other concerns proposed bylaws changes respecting congregational membership, and thus new congregations.

      The January meeting was more than two weeks ago, so this has to be seen as a reflection rather than advocacy. But assuming that everything proposed was adopted — there are no draft minutes or District Presidents Association notes — and that the General Assembly adopts the same, church planters shall see a profound change in our polity. And for a change, it’s a change I approve.

      The changes are in the bylaws and rules, related to congregations. Download this PDF (“Bylaw Changes Recommended By Congregations Working Group“, 61kb) to follow along.

      Much of the bulk of the change would make “churches and fellowships” known simply as “congregations” and the more generic identification of staff groups. But that’s not the important part. Also gone is the word local.

      I see this as a repudiation of the geographic parish, that dates (on the Unitarian side) to before the disestablishment of state worship in Massachusetts, and has become less and less relevant in the successive ages of steam, automobiles, telephones, aircraft and the Internet. People have become increasing mobile in their weeks and lives, and yet our polity is anachonistically attached to place, and with it the idea that existing congregations have a territory from which they can inhibit the formation of new congregations, or their later recognition and acceptance into our fellowship.

      One of the reasons I spent so much time cataloging the unserved towns and cities of the United States is that it’s that much harder to reach into an underserved area, since the existing congregations — whether or not they would be negatively affected — have a voice in their gathering. But expectations of how people communicate, visit, work and pray are rapidly changing. The polity should keep up. (It also makes the continuing allusions to the Cambridge Platform, dislodged from history, deeply troubling. We’ve developed quite a bit in the last 350 years.)

      Indeed, we even have lively models of non-geographic churches, even if they don’t fit in our mythology.That’s why the Church of the Larger Fellowship — the non-geographic church that provides services though the mail, phone and Internet; publishes worship and education material; supports the program of smaller churches; and holds in-person worship services at General Assembly — has seemed like such a oddity and exception. I’m unclear of the work of generationally-focused Church of the Younger Fellowship, a subset of the CLF, but encouraged by its existence I can easily imagine others wanting to imitate the CLF for their own needs. And the CLF is large and growing. Certainly the Christians — who frankly don’t seem well served by the CLF; I gave up hope years ago — would want to imitate this mode of church, if it could. But the CLF’s monopoly status has, until now, been unchallenged.

      Also gone in the proposed rules: “including adult worship and/or discussion and when feasible establishment of a church school in the Unitarian Universalist tradition.” The other piece is that new congregations could have members with a continuing membership in another congregation. The rules, if less directive, may be more open to innovation.

      So two actions:

      • Let your district Board member and congregational delegates know you approve of the Congregations Working Group proposed bylaws and rules changes.
      • Think aloud how underserved groups — rural areas, ethnic and linguistic groups, theological cohorts perhaps — can make a non-geographic congregation come to life.

      Say no five times (sure to irritate everyone)

      10 February 2011 at 03:17

      Two weekends ago, Hubby and I went to IKEA, going most of the way by subway. On the ride, we made a list of habits and practices that we would not accept in the new church. In a low moment, we thought the church just might as well have no people — that’s one way to fix the problem! — but we regained our composure over lingenberries.

      But on reflection, there are some things that I will insist on. And I’m sure I don’t have a single reader who will agree with all five. Here goes.

      • No flaming chalice. Apart from being a Unitarian (that is, not Universalist) emblem, the rituals associated with what could be a simple lamp-lighting have gotten too often sectarian and even a bit creepy.
      • No Sunday School. This is a mode of faith formation who’s time has passed. There have to be better options, especially considering the space and liability demands it brings. One of many reason I read Unitarian Universalist minister and blogger Dan Harper.
      • No liturgically-collected financial offering. We’ll take money, and perhaps even on Sunday if there’s no fuss, but if it really is “the sacrament of the free church” then we need to revisit our ecclesiology and class assumptions. And I don’t know a single young person who carries checks; some don’t even have any, and I’m not betting on bills with zeroes on them. Hint: they do use PayPal, Google Checkout and the like. Plus it probably causes more anxiety among guests than the good it creates. Heck, the last time Hubby and I were in church together, the usher passed us by. There’s no winning with this.
      • No membership book. That is, a literal book. Again, this isn’t 1830.
      • No children’s story in worship, also known as “a quaint tale for the sake of the adults using minors as set pieces.” And, on a personal note, at 6-foot-4, I’d have to be folded into thirds to be anywhere near the wee ones.

