Last fall I heard and was fascinated by Marilyn’s dialog with Christopher Hitchens, the well-known atheist, that was sponsored, posted, and published by the Portland Monthly magazine. What first caught my attention was Marilyn’s description of her religious views as Christian, as I was looking for someone to articulate UU Christianity for this podcast.

Beyond that, Marilyn’s discussion with Christopher Hitchens was intriguing because of the irony of Hitchens the atheist telling Marilyn that she was not Christian. And once the interview was posted online, other voices agreed with Hitchens by rejecting Marilyn’s Christianity — some vitriolic as only online comments can be.

I travel to Portland from time to time, and last month Marilyn graciously invited me to her home to share and record her spiritual journey. In addition to the remarkable story of her path to ministry, I think you’ll find Marilyn’s views of Christianity and prayer thought provoking, even offering kernels of spiritual truth for agnostics and atheists.

To listen to Marilyn’s and my hour-long conversation, you may use the above audio player, download the mp3 file, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Our theme music is Floating Souls, composed and performed by Ambrish and made available royalty-free thanks to Music Alley from Mevio. The chalice artwork was created by Inga Johannesen, of the UU Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

More Information

To explore some of the topics that Marilyn and I touched upon, these links may be helpful:

• Marilyn Sewell’s blog
• Marilyn Sewell’s books, including A Little Book on Prayer
• Facebook page for the movie Raw Faith
• Starr King School for the Ministry — a Unitarian Universalist seminary
• Transylvania — Marilyn refers to Transylvania as she describes the mystical experience that prompted her decision to attend Starr King. In the 16th century, in Transylvania, Francis David founded the first expression of the Unitarian faith in Europe. He was subsequently imprisoned over differences in belief about Jesus; he died, still in prison, in 1579. Read more of the history here on the American Unitarian Conference web site.
• Web site of the First Unitarian Church of Portland

Unitarian Universalists in Focus from Speaking of Faith on Vimeo.

With my recorder running, Marilyn graciously recounted her spiritual journey, first to Unitarian Universalism and then to the UU ministry. She shared her religious beliefs, which she considers Christian, and her disciplined spiritual practice of prayer and meditation. Her theology is instructive and reflects the freedom we UUs have to navigate our own waters.

Marilyn’s absorbing story includes twists and turns and a few ironies — like atheist Christopher Hitchens protesting that her beliefs don’t qualify as Christian. Or Marilyn, in a pinch, asking Bill Sinkford (UU minister and former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association) to conduct a memorial service — before he became a minster.

One of the pleasures of producing this podcast is listening to each conversation several times as I lightly edit the recording. Each time, I hear more deeply until I feel a visceral connection with the sacred path each person has traveled. Marilyn’s spiritual journey resonates with her deep commitment to humility, openness to possibility, and service.

When you hear it, I hope you, too, will sense the sacred.

• Welcoming the stranger
• Working for justice, equity, and compassion (one of our UU principles) for those who seem different — whether by race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ability, or …
• Identifying and rooting out our own prejudices, wherever they are smouldering.

Kim grew up in the Catholic church, which she credits with promoting her awareness of the need for racial equality. However the church’s position on women triggered her leaving, and she ended up Unitarian Universalist.

Coincidentally, since my conversation with Kim, the Vatican has classified the ordination of women as delicta gravioria, a serious crime against church law. Contrast this with our Universalist ancestors, the first denomination to ordain a woman minister, Olympia Brown, in 1863.

During our conversation, Kim mentions a few items you may wish to explore:

• Cakes for the Queen of Heaven. This adult religious education curriculum explores spiritual traditions that have worshiped the female as divine and the influence of the Judeo Christian tradition on the role of women.
• Rev. Kate Braestrup. Kate Braestrup is a UU minister, chaplain of the Maine Warden Service, and author.
• This American Life episode 201. Act 3 tells the story of the black sailor washed ashore in Newfoundland during World War II. The white nurses who took care of him had never seen a black man before.

Listen to my 42 minute conversation with Kim with the above audio player, download the mp3 file here, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Our theme music is Floating Souls, composed and performed by Ambrish and courtesy of Music Alley from Mevio. The chalice artwork was created by Inga Johannesen, of the UU Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

How did you become a Unitarian Universalist? from Speaking of Faith on Vimeo.

What Is a Unitarian Universalist? from Speaking of Faith on Vimeo.

Watch for additional videos about Unitarian Universalism on the Speaking of Faith blog. And if you haven’t heard Krista Tippett’s radio program, look for it on your local public radio station or listen to the podcast. It’s a fascinating exploration of religion, spirituality, and ethical living.

Notwithstanding that host Marianne Combs is a UU, she asked some challenging questions about what UUs believe and why we aren’t a larger religious community. Hear the program and Peter Morales’ responses to these questions using this player:

Please post your reactions to the interview and the questions by leaving a comment.

Bruce’s journey is a story of personal transformation. The devastating death of his wife, from cancer, coupled with the loss of his job, turned life upside down. Juxtaposed with the loss and uncertainty, Bruce was buoyed by the outpouring of support from his church, which rallied around him.

Fast forward to a Memorial Day weekend in Bar Harbor, Maine. Daydreaming over a beer, Bruce saw himself as a UU minister, in a position to nourish a community and pay back what he had received. Reflecting upon the audaciousness of choosing to pursue the ministry, Bruce quotes Thoreau:

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Some five years after that Bar Harbor vision, Bruce was ordained.

In our 46 minute conversation, Bruce relates his journey, including the process of becoming a UU minister, some personal theology, his outlook for Unitarian Universalism, and the role of a minister. Listen with the above audio player, download the mp3 file here, or subscribe via iTunes.

My conversation with Bruce was recorded a month before he was called by the Billerica UU church, which is why you’ll hear him refer to that as a possibility. He mentions several items during the podcast that you may wish to read more about:

• Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with A Thousand Faces
• Andover Newton Theological School
• Congregational polity: read a general description here and material focused on congregational polity within Unitarian Universalism here.
• Transcendentalism
• Unitarian and Universalist ministers James Luther Adams, Hosea Ballou, and William Ellery Channing
• John Shelby Spong, Episcopal bishop and liberal Christian theologian

Our theme music is Floating Souls, composed and performed by Ambrish and courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. The chalice artwork was created by Inga Johannesen, of the UU Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

On the Be Spiritual front, in addition to recording and editing the podcast, several months ago I decided to switch this blog to WordPress. I had been toying with the idea and became highly motivated by a change in the mechanics of Blogger, Google’s blogging platform. In addition to being easier to use and offering more features, WordPress allows me to adopt a consistent look for Be Spiritual, whether this web site, the Facebook page, or the podcast.

The migration from Blogger to WordPress wasn’t easy for an amateur; however, your reading this is proof that it’s done, finished just today. Whew. Finished doesn’t mean glitch free, though. So if you encounter any problems with the new web site, like broken links or audio that won’t play, please leave a comment or send an e-mail to comments at bespiritual dot info.

Now I can refocus on editing and posting the next podcast. Stay tuned.

Jane’s experience mirrors the stories of many who come to our UU churches. If you’ve been listening to this podcast, you’ve heard this theme in a number of our conversations: children.

In the spirit of enlisting a village, we parents want resources to help address — not necessarily answer — the questions our children will invariably raise. We want our children grounded in the diversity of religious traditions that grace the world. And we want them to develop the faculties to evaluate these belief systems and fashion their own. In some cases, we may even find it necessary to protect them from being subsumed by fundamentalism.

Thanks to Jane Roper for telling her story. And for bringing her hopes and energy to her local UU church.