I will be a secret agent in this world… quietly instigating a revolution to destroy the machine that is trying to make us all the same. I will leverage every bit of my respectability to help create a world that is more loving, more creative and more beautiful. I will spend my life creating communities where all of us are encouraged to be ourselves and no one else. And when we do, we will unlock this crazy deep well of joy that will make us laugh and cry and scream and dance and be in love with being alive, even when it is excruciating. And I will find comrades, partners, lovers, friends and I will tell them: Your only mission is authenticity. Your only job is to be yourself. Your only vocation is to look inside your soul and see what’s there and bring your amazing, wonderful, beautiful gifts into this world. Bring yourself to life!

Rev. Sean Parker Dennison Tree of Life UU Congregation   

Personally, as someone who was raised Catholic, and who subsequently considered herself “N/A” in the religious spectrum, I’ve found that even the IDEA of Cabaret Church has made me think about/question my stance on religion and spirituality. I think that really says something about Cabaret Church’s goal and vision.

Jamie Madison unaffiliated young adult   

For too long we’ve focused on finding spirituality through reason and deduction. It’s time to embrace the intuitiveness about the universe which is best expressed through art. Words can fail so many of us when we’re at our most spiritual – it’s time to show that spirituality through art, in whatever form that art embodies, can change the world and change our faith.

Tim Atkins Director of Religious Education, Morristown Unitarian Fellowship in Morristown, New Jersey
Co-creator of Loved For Who You Are   

At first the notion of Cabaret Church was incomprehensible to me. As Sean explained it to me, I got more and more and more intrigued. How many times do we leave cultural events so excited we can hardly stay in our skin? Why not directly connect that life-giving energy to our spiritual lives as Unitarian Universalists? I am really excited to watch this unfold!

Rev. Meg Riley Senior Minister, Church of the Larger Fellowship   

So much of life is simply untenable and unbearable. Thus, we turn to the arts, which bring us up against things we have a hard time facing in real time, but it never says ‘here’s the scary part.’ Rather, art makes space so we can approach the difficult sideways – through metaphor, music, dance, pantomime, and play. As George Bernard Shaw once said, ‘Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.’ Cabaret Church harnesses the power of art to make life bearable and meaningful in new, expansive ways.

Kimberley Debus Intern Minister, One Island Family