Coming of Age.

[rivka]

Yesterday's church service featured the youth who have just completed a semester-long Coming of Age program. They've used classes, journalling exercises, retreats, group discussions, and one-on-one work with adult mentors to mark the passage from childhood to maturity. Ours is a noncreedal religion, meaning that there is no common set of beliefs or spiritual path that we all share. So one of the markers of the passage out of childhood, for Unitarian-Universalists, is that one is expected to take on the "free and responsible search for truth and meaning" for oneself, as an active process.

As the centerpiece of the service, each of the seven Coming of Age youth stood before the congregation and delivered their own personal faith statement: a description of what they believe and where they stand on spiritual matters. Obviously this isn't expected to be the final word, but they are expected to think deeply and make a sincere declaration.

They. Were. Amazing.

One of them flatly asserted that the physical world is all that there is, and that there is nothing that cannot be explained in material terms. One of them explained how she came to identify human love as a transcendent higher power. One described her belief that, because matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, she is made from dinosaurs and will live on forever as components of living creatures to come. One said that the only thing he was sure he believed in was the search. One said, straightforwardly, that he'd watched all his friends have insights over the course of the class, but he hadn't, and he still didn't know what he believed.

Every one of them stood up, head held high, in front of a hundred and fifty people, and had the self-confidence and self-knowledge to articulate their faith. It was inspiring to hear them. It was wonderful to see them radiant in the light of the congregation's enthusiastic applause. And it's a bit terrifying to think that in about ten years, my daughter will be standing in the pulpit and Coming of Age herself.

I love my religious community. I have so much respect for these youth - four of them were in my OWL class last year, and I can't believe how much they've matured over the last year and a half. And I am in awe of my friends who helped them on their Coming of Age journey this year, including acceberskoorb and lynsaurus.

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

This is so cool.

[redbird23.livejournal.com]

Our UU church alternates between teaching OWL one year, and COA the next, so each is a year-long process and all of the kids go through both years.

It is amazing what these kids manage to figure out, nurtured by awesome adults and a peer group who has been brought up in a liberal-religious tradition.

I get all teary-eyed thinking about my RE kids (6th graders next year! I've had them for two years now, next year is our third) going through this process in a couple of years, and I look forward to hearing their statements. It's hard to think of Boo doing so, it's so far away since he's only 2, but he'll get there as well.

[laurarey.livejournal.com]

Ok. I'm going to have to give the UU church down the street another shot. That sounds very cool.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

UU churches differ from each other a lot, so if you didn't care much for the one down the street you might want to try a different one.

[serenecooking.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure you know I'm a vocal atheist, and I'm working hard at asking this question without coming off as combative, because I'm totally not feeling combative. I'm very intrigued at the idea of a religion that celebrates these youth, some of whom I would classify as atheists, and I am wondering what makes something a religion if there is no requirement that there be a deity. (I should say that someotherguy has suggested a zillion times that we attend UU services and see if we fit there, but it's not something we've gotten around to, so I'm asking in complete and utter ignorance of your fellowship and its ways, and mean absolutely no disrespect at all.)

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

I didn't really mean that to come from the cooking blog, but so be it. :-)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Well, Buddhism is a religion with no requirement that there be a deity, so there's more precedent than you might think. :-)

I'd say that Unitarian-Universalism is a religion because it concerns itself with the big questions about life's purpose or meaning and how we should live, and because it seeks to nourish the spirit (however you define that).

Even UU theists may believe in something you'd have trouble recognizing as a deity. My personal belief is that God is an emergent property of life - that it arises from the complex interconnected web of plant, animal, and human life as a sort of a force or flow. I find it strengthening and comforting to tap into that sense of life's connectedness through practices like prayer, meditation, and ritual, but my views don't really lend themselves to the idea of an interventionist God.

Unitarian-Universalism has a long track record of supporting and including atheists and humanists, and there are many atheist UU ministers. Your local church or fellowship may vary in terms of how much the services include the trappings of theism. In any case you'd be expected to respect that others' search for truth and meaning might lead them to theism, just as yours has led you to atheism.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

I wonder sometimes whether I think of Buddhism (as she is taught, not practiced) as a religion or a philosophy, but mostly I don't think I know enough about it to say.

Thank you so much for your response!