New page on UU best liturgical practices

I detest “joys and concerns”, chalice lightings, “Spirit of Life” — indeed, nearly all the customary trappings of mainline Unitarian Universalist worship, but I would rather they be done well than done badly. (True too of announcements in any setting.)

That’s why I give props to Unitarian Universalist Best Practices: Chalices, Joys & Concerns, and other Sunday Service components, a new site written by Connie Barlow. She and her husband are the people who bring you The Great Story, a naturalistic metanarrative program. Since her observations are based on presentation in a hundred and fifty UU congregations, some of you have surely seen them and they ought to have the raw data to make observations about liturgical practice. (Do comment.) Again, not my thing but the fact that someone is thinking in big terms without the need to water down their own core orientation is noteworthy and should inspire those who work from other starting points.

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

3 comments

  1. Connie Barlow and her husband presented “The Great Story” to an eco-spirituality group in which I was involved in a UU church. Our group also had some liturgical practices, usually limited to a sort of naturalistic perspective. The founder of our group, Jack Heckelman, died of cancer a few months ago. His annual workshops at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul had attracted as many as 500 people.

    A lot of what our group did seems to have faded from my memory, but I really miss Jack a lot.

    John Simcox

  2. I got the link from a frequent commenter, in a message on one of those confidential lists. So thanks to him. Confidentially.

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