So it's time to put your imagination caps on. Think big about what "big changes" you'd want to see in UUism. What would your "iPod strategy" for UUism look like? What would it take to get there? And would any of your "iPod buyers" end up "making the switch" (and give up their old PCs for new "UU Macs"). Or would that even matter? Would a bunch of new "UU iPod" owners be enough?

For more background on what this discussion is about, read this.

My own answers, unimaginative as they are, come from the perspective that "church", if it is to exist at all, should be a service to the people of the community, whether it is the local community, the national community, or the world community. UUism is the answer to a problem. Too many communities rely upon churches that exist more to perpetuate a dogma than to support a community.

The first suggestion has to do with this thing UUs seem to have for politics. From Doug's post:

Some people join us with the idea that they are going to be able to influence political issues, but they are unable to do so because we do not have the numbers. We also don't have the focus or the discipline.

From the chutney:

*Political influence ain't gonna happen with our current numbers. Period.
*We need an organizational overhaul to allow change to happen.

From the comments at Coffee Hour:

The point of an organization such as the UUA is social, political, and religious influence on the national and global levels. We, with our incredible 0.1% don't have enough influence to feed and/or self perpetuate our own reason for existence. Zero influence = zero point. Why not just stay home, as one of us already suggested?

Now, my point isn't that a political stance or political efforts are out of place in the UU church, so much as that there is a temptation with so many politically motivated people to put the cart before the horse. Our principles affirm the inherent worth and dignity of the individual and put us at the service of other people. We may find that we can render that service through political activism, or we may find other means serve the purpose better. But we must keep it centered on the service. It should be about the people and their community, not about the "cause".

A related note: People who know me know that I'm a born again Democrat, and that I love my UU church. Even so, the moments I was least in love with my church, and most tempted to turn my back on it were those moments when partisanship - for my side - became the center of attention... whether it was an innocuous seeming joke about the President from the pulpit, or whether it was people who used the joys and concerns to express a partisan viewpoint. I think that we can remove the "turn-off" by checking our partisanship at the door and embracing everyone. After all, if someone is coming to a non-creedal institution in search of companions on a moral path, their heart is probably in the right place even if we disagree with their politics.

Staying with the theme of service to the community, I believe one of the most difficult tasks is keeping our priorities right when it comes to our theology. Traditional churches put their faith in the theology first: their beliefs about God, whether derived from ancient scripture or from personal conscience, are the final authority in their lives. UU's are unique, as a non-creedal religion, in having no authoritative beliefs about God. Yet, many of us express that the most important thing the UU chruch can provide for them is an avenue to talk about theoloogy. I believe that is because theology is a need many people share. As such, I think the UU church's approach to theology should be the same as its approach to other elements of community: we, the church - the minister, the staff, and the congregation - should exist to meet needs, including the need to talk about theology. That doesn't mean that we have to settle on a theology, authoritative or otherwise. It does mean that we have to try to find out what our neighbors in the next seat over are looking for when they come to church and try to provide it.

One of the main reasons that my non-UU wife chose the church that she chose was that she felt that they taught her: that she could learn theological lessons there. I personally believe that the theology she is being taught is a fake: that the "knowledge" they teach is not real knowledge, and that the moral instruction they give is faulty. Yet people are hungry enough to learn that they will accept a fraud if the real thing isn't available. And let's face it: for most people, after our high school years, every ounce of non-professional learning we acquire, and a whole lot of the professional kind, comes at a premium. One of the great needs we can meet right here at home is the need for honest-to-goodness knowledge and understanding. This can be academic knowledge: literature, mathematics, or cosmology. It can be experiential knowledge: the joy of shared song and dance. It can be religious knowledge: not dogma disguised as knowledge such as you are likely to find elsewhere, but real, in depth, knowledge about the beliefs, practices, and the impact of the various religious movements. Our church has given a wonderful series of sermons on Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism "in twenty minutes". This is a great start, but there should be opportunities to plumb the depths of those religions. Help those who have the need for it to discover the experience of quiet meditation or devotional prayer, without asking them to sell their souls to the systems of dogma that go with these experiences. If we see ourselves as meeting a need, we will strive to be sure that the "knowledge" we pass along is certain and that moral exhortations are not distorted by the lens of prejudice, ancient or modern.

None of this should take the place of the church's dedication to meeting the more tangible needs of the local, national, and world community: the needs for nutrition, clean water, medicine, and social justice. chutney, in the comments at Coffee Hour suggests it is good to pick only a couple of "issues" to focus on external to the church. Perhaps, so. But into the larger community we must go, and we must do it with a servant's spirit.

Then, when we all have our eyes on the prize, all we have to do is communicate what we are doing, and people will join us - because for many, many people, the biggest thing missing in their lives is community, and the second biggest is service. Since service is the best way to build community, they come two for the price of one, and all we have to do is let people know where to come to get it.

One other thing... you can't let people get a real feel for what you are doing without showing them some visuals. When you reach out to your community let them see your congregation serving those needs. Let them see people huddled together over a bit of literature or scripture, singing and dancing together as communities should, heads bowed in quiet contemplation or prayer, and legs crossed in meditation, and, of course, chatting away during coffee hour.