Visit to the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa

  I heard the Minister of the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa speak for 2 minutes at an ecumenical meeting last year and I liked what I heard. That's when I read a bit about the history of the Unitarians and Universalists in North America and planed the visit with the small group. This report speaks about the series of visits of our small group from the Ottawa Mennonite Church called  "Getting to Know Our Neighbour's Faith".
   One thing that first caught my attention when I heard Kye speak last year was the fact that they didn't have a statement of faith. Also around the end of 2012 I got to know another person from the congregation that was at the "founding" meeting of the Ottawa Network of Spiritual Progressives. We had a very interesting conversation. She told me that she was an ex-Hindu who went to a Catholic school. And she is a lesbian. She converted to Christianity within the Unitarian Universalists. One of the most important aspects of a faith community for her was the fact that she can count on them with practical help when in need, regardless of the faith they might profess.
  I was anxious to meet he Unitarians to know their history and understand how they relate to the various labels of religion. Their temple has a beautiful architecture with big glassed windows viewing the Ottawa river. Their afternoon service was warm and informal. It was a group of about 40 people. The small sermons were given by three young people. (I liked the way they dressed. Some details in some looked "counter-cultural"... these small details matter!) They seemed knowledgeable, thoughtful and authentic. Each preacher spoke a bit about their 'heroes'. Kye spoke about the "Justice League", a network of amazing women who are activists.
  The conversation after the service was the most interesting part. It so happens that they too were interested in knowing more about Mennonites. I knew that was going to happen! We agreed that each one in the table would say some words about what drew him/her to his/her faith tradition.
  One of the ministers said that she was raised a Methodist but she decided to "clear it all" and "restart". She then did some meditation and Yoga as part of an 'experimentalist phase'.  And today she considers herself an agnostic. That's very interesting! An agnostic pastor!
 We heard from a former Catholic. He was trained for many years in seminary in the United States. I was encouraged to hear his story of political activism in the streets of Washington! He was there in basements being trained (his own words) by Quakers and others. He and others rejected military drafts as conscientious objectors during the Vietnam war. I thought to myself 'this man has more history of active peacemaking than all Mennonites together in this table'! He said that at one point he was at a birthday party and said he was a Unitarian and the other person replied: "I know you guys. You are a bunch of atheists who happen to go to church". He said he wasn't very happy to hear that at first, but then thinking about it he said "yes, you are right"...
  We heard from a retired Unitarian Minister who was a pioneer in Alberta. He was a Minister with the United Church of Canada. But then he came to the conclusion that he could not anymore accept the Basis of Union doctrine statements and maintain his integrity (in his own words). He then wrote a letter to colleagues and was questioned. They told him to "get his act together". And he replied something like "I don't want to and I cannot get my act together". He then left Ministry there and went on to teach English for many years. From what I understood he was also the president of a Canadian Humanist association for some time.
  I learned that the Unitarian Universalists intentionally don't have a faith statement. They leave to the individuals to follow their own paths. They do have some written principles that hold them together.
  I was really glad to learn about the group and their history. And I'll leave my comments at that.
  This is their web site: http://www.firstunitarianottawa.ca/ .
  We sang a nice song at the end of the service called "Woyaya".




We are going
Heaven knows where we are going
We will know we're there
We will get there
Heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will
It will be hard we know
And the road will be muddy and rough
But we'll get there
Heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will
We are going
Heaven knows where we are going
We will know we're there