In Unbroken Line

November 11, 2001

Forward through the ages,
In unbroken line,
Move the faithful spirits
At the call divine. -- Frederick Lucien Hosmer

Frederick Lucien Hosmer's familiar hymn--familiar to us Unitarian Universalists, anyway (wasn't there some other hymn with the same tune?)--is a reminder both of the uniqueness of our special tradition, and of what it means to stand in the middle of a historical continuum which stretches both backward into the past and forward into the future.

That continuous tradition has its roots in the Protestant Reformation of the 1500's, which spawned not only our Unitarian relatives in Transylvania, but also our ancestors among the Puritans of Great Britain, who as Congregationalists came to these shores over three hundred and seventy years ago. Locally, that tradition dates back to the gathering of the First Parish in Newbury in 1636. Out of that congregation emerged the Third Parish of Newbury, in what is now Newburyport, in 1725, which ultimately came to be known as the First Religious Society of Newburyport.

Anybody of even a vaguely historical curiosity can understand that this is holy ground upon which we stand. There are trajectories of meaning here stretching back to the very founding of this country in the plantation of New England. Through this place and through this community of people we are directly connected to the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Through this place and this community of people we are relative to the vision of those early planters, and to the earliest events in the history of this country. For better or for worse, we stand in unbroken line from King Philip's War, the Salem Witch Trials, the founding of Harvard College. We stand in unbroken line from the French and Indian Wars, and from the American Revolution.

We stand also in unbroken line from a religious vision, or rather from a religious quest. We may not wholeheartedly embrace every element of that vision or quest, but from its beginning it carried the seeds of the liberal religious tradition that we embrace today as Unitarian Universalism. It carried the seeds of a democratic form of government, both religious and secular, and of the religious liberty which we enjoy today in the United States of America. It carried the seeds of a social vision, of a great "city upon a hill," which, while far from being fulfilled, still draws us onward toward the realization of a better life for all of our citizens. There is still work for our hands and hearts to do.

The Puritans, in particular, have gotten a bad rap. But it is from them that we got our congregational style of church governance, which upholds the independence and autonomy of the local church, its freedom to choose its own leadership, both lay and ordained, and to set its own standards for membership. It is from them that we inherited a non-hierarchical form of church governance in which, as we used to affirm in the '60's, the power is with the people. It is from them that we received our social imperative.

It is from the vision of Puritan Congregationalists, with their great ideal of a "learned ministry," that a more liberal version of Christianity emerged in the 18th century, influenced by the writings and the revolutionary events of the Enlightenment, a liberal Christianity which would evolve into rational, non-creedal Unitarianism and eventually into Emersonian intuitionism, better known as Transcendentalism. The reason, freedom, and tolerance which historian Earl Morse Wilbur delineated as the three foundational principles of Unitarianism in both its European and American forms, as well as the natural mysticism of the New England Transcendentalists, all have their roots in the thinking and piety of those early Puritan settlers of New England. So does a more positive view of human nature that is, perhaps uniquely, and some might say naively, American.

The American Literary Renaissance of the 19th century, in which Unitarians in particular played such a prominent role, could not have taken place without the almost two centuries of Puritan inspired writing, preaching, and devotion which came before. Without Cotton Mather's magisterial history of early America, the Magnali Christi Americana, you would have no Hawthorne, without Jonathan Edwards' Personal Narrative you would have no Walden. Without Anne Bradstreet's The Tenth Muse Lately Spring Up in New England, there would be no Dickinson. Without the Puritans, there would be no notion of a "New England Mind," or of an "American" literature.

Becoming a part of that tradition is a daunting and inspiring act. For it includes saints and sinners, poets and heretics, scoundrels and divines. And now it includes us. We are its inheritors, and its stewards for the present and future generations. What we call "liberal religion" did not come without cost. "Free religion" is not free. The wider vision of "love and light" is still more of a hope than a reality. The enemies of freedom and of the triumph of universal love are still manifold.

