“NO SUCH ANIMAL”

SERVICE DELIVERED AT OBERLIN UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST FELLOWSHIP 10/22/06

REV. PEGGY C. CLASON

Minister Emerita, UU Society of Cleveland

READING:  from “Celebrating Unitarian Universalism”

Sermon by Rev. Peggy C. Clason, Oct. 2003

Today I want to share with you my “confession of faith” as a  lifelong Unitarian Universalist.  It is in the form of a catechism – question and response.  Yet it is provisional, parts of it open to growth and change. (In fact, I've already changed parts of it.) I also know that each of you might answer some questions a little differently.

What is religion?

Religion means to bind together the frayed strands of our being, to bind together a humanity.  It is a core of ultimate meanings and values and convictions to which we commit our lives.   It is the vantage point and the rallying point  from which we enter the day-to-day living of our existence.

What does Unitarian mean?

Theologically, a Unitarian believes that God is one; historically, this is denial of the trinity of father, son and holy spirit.   Unitarian also refers to a cosmic reality held together by natural law in distinction from the supernatural.    Everything is naturally divine and partakes of the power of being.

Then what is the meaning of Jesus?

Jesus was a first century Jewish prophet – a moral and spiritual teacher who went about doing good. He sought to reform the Judaism of his day by placing emphasis on its moral and spiritual dimensions rather than on its ceremonies.   While his message was designed for a first century society, the spirit of his teachings and his life has inspired people across the ages, and moves us today.   Because he was a threat to the establishment of his day, he was crucified.

Do you believe in the virgin birth and the resurrection?   What about Christmas and Easter?

For me, a virgin birth and resurrection are part of a mythology created to deify Jesus.  I gladly celebrate Christmas as symbolizing that every night a child is born is a holy night, and Easter as testimony to the courage of a lonely prophet whose life was brief but whose teachings are immortal.

Is there life after death?

I do not and cannot know.  I think  the more important question is – is there life after birth?   UU’s do affirm the immortality of influence: those who have lived well live on in the lives of those they touch.

What about heaven and hell?

I believe our heavens and hells are here on earth. They are states of the soul.   Heaven is participation in the beloved community; hell is indifference to our neighbors.

What does Universalism mean?

Historically Universalism refers to universal salvation – the final harmony of all souls with god.  It was a reaction to Calvinist theology in which some were predestined for heaven and others for hell.   Universalists believed in a God of love who would restore all people to a state of grace.  Ethically, Universalism also refers to our responsibility for the human family of which we are all members.   We are one.

Do you believe in salvation?  If so, what is it?

Salvation means health or wholeness of being. Salvation is not a single event, but a cradle -to-grave pilgrimage in which we grow in our capacity to love and to serve.   It is the struggle toward wholeness as a human being – generosity of spirit, depth of meaning, responsibility of action.

What about human nature?  Do you believe in original sin?

Human nature is neither tainted at birth with original sin to be expunged, nor are we born noble savages corrupted by an evil society.   We are born in freedom.   We choose how to act.

Do you believe in sin?

Sin in the Hebrew scriptures meant ‘’missing the mark.’’ we are constantly missing the mark – doing that which we ought not to do and not doing what we ought.  We are our own most perplexing problem and our own final hope.  We are both saints and sinners,  but more importantly, we are seekers.

Do you believe in God?

There are probably as many UU views of God as there are Unitarian Universalists.  I believe in a cosmic sustaining and transforming power – a  natural  creativity which is the power  behind the  world of planets and flowers, pine cones and photons.  It sustains our very existence, but it does not play favorites.   The rain falls on the just and the unjust.     I do not personalize this power, and actually I tend not to use the word God much because it is a term so easily misunderstood.  You may see God/dess differently, or even not at all.

What, then, is the UU source of authority in religion?

