Rev. Ann C. Fox
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Unitarian
Universalist
Society of Fairhaven
Our Unique Religion
a sermon by Rev. Ann C. Fox
September 14, 2008
Note: A short reading is attached, which you might like to read first
At the beginning of each church year, it is good to review Unitarian Universalism and consider where we are now as a religion, a church community, and as an individual. Perhaps we can gain new insights each year. You may have heard the old joke: Why are UUs the worst hymn singers? Because they are always reading ahead to see if they agree with the next line! (Dear Reader, There was much laughter. And I did notice that many were examining the words as we sung “Down the Ages We Have Trod…many paths in search of God”!) That’s the first unique thing about Unitarian Universalism—they make lots of jokes about themselves; they even laugh at Garrison Kieller’s (of Prairie Home Companion) jokes about them.
In the reading, Rev. Mark Belletini expressed his view of the evolution of the universe and human beings, culminating in choosing to follow the teaching ‘love your neighbor’ and yet telling us that he looks beyond the Word to SILENCE! ‘Silence’ is where Mark finds God, or the sacred. In the introduction to his book of poetry, Mark says, “…sounds are actually rare in the vast cosmos which holds our lives. Silence surrounds the farthest star and the nearest. Our planet itself is swathed in silence save within its thin skin of air….Silence bathes what happened before us, and what shall follow us.” Now this grabbed my heart for in the silence of meditation is where *I* encounter the sacred. But that is not the only place for me. This is another unique aspect of Unitarian Universalism—the expectation that we will encounter the sacred (or the “the holy”) in many places in the outer world, inner world, in nature, perhaps in relationship, in music, art, science, mathematics, literature, poetry, scripture of the world’s religions, and so on.
When I was in New Zealand recently and a man asked me what Unitarians believe, I could see that he didn’t want a long explanation so I said, “We’re religious free thinkers.” I could see that he was completely satisfied with this short explanation. The freedom to form our own individual religious views is another unique aspect of our religion. However, what this short explanation belies is that our free thinking has come at a high cost by those who have come before us. In the responsive reading, you heard the words of Francis David [Dav-eed]. He was a courageous and eloquent sixteenth century theology debater who lived in a particularly tolerant court, at least for a few decades or so, in Transylvania (which is now part of Romania). Eventually, the forces of conformity accused him of heresy and David died in prison. And there were many others who suffered for their Unitarian ideas. However, our modern free-thinking is not entirely free because we have needed something to commonly believe amongst us and these are expressed in our seven principles to which we refer so often. Let us remind ourselves of them and read them together from your Order of Service:
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.
Perhaps our most creative endeavor is the many concepts of God that we hold amongst us. In my life, I have come across many people who have said, “How can anyone believe in a God that allows children to be abused or someone to suffer from muscular dystrophy for dozens of years.” What underlies this belief is that God causes things to happen—good things and bad things. Religious people of the orthodox or fundamentalist persuasion generally believe that God sends blessings to good people and curses to bad people……..It is almost 200 years since Unitarians believed in this small kind of God. A classic UU joke is: “When UU ministers address God, the safest thing to say is, “To whom it may concern.” Really though, our God concept has to be large and flexible to make any sense to us.
One of our ministers, Forrest Church, wrote a chapter called “The God Project” in his book titled Lifecraft. He reminded us that Ralph Waldo Emerson advises us to keep examining what we believe God is and not to be satisfied with one answer and always question it for we will get more insight as we grow and change. In the Bible, we see God change. At first, God is vengeful and jealous, then nurturing and pleading, then wise and God, and finally a loving God, within and without, one who in his prayers Jesus calls “Abba” or “Daddy.” Forrest Church tells us that where we put our religious effort indicates a God concept. Those of us who do social justice champion the loving human kind by working for the well being of all. Those of us who prefer to follow traditional teachings follow a path of self improvement by example. Some of us may be mystics who follow a solitary path. We may not call the object of our God Project ‘God’; we may call God “Truth,” “Love,” “Ultimate Reality,” the “Ground of Being,” or some other term. [p. 79, Church] I hope you noticed that the hymn we sung, “Down the Ages We Have Trod,” illustrates our journey as a people so perfectly. The first verse said: “Down the ages we have trod many paths in search of God, seeking ever to define the Eternal and Divine.”
One verse we did not sing is the one that identifies “compassion” as divine. The uniqueness for us here is the richness of expression for the divine principle or ultimate reality; or you may choose not to have a divine principle if you can not believe in anything beyond the material world.
