This I Believe...
A collection of views from UU church members
A collection of views from UU church members
This I Believe...
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Teresa L. - December 2008
This I Believe...
By Teresa L.
December 2008
I believe that this church and the people in it are my sanctuary. No matter what has
happened in my personal or business life, I can come here and get support and comfort. I
can come here and discuss difficult issues and have disagreements over how things should
be done. We can have some fairly intense discussions about emotionally charged subjects,
and yet we all come back together and continue to support each other. Some people drop
out or don't show up, sometimes for years, only to return again. So the faces here can
change; but this place is always remembered and a real home to come back to. How can
different people make up the same church year after year? What makes this so? Why here
and not somewhere else? I believe it is so because at the core of this church are people
who pitch in and help, are people you can count on to support you in any way they can if
you but ask and often when you don't ask, who truly believe in the Unitarian Universalist
principles. It is a community unlike family or friends or coworkers, who do not share the
core beliefs we do, and who do not attempt to live by these guiding higher ideals that all of
us here try to live by. We don't espouse our beliefs and then leave them at the door when
we go out into the community, or work, or home. Sure we falter along the way. But here
I see people give of themselves to the larger community and to each other in a way that I
do not see anywhere else. There is nothing asked for in return, no quid pro quo here, other
than a pledge of money, the amount of which is not dictated or donation of time and work.
I was going to talk about the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you. It is the basis of my practice philosophy, it is simple and succinct, and if we all lived
by that rule, the world would be a better place. But my staff has recently pointed out to me
that apparently, in their eyes, I don't live by that rule, as they feel that I expect more of
them than I have a right to. So to some extent, my belief is hypocritical. I also feel in
many ways, it is an inadequate rule to live by, for the very reason that there is a quid pro
quo aspect to the golden rule. It implies that if we do our best to treat others with kindness
and compassion and fairness, we should expect the same in return. What happens when
we perceive that we don't get that? We are hurt. We become angry, we feel treated
unjustly. We often withdraw or retaliate. It is hard not to expect kindness and acceptance
when we feel we have been kind and accepting. It is hard to see that what we interpret as
kind and compassionate acts on our part can be seen as condescending and negative in the
eyes of the recipients of those acts. So again, I come back to this place and these people.
I believe in the bond that we have that allows us to not misinterpret one another's actions.
We don't believe any of us are petty or superior or condescending. So when there is
conflict, when we perceive a slight, we have the fabric of shared ideals and true love to see
us through the difficult times. We don't assume the worst in each other's motives, we
assume the best.
So what do I believe? I believe in this place and I believe in you.
By Teresa L.
December 2008
I believe that this church and the people in it are my sanctuary. No matter what has
happened in my personal or business life, I can come here and get support and comfort. I
can come here and discuss difficult issues and have disagreements over how things should
be done. We can have some fairly intense discussions about emotionally charged subjects,
and yet we all come back together and continue to support each other. Some people drop
out or don't show up, sometimes for years, only to return again. So the faces here can
change; but this place is always remembered and a real home to come back to. How can
different people make up the same church year after year? What makes this so? Why here
and not somewhere else? I believe it is so because at the core of this church are people
who pitch in and help, are people you can count on to support you in any way they can if
you but ask and often when you don't ask, who truly believe in the Unitarian Universalist
principles. It is a community unlike family or friends or coworkers, who do not share the
core beliefs we do, and who do not attempt to live by these guiding higher ideals that all of
us here try to live by. We don't espouse our beliefs and then leave them at the door when
we go out into the community, or work, or home. Sure we falter along the way. But here
I see people give of themselves to the larger community and to each other in a way that I
do not see anywhere else. There is nothing asked for in return, no quid pro quo here, other
than a pledge of money, the amount of which is not dictated or donation of time and work.
I was going to talk about the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you. It is the basis of my practice philosophy, it is simple and succinct, and if we all lived
by that rule, the world would be a better place. But my staff has recently pointed out to me
that apparently, in their eyes, I don't live by that rule, as they feel that I expect more of
them than I have a right to. So to some extent, my belief is hypocritical. I also feel in
many ways, it is an inadequate rule to live by, for the very reason that there is a quid pro
quo aspect to the golden rule. It implies that if we do our best to treat others with kindness
and compassion and fairness, we should expect the same in return. What happens when
we perceive that we don't get that? We are hurt. We become angry, we feel treated
unjustly. We often withdraw or retaliate. It is hard not to expect kindness and acceptance
when we feel we have been kind and accepting. It is hard to see that what we interpret as
kind and compassionate acts on our part can be seen as condescending and negative in the
eyes of the recipients of those acts. So again, I come back to this place and these people.
I believe in the bond that we have that allows us to not misinterpret one another's actions.
We don't believe any of us are petty or superior or condescending. So when there is
conflict, when we perceive a slight, we have the fabric of shared ideals and true love to see
us through the difficult times. We don't assume the worst in each other's motives, we
assume the best.
So what do I believe? I believe in this place and I believe in you.
