UU Community Church of Santa Monica

10 June 2012

 

For me, this faith isn’t a thin gruel. It’s not even a rich and hearty gruel. It’s walnuts and bananas, pancakes, mangoes, arugula, ginger, and avocado. The feast is prepared with effort, enjoyment, persistence, and commitment. Care to join me?

~ Rev. Meg Barnhouse

 

Reading:

excerpt from “Who Says Unitarian Universalism’s Principles Are Easy?” by Meg Barnhouse

 

[P]eople talk sometimes about liberal religion as if it’s a thin gruel, watered down to please everyone. Our Seven Principles, they complain, are either too much like a creed or so general as to be meaningless. My experience of the Principles is that they are deeply demanding. The first one asks me to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, which means that I can no longer subscribe to the cheerful Calvinist doctrine of the total depravity of human nature. Now I have to struggle with the worth and dignity of people who do unspeakably awful things, whereas the doctrine of total depravity made that one a no-brainer.

 

...The UU Principles are demanding enough to make me whine.

 

For those who feel they are thin gruel, I have a suggestion. Let’s stick something onto the end of every Principle that will stop people from smiling and nodding comfortably as they are read... how about attaching “beginning in our homes and congregations”? Then we’d be faced with affirming things like “...peace, liberty, and justice for all,

beginning in our homes and congregations.” Everyone who has raised children knows that peace is often at odds with liberty and that justice demands a disturbance of the peace. To put those three together in one Principle is outrageous and lovely. “Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, beginning in our homes and congregations” is a sobering ideal. I don’t know about you, but I have sat in meetings about right relations and seen people get testy with one another.

 

Lao Tse, quoted in [our hymnal], says peace in the world begins with peace in the home, which begins with peace in the heart. If I start with my own heart, the demands of our  Principles get even heavier. Peace and compassion in my heart? Justice too? Affirming the worth of every person all the time, not only with my words and my behavior but in my secret heart?

 

If we added “in the heart” to the Principles, they might as well just say “Be Jesus” and be done with it. I’m sorry I even brought it up. For me, the heart of the liberal faith is to be connected to something greater than yourself; to wallow in the Spirit of Life, Love, and Truth; to have fair trade coffee and important conversations; to stand for love and to stand against quibbling, complaining, and flouncing off in a huff; to move toward being in right relationship with ourselves, one another, and the planet.

 

For me, this faith isn’t a thin gruel. It’s not even a rich and hearty gruel. It’s walnuts and bananas, pancakes, mangoes, arugula, ginger, and avocado. The feast is prepared with effort, enjoyment, persistence, and  ommitment. Care to join me?

 

Sermon: “(UU) Myth-Busting”

 

It’s a biiiiig morning – so much is going on inside of our walls, and beyond. I hope you’ll join me at coffee hour at noon to celebrate Seth Houston and eat some cake, as he moves to the next chapter of his life in Chicago. If you’re there, I hope you’ll excuse me when I sneak out and make my way to the Santa Monica carwash to say a few words in support of fair wages and just working conditions for the carwasheros.

 

When I go, I’ll be taking this stole with me: Standing on the Side of Love. I love this message, and the entire SSOL campaign. I’ve been very proud to call myself a UU, thanks to our Standing on the Side of Love campaign.

You might know that our bright bold Standing on the Side of Love T-shirts have been worn to show support for marriage equality; for humane and just immigration reform in Arizona and elsewhere; and even at the core of Occupy Wall Street. We UU’s have appeared, gold-clad, in the New York Times and on Fox News. I got chills last spring when I heard an NPR reporter’s voice describe our “Standing on the Side of Love” signs.

 

As Unitarian Universalists, we stand on the side of justice; we stand on the side of love –and at times we’ve sat in jail cells. Did you know that we UU’s have a new name? We do – and it’s good news for those of you who have trouble choking out the ten syllables U.ni.ta.ri.an.U.ni.ver.sa.list. From gay pride events to the National Day of Non-Compliance with racist immigration laws, we UU’s have earned a flattering shorthand identity: “The Love People.”

 

What brings me the most joy, as a longtime Unitarian Universalist (excuse me, I mean, as a longtime Love Person) is not that we got press. It’s nice to appear in the news, but our visibility isn’t what pleases me the most. My joy is that the UUA’s Standing on the Side of Love campaign has provided us with a voice, and a place, and an identity.

 

We badly need this, as a people of faith. It’s important that we know who we are; it’s important that we’re able to articulate our religious identity. Myths and half-truths about us abound. Ask around and you’ll hear any of the following: that UU’s don’t stand for anything (other than liberal politics); that our worship life centers around an intellectual, not spiritual, center; that Unitarian Universalism is a religion of individualism; that if you’re a UU, you can believe “anything you want.”

 

I am, here and now, declaring all of these statements to be untrue. As I counter each of these myths with “helpful heresies,”1 you might not agree with me. That’s fine; at its best, a sermon is a conversation- starter. For all of the UU myths out there, this, at least, is so: we don’t have to share the same beliefs and the same truths.

 

myth #1 - there’s no “there” there

 

My colleague Meg Barnhouse tackles the first Great Myth of Unitarian Universalism when she says, “People talk sometimes about liberal religion as if it’s a thin gruel, watered down to please everyone... so general as to be meaningless.” She doesn’t name these “people,” so I won’t either, but one of them might be a certain national radio host whose name rhymes with Harrison Peeler.

 

It’s one of the most widespread misunderstandings about Unitarian Universalism: that absent the building blocks of creed and dogma, ours is an empty skeleton of religion.