      Whew! that’s a load off. And to think there are still some people who think I’m a traditionalist crank. (I’d add “no fattening snacks with coffee” but that might cause a riot.) Now, surely you can see how reasonable that all is, no?

      Trying out the church-admin plugin

      11 February 2011 at 23:24

      After a couple of false starts, I was able to install the new church-admin plugin for WordPress that was featured in Church Crunch last week.

      It’s good when ministers can develop software (and software developers ministers) and so I hope to encourage this project in the only way I can — to kick the tires and report openly on its strengths and weaknesses. And where it is weak and if you have the ability, I encourage you to offer constructive feedback to the project’s author, Andy Moyle.

      It’ll take me a while to populate the fields with what would be a mockup content for a thirty-member church. I’ll post back when I’m done.

      Download it here, if you also want to try it.

      Resource for good church typography

      13 February 2011 at 16:36

      I got a book for work — Matthew Butterick’s 2010 Typography for Lawyers — to make some of our printed and PDF publications easier to read and more attractive. I think it would be a good value for a larger church wanting to improve its internal document processes, good for a smaller church wanting to find an another attainable product of excellence and for denominations and associations not wanting to drive their constituents mad with unreadable text. And for those of us on the headier end of the Reformed tradition, good typography — even more than music or architecture — is a natural outlet for artists.

      I’ve long loved Richard Bringhurst’s classic Elements of Typographic Style and recommend it both for its titular, outer curriculum, and its inner curriculum of order and the interconnection of information. (Yes, I read it as a meditation manual.) But if Bringhurst is scripture, then Butterick is akin to Quakers’ Faith and Practice: it shapes and informs opinion, and offers solutions. If you own neither, buy Butterick’s first. It is also more useful for the church office by referring to word processing software and 8½ ×11 inch paper, not proper publication software or a variety of print settings. Once you get a taste for better typography, get Bringhurst.

      While written for the law office, almost everything is applicable for church use. You can skip quickly over legal citations and court standards. One missing section for churches would be the construction of orders of service, but his section of columns and the overarching principles are applicable. His advice on letterhead, business cards and getting a printer or graphic designer is worth the price of the book by themselves.

      Missing, however, are “recipes” for the OpenOffice.org office suite, but I’m working up a reference sheet, since we use it so much at the office and I use it exclusively at home. And he has no love for free fonts — an attitude I usually share — but Linux Libertine (despite the name, usable on other operating systems) and Gentium Basic are high-quality typefaces appropriate for body test that are liberally licensed and thus freely shared.

      The book was born as a website and details and you can test his concepts there, and order the book if you like. The book also acts as a catalog to navigate the site and unlock features. In all, $25 well spent.

      Unknotting a dilemma about interns

      16 February 2011 at 00:32

      I think having interns — but not paying them — is exploitative and all but guarantees that young people from poor families cannot accept good placements that lead to better positions. It also devalues staff labor and undercuts intern time, when it should be treasured as a way of instilling skills and a work culture in a rising professional, and not simply a professional network. (If that.)

      But times are hard, and I can imagine where an unpaid internship — not an endless one, and even for someone not in college — can provide a hiring advantage that can mean better pay later, or even just a boost of morale and that networking opportunity in a low period. In this sense, as occupational volunteerism, I can cope with (if not like) unpaid internships. (But if there’s money, there should be compensation.)

      This has limited applicability to Unitarian Universalists, who as far as I know have paid ministerial internships, if often poorly paid. But they are also too few. With these caveats, I look with appreciation at a blog post by Abigail Collazo at Left Standing Up that suggests value that can be added to unpaid internships. Something to keep in mind, too, with dedicated, regular volunteers. And perhaps, too, for short pre-seminary internships that may be useful for someone discerning a vocation.

