A family visited this church recently, a father, a mother, a
twelve-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy. I’m sorry to say they
didn’t like it much. The father didn’t like the sermon, the mother
didn’t like the choir, the twelve-year-old girl said it was “boring.”
And the ten-year-old boy said, “Well, what did you expect for a
dollar?”
You may be a Unitarian Universalist if on Hallowe’en you explain to
everyone the Pagan significance of their costumes,
Today is Association Sunday and we emphasize encouraging diversity
among us even though most of probably already think of ourselves as
relatively diverse, because we hold different theological beliefs and
not all of us are democrats. We ARE a Welcoming Congregation
welcoming members who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender as
well as other folk who may be minorities, but we could do a better job
reaching out to the wider comity as a church and as a denominations
well. But there are many ways to be us and we come from a wide
background. Someone once said: ?We could learn a lot from crayons:
some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names,
and all are different colors…. but they all exist for the same
reason-to color- and they all fit very nicely in the same box.? And
there?s no such color as ?flesh? any more that is only for white
people!
I talked a little bit last Sunday about our history. After church we
had an orientation and 10 people became members after the orientation
with two more who will probably sign the book this Sunday! Part of the
orientation process is for each person to share their religious
journey, because I think that?s the beginning for most people. They
get to a point in their lives, and often it?s very early. when they
find themselves not fitting in to the religious mold they are being
put into by their family or culture, and they begin by asking
questions, or rebelling, or somehow, beginning to be those ?UU?s
without knowing it!? sometimes as early as grade school!
One of the interesting phenomena about these orientations is that
each group usually has a predominant denomination that they seem to
represent each time. One time, it seems like they mostly Lutherans,
and the next Presbyterians. I know it sounds strange, but for some
Karmic reason, it seems to happen that way. This past Sunday was
perhaps the most predominant I remember, because about 95% had been
raised Catholic! After leading so many of these orientations I have
heard hundreds of stories about religious journeys out of both
traditional religion and no religion at all into Unitarian
Universalism. They are remarkably similar yet unique. My story is as
well.
Yet no one asks us when we join what we believe. Try joining a
Methodist, Presbyterian,, Baptist or any other Church without that
question coming up! And I don?t mean to put these churches down, only
point out the difference in joining. We simply don?t ask you any
questions for membership. Maybe we should ask something.
Doesn?t it matter what we believe? Of course it does. But there are a
lot of ways to be us, so to speak.
What I?ve found is that many people are looking for a church where
they can be honest about who they are and what they believe and yes,
what they don?t believe! And can?t find that in traditional religions
any more. Oh the majority of people ARE finding a lot of this in
traditional religion and that?s OK, too. I don?t believe that we have
the only way, that we are right and they are wrong. Yes, we kid about
having bumper stickers that say ?Dear God, please save us from your
followers!?, but among we UU?s we, too, have a wide variety of
theological beliefs that we must often remind ourselves to be tolerant
of! According to a 2006 survey of the congregation, taken after the
last minister left, ?Humanism is the most widely held stance within
our congregation, with Naturalistic Theism, Earth-Centered
Spirituality, Mysticism, UU Christianity, Theism, and Pantheism also
widely identified sentiments. Spiritual and personal growth, family
relationships and values, as well as philosophical and psychological
ideas are well received as sermon topics. Buddhism and Theological
Christianity are the other faith traditions principally identified by
our members who stated some loyalty to a tradition other than
Unitarian Universalism.?
An article from our denomination?s magazine the UU World asked a few
years ago ?Where is the unity in our theological diversity? It is a
question that ministers, congregations, and individual Unitarian
Universalists have grappled with since at least the 1840s.?
The article goes on to describe three different kinds of UU congregations-
?At sixty-two-member Epiphany Community Church UU in Fenton,
Michigan, Sunday worship includes Scripture readings, a version of the
Lord’s Prayer, and a sermon in which God is a featured presence.
Sunday after Sunday the congregation follows the Christian calendar.
Members take Communion and observe Lent and Pentecost. And interwoven
into this are distinctly UU occasions such as a water service and
flower celebration.
