Who Do We Say We Are????

hello dear readers.

Since the UUA now has a new president, I thought I would repost this from a couple of years ago. With the beginning of a new administration, I think it's worth asking again.

The question about the UUA(or UUism): besides same-sex marriage, does the UUA(or UUism) have any passion for anything?

It doesn't seem to be spiritual development/formation or maturation, because if it were there would be more curricula out there. It doesn't seem to be religious literacy, or the kids who go through most UU Religious Education programs wouldn't come out as religiously ignorant as they were coming in and most adults would understand that the religious world is bigger than their past or current congregation. It doesn't even seem to be REAL social justice or we would be reaching out and working with the other religious progressives out there no matter what their religious stripe. (where is the UU version of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement?)

For all their faults (and speaking as a former fundamentalist I know there are many), mega-churches have passion. They know what drives them: bringing people to Christ.

What drives the typical UU church? Where is their passion? In all this talk about growth in UU circles, nobody seems to be looking at the facts; the churches that are growing, no matter what theological stripe, have PASSION. They know what they want to do and try to find ways to do it. They have a story and can articulate it. They know their mission and can articulate that as well. These churches have DREAMS (and I'm not talking about strategic plans but real dreams). They see their place in the world. Most of all, they are NOT afraid.

So.....where's the UU's/UUA's passion?