October 2014

Theme: Welcoming

"What matters is we welcome each body into the sanctuary: so that God might come in as well." - Myke Johnson, UU Minister and ecojustice activist.

BUUC (Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church) is an official Welcoming Congregation of the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association).  This means our congregation engaged in a process of learning about the lives and experience of people who identify as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) with an aim toward making BUUC a welcoming, affirming and inclusive community.  Through this process congregations learn about ways in which churches and other places make LGBTQ feel unwelcome, unwanted, even unsafe.  Congregations also learn ways to be more welcoming so that they can help create a place where all people might find a supportive and safe place to practice their faith.

What does it feel like to be unwelcome?

What are ways LGBTQ or other people made to feel unwelcome, unwanted or unsafe

At home?

At school?

At work?

In churches?

How do you know when you’re welcome somewhere?

How can you as a Unitarian Universalist be welcoming towards others including people who identify as LGBTQ?

What about the congregation?

October 2014
Theme: Doing the Right Thing

"It is in our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Unitarian minister and Transcendentalist writer/lecturer

A Story From Rev. Craig...

Everyone likes to be liked but when I was in elementary school I wanted to be popular too.  The problem was I had this friend.  His name was Joe.  He was my best friend.  Joe was not popular at all.  In fact, he was really unpopular.  Most of the kids in my grade didn't like Joe and they made fun of him a lot.  Because I was Joe's friend, the popular kids wouldn't be friends with me.  One day a group of the popular kids came to me and said, "Hey, if you stop being friends with Joe, you can be our friend."  I always wanted to be one of the popular kids and now I had my chance.  But what about Joe?  I thought about what to do and then did what I think was the right thing.

What do you think I did?
What would you do?  Why?
How does Unitarian Universalism influence the choices you make?

You're invited to post your responses below.