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PRINCIPLES AND PURPOSESOur local UU church formed in 1909. In 1962 it moved from 11th and Ferry to its current location on three acres of an oak forest in the south hills of Eugene, Mission Statement We, the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, are a compassionate, welcoming community that promotes spiritual growth, ethical living, and social justice in our church and in the world. Unitarian Universalist Association
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Small as is our whole system compared with the infinitude of creation, brief as is our life compared with the cycles of time, we are so tethered to all by the beautiful dependencies of law that not only the sparrow's fall is felt to the uttermost bound but the vibrations set in motion by the words that we utter reach through all space and the tremor is felt through all time. Ritual opens human life to ‘marked time’ - the sacred times of special seasons, events, and relationships. Our differences expand what we can perceive; our differences make more options available to each of us. Let's celebrate those differences. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has. "When the kings had died, a pauper, barefooted and hungry, came and sat on the throne. "God," he whispered, "the eyes of man cannot bear to look directly at the sun, for they are blinded. How then, Omnipotent, can they look directly at you? Have pity, Lord; temper your strength, turn down your splendor so that I, who am poor and afflicted, may see you!" Then--listen, old man!--God became a piece of bread, a cup of cool water, a warm tunic, a hut, and, in front of the hut, a woman giving suck to an infant. "Thank you, Lord," he whispered. "You humbled yourself for my sake. You became bread, water, a warm tunic, my wife and son in order that I may see you. And I did see you. I bow down and worship your beloved many-faced face!" ~ Nikos Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ Make of yourself a light. Unitarian Universalists believe personal experience, conscience, and reason should be the final authorities in religion. There is no creed with which you must agree. Religious insight may come from a book, a person, or an institution, but religious authority does not. Religious authority is within ourselves. Religious insights are tested in our individual hearts and minds. It is a free faith. I think that one of our most important tasks as Unitarians is to convince ourselves and others that there is nothing to fear in difference; that difference, in fact, is one of the healthiest and most invigorating of human characteristics, without which life would become lifeless. Here lies the power of the liberal way—not in making the whole world Unitarian; but in helping ourselves and others to see some of the possibilities inherent in viewpoints other than one's own; in encouraging the free interchange of ideas; in welcoming fresh approaches to the problems of life; in urging the fullest, most vigorous use of critical self-examination. Thus we can learn to grow together, to unite in our common search for the truth beneath a better and a happier world. ~ Adlai Stevenson U, U, & UU Anti-Racism Timeline |
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Oregon.