Finding a UU congregation in PA
My wife is a "recovering" Christian with a new acceptance of the validity of other paths!
Does she want to explore Christianity from this new perspective? There is an organization called UU Christian Fellowship, which will be holding a Revival near D.C. March 22-25. I highly recommend the organization and the Revival.
http://www.uuchristian.org
The local UU church is for all intents and purposes a Christian church. It is VERY apparent that any discussion or pursuit of poly, pagan or other alternative path knowledge/spirituality is largely frowned upon in that church!!!
I am confused. Are you talking about the UUs of Gettysburg congregation? They have a Pagan interest group called Spiral Paths CUUPS, as well as a Buddhist meditation group. Have you talked with anyone in Spiral Paths CUUPS?
http://www.uugettysburg.org/othergroups.htm
The Unitarian Church of Harrisburg also has a Pagan group, called Clover Grove:
http://www.harrisburguu.org/Lay-Led/clovergrove.asp
The UU Congregation of Frederick MD has both a Pagan group, called CUUPS, and a UU Christian Fellowship group.
http://www.frederickuu.org/home/index.php
We are also considering approaching a poly relationship which compounds the problem we face!
I encourage you to make an appointment with the Gettysburg minister. Tell her all your various interests and your concerns about acceptance, and ask which congregations she recommends you visit to look for a good fit. It seems she gets around to a lot of churches in the region, so there's a strong chance she'll have valuable info for you.
Worried about mentioning polyamory to a minister? Don't be. UU ministers have heard of polyamory. They don't all agree about what to do with it, but at least they've heard of it.
If you need to, you can say that Jasmine from UUPA recommended that you speak with her, or with any UU minister for that matter. And you can print this message and show it to the minister you speak with.
It appears there are UUPA contacts "relatively" local (withing 100-150 miles) but no listing of UU churches that we might be a better "fit" with due to our interests. Does anyone know of a list that specifies a range of interests covered in each church? !
Not exactly, but sort of. Visit the congregation search page on the UUA website and check the box that says:
"Show only congregations that have taken part in the UUA Welcoming Congregation Program to become more inclusive toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people."
The congregation search page is here:
http://uua.org/directory/congregations/index.php
"Welcoming Congregation" does not include polyamory. However, congregations that are recognized as Welcoming Congregations have completed an inclusion curriculum that can be helpful when it comes to talking and thinking about polyamory.
This search page shows 14 UU congregations within 50 miles of Gettysburg, 11 of which are Welcoming Congregations.
Harrisburg and Frederick are both Welcoming Congregations,
Jasmine