|
A Call to Faith, Liberally
A Sermon Given
by Rev. Barbara Wells
on March 31, 2003
at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
Bethesda, Maryland
This morning, I have been invited to share in one of the most important
Sundays of your church year. In a few minutes, you will be asked to make a
powerful and I believe sacred commitment to this congregation. When you sign
your estimate of giving card, and bring it forward to place in a basket
alongside others cards, you are taking part in something particularly
meaningful in today’s world. For you are willing, by being here, by supporting
this church with your time and your money, to go on record as someone who has
faith in the liberal church. And that, dear ones, is a large and at times
dangerous commitment to make.
I would venture to say that most of us here today are liberals, for we
espouse one of the world’s most liberal religions. Yet in our nation today, we
are somehow supposed to be ashamed of being liberal. I am not ashamed to be
liberal. And I would hope no one in this room is ashamed, either. But if we
listen to the voices of archconservatives, and even moderates, you would think
that being a liberal makes us into some kind of a demon. Many people are
downright hostile to liberals, and it tends to put us on the defensive.
Part of the real challenge of liberalism today is an unwillingness to name
our values, to stand up for what we believe in. Many seemingly liberal leaders
of our nation are often unwilling to name and claim their liberalism. Unlike
some of the great liberals of the past (Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt
to name two) many liberal leaders do not speak out for the liberal values of
justice and compassion, and in so doing give away their power to make a real
difference in the world.
This political reality is mirrored in the religious realm as well. People
who are liberal religiously often find themselves unable to answer the
dogmatic claims of the religious right. Because of this, the conservative
religious groups in our nation are setting the agenda in election after
election, and in congregations around the United States. Liberal religious
groups like ours are virtually ignored by the politicians and the press
because when they ask us what we believe, too often we have nothing to say.
Let me ask you a question. Think about the last time someone asked you if
you went to church, or what your religious beliefs were. Were you calm and
confident in your response, able to speak clearly of your beliefs and
religious commitments? Or did you fumble wanting so much to say what you
believe deep down but lacking the language by which to speak of it? If the
latter is more common for you (as it unfortunately is for too many UUs) then I
hope today’s sermon will be of help to you.
Today I intend to give you a simple but profound way to talk about what is
at the center of liberal religion, in particular our liberal religion,
Unitarian Universalism. I will articulate four tenets of our faith, which, I
believe, can hold their own in the world today. Four values or principles
which shape how we live in the world. Four ways that we are called to faith,
liberally.
First, Unitarian Universalists believe strongly in the inherent worth and
dignity of every person. This means that we are called upon to treat all other
human beings as if they matter, as if they are precious to us. So, I would say
that at the center of our faith lies in a commitment to a radical acceptance
of others.
Second, as Unitarian Universalists, we also value the spiritual path of all
people, including people whose ideas are very different from our own. Each of
us, in our own way, must find a path to what is most holy in life. Thus at the
center of our faith is respect for the spiritual journey in all its diversity.
Third, we are people who believe in community, and the gifts it brings to
all of us. Community is developed when people promise to live and work
together toward a greater good. The old fashioned word for this is covenant.
At the center of our faith is a covenant to serve and be together in
community.
Finally, our approach to the universe includes a reverence for all of life,
not just human life. The wonder and awe we feel as a part of the great web of
existence permeates our religious worldview. Thus at the center of our faith
is a deep sense of creation as holy.
I invite you to imagine that our faith rests on four strong pillars. One
pillar is radical acceptance of others. The other pillar is respect for the
spiritual journey. Another pillar is a covenant to be together in community.
And its fourth pillar is a sense of the holiness of creation. If this is so,
and I believe it is, what do these principles have to teach us about living a
faithful life?
Let me begin with the first pillar – the radical acceptance of others. As
Unitarian Universalists, we cannot fall into the trap of making any person, no
matter how heinous their deeds or how wounded their personality, into a
non-human thing. Making people into things is the beginning of hatred and all
that follows from it. Our religious perspective calls on us to seek out what
is human in all people, and to condemn the behavior, not the person.
This can be easier to talk about than to live. Let me give you an example.
For a few years, I volunteered at a prison in Washington State, and worked
with a number of violent criminals. With two other women, we led a group of
prisoners who used their time with us to talk about their pain and struggle
both inside the prison and beyond. On one occasion, a young man in our group
said to me that he hated society and other people for creating a monster -
him. This young man was scary. He had obviously committed a very serious crime
and looked to be as mean and deadly as they come.
Yet there was something about him that caused me to stop for a moment
before calling him to task for not taking responsibility for his actions. I
told him that calling himself a monster reminded me of Maurice Sendak's
wonderful book, Where the Wild Things Are. At the mention of this
story, this boy in a man's body lit up. "That was my favorite book as a child"
he told us. And he spoke for the first time from the real and hurting place
inside.
And in that moment the monster disappeared and in its place stood a child
so wounded by life that he could barely see himself as human. But, by finding
that bit of him that could still be touched, the prisoner’s face softened and
we saw the child behind the mask. This does not mean that we condoned the
crime. Rather were able to see the person behind the criminal. A person who
has inherent worth and dignity no matter what he did. This attitude becomes
challengingly real when we face men like the two snipers whose actions
terrorized our region last fall. It seems that everyone and their brother is
out for revenge. We are so ready to kill these two that they are convicted and
sentenced before they are even tried. I feel particular compassion for the
boy, Lee Malvo. I wonder if he isn’t like the wounded child in a monsters body
I met inside a Washington prison. With a radical acceptance of others as a
central tenet of our faith, we are called to see these criminals as human,
even as we hold them responsible for their actions.
