Unitarian Universalists of Sterling

We Are a Gentle Angry People

“We are a gentle angry people, and we are singing, we are singing for our lives. We are a justice seeking people, and we are singing, we are singing for our lives …”

Holly Near, a singer and songwriter from California, wrote these lyrics in response to a tragedy of injustice – the murder of Harvey Milk, a gay member of San Francisco’s city council. In 1992, her song was arranged and copy-written for the Unitarian Universalist hymnal by our Association. I love to sing the hymn; it asks me to respond whole-heartedly to our world’s ills and injustices. Indeed, I have sung it before while marching to a worship service on Martin Luther King Day, and I have hummed it to myself while marching for Immigrant rights.

What We Believe

At a recent Unitarian Universalist conference, I attended a seminar on UU Evangelism. I attend these seminars because, like many UUs, I see that we have a wonderful faith tradition that's worth sharing, and I want to find ways to inspire others to find out more about us.

Unfortunately, I often find myself frustrated by such exercises, and, for the first time, I was able to put my finger on why. The UU approach to evangelism, simply put, consists of convincing others to have a conversation about what Unitarian Universalists believe, but then having little specific to say on the topic.

Here is an apocryphal (from the Greek apo, meaning “totally” and cryphal, meaning “made up”) transcript paraphrasing various conversations I've had with friends and colleagues about Unitarian Universalism: