Charity is now primarily a rental space, typically hosting everything from gender reveals to quinceañeras. Hope hosts child care rooms and the library. Faith is where the service happens.
“When I first came here, this building was not here,” Donna Leach says. She first visited UUCOC when all church services took place between Charity and Hope. Faith was built in the fall of 1983.
Inside, the lobby walls host photos of the congregation’s history. The actual sanctuary is a grand space, on the left The Seven Principles adopted by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1985 hang.
Though the principles held strong meaning earlier in the congregation, there have been recent changes nationwide to instead adopt one word values.
“It’s the same idea, just simplified language, making it more of an active voice,” Kathy Grey says. She brings in a small paper circle, which can be planted to grow wildflowers, that lists seven words in between stretched oval lines that mimic an atom: equity, generosity, interdependence, justice, pluralism, transformation and at the center over a chalice symbol “love” bolded in all caps.
“You can get into the history and the purposes and all of it, but really, it is a living faith tradition. It’s covenantal, so it’s relationship-based, and it’s active in both its participation and its evolving status,” Ian Grey says. “It’s not one fixed doctrine. It’s not one fixed creed. It is not one set of answers to all the questions. It is all the questions and it is coming together and figuring out and being together in community and worship and shared value for each other, but those are defined and encouraged amongst each other and the community.”
The navy wall in the center holds a larger than life sign with the UUCOC name and massive flaming chalice, which is known to Unitarian Universalists to reference a light of reason, the warmth of community or as a flame of hope.
“There are several origin stories behind it,” Scott Grey says. “One of them goes back to World War II, where they had candles and chalices as a symbol of safety.”
Before and after each Sunday service, a chalice is lit to celebrate the community coming together and the flame is extinguished at the conclusion. Generally, speakers include poems and songs as they share joy and sorrows of how the community is doing.
Behind the chalice, the oak leaf represents Oak Cliff as a part of their community.
Scott and Kathy Grey came to UUCOC in 2003 with their children. Their oldest son Ian Grey was 10 years old at the time and returned in a more active role following college. Kathy, serves on a plethora of committees and as vice president of the board.