Faith Out of Nothing

It's true, folks. If you go online and google the phrase "Unitarian Universalist jokes", you get a plethora of jokes-some of them actually rather funny. Like this one: How many UUs does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer of course is that we choose not to make a statement either in favour 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. You are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your personal relationship with your light bulb. Present it next month at our annual Light Bulb Sunday Service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life, and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

The jokes can be quite humorous. But when one reads too many in succession, as I did recently, one gets the distinct impression that Unitarian Universalism is seen as being a religion about nothing. Or worse, it seems that Unitarian Universalists seem to like perpetuating the myth that we are religion-lite.

I have heard it said that Unitarian Universalism is an "easy" religion, or that it's "not really" a religion. It's easy because you can believe anything you want. You don't have to live by certain rules. You don't have to pretend to agree with what anyone else says. You can make it up to suit you. Well, I take great exception to this sentiment. In my mind, there is little that is easy about being a Unitarian Universalist.

When I signed the membership book at the First Universalist Society of Salem close to 20 years ago, a UU acquaintance asked me why I had finally decided to become a UU. My response was that I didn't become a UU. I simply joined a church. I was very clear that there was a difference between being a Unitarian Universalist and simply being a member of a local church. In retrospect, I believe that I sensed that truly claiming this as my religion would mean some challenging work ahead. It IS, I guess, easy to simply be a member of a UU church if one wants it to be. But when one truly embraces this old faith tradition, truly claims it as one's own, well, that's when it gets harder. But it gets interesting, too.

Take, for instance, the task of simply describing to someone what Unitarian Universalism is. Trying to explain it can feel akin to trying to pin down a cloud. How easy can this religion really be when we can hardly find words to describe it? It's true, there are some people out there who have it down, people who can beautifully describe UUism succinctly and clearly, those who have a refined so-called "elevator speech". Are you familiar with the concept of the elevator speech? You're on an elevator and a stranger gets on at the seventh floor, asks what Unitarian Universalism is, and you know you have just down to the lobby to explain it. I admire those people who have not only composed an elevator speech but who can also actually remember it and say it out loud. I am not one of them.

But the challenges of being a Unitarian Universalist run far deeper than simply not being able to describe it very well. Sometimes, it's hard to be in a community that paints such a wide theological and stylistic stroke. I feel right at home here at the First Religious Society. This is a rather Yankee church, and I'm a rather Yankee girl. But when I stumble out into the greater UU world, as I do with some frequency, I invariably find myself in situations that really don't feed my soul much. I have attended UU worship services, in various settings, that have left me wanting-either because the worship leader is trying too hard to include any and all possible theological leanings so as to water it down, or the worship leader's own bent is very different than my own. On an intellectual level, I understand that this is part of what makes Unitarian Universalism what it is. But speaking personally, it's hard feeling untouched, or even uncomfortable, in a Unitarian Universalist worship service.

Another challenging aspect of this religion of ours is that whole deal about not providing answers. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't seriously believe that I'd be better off being told what to believe. And yet… there are days when I long for some answers. There are days when the words "It was God's will" or "She's in a better place" feel strangely appealing. This feeling has intensified as my children have gotten older. When our dog, Manchester, died earlier this year, it would have felt kinder, somehow, to be able to say with certainty, "Yes, Manny is in heaven watching over us and someday we'll see her again." It certainly would have been easier than struggling as I did. "Well, I don't know where Manny is. I don't know if there's a heaven. But she'll always be part of our memories and live forever in our hearts." I wish I could know deep, deep in my bones that she's with God in Heaven, having her tummy rubbed and eating steak to her heart's content. But nothing in Unitarian Universalism tells me this must be so.

So why, then do I stay? Why do I stick by this religion that I can't explain, that sometimes makes me uncomfortable, and leaves me sometimes wanting something more? Why do I unabashedly call myself a Unitarian Universalist, one in the big sense, not simply a member of a church I happen to like?

I stay with it because I believe so deeply in the saving message of Unitarian Universalism. I believe in the power of our message-that every human life is sacred-I believe in the power of this to transform our world from one that is unjust and heartbreaking to one where love and justice reign. I believe that our message that indeed all of life is sacred-not just human, but also animal, plant and the earth itself-is a powerful message that the world needs desperately to hear and take to heart.

