When people ask me where I work, I never say church. This doesn’t mean I don’t love the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport. But I prefer to call the UUSR a faith community, or a congregation, a religious group, or even a merry band of spirituality-seeking, justice-makers. I don’t like to call it a church because historically, a church was defined as a place for public Christian worship.

The UUSR is still a place for public worship. It’s the Christian aspect that no longer works for us. We are grateful for our Christian heritage and our current Christian cousins; many of us love Jesus. But we are not only Christian, nor do we want to be. We celebrate the diversity of our backgrounds and our beliefs. We think life is more interesting when diversity is allowed to thrive.

We are earth-loving pagans. We are secular Jews, we are Goddess worshippers, and we are ardent atheists. We are humanists and mystics and Jesus followers. Christianity is where we began (both of our theological ancestors, the Unitarians and the Universalists were Christian denominations) and who knows where we will be in another 100 years.

On the surface, the building at 4 Cleaves Street looks like a lot of churches.

Spire. Check.

Bell. Check.

Pulpit. Check.

Pews. Check.

But after attending a few worship services, one can sense how different we are. If we have been coming here for a while we can forget the life-affirming, life-saving message we offer the world:

Whoever you are, and wherever you are in your life, we welcome you and will try to walk with you. We don’t care what color you are, or whether you are straight or gay or trans or unsure. We believe that love is still supreme, and always worth celebrating. We believe that the earth is our home and should be treated with respect and care, and we believe that it matters less what we think than what we do and how we behave.

I think the UUSR is worth bragging about. By all means, tell your friends and acquaintances about our liberal free faith. Just don’t say church.

xoSusan