UU Christian Stepping Stones
Would you like to walk deeper into the spiritual life with Jesus, regardless of whether you see your relationship with Jesus is as teacher/rabbi, guide, companion, Lord, Savior, or some other description? And whether or not you are walking with others now in a small group or church or one-to-one encounters or simply on your own?
If so, this UU Christian space for the “Toolbox” or “Spiritual Seed Starter Kit” of resources and links is designed for you. You can use it to help “build” your spiritual home, or to “grow your soul.” It will be continually updated.
Help us grow it by sending your favorite resources and links for worship, liturgy, prayer, theology, bible study, justice, church history and more to RevRonRobinson@aol.com. We hope it will also help inspire you to start meeting and exploring and building and growing with others near you too.
Also check out the section on this website for links listed to the right for more resources. And stay tuned for special resources coming your way here for Lent and Eastertide.
Check Out Some of These Sites:
www.uuchristianfellowship.blogspot.com Our interactive blog
www.westarinstitute.org Jesus Seminar
www.textweek.com Use the Revised Common Lectionary for your personal or small group bible study. Great references for films and art connected to biblical themes.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Many of the classics of Christianity online.
http://www.ccel.org/
Sacred Texts
This site has texts from many different religions.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm
Blue Letter Bible
“Online bible. Good site!”
http://www.blueletterbible.org
Devotions.net
“This is a site with a translation of the New Revised Standard Version.”
http://www.devotions.net/bible/00bible.htm
www.biblegateway.com Good source of biblical versions
www.thepaulpage.com Good source for links and articles on the revolutionary new Pauline scholarship.
A Progressive Christian
A weblog described as “A positive place to develop heart and spirit, for those who are Christian, but not conservative, and who believe that Christ was about love, not prejudice; that ‘moral values’ include justice, equal opportunity, and protection of God’s planet.”
http://progressive-christian.blogspot.com/
Celtic Christianity
“Characterized, in part, by the blending of spiritual elements from both Christianity and the pre-Christian pagan religion of the ancient Celts. Celtic Christianity emphasizes the presence of the Divine in nature, the goodness of Creation, and the spiritual leadership of both women and men.”
http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/christ.html
Christian Humanism
This site is an “exploration of the increasing overlap between the values of modern humanism and current trends in liberal Christian theology and practice toward naturalist, utilitarian Christianity.”
http://www.christianhumanism.org
Christian Mystics
”The Site for Christian Mystics Traditional and Contemporary,” is all about the contemplative, meditative, experiential traditions within Christianity, past and present.
http://www.christianmystics.com/
Christianity for the Third Millennium
Started by retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong to promote and educate about liberal Christianity.
http://www.intac.com/~rollins/ctm.html
Common Sense Christianity
An online resource for books, articles, reviews and other materials that explore ways to “hold Jesus central in our faith-lives, without calling him God or adopting doctrines developed for the Roman Empire — and without abandoning modern science, ignoring suffering in the world, or pretending that we have all the answers.”
http://www.commonsensechristianity.org
Cyberhymnal
The best online collection of church hymns, biographies & midi files. Simply do a search on the word Unitarian and several Unitarian Hymn writers will appear including President John Quincy Adams, among others.
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/
Grail Trust
The Grail Liturgy found on this site is a great resource for liberal Christian worship.
http://users.netmatters.co.uk/davidbryant/C/grail/Trustees.html
Jesus Is A Liberal
This site is dedicated to liberal political ideology with a Christian moral basis.
http://www.jesusisaliberal.org
Liberalis: The Liberal Christian Homepage
This site features theology, church history, and denominational information.
http://www.liveoakuu.org/christianity.htm
Process and Faith
Provides on-line resources for worship and spiritual practice based on process theology, a contemporary perspective drawn largely from the work of philosopher, mathematician and theologian Alfred North Whitehead and others such as Charles Hartshorne (Unitarian Universalist) and John B. Cobb, Jr. (Methodist).
http://www.processandfaith.org/
Progressive Christian Network
A virtual network that appears to have many good resources (but most links were not operative as of January 2005)
http://www.progressivechristians.net
Progressive Christianity.Net
Links to Progressive Christian networks throughout the English-speaking world.
http://www.progressivechristianity.net
Progressive Christians Uniting
This organization focuses on social and political issues from a religious perspective.
http://www.progressivechristiansuniting.org
www.tcpc.org The Center For Progressive Christianity. Where you can find links to the DVD study programs, Living the Questions, and Saving Jesus
Radical Faith
Discussion of theology and contemporary issues from a liberal perspective.
http://www.radicalfaith.org
Revised Common Lectionary
The lectionary is a multiyear calendar that suggests scripture readings for each Sunday’s worship and for services on holy days. Representatives of the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship participate in the Consultation on Common Texts. http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/
Techno Cosmic Mass
The Friends of Creation Spirituality, in Oakland, California, created this form of worship.
http://www.technocosmicmass.org
The Woman’s Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Here is commentary on Scripture by one of the greatest Unitarians who ever lived: Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/wb/
Transcendentalism and Religion
Explores the impact of this 19th-century mystical movement on notable Unitarians such as Theodore Parker, William Ellery Channing, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/ideas/religion.html
Unitarian Christian Association
This is the UU Christian Fellowship’s counterpart within the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
http://www.unitarianchristian.org.uk/
Unitarian Christian Journal
A British on-line journal with articles supporting the Christian foundations of the Unitarian churches in Great Britain.
