IS THIS YOUR RELIGION?

Rev. Abhi Janamanchi

October 15, 2006

One of the requirements to be a Unitarian Universalist is that you must have a sense of humor. If you went on the internet, you will encounter an awful lot of UU jokes, and some of them are awful, most of them told by us.

 Like for example, two people were having lunch at a restaurant. One of them asks the other, “What do Unitarian Universalists believe? Her friend replies, “Reduce, reuse, and recyle.”

 What do you get when you cross a Unitarian Universalist with a Jehovah's Witness? Somebody who rings your doorbell for no apparent reason.

 Why don't UUs sing better? Because we're always reading ahead to make sure we agree with the words.

 People say we pray “to whom it may concern.” They say our sacred text is Robert's Rules of Order. Our creed is our bylaws. They say our sacred vessel is a coffee pot. That coffee and cookies are our equivalent of the blessed sacraments. They say that UUs are actually Quakers who talk too much.

 And of course, how many UUs does it take to change a light bulb? “We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, that is fine. We explore many light bulb traditions, including incandescent, compact fluorescent, halogen, mercury vapor, three-way, long- life, energy-saver, and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.”

 But as any Unitarian Universalist will tell you, there are many truths, not just one. So while there is much to laugh about in Unitarian Universalism, there is much to cherish, to learn, and to love.

 We don't have a prophetic imperative, like our friends at Temple B'Nai Israel have from the Hebrew Bible. Present day UUs cannot claim a Gospel imperative, either, like our Christian neighbors. We don't have an ethic of consensus, like the Friends. We do have a history rich with the powers of individual choice, the use of reason, the freedom to think for oneself. We are founded on the principle, expressed first in our tradition in Transylvania in 1568, of tolerance for others' beliefs.

 We are guided by the seven principles and six sources that, while not a creed, have been the words we have used for half the existence of the UUA to describe the living/lively center of our movement. The principles were re-written in the early 1980's at the prompting of a group of women who said that the patriarchal language in the existing principles of the UUA, written in 1961, excluded them.

 How many of you are here today for the first time? How many have been coming here on Sundays for a few months? Welcome, again. You are the reason I am taking this time to talk about the contemporary finish on the foundations of our faith. I want you to know these things. Often when people come to Unitarian Universalist congregations they never hear about the first, unstated principle of our tradition. That is, when you enter through our doors, you may not lock them after you. Others will come, as you have come. They will come bringing their ideas and they will have things to say.

 What you first found when you entered our doors is not the be-all-and-end-all of our living tradition. Our movement grows and changes with the necessity of the times, the call of the asking years. You will change. You may even be transformed. And, you will change others. But you may not lock the doors to keep some ideas out. And you may not close your hearts against anyone.

 So, what are we?

We are, as Unitarian minister A. Powell Davies said, “the consummation of thousands of years of religious history. We are thousands of years that have stripped off superstition and battled with tyranny; thousands of years that struggled to take fear out of religion - to take it right out of human life.”

 What do we believe?

We believe that revelation is not sealed, that it is not sealable. We believe that ultimate truth is too vast to be contained in a specific creed, that no single religion has a copyright on truth, and that answers to the great religious questions may even change from generation to generation with new insights in theology, philosophy, and science.

 We believe that ours is not the only path. Even though we are proud to be Unitarian Universalists, we understand that there is wisdom and truth in other paths as well as our own. We understand and appreciate that other religions share some of the same affirmations so central to our UU faith. This is the hallmark of our liberal, open approach to religion.

 Do we believe in God? I was asked this question recently by someone who has been attending regularly and is trying to figure out if she fits here. My response is - “Some of us do, some of us don't, and others among us are not sure. We believe more in engaging with the “question” of god than with the “existence” of god. Many of us believe in a creating, sustaining, and transforming power - a cosmic force which is the power behind the natural world of planets and flowers, pine cones and photons. It sustains our very existence, but it does not play favorites. Some among us personalize this power in prayer; others do not.

 She also wondered where we stand with regard to Jesus. We believe that Jesus was a moral and spiritual teacher, a radical human being, who sought to reform the Judaism of his day by placing emphasis on its moral and spiritual dimensions rather than on its ceremonies. We see the significance of Jesus, not in his paying the price for our salvation, but as an example of the heights to which human beings may aspire in their own lives. Here we see the height of love and forgiveness, the height of devotion and commitment, the height of the power of the human spirit to oppose evil and to stand by justice; and the sublime possibilities of the human life revealed. We believe in the religion of Jesus - love of God and love of neighbor as thyself - than the religion about Jesus (his miraculous conception, his ability to perform miracles, and his physical resurrection).

