To all those who desire to unite as Unitarian Christians
It is with great humility, but also with great excitement and hope, that we announce the establishment of the UNITARIAN CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF AMERICA (UCCA).
Our new web site is found at: Unitarian Christian Church of America
Click here for our Facebook page
You are invited to make note of this information and to share it with others.
We are now accepting new Members. Please, see our Membership page on our web site for further information.
The UCCA is established around the general beliefs of modern Unitarian Christianity as reflected within our “UCCA Platform”.
This church might correctly be viewed as part of the current Progressive Christian movement, and we believe that it is a New Concept Christian Church whose time has come.
We are an open and welcoming Church.
We are extending a hand of fellowship to all who find favor with our liberal Christian “Platform” and who seek to join with us in our work to unite as a Unitarian Christian Community.
Our objective is to establish Unitarian Christianity as a religious denomination for contemporary people and for the future.
We invoke God’s Blessings for us all as we embark together on this spiritual journey.
Rev. Dr. Shannon Rogers, DDiv, President, Sr. Pastor, UCCA
UCCA.President@yahoo.com
Rev. Ronald Lloyd Ryan, DA., Ph.D.,
Director of Education, General Programs and Services, UCCA
execontrol@gmail.com
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WHAT IS PRAYER?
Someone has recently asked me the question. I replied, maybe rather glibly, “Prayer is (a) An attempt to make God feel well-disposed toward you so that (b) you can appeal to God to change the laws of Nature just for you.”
My questioner did not like my response.
Was I wrong?
Let me ask YOU the question: What is Prayer, in your opinion?
Actually, most Unitarian Christians do not believe that prayer is what I have stated above. But, before I will give you MY perception of prayer, I am soliciting other perspectives.
In other words, what is happening when you engage in what we might call “traditional forms of prayer”?
Unitarian Christians tend believe that we should be mindful in our spiritual practice, not engage in ritualized behaviours simply because it is what we have always done.
I don’t agree with your response to the reason for prayer or showing what it is.
From reading the bible and using prayer as a way of talking to God, this is what prayer is:
Prayer, at its simplest form, is communicating with God (I constantly hear people saying they were ‘talking’ with God and this shows that prayer is simply a means of ‘talking’ with our creator). I would simply think of this as talking to a friend or father who has unlimited ability to do anything and wants you to mess up the perfect design of the world he has made. The question now is, if we see prayer as communicating with God, in what ways can prayer be used?
Prayer can be used as a way to worship God, a way to ask for his provision (for what we need or want), or even as a way to talk to God as a friend (or father). When Jesus taught his followers to pray he said: (this recitement is a whole lot of different translations put together so it might not be word for word sry) Our Father who lives in heaven, hallowed (greatly revered and honoured) is your name, your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us today what we need, and forgive us of our sins as we forgive people who have sinned against us lead us not into temptation and deliver us form evil, for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever, amen.
In this example of prayer we see that:
– Prayer is a way of honouring God (hallowed be your name)
– Prayer is a way of asking for our needs (give us this day what we need)
– Prayer is a way of asking for guidance and protection (lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil)
– Prayer is a way of acknowledging the power of God (for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and forever)
– Prayer is a way of asking for forgiveness and acknowledging that we will also forgive others (forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us)
– Though not seen in this prayer it is also seen throughout the bible that prayer can be a way of telling God our worries (be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God)
This is my approach to prayer. If you cant see I take a very literal stance on the bible (yeah, I believe that it is very likely that a literal snake convinced eve to eat the fruit; would it be too unusual if you husband was asked to name all the animals and you walked with God in a garden each evening?). I see you called yourself a Unitarian Christian Ron Ryan, I don’t have a denomination that I belong to (I think my church is Protestant but I don’t know…)(I wish there wasn’t such thing as a denomination). I believe that the bible is Gods word fully and as Paul said “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
Thanks for reading this (really) long answer I hope it gives you some insight on what I think prayer is. (I would say ‘know here but I don’t want to seem arrogant because really I don’t want to be seen as that…) prayer is a way to communicate with God our Father.