Our ultimate source of authority is and must be our own conscience.  We do not  claim to be possessors of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.   But  we must own our decisions and live our lives according to the best lights we have.  Conscience is not merely whim.    We are not alone religiously, for we live in a community of persons who both sustain and challenge us.

What about the Bible as a source of truth?

The Bible with its Jewish and Christian scriptures is a vast and valuable compendium of human wisdom and folly collected over a period of centuries. The lovely legends of creation, the poetry of the psalmist, the insight of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the zeal of the prophets and the moral imagination of Jesus are a rich resource.   It is a human book, however,  mixed  through with the best and the worst of human nature.  I do not find it the word of  a god to humanity, but the word of humanity about its understanding of humanity and divinity and where they meet in life.

There are other religious scriptures to which Unitarian Universalists also turn.  The ethical demands of the Koran, the simple ethic of the Analects of Confucius, the mystical insights of the Bhagavad Gita, the existential wisdom of the Sutras of Buddhism – and the rich abundance of the whole human literary tradition – all these contribute to our human store of goodness and beauty and wisdom.

What is the meaning of life?

Meaning is the measure of religion.  Meaning is not written in the stars, but created by human beings out of the raw material of their own existence.  I believe that life matters.   I find meaning in love, in relationship with others, and with the earth as our home.  Commitments shape the patterns of my living.

REFLECTIONS: “ No Such Animal” 

OUUF    10/22/06

You may know the story of the   farmer who goes to the Cleveland   circus.  Upon seeing a giraffe for the first time, he exclaims:  “there ain’t no such animal” in my world.

Whenever I attempt to describe  Unitarian Universalism  as a religion to the outside world, I feel like I’m running into that farmer gawking at the giraffe and saying, ‘’there ain’t no such animal.”

For people grounded in conventional religion often perceive us to be an intellectual, social and ethical enterprise, but  not a religious one.   They don’t associate how we do religion with their standard understanding of religion.   And so, in their eyes, there isn’t any such animal as  Unitarian  Universalist religion.

Even we sometimes  have promoted  such an  image across the years with comments like:  “Hey, you’ll really like us.  We aren’t very religious at all.’’  Fortunately our self-perception is changing. For I clearly see us not as an alternative to religion, but as a religious alternative.  

So today I want to highlight some of the marks  of our  way of religion.   We’ll  look at the what, the how, the where, the when and the why of  Unitarian Universalism.

What  are some of the affirmations of our heritage?

We believe in responsible freedom, the essential goodness of humankind, the transforming power of love, the necessity of the democratic process. We believe in being an intentionally welcoming and diverse church.  We believe in the never-ending quest for truths, not one truth.  We believe in whole-hearted acceptance of this natural universe as our true home and place of origin, in the conviction that divinity is experienced in this world,  in the authority of individual conscience guided by reason, intuition and the beloved community.  

Now it is true we do not systematically organize our affirmations into a set creed.    And we may be humanists, theists, atheists, mystics, buddhists, pagans,  naturalists, skeptics etc.   But as our  Unitarian forebrother Ralph Waldo Emerson said:  “If 2 people think  exactly alike,  one of them might not be thinking!”

So how do we gain our beliefs and how do we share them?   

It is safe to say that we come by our religious values democratically.  That means the convictions we hold are not revealed to us so much as experienced by us.   As UU’s we freely examine every idea which comes our way, keeping for tenets of faith those wisdoms that prove truthful to ourselves, and loving of others.    Contrary to some popular opinion, we are not free to believe whatever we please.   We are free to believe what we must, what our souls summon us to affirm!

Further,  as  Unitarian Universalists we are guided by our statement of Purposes and Principles,  which were adopted by  Unitarian Universalist Association  General Assemblies.  

We don’t live in a vacuum!

Our  Unitarian Universalist way of religion is seldom easy.   Full, robust existence means struggle. As Unitarian minister A. Powell Davies put it: “When someone asks, ‘where then  is thy God?’, we can answer that the sacred is where it always was:  in the struggle.  In the pain of our hearts, in the growing clearness of our minds, in the sharpening edge of conscience, in the welling up of courage in the purpose we cannot forsake and never shall.”