      A common communion use in Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian churches

      18 February 2011 at 13:13

      Something for me to put a pin in, and for perhaps someone else.

      I suspect that most of the common, historic Unitarian, Universalist and Free Christian communion rites — those descended from King’s Chapel excepted, but including James Martineau’s — can be traced back to Frederick Henry Hedge’s translation of the Liturgy of St. James.

      This would be a helpful hint in trying to improve those rites with integrity.

      It would also be interesting to see when this liturgical influence was adopted, and when it was dropped. I think this task would be helped by the right bit of typography, to make the development more clear.

      Second thoughts about a static site

      18 February 2011 at 23:45

      I don’t mind being called idealistic when it’s true. Like my dream of a CLI-only office suite for Luddite churches.

      But news today from Amazon makes me think another lost cause — static web sites, for churches or anyone else — might have legs. Amazon has a whole second business providing cloud web services, which, if you do anything in web development is not news. You get lots of power, storage space, distributed work capacity and the like at a very, very low cost. One of these services is S3: Simple Storage Service. But until today, you couldn’t host a website on it, even though you could stash your site’s photographs and videos there.

      Now, with a couple of caveats, you can. The caveats? First, the URL has to have a subdomain attached, so www.boyinthebands.com or fun-liturgies.boyinthebands.com is OK, but a plain boyinthebands.com isn’t. (It’s an incentive for a bunch of small churches to share a domain, too.) And forget dynamic content: services that are generated on the fly. But many church sites are little more than Internet pamphlets, so why need they pay a cent more than they have to? And I do mean cent. One could reasonably host a site for a few dimes a month.

      It’s not turn-key easy. I expect to have to learn a few things first. (And re-read this blog post.) But once I find a static web generator I like — no WordPress — and way to manage my Amazon Web Services account — I finally signed up for one, or rather activated that function from the one I use to buy books and CDs — I’ll move some of the universalistchurch.net content over, or make some other trial site.

      Borders furniture: a reuse for churches

      21 February 2011 at 02:48

      I hate to see any bookstore die, even a chain store like Borders that caused other bookstores to fail. (For the record, I’d first learned of Borders from a Unitarian Universalist seminarian ages ago; her husband worked for them.) One of three stores has already closed in the District of Columbia — that’s when this idea was first born — but now we’re losing our other two, and scores more are closing across the country.

      Table and bookstand

      I went by one today; the line of bargain-hunters was so long that I didn’t bother to buy the handful of computer books I had selected. But again my eye turned to the display pieces. As you see from the photo, they’re not for sale — yet. But I think a creative if cash-poor church could use this. This idea will take a bit of imagination, so follow me here.

      This is made of two pieces: a square table and a double-faced book stand. Imagine the book stand pushed to the edge of the table. Put your sermon manuscript — perhaps in a three-ring binder — on the bookstand. On the other side, place an open Bible — or that membership book so many people love. In front of it can go flowers. Am I suggesting turning this bookstore display piece into a pulpit. Yes, I am. (It’s a little low for me, but I’m pretty tall. I could cope with it, and have preached from shorter.)

      Version two. There are also longer tables for sale, with the shorter end the same width as these square tables. Again, keep the book stand in the “pulpit” position, leaving the rest of the table like a thrust stage towards the congregation. Put the communion ware, or a basin for a baptism, on it. Or what have you. Candles?

      Or alternately, turn the book stand 90 degrees so its length runs the length of the longer table. Place matching copies of the communion liturgy on either side, and welcome communicants to the table after the end of the main service. (Having communion after the main service was once a common, since it’s never been terribly popular in Unitarian and perhaps Universalist circles, and gathering up a communing rump-congregation dates to Elizabethan England. And not a bad way to negotiate its resumption in non-Christian UU churches today, I think.) Other services can likewise be held ’round the table, if the congregation is small enough and the service is short enough for people to stand.

      Or, say in a very small (“one room”) congregation, remove the pulpit piece — it could use its own shelf in this case — and serve refreshments from it after the service. Or use it at other times as a work surface. Board meeting?

      Just thinking out loud.

      โŒ