 

What some outsiders don’t understand is that UU’ism is an alternative religion, not an alternative to religion. Where other faiths nail immovable planks of dogma to their support beams, blocking out the elements of doubt and mystery, we UU’s invite each person to drape their vibrant silks of belief and conviction across the rafters.

 

“Contrary to popular belief,” says Rev. Dan Harper,2 “it is not easy to be a Unitarian Universalist. If you are a Unitarian Universalist, you will care deeply about making this world a better place for all persons, to the point where you devote your whole life to that end.”

 

Meg Barnhouse puts it another way when she whimpers, “The UU Principles are demanding enough to make me whine.”

 

Unitarian Universalists occupy a colorful, shimmering tent of our own creation, walls shifting as we take down the faded bolts of fabric that no longer serve us, and replacing them with new truths born of experience.

 

myth #2 - “UUs go it solo”

 

Last fall I met someone in my town who reminded me about the next myth ripe for busting: that “Unitarian Universalist” is an identity that you slip on and off like a pair of hiking boots. Upon learning that I’m a UU minister, the man identified himself as a Unitarian Universalist.

 

“Oh, you must be member of the other UU church in town,” I concluded. “No, I don’t go to church,” he corrected me, “I just consider myself a UU. But that’s what’s so great about the Unitarians: You don’t have to go to services to be a UU.”

 

This was news to me. On that day, it was neither the time nor the place to engage in myth-busting (as a result, there were bite marks in my tongue). If it had been, this is what I would have said:

 

Everything I understand about Unitarian Universalism – and everything our congregation does and says – begins with the belief that we are in relationship with one another. You can admire UU’ism from the comfort of your home (or the brunch table, or the hiking trail). You can read about us, and feel allied with us in our social justice projects. But ours isn’t a theoretical faith; it’s a lived faith, an embodied one, and can only be real when

put into the practice of relationship.

 

Saying that you’re a UU without being part of a congregation3 is like claiming that you “visit” Germany by eating bratwurst on your couch while you watch the travel channel. Unless you bring yourself to a community, engage in those relationships, and support your chosen congregation with your time, talent, and treasure.

 

myth #3 - individualism rules

 

Relationship is also instrumental in busting our next myth: that Unitarian Universalism prizes individualism and freedom above all else. I counter this half-truth with a heresy borrowed from UU leader Mike Durall: “personal freedom and individual autonomy have outlived their usefulness as core values of Unitarian Universalism.”

 

Now, I cherish our fifth Principle: the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. I believe that honoring the right of conscience means “hearing the voice of everyone equally, allowing everyone to have a say.”5 Our congregations are places where people speak their truth without conforming to doctrine; where “we need not think alike to love alike.”

 

Healthy democracy and the voicing of truth shouldn’t entail bitter debate, choosing sides, and games of allegiance – but unhealthy UU congregations over-interpret and distort the principle of “democracy” when they put individual agendas above and apart from the Greater Good.

 

My colleague, Krista Taves, explains beautifully: Although we promote freedom, it is not freedom at all costs. This is not a religion for lone rangers. This is a religion for lovers of freedom who are called into community, because in community we are held accountable for the consequences of our beliefs.

 

As a people of faith, our relationships come before above any one issue or person, because Unitarian Universalism requires us to “[harness] some of our autonomy in the service of the common good.

 

myth #4 -  UU is a religion of the intellect

 

In 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson used Harvard’s pulpit to attack his Unitarian colleagues who offered nothing but “corpse cold” religion to their congregations. Nearly two centuries later, we UU’s still struggle to overcome the charge – and the false expectation – that our worship life is grounded in “intellectual stimulation.”

 

Our Unitarian Universalist congregations exist to transform the hearts and souls of our members, who then work to transform the world. Our purpose – if this is heresy, so be it – is to help people live lives of purpose and meaning, and to encourage one another to spiritual maturation. When I craft sermons and worship services each week, my goal isn’t to provide “intellectual stimulation” that you might appropriately pursue in an Adult Ed

course or on CSPAN.

 

Instead, I’m interested in shaping our religious journey as a “relational, experiential”  one.9 In my congregation, I craft sermons so they offer chewy bits of material for spiritual reflection; tools for the spiritual toolbox. What are the deepest mysteries and truths that life has revealed to you, so far?, I want to know. Here are mine.

 

myth #5 - “anything you want”

 

What, the intensely curious outsider wants to know, do Unitarian Universalists believe? Woe to those who offer the sloppy, well-intentioned shorthand response: “Anything you want.” This myth peeves me like no other. What makes me cringe is its vapid openendedness: the suggestion that “anything goes.” It’s simply not true.

 

“When we come together as Unitarian Universalists,” says one of my colleagues, “we give up some of [our] freedom to believe in ways that are not responsible. We give up the freedom to believe in harmful or unjust things. We accept the burden of responsible meaning making, and reasonable beliefs. We as Unitarian Universalists agree that our meaning making must not be at the expense of others, or to the exclusion of others.”

 

Dan Harper is a bit more succinct: “You cannot ‘believe anything you want.’ You must believe, with all your heart and soul and mind, that love can transform the world.”

 

What have you discovered, about this chosen faith?

 

How do you live your believe in the transformative power of love?

 

How do you continue to make meaning, and find purpose, in our Unitarian Universalist tent?

 

What are the deepest mysteries and truths that life has revealed to you, so far?

 

“This faith isn’t a thin gruel,” says Meg Barnhouse. “It’s not even a rich and hearty gruel. It’s walnuts and bananas, pancakes, mangoes, arugula, ginger, and avocado. The feast is prepared with effort, enjoyment, persistence, and commitment. Care to join me?”

 

Endnotes