the OUUC spark

There’s a lot going on at OUUC these days!

We have many tools to bring you the news about what is happening in our community. We use the Tuesday Weekly Update for events and news. “Events” are things like the upcoming worship service, classes, Faith in Action events, and social events. “News” is things like information about new staff or hiring Rev. Monica as the sabbatical minister.

We use The Spark (which comes out on Thursday) to bring you inspiration and invitations to spiritual practice. We also let you know about the Thursday Community Dinner and any important activities, like the stewardship drive.

We’re interested in making our communications about the goings-on as accessible as possible, so we’re curious about how you get your OUUC news. We’d love it if you would complete this poll! Thank you!

This month our theme is “Pluralism”, which is one of the values proposed in the new Article II “Principles and Purposes” of the UUA bylaws that we will soon vote on at General Assembly. Of all of the values listed in the new Article II, Pluralism is the one that I’ve been asked to explain the most. It’s not a common word, so what exactly is that as a value? In brief, pluralism is the presence of diversity or difference. Pluralism can be about any kind of difference, but one that is very important in a faith community is religious pluralism, or diversity of religious belief and practice.

Last Sunday Rev Mary explored some of the ways that we might approach pluralism as UU’s in an excellent worship service about our differences. There is always plenty of pluralism within a UU community, as we have many sources of inspiration and many theologies, beliefs, and practices (not all, for beliefs that harm, for instance any beliefs that some people are less important or worthy than other people are not welcome). Within OUUC there is obvious pluralism, as we have Buddhist, Christian, and Pagan affinity groups and also know that we have many who are atheists, humanists, and more.

Our religious pluralism doesn’t end there, however, as we are also in partnership and relationship with other faith communities. This is one place for us to be careful about UU exceptionalism - not everyone will want to come to a UU congregation! So how do we engage with people of other religions?

Interfaith dialogue often comes in four approaches, known as: polemical, cognitive, peacemaking, and partnership. The questions framing these approaches are:

• Who is right?

• Who are you?

• How can we get along with each other?

• How can we work together to improve the world?

There are appropriate times for the first three approaches, but true pluralism rests in the partnership approach. How can we work together to improve the world?

OUUC does the partnership approach in a few ways, such as through the Concerned Clergy of Olympia, Interfaith Works, and the Faith Action Network. Some of us engage with other interfaith efforts, such as Interfaith Power and Light and the Poor People’s Campaign. Or you may not realize or label your organizations, partnerships, or even your families as interfaith but they may be.

So how can we build our interfaith, pluralistic, partnerships? How can we work together to improve the world, from our places of difference? Here’s one model of how we can do this, from Interfaith America:

1. Know yourself and your purpose (and values)

2. Believe in the power of listening

3. Embrace complexity

4. Seek deeper understanding

5. Allow others to be more (than their errors, than their biases, than their mistakes, etc)

6. Choose to build bridges (or not if not appropriate, but choose with intention)

7. Create a constructive context

8. Use bridge building to solve real world problems

9. Commit to this being a lifelong process

10. Cultivate a deeper love

This is deep work, and we can all grow spiritually from it. It is also a pragmatic way to work together to accomplish more together than we could alone.

So join us in this work, not just this month but going forward!

For tonight's community dinner, the menu will be polenta. Help is needed to cook at 3:30 and set up tables and chairs at 4:30, contact Rev. Sara if you can help or just show up early.

After dinner options (6:30ish) include Dances of Universal Peace, Social Justice Book Group, UU Christian Group, UU Buddhist Sangha, and kids' class.

In this week's Tiny Little News, we have news from the Auction and this week's coming events:

Website: https://www.ouuc.org

Email: office@ouuc.org

Location: 2306 East End St NW, Olympia, WA, USA
Phone: (360) 634-2005

Office Hours

Tuesday - Thursday, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Sunday, 8:00 am - 1:00 pm

Staff Contacts

Rev. Mary Gear, Minister

Rev. Sara Lewis, Director of Community & Faith Development

Troy Fisher, Music Director

Isaac Jennings, Business Manager

Rosie Koppelman, Office Assistant

Teresa Madsen, Communications & Tech Coordinator

Marie Arensmeyer, Facilities Manager

Anissa Bentlemsani, Religious Education Assistant

Carbon Marshall, Tech Specialist