thread: 2006-08-31 : I think my expectations are screwed
On 2006-09-02, joshua m. neff wrote:
I grew up as a Unitarian-Universalist. I even went to a UU summer camp for two years. By the time I got to be, oh, 16 or 17, I lost whatever interest I had in going to church (and I never had much to begin with) and I haven't been to a UU service since.
As I got close to finishing my undergrad degree, my father quit his job—as a UU minister. I was born while he was finishing up his seminary, so he'd been a minister for my entire life up to that point. It was strange when he quit, but he explained it this way (and I'm paraphrasing here): "I've had this job where I sell faith and hope to people, and I just can't do it anymore." He also said, "It's the job of the priest to stand in the temple and tell the people to follow the laws of the temple. It's the job of the prophet to stand outside of the temple and tell the people to follow the laws of God and forget about the laws of the temple. I don't want to tell people to follow the laws of the temple anymore." (Or something like that.)
Ron, your "groovy" comment is spot-on. My dad's talked about that, too. He got involved with the UU church when he and my mom where marching for civil rights in the '60s. But just after he got into the church, it got less into hardass social equality work and more into groovy encounter sessions and stuff. (My dad did his seminary in northern California, by the way, Ron.)
Anyway, that was one hell of a post, Vincent.
