Rev. Vanessa Titang

Tag: belief

  • Plates

    Plates

    Have you ever tried balancing?
    Balancing on one foot?
    On one foot with eyes closed?
    Putting faith in the process?
    And those around you?
    That as the plates are stacked on the poles you hold
     you will not be knocked over?
    The wind pushed from your lungs?
    The trust in everything diminished?

    You have faith in the gravitational force,
    Of something much bigger
    Than all those present,
    And use your sacred resources
    To strengthen
    Your stance
    Your intuition,
    Your trust,
    First and foremost,
    In yourself,
    For you are
    Held.

  • To Grow a Minister

    To Grow a Minister

    So far,
    In such a short duration,
    Growth measured in moments not meters
    Who will I be
    When I reach this my formation,
    I’ll learn in the words and faces,
    Nods of encouragement from the congregation,
    Ministerial poise,
    I am learning
    Growing the muscle of a human heart
    In ways I never knew possible,
    Stretching and strengthening the tissue and sinew
    To engulf the needs of others,
    The tears and fears,
    Joys and triumphs,
    Bittersweet memories

  • 1s and 0s

    1s and 0s

    If I could show you God,
    I’d show you in 1s and 0s,
    I’d evoke the divine
    In binary,
    I’d show you how the great machine,
    That is itself a contradiction,
    Is itself a part of the unknowable,
    Infinite,  infinity that is,
    That realistically should not even be,
    The holy is all that is,
    In,  of and composing existence,
    And you are
    holy,
    Made of,
    and in the everything
    And made even more sacred
    By being the only 1 of you,
    Too made of 1s  and 0s of the divine,
    The holy, holy,
    H01y

  • My UU Elevator Speech

    My UU Elevator Speech

    I am attending a family gathering.  A memorial/ independence day gathering of my maternal side. Of all the things running through my mind,  one that has  popped up a number of times is how to describe my UU faith and ministry to my largely Lutheran family.

    I need an elevator speech of sorts. I’ve been saying that I’ll get to coming up with one for some time now,  but never get around to doing it.

    I’ve been in the car for hours and hours on the road trip from Maine to Ohio and now to western Pennsylvania. I’m a passenger,  and I see no time but now to do it!

    I think first about all the things that I believe…..

    I believe in a universal, neutral force that one might call God,  or my preferred  “Spirit”.

    I believe in panentheism,  this Spirit is, is in, and is greater than all.

    I believe in God’s love for all.

    I believe in the inherent worth and dignity of all.

    I believe in the interconnection of all things.

    I believe in an interwoven web of life.

    I believe God’s intervening force in our lives,  but not that all is preordained.

    I believe in the continuation of spirit after death,  in a cycle as part of the Divine Spirit.

    I believe…

    I believe a lot things that are a lot to explain.  I believe things that not all Unitarian Universalists believe. But my faith has belief that we can hold these views and seek out truth and meaning.

    I struggle with how to describe this all succinctly.

    Then I saw a description someone else did,  that was a one liner. I can’t even recall what it was, but it made sense. And suddenly I came up with it:

    “I believe in 1 God that connects and fills all, and in which all are saved.”

    From this description, Unitarian and Universalists views are both expressed. Unitarian: all in one God. Universalist: Never mind the name given,  the language or faith praised with,  all for this one whole God.

     

    There is much more that could be expressed about my faith,  and own spirituality. But this short statement captures the crux of the faith.  I can then expand, and talk about the non-creedal nature,  the 7 (8) Principles that help to guide and explain our beliefs.

    I’m sure I will tweak my elevator statement over time and with use.  But for now I’m satisfied with this.  I think being able to come up with such a statement is a Testament to how much I’ve grown in my faith and ministry.

    I also think I’m ready for the family….

     

  • Miraculous – A Theology

    Miraculous – A Theology

     ~ SHE OF LETTERS 

    This existence is one,
    All is connected,
    You, me, creatures, objects, great and small
    The beginning and end,
    Entwined with us all
    Out of the nothing, the something formed,
    With innate innocence,
    A peaceful being of neutrality,
    Uninfluenced by established humanity,
    This is the beginning of each little galaxy,
    Inside another,
    The endless universe,
    That composes all,
    The value free existence
    Neither good nor evil,
    Just, just;
    This is all,
    But then enters complexity,
    Of competing beings,
    Vying for sustained existence,
    In a space of resource finitude,
    This is millions upon millions of life forms,
    Organic material,
    Forces of nature,
    Air, water, fire, earth,
    Coalescing upon and as a miraculous heavenly body,
    In an endless sea of space,
    Thus this is home,
    We,
    We are,
    And we are
    home.

    (Originally posted at https://sheofletters.wordpress.com/2019/12/03/miraculous-a-theology/ )

    I wrote this poem in my first year as an Masters of Divinity student, prior to the month of intensive courses in Chicago. I grew throughout the first semester, and the winter break gave me the opportunity to really reflect on this, largely through one of my favorite past times — writing poetry. i posted this on my persona blog, and reflect back on this often. I realize in the poetry I wrote more about my beliefs in the cosmos, and ultimate existence than I had initially thought I did.