"Hey Dad," called Raychel," is it okay if I go over to Heather’s house for dinner tonight?"

"Didn’t you go over there twice already this week, honey?"

"But tonight is special. There’s a meeting of a club from Heather’s church called the Handmaidens. She asked me to join. They play games and go on camping trips and they do good stuff like helping poor people. She said there are some things club members have to believe and some things they have to promise to do-but it’s no big deal. I think it sounds cool."

"Wait a minute here, my dear," Raychel’s dad liked rhyming words when he could. "What church is Handmaidens connected to? You already have a church."

"I don’t know much about the church," said Raychel, "All I know is that they have a girls’ group called the Handmaidens and a boys’ group called the Soldiers. Heather’s brother, John Peter, has asked Tony to join that one. Sometimes the two groups do things together. It sounds really neat."

"I think we should know more about what you are supposed to believe and what you are supposed to do to be a member of this club before you decide to join," said her dad.

"But Dad," argued Raychel, "We’re Unitarian Universalists. Didn’t you tell us we’re free to believe anything we want? What if I decide to believe the things the Handmaidens believe? That’s okay isn’t it?"

"It might be okay, but only after you have done a lot of hard thinking about it. Unitarian Universalists don’t just believe anything. We ask lots of questions and make sure that the beliefs –and the things people do because of them — are things that make this world a better place," explained Raychel’s dad.

"Tell you what though, you go to your friend’s tonight and tomorrow we’ll all talk about it. Then, if you still want to, you can join them."

The next day, Tony and his parents joined Raychel’s family for dinner. At the dinner table, as usual, everybody was talking at once. Raychel’s dad, Val, stood up and banged his spoon on the table to get everyone’s attention. In a big, booming voice he said, "Hear ye, hear ye, the dining table will come to order.

"Raychel Morgan, will you tell us about your visit to the Handmaidens?"

"It was boring," sighed Raychel. "First they read from the Bible, and everyone recited the Handmaiden’s Creed, which was all about obedience to authority and the leaders — whoever they are. Then we played a game with words from the Bible. Heather’s mother talked to us about how important it was to be a Handmaiden and how we had to try and get more kids to be Handmaidens so more people would get the message and be saved. I wanted to ask, "What message?" and, "Saved from what?" but nobody else was asking questions. Anyway, I didn’t like it."

"Sounds a little different from our church," said Raychel’s dad.

"It was really different from our church and our youth group," Raychel continued. "But when they asked me about our church I couldn’t think of anything to say. They knew exactly what to say about their church and what they believed. But what do UUs believe?"

"Raychel has asked a very important question," said her dad, "Can anyone here sitting give answer to that question?" He was having fun talking like a real judge.

"Well, what about the words we say at the beginning of church," Tony offered, "you know" love is the doctrine of this church, the quest of truth is its sacrament and service is its prayer…?"

"I can say the words, but I don’t get what they mean," said Raychel.

"Those words are a perfect place to begin," said Raychel’s father. "We believe that love is the strongest power in the world–stronger than hate and stronger than fear. I like to call this power God, because that’s the best word I know for a power that is so much bigger and stronger than any person. Your mom doesn’t like to use the word God, because it makes her think of an old man sitting up on a cloud. But even though she doesn’t use the same word to describe this power of love, she believes in it the same way I do. And ‘doctrine’ simply means something that is taught. So the first line means that we teach love."

"What about the next line, ‘the quest for truth is its sacrament?’ What does that mean?" asked Raychel.

"Well," continued Raychel’s dad, "a sacrament is an object or an act that is considered very, very special in a religion. Other words used to describe these things are ‘sacred’ or ‘holy.’ A quest is a journey to find something. So the second line means that we consider searching for truth to be a very special and important part of our religion. And to us, searching for truth means more than never telling a lie."

"Like what?" asked Raychel, getting confused again.

"For one thing, it means that what might be true for us today might not be true tomorrow if we learn something new."

"You mean like when people used to think the world was flat until someone noticed it was really round?" asked Tony.

"Or that only birds could fly until someone invented an airplane?" added Raychel.

"That’s it," answered Raychel’s dad.

"Or that someone named God invented the world in seven days even though the study of science has given us different facts to believe," added Raychel’s mom. "You see, some people believe that God told the truth many years ago to men who then wrote it down in a book like the Hebrew or Christian Bible or the Islamic holy book, the Koran. They believe that this one truth is the only truth they need to know to live a good life. So they don’t question it."

"Other people, like Unitarian Universalists," she continued, "keep asking questions because we believe there is always more to know, always new ways of thinking and acting that can make the world a better place."

"So what does ‘and service is our prayer’ mean?" asked Raychel, "How can service be a prayer?"

"Most Unitarian Universalists believe words alone aren’t enough. We have to work to make a better world, not just talk about it," said Raychel’s mom.

And for a moment, strange as it seems, everybody in this noisy wonderful family was quiet.

"So," said Raychel’s dad, "what do you think?"

"I think Unitarian Universalism is a hard religion to explain," answered Raychel. "But from now on, when I’m asked, I’m going to say, "we believe in love, we believe in searching for truth, and we believe in making the world a better place."

"I think that’s a very good answer Raychel," said her dad. "It says a lot about how we think in just a few words. And in this family, anything said in just a few words is amazing indeed!

"So, Raychel. Do you think you’ll be joining the Handmaidens next week?"

"Well, dad," said Raychel, "I think I ask too many questions to make a good handmaiden."