The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough

Our fellowship of freedom shares with the ancient Hebrews a sense of covenant toward a land of promise. Our fellowship shares with the philosophers of Greece a continuing discussion towards truth. Our fellowship cherishes the spirit of Jesus, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Our fellowship cherishes the Reformation spirit, “Everyone shall be a priest.”

We keep the faith of Francis David of Transylvania, “You need not think alike to love alike.” We keep the faith of English and American prophets who struggled against the slavery of body and brain. We seek the tender compassion of sages in India who held in all things a “reverence for life.” We seek the serenity and balance found in the meditation of China and Japan.

Conscious of sacrifices that are the price of freedom, conscious of the continuing threat to life and liberty, we commit ourselves in this community as pilgrims who seek, as persons who serve, as pioneers who build.

 

 

On Thursday morning, I reluctantly attended a meeting of the Regional Multifaith Council. I serve as the Unitarian rep on that committee, whose mandate it is to ensure that people in provincial institutions receive appropriate spiritual care and access. It is, in protecting spiritual rights, a modern manifestation of the Diet of Torda, that early edict of religious freedom, which opened up the way for Unitarianism to take a stronghold in Eastern Europe. But that’s beside the point...sorta.

 

I went reluctantly because it was the day before my moving date, and I felt that, given the usual slow pace and administrative-heavy tenor of those meetings, my time would be better spent elsewhere. But, we were meeting in Peterborough (which isn’t all that common), I had agreed to pick someone up, and well, duty called. And so I went. 

 

It is the practice of the council to meet in an ‘institution’ and to receive a short presentation from someone there about the work they are doing. This time, we met at a residential facility for single men coming out of the federal system...incarceration that is. 

 

In a time of discussion following the presentation, one of the members of the Council, who happens to be a prison chaplain, mentioned that one of the best ways we, as individual council members, could benefit those of our tradition serving sentences, would be to visit them.

 

I got to thinking about this. Visiting Unitarians in jail? I don’t know and couldn’t find any statistics, but I rarely hear of a Unitarian in jail...that is, unless they’ve been charged with some kind of civil disobedience. Now, maybe that’s just because we make up a small percentage of the population...it would follow that only 1-2% of those incarcerated would be Unitarian Universalists. Still it got me wondering.

So at lunch, I asked this prison chaplain, if in all of his years working in prisons, he had met anyone there that was a Unitarian. “Not that I’m aware of,” he said. “You must be doing a pretty good job.”

 

This reminds me of a story told in a winning sermon...for a UUA contest for sermons which address issues of Social Witness. In that sermon, Rev. Dawn Cooley tells of a conversation focused on how to grow Unitarian Universalism. The inevitable “why” question was asked. The answer that came, which she says almost knocked her off her chair, was “because the world would be a better place if there were more Unitarian Universalists.” 

 

This is not to say that everyone should be UU, or even that such a world would be all that interesting. It means simply what it says...that the world would be a better place if there were more UUs. Do you believe that?

 

Our tag line (or mission statement) reads...do you know it?...can you repeat it? The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough...creating a vital liberal religious community for Peterborough and the Kawarthas. 

 

Now, much could be postulated about why we should do that. That is not what this sermon is about. And much could be speculated about what it means to be ‘creating’. Neither is that what this sermon is about. We could debate the meanings of ‘vital’ (I understand you once did that with Peter Boullata) and we could ponder what it means to be a community...which we commonly do. But my sermon is not about those things either. It’s about what it means to identify as ‘liberal religious,’ and I particularly want to look at what that means for THIS community. 

 

During our membership orientation classes, “The New UU”, we talk about liberal religion, and I have described it primarily as a distinction of authority. Gary Dorrien, the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, who has recently published a three-volume history of liberal religion in America, defines liberal theology as a perspective “based on reason and experience, not external authority.” Liberal religion is, in the Christian context, that radical part of the Protestant Reformation that insisted on the priesthood of all believers, and that radical part of the Catholic tradition that focuses on liberation. Authority comes from within.

 

It’s all well and good to say that those who are liberal religiously are free to discern the truth, the word of God, the voice of wisdom, for themselves. But with that freedom comes responsibility, for freedom is worthless without action, without commitment, without an understanding of what that freedom calls us to be and do. 

 

James Luther Adams, preeminent Unitarian theologian of the 20^th century, provides a list of essential elements in what have been called “the five smooth stones of liberal religion”. You may recall that the Rev. Mary Ganz spoke of these five smooth stones at our installation ceremony. She used them, as I hope to today, to charge us all to live out these characteristics so that we might better be a vital liberal religious community.

 

Five smooth stones. You know the story, right. Little David goes off to fight Goliath armed only with his trusty slingshot and five smooth stones that he has picked up at the river’s edge. Five smooth stones that give this faith its teeth. Five smooth stones that we can pick up at the river of our personal wisdom and carry with us to exercise positive power in the world.

 

So here they are:

Stone #1. Revelation is ongoing. Nobody has all the truth. There is always something more to learn. We can continue to search for truth and meaning. 

