Religious Enrichment
© Copyright 2017 Ralph Earlandson
Religious Enrichment = Faith Formation
During the year I served as the director of faith development at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago, I met a couple of young adults who had been raised UU, were active in social justice, and were still active within the UU faith. I also met adults who had been working with UU youth for years at camp programs and area youth conferences. These young adults and youth advisors modeled qualities that I wanted for my son, our youth, and myself—they modeled openness, leadership, unconditional love, comfort with conflict, direct communication, and commitment to living their values.
During my congregational internship, I had the huge privilege to learn how they developed those important qualities. I worked with a phenomenal youth group, youth coordinator, child religious education program, and minister of faith development. Because youth ministry means so much to me, I attend our youth group once a month, assisted with their annual art show, and attended my very FIRST youth conference (in the chaplain role). While I was impressed with our youth before attending the conference, they knocked my socks off! WOW!!!
I also am especially grateful to my religious education classes in seminary. They helped me let go of my traditional ideas about meaning-making so that I can act as a guide to congregants as they build their own systems of meaning. As Unitarian educator Angus MacLean taught us, “The Method [of teaching] is the message.”
We are not talking about religious education or enrichment—we are talking about completely messy, sometimes painful, and often joyful spiritual formation. I wholeheartedly believe in the human capacity for deep personal transformation and growth. All ministers are responsible for helping our congregations do this work, whether we call ourselves educators or not. I believe this deep work is incredibly important to our ability to thrive as a religious movement and our ability to help transform the world.
(For more information on my experience as Director of Faith Development at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago, please take a peek at my Resume.)
During my congregational internship, I had the huge privilege to learn how they developed those important qualities. I worked with a phenomenal youth group, youth coordinator, child religious education program, and minister of faith development. Because youth ministry means so much to me, I attend our youth group once a month, assisted with their annual art show, and attended my very FIRST youth conference (in the chaplain role). While I was impressed with our youth before attending the conference, they knocked my socks off! WOW!!!
I also am especially grateful to my religious education classes in seminary. They helped me let go of my traditional ideas about meaning-making so that I can act as a guide to congregants as they build their own systems of meaning. As Unitarian educator Angus MacLean taught us, “The Method [of teaching] is the message.”
We are not talking about religious education or enrichment—we are talking about completely messy, sometimes painful, and often joyful spiritual formation. I wholeheartedly believe in the human capacity for deep personal transformation and growth. All ministers are responsible for helping our congregations do this work, whether we call ourselves educators or not. I believe this deep work is incredibly important to our ability to thrive as a religious movement and our ability to help transform the world.
(For more information on my experience as Director of Faith Development at Second Unitarian Church of Chicago, please take a peek at my Resume.)
© Copyright 2012 Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
My Theology
If pressed for a label, I might describe myself as a “feminist process panentheist” today. Please don’t let that scare you away, hehe.
The panentheist portion declares that we all carry the Holy within us and yet are also contained within the Holy. The process portion reminds us that we are co-creating the universe with the Holy. The feminist portion adds a lens of equity, compassion, and accountability. My theology is dynamic and I look forward to sharing the changes I discover with my congregants. However, regardless of the phrase I use to try to quantify my theology, I am first and foremost a Unitarian Universalist. Unitarian Universalism is the theology of my heart and will remain so. My faith is deeply grounded in our Principles and Sources.
In terms of UU theology, James Luther Adams, Rebecca Parker, Rita Nakashima Brock, and Sharon Welch have had the most effect on my ministry. Upon entering seminary, Adams gave voice to my own beliefs about social justice as theology. Parker, Nakashima Brock, and Welch gave me permission to see the Sacred in my own life experiences as well as sacred texts. All four taught me to seek the Divine in connection and equality with others. I have carried their words into my ministry and worship, attempting to include and learn from multiple voices (whether a Sunday service, earth-centered ritual, or funeral service).
