I was a Roman Catholic Benedictine Monk setting in my cell studying at a Monastery when I discovered Unitarian Universalist truth for myself. I would read the teachings of Jesus, and then I would read the teachings of everyone else who taught about Jesus, and I realized that we had two different religions all together. Jesus never said he was God or even divine, but others did. Jesus never said that we could get some magic carpet ride into paradise when we died based solely on what we claimed to believe instead of how we live our lives. Jesus taught a very simple religion, and I wanted to know who taught THAT theology! I was starving for it! So after a simple Google search, I discovered that there is a thing called “Primitive Christianity” that is based solely on the teachings of Jesus’s Social Gospel. Even better, I also discovered that this was historical Unitarian Theology……that there is one God and God is only one and we are all apart of this divine source. I needed the focus to be on how we love and treat one another and participate in our community as opposed to weekly talks of death and sacrifice and what’s to come and why the world is going to end.

My new studies, coupled with my own personal struggles as a gay man in a conservative Catholic cloister, led to me requesting leave from the Monastery (Monks may come and go three different times once accepted to a Monastery). I returned to civilian life in Seattle Washington. I knew the liberal environment would be a perfect fit for me, and I was right! I moved to downtown, so I didn’t live anywhere near the UU Churches in Seattle, so I went to Unity for a while, but it was just too “Pentecostal” for me. Then my new job, which was a blessing, had me working weekends so there was no hope of going to one of the very large UU congregations, which are all located in the suburban areas. Through my own study’s, I discovered the CLFUU and dropped in to visit the various UU Churches in the area every chance I could.

Now, it’s been almost five years, and I am a total Christian/Buddhist/Jewish/Pagan who loves my God of many mansions. The Atheists and Witches are my cool neighbors across the street, and I live my life every single day in love with everyone. If you are a Christian struggling with faith and searching for truth and you are reading this, let me leave you with the single scripture that changed my entire life…….

And Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you and all around you, not in mansions of wood and stone. For when you split a piece of wood, you will find me. Lift the stone, and I am there.” The Gospel of St. Thomas