Minister's Musing

Rev. Mark Ward
Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville

September 2008

It’s a criticism that stings even from our earliest days: “would you grow up!” Usually it comes when we’re acting out or making a rude remark. We often take it to mean that we are to stop playing around, to get serious and be responsible: in short, to act like an adult.

But what does it mean to be an adult? Certainly it means treating others with respect and care and taking responsibility for ourselves. But it doesn’t mean that we stop being playful or having fun. It means learning to live with ambiguity, grief and loss, but it also means cultivating an awareness of beauty and a capacity for wonder.

There is a similar dynamic in the religious or spiritual dimension of our lives. There are child-like ways of engaging that part of ourselves, ways centered in happy stories and glib formulas that are never examined or thought through, ways that place all confidence in an authority figure or can’t handle disagreement or doubt. Child-like faith is fragile, rigid and unreflective.

Lest we forget, though: child-like faith can be found anywhere. I have seen Unitarian Universalists lampoon those of other faith traditions as child-like, yet I have experienced my share of UUs whose faith is rigid and unreflective, and men and women of other traditions who I consider profoundly mature and well-centered. Part of spiritual maturity is learning to see outside of our own box and appreciate others, while being clear on who we are.

And that’s what I hope to spend some time reflecting on with you in the coming church year. For while spiritual maturity is something that every person of faith must struggle with, I believe that it has a particular meaning and particular context for us, and if we are to grow as people and as a movement we must come to terms with what that is. I look forward to exploring this with you in the months ahead.