V's Version

I am a Unitarian Universalist. I don't often talk about my religion but it informs my life in so many ways. I have been blessed to work with youth for over a decade in my church and, as is so often the case in my volunteer experience, it's a winning situation for all of us. I learn so much about life, about individuals, about connection. It truly is an honor to be able to interact with adolescents.

Recently, I have been working one on one with a teenager in what we UU s call the Coming of Age Program. Among many other activities, we have been discussing our personal credos. You see, Unitarian Universalists have no creed as an organization. The closest thing we have are the Principles and Purposes – but these do not answer life’s big questions – where do I come from? Where do I go when I die? What is my authority? Why am I here? The Nicene Creed dominates most of western religions (God, Jesus, Bible...) but it does not resonate AT ALL with me. I think often of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s assertion:

“A person will worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.”

That is so true – whether it be a god or money or sex or pop culture or laughter or nature or depression – what we focus on determines the direction of our lives.

So. Because I don’t ask a teenager to do something that I have not or will not do myself, I wrote my credo. Here it is and if you have one of your own, I would love to hear it.

I have come from the river of energy of All That Is. I am a part of All That Is and I believe that I personally am here to love, to nurture and to create. To be whole I must connect with others and make this world a better place than it was when I was born into it. If there is a heaven or a hell, as such, it is what we create here and now. We, as humans, have an approximately equal chance (variations in existence and limitations mental and physical) to handle difficult situations. Divinity is intrinsic in all living beings and is something that we share. I take my authority from a mixture of experience and reason with moments of faith. When I die I will return to the river of energy from whence the molecules that make me up came and I do not know if there will be any part of what makes “me” consciously “me” left after my heart and brain stop functioning. I like to think of my mother, who died in 1993, as being able to see her grandson and that she somehow helps us through difficult situations but, really, I have the gut feeling that those are just comforting thoughts and my brain’s way of coping – which is OK. I believe that we humans are the only living creatures that we know of who question our existence and are able to effect change in the ways that we can. Those abilities come with responsibility and this is what informs the way I live.

Labels: Unitarian Universalist creed credo Emerson Purpose Lesbian Coming of Age Teen Adolescent love life death