Presented at the Unitarian General Assembly meetings, April, 2012:
It took me a long time to find my local Unitarian community, during my journey I travelled through a variety of religious communities, none of which felt like ‘home’. I had been quite happy, dipping in and out of the Church I grew up in, but when I became a parent, along with all the other responsibilities, I had to guide my children’s faith formation. Through a serendipitous sequence of chance I stumbled across the Unitarian website, and low and behold found a chapel local to me. It was further than I would usually travel for Church, but I decided to give it a go.
Unsure of what to expect, I found a service which looked familiar – in fact rather staid compared to what I was used to, but the content was amazing! What a variety of sources and inspiration, questions given out without necessarily being followed up by vague, dubious answers and a warmth of welcome which made it very easy to feel at home, at last. We all as a family found it a good place to be and my husband now comes along, which never happened before.
As it was my children who, in a sense, brought me to Unitarianism, it is very important to me that we commit to the future of our faith. I hope they will continue to joyfully identify as Unitarian, that they will find a welcoming community wherever they live and whichever path life takes them along, and that they will continue to be free to explore the divine within our questioning, adventurous and loving faith. Let us open ourselves up to all the myriad opportunities there are for us to be Church together and make sure that we are loud and proud so that those who are searching for something more can join us on the journey.
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