A story for the hard of head and heart...

Once upon a time there was a church. It was no ordinary church. It was a very special church. You see, this church was a Unitarian Universalist church. What made this church special was that it was different than all of the “other” churches in the kingdom of Edmonia. Actually, that’s not all that made this church special but, we’ll get to that later.

Now, this church was called Channing. And it was known far and wide as the church of the “Open Mind and Open Heart,” which was a way different way of defining yourself. You see, all of the “other” churches in the kingdom of Edmonia agreed with the “Open Heart” bit of Channing’s definition, but they just couldn’t quite understand the “Open Mind" thing. They wondered what that meant… “Open Mind.” Did it mean opening your head to the glorious blessings of God? Did it mean being open to accepting Jesus as your personal savior? Or did it mean (gasp!) being open and accepting of all beliefs, and semi-beliefs and, non- beliefs and, well,… ALL.

That would be absurd…unheard of… a complete transgression of what is acceptable!!! (Transgression, here, means to go off the accepted, or normal, path. It’s kind of like a sin, which means wrong.)

Well, the “other” churches of Edmonia wondered about the church of Channing. They wondered if Channing was really a church and if Channing was abiding by the rules of worship. After all, didn’t worship mean devotion to their God?

Meanwhile, the church of Channing was slowly growing. Channing church kept to their policy of “Open Heart and Open Mind.” They continued to worship in their own way. And worship, here, means to glorify, magnify, revere, and respect, (P.S. remember the respect part ‘cause it’s important).

One day, at the Council of the Oklahomancia Countytatrifica meeting, which is the big gathering of churches of the kingdom of Edmonia, old Zell Miller, who was a hypocritical, self- proclaimed, false-righteous, God-fearing, republicanithropuss, spitball, Bushy-tailed, tongue-wagging, know-it-all, head-up-his-butt, sorry sort, commanding-word dude, and an elder of the “other” churches stood up and bellowed, “What is the meaning of this Channing? Why do they continue? We are not at all in agreement with their open mindedness. We don’t know what it means!!! If we let them exist, I am sure all manner of depravity will creep upon us like a parasitic mistletoe!!!”

(Okay, let’s pause here for explanation. Depravity: not good. Parasitic mistletoe: not good, though desired for kissing at Christmas.)

One by one, the “other” churches of Edmonia stood up in defiance of Channing. And the only thing they objected to was that Channing had an open mind policy. They just couldn’t understand how you could worship with an “Open Mind.”

Things really started to heat up at the Council of the Oklahomancia Countytatrifica .

And then there was one small, lone voice…
“I believe…
that all people are important.
I believe that all people are deserving of love and fairness.
I believe that we are no different from each other and that your search for meaning is just
as important as mine.
I believe in searching with a kind heart…knowing that my search may affect others.
I believe in individual people having their own opinions and beliefs and that listenening to each other is important.
I believe in working for a world community, beyond what we can see, so that we all may share this planet without hate or fear.
I believe that we should respect all life… yours and mine…whoever you are…wherever you may live in this wonderful world. We are family.

God is too big for one box."

Everyone attending the Council of the Oklahomancia Countytatrifica fell silent. The elders of the “other” churches felt something close to shame. How could they argue with this? They didn’t understand how Channing could call what they did worship, but what this quiet voice said was very close to worship in an odd sort of way. This quiet voice coming from the Channing delegation connected the world community in love. The “other” churches felt the presence of what they knew as God. They felt the spirit move them.

And, you know, it was really a strange thing. This meeting affected everyone present. Not only did the “other” churches start to question themselves, but even old Zell Miller, the hypocritical, self- proclaimed, false-righteous, God-fearing, republicanithropuss, spitball, Bushy-tailed, tongue-wagging, know-it-all, head-up-his-butt, sorry sort, commanding-word dude was affected by this lone Channing voice.

The result of the Council of the Oklahomancia Countytatrifica?

Well, that’s easy.

In the dictionary, worship is defined as: reverent love and devotion of a god, idol, or sacred object. (The dictionary doesn’t define a specific god, idol, or sacred object.)

The church of Channing, with one lone voice, had shown that there could be no greater worship than love of each other in all of our glorious diversity.

We, together, are sacred.

May we all, one day, truly love and respect each other with divine devotion.


~ Amen…Shalom…Namaste…and, Blessed Be ~