July 2000
A Three Minute Faith
by Calvin O. Dame, minister, Unitarian Universalist Community Church, Augusta, Maine
I've got a hypothetical question about a hypothetical situation for you. We have a UU ministers' chat line on the internet, and a couple of months ago this was a hot topic of debate.
Here's how the hypothetical situation goes: Say you are walking along with someone you just met or whom you do not know very well, and just as you enter an elevator and you punch the button for the 15th floor, the person turns to you and says, "Hey, I see you're wearing a Unitarian Universalist button. What do you folks believe, anyhow?"
Okay, that's the hypothetical situation. So here's my question: How do you describe our religion between the time the elevator door closes and you reach the 15th floor? What do you say?
Now, on the UU ministers' chat line, this became known as "the elevator debate." Shouldn't we, the ministers kept asking each other, be able to give a succinct accounting of our faith to a stranger in the space of an elevator ride, such that people could have an adequate idea of who we are and what we hold to be true and what we believe?
This is not so easy as it seems, because Unitarian Universalism does not lend itself to an easy formula or description.
There are a number of different approaches to describing our faith, or to talking about our religion, or presenting who we are or who we wish to be. Some of these approaches are more successful than others.
One of the ways we present our faith is a UU version of name dropping, or, "the famous UUs approach." This approach to communicating who we are is pretty well exemplified by the mugs, the tee shirts, or the posters that you sometimes see. They carry a long list of famous people who were (or are) Unitarian or Universalist.
This list approach has always struck me as a little funny. While it may be instructive or entertaining, in some fashion, to know that , John Quincy Adams, Louisa May Alcott, Susan B. Anthony, P.T. Barnum, Dorothea Dix, Adlai Stevenson and Whitney Young, among others, were Unitarian or Universalist, it doesn't really go very far toward explaining who we are and what we, as UUs, believe. And it completely fails to set forth what you, as an individual, believe.
So when the elevator door closes, and the button for the 15th floor has been pressed, and this stranger asks you our hypothetical question, "What do you believe as a Unitarian Universalist?" if your first thoughts flash to the coffee mugs and if you can see them in your mind but you can't quite make out the names, well, give it up. Even if you remember the names, they won't go far toward answering the question.
And the elevator is passing the third floor, so you've squandered the first minute or two.
Now, while we are listing false starts in describing our shared, chosen faith, let me throw in this one. In a lot of people's minds Unitarian Universalism is the place where people don't believe anything, or, conversely, people describe us as a place where you can believe anything you want.
Well, there are aspects of our faith, particularly the high value that we place on tolerance and the place that we make for diversity amongst us, that could mislead people into saying some such thing about us: that UUs can believe anything they want, or that UUs don't believe in anything.
But I don't think any of us would say anything as thoughtless or dismissive as that, even if the elevator we were on were passing the fourth floor and heading for the fifth, and we were beginning to feel a little pressured by the situation we found ourselves in. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Having said this, I will also have to say that it is just these two attributes, the value that we place on tolerance and on diversity, that make it so difficult to describe, in a simple fashion, just who we are and what we believe.
Historically, Unitarians and Universalists have believed, not in the orthodox Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but thoughtful formulations of their own.
Among the Universalists, for instance, the early preacher John Murray declared himself a Unitarian, and found an analogy between a triune God and the three elements of Man: body, soul, and spirit. And Dr. Benjamin Rush, an influential physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, embraced a broad vision that incorporated the faith revealed in Christianity and the rational religion of humanity—a harmonious combination of the spiritual and the worldly.
And, as described by the historian Earl Morse Wilbur, among the Unitarians a stronger trinitarian formulation was their historic insistence on freedom, reason and tolerance in the practice of religion.
The first of these, freedom, describes an attribute or approach to faith that may be difficult for those of us who have been raised in a free country to fully understand. Over the four centuries of Unitarian and Universalist thought, however, men and women have suffered and have died for this freedom, the first of our trinity. Historically, Unitarians and Universalists believed that we must be free to choose our faith if that faith is to be authentic.
