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The Unitarian Universalist Society of Fairhaven, Massachusetts "Faith of the Free" Rev. Ann C. Fox |
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Part I "Faith of the Free." What can that mean? Faith means confidence, belief or trust in a person, idea, or thing. Free means not bound or constrained; not under obligation or necessity. A free faith then must be a belief that is not restricted. For most of the world's history, people's faith was constrained to conform to what the majority believed. The Pilgrims and Puritans came here because they didn't want to be restricted to the belief of the country in which they were born. Then, of course, they did their best here to restrict the freedom of others to believe as they wished. They believed in a vengeful God who was radically separate from its creatures. They believe that human beings were depraved creatures and that only a few of them were destined to go to heaven; they were the Elect or so they thought. In history, the word Unitarian meant a person who believed in the unity of God. Before Jesus of Nazareth was declared to be God in 325 of this era, at least one person, called Arias, offered the idea that though Jesus was a remarkable and wise man, he was nevertheless a man. The historical root of the Unitarian idea is from this time. Arias was declared a heretic and the idea that God was three-in-one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was declared true by majority vote. The Unitarian idea that God was a unity, not split up into a trinity of three persons, surfaced throughout history in many countries, including America, among the founding fathers. The first minister to come out of the closet as a Unitarian was William Ellery Channing. He, and many others, believed that all people were innately "moral capable," like Jesus, of living a good and just life. Boston and New England liberal clergy became used to these revolutionary ideas and established themselves as the American Unitarian Association in 1825. No sooner were they organized than a group called the Transcendentalists declared that God was much more than the Bible implied and they took the divine idea to mystical heights in the 1830's. Next, in 1859, Darwin's theory of evolution opened up religious ideas to the scrutiny of science. For the next one hundred years, the denomination would respond to flare ups of new religious ideas that rejected the ideas of the ones before it. The eastern part of the country would become conservative in response to some churches going too far with their free religion. In the Mid-West, a humanist movement began in the 1880s. They declared: "We believe that to love the Good and to live the Good is the supreme thing in religion. . . .We worship One in All…that Love with which our souls commune." This was the religious humanist movement. Later humanists spoke of brotherhood and mutuality, freedom, reason, and tolerance. I tell you this very brief story of our journey through freedom of religious belief because I believe that this struggle was one of a people for whom being clear about what they each believed about the divine was, and is, the most important concept at the center of our faith. All of the ideas and beliefs of the last two hundred years of unitarianism and universalism are here amongst us today. We each of us have the freedom to define for ourselves what is at the center of our faith. When I say a prayer, I often say "Spirit of Love and Life, God of All." We are free to interpret for ourselves what we believe to be the source of life. And our diversity of belief has been remarkably successful. In the responsive reading, we read "Some beliefs are like walled gardens [but] Other beliefs are expansive and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies. . . .Some beliefs are like blinders. . . .Other beliefs are like gateways opening wide vistas for exploration. . . .Some beliefs weaken a person's selfhood. . .Other beliefs nurture self-confidence and enrich the feeling of personal worth…Some beliefs are rigid. . .Other beliefs are pliable…ever growing with the upward thrust of life." [Fahs, It Matters What We Believe]. Today, I suggest to you that our center is what we experience here powerfully on a Sunday morning. But our history of expressing that center differently gives us the freedom and validation to hold our own view. Because of this diversity of belief, we are sometimes accused of lacking any spirituality. I believe this is not at all true. We are a very spiritual people. At the center of your being, what do you believe is the Spirit of Love and Life? What at the center of your being is worthy of your love? What sustains you in difficult times? The same Unitarian Universalist, Carolyn McDade, who wrote our first hymn this morning, "Come Sing a Song with Me," also wrote a much loved hymn called Spirit of Life. Let us experience, each in our way, what that spiritual center is for us. Let us listen to one verse of Spirit of Life, then let us sing it softly once. Finally, let us contemplate the words as we listen to it once more. So we listen, we sing, we contemplate. As you ponder, I will light one of my portable chalices; it's flame is for the center of your being. We'll remain seated. Let us turn to hymn 123. [Everyone listens, sings, contemplates.] (Dear Reader, These are the words of Spirit of Life