In my earlier years as a Unitarian Universalist, I was not convinced that this was a religion at all. I kept wondering why we weren't considered instead a "multi-faith community". After all, there are UU atheists, UU agnostics, UU Buddhists, UU Christians, UU pagans, UU theists, UU deists, UU pantheists, UU panentheists… the list goes on. What in the world makes us a religion when we have such varied beliefs? Other religions have a shared set of beliefs and/or a creed. Then look at us. We've got some folks who speak easily about God and others who can only refer to God in choked voices as "the G word". In my former UU church, we actually had a traditional communion service four times a year. And rest assured, there were some people who felt isolated and betrayed on those Sundays. Some stayed away. Others found it profoundly meaningful. What kind of religion is this? I had to wonder.

Then I learned that the origin of the word "religion" has nothing to do with creed or belief. The origin is the same as that for the word "ligament", which means literally "to bind together". It so happens that other religions are bound together by creed. We UUs are bound by a shared commitment to seek the truth in love, to honor the worth and dignity of every person. I don't believe that there is a higher religious ideal.

My own path to Unitarian Universalism was a bit unorthodox. I came by way of the help wanted ads in the Boston Globe. I was fresh out of college and looking to get into publishing. I applied for a music editorial assistant job. It turned out to be assisting with the work of putting together the grey hymnals that are sitting in your pews. I had never heard of Unitarian Universalism. That job led to another within the Unitarian Universalist Association, then another, and by then I had an intense interest and a fair knowledge of this religion. I gradually became active in a local congregation, and after I left employment at the UUA, I volunteered. Gradually, of course, it led me right here.

I sometimes stop and wonder what my life would be like if I had gotten one of the other publishing jobs I had applied for… say, the one that published cable television guides. I wonder what I would be like if I hadn't found Unitarian Universalism. Fundamentally, I suppose I would be the same person. I would likely have the same or at least similar values. But I know that I would be different, too.

Since becoming a Unitarian Universalist, one in the large sense, I am not afraid to call myself and see myself as a religious person. Being religious means that I embrace this peculiar religion, this religion that calls on us to see all of life as sacred. It means that I embrace this peculiar religion that challenges me to find what it is that I have faith in, that thing larger than myself that makes this whole business of living a meaningful affair.

In the reading I shared earlier, Victoria Safford writes, "We are on our own to make a faith out of nothing, which is to say, out of everything we have. That is daunting, lonely work, demanding and relentless work, the work of a lifetime, and I suspect it is the very scope of it that keeps our tiny movement small." Ours is a faith out of nothing. Meaning, I suppose, that as Unitarian Universalists, we are challenged to find what it is that we have faith in. Some of us have faith in what we call god or spirit, some of us have faith in the goodness of humanity, for some it is a faith that, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." We all have faith in something larger than ourselves. It is the thing that gets us out of bed on some mornings, that keeps us going even when we want to shut down. It is the thing that keeps us in that struggle to do good, to seek justice, to live with integrity, and to honor all living things.

Remember the man in the story? The poor man with the wooden sword? Remember how he carried his faith with him every day? His happened to be an unwavering faith in a god that would take care of him. My own faith is in part that we are all connected by some sacred force. Imagine if I lived my life like the man in the story, living my life through my faith, letting my faith guide my choices, decisions, and actions. Though it is likely not truly attainable, it's a worthy goal. And it feels more attainable when I am part of a community that struggles to live in faith.

For that is what we do. We are bound together, and we struggle together. We struggle to do good, to seek justice, to live with integrity, to honor all living things. And it is a struggle, to be sure.

Ours is a faith out of nothing, not a faith about nothing. Our Unitarian Universalism calls on us to be religious people all the time, not merely in church on Sunday mornings. It calls on us to be a faithful people, people who are propelled by our faith in something larger than ourselves to do good work in the world. Let's not be ashamed to use the word "religious" to describe ourselves. We are religious. We are bound together by the highest ideals. May we long continue to struggle, religiously, together.

Julie Parker Amery