Why Connect With A United Church?

We have a mature sense of intellectual and spiritual freedom

We honour of both inner and outer spiritual work in discovering who we are and use inclusive language in our liturgy and hymns used to express these things.

No one tells you how to live your life or what to believe

In fact, we rarely use the word “belief.” Instead, we say, “Get curious about who you are and who God is. Go beyond mental assent to the actual experience of the Divine, the experience of the I AM!” The Divine is experienced in working for others and in digging deeply into our own interiority.

We have no categories for distinguishing people

Whether by sexual orientation, marital status, prior religious tradition, or political leanings. Like Jesus, we would no more single out those things than we would skin colour, credit score, or blood type. No matter who you are or where you are on your journey, you are family here!

There are no judgments, no assumptions, no fear, no hard sell

The whole idea of the incarnational faith of Jesus is that God is well aware of what it’s like to be human! There is simply a deep breathing into the presence of God, or at least that’s what we practice.

We’re not averse to a bit of uncertainty

We know that life is a mystery, and so we can handle a degree of disorder and ambiguity in life. We can absorb change in our personal and corporate beliefs as they integrate findings from social and physical sciences.

We’re a relatively small congregation (about 300 members and friends)

People know each other’s names and honour each other’s giftedness. If you’re willing, although we never push, we put your gifts in play quickly. Connecting with us is a journey into the mystery of God, with the life and teachings of Jesus as a map.

We take the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures very seriously

This is true especially for the poetic words of the Hebrew prophets and radical teachings of Jesus, but we dip into the spiritual poetry of other faiths on occasion. The poems of Mary Oliver, Rumi, Walt Whitman, and the late Leonard Cohen have stirred our spirits, too!

“Let’s stop reading about God—we will never understand Him. Jump to your feet, wave your fists, threaten and warn the whole Universe that your heart can no longer live without Real Love!”
– Hafiz/Daniel Ladinsky

Sherwood Park United Church

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