2. All relations between people ought to rest on free, mutual consent without coercion. We have the right to choose, and we have the duty to accept one another and respect the choices of others. 

3. We have a moral obligation to direct our efforts toward the establishment of a just and loving community. Our goal is to create a world community of peace, liberty, and justice for all. 

4. Good must be consciously given form and power in what Adams called ‘social incarnation.’ Things don’t just happen, we have to make them happen. We need to live our faith publically, and not let our lights hide under a bushel. 

5. The resources available for change justify an ultimate optimism. Remember your treasure, and use it. Encourage that in one another. Live with legitimate hope. 

 

If you heard something familiar there, that was intentional on my part. Much of Adams’ thought is captured, consciously or not, in our seven principles. (If you need to refresh your memory, the principles are printed near the front of our hymnal.) It is sometimes said that our 1^st and 7^th principle are our cornerstones, the core of our beliefs...the simpatico and balance existing in the tension between individual worth and the interdependent web of all that is. It was Adams’ contention that any separation of the individual from the social was destructive to the integrity of life, and the addition of our 7^th principle in 1985 indicates our growing awareness of the importance of living consciously in community. 

 

The other five principles, the 2^nd through the 6^th, have been said to be our agreements of how we want to live with one another and in society, and these five principles pretty closely parallel the five smooth stones. HOWEVER...from my perspective, the one place where our principles fail us, and where Adams does not, is in the insistence on living a well-examined life...breathing our principles...acting...following through...living our faith large. For Adams, Unitarian Universalism is not an “anything goes” religion but a clarion call to make our values manifest in the world.[1]  

 

We are a voluntary association, which is another concept which Adams studied and taught, and as such, we have no creed, no expectation of belief.  We are a democratic and self-governing association, which is why we have congregational meetings, like the one following the service today, in order to make communal decisions.   If you are here today (and presumably your presence is by free choice), that voluntary decision, that commitment, comes with some responsibility. Again, this is not an “anything goes” religion, but rather, a road less traveled...one that demands both accountability and participation. 

 

I imagine some of you are thinking about pod duties and committee meetings...maybe even feeling a bit guilty, but that is not, I repeat, is NOT, what I’m talking about.   Sure, there is an expectation that everyone does their share, but the responsibility of living one’s faith is not one of duty, but rather of intentional engagement which can only result in a fullness of life not experienced in any other way. 

 

Here’s how we might put the five smooth stones into practice...

1. Revelation is continuous, so when we experience persons and situations which claim to hold the only truth, capital T, we need to speak to that power with power of our own, a power grounded in the wellspring of compassion and possibility and creativity. Life is not dead, and it can continually teach us if we’re open to it. And, we can help others to experience this reality.

2. Mutual consent is to be pursued; coercion is not to be tolerated. There is a limit to our tolerance. Where there is oppression and the exercise of negative power, we need to stand up for justice and equity. And, we need to stop confusing sharing our faith with coercion. 

3. A beloved community is at the center of our vision. We say it every week...we make a commitment to that community...and it is a vision we need to carry with us into every relationship, every interaction, every situation. 

4. We have to make good things happen. It is truly in our hands.

5. There is every reason to have hope, and to believe that our lives have meaning. 

 

I don’t know how often this list is at the front of your mind...I don’t know how consciously you try to be a UU in everything that you do. I can tell you that one of the things I love about my work is that constant challenge to be more, be better, to grow, to improve...and believe me, in my case there is lots of room for improvement!

But isn’t this intention, this willingness to practice our faith, this focus on the good we can do...along with the encouragement we get in this community and the hope to see that it is possible...isn’t all of this exactly what ‘keeps us out of jail’ so to speak? Aren’t these beliefs, if shared by more people, what would make the world a better place? 

 

Let’s be realistic. Let’s be humble. We don’t hold the truth. We are not better than anyone else. We have not perfected the living out of our beliefs, not by a long shot. Even these five smooth stones are imperfect. But we are here. We are committed to a liberal religious perspective and to the belief that it can make a difference in the world.   We know, in the words of Alice Walker, that “we can do nothing substantial toward changing our course on the planet...without rousing ourselves, individual by individual, and bringing our small, imperfect stones to the pile.” 

 

Rev. Mary Ganz said, “Brought together, our stones begin to change the landscape.” Margaret Wheatley tells us that “there is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about.” 

 

What we care about is the hope that liberal religion brings to our individual lives. What we care about is the transformation that liberal religion can enact in our world. May we continue to build this beloved community together, stone by stone. 

Amen.

 

A truth worthy of complete devotion may not be provable by reason, but it will not insult our intelligence, nor will it be alien to our experience.

If God is, then there is no place God is not—be it in temple or telescope.

May we take to heart the injunction to question, listen, respect, and understand, and live the beauty of our liberal religious faith.

Go from this special time and place as pilgrims who seek, as persons who serve, as pioneers who build...stone by stone.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

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