Hello dear readers. No rant today.
Everyday Unitarian on their blog asks whether or not UUs need Lent and comes down on the side of no we don't, but it's good nonetheless. Well dear readers, I come down on the other side.
UUs NEED Lent.
There are not many times during a year that UUs are asked to SACRIFICE anything, if they're asked to at all. Lent is all about sacrifice and what that sacrifice means. And I think that's a lost virtue and one that UUs need to recover.
In the 20th century U/U/UU thing of running away from anything that remotely smacked of Christianity, too many of the old virtues got thrown away. Sacrifice, service, duty, honor, commitment.....in the 19th century Unitarian and Universalist world all these words had meaning. They were considered good things. It is my hope that they will return.
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5 comments:
:There are not many times during a year that UUs are asked to SACRIFICE anything,
That may be so, but if U*U ministers and lay leaders only ask UUs to SACRIFICE 10% of the annual income to their UU church once a year, that's a fairly significant SACRIFICE don't you think? ;-)
Come to think of it I suppose that some UUs just might have to make some pretty significant SACRIFICES during Lent in order to be able to hand over 10% of their annual inco9me to their church. . .
On 5 Feb 2008, Real Anonymous wrote:
-snip-
"In the 20th century U/U/UU thing of running away from anything that remotely smacked of Christianity, too many of the old virtues got thrown away. Sacrifice, service, duty, honor, commitment ... in the 19th century Unitarian and Universalist world all these words had meaning. They were considered good things. It is my hope that they will return."
Given the Protestant Reformation roots of the Unitarian and Universalist traditions that gave rise to modern-day Unitaian Universalism, I would be surprised if our 19th century spiritual ancestors were big fans of Lent.
I've read that our New England Unitarian ancestors didn't hold Christmas Eve candlelight services until after the 1850s not because they were anti-Christian. They didn't do this because it seemed entirely too Catholic for their anti-papist Protestant sensibilities.
Given that attitude, I would be surprised if our North American Unitarian and Universalist ancestors were that big on Lent.
Regarding the "sacrifice, service, duty, honor, commitment" concerns that you've expressed, there are plenty of modern-day examples of this in modern-day UU social justice work -- especially in the work that I've seen done by our youth and young adults.
A few examples include the following:
** anti-oppression work like The Welcoming Congregation program and anti-racism work
** post-Katrina relief work in New Orleans and the gulf coast region
** witnessing for reproductive choice (this is a sacrifice because we have at least one UU martyr who died for this in Pensacola back in the 1990s)
** making lifestyle choices that reduce one's footprint on the environment (dietary, transportation, consumer choices, etc)
And these sacrifices happen year-round for Unitarian Universalists -- they're not limited to the 40 days prior to Easter.
I'm aware of modern-day Unitarian Universalists who are adopting Ash Wednesday events to their church calendar. That's OK as long as we're being mindful that we're borrowing from another's relgious tradition and we do so respectfully.
I argue for Lent because it is a part of Christian tradition. And since Unitarianism and Universalism started out as Christian theologies (as always in the dissenting tradition), it would not be mis-appropriation for modern day UUs to "do" Lent.
Granted, most Protestants didn't like things that smacked of Catholicism and Lent is one of those things, but I have seen some writings that show, at least to me, that Holy Week has always had a special place, even if Lent didn't in particular.
Christmas is a whole 'nother matter. Differences between Europe and this side of the pond, differences between regions in this country, differences amongst and in denominations have always made talking about Christmas messy at best. But there was always the issue about how much Christmas was a bastardized holiday to begin with.
As to the old virtues.....I think in a lot of ways UUs got and continue to get service; but duty and honor and sacrifice and some of the other old virtues are in short supply.
But of course, I think talk of the 7 holy virtues would be good anywhere.
:I argue for Lent because it is a part of Christian tradition. And since Unitarianism and Universalism started out as Christian theologies (as always in the dissenting tradition), it would not be mis-appropriation for modern day UUs to "do" Lent.
I am not convinced of this myself. U*Uism has so devolved from, and distanced itself from, its Christian heritage (to say nothing of its monotheistic heritage. . .) in so many ways that it might well constitute a form of misappropriation on the part of U*Us to participate in certain Christian rituals these days. Don`t you think that it would be something of a misappropriation for various kinds of "hyphenated" U*Us to "do" Lent?
Interestingly enough I have been talking about some apparent U*U misappropriation of Christian religious observances on the other side of the pond recently. I will not go into it here but I will suggest that you might want to Google - "Robin Edgar" and Padiham Unitarians
:Granted, most Protestants didn't like things that smacked of Catholicism and Lent is one of those things,
I know some U*Us that are very vocal about the fact that they don't like things that smack of Catholicism. . . I will refrain from providing examples of the anti-Catholic intolerance and bigotry of some U*Us.
:But there was always the issue about how much Christmas was a bastardized holiday to begin with.
I will reasonably assume that it was simply an unwitting gaffe on your part, and a quite unintentional slight, but you might want to give some thought to just how inappropriate and offensive to Christians of all kinds it is to describe Christmas as a "bastardized" holiday. . . Well at least it is fine example of you being anything but politically correct here in any case. ;-)
:As to the old virtues.....I think in a lot of ways UUs got and continue to get service; but duty and honor and sacrifice and some of the other old virtues are in short supply.
I couldn`t agree more. Certainly the virtue of honour seems to be in very short supply in most of the U*Us I know, including some U*U ministers and top level UUA administrators most of whom are U*U clergy too. . . I am still waiting for U*Us to behave in an honourable manner towards me and other victims of U*U injustices and abuses, to say nothing of behaving honourably more generally.
:But of course, I think talk of the 7 holy virtues would be good anywhere.
Of course. Talk and debate about religious practices of all kinds should be good anywhere in the U*U World. Unfortunately very often it is not very welcome in U*U "churches". . .
Thanks for responding to my post! I still feel that some sort of sacrifice such as Lent would be beneficial to UUs. Unfortunately, the word Lent seems to hold a lot of baggage. Sometimes I feel we ignore/disavow our history so much, we are left with an empty faith. Sure, we can fill it how we want, but there is something to be said for traditional practices.
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