Born Again in Boston

Karen Lerner

"We are so large we didn't fit into one room. The last General Assembly in Boston, in 1978, included 1211 registrants representing 421 congregations. Twenty five years later,the 2003 General Assembly has 7000+ registrants representing almost 800 congregations.

2. a. Opening remarks by Rev. William Sinkford: "Unitarian Universalists came to Boston in need of strength and coming together. But I come this evening with a renewed faith in American Democracy. The United States Supreme Court, by a 6-3 majority, struck down the Texas sodomy law. This is a victory for all people and for the values of Unitarian Universalism; dignity, choice, freedom and love."

b. In her opening remarks, moderator Diane Olson gave those assembled a challenge. "Be ahead of the wave, not behind it: make the many one, seek common ground: be aware, speak out, have courage, be dedicated, take a stand." "Our heritage is on loan to us and we are its stewards. Care for it, enrich it, and pass it along to another generation."

Margot Schumm

Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol writes about children he has known in New York’s South Bronx who live and are educated in extreme poverty. He spoke on unequal segregated education and the need for a courageous and transcendent answer from communities of faith.

But, someone said, we can be kind to the children. As if Apartheid were redeemable. Charity is not a substitute for justice. Churches need to stand out, MUST speak to politicians in our own neighborhoods, bring struggle back to the suburbs, to the affluent communities.

"There is something profoundly hypocritical about a president who says an 8-year old is accountable for tests when the President and Congress are not accountable. Tests, without prior equity, bludgeon children and humiliate teachers. You can’t treat people that badly without setting them apart. In this, the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, most northern cities are more segregated than they were 50 years ago."

Coralie Adler

Howard Zinn, who believes historical change occurs more often through mass movements of ordinary people than through the wisdom and insight of so-called great men.

History can disabuse you of the notion that the interests of the government and your interests are the same. Governments are set up for a certain small number of people. In history many, including James Madison, said this. The government. is not set up for the people. Despite the words of the Preamble of the Constitution "We the people of the United States..." they weren’t talking about all of us. They were 55 rich white men gathered in Phila. who felt they would serve the interests of the slave owner, the land owners, the merchants and the western land speculators.

They wanted a government that would put down rebellions & maintain law and order. The constitution was not set up to protect the interests of the native Americans, or the slaves, or those who are propertyless. And if you don’t know history, you might not understand that our interests are not the same as the government.

 Len Adler

David Cole contends that, today we are seeking the course of least resistance. As policy makers, we are "striking the balance" between liberty and security on the backs of foreign nationals. After 9/11, all of us felt increased vulnerability in the wake of that day. How we reacted certainly required that we rethink the balance between liberty and security.

As Congress develops new national security policies, he urges us to monitor closely to be sure that they are based on rational principles rather than fear. "It has always been a balance between keeping us secure and keeping us secure from the government...our liberties are more tested in times like these.....but we must remember that these liberties were put into place precisely for times like this. If we give them up without careful consideration, then we have given up what this country stands for."

As Unitarian Universalists and as Americans, our responsibility is to take the matter of civil rights for all people seriously.

Mary Beth Nowinski

Excerpts from the final statement, as adopted at GA, follows.

Economic Globalization 2003 UUA Statement of Conscience Summary

While economic globalization has helped some people attain higher standards of living, it has marginalized and impoverished many others and has resulted in environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources. The benefits of economic globalization have been inequitably distributed and have not reached many people around the world.

Seeing the world as an interconnected web challenges us to turn from self-serving individualism toward a relational sense of ourselves in a global community, and toward practices that help create economic structures designed to serve the common good. We are called to bring our Unitarian Universalist principles to our understanding of economic globalization and to help mitigate its adverse effects.

Economic Globalization and Its Consequences

Economic globalization, broadly understood, is the growing global integration not only of markets but also of systems of finance, commerce, communication, technology, and law that bypass traditional national, cultural, ethnic, and social boundaries.

There is no effective global political regulatory or policing system that controls critical aspects of economic globalization. The rules governing economic globalization have been created through trade agreements, international law, and institutions dominated by industrialized countries. These rules favor those with access to capital, legitimizing measures such as dropping tariffs, eliminating capital controls, enforcing intellectual property rights, privatizing public services, and weakening regulations that protect labor, health and safety, and the environment.

Unitarian Universalists are concerned about the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a corporate elite who are dictating the terms of major economic and social parameters throughout the world. Together these factors generate profound anger and despair that fuel ideological and religious fundamentalism, increasing violence, and international terror.

As people of faith, we are challenged to find ways to promote global economic fairness while maintaining the dynamism of the marketplace. As Unitarian Universalists, we affirm and promote: The acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth, and a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We are called to better understand the complexities of economic globalization, mindful that deeper global awareness enriches our individual and communal spirituality. We need to hold our political and corporate leaders accountable for their policies and actions.