Reflect, for a moment, on a frequently said  UU children’s affirmation:  “We are a church of open minds, loving hearts, and helping  hands."  Simple and right on target.   Being open, loving and helping is the core of our governing spirit as a denomination  of life-affirming religious liberals.   The liberal spirit means being generous of choices.

I think the trick for religious liberals is to be open of mind, heart and spirit without being empty of mind, heart and spirit;   to be firm without being unbending, flexible without being wishy-washy, to make our strong claims in the midst of life’s flux.  

German philosopher Karl Jaspers put it aptly:  “This is the vision of a great and noble life:  to endure ambiguity in the movement of truth and to make light shine through it, to stand fast in uncertainty, to prove capable of unlimited love and hope.’’

Someone once charged David Hume, an agnostic, with being inconsistent because he went to hear the orthodox Scottish minister John Brown.   Hume replied:  “I don’t believe all he says, but he does.  And once a week I like to hear a person who believes what they say.”

That’s precisely the challenge for  Unitarian Universalists: to say and do what we believe.

So how do we believe with care and responsibility?  We are strugglers who make commitments from the core of our own hearts and minds,  realizing that in our religious journey nothing is secure and everything matters.     It is said that Ralph Waldo Emerson , speaking later in life,  used sermons he had preached as a new minister.   Recycling!    As he read the sermons he would now and then pause, look up and say:  “I no longer believe that.”   Such is the nature of our UU religion.   It is a growing faith.  But he should have updated his sermons.....

There are more questions to address concerning the  Unitarian Universalist way of religion: when and where do we believe?  Very simply, all the time and everywhere.  What and how we believe must permeate the whole of our being.  Our beliefs and behaviors must match up.  Why?  Because this is the way we do

religion.   Unitarian Universalism has duties attached to its affirmations.  Vital religion, like good music, needs rendition.

So now I come to the final question concerning our UU way of religion: in whom do we believe?

Well, it's up to you and your theology.  Believing in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, we believe in you, whoever you are.  We affirm that you can think honestly and live nobly.  We affirm that, despite human tragedy and natural disaster,  you can endure with dignity, that you can be a living affirmation of creative love.

Do not misunderstand……we believe you can.   We do not claim one always will.     And we do believe that the supportive caress and challenge of a religious community helps.    We are relational beings for whom interdependent living has value.

Martin Buber was convinced that “I become through my relation to the Thou.  All real living is meeting.”  He knew that the heart of spiritual life is communion.   As  Unitarian Universalists we believe in communion --  meeting self, meeting nature, meeting mystery, meeting neighbor.

To sum up, in  Unitarian Universalism we encourage our members  to recognize that what we affirm is  bound together with how  we believe, which is demonstrated in every where and when of our lives, and finally rooted in our very own who.

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 Universalism too. We can’t give you everything.  We cannot possibly meet all your fantasies or aspirations, nor will we try.  But we can promise you a home in which to grow your spirit and spread your gifts in a community and outward to the larger creation.   And moreover, we will not take away your mind  or compromise your soul in the process of doing religion.

I don’t know about you, but the warranty on my spirit expires every once in a while.   I need a religion that through its patient prodding graces me with an extension.   Empty, I come to church and miraculously a song or some solace, a reading or some person revives me and sends me forward  on my journey of life.  

Blessed thanks for this imperfect yet beautiful faith  of the open mind, loving heart, and helping hands.

CLOSING WORDS

How would I explain Unitarian Universalism?

People are precious.

Treat each other with kindness.

Deed is more important than creed.

Existence is our gift.

Meaning is our quest.

Freedom in community is our way.

Responsibility for others is our obligation.

Reverence for life is our practice.

       So may it be.