By Reverend Rebecca Bryan

“UUs Don’t Believe Anything” and Other Misperceptions

I’m going to start this morning by giving you the headline, or the end of the sermon, at the beginning. There is so much to be said and so little time. Trying to answer the question “What is Unitarian Universalism?” while also addressing misperceptions and answering your questions all in seventeen minutes means I will be saying a little bit about a lot of things. I want to be sure there is at least one thing you all walk away remembering, and that is this: Unitarian Universalism is a Living Tradition.

Unitarian Universalism is a Living Tradition means that ours is a faith that evolves. Ours is a religion that changes. We are part of a faith tradition that honors history, responds to the present, and creates the future. We do it in covenant, or promise with one another, and we do it imperfectly.

Unitarian Universalism is a religion built on relationship and mutual respect and is a spiritual response to that fact that we are inextricably interconnected  to one another, to all sentient beings, and to the universe.

Consider this sermon to be a bundle of invitations. Invitations to learn more, go deeper, and follow what interests, intrigues, or irritates you.  This sermon is not the end of a conversation; rather it is the beginning or, for some of you, a continuing exploration and answer to the question: “What is Unitarian Universalism?”

In preparation for today’s sermon I invited you to send me your questions about our faith. One of you asked how religion is defined and if Unitarian Universalism is a religion.

The definition of religion is debatable, with differing views among scholars. Some say it must include a belief in a superhuman power; others focus on the actions and organization of the body of “believers.” I believe that religion is an organized group of people who share common beliefs about how we live and who seek together to make meaning of life. Forrest Church, the late minister of All Souls in New York City, defined religion as “our human response to the dual reality of being alive and having to die.”^[1] His successor, Galen Guengerich, defines religion as a way of life. He writes, “…the comprehensive religious question is not ‘What do you believe?’ but rather “What do you do?’”^[2]

According to all those definitions, Unitarian Universalism is a religion. UUs are of one religion that includes theological pluralism. This means we have different and diverse answers to the theological questions Where do we come from? Is there a God? And what happens when we die?

At this point, I want to share a little bit of the history of our religion. I’ll then discuss a few other key concepts, and close by touching upon what UUism has done well, what UUism hasn’t done so well, and where we go from here.

The American Unitarian Association, established in 1825, and the Universalist Church of America, established in 1793 both have long histories, each full of legends, stories, and mishaps. Unitarianism became a formal denomination in Britain in 1774 when Theophilus Lindsey and Joseph Priestley founded the first Unitarian congregation at Essex Street Church in London.

The history of these religions is fascinating and is often oversimplified. You may have heard, for example, “Unitarians believed in one God and rejected the trinity.”

Yes, and – Unitarians, as this congregation has been since 1825, were also strong followers of Jesus. This is seen in the Affirmation of Faith used here at the First Religious Society through 1959 which affirmed the belief in God and “the ideals of human life which reveals itself in Jesus as love to God and love to man.”^[3]  The phrase “spiritual leadership of Jesus” was replaced by “quest for truth” in 1981.

Before being Unitarian this church was one of the town churches. It was established as the Third Parish in Newbury in 1725. Our parent church was the First Parish in Newbury, while the Second Parish was in what is now West Newbury.

The original twenty two members of our congregation, all male, gathered to sign their covenant professing among other things “…covenant with His Majesty in Christ…in a deep sense of unworthiness…to walk together as a church…in mutual love and…the worship of God…”^[4]

Newburyport was known to be liberal in theology and stalwart in our commitment to congregationalism. A London newspaper wrote, “of late some churches are of the opinion that any may be admitted to Church fellowship, that are not extremely ignorant or scandalous: but this they are not very forward to practice, except at Newberry.”^[5]

Unitarians hold deep connections to the transcendentalist movement of the 1800s. We have a wonderful opportunity this Wednesday evening, January 8th,  to hear about this part of our history when John Buehrens comes and talks about his new book, Conflagration: How the Transcendentalists Sparked the American Struggle for Racial, Gender, and Social Justice.