 We believe in life before death. We are focused on the here and now of this world. Ours has never been a faith overly concerned with what happens after death. Even the Universalists --- who got their name from their belief in universal salvation ---- weren't inordinately focused on the afterlife. If everybody goes to heaven, as the Universalists believed, then there's not much point in worrying about the afterlife! They, too, focused their religion on making as much sense as they could out of the mysteries of human life on earth, and on making the world a better, more just place.

 We believe that we must keep an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places. We believe that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion, and that in the end, religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves, in our own intuitions and powers of reasoning. We are a "non -creedal" religion: we do not ask anyone to ascribe to a creed.

Not having a creed sometimes allows us to be a little free in what we assume our co-religionists believe -- as if we might speak for everyone. But, we are pluralistic, which is a dictionary-perfect way of saying we have room here for differences; we invite them. We have room here for imperfection, whatever perfection might be, because on our best days, we know we don't know everything, we haven't been everywhere, we haven't done everything we needed to do.

 We are democratic, but we do have a hierarchy of values; everything is not equal. That's not what democracy is, everything and every opinion and idea on an equal plane, deserving equal hearing. I find that a hierarchy of values emerges when we risk speaking about what we value in formal classes as well as in coffee hour and informal encounters. I find that our values emerge when we listen to each other.

 What does it mean to be a UU?

Being a UU means we are committed to celebrating and promoting the inherent dignity and worth of all people. I must live this principle in my daily life by expressing the Golden Rule embraced by Jesus and other great religious leaders: I must strive to love my neighbor as myself.

Being a UU means we affirm the central truth that all of existence is related and interdependent. This truth tells me that the choices I make matter because in some small but real way, they impact the entire web of existence. This ethic of interdependence guides me in all that I do. This means that my faith must not be just an occasional hobby, but an everyday reality.

 Being a UU means we believe in freedom - “freedom from ignorance and false belief; freedom from spurious claims and bitter prejudices; freedom to seek the truth, both old and new, and freedom to follow it, freedom from the hates and greeds that divide humankind and spill the blood of every generation; freedom for honest thought, freedom for equal justice, freedom to seek the true, the good, and the beautiful with minds unimpaired by cramping dogmas and spirits uncrippled by abject dependence. We are a religion that says humankind is not divided - except by ignorance and prejudice and hate; a religion that proclaims an end to all exclusions - and declares a brotherhood and sisterhood unbounded!”

 But more importantly we are here for something else. For love. Being a UU is not about being politically correct or culturally savvy or globally connected. Reason, freedom and tolerance of others will damage the process and the people if they are not grounded in love. So, it's about love. It's all about love, really.

Love means that we accept you for who you are: whatever your background, beliefs, or life choices. We are not immune from prejudice and ignorance. But we are dedicated to welcoming all and affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

 This is a place where we invite our whole selves in the door, foibles, fractiousness and all, and expect to be transformed -- with love, with reason, with acceptance for the wholeness of us, and also understanding that we could all “use a little improvement.”

 So this is some of what it means to me to be a UU. I hope you will notice in all this an effort to state what it means to be a UU in positive terms. Because so many of us come out of other faith traditions, there is a great temptation to describe our chosen UU faith not in terms of what we embrace but in terms of what we reject from our past. If we get stuck in this spot, our faith is nothing but a negation. Sure, there may be some healing that has to happen if you had some negative experiences in your previous religion, but don't get stuck in the negative! A negation ultimately will not be a very satisfying or enriching spiritual path. Plus it so often leads us to violate our respect for other religions, and it isolates and excludes fellow UUs who may embrace some truths from the path we're so loudly rejecting. The question to ask is not what I don't believe, but what is it that I give my heart to now? This is a much more significant question than focusing on what we left.

 Gertrude Stein once said about Paris: "It is not what Paris gives you; it is what she does not take away." That remark is true of Unitarian Universalist religion too. We can't give you everything. We cannot possibly meet all your grandest fantasies or aspirations, nor will we try. But we can promise you an accepting, open home in which to grow your spirit and spread your gifts in a beloved community and outward to the larger creation. We can promise you a place where, when the warranty on your spirit expires from time to time, it receives a free extension. And, moreover, we will never take away your mind or compromise your soul in the process of doing religion!

 I hope some of you will find a home here. Many of you already have. All are welcome.