More Than Tradition
I am deeply saddened by the apparent decision of the UUA and General Assembly Planning Committee to ditch the Sunday morning worship in Portland, OR this coming GA, instead holding it in conjunction with the Closing Ceremony from 4 to 6 PM later Sunday afternoon. The Lively Tradition reported on this recently:
http://thelivelytradition.blogspot.com/2006/09/sunday-morning-at-ga.html
Some UUA supporters are copacetic with this decision, but others are not. I guess to some there is nothing sacred about Sunday morning worship – whenever you have it, it’s still worship. Yes, worship is worship. I welcome it any time. But to me Sunday mornings are sacred. I think this decision is wrong-headed. I stand accused of being a hidebound, change-fearing traditionalist.
But I see this as being more than tradition. We live in a culture where Sunday morning is the predominant time to formally observe the spiritual and religious dimension of life. This, of course, is not true for Jews or followers of Islam, or burgeoning US Buddhists, but we as Unitarian Universalists are not any of these. We stand with, as we always have, the Protestant tradition of holding worship on Sunday mornings. Should this not be sacred time for our Association? I can’t imagine attending the scheduled plenary session on Sunday morning. This will certainly send me on my way home from GA early.
We have experimented for a couple of years now holding a seeker-friendly Sunday morning GA worship services that were powerfully felt. I’m not sure how many non-UUs attended these services, but who is counting? If only 5 attended, was this a ‘failure’? I know that one of the congregations I served near the site of one GA had busloads attending that service. They were energized and enlivened by the possibilities of Unitarian Universalism. Would local congregations send busloads on a late Sunday afternoon when it was combined with an insider-focused closing ceremony?
I imagine that one of the reasons for this change is to hopefully keep more people in attendance at the usually less-well-attended closing plenaries and closing ceremonies. My reply is to make the plenaries more interesting and compelling. That’s how you get people to stay. More work needs to be done on that score.
I’m not usually one who likes to hold on to tradition for tradition’s sake (although my aging body has been known to fight change!). I think that the decision to move the Service of the Living Tradition to a different time was a positive decision. I’m always in favor of more worship, not less. The quality and spirit of the Sunday morning GA worship these past couple of years were high and life-giving in a way that was not about us – it was Unitarian Universalism reaching out to the community that is primarily used to attending worship on Sunday morning. Why would we want to change that?
http://thelivelytradition.blogspot.com/2006/09/sunday-morning-at-ga.html
Some UUA supporters are copacetic with this decision, but others are not. I guess to some there is nothing sacred about Sunday morning worship – whenever you have it, it’s still worship. Yes, worship is worship. I welcome it any time. But to me Sunday mornings are sacred. I think this decision is wrong-headed. I stand accused of being a hidebound, change-fearing traditionalist.
But I see this as being more than tradition. We live in a culture where Sunday morning is the predominant time to formally observe the spiritual and religious dimension of life. This, of course, is not true for Jews or followers of Islam, or burgeoning US Buddhists, but we as Unitarian Universalists are not any of these. We stand with, as we always have, the Protestant tradition of holding worship on Sunday mornings. Should this not be sacred time for our Association? I can’t imagine attending the scheduled plenary session on Sunday morning. This will certainly send me on my way home from GA early.
We have experimented for a couple of years now holding a seeker-friendly Sunday morning GA worship services that were powerfully felt. I’m not sure how many non-UUs attended these services, but who is counting? If only 5 attended, was this a ‘failure’? I know that one of the congregations I served near the site of one GA had busloads attending that service. They were energized and enlivened by the possibilities of Unitarian Universalism. Would local congregations send busloads on a late Sunday afternoon when it was combined with an insider-focused closing ceremony?
I imagine that one of the reasons for this change is to hopefully keep more people in attendance at the usually less-well-attended closing plenaries and closing ceremonies. My reply is to make the plenaries more interesting and compelling. That’s how you get people to stay. More work needs to be done on that score.
I’m not usually one who likes to hold on to tradition for tradition’s sake (although my aging body has been known to fight change!). I think that the decision to move the Service of the Living Tradition to a different time was a positive decision. I’m always in favor of more worship, not less. The quality and spirit of the Sunday morning GA worship these past couple of years were high and life-giving in a way that was not about us – it was Unitarian Universalism reaching out to the community that is primarily used to attending worship on Sunday morning. Why would we want to change that?
posted by seeking sophia at Tuesday, September 26, 2006
3 Comments:
This is NOT from some UUA staffer, just a Left Coast UU intrigued by the idea of the GA Sunday worship being held in the late afternoon. Are you certain that the delegates will be attending plenary on Sunday morning? What about the many non-delegates? I see this as an amazing opportunity for active rather than passive outreach. We could fan out on Sunday AM, across the city of Portland and the county of Multnomah, seeking those lost sheep, those folks who are experiencing a nagging need for a more compassionate and engaged spirituality than their current path offers. We can find them in their Protestant churches, or in the shopping centers, or on the beaches. Why would they be motivated to attend our huge Sunday AM service when they already have many choices? If an interesting person has listened to them as part of a casual conversation, however, they are ripe to be invited to an afternoon service on that very day. Are we doing the Sunday GA service for ourselves or as a service for all those who seek?
Lucreciauu,
What an interesting idea, something that the UU Christians would certainly be interested in, since they have incorporated outreach into their GA presence for a few years now.
But yes, the plan is to have a plenary session on Sunday morning:
"Sunday's schedule will include morning spiritual practices, a pre-plenary hymn sing, a plenary session, a GA choir concert, a workshop/featured presentation session, and the closing worship service." This from Beth McGregor of the GA Planning Committee. I understand the plenary to be from 8:30 to 11:30.
I hope you are active in putting forth your great idea.
Blessings, Priscilla
How do you feel about the actual decision of Rev. Diane Rollert and the Unitarian Church of Montreal to seek a restraining order against me on highly questionable grounds instead of responding positively to these emails?
The Gazette reported on it recently. . .
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