It is true that others have participated in the struggle for freedom in religion but for UUs this freedom has been an essential part of our religious identity. And the value we place on the freedom to choose one's own religion comes into high relief when it is set beside the third part of our liberal trinity. We believe in tolerance as well as freedom. This means we not only believe in the freedom to choose our own beliefs, but also that we will defend others' rights to choose theirs.
Here is where we part company with many other faith traditions. The Pilgrims, for instance, came to the shores off New England in a dramatic and romanticized search for a place that would allow them the religious freedom to practice their faith. But they were not searching for, nor did they practice, religious tolerance. They chased those who believed differently from them off into the wilderness. The Puritans in Boston sought a freedom for themselves that they would not extend to others. They chased Ann Hutchinson off to Rhode Island, and hanged Mary Dyer on Boston Common for the crime of witnessing to her faith as a member of the Society of Friends.
Our commitment to tolerance has become a defining characteristic of our congregations. On any Sunday, in almost any of our congregations, you will find Christians worshipping next to Buddhists worshipping next to Humanists worshipping next to Pagans worshipping next to atheists worshipping next to theists... well, you get the picture.
We not only believe in religious tolerance between nations and as the law of our country and as practiced in a multicultural society, but we mix it up every Sunday. We believe that people of differing faiths can not only live in the same town, but also that they can join in a common worship and be members, one with another, in the same ongoing religious community. Our spiritual forefather, the Hungarian, Francis David, who died for his faith as a Unitarian, preached over 300 years ago that we do not have to think alike to love alike.
Do not underestimate the enormity of what we undertake here, nor the complexities that it sometimes introduces into our congregations. We assume a significant challenge when we opt for freedom and tolerance in our religious life.
And it is confusing to those who do not know us.
Many of my Christian colleagues are frankly confused by this. They wonder how one preaches to such a diverse crowd, and how one preaches if one is not proclaiming a
particular version of the gospel.
There are some Friday or Saturday nights when I seriously wonder the same things myself.
Let me remind you of the third aspect of our sometimes trinity, the rationalism embraced by Rush or the use of reason as cited by Wilbur.
We have spoken of freedom and tolerance; the place we give to reason is equally important in understanding who we are. God gave us reason, the early Unitarians proclaimed, and God expects us to use it.
It was the application of reason to religion that led the early Unitarians away from the Doctrine of the Trinity and away from the belief in miracles, for instance. The divinity of Jesus was simply not supported by the text of the Bible, the early Unitarians concluded. And Jesus healing the sick and walking on water are descriptions that belong more to the realm of myth and metaphor than to the world of facts. And the Universalists looked in the Bible and read in the Christian scriptures about a God of love, not the angry patriarch who dominated the
theology of the day.
That's where the use of reason in religion brings us.
Surprisingly, the use of reason in religion is still a startling affirmation. We live in a country where a significant number of people believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, that is to say that every word in the Bible
is true, even when the words
contradict themselves.
Freedom, reason, and tolerance. That is one approach to explaining our faith. It might work for you; you might be able to use it, particularly seeing that our hypothetical elevator has just passed the seventh floor.
One other characterization of our religion that I will mention is this: we are seekers. We are a place not only for liberal Christians and confirmed Humanists and for those with other theologies, but also we are a place for those who are not sure, or those who are sure this week but who, although sure last week, were sure about something entirely different, and who, next week (we have a sneaking suspicion), may be on to a third position or back to the first.
Unitarian Universalists are people who are not done yet. We are still growing. The book is open. The universe is still primed for discovery. The facts are not all in, yet. Life is a mystery and we are on its trail. "Revelation is not sealed." (This is the classic UU way to say it.)
However we say it, it comes to this: That, as Unitarian Universalists we have no dogma, we have no catechism to memorize. We have too great a respect for the mystery of existence to claim that we somehow have figured out the truth. But rather, we gather to support one another as we grow in spirit and as we grow in understanding.
Well, I feel as if I've given a lot of hints here. The elevator is still on the way up. I figure it has probably reached the 10th floor by now, hypothetically speaking. Have you all prepared your responses to this question: "What does it mean to you to be a Unitarian Universalist?" What would you tell somebody who asked?