Having spent 3 years as a hospital chaplain (2-year residency and 1 year as a registry chaplain), I am very comfortable with theological diversity, whether in other faith traditions or within our own. If individuals with different theologies are threatened by this difference, I attempt to listen in order to understand what lies under their concerns. If they are my congregants, I will use this understanding to help them become more comfortable with the difference and themselves. It is not the different theologies that are the problem-- it is how we hold them that can become the problem.
The panentheist portion declares that we all carry the Holy within us and yet are also contained within the Holy. The process portion reminds us that we are co-creating the universe with the Holy. The feminist portion adds a lens of equity, compassion, and accountability. My theology is dynamic and I look forward to sharing the changes I discover with my congregants. However, regardless of the phrase I use to try to quantify my theology, I am first and foremost a Unitarian Universalist. Unitarian Universalism is the theology of my heart and will remain so. My faith is deeply grounded in our Principles and Sources.
In terms of UU theology, James Luther Adams, Rebecca Parker, Rita Nakashima Brock, and Sharon Welch have had the most effect on my ministry. Upon entering seminary, Adams gave voice to my own beliefs about social justice as theology. Parker, Nakashima Brock, and Welch gave me permission to see the Sacred in my own life experiences as well as sacred texts. All four taught me to seek the Divine in connection and equality with others. I have carried their words into my ministry and worship, attempting to include and learn from multiple voices (whether a Sunday service, earth-centered ritual, or funeral service).
Having spent 3 years as a hospital chaplain (2-year residency and 1 year as a registry chaplain), I am very comfortable with theological diversity, whether in other faith traditions or within our own. If individuals with different theologies are threatened by this difference, I attempt to listen in order to understand what lies under their concerns. If they are my congregants, I will use this understanding to help them become more comfortable with the difference and themselves. It is not the different theologies that are the problem-- it is how we hold them that can become the problem.
On My Bookshelf (Or in My Earbuds)
One of the greatest gifts my mother gave to me as a child was her love of books. I have made an electronic list of the important books on my bookshelf, in my electronic reader, and/or playing in my earbuds. These books have significantly influenced my ministerial formation.
You will find my list of religious enrichment books below. For significant books on subjects other than religious enrichment, please go to my Bookshelf.
You will find my list of religious enrichment books below. For significant books on subjects other than religious enrichment, please go to my Bookshelf.
- Bernhard, Toni, How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow
- Brown, Brene, Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone
- ---, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
- ---, Rising Strong: The Reckoning, the Rumble, the Revolution
- Chodron, Pema, Awakening Compassion: Meditation Practice for Difficult Times
- ---, Awakening Love: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Limitless Heart
- ---, Coming Closer to Ourselves: Making Everything the Path of Awakening
- ---, Getting Unstuck: Breaking Your Habitual Patterns and Encountering a Naked Reality
- ---, The Truth of Our Existence: Four Teachings from the Buddha to Illuminate Your Life
- ---, Unconditional Confidence
- ---, Walking the Walk: Putting the Teachings into Practice When It Matters Most
- Dweck, Carol, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
- Gilbert, Elizabeth, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
- Gottschall, Jonathan, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human
- Green, Ross W., The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
- Hoff, Benjamin, The Tao of Pooh
- Lamott, Anne, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
- Lonsdale, Akasha, Do I Kneel or Do I Bow: What You Need to Know When Attending Religious Ceremonies
- Martin, James, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life
- Palmer, Parker, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life
- Patton, Sally, Don’t Fix Me, I’m Not Broken: Changing Our Minds About Ourselves and Our Children
- Prothero, Stephen, God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions that Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter
- Taylor, Barbara Brown, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith
- ---, Learning to Walk in the Dark: Because Sometimes God Shows Up at Night
- Tippett, Krista, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living
- ---, Speaking of Faith
- Wilbur, Ken, Integral Meditation: Mindfulness as a Way to Grow Up, Wake Up and Show Up in Your Life