Adventure 29: First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City
This beautiful fall day was a great day to visit the almost equally beautiful First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City.
As I approached the church, I thought it was an LDS church. The red brick, and lack of a cross on the steeple struck me as tell-tale signs, but the Unitarian text across the front clued me in that I was in the right place.
No guns, so don't even think about it.
The first thing I want to say is this was by far the most well-attended church I've visited. The chapel was packed, so I made my way to the top tier, and even that was almost full. By 15 minutes into the service, we were all shoulder to shoulder. Also, the congregation (from what I could tell) was mostly older, well-dressed white people. By older I mean 50's and 60's. There were a smattering of people my age and younger, and the young man sitting next to me looked Indian, so a little bit of diversity.
The interior was strikingly beautiful. Simple and beautiful. The walls were all white, the light fixtures-white, the window treatments-all white. I quite liked it. It felt peaceful.
... other than this noose-like rope hanging above my head.
There was a loud and energetic small choir singing when I arrived, and they sang again at the end of the service. The voices sounded trained, and the pieces they chose were ambitious!
The music scattered throughout the service was by a few sets of talented musicians, with different instruments, it kept the pace going quite well.
The hymns sung by the congregation were not any songs I would have thought of as hymns. The songs were pleasant tunes and lyrics with general themes of good will, and no mention or reference to Deity in them. The first song was the familiar Spanish song "De Colores." It was nice to know what the lyrics were, seeing it translated to English, and fun to sing the up-beat song. My sister Delores used to change the words and sing, "que Delores..."
Once a month the offerings collected go toward a local non-profit. Mohammad, who was a representative of this month's organization stood to give a brief description of his non-profit. I couldn't understand what he said the name of it wasc, but it is an international community center. As the title suggests, it supports the international community, with mentoring, school tutoring, immigration, and other related helps. Thirty countries are represented there, which is pretty amazing. I think that's really great that they find a specific way to give to the community, and get to see a face to it when the donations are collected.
There were two sermons given, by two different reverends. The resident reverend, Tom Goldsmith; and Reverend Dr. Pablo Ramos who serves the Unitarian congregation in West Valley. These two congregations try to maintain community between them, as was explained.
They both spoke on the 'theology of liberation.' This was a new term for me, and I don't think I quite wrapped my head around it, but here's what I picked up. If you are living the theology of liberation you will:
Give preferential treatment to the poor
Take responsibility for propagating the teachings of Christ to the poor in the political arena
Live with hospitality, not fear toward others
Create a community of fellowship so anyone can feel the fellowship of Christ
Visitors were asked to stand. This being my second time being asked, I obeyed, as it wasn't so bad in the Baptist church. I was invited to join them all for coffee following the service. The woman to my left was friendly and asked me a little bit about what brought me to their church. That's the first time I've had that conversation with anyone from these churches I've been visiting after doing this for 2 months.
This beautiful building was erected in 1926, and there is a really old newspaper clipping in glass featuring President Taft's visit to the church.
Money spent: $0
Recommendation: 8 out of 10 adventure points!
This is awesome. I have had very positive interactions with Unitarians as a whole. I'm glad you are willing to step outside your bubble and see a different perspective. You will be a stronger person for it. I think if everybody would try to see from a different perspective we would all be better off. You're my hero for doing this.
ReplyDeleteNow my comments/questions...
Preferential treatment toward the poor is something so key to Christ's teachings, and something that is all but forgotten in mainstream religion. Actually remembering that it is our responsibility to care for those that are less fortunate instead of calling for them to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" makes me wonder what agenda those that call themselves religious in the political arena have. It isn't to take care of the poor.
Since this was a Unitarian Church I'm guessing the focus was Christ, have you ever experienced a Universal Unitarian meeting? Much broader teachings that take Humanism, Deism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, even Atheism and Agnosticism, all into account and mainly focus on being a good person. I would love to go to one, someday I will.
Thanks for your comment Burk!
DeleteI have to say, when the Reverend phrased it, 'preferential treatment,' it did seem like a different idea. It made me think. It's not usually put that way when talking about caring for the poor.
Yes, there were references to Christ, but only in a few statements when referring to 'the teaching of Christ,' or 'the community of Christ.' There was not any mention of him in prayers or songs, or details of his doctrine. Since you mention including other religions, it makes me wonder if they keep it vague for that reason?
It's interesting though. I think only good things can come from a community of people focusing on building the community they are in!
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