The full statement may be seen at (insert URL here)

Background: Unitarian Universalist Association Statement of Conscience builds upon five previous social witness statements on economic, environmental, and labor issues adopted between 1972 and 2001. In June 2001, the General Assembly of the UUA selected "Economic Globalization" as the issue suggested to congregations for two years of study, action, and reflection. The Commission on Social Witness (CSW) received initial reports from congregations and districts in March 2002. In June 2002, the CSW held a workshop on this issue at General Assembly. A draft Statement of Conscience was distributed to all congregations and districts for their reflection and feedback in the fall of 2002.

Harvey Lerner

In our Unitarian Universalist faith, ordination is the act which makes a person a recognized minister. I say this while recognizing that our ministry, the ministry of our faith, belongs to all of us, ordained and not. But the ordained ministry happens only through a congregation which must first vote to ordain and finally then speak the words of ordination at a special service, of which Cedar Lane has had many.

However, a minister is not only tied to a congregation but also to the larger Unitarian Universalist ministry. Credentials to be part of that ministry are granted through our Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (of which we are one, out of about 1000), and more specifically, through its Ministerial Fellowship Committee. Being approved for Ministerial Fellowship by this committee is not an easy thing. It has high standards and have many requirements that must be filled, including a successful internship, clinical pastoral education often through a summer of chaplaincy in a hospital, academic success, letters of support from many sources, and much more. And finally, each candidate for ministerial fellowship must demonstrate a pastoral presence and authority in an interview with the Committee. It is a very big deal and takes a lot of preparation.

Then, when a person has been approved for fellowship that person is welcomed into a stream of living tradition in the UU ministry, which flows from all who have served our faith movement through their ministries, going back to our earliest days.

At the Service of the Living Tradition at GA, there is a recognition by the gathered body that our newest ministers, being granted preliminary fellowship, are joining a long and worthy stream of ministry, that our ministers who have successfully completed at least three years of ministry are granted final fellowship, that our retiring ministers are leaving their ministries in the hands of those who follow them. These people are brought forward and recognized as they walk across the dias and receive certificates of recognition. And, then, finally, the names of our ministers who have died, are read as those assembled stand as they are able in silence, out of our deep respect and thanks.

Each year one of the speakers at this service comes from the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and this year it was our own Reverend Leslie Westbrook, who serves the MFC in the demanding work that it does.

Let us, on this day, read the names of those whose ministries were honored this year at the Service of the Living Tradition at General Assembly in Boston.

    Receiving Preliminary fellowship - Katherine Anne Jesch

    Receiving Final Fellowship - Anne Herndon, Douglas Taylor

    Completing Full-Time Ministry - Roberta M. Nelson

    Deceased - Duncan Howlett

Susan Archer

We gather this morning in the arms of Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, a faith community which cradles us in our dreams and serves as a workshop for our common endeavor. Let us this morning also think of our connections to the many UU congregations throughout this land and let us remember the power and energy that can come from our joined efforts – in touching the spirit, in sharpening our thinking, and in challenging us to be justice seekers and peacemakers.

At his lecture, Rev. John Buehrens, former UUA president, made an impassioned and undisguised pitch to a standing-room-only-crowd for Understanding the Bible, his new book. In his words, there is "hostility out there to liberal interpretations of our scriptual heritage. We are in a significant struggle to reclaim our valid right to interpret the common spiritual heritage. We need to make critical judgments about textual history and contemporary application - whether a story or insight is in the true spirit of liberation, love, and justice-making toward which the heritage points. And it is impossible to be an educated member of our society without recognizing the deep resonance of Biblical traditions throughout our art, music, and literature.

What finally matters is the spirit in which we address this Biblical heritage." Buehrens challenges us to approach it with fresh eyes, an open mind, and greater sensitivity to the power of metaphor and meaning-making. His book is designed as a teaching tool for skeptics, seekers, and religious liberals. I propose that we at Cedar Lane, using his book, accept Buehrens' challenge to bother with the Bible.

Dusty Kreisberg

In his column in the the March/April UUA World, The Reverend William Sinkford observed that our statement of the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism did not contain "one piece of traditional religious language". He wondered if "our resistance to religious language ... (accounts) for the struggle that many of us experience in trying to say who we are as Unitarian Universalists." He affirmed that "We have Good News for a world that badly needs it. But we may need to expand our vocabularies if we want others to hear us."

Sinkford quoted from a paper by the Reverend David Bumbaugh, a religious humanist teaching at Meadeville Lombard Theological Seminary, who wrote: "We have manned the ramparts of reason and are prepared to defend the citadel of the mind, but, in the process, ... we have lost ... the ability to speak of that which is sacred, holy, of ultimate importance to us, ...

