Every individual is on a spiritual journey. For some, the journey is an exciting adventure; others barely acknowledge it.

Members of the Sedona Unitarian Universalist Fellowship respect each other’s journeys and beliefs. They want everyone to feel free to map that journey for themselves.

The routes they take may vary as much as human characteristics do. Some people’s journeys range widely—they may leave an orthodox faith and strike out to find a new direction. Others stay close to home—they find renewed inspiration by reinterpreting their traditional heritage.

Each person’s story has its own origins, dead ends, detours, smooth paving, and destination. Each moves at its own pace.

At every stage of life, new questions and responses arise. UU congregations try to provide stimulating and secure places where members can continue their individual quests.

For example, Marilyn Bolin (raised in Clarksville, Iowa) was brought up in a conventional church.  As an adolescent, she started questioning her beliefs. She decided that freedom to choose and honesty were the two values she held most dear.  She felt restrained from exercising those values within her family’s tradition, drifted away, and eventually left that fold completely.

After about a year, she felt a real void in her life.  She tried a UU Sunday morning service.  Here’s what she discovered:

“It was stimulating and exciting. I was warmly accepted and found people willing to share themselves. I never felt put down for my ideas and I went home feeling like a participant rather than an observer, and much more alive and aware. For the first time in my life, I discovered the need for community, and I found that need being met. I now feel I have a spiritual life that I am free to explore in my own way. I have found a church that fits me, rather than me fitting the church. I am home!”

June 7, 2024