Monday, February 1, 2016

What is the UU Version of "Doing God's Work"?

So there I was, reading, as I often do, Christian's blog about church life, translating as I went ... "church" into "fellowship," mostly, and finding, in this case, that mostly, it was about us as well as about the larger world of Christianity.  But there it was, listed as an important factor in congregational health: "Doing God's Work."  We do need to be doing something like that, but what does this mean for us at least partly atheistic Unitarian Universalists?

God's work is love, of course. I hope that's what the Christian writer meant, but it doesn't matter here.
How can we tell if we doing the work of love?

It may be easier to tell what the work of love is not:

Being judgmental.
Having sloppy boundaries.
Talking when we should be listening.
Not sharing our views and feelings.
Taking offense before finding out what's going on.
Talking behind someone's back.
Spreading rumors.
Expressing scorn, rolling the eyes.
Doing things for spite.
"Otherizing"

There's more, I'm sure. But haven't we all seen all this in our fellowships?
Of course, even Unitarian Universalists are human, after all.

But doesn't Love call us to do better?

And what would that look like?
And how do you get there from wherever you are?

You know what it looks like. You know what it feels like.
In many situations, making some rules and guidelines will help.
But it won't happen without something happening in the hearts of your people.  How that comes to pass is more of a mystery... I say we need to attend to the quality of our relationships, not just with one another, but with ourselves.  Is there respect and consideration everywhere?  And if not, how can it be brought into being?

Love will guide us, and we'll be doing "God's work" if we follow.






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