Let me just mention one more thing here. Awhile ago I drove out to Dayton, Ohio, to attend a workshop presented by the Alban Institute and led by a man named Roy Oswald. The Alban Institute is an organization that works with churches and ministers to equip us to better answer the call to ministry and the call of faith. This particular workshop was titled "Spirituality and Leadership." And the summer before this I worked with Roy in a workshop called "Assessing Your Ministry."
I find Roy Oswald to be very good at what he does. I have benefited from my work with him in more ways than I could probably explain. He asks the kinds of questions that one is not always comfortable with, but which always seem to be helpful.
Now, I think I just mentioned that I drove out to Ohio for this workshop. I know I could have taken an airplane, but the drive out gave me a chance to sort things out and put myself into a frame of mind to encounter a new challenge. And the drive back was planned to give me an opportunity to assimilate what I had learned during the week.
One of the challenges that Roy laid before us was this: he pointed out that as people of faith (and we were all ministers from a variety of traditions), we should first believe that our gospel, the good news that we proclaim, is capable of transforming people's lives.
We should have a transformational spirituality, is how he put it.
And if we didn't, he said, why would we bother? If we did not believe that our faith was capable of transforming lives, why would we waste our time on it?
Well, that's actually not a problem for me, because I believe our religion can transform lives. Actually, I know that our faith can be transformational. I have seen it happen. I've watched people get back on their feet, get their bearings, come to trust themselves, the world, set goals for themselves, and set off to reach them.
So I had no problem with that
challenge.
And then Roy said, "As religious professionals, as people of faith, you ought to be able to share your religious story and the power of your faith in three minutes in such a way that a person listening to you might be challenged or invited onto the path of faith.
Now when I designated this sermon to be called, "A Three-Minute Faith," it was this I had in mind. Who of us, when asked, could share our faith stories, our faith journeys, in three minutes in such a fashion that our hearers would be challenged to grow in their own lives?
It is the elevator challenge in a different guise, but deepened, really, and expanded. I thought about this on the long trip home from Ohio, I've been thinking about it since, and now I pass the challenge on to you.
What words would you use, if someone asked you to tell your most heartfelt beliefs, your most sincere convictions. How would you speak so that your affirmation of faith would shine through, and those listening would be touched in their spirit, and reassured and encouraged on their journey of faith?
Quest July 2000 Contents
 Our new intern
My name is Kathy Reis. On my 50th birthday I had something of an epiphany. I was sitting in my office cubicle, where I had worked for 25 years, attending to the business of international shipping. I had been reasonably happy with the job, feeling that I was doing something useful and productive. But as I pictured myself doing the same work for another 15 or 20 years, I knew I couldn't. So I asked myself, "What is it that I truly want to do with the rest of my one and only life?"
About five years before, I had joined the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, and I had become deeply involved in most areas of church life. I'd grown up Roman Catholic in Massachusetts, had been a student of Buddhism for years, and I'd done a lot of "church shopping." I guess I was your classic "seeker." But I had felt a click of recognition when I learned the principles of Unitarian Universalism, and knew that this was the place for me. The work I did at the church, and the relationships I found there, were the working out of those principles, and hugely gratifying for me. I could think of nothing else in my life which, if followed and engaged with fully, would bring me more satisfaction.
The next day I called Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley. I've been a theological student there for the past three years. For the next year, and the next step of my preparation for ministry, I will be your ministerial intern at the Church of the Larger Fellowship. I couldn't be happier at the prospect. I look forward to getting to know as many of you as possible, and to serving you in any way I can.
Quest July 2000 Contents
CLF Library Notes
We have accumulated some new materials that aren't yet listed in the library loan catalog. In the next few issues of Quest, we'll feature brief reviews of some of some of them. Our hope is that you'll put your borrowing power to good use!
With Purpose and Principle (Essays About the Seven Principles of
Unitarian Universalism) edited
by Edward Frost.
Frost explains how the basic UU principles came into being, probing into the everyday uses of each. This is a first-rate reference for small groups, and provides excellent insight for those already using this essential piece of our living tradition.