The View from a Drawbridge

This past Sunday I went to the local Unitarian Universalist Church in hopes of making new friends. I happen to be a UU myself, so it was a good fit, but I honestly believe that regardless of your creed or religion, if you want to meet people who are welcoming and open minded and non-judgmental, find your local UU church. In fact, whenever I travel on a Sunday I look for one, because you get a much more personal, less touristy experience that way.

One of the basic tenets of UU is that there are many paths to the divine, so they are very welcoming of a wide range of philosophies from Athiesm to Humanism to Paganism to Christianity to Buddhism to Hinduism to Judaism to Islam. The only thing UUs have a hard time with are fundamentalist charismatic types who try to force their beliefs upon others. It’s also why you don’t hear much about UUs. We don’t recruit. We don’t believe in influencing others. So you’ll never hear us saying that our way is the only right way. You’ll never hear anyone criticizing your race or your sexual orientation either.  In fact, we don’t have a single way. And that’s what I love most about this community.

When searching for a local congregation, I was thrilled to discover that there were many, many, many to choose from. In Jacksonville, as large as the population is in the area, there were only two. Jacksonville is a hyper-conservative stronghold. So when I saw the abundance in the Seattle area, I got really excited.

The minute I walked in the door I was made to feel very welcome. And the service was all about embracing change. That’s what my whole life seems to be about these days, so I had to smile.

After that, many UU Churches have something called “Joys and Sorrows” or “Cares and Concerns” in which you can stand up and share the good or bad in your life. I hate public speaking, but I stood. I told them that I had moved all the way out here from Florida, and that I don’t know a soul. I told them I was looking forward to exploring this amazing city and state but that I am also quite lonely. That was hard for me to say. Really hard.

After the service, everyone was on me like ducks on a junebug as we like to say in the South. They were giving me phone numbers and e-mail addresses and telling me I was very brave for having said all that. They also recommended veterinarians and dentists and doctors and mechanics in the area, and fun things to do and great places to walk my dogs. They invited me to the women’s group and the book club and the yoga classes.

So there you have it. I have found my first foothold. I hope that eventually my work schedule will settle down so that I can take advantage of it. Baby steps.

[Image credit: uui.org]