First Church-The Salt Lake Unitarians

This Sunday I decided to do something I had never done before-attend the Sunday worship services of another Church. I chose to attend the Unitarian church and I had a wonderful time. As I walked into the chapel, which they have named First Church, I was impressed with how beautiful and pristine all the windows and perfectly white walls were. The service began with announcements and they were honoring teachers and in particular giving thanks to all those who had taught the classes for the preceding year. After that they had a very short lamp lighting ceremony that some of the younger kids led. It was admittedly a little cheesy but I really liked the message of the simple chant that, if I recall correctly, was "let this lamp represent the light of truth, the warmth of love and the energy to put it into action" complete with movements made by the kids as they gave the chant. Then the children left for their classes while the adults stayed to listen to the sermon of the Unitarian reverend. Since we were honoring teachers he decided to talk about learning from the teachers in nature.

Admittedly all the things taught in the sermon I didn't agree with. He obviously supports vegetarianism that while I can certainly see the philosophical argument for I don't think I'll ever fully embrace. (My philosophical justication I guess would be that without meat I'd probably commit suicide so it's either me or them and philosophically I always support saving the life of a human over an animal;). But the beautiful thing is that I knew it was an environment where I wasn't expected to accept everything. As a women who talked to me after the meeting explained, "We don't have any dogma here. We have Christians, Buddhists and even atheists and what you believe is up to you. We're just here to have dialogue and have a community."

However there were many things the sermon expressed that I sympathized with. He explained how observing the natural world, for example, should make us more accepting of same-sex unions. He explained how over 450 species of animals have been observed engaged in homosexuality. These animals are not excluded or shunned by others of their species. He also explained how sadly even animals, like humans, can be caged into acting or thinking dogmatically. He shared the example of a circus bear that spent much of his life restricted to a 9 foot square cage and once taken to a large zoo with a spacious area it spent it's life pacing the same area of 9 feet by 9 feet-never wandering beyond the barriers that it had accepted even when they were now no more than an illusion. All in all I found the talk refreshing and inciteful.

At the end of the service I was introduced to a few people, including the reverend of the congregation. I can honestly say the emotions I felt during the meeting, being introduced to the members there, and on reflection afterwards were the emotions I would have once called 'the Spirit'. It was a wonderful feeling, one that reinforced my belief that spirituality is ultimately the experience of when the music playing within us individually finds a melodic harmony with the music playing with those around us.