The Return Home - South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society - Salt Lake City, UT - April 13th, 2014

         I have been away too long and one thing I realized is that in a way I never left. My values have always been aligned with Unitarian Universalism and I guess up to that point it I've really come to recognize that. This realization will be reflected throughout my visit today, which was where it first hit me that my values align and that it is from this Unitarian Universalist base that I explore other faiths.

     Why is this the case? A good question considering I think that the community can be more active beyond environmentalism...that at least my visit here, I wanted to see more helping of the poor and hungry like I found with the Catholics and Episcopals (reason I plan to get involved with Episcopal communities besides being welcomed and finding it a good place for reflection and action).

    The reason is values and I think it gets down to the base reason of why religions exist...they exist to wrestle with our mortality and reasons for being alive. This is seen in the seven principles which are:
1) The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
2) Justice, equality and compassion in human relations.
3) Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregation.
4) A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
5) The use of the democratic process in decision making in the congregation.
6) The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.
7) Respect for the interdependent web of life we are a part of.

     All of these things were reflected in the service. The pastor recognized Palm Sunday being celebrated elsewhere and honored those doing it, as well as incorporating the story into the theme of "Releasing from Life: Lessons from Near Death Experiences," which was the sermon and it was reflected in the music of Crosby, Stills and Nash, Indigo Girls and the hymns.

      The service began with welcoming and recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of every person in how all were welcome. An ex-Mormon lady who had greeted me at the front then shared her journey to the congregation. This I've found is almost universal in congregations and communities...stories of how the people arrived there and became a part of it.

     After a person in the community was recognized for making possible the church being run by solar panels. What churches do that? That is one thing I love about the Unitarians and the action in regards to trying to live in relation to everything on the earth rather than just taking or taking it for granted. 

 

       Next was the story for all ages, and after the children going to class. Than was the sermon on how the Saints found peace in facing death and how near death experiences change people. It was a good service and reminded me of how also, all religions and a lot of people are really looking for solace in whatever is they are doing and living. It was a powerful sermon. 

      The sermon ended with introductions, which at this point was where I put words to the feelings and reality of where the base of my search has come from this blog. From the Unitarian Universalist ethics and desire and search for truth and community with others.

    After I talked to some members of the congregation at went to the chapel where I honored those who are suffering. The chapel reminded me of my Mom's home where the symbols of people wrestling with their mortality...the symbols of religion covered the walls and were on altars with candles to illuminate silence. 

    For however long I am here in Utah, I look forward to making time to be active in the Unitarian Universalist, the Episcopal Community and continuing to visit other faiths and form connections as the journey continues. Today, was the metaphorical return home.

 

Journey to Machu Picchu - August 21st, 2013

       After visiting Cathedrals and experiencing the big city it was in a complete change of pace that I found the most connection.

        An essential part of Incan Spirituality is honoring the land. The land itself is seen as a Temple, which is why the buildings were built to compliment the mountains or to use the pros and cons of any given location and make the most of it.

     I was not able to do the Inca trail proper, but with my guide Rebi we did our own version of the trail. A more modern version where the railroad and the river were our guides to Aguas Calientes. The journey to Machu Picchu was religiously siginifigant for the Inca. It was a pilgrimage where at the end and arriving there you were supposed to find yourself and connect to the spirits. This would be my version of this.

      Along the way we would pass tons of Inca Sites and at least one Holy Site where we would take lunch. First, I shall start at the beginning though.

     After taking a bus for an hour we got off in a small village and began our trek along the railroad. To our left was the river and many times donkeys and horses sitting idly by watching us. After about an hour we reached the first site which was an Inca Fort along the river. We explored this place for a bit before continuing onward.

     Our next stop was into the desert. It was here Rebi pointed out the different things that were used for coloring the Alpaca and sheeps wool. It had a rugged beauty to it and reminded me a lot of exploring Zion or Arches National Park in Utah. We also ran into an Inca Barracks and Noblemen's house while all along the way passing cows and farms. We also passed Inca farming terraces on the other side of the river that were probably used for feeding the armies that were posted here.

