Your Questions
To listen to the questions and responses click here.
At the January 28th Sunday service, Claire, Cricket and I did our best to respond spontaneously to questions from the congregation. We ran out of time after the first nine questions; those, along with all the rest, are printed below. These questions often inspire future sermons or columns here in the Parish News. Thank you for letting us know what’s on your mind.
– Roger
1. How do you heal from a grieving heart?
2. Do you believe in the afterlife?
3. Have you ever tried to have a dialogue with someone whose views you considered dreadfully wrong (and who returned the favor)? What made it work (or fail)?
4. When you are lost for words, where do you go to find guidance? What mentors help you help us?
5. You are all giving so much to others; how do you restore yourselves?
6. E.O. Wilson and some evangelical Christians are working together to give greater attention to an unmistakable environmental crisis. At first blush, these seem like odd couples. What would William Sloane Coffin have thought of this?
7. How do you respond to a person who devoutly believes that homosexuality is morally wrong according to the bible?
8. I want to believe in prayer, but I am a ‘questioner.’ How do you define prayer and why do you pray?
9. In some churches, ‘faith’ means you believe in the literal truth of some bible passages. Some of us value these stories but see them as metaphors, not literal truth. Yet we still describe ourselves as ‘a community of faith.’ What does this mean?
10. Why, in this age of gender equality, are so many of the hymns and prayers not gender neutral?
11. What called you to the ministry?
12. What is the responsibility of a ‘liberal’ church to address the problem of global warming? I’m thinking about the emerging efforts of most conservative churches to protect the creation.
13. Tell us about the new building project.
14. Why should it matter or not matter to people whether God exists or does not exist?
15. How can one best co-exist in a family of atheists and anti-religious people?
16. Why, in your opinion, do some people have healthy children and others have children with special needs (like Aspergers)?
17. [To Cricket and/or Claire]: What was an embarrassing childhood incident and how did you resolve it?
18. [Roger]: What is your favorite food?
19. How do you keep your own internal balance when you spend so much of your life helping others and giving of yourselves?
20. I’m kind of new. How long do we get to “keep” Cricket? Do we get a new student minister each year?
21. How often do you visit hospitals or members and friends who are sick or homebound?
22. Do you ever just not want to come to work on Sunday? Is that allowed? What’s your fall-back?
23. If you were to re-draft the Lord’s Prayer, how would your version read?
24. There is such diversity in this church. Parishioners come from many religious
backgrounds – or none. You three do such a good job of speaking to each and all
of us. How do you do this without
stepping on toes or offending?
(I think this is a ‘softball.’)
25. How can one convey one’s respect and love for the Jewish peoples and their cultures, yet one’s horror at the injustices inflicted by their religious right?
26. What is the difference between a Unitarian and a Universalist?
27. Personally, where do you put your energy on the spectrum of deeds and prayer? Would you modify it if you could?
28. Why has there been a rise in fundamentalist religions throughout the world over the last 30-40 years?
29. Have any same-sex marriages been performed in our church?
30. [To Claire and/or Cricket]: If there is one thing in your life you would like to change, what would that be?
31. Right now I spend my spare time pursuing my hobby of painting. But I feel guilty about not spending that time doing ‘good works’ for the greater good. Help me reconcile these feelings.
32. Why don’t you have some kind of simple service in August?
33. When is more both too much and yet not enough? From 1842-1942, people spent much of their time in survival-related activities, they had only print and then radio, but a strong sense of community; from 1942-1960's, the atomic bomb arrived along with television and two cars in every garage; from the late 1960's to now, we got the sexual revolution, ethnic groups gained power, and now three cars and the Internet. Who was/is better off?
A Few Quick Responses:
10. Why, in this age of gender equality, are so many of the hymns and prayers not gender neutral?
We use three hymn books – the old Pilgrim Hymnal (the red one), the Unitarian Universalist hymnal (the gray one), and the white hymnal which offers inclusive language versions of some of the hymns in the red book. The UU hymnal is also as gender neutral is possible without wrecking the cadence and poetry of the original words. Our rule of thumb here at The First Parish is, “You sing my favorite hymns and I’ll sing yours.” I tend to choose hymns mostly from the gray and white hymnals, but the red hymnal is full of favorites for many people in the congregation.
13. Tell us about the new building project.
There is no “new building project.” There will be several suggested plans to improve our space drawn up by an architect and brought to the congregation for input this spring. Whether we go ahead with all, some, or none of the possibilities will be up to all of us.
20. I’m kind of new. How long do we get to “keep” Cricket? Do we get a new student minister each year?
Cricket will be leaving us in June after two years as our student intern. Whether we have a new student depends on who applies and, to some degree, our budget.
29. Have any same-sex marriages been performed in our church?
Yes. And before the law changed here in Massachusetts, commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples.
31. Right now I spend my spare time pursuing my hobby of painting. But I feel guilty about not spending that time doing ‘good works’ for the greater good. Help me reconcile these feelings.
Art is a form of ‘good works.’ Great music, art, writing, photographs – they all lift the human spirit. So go for it!