Each month, a member of the board will share a reflection on the Soul Matters monthly theme and the state of the church. The theme for March is Renewing Faith. This month’s post is offered by Brian Zais.
I have a not-entirely-undeserved reputation for being long winded. My work colleagues have both complained (“Just get to the point, Brian!”) and praised (“I know when I read it, I’ll get all of the information I need”) the length of my e-mails. I tend to follow the Aaron Sorkin school of expression: why use 10 words when 25 will do? Using too few words just leaves the opportunity to be misunderstood.
I think this is common for UUs. We’re a thinking church, after all, a group that doesn’t just follow some mindless rote dogma thrust upon us by someone over in southern Europe. We get to think for ourselves! And, boy, are we into nuance. We live in complicated times. While polarizing sound bites may be the norm of our political world, we thinkers know that issues aren’t black and white. We need to understand and describe the context of the situation, the ramifications, and the benefits and drawbacks of our thoughts and actions. Continue reading →