For Adults

For adults, religious education holds space for intentional learning and growth with respect to your Unitarian Universalist faith and identity.  To get a handle on the broad category of religious education, we break it down into six “threads” and strive to offer programs addressing each:

• Spiritual Growth & Practices. On our journey toward wholeness, we seek to better understand ourselves, own our spiritual/religious past, heal old wounds, discover and develop our strengths, build trusting relationships, and more.  We can grow our capacity for reflection, awareness, connection, mindfulness, compassion, groundedness, and staying calm in the face of turmoil by learning and engaging regularly with spiritual practices.  
• UU Identity.  Whether we were raised in a UU congregation, are longtime members, recent arrivals, at some point we must ask ourselves what does it mean to be a Unitarian Universalist?  To answer this question, we look to our heritage, learning the stories of our Unitarian and Universalist predecessors and how the two groups came to merge; we look to Article II of our UUA Bylaws to see how we have collectively defined our purpose (currently in Principles and Sources, possibly soon in terms of Values); we listen to the words of present-day Unitarian Universalists and their various perspectives on our faith and what it means; we examine our UU rituals and practices to learn their origins and understand their meanings.  
• Theology and Religion.  Though many are triggered by the words theology and religion, we do identify ourselves as a church, and we have roots in two religious traditions with well-defined theologies.  We do not, however, prescribe a theology that people must accept in order to call themselves Unitarian Universalists. Instead, we covenant to affirm and promote our own searches for truth and meaning. To do this, it can be helpful to consider age-old questions and to understand how various other religions have answered them, using this awareness to help develop our own responses and build our own belief systems.  
• Unitarian Universalism in Life.  Unitarian Universalism is often criticized (typically from within) for being overly intellectual or theoretical.  In addition, we do not adhere to a set of rules for living that might seem to make it relatively straightforward to figure out how to “live” our faith.  So we have the potential for a great deal of personal and community growth when we explore what does Unitarian Universalism mean with respect to parenting, relationships, community, work, school, and other basic aspects of our lives?  
• Anti-oppression. We acknowledge that we, as a faith tradition and as individuals, exist within a white supremacist, patriarchal, and colonialist culture, all of which are contrary to our Unitarian Universalist values and principles.  We must, therefore, work intentionally to understand and dismantle these forces in our own lives and our organizations.  
• Social Justice.  Social justice work begins with education: we educate ourselves on the issues, and raise awareness among others to grow a movement. But to be effective in our actions we must also ask ourselves some faith-related questions:  Why am I drawn to this work? What inner work is necessary to ensure that I am coming from a place of love, humility, compassion and respect, rather than fear, guilt, or rage? What cautionary tales should I be aware of to avoid doing harm in my efforts to help? How do I form healthy, respectful relationships with those I am serving? Am I listening well?