      Next we arrived in a tiny village where there were sections of an Inca Wall that was almost completely invisible because of the overgrowth. It was after passing here that we arrived at an Inca Holy site, which was the halfway mark.

    The Inca Holy site was an altar and a giant black stone. The stone had been carved to have a puma, condor and serpent on its snake to represent the 3 worlds the Inca honored. It was here we talked and took lunch. Before us was the rainforest and a complete change in landscape.

     The forest was beautiful. We saw a snake at one point and tons of birds. The one disadvantage was it soon got dark as we passed out of the forest into the Jungle. It was here that trust key. Rebi's light through his phone was the one thing keeping the path clear. Time was lost in the dark and with it understandable fear. I was going somewhere I had never been to before and we'd passed a few places that were covered with big steel gates. I had no idea what Aguas Calientes looked like or if we would have to go through a gate and passed security to get there too.

    Thankfully that was not the case and the arrival was one of the best experiences I can describe. There is nothing like earning the right to go to a place by physically walking there, and this was one of those times. I can see why it was seen as religious. Its a lot of work to go over the mountains to get to where you want to go. Not to mention physical excretion is a great way to clear the mind.

     After arriving we talked family, the past and treated one another to drinks and disco. It was the end to a great journey. We had finally arrived and the next day would be a place covered in Holy Sites. The city of Machu Picchu.

University Presbyterian Church - Seattle, WA - August 7th, 2011

     In my experience with looking for Churches and faith communities to visit, one thing I have noticed is among many of the Protestant Denominations...there don't tend to be that many church worship services. Most churches usually meet once for worship on Sunday and that's the extent of the community all together honoring God as a congregation. This has lead to me sadly missing a lot of churches. I haven't been good at waking up early at all, which means I'd only be able to catch evening services. This in turn has limited my visits to a few faith communities in the Seattle and Issaquah areas.

     I found out today that University Presbyterian has evening services though! This was nice considering the only other Church besides the Newman Center near the University of Washington, Generation Church, and the U-District Mars Hill...I was lacking in places to visit for the first time.

     The first thing I noticed about University Presbyterian was it's size. The outside architecture was like a Cathedral and this carried into the worship hall which had stained glass windows telling the story of the life of Jesus.

      The Church was alive and had more then just youth and old people (in the U-District most churches are either people 40 years old and plus (with 1 or 2 families) or full of people in their 20's and younger (Generation Church and Mars Hill). This Church had the happy medium between that age divide that makes up the U-District churches.

       The service itself was a mixture of christian rock for devotional (the music sounded Coldplayish and the female lead sounded like the lead singer from Pomplamoose). It was great and again I noticed the similarity between romantic verse religious music in relationship to love songs, a person letting go everything for the one they love.

      The sermon was good, it was general and could pretty much be tied to any sort of goal or journey in life, in which the journey matters as much as the destination...and that in the suffering of the journey happiness can be found. Psalm 126 was used as the example. During the service a woman talked about serving people in South Africa and service to AIDS victims in the organization she helped found that has been growing. Jesus was used as the inspiration in both in how the senior pastor posed his questions, "How has God through Jesus changed your life in unexpected ways?" as an example.

     I think we as people do get so lost trying to get the destination or goal that we can lose sight of everything learned upon the way. We can miss out on living and being whole right now, as we work towards growth and goals. This was actually something College taught me really well, and I have experienced it in other ways upon my journey and have seen it in other people's lives whether it's a faith journey or any other goal in life.

    After I was invited to a dinner that's thrown after every evening service and was treated to a delicious salad and pizza. The church certianly knows how to look after it's community, and after seeing the different organizations they're connected to saw how they were involved with helping the mentally ill, sick or homeless here in Washington.

     It was a rewarding experience, and I must say, I'm quite grateful for the evening church service of past days and today.