Practice what we preach
I go to Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church in Burke, VA. Yesterday was a good day at church. We had good crowds with lots of energy at both services. Our Earth Based Religions group put on an extremely creative and informative Winter Solstice celebration. A middle school class from the Fairfax Unitarian Church visited as did the Minister of Beacon House and several of their youth. Lots of people brought presents and mittens/hats for kids at Beacon House. During the second service I taught the high school RE class. This year we are learning how to create and practice our own individual theological credos. Only 4 youth showed up, but all participated and shared their views with lots of enthusiasm. I am continually impressed with the quality of our youth and with their keen insights when given the chance to express themselves. After RE, I ran upstairs and put on my hat as the vice chair of the Board of Trustees for the church. I was in charge of the budget process, and this Sunday we held a special congregational meeting to vote on the budget for next year. We had about 54 people stick around to vote. We also held a vote on a resolution that our Social Justice committee was asking the congregation to support regarding raising the minimum wage in Virginia. We were scrunched for time since another Church that we rent the building to was due to come in in 45 minutes. But everything went extremely smooth and in my opinion, the congregation voted for the right budget and social justice cause. I was impressed and proud to be a member of such a congregation that practices democracy, cherishes the inherant dignity of all people, encourages us all to seek our own spiritual paths, speaks out and acts in support of social justice and celebrates our connection to the earth and to the interconnected web of all existence. This Sunday, I truly felt like our church practiced what we preach!