sermon

I go to a Unitarian Universalist church, and today, we had a youth service.  Long story short, it involved me writing a sermon.  Here it is:

My family first came to this church at the suggestion of my younger brother.  Both of our best friends went, and I think at the time, my mother wanted us to have some religion in our lives.  It was a month into my freshman year of high school.  On my first day, I nervously approached the door to the youth group room after following someone’s directions, and sort of peered in before I entered.  I was glad and kind of surprised to see so many people from my school in the room, and it definitely helped that my best friend was there.  The meeting that day was a week before a con in Rochester, and I remember being very confused and slightly embarrassed when everybody was talking about it.  I didn’t know what a con was, and I was too afraid to ask.  To this day, it is very difficult for me to make new friends, and even talk to people I don’t know, and back then, I felt nearly paralyzed with fear.  Even though I was really scared, slightly uncomfortable, and didn’t actually say anything on that first day, I wanted to come back, and I did, for the next three years.

My first day might sound like it a negative experience, but it really wasn’t.  I think I sensed a camaraderie and openness among the kids in the youth group.  It was something I was attracted to, something I wanted to be a part of.  I’ve come to realize that I didn’t join the youth group solely for the religious aspect of Unitarian Universalism.  If I had, I think I would have just gone to service.  I joined the youth group so that I could feel like I was part of a community, so that I could feel like I had friends.  And I got what I came for.  I am a part of a community, and I do have friends.  But I also have a place that actually allowed me to think about and develop what I truly believe. And though I wasn’t intending to examine what exactly it is that I believe, youth group gave me a reason to do just that. 

I don’t know whether I will continue to go to a Unitarian Universalist church, but I’m glad that I spent my high school years here.  It provided me with what I needed at the time, which I can’t exactly verbalize.  It’s the feeling you get when you’re sitting in church during the Christmas Eve service, when the sanctuary is lit entirely by candles.  I think what I’m trying to describe might be love.