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The questions highlight the personal experiences of life and death that helped prompt Church to define religion as "our human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die." Use these questions to help you reflect on Church's writings about his personal experiences with life and death. Are there connections between Church's theology and experiences and your own? You are invited to respond to some or all of the following in your theology journal:

  • Recall and describe a time when you felt awe (or a feeling akin to it) stirred by an experience in nature or an encounter with other people. Is this feeling of awe related to your Unitarian Universalist faith?
  • Have you had an experience with death that might parallel Church's experience, or one that seems akin to you? If so, how did it affect your understanding of life, and more particularly of your own life? How does your attitude toward death relate to your own personal Unitarian Universalist faith?
  • Have you ever felt spiritually empty? If so, how have you dealt with such feelings? What do you think of Church's description of emptiness as a "God-shaped hole"?

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