What's our certainty and making a UU-Turn

During the UUA's Large Church Conference someone asked Don Cohen, the keynote speaker, if he could imagine a UU mega church. He replied that a UU mega church is hard to imagine because certainty draws more people than ambiguity. An Evangelical Christians do certainty better than we do. Not an exact quote, but fairly close.

Personally, I can imagine a UU mega church. I think we have great "certainty" which we can offer people. The trick, I think, is for us to "contain" all of the questions we hold so dear and the "self guided" spiritual development in a stronger culture of certainty and higher expectation.

It is true that what you "have to" believe is not certain. In fact its pretty open, within reason. But how we live in this world, our responsibility to it and each other, and our path toward making a this world a more just, compassionate and caring place is as clear cut and defined as a major interstate highway.

Can't you see it? A big giant highway with a UU-Turn sign. A giant call to turn around and head our world in another direction. I think we can help the world make a turn for the better. But we need to offer what we have in terms of certainty and precise pathways and processes.

All you need to do to find our certainty is look to the hurts and hopes of our world.

As you work on your elevator speeches about what Unitarian Universalism is, make sure you frame it in terms of what we know and what we are called to do in this world. There are plenty of absolutes we can offer people. Think of our faith as having a hard, one pointed side, and soft and malleable side. When you try and hand it off to someone you need to give them the harder side first otherwise they won't be able to grasp it -- literally. Their neurons will not know how to tie it to their existing knowledge.