William Pratt

from Forrest Church: Born Again Unitarian Universalism

"For me, evangelical Unitarian-Universalism is NOT an oxymoron. Imagine yourself at a dinner party. Someone asks you what U-Us believe. Some Unitarian-Universalists employ God language; some do not. It really doesn't matter. God is our name for that which is greater than all and yet present in each. Call it what you will: spirit of life, ground of being, life itself, it remains what it always has - an awe-inspiring mind-bending mystery. True believers define religion narrowly and embrace it. Our skeptical neighbors define religion narrowly and reject it. We define religion broadly and embrace it.

If you really want to make that dinner party interesting , you might tell your table companions that Unitarian Universalism is the quintessential American faith. Think of the Declaration of Independence; listen for how our U-U principles echo them, often word for word: inherent worth and dignity; equity and compassion; mutual acceptance; freedom and responsibility; conscience; the democratic process, peace, liberty and justice for all; and one whole of which we are a part. Don't be afraid to point this out to your fundamentalist friends. To be anti-Unitarian is to be anti-American! It's down-right unpatriotic. Our theology itself-embracing so many angles of vision, so many distinctive experiences-is founded on the nation's saving principle of E pluribus unum (out of many, one).

In what I call the Cathedral of the World there millions of windows, each telling its own story of who we are, where we came from, where we are going, each illuminating life's meaning. In this respect, we are many. But we are also one, for the one Light shines through every window. The acknowledgement of essential unity is the central pillar of Unitarian-Universalism.

In contrast, fundamentalists, perceiving the Light shining through their own window, conclude that theirs is the only window through which it shines. They may even incite their followers to throw stones through other people's windows.

Secular materialists make precisely the opposite mistake. Perceiving the bewildering variety of windows and worshippers, they conclude there is no Light.

This same metaphor offers an easy to remember description of Unitarian Universalism, perfect, in fact, for that dinner party. One Light (Unitarianism) shines through many windows (Universalism), illuminating human minds and hearts in many different ways. In our congregations we honor this truth by encouraging our members to reflect on the Light through whatever set of windows they find most illuminating.

Our churches are nothing less than spiritual laboratories for the practice of E pluribus unum, out of many, one. Why then do we choose to join together rather than exercise our full freedom to believe what we will in the privacy of our homes?

Simply because experience has taught us that we need one another. We need guidance recognizing our tears in one another's eyes. We need prompting to raise our moral sights. We need companions in the work of love and justice to enhance our neighborhoods and to strengthen our witness in the world. We need to be reminded how precious life is and how fragile.

So, my fellow born-again Unitarian Universalists, I say to you, lift that light up from behind its bushel. Go out joyfully and bravely into this blessed evening and beyond. Don't be afraid of climbing to the very rooftops. Raise that beacon as high as you can. Go out and do your sacred duty. Sisters and brothers, amen and Hallelujah; spread the word!

Marilyn Hathaway

LARRY LADD is the UUA Financial Advisor. He analyzes trends in our movement. He is elected by the General Assembly and is in his second four-year term. He reports that our market share is holding steady as a percentage of the population. Our adult membership continues to grow, but at less than our potential. Religious Education enrollments continue to grow, but the trend is flattening. His full report - along with much of what went on at GA - is on the UUA web site: www.uua.org.

WILLIAM SINKFORD is the president of the UUA in his first four-year term and I quote from his remarks: "I want to say a few words about the growth of our faith. We talk a lot about it, but why is growth important? For me there are two reasons. One is that there are all those folks out there who need what we have found. There are so many who would respond hungrily to our message, if only we would reach out to them. And the other is that we need to grow in order to be more effective at helping the universe bend towards justice. Our voice needs to be clearer, and more robust. We simply cannot allow the religious right to have the only effective religious voice in the public square."

He went on to describe two initiatives which you may have read about in UU WORLD: starting an intentionally large church in Dallas-Fort Worth, and a pilot advertising campaign in Kansas City which used radio, television, newspapers, and billboards.

He said: "One man saw one of our billboards on his way to work - the one that reads: "A different Trinity: respect, freedom, justice." This man - who hadn't been inside any church for more than a decade - got to work, called his wife, and said, 'You're going to think I'm crazy, but I've seen a billboard nd I think I've found a church.' They showed up the following Sunday with their three-year-old son and joined the following month."

Sinkford then told of a UUA staff member, who met with the head of missionary work for the Mormons during GA-97 in Salt Lake City. The Mormons had done their homework, and knew a lot about us. And this Morman said: "You know, Unitarian Universalists have a remarkable ability to attract visitors - proportionately many more than we do. But you're lousy at holding onto them.". He concluded that if our churches were half as successful at integrating and retaining members as the Mormons are, Unitarian Universalism would be "the most dangerous church in America."

Mike Harris