*Unitarian Universalism is both old and young. 2001-06-02 9:06 p.m.*

reading the uu pocket guide makes me say yes yes and yes. so right, so what i think i've always believed. i want to make my mom read it and send copies to my grandparents so that they won't be so afraid of it.

i went through my england box today, like i said earlier, and i found all the pamphlets i got from the whitby quaker service, and all the orders of worship from the cambridge unitarian church. and the column rev. andrew james brown wrote for the christmas issue of the regional unitarian newsletter, about how everyone is a christ. i had my mom read them and she really enjoyed them.

that whitby service was so funny. i'd had a cold for a few days, but i was feeling better. i wanted to buy some kleenex nonetheless, but the service started at the same time as the grocery store would open. so i hoped my nose would be okay and went in. the heat from the room immediately made my nose run. i tried so hard not to sniffle, because since it was a quaker service, it was silent worship. i was wiping my nose on my coat (which was so frayed on the ends that you can see black threads from the sleeves in all my whitby photos) and trying to concentrate on higher things than my nose. but by the end i was incredibly embarrassed. at the end, i met the members of the congregation (6 or 7 people) and the woman who had been sitting next to me said, "i felt so bad. it sounded like you were suffering so, and i wished i had a tissue to give you. if it won't embarass you to much i can go to the toilet and get you some toilet tissue." she was sooo sweet. everyone there was so wonderful.

and this makes me think of my first service at the unitarian church. my friend clare and i met at a buddhist-type meditation center. it was funny because she, this other girl tanya, and i were all there because we were new to the cambridge area and wanted to meet people. it was very fortuitous because we were all the same age and all that good stuff. we got together afterwards for coffee, and talked and talked, and we got together a few times afterwards for sleepovers and stuff. clare and i continued to go to the center every week, but eventually it got moved to a time where i'd have to miss my bus to go to the class. so she offered to let me spend the night and i'd take the bus home the next day. so, we did that, but the center got weirder and weirder for us and we stopped going, but we're both very interested in spiritual things, so i'd keep her updated on courses and stuff i read about. i found a pamphlet about the interfaith group of the area going to a unitarian service that sunday, so i asked if she wanted to go. she didn't know what unitarian was, but we decided to go. so, we met at the bus station, and went around the corner and stood staring at the church. andrew james brown (the ex-jazz musician with the fabulous name that i always have to say all three parts of) was out in front shaking hands with people, seeming very friendly, but clare was terrified. she hadn't been to a church in a long time and what if what if what if. she decided she wasn't going to go, and then decided she was going to go, and we marched toward the church. and there he was, with his cut finger all bandaged up, shaking everyone's hand with 3 fingers and how could anyone be scared of that man. and we went in, and the service was a bit too churchy for my taste, but just right for hers, and we decided we would go back again. we talked to members at coffee, and to the minister, and felt awfully awkward and young, but welcomed at the same time.

i miss him a lot. he kept promising to email me while i was over there, but people do get busy and i haven't heard from him since the last service i was at. we had some outside of church meetings as well, starting at indigo, my favorite little coffeehouse in england. he's a wonderful man and great to talk to, and i think i'll email him now and see how he is.

*listening to: *
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