Unitarian & Universalism

We feel the need to explain a little about the words "Unitarian" & "Universalism". Dictionary.com states that:

Unitarian:

A person who maintains that God is one being, rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity.

and

Universalism:

The doctrine of universal salvation.

We also believe in Apocatastasis:

The doctrine that Satan and all sinners will ultimately be restored to God.

We hope this helps you!

Liturgical or Not?

Liturgical is defined as:

Li·tur·gi·cal /lɪˈtɜrdʒɪkəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[li-tur-ji-kuhl]

–adjective

1.	of or pertaining to formal public worship or liturgies.

2.	of or pertaining to the liturgy or Eucharistic service.

3.	of or pertaining to liturgics.

Also, li·tur·gic.

---

[Origin: 1635–45; <>lītūrgic(us) <>leitourgikós ministering (leitourg(ós) minister + -ikos -ic; see liturgy) + -al¹]

—Related forms

li·tur·gi·cal·ly, adverb

We do have a set Liturgy so , in my opinion, we are Liturgical. Some portions of the Liturgy may be skipped depending on the make up of the church, for example, if we have no children present for the Children's Ministry part of the Liturgy, it may be skipped.

Meeting Place

We have secured ,for the next 6 months, a permanent meeting place! It is located at 111 E. 1st Ave here in Monmouth, IL :) We still need to do some work there, but with God's help and willing hands we will finish soon. I hope you are as enthusiastic as I am and are willing to help in anyway you can!

Food Pantry, Free Store, and Soup Kitchen...Oh my!

Just as the title of this post implies, we are in the planning stages of creating these things. It will be a future endeavor as we don't have a permanent meeting place yet, but when we do these outreach programs will soon be implemented. These things will be designed to supplement area programs that may or may not be similar. As we have said before please leave your comments and/or questions and we will do our best to answer and/or address them!

Sexual Orientation

You may have noticed that we used "Sexual Orientation" as the title of this post. We feel that sexual orientation is a God given thing. We feel that the use of the phrase "sexual preference" is misleading. Why would one choose to be gay, lesbian, etc. In a hostile world why would one choose to stand out? We believe that the passages in The Bible saying that being alternative is sinful, but we point out that the detractors of gays, lesbians, etc forget to point out the other things The Bible condemns.

We know that there will be some who disagree with us, but we know that "true" Christians know that God loves us all. We are not asking for just tolerance, but acceptance. To those who would nay say we say unto you "Take the plank out your eye before you ask others to take the splinter from theirs".

Icons...To use or not?

Rev. Holloway would like to address the use of Icons. He sees them as food for the eyes as The Word is food for the ears. He feels that these are not idolotrious or sinful. In fact, He points to the use of stained glass windows or Christ on The Cross, which are widely used in many denominations. He is eager to hear what you have to say!

Religious Societies

Here is an example of what we mean:

• Merciful Breath - charity workers
• Order of Unity - administrators
• Society of Wisdom - active proselytes and educators
• Whisperers of Truth - contemplators

We require new names for the Societies, but you get the gist of what we mean. If you have any ideas or comments please feel free to leave a comment!

501 (c) 3

There has been some confusion on our tax situation, as it relates to our being 501 (c) 3, According to the IRS we are covered because we are a church. That being said we still have yet to officially apply for tax-exemption because at this time it is cost prohibitive.

RE Materials

We are searching for Unitarian & Universalist Christian religious education materials for all ages. It was suggested that we use a course called "Bible Workbench", but we cannot find a cheap copy. If you know of any other suitable materials please let us know!

Bibles

The translations of The Bible we use are the NLT or the NIV. You can use either one, but Rev. Holloway uses NIV just so you know so there won't be much confusion.

Welcome!

This Blog is intended to keep members, both prospective and current, up to date on the goings on in the minds of The Sacred Way Fellowship leaders. Here we will post various things, such as thoughts and feelings. We hope this Blog will be informative and even educational to you. Again, Welcome!