http://www.unitarianchristian.net
Universalist Christians Association
An independent, nondenominational association
http://www.universalistchristians.org/
Universalist Herald
Website of the oldest continuously published liberal religious periodical in North America
http://www.universalist-herald.net
University of Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox, an Episcopal priest, author, and postmodern theologian, is the president of UCS and the most widely known proponent of this spiritual path.
http://www.creationspirituality.com/
For Liberal Christian Small Group Resources:
http://www.united-church.ca/smallgroup/ from the United Church of Canada
www.smallgroupministry.net UU Small group network
www.universalistchurch.net Where you can find resources from historic Universalist churches for personal and small group use.
http://www.emergentvillage.com/ Central clearinghouse for the Emergent Church movement
http://easumbandy.com/resources/faqs/ One of the most comprehensive sites for personal spirituality, team leadership and transformational church.
Some specifics for Small Groups:
Here is a contribution from the UUCF small group at Horizon Church near Dallas.
It is their purpose statement, covenant, a sample of their time together and other conversation topics for their sharing.
Chalice lighting
Purpose and Covenant
Opening Prayer or Reading
1:10 Moment of Silence to Center ourselves and be Present
· “In Centering Prayer, we go beyond thought and image, beyond the senses and the rational mind, to that center of our being where God is working a wonderful work.” ~Basil Pennington
· “Silence is God’s first language. All else is poor translation.” ~Thomas Keating
1:15 Personal check-in and Introductions
1:25 Questions for consideration and response drawn from Simply Pray by Erik Walker Wikstrom
Wikstrom suggests there are four types of prayer practice in one form or another in every religious tradition:
· Naming (Christian term: Praise & Thanksgiving) – naming the many ways that the holy and the sacred move in our lives and in the wider world
o Currently, where and how is the sacred present in your life? What name or expression of gratitude would describe this sacred part of your life?
· Knowing (Christian term: Confession) – knowing ourselves fully, in both our strengths and weaknesses
o What challenges are you facing today in being or fully accepting who you are?
· Listening (Christian term: Meditation or Contemplation) – listening to that “voice of quiet stillness” that resides in each of us
o How do you find that quiet place in your soul? Do you “check in” with it daily?
· Loving (Christian term: Petition or Intercession) – reaching out in loving concern to the world around us
o Do you ever feel a strong impulse to “call out” to the divine or the All on behalf of others? How do you honor to this impulse?
2:15 Announcements or Business
§ Next series of meetings – God’s Politics?
2:25 Brief check-out. How are you now, after the meeting?
Closing thought
Chalice extinguishing
Other Readings and Questions for Consideration and Response:
For Isaiah, John and Jesus, the beginning of the GOOD NEWS takes place in the wilderness. What is wilderness?
· Name some of the wilderness places that you observe
o in the world around you (environment, politics btwn nations, global economy, wars and hopes for peace…)
o closer to home (your community, workplace, schools your children or grandchildren attend, home, in the eyes of others…)
o in your own life (btwn you and someone you love, around your church or workplace, your inner “sanctuary”… )
· In exploring this passage metaphorically, consider these questions:
o Why do you suppose the GOOD NEWS begins in the wilderness? Why might the cry be heard there rather than other parts of life?
o What are some ways people avoid the wilderness. In what sense does our avoidance of the wilderness rob us of GOOD NEWS?
· Name a wilderness that is part of your life today
o How might your inner voice (your inner John the Baptist) be calling you to separate from old worn out patterns and move toward the possibility of the new?
o Were you to listen to that voice, what would you do in the next 24 hours?
o By not doing so, how will you prevent the GOOD NEWS that wants to happen in you from being heard.
· What is your Christian heritage? What turned you away from that heritage? How do you feel about the current “public face” of Christianity?
· Would you prefer to call yourself a Christian or a follower of the teachings of Jesus? What is the difference? Have you or can you define Christianity according to your own conscience?
Questions for consideration and response
(drawn from The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg, Chapter 4 “God: The Heart of Reality”)
1. Was there ever a time in your life when your view of God made a dramatic shift, or when “God” was difficult word or concept for you? How do you define God now and how does that shape your sense of what a Christian life is about?
2. Frederick Buechner wrote “Listen to your life. Listen to what happens to you because it is through what happens to you that God speaks…. It’s in language that’s not always easy to decipher, but it’s there powerfully, memorably, unforgettably.” Does God ‘speak’ to you? If so, how and when?
Readings from Theodore Parker / Questions for consideration and response
Parker speaks both disapprovingly and encouragingly of the forms and doctrines – the “transient” - of Christianity. He refers to them as “mire and dirt” in one paragraph and, in a later paragraph, blessings which are sent down “to moisten the fainting violet and form streams which gladden”.
· What is your experience, both positive and negative, of that which may be considered the “transient” in Christianity?
· How has your life been blessed by these aspects of Christianity and how can you reclaim (or have you reclaimed) that which perhaps feels as if it had been taken from you?
Readings and Questions for Consideration and Response
· “And now let us look down into ourselves to discover there the struggle between separation and reunion, between sin and grace, in our relation to others, in our relation to ourselves, and in our relation to the Ground and aim of our being.”
· What do you think of Tillich’s view of “sin” as “separation” from others; from ourselves; from our Ground of Being (God)? Do you have a different experience/definition of sin?
· · Have you experienced moments of “grace” described by Tillich as “reunion” and complete acceptance? Again, do you have a different experience/definition of grace?