In most of my sermons, that freedom and the belief that, as the Universalists used to say, "God is love," goes unstated. Our belief in "the inherent worth and dignity of every person," or, more traditionally, in the idea of "universal salvation," goes unstated. But it is there in every word I write, and in every utterance of mine from this pulpit.

The freedom, reason, and tolerance of Unitarianism, along with the universal love of Universalism, underlies all that I preach. It is the basis of my commitment to building a beloved community. It is there in my conviction that homosexuality is not a sin (the sin is homophobia), that racism and religious intolerance and prejudice of all kinds must be overcome, that each of us is worthy of love, that we must work together for a better world of love, peace, and justice.

That underlying freedom and love must also be manifest in every gathering of ours together, in all of our decisions, in our vision for the future, and in our honoring of our past and of all those who have gone before us. Each of us, no matter how annoying, is a precious and perishable being, worthy of respect for who we are. My religion reminds me that none of us is perfect, that we are all in the process of becoming, that we are not "saved" yet, and that that process is not for just a moment or a day but for a lifetime. Our gifts may be "in differing measure," but we must always strive to achieve "hearts of one accord."

We are all "bound by God's far purpose, in one living whole." None of us is alone, none of us is an island unto herself; wherever one is left behind socially or economically or educationally, we are all left behind.

This church still extends its call to us, challenging us to make the world a better place and to make ourselves the better people that we dream of being. Some of us have heard that call, and answered it, and some of us will hear it in the days and years to come. Years ago, in my first church in Hanska, Minnesota, I wrote a letter to a couple of new members in which I quoted the following affirmation of membership by the late Unitarian minister A. Powell Davies:

By joining this church, you will be committed, not to any fixed intellectual creed, or to any stated body of doctrine, but to a moral and spiritual purpose.

 

You must seek the truth for yourself in the undimmed light of conscience, and wherever you find it, faithfully follow it;

 

Worship your God as you find God in your own experience, the power of your growing thought, the voice of conscience, the revelation of beauty--and in all that fills the human heart;

 

Serve humankind wherever justice beckons you, or mercy calls, in simple tasks or great;

 

And in all these things, deal honestly with the best of your thought, never pretending that the false is true or that wrong is right.

The world is much too short on justice, sympathy, and love; I like to think that joining together in this liberal church is most importantly a way to dedicate ourselves to the building-up of caring, human community.

I am proud to stand in that unbroken line of those who have worked to make the world a better place. As we have all been reminded recently, we desperately need places like this, places where we can find encouragement for the journey, where we can find the freedom to learn and grow, where the answers are not given and our questions are welcomed, places where we are accepted for who we are and not for who someone else thinks we should be, places where we can find comfort in time of sorrow and company in times of joy, places which challenge us to use our gifts for the benefit of all.

Frederick Lucien Hosmer was one of our greatest Unitarian hymn writers. That may not seem like much, because we are still a small movement, but never underestimate the value of a good idea or of a bright vision! Never underestimate the power of words. His great hymn, to the tune of that other hymn--what is it?--speaks volumes about why it is that we are gathered here today:

Forward through the ages,
in unbroken line,
move the faithful spirits
at the call divine:
gifts in differing measure,
hearts of one accord,
manifold the service,
one the sure reward.

Wider grows the vision,
realm of love and light;
for it we must labor,
till our faith is sight
Prophets have proclaimed it,
martyrs testified,
poets sung its glory,
heroes for it died.

Not alone we conquer,
not alone we fall;
in each loss or triumph
lose or triumph all.
Bound by God's far purpose
in one living whole,
move we on together
to the shining goal.

Forward through the ages,
in unbroken line,
move the faithful spirits
at the call divine.

My fondest hope is that we will all hear and respond to that call, and that we will join that unbroken line of faithful spirits. For I believe in this free faith, our precious inheritance down through the ages, and its saving power both for ourselves and for our world.

May this Unitarian Universalism inspire and sustain us, holding us together in the beloved community of faith, hope, love, and courage. And may it do so not just on this day, but in all of the days still to come. So may it be. Amen.

The Rev. Harold E. Babcock