Two states to the west, the Michael Servetus Unitarian Society in
Fridley, Minnesota, has services in which God is generally not named.
Instead there are occasionally references to the ?spirit of life.?
There are meditations or reflections, but not prayers, in keeping with
the fellowship’s long history of humanism.
In Hoffman Estates, Illinois, members of the Panthea Pagan Fellowship
meet to do earth-based rituals, which include a lot of dance and other
movement, calling the five directions, and invoking the God and Goddess.
These three congregations, one Christian, one partly humanist, one
pagan, represent just part of the theological diversity within the
Unitarian Universalist Association. In the more than 1,000 other
congregations in the association there are many different blends and
varieties of Unitarian Universalists??humanists, Christians, pagans,
Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and those still searching for an
identity.?
Both the Unitarian and Universalists have had struggles about their
?doctrinal integrity? because they were both considered heretical by
the more traditional, but there always edges being pushed. ..
Unitarians struggled with the issue of ?who we are religiously as a
people? every couple of decade, starting as early as the 1840s when
Emerson and the Transcendentalists challenged the ?orthodox?
Unitarians about whether it was any longer necessary for the
literalness of biblical miracles being the true validation for the
authority of Jesus.
Indeed, by the late 1800s, the Unitarians were arguing about whether
just a commitment to Unitarian ethics was all that a member?or even
a minister?needed to affirm in order to join. At issue was whether a
Unitarian church was even Christian any more and . by the early
1920s, Humanism had become predominant and the debate was whether a
belief in God was a defining characteristic of Unitarian faith. The
Humanist-Theist controversy began to heat up.
Universalist Minister Clarence Skinner who was dean of Tufts
Theological Seminary and one of the most well loved Uninversalist
Theologians of the 20th century in his book about Universalism before
the merger, A Religion for Greatness: wrote:
“Religion…The essential core of religious experience is the seeking
after and finding man’s relations to the unitites and universals. is
a sense of vital, meaningful relationship between the self and the
universe, the outreach of man to something beyond himself…There is
no experience which gives man so compelling a universalism as this
radical religious insight into the unities and universals…Both the
methods of science and the methods of religion are complimentary and
each must be employed if we are to achieve a universal view. There
must be racial, political, social, and scientific universalism in the
modern world. The religion of greatness and beauty will become
indivisible parts of the all embracing unity and universal.”
In 1960, both the Unitarians and the Universalists voted to create
the Unitarian Universalist Association to begin May 1961. The two
denominations were very different-the Unitarians had traditionally
been urban, upper-class, Boston Brahmin, well-educated intellectual
and more humanist, the more well known, while the Universalists had
been rural, working class, more emotional and more Christina or at
least, spiritual. By the late 1950?s a lot of those differences had
disappeared, but certainly not all of them. They would continue in the
clergy, at least up to this day in some cases!
These were The Purposes and objectives in 1961 :
1. To strengthen one another in a free and disciplined religious
search for truth as the foundation of our religious fellowship;
2) To cherish and spread the universal truths taught by the great
prophets and teachers of humanity in every age and tradition,
immemorially summarized in the Judeo-Christian heritage as love to God
and love to (humanity)man;
3.)To affirm, defend and promote the supreme worth of every human
personality, the dignity of (humankind)man, and the use of the
democratic method in human relationships,
4.) To implement our vision of one world by striving for a world
community founded on the ideals of brotherhood(and sisterhood),
justice, and peace;
5) To serve the needs of member churches and fellowships and to extend
and strengthen liberal religion;
6.) to encourage cooperation with men( people) of goodwill in every
land.” Thus 895 churches and fellowships with 156, 443 legal members
were united.
I believe those are the foundation for today?s movement as well and
is reflected in our current
The following statements were adopted as Bylaws by the 1984, 1985, and
1995 General Assemblies.
” We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist
Association, covenant to affirm and promote:
– The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
– Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
– Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in
our congregations;
– A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
– The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within
our congregations and in society at large;
– The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
– Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
The living tradition we share draws from many sources:
– Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed
in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an
openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
– Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to
confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion and
the transforming power of love;
– Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspire us in our ethical
and spiritual life;
– Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s
love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
– Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason
and the results of science, and warn us against the idolatries of the
mind and spirit.
-Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the
sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the
rhythms of nature.
Nothing herein shall be deemed to infringe upon the individual freedom
of belief which is inherent in the Universalist and Unitarian
heritages or to conflict with any statement of purpose, covenant, or
bond of union used by any society unless such is used as a creedal test.
I find these to be truly inspirational because they allow for both
Unitarianism which we will call the unity and Universalism which we
will call the universal to be not just represented but taught. No we
can?t just believe anything we want to! There is a religious
responsibility in being Unitarian Universalist if you take it
seriously, to yes, actually search for religious truth! That means, I
believe, at the very least, showing up for church! Assuming, of
course, you find a church that is also searching for religious truth!
Louise and Ray Pope were two of the founders of the First UU Church
of an Antonio back in 1945 where I served from 1991 until 2006. Roy
died before I came and Louise was ina coma by the time I arrived. I
did her memorial service soon after and in her life crisis file found
some of her writings she wanted included in the service. the church
had obviously been such a crucial part of her life and I was sorry I
hadn?t gotten to know her. “Being religious”, she wrote, “…raises
our ideals, broadens our visions, disturbs and pursues us into action.
It helps us find peace and beauty amidst our blundering efforts.
Religious living is a search, a yearning, an upward reach for loftier
existence with other people and a closer communion with our creator. I
hope that the community and world will be a little better for my
having lived.
Worship,” Louise wrote,” is the expression of appreciation,
aspiration, love or determination in our religion whether privately or
collectively… Church is an institution for worship and education, to
foster love, fellowship, and education. The work of the church is to
give impetus to our religion, to give comfort in time of trouble, and
inspiration for enjoying the peace and beauty of abundant living…I
am challenged and inspired, over and over, in trying to be a Unitarian.”
It is not easy to be a Unitarian Universalist and it is not a do it
yourself religion either. I like the language of the 1961 merger
statement because it is more active than our current Principles which
I also love, but the 1961 statement, it seems challenges us to
actually DO something, using the first 4 here using inclusive language-
1. To strengthen one another in a free and disciplined religious
search for truth as the foundation of our religious fellowship;
2) To cherish and spread the universal truths taught by the great
prophets and teachers of humanity in every age and tradition,
immemorially summarized in the Judeo-Christian heritage as love to God
and love to humanity;
3.)To affirm, defend and promote the supreme worth of every human
personality, the dignity of (humankind)man, and the use of the
democratic method in human relationships,
4.) To implement our vision of one world by striving for a world
community founded on the ideals of universal kinship, justice, and
peace;
And I believe at the center of it all is that profound love which can
transform even hate and evil if we can but make it strong enough in
enough loving hearts willing to work together. There is a religious
spirit- or -dimension- or- God- or -idea- or feeling or -power- or
something that has inspired humankind throughout history through this
present day to build religious communities of all kinds, shapes, and
beliefs including the very one we come together in right now.
There are people here who have dedicated much of their lives, energy,
love, time, spirit, and yes, money to this church because it has meant
so much to them. I have been inspired by some of the older members
who have put in so many years and so much love and you can seethe
passion in their eyes and the happiness in their hearts and know that
they have become good Unitarian Universalists, not because of their
belief, but because of their behavior, because of their work toward
the building up of the beloved community. I find the happiest people
at church are often those who are working the hardest or doing the
most for other people. Let us love one another and let us reach out
to the wider world to those people who need our loving message as well!
Amen, Peace, Shalom, (Peace in Hebrew), Assalaamu Alaikum(may Peace be
upon you in Arabic), Abrazos a todos (Hugs all around) Namaste, (A
Hindu greeting the divinity within you) Blessed Be, and let me add one
more blessing that I adapted from the Spanish long before I went in to
ministry. ?Vaya con Dios? is Spanish for Good-bye, but literally is
?Go with God,? So I adapted it to say ?Vaya Con Su Dios, ?Go with your
idea or interpretation of God.?
Peace,Love, Shalom,Salaam, Blessed Be,Namaste, Abrazo a Todos,Vaya con su Dios