Now let’s explore the second pillar. Our faith challenges us to see each
person as a pilgrim on a spiritual path. For some of us, this idea might
conjure up a vagabond holy man walking shoeless down a road in search of
mystical visions. Certainly, some do follow such a path. But for most of us,
the spiritual journey is more mundane, though no less critical or meaningful.
Here at this church, I expect some of you find much of your spiritual health
in reading and reflection about great ideas. Some among us pray. Others find
our road is filled with fellow journeyers with whom we can share thoughts and
feelings. Some of us find our spiritual path through the body, and seek a
sense of wholeness through Tai'Chi, meditation, even walking. And, of course,
many find that our path leads us toward music, art and poetry.
What our faith invites us to do is to see each path as holy, even if it
differs wildly from our own. This is why we believe in teaching our children
about other religions as well as Unitarian Universalism. When we are able to
view different religious paths not as threats but as opportunities to learn
and grow, our own path may broaden.
One caution. There are some paths that people choose to take that are
extremely exclusive, sometimes even hateful to others. Our religious
perspective invites us to view these paths with our minds as well as our
hearts. We may conclude they are wrong or harmful. They may very well be. But
we must not jump to conclusions based on discomfort or difference alone. There
has been a lot of harm done in this world because people were unwilling to
accept the different religious beliefs of another. Our faith invites us all to
look with respect on others spiritual paths, something few religions have ever
done. We must never take this important value for granted. Few religious
people throughout history have ever been willing to attempt to model as
inclusive an approach as our religion does.
Third, our faith calls us to live in community. I believe that community in
and of itself is a faithful way to live and learn. Today, our world pushes us
apart and making the promise to be in community is a very difficult promise to
make. Yet I think it is a profoundly religious thing to do. The root of the
word religion means that which binds us together. If we are in true community,
we are bound together in powerful ways.
Yet community isn't easy to create. Parker Palmer, a Quaker theologian,
wrote once that community is that place where the person you least want to
live with always lives. And when he or she moves away, someone always comes
along to take their place. Ain't that the truth?! Community can be hard; being
a church can be challenging. Yet, it is worth it. When you come together here
you promise, you covenant to try to live in ways that affirm our values. You
try to model to the world that people of diverse beliefs can live together in
harmony. You can't do that outside of community. You can't value diversity
without experiencing it. You can't respect and cherish other humans without
meeting them and knowing them face to face. Community is often hard. But, when
you make the promise to support each other, and to worship, learn and grow
together as you do here, the rewards are great, for you, for your children,
and hopefully for the world.
Finally, our faith rests on a deep-seated belief that all of creation is
holy. We can have a tremendous impact on our culture if this cornerstone of
our faith ever becomes truly realized. Much of the traditional religious world
accepts the idea that humans have dominion over the earth and that all the
animals and plants on it were made exclusively for our use. Yet, increasingly
religious people of all persuasions are beginning to question the approach to
the earth, which sees it as dead matter, here to be used by humans. To imagine
and experience the world as a living creature, as a being of which we are an
important part, is a powerful faith statement. When we view all creation as
holy, we can no longer take for it for granted. Each step we take on the
earth, all the food we eat, even the air we breathe takes on religious meaning
if we view it as sacred.
The implications for this are huge. Our planet is under enormous duress,
and there are those in power across the globe who don’t seem to care. Our
faith challenges us to do everything we can to treat our planet as the living
being it is. When we honor that creation itself is sacred and holy, we can’t
help but look at everything we do to hurt or better the earth as having
religious implications. An article last fall in the Washington Post spoke of
this idea even taking root in Evangelical churches. They ask the question,
"What would Jesus drive?" We should be asking similar kinds of questions of
ourselves if we are called to live a faithful life that includes a belief in
the holiness of creation.
Unitarian Universalism is a religion that rests on the strong pillars of
respect for human dignity, appreciation of the spiritual and the communal
path, and a sense of all creation as holy. Today, many would tell us that this
perspective is not truly religious for it does not require a creed, even a
God. Yet I believe, truly and deep down, that our world is crying out for a
religion like ours. For too long we have been either unable or unwilling to
articulate our faith and values in the marketplace of ideas. When a friend
asks us if we are religious, we might stare into space and mumble some
inarticulate response.
How much more powerful it would be to answer yes, with fervor! And then to
tell our friend the basic tenets of our faith. It does not have to be
difficult. It does not have to hurt. It can even make you proud and happy.
When we are called to faith, liberally, we are called to a faith forged in
freedom. But we know, how clearly we know, that freedom never comes without
cost. The work of this church depends on you to support it, to make it come
alive in all the ways you know it can. Are you ready to make your commitment
and share your faith with the world? For the world needs us, dear ones, it
really and truly does.
Learning to name our beliefs and claim them without shame can go a long way
toward strengthening our faith in the often hostile religious and political
environment we face today. In the face of war and all that is fearful around
us, we are called not to despair or give up but to raise our liberal voices
with hope and courage. You have said that this church is a haven for spiritual
diversity. And so it is. May you also be willing, from this haven, to let your
faith move you into your community to make a difference. The world needs our
voices to ring out loud and clear, proclaiming the religious values of human
dignity and the sacredness of creation. The world needs places where the
spiritual path is valued and community is created. The world needs us. May our
lives bear witness to our faith. Amen.
Office@CedarLane.org
| 
