Get Back Up! Come Back to Life! Rise Again!
Get Back Up! Come Back to Life! Rise Again!
by LaVerne Coan
2009 UUCF Revival: Renewing the Spirit of Jesus
Quick! Can you recall a landmark event in your life? Not one of the “rites of passage” like
graduation or marriage, but an event that unexpectedly enveloped you and shifted your
perspective in a fundamental way? How about a spiritual epiphany? I’ve had one or two. Sitting
in a Catholic Mass in my 30’s and realizing that I didn’t believe most of what the priest and the
church were saying. Attending a DeColores Ministeries renewal weekend and finding that the
world had richer colors, new depth, more soul than I had ever before imagined.
Then came the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship 2009 Revival. I immersed myself in
worship services that had not been part of my spiritual life since I became a UU in 2006. The
rousing, joyous emotion of a Pentecostal praise fest; the flowing, floating sensation of the Taizé
music and readings; the intense meditation and prayer of healing intentions; communion in
bread and wine with fellow worshipers; the quiet calm of Compline, the last prayer of the day,
asking for God to “keep us safe” through the dark night. Through the freak snowstorm. Through
the pounding rain and thunder.
In small groups, I explored how I might “save Jesus” in this somewhat cynical and fundamentalist
world, shared prayers I had composed, learned about emergent churches, offered ideas to
others, soaked in ideas to support my Christian fellowship back home. At lunch, I heard a young
Methodist seminarian say he could not imagine a service that did not include Bible reading; I
could imagine scripture of every spiritual persuasion read and discussed.
That weekend, sermons stirred the blood and brain. Rev. Davis urged us to “Righteous
Usefulness”, for faith without action is worthless, dead. Bishop Carlton Pearson retold his
wrenching story of faith saturated with The Devil, the monster just waiting for mistakes so that he
can drag you to Hell. Bishop Pearson asked the question we all ask, “Why?”, and God revealed
an answer so that we could all see that God is “so much bigger”, more loving, more forgiving,
than we humans give Him credit for. Other words from an aging Mary as she ponders her
beloved son’s life. Do you really, truly want to be healed? Or do the wounds you carry serve you
in some way?
That weekend I renewed my Baptismal vows, asked a minister to lay hands on me for healing,
prayed at the Cross for all oppressed people.
And music. Always music. Hymn singing after dinner with the original words from Protestant
hymnals and Catholic song books. Piano, flute, violin, organ, choirs, solos, singing, praising.
“Grounded euphoria”, someone explained. Oh, yes!
I am a Unitarian Universalist Christian. On March 28, 2009, I flew to Tulsa uncomfortable saying
that out loud or even in the quiet of my heart. Three days later, I said it. Out loud. And meant it.
With love and joy, I’m repeating it to anyone who will listen. Such was the power of the Spirit of
Revival.
LaVerne Coan is a member of Eno River UU Fellowship (ERUUF) of Durham, NC and a founding
member of the ERUUF Christian Fellowship. She currently blogs on her Revival and UU Christian
experiences at www.liftingthespirit.blogspot.com.
by LaVerne Coan
2009 UUCF Revival: Renewing the Spirit of Jesus
Quick! Can you recall a landmark event in your life? Not one of the “rites of passage” like
graduation or marriage, but an event that unexpectedly enveloped you and shifted your
perspective in a fundamental way? How about a spiritual epiphany? I’ve had one or two. Sitting
in a Catholic Mass in my 30’s and realizing that I didn’t believe most of what the priest and the
church were saying. Attending a DeColores Ministeries renewal weekend and finding that the
world had richer colors, new depth, more soul than I had ever before imagined.
Then came the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship 2009 Revival. I immersed myself in
worship services that had not been part of my spiritual life since I became a UU in 2006. The
rousing, joyous emotion of a Pentecostal praise fest; the flowing, floating sensation of the Taizé
music and readings; the intense meditation and prayer of healing intentions; communion in
bread and wine with fellow worshipers; the quiet calm of Compline, the last prayer of the day,
asking for God to “keep us safe” through the dark night. Through the freak snowstorm. Through
the pounding rain and thunder.
In small groups, I explored how I might “save Jesus” in this somewhat cynical and fundamentalist
world, shared prayers I had composed, learned about emergent churches, offered ideas to
others, soaked in ideas to support my Christian fellowship back home. At lunch, I heard a young
Methodist seminarian say he could not imagine a service that did not include Bible reading; I
could imagine scripture of every spiritual persuasion read and discussed.
That weekend, sermons stirred the blood and brain. Rev. Davis urged us to “Righteous
Usefulness”, for faith without action is worthless, dead. Bishop Carlton Pearson retold his
wrenching story of faith saturated with The Devil, the monster just waiting for mistakes so that he
can drag you to Hell. Bishop Pearson asked the question we all ask, “Why?”, and God revealed
an answer so that we could all see that God is “so much bigger”, more loving, more forgiving,
than we humans give Him credit for. Other words from an aging Mary as she ponders her
beloved son’s life. Do you really, truly want to be healed? Or do the wounds you carry serve you
in some way?
That weekend I renewed my Baptismal vows, asked a minister to lay hands on me for healing,
prayed at the Cross for all oppressed people.
And music. Always music. Hymn singing after dinner with the original words from Protestant
hymnals and Catholic song books. Piano, flute, violin, organ, choirs, solos, singing, praising.
“Grounded euphoria”, someone explained. Oh, yes!
I am a Unitarian Universalist Christian. On March 28, 2009, I flew to Tulsa uncomfortable saying
that out loud or even in the quiet of my heart. Three days later, I said it. Out loud. And meant it.
With love and joy, I’m repeating it to anyone who will listen. Such was the power of the Spirit of
Revival.
LaVerne Coan is a member of Eno River UU Fellowship (ERUUF) of Durham, NC and a founding
member of the ERUUF Christian Fellowship. She currently blogs on her Revival and UU Christian
experiences at www.liftingthespirit.blogspot.com.
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