4 ms·

With the caveat that fellowships vary significantly between one another, most of the ones I've gone to follow the pattern of: show up, prepare some coffee/ligh

With the caveat that fellowships vary significantly between one another, most of the ones I've gone to follow the pattern of: show up, prepare some coffee/light snacks, as soon as a critical mass of folks have arrived, sing a short welcoming hymn, brief discussion of happenings since the last meeting (ie, which scholarship got the most votes to support last time, so that's the one we'll fund, etc), main service, usually someone giving a talk about some aspect of what they've done (ie, my father was a diplomat focused on human rights, he would talk about a few select issues, and how things did or did not work out) discussion following the presentation, with a focus on the morality aspects (it is a church meeting, after all) passing of the hat to fund stuff like scholarships & pay the minimal expenses that come with meetings closing hymn, everyone says goodbye with a smile. So it's a lot like a nominal Christian service you'd find in a lot of churches across the US, with the difference being that the actual God part of the discussion is greatly minimized, and the social aspect emphasized. I genuinely enjoy going.

BurningFrog 8y ago
Thanks!
humanrebar 8y ago
> ...with the difference being that the actual God part of the discussion is greatly minimized... With all due respect, the main focus of a Christian worship service is "the actual God part", so removing the content creates an entirely different thing altogether. It's also worth noting that the Christian content... actual belief in the teachings of the Bible, does reinforce certain aspects of church that might be essential to long-term (millennia) health of that form of spiritualism. Perhaps some of: mandatory evangelism, canonized moral codes, commandments to humility, recognition that humanity is ultimately flawed, belief in perfect justice in eternity (reduces the need to enforce certain norms), and the list goes on.
- Baeocystin 8y ago
  >With all due respect, the main focus of a Christian worship service is "the actual God part", so removing the content creates an entirely different thing altogether. 99.x% of Christian services are morality instructions, which one is free to ponder regardless of any particular belief one might hold. The why of it in a traditional Christian service is 'God'. That's where many Unitarians (and myself) veer from older religious institutions. But I'm still happy to talk about morality with a regular Christian, in the the same way I'll talk about it with anyone else who has an interest in such things.

BurningFrog 8y ago

Thanks!

humanrebar 8y ago

> ...with the difference being that the actual God part of the discussion is greatly minimized... With all due respect, the main focus of a Christian worship service is "the actual God part", so removing the content creates an entirely different thing altogether. It's also worth noting that the Christian content... actual belief in the teachings of the Bible, does reinforce certain aspects of church that might be essential to long-term (millennia) health of that form of spiritualism. Perhaps some of: mandatory evangelism, canonized moral codes, commandments to humility, recognition that humanity is ultimately flawed, belief in perfect justice in eternity (reduces the need to enforce certain norms), and the list goes on.

Baeocystin 8y ago
>With all due respect, the main focus of a Christian worship service is "the actual God part", so removing the content creates an entirely different thing altogether. 99.x% of Christian services are morality instructions, which one is free to ponder regardless of any particular belief one might hold. The why of it in a traditional Christian service is 'God'. That's where many Unitarians (and myself) veer from older religious institutions. But I'm still happy to talk about morality with a regular Christian, in the the same way I'll talk about it with anyone else who has an interest in such things.