Our Universalist heritage is also commonly oversimplified and misrepresented. Consider for example the comment “Universalists believed that everyone goes to heaven.” Yes, and – there were different views on how that occurred even between two founding fathers of Universalism, Hosea Ballou and John Murray. Ballou’s Ultra Universalism professed there was no hell after earth, whereas Murray held a restorationist view of heaven, in which a person would progress after death toward heaven over time.

Unitarian Universalism came into existence in 1961 when these two liberal Christian religions, Unitarianism and Universalism, merged

Warren Ross writes about the merger in his book The Premise and the Promise. He notes  that class and socioeconomic distinctions kept the two religions apart for a long time. The Unitarians were Harvard educated elite, and the Universalists were more commonly blue collar working class and farmers.

Prior to consolidation, there was considerable disagreement over theological language, which threatened to abort the merger.  The final language approved in the bylaws stated that we united “to cherish and spread the universal truths taught by the great prophets and teachers of humanity in every age and tradition, immemorially summarized in the Judeo-Christian heritage as love to God and love to man.” ^[6] Our current principles listed on the back of your Order of Service were voted on by our General Assembly of congregations in 1985.

I have brought timelines I made in my studies that outline key historical events and leaders in our history. They are here on the chancel for you to look at if you are interested.

I will now to lift up some key words and concepts in our faith. After Living Tradition, covenant is most important to our religion. Ours is a religion built on promise to one another to other UU congregations to work toward our seven principles.

Covenants are about care of the whole, not just some of the group. There have been any number of covenants of the larger faith over the years. Many congregations have their own covenants, as I hope that we will do. Small groups and even individuals also have covenants.

Our polity, crafted after the Cambridge Platform, organizes us to be self-governing, self-sustaining institutions. Each congregation is governed by elected Board members, and each congregation’s membership votes on its vision and finances. There is no higher authority that funds or directs our initiatives.

As I’ve already mentioned, theological plurality is foundational to our religion. We believe that there are many paths to truth, and we support individuals in their free and responsible search for meaning. We draw upon our six sources of faith including direct experience of the holy, world religions, the lives of great people, earth-based traditions, and science and humanism.

I received two questions connected to theological diversity.

Rob Burnham asked, “I often contemplate the relevance and meaning of Jesus, Christ, God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost/Spirit. What are some of the views UU’s have regarding such contemplation?”

To answer this, I draw on a Unitarian Manual of Belief written by James Freeman Clarke in 1885, as this largely holds true today. “Unitarians believe Jesus to be a created being, finite and not infinite…Unitarians therefore generally hold Jesus to be a man, human in soul and body… not so much an exceptional as a representative man…as all are intended to be. His true greatness was in his devotion to the Divine, his sympathy with suffering man…”^[7]  Today we have members who know Jesus to be their model, their savior, or one of their teachers.

Linda Lu Burciaga asked “What comforting words can I use when dealing with the death of family members who are humanists or atheists, recognizing that ‘Now the loved one is with God’ or ‘This is God’s will’ do not apply?”

The details of what I say depend on the person, but the basic message is the same: You are loved. You are forgiven. Your people, family or friends, are going to be okay. You can go. Thank you for your life.

This brings to question the role of clergy in our religion. In 1819 William Ellery Channing said, “You will remember, that good practice is the end of preaching, and will labor to make your people holy livers, rather than skillful disputants.”^[8]  Or as a contemporary female colleague recently wrote to me, “The days of intellectual prowess are done. We’re now – thank God – in the place of holding close the souls of the faithful. We do so employing reason, thoughtfulness but we do not do so needing to prove that we are intellectually superior. There are plenty of wells from which we may draw for the latter. For the former, we go to church.”

