Welcome From Our President
Greetings! I’m John Mott, President of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville. Whether you come from another UU church or are looking for a new church home I want to extend to you the warmest of welcomes and invite you to our church.
Here is the place where we talk about the Great Mystery in our own words. We are a church that believes that only you can know what your spiritual path is, that only you have this most precious freedom and responsibility to search out what is true for you. You have your own history and your own language. What we do in community is to explore together, each on our own but sharing the journey. That is the promise of Unitarian Universalism. Each of us learns and grows and changes, and all of that is nurtured here in a community. One of the misconceptions about our faith is that “you can believe anything you want” – as if it were possible for you to be in any other place than where you are right now.
Here is the place where we practice being human. As someone who came to church as an adult after a long absence I saw with a fresh set of eyes how unique a community of choice is. We are here because we want to be here. A church is a very human place where we heal and are healed, where we give and receive, where we are challenged and we challenge. In church there is no profit to be captured or widget to be stamped out--it’s about being more than about doing, and I like to say that how we do things is as important as what we are trying to do. This is the place where there is time to be in right relationship. We are always making mistakes, and we are always getting better.
There is a deep well to drink from. I’ve learned over many years that there are many ways to "do church," and there is no right way except the one that fits for you where you are. In addition to the weekly services and fellowship activities, you can be involved in creating and maintaining our community. Church work isn’t like the workplace--meetings should not be treated as drudgery to be dispensed with; it’s another place where church happens. It’s where relationships are deepened and we find more ways to honor and celebrate each other’s gifts.
We learn, we give, and we have fun. We have thought-provoking worship services led by our very gifted minister, the Rev. Gail Seavey, and a top tier music program led by our Associate Minister for Music the Rev. Jason Shelton. We have a very active religious education program for children. Our programming for children teaches tolerance towards others – we believe in the inherent worth of every person -- and our programming encourages questions and draws from many sources, ancient and current. There is an age-appropriate and highly structured class on sexual health and behavior. On Wednesday night we have dinner and adult religious education classes with a wide variety of topics. We have small group ministries where people in covenant share deeply; there are organized groups that meet for dinners. We have an active Youth Group, Men’s Group and a Women’s Group. We have fun and joyful fellowship activities. Our church takes an active social justice stance on many issues and there are many opportunities to be involved in hands-on work.
Interested in learning more? Check out our website, read our newsletter and some of the sermons online, feel free to ask me questions at john.mott@firstuunashville.org, or better yet come and visit. We have two Sunday services at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. We always encourage people to come to several services as they can vary in keeping with our diversity of thought and experience. I hope to see you soon!
John Mott