from our hymn book, Singing the Living Tradition, in case you do not know them: "Spirit of Life, come unto me, Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion. Blow in the wind, rise in the sea; move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice. Roots hold me close; wings set me free; Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me." The congregation listened, sang, and contemplated while seated.) Part II In the book 'Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,' Annie Dillard says, "God has not absconded but spread, as our vision and understanding of the universe have spread, to a fabric of spirit and sense so grand and subtle, so powerful in a new way, that we can only feel blindly of its hem." We, in this sanctuary, may classify our spiritual orientation as theist (that is a belief in a God of some sort), an atheist (no belief in God), agnostic (a 'don't know' attitude towards a God concept), a humanist (a belief primarily in the human spirit), a UU Christian (a belief that Jesus was a bit more than human, but less than God), a Buddhist (an undefined concept of the divine), Pagan (a belief that all that is meaningful is earth and nature centered), or a combination of some of these. But religiously we are Unitarian Universalist free thinkers. Our core of spirituality and our desire to be together in community is strong and these are what bring us together on a Sunday. The diversity of our spirituality is not an obstacle. An early Unitarian, Francis David said, "We don't have to think alike to love alike." We have heard many light bulb jokes over the years. Here's an appropriate one for today. Question: How many Unitarian Universalists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: We strenuously object to the term "light bulb." We believe there are many ways out of darkness dispersion and so would not want to participate in an activity validating the light bulb as the exclusive light source. And if you have been to the Bylaws discussions over the last few weeks, this joke will make a lot of sense to you! The other part of who we are radiates from our center, our view of the divine. It is verbally expressed as our Seven Principles that can guide our thinking and our orientation to social justice and our way of being in community together. On yet another quest to create meaning for ourselves in our religion, we looked at our Judeo-Christian roots and world religions, science, art, and many aspects of life and we pulled from them all the essence of what religions' purpose is: to make us better human beings and to help one another, as well as our environment. In 1985, we expressed by agreement who we were at this point in time in the seven principles that are printed in your order of service. We do not want to make a creed of them and so we don't recite them very often, but today let us remind ourselves of them by reading them from your Order of Service together. (Dear Reader, the Principles at the end of this sermon if you would like to read them.) These are rich beliefs that we know we'll consider changing again in a decade or so. Next year, we will look at one Principle each month and explode its meaning for our lives. But for today, let us acknowledge that what we hold inwardly as the source of strength from which we draw our inspiration is also reflected in all people and in the creation itself. When we care for our mind and body, we are honoring that divine source that is in us. When we care for others and the environment on which we depend, we are honoring the divine in others and all of life, including the earth. First and foremost, however, our roots are Jewish and Christian. In the next few weeks, we will be entering into the spirit of the season. Our children and youth will present a play, in the style of readers' theatre, that shows the true spirit of Christmas. And in the afternoon at 4 pm, there will be Lessons and Carols by our Choir. The following week, we'll experience the power of the winter solstice and we'll also, of course, have our traditional Christmas Eve candlelight service. Today, however, you can purchase in the Parish House some wonderful and inexpensive gifts for those you love. And next Saturday, there will be crafts people and bakers selling their wares as part of Fairhaven's Very Victorian Christmas with our own resident St. Nicholas providing a jolly presence (and chocolate kisses if you're nice and good). So with our spiritual center in tact and a fun filled season ahead, let us say together the words of an eighteenth century Unitarian, #474 in your hymnbook. Today, I have set up the discussion table in the Parish Hall so that people who are new or fairly new can come and talk. I'll go there as soon as I'm free. I hope some of you who have been members for a while will take your coffee there and greet newcomers. May the holiday season, provide us ample opportunity to touch the center of our being and remind us that our religion encourages individual expression of that center in thought and word and deed. Shalom. References The following inspired and informed this sermon: Parke, David P. The Epic of Unitarianism: Original Writings from the History of Liberal Religion, Boston: Skinner House Books, 1985. Robinson, David. The Unitarians and the Universalists, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985. |
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