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Coming of Age.
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![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
acceberskoorb and lynsaurus.
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.
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