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Janis Shinn

4/7/2019

 
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I am a UU because of the seven principles. The responsibility to be a good person isn’t in any book or any doctrine but in me. All of the principles are relevant but there is one principle that really spoke to me and it was the 4th principle which states: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Like many here, my journey began with another religious upbringing. I was raised in the Presbyterian faith. My dad was an elder. My mom sang in the choir and taught adult RE. When I was in high school, I taught Sunday school for 8-10 year olds. I continued going to the Presbyterian church when I came to CMU. There always seemed to be something missing. The sermons based on the Bible never connected with me. 

I often questioned things. While the questions were probably frustrating for the ministers, their answers drove me up the wall. I would push for clarification until finally their solution to end the conversation was to say “because.” I was supposed to be satisfied with that. I was to trust that God knew what was best–good things happen by the will of God as well as bad things. And that was that. Gradually, I quit going.

I first attended the UU services when they met every other Sunday at the Italian Oven. I was hooked. In the movie Small Foot, there is a song titled Wonderful Life that sums it up for me, especially one lyric. It goes like this, “Find the lessons there is to learn and dig deeper. Feed your intuition. Don’t leave any stone unturned. Be the seeker of the truth.” UU allows me–expects me–to be the seeker.

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    Stewardship
    Testimonials

    These members have shared the reasons they chose to become members and to make a financial pledge of support to UUFCM.

    2022
    Jodi Fisher
    Jim Moreno
    Gisela Moffit
    Matt Emerick

    2021
    ​Jim Dealing
    Laura McBride
    Jessica Jernigan
    Karen Turnbull


    2019
    ​Janis Shinn
    Tom Moffit
    Candi Tomlinson

    2018
    Kevin Daum
    Katie Zapoluch
    Brigitte Bechtold
    Susan Paton
    Norma Bailey

    2017
    ​Gisela Moffit
    Steven Lifson
    Anna VanArsdaleHoot

    2016
    Don Rust
    ​Victoria Sladek

    Laura Frey
    Vicki Chessin
    Carol Rard
    ​

    2015
    Jim Dealing
    Jen Prout
    Capalene Howse
    Annette Pratt
    Janis Shinn
    David Macleod
    Cynthia Damer

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Sunday Mornings at 10:30 a.m.
Upcoming Services:
February 5: Coming to Terms
February 12: Growing into Our Future


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