The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church
Yesterday First Parish had a benefit concert for the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, the church where a gunman opened fire during a children’s musical service in July. It was a wonderful concert, with many gorgeous and moving pieces of music. But the most moving part was the words spoken near the end by John Buhrens, who was ordained at TVUUC and served as its minister in the 1970s.
TVUUC was founded in 1948 in a rented hall. The congregation put a note on the door: “All Are Welcome.” An African-American man came to them and asked, “Does that include me?” They said yes, absolutely, and they were the first integrated religious community in the Knoxville area.
For the next few decades they were at the forefront of the local civil rights movement, starting with integrating the lunch counter at the nearby hospital. For several years they ran an integrated day camp. Each week they moved the children from one rural farm to another, so that the KKK would not again find out where the day camp was and set fire to the farm’s buildings or shoot out its windows.
In the 1970s, when Buhrens was the minister there, the church hosted the first MCC congregation in the area. The Metropolitan Community Church is an evangelical church with a membership primarily of gay men and lesbians. The TVUUC did not share the MCC’s theology, but it did share its message of welcome and outreach. At the end of the MCC’s first service at the TVUUC, one Sunday afternoon, someone shot out all of the windows at the front of the church, facing the street. The TVUUC continued to host the young MCC congregation.
“So what has changed now?” Buhrens asked. Back then, he said, he kept the shootings quiet and certainly did not expect any sympathy from the community. Now, however, the Presbyterian church next door immediately welcomed the TVUUC congregation, and congregations all around town - the Catholics, the Jews, the conservative evangelicals - brought food and other donations. More than three thousand people attended the re-sanctification service for the sanctuary, the beginning of which was conducted in the Presbyterian church next door.
Over the years the TVUUC has spun off three other UU congregations in eastern Tennessee. Since the shootings attendance at services has increased so much that they are thinking about starting and supporting a fourth daughter congregation.
There are times when I’m very proud to be part of this tradition.
TVUUC was founded in 1948 in a rented hall. The congregation put a note on the door: “All Are Welcome.” An African-American man came to them and asked, “Does that include me?” They said yes, absolutely, and they were the first integrated religious community in the Knoxville area.
For the next few decades they were at the forefront of the local civil rights movement, starting with integrating the lunch counter at the nearby hospital. For several years they ran an integrated day camp. Each week they moved the children from one rural farm to another, so that the KKK would not again find out where the day camp was and set fire to the farm’s buildings or shoot out its windows.
In the 1970s, when Buhrens was the minister there, the church hosted the first MCC congregation in the area. The Metropolitan Community Church is an evangelical church with a membership primarily of gay men and lesbians. The TVUUC did not share the MCC’s theology, but it did share its message of welcome and outreach. At the end of the MCC’s first service at the TVUUC, one Sunday afternoon, someone shot out all of the windows at the front of the church, facing the street. The TVUUC continued to host the young MCC congregation.
“So what has changed now?” Buhrens asked. Back then, he said, he kept the shootings quiet and certainly did not expect any sympathy from the community. Now, however, the Presbyterian church next door immediately welcomed the TVUUC congregation, and congregations all around town - the Catholics, the Jews, the conservative evangelicals - brought food and other donations. More than three thousand people attended the re-sanctification service for the sanctuary, the beginning of which was conducted in the Presbyterian church next door.
Over the years the TVUUC has spun off three other UU congregations in eastern Tennessee. Since the shootings attendance at services has increased so much that they are thinking about starting and supporting a fourth daughter congregation.
There are times when I’m very proud to be part of this tradition.