Tapestry of Faith: What Moves Us: A Unitarian Universalist Theology Program for Adults

Leader Resource 3: Schulz's Theology in the Congregation

Part of What Moves Us

Begin by sharing this reading:

... the holy—those things that most matter to us—does not show all of its colors in solitude and silence. Sometimes it requires the clarity of another's voice, sometimes the cacophony of community, and often the touch of other pilgrim's eyes and arms and hands... [Moreover, another reason] to support the worshipping community is that whatever it is we value, be it freedom, courage, love, can only be preserved and only be transmitted with the help of institutions. No one passes on a heritage all by herself. No one by himself alone can provide a countervailing force to sheer iniquity. Our worship signals the institutional incarnation of our faith.

Invite participants to consider together the ways their own Unitarian Universalist congregation understands itself as the institutional incarnation of our faith. Engage participants using some or all of these questions as a guide:

  • How does the congregation invite individuals into conversation with one another as a means to apprehending the holy?
  • How does the corporate worship of the congregation help shape the actions and mores of individuals within the congregation?
  • How is the importance of corporate worship reflected in the New UU class, small group ministries, the coming of age program, the adult programming and all the children and youth ministries of the congregation?
  • What insights from the What Moves Us workshop on Schulz may push us toward strengthening some aspects of our congregational life?