I’ve decided to answer all the personal questions–here goes!

Question: “When will you be ready to learn about Oregon’s Death with Dignity law and all the checks and balances required of a terminally ill, cognitively intact individual to make decisions for themselves at the end of their life?”

Answer: This is a “when will you stop beating your wife?” question.  The questioner seems miffed because I brought up some ethical concerns about the Death with Dignity movement in my previous e-news blog (8/21).  I am quite familiar with Oregon laws in this arena.  Moreover, I have had congregants who have made the choice to take their own lives through self-deliverance, and I have supported them totally.  And I have concerns.  It is my job as a minister to raise such concerns.  Others need not agree, but this is a significant subject matter that should be discussed freely and openly.  All opinions should be aired and considered.

Question: “Which writers and theologians and philosophers are personally most inspiring to you, both now and in you past spiritual development?”

Answer: This answer could fill a book, so let me limit it to three.  The theologian would be Paul Tillich; the philospher would be John Dewey; the writer would be William Shakespeare.

Question: “Beatles or Elvis?”

Answer: Elvis is the king.

Question: “They say that every minister has one key sermon theme–name yours.”

Answer: Redemption: that is, we can take whatever experience comes to us and “buy back” or redeem the good from it.

Question: “Have you (and how) ever trul felt the presence of a ‘greater power’ in your life?”

Answer: I do not feel what some people call the presence of God (a comforting or peaceful presence) when I pray.  I have, however, occasionally had moments when I felt that I was a part of all that exists, and that all was as it should be–a time of perfect peace and harmony.  And I have had two or three mystical experiences in which I felt so strongly led to go somewhere or to do something that I could not refuse.

Question: “What is your favorite hymn, and what meaning does it hold for you?”

Answer: “Amazing Grace”: “Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; ’tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

Question: “How has growing up in the Catholic and Southern Baptist traditions influenced you as a Unitarian Universalist minister?”

Answer: As a Catholic, I learned about beauty and sensuality in worship; I learned discipline in Catholic school; I learned that some people cared enough about their faith to give their lives in service (nuns and priests), givng up a personal, intimate life; I learned about beautiful Jesus and his message of sacrificial love. 

As a Southern Baptist, I learned to put the Word at the center of the worship service; I learned about passion and full-bodied preaching; I learned to sing the old traditional hymns; I learned about church structure and leadership, though ours differs greatly from those early patterns.  A lot about Jesus again.  I’m very high on Jesus.

From both, l learned that women couldn’t be spiritual leaders.  I had to unlearn that lesson in the Unitarian Universalist church, and because I was able to do so, I will be forever grateful.

Question: “Why can’t we be friends?”

Answer: We can’t be friends so long as you are my congregant, for the same reason that you can’t be friends with your doctor or your psychotherapist.  A friendship implies a peer relationship and an equal sharing of thoughts and feelings.  I am a professional, and my job is to be there for you as a minister.  That role prevents me from sharing as I would with a friend, for that would put an untenable burden on you as a congregant, and you would in effect lose your minister.

Question: “What’s it all about, Marilyn?”

Answer: It’s all about love.