Why Church?

Last December, when my good friend Cara told me about the Unitarian Universalist church she and her family had begun to attend here in Chicago, I had an immediate reaction; that is, I knew we had to go check it out.

This may seem unusual, given that I hadn't been actively seeking a church at all. It had not even been a topic of conversation around here. In fact, my husband will be the first to tell you that he is an atheist who has absolutely no experience with church. I would tell you that I am a humanist who had a wonderful experience as a teenager with a very progressive Congregational church which had an enormous impact on my belief system and therefore my life. But I'd never found another place quite like the church of my childhood, and, frankly, I had stopped searching. I was busy with other things.

I didn't even recognize that something was lacking in my life until the moment I heard Cara describing this place. Before walking in the door, I already knew it was a missing piece. I couldn't wait to get there. And my intuition was right: it was exactly what we needed.

So I've been wanting to describe to all of you out there exactly why we headed down this path. Why church?, when, heck, let's face it, Sunday mornings were a nice time to relax in our pajamas and have some down time together, and we wouldn't have even said we believe in God had you asked us.

I have been mulling over this topic for quite a while now, but haven't been sure exactly how to write about it because there is so much to say. So I've decided today that I will tackle it in parts.

Part One is forthcoming.