Raw animal trust, ministerial excellence, ice storm hymn

The church and the theater

The Rev. Victoria Weinstein at "PeaceBang" reflects on her experience acting in a community theater production of "Urinetown":

In the theatre, community is created not just by good spiritual feelings and experiences but by raw animal trust. It is one thing to pray together with pure and sincere intention. It is another thing for a dancer to jump into the arms of another dancer and to know that he will catch her no matter what. The ancient rituals of the Church can survive many mishaps, mistakes and undignified blunders and retain their power. The theatre, if done badly, cannot. A faithful Catholic will attend Mass to receive the Eucharist no matter how inept or unenergetic the parish priest. Patrons of the performing arts, however, tolerate no such sloppiness. (December 8)

How Americans imagine Buddhism and Islam

Jeff W. at "Transient and Permanent" offers this intriguing idea:

A hypothesis to mull over: current popular attitudes toward Buddhism and Islam are two sides of the same phenomenon constituted by the needs of Christian (and Christian-derived) America’s imagination. Islam is understood as the demonic other, a dangerous group fanaticism (Islamo-fascism, etc) that twists the familiar pattern of moralistic monotheism to produce enemies of America. Buddhism is constituted as the angelic other, a peaceful individualistic path of private meditation that is so different from Christianity that it poses no boundary threats. Buddhism in these narratives is the liberal, benign foreigner that presents no danger; Islam is the encroaching aggressor with a closed mind that can be neither opened or understood. Neither depiction is even remotely close to capturing the general nature of either religion. (December 13)

In a separate post, he notes that "Buddhism in the West began in 1844, when Unitarian Elizabeth Palmer Peabody translated a section of the Lotus Sutra into English." He writes that another Unitarian Universalist, the Rev. Dr. Gene Reeves, has just published an English translation of the complete text. Jeff describes Reeves's background as a dean of Meadville Lombard Theological School and facilitator of the UUA's connections with the Japanese Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist movement (December 9). Kimberly French wrote about the UUA-Rissho Kosei-kai relationship for UU World in 2001.

Fausto at "The Socinian," meanwhile, calls attention to a Boston Globe article about ancient interactions between Asian Christians and Buddhists (December 15).

What is 'excellence in ministry'?

The Rev. Christine Robinson of "iMinister" is the official blogger at the UUA's Summit on Excellence in Ministry in Seattle, December 10-12. Most, but not all, of her posts about the gathering of can be found under the Excellence in Ministry tag; you can find all of her reporting starting on November 22 and continuing through December.

Other bloggers chimed in on the summit, sharing thoughts and personal stories. Lizard Eater recounts how her call to ministry was interrupted and transformed by her infant daughter's cancer diagnosis ("The Journey," December 11). The Rev. Sean Parker Dennison is grateful that some people at the summit defined excellent ministry as "soul-satisfying ministry" ("Ministrare," December 12).

On the subject of whether all ordained ministers must earn a graduate degree, one blogger points out that even the famously Harvard-centered Unitarians of the nineteenth century occasionally ordained ministers who lacked a diploma. The historically-minded Boston Unitarian (at his pseudeponymous blog) tells the story of the Rev. William Phillips Tinden, a shipbuilder who became a minister under the tutelage of the Rev. Samuel J. May. (December 9)

Elsewhere this week

The Rev. Andrew James Brown at "CAUTE" is thinking about the importance of exemplars and role models: "To become fully human we need human exemplars to follow who can help us frame and ground our potentialities" (December 10).

Speaking of examplars: Beliefnet named Randy Pausch the most inspiring person of 2008. Pausch was the Carnegie Mellon professor whose "last lecture," delivered after his terminal diagnosis with pancreatic cancer, was seen by millions on the Internet. (UUA.org hailed his selection, noting that Pausch was a member of a UU congregation.)

Chalice Chick offers the script of a skit about famous UUs, as offered by her congregation's youth group ("The Chaliceblog," December 14).

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10 by giving its Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award to the Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, a Boston minister noted for her work on behalf of refugees in Darfur.

Surrounded by ice in the ice storm that hit northern New England and upstate New York, the Rev. Priscilla Richter recalled a "hymn to the ice storm" by her colleague, the Rev. Clyde Grubbs ("Seeking Sophia," December 12).

Media critic Dan Kennedy laments the Boston Globe's decision to end the "Spiritual Lives" column by Rich Barlow, who has frequently profiled UUs and other religious liberals ("Media Nation," December 14).

The UUA Advocacy & Witness staff group offers its second annual "UU Activist Holiday Gift Guide" (December 10).

Kari Kopnik raves about Doug Muder's uuworld.org essay "The Ghosts of Unitarian Christmas": "This is the best piece I've read from him, yet." ("Westside UU Congregation Religious Education," December 8)

Finally, check out Arkansas woodworker Doug Stowe's blog "Wisdom of the Hands" for wonderful reflections on craftsmanship and hands-on work.