Another unique aspect of our religion is the consideration of BIG ideas. For example, Karen Armstrong has written a fascinating book about the “Axial Age.” This is the time between 800 BC to 200 BC, a time when all the great religions arose in their various cultures in response to dreadful violence. There was Confucianism and Taoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, Monotheism in Israel (with Christianity and Islam growing out of it) and Philosophical Rationalism in Greece. This was a pivotal time in human history because all the religions share the concept of love and compassion, which would help humans evolve a compelling antidote to a violent world. This is another unique aspect of UUism, not just the Big Ideas of the world but also World Religions, which is one of our sources from which we draw inspiration. It is useful to have our Principles to indicate our shared values, but our sources add a rich and deep spiritual foundation, so let us look at our Sources from which we draw our inspiration:
The living tradition which 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 inspires 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 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.
Many of you will not have had that last source—the one on Earth-centered traditions in your hymnal. It was added in 1994 with much controversial discussion and emphatic advice from the UUA Board of Trustees not to vote for it. It passed overwhelmingly by our delegates at that General Assembly (the annual meeting of Unitarian Universalists).
The fact that we added another source of inspiration is also evidence that we believe that “revelation is not sealed” but is progressive. We believe that revelation takes place through human beings working together to interpret life. While in the past humankind looked to prophets and special teachers like Jesus and the Buddha, we Unitarian Universalists build upon their teachings and look to the human heart for truth.
But I have something very important to raise up to us today and that is our Third Principle “acceptance of one another.” Notice that this is not merely “tolerance” but “acceptance.” I thought of this when I was ordering pamphlets for our Information Racks. There are pamphlets for the perspective of UU Humanists, UU Buddhists, UU Theists, UU Jews, and UU Christians……. Because many of us have pulled away from our Christian roots, there is a tendency for us to be less than accepting of UU Christians. We should challenge ourselves on this and be as accepting of UU Christians as we are of UU Buddhists. Many if not most of us identify as just Unitarian Universalist. But if you press some of us, we might say, “Well I’m a Buddhist-Taoist-Humanist-Mystic UU with a liking for Jesus’ teachings.” It is not necessary to have to be specific about our beliefs, but it is necessary for us to be accepting of our differences. For myself, I will share with you this: The more I listen to the faith of others outside of Unitarian Universalism, the more I can stand in their shoes, for I find that though some may express their faith in terms of being “saved” I can reframe that for an equivalent for my own truth and I can be grateful that someone trusts me enough with their truth. If we can be tolerant or accepting of other religions, we can and must make room for UU Christians.
But to come back to the concept of the Axial Age, Karen Armstrong and others suggest that a new Axial Age (or Pivotal Age) is dawning. Those of us who are part of this new axial ago have compassion and love at the center of what we value most and what we will be willing to sacrifice for. It is creedless religions like ours that are poised for the new Axial Age where love and compassion must be at the center of faith. The conditions of violence that plagued the times when the Great Religions arose face us now. Unitarian Universalism is the religion that is poised for this pivotal age. Feel free disagree with any of what I have said for this is my truth and you must examine it to find your own truth, which is another unique aspect of our religion.
We could talk about many other unique aspects of UUism, but our most enjoyable aspect is hardly unique, for it is “community.” If you ask a UU some of the Big Questions such as: a) What is the Center of your faith? b) In what do you place your trust? c) In what do you place your Hope? d) What do you turn to when the world is cruel? Don’t be surprised if the answer is “Community.” We begin and end with community. May we always celebrate the sacred in community!
References
Armstrong, Karen. The Great Transformation, New York, N.Y.:Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.
Belletini, Mark. Sonata for Voice and Silence, Boston, Skinner House Books, 2008.
Church, Forrest.
Lifecraft: the art of meaning in the everyday, Boston: Beacon Press,
2000.
Reading: “Creation Story” from
Sonata for Voice and Silence by Mark Belletini
Dying stars condensed themselves into stardust once.
And stardust condensed itself into the elements of earth.
The elements of earth condensed themselves into living cells.
Living cells condensed themselves into organisms that swam and crawled on land, then thundered through the trees.
Organisms that were great in size condensed themselves into creatures fleet of foot and deft of mind, who could gaze at the faint stars and wonder if the light was their father, if the nourishing earth embracing them was their mother.
These quick creatures, small and uncertain, then condensed their human lives of honest struggle into lives of conquest and violence.
Little by little, a few human hearts condensed themselves smaller than those vast crowds around them who clamored for power, and gave power up for the burden of love given freely to all their brothers and sisters, even the hurt and the loud and the sad.
Then these few amazing hearts condensed their saving insight into the Word: “Love one another. Love your neighbor as your self.
Know yourself and love yourself.
Receive the Love that embraces us all.”
And then those words
condensed themselves even further,
into this small, small jewel of silence,
that sums the whole evolution of creation with the
elegance and honesty of wordlessness.
© The Rev. Ann C. Fox