At UNMC, we welcome everyone, wherever they are on their spiritual journey. We never ask anyone to claim any particular religious identity. And I try to preach so that everyone can be touched by a spirit of community and love.
My hope is that everyone who needs a spiritual home that allows them the religious freedom to pursue that spiritual journey to its fullest extent will feel comfortable at UNMC.
As most of you know, I took some professional leave in March and traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a stay at an ashram outside Tulsa, and then to attend the UU Christian Fellowship (UUCF) Revival.
It was my first UUCF Revival, and it was wonderful. I wondered why I haven’t been going all these years that I’ve been in the ministry. I thought for awhile and decided that it wasn’t until I came to UNMC that I felt comfortable enough to publicly claim my Christianity. For many years, I did not want the ostracism that claim evoked, not only among UUs but particularly among the UU ministry. It wasn’t that I hesitated to “stand up” for what I believe; it was that I didn’t want to argue with others about something that was truly a quiet, personal statement of faith for me.
If I were asked by a fundamentalist, literalist Christian about my Christianity, I would gladly “stand up,” saying that I most certainly considered myself a Christian, whether they agreed or not. And if the discussion turned into an argument, I would excuse myself from such an un-Christian exchange.
When my sister Blanche asked me how I could be a Christian and not believe in Hell, I said, “It is precisely because I am a Universalist Christian that I don’t believe in Hell.” And furthermore—I believe that if I die and find out there is a Hell, then Hell would be the total absence of God’s love, not any lake of fire, but the cold, dead absence of love.
It was heartwarming to be among so many Christian UUs at the Revival in
Oklahoma, and to meet the other UU clergy who claim Christianity. And I was gratified to find that there are more UU Christians than I had previously thought!
Nevertheless, I do confess to claiming a Buddhist approach to meditation and a pantheistic approach to Creation. I also practice Christian contemplative prayer. No, I’m not trying to increase my spiritual insurance to cover, if any, a myriad of life after death existences. It is the opposite. I am trying to realize the fullest, spiritual existence possible in this life.
That is all I can ask of myself, a spiritual journey full of questions and the courage to seek the answers. What I hope for you is the same, nothing more, and nothing less. If I can help you in any way, please let me know.
See you in Church, Rev. Lillie