Though we have much to be proud of, Unitarian Universalists also have a tendency to think quite highly of ourselves.  A minister in 1892 wrote, “For it is  one of the absurd habits of our little company…to coo cheerfully in congratulation, looking back on what we have attained, as if we were already perfect.”^[9]

We’ve done a lot of things well including welcoming Lesbian Gay and Bisexual people, though the issue of welcoming transgender people is still up to us to ensure. We have welcomed women into the pulpits and leadership, albeit with some struggle and resistance. We have a poor history of doing so with Black people.

This was most vivid during what is known as The Empowerment Controversy in the late 1960’s. There is need of an entire sermon and education on this topic. For the purposes of this sermon, let me say, we had opportunities to dramatically increase the number of Black Unitarian Universalists that would have changed our faith for the better.  Our Association made promises to our black members, financial and otherwise, that were not kept. We have been living with the fallout from that ever since. It is a part of our history not all UUs want to acknowledge.

Mark Morrison-Reed writes “…we have embraced a false narrative about who we are.”^[10] As far back as 1890 when Universalists could not raise $6,000 to support their “Mission for Colored People,” they raised more than $275,000 to support a mission in Japan.

Today there is change underway with Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism and increased numbers of black people in leadership at the Association, but the future depends on us. As a Living Tradition, we hold the power to create the future of our faith.

What is this congregation’s vision of racial justice? What will it look like for us to live into that covenant, affirming the dignity and worth of black people? This is for us to decide, articulate, and do.

Kathleen Rolenz writes, “. . . the powers and structures of evil surround us. Many religious doctrines try to  define and explain them. But we have turned away from theological disputes about evil  – focusing instead on faithful encouragement to stand up and confront it.”^[11]

We do that by engaging with the realities of the world today, with our covenant and faith to guide us and our community beside us. We love radically, with actions as well as words.

Reverend Susan Frederick Gray, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, will be preaching here on the last Sunday in March. General Assembly where UU congregations from around the globe come is being held in Providence this June. Help us gather a busload of people from here to go and be a part of that.

I will close with the question that Jim Supple sent to me, as it affirms my question to myself as your minister, to you as individuals and to us as a congregation:

Jim wrote:

What would it mean to all of us if love was truly, not just the doctrine, but the life blood of our church?

Something I ponder.

What will it mean when love is the life blood of our church, directing and informing our priorities, actions and shared faith? It won’t be easy. And yet I wonder, at this time in history, do we have a choice? Do we?

Amen and blessed be.

^[1] Cryer, Dan, Being Alive and Having to Die: The Spiritual Odyssey of Forrest Church St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY, 2011. Kindle loc 102

^[2]  Guengerich, Galen, God Revised: How Religion Must Evolve in a Scientific Age, Saint Martin’s Press, New York, NY, 2013  Kindle Loc 313.

^[3] A History of The First Religious Society, Newburyport, Massachusetts, Volume II 1933- 2001 pg. 111-112.

^[4] A History of The First Religious Society, Newburyport, Massachusetts, Volume II 1933- 2001 pg.  14.

^[5] http://www.newbury1635.org/religion.html

^[6] Ross, Warren, R. The Premise and the Promise:  The Story of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Boston, MA, Unitarian Universalist Assn; 2001. Pg. 29.

^[7] Clarke James Freeman, Manual of Unitarian Belief University Press, Cambridge, MA. 1884. Pgs. 24-25

^[8] Brandenburg, Ellen, Editor The Seven Principles in Word and Worship, Boston, MA, Skinner House Books, 2007. Pg. x.

^[9] Hale Edward Everett “The History and Present Day Duty of the Unitarian Church in America” Berry sTreet Lecture, 1892.

^[10] Morrison Read, Mark “The black hold in the white UU psyche” UU World, Sept. 1, 2017. 

^[11] Rolenz, Kathleen, Editor,  Sources of Our Faith, Boston, MA, Skinner House Books, 2012. Pg. 22