Philocrites

At least the UU blogosphere is growing...

by Philocrites

Scott Wells has been keeping tabs on membership growth in the churches that make up the Unitarian Universalist Association. As of last night, 938 congregations reported a total (adult) membership of 150,447 — an increase of only 60. (That's 0.06 new members per congregation!) [Update 2.4.04: Final numbers: "With 955 congregations certified, with 152,017 members, the UUA grew by 97 members."] Make sure to read Scott's six observations. He's been a busy blogger lately, and also reports on some of the factors that are contributing to the vibrancy of All Souls Church in Washington, D.C., where my friend Rob Hardies is senior minister; he calls it "ordered exuberance." And, while I was unimpressed by the soundtrack of the UUA's radio ads, Scott really doesn't like it.

Elsewhere on the Unitarian Universalist blogs:

Stentor Danielson discovers Marxist alienation in iTunes:

If we spent hours and hours working on a mix and lost it, it would be a big blow to us, whereas we'd hardly care if we lost a WinAmp playlist we slapped together in a few minutes. It's like Sauron in The Lord of The Rings, who invested so much in the creation of the One Ring that when the Ring was destroyed, he was too.

And David Soliday has discovered "anomy":

This is a marvelously packed little word, with family ties to lawlessness, distribution and nimbleness. One must be nimble to handle breakdowns of standards and values, what to speak of the personal affects of a lack of purpose in one’s own life. One must distribute oneself wisely in such circumstances, what the old Chinese curse refers to as “interesting times.” The question is whether anomy is the demise of old standards, values, purpose or ideals, the labor pains of new ones, or both.

Will Shetterly has started designing bumper stickers and license-plate holders for his congregation. Richard Hurst's Universalist Sundays was the Shareware Junkies Hot Site of the Week two weeks ago. Hmm: religious blogs as shareware . . . Congratulations! Finally, Warren Thompson posts a great quote by Sidney J. Harris:

A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past, he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future.

I'll hold on to that one.

Copyright © 2004 by Philocrites | Posted 2 February 2004 at 5:12 PM

Previous: What? No Patriots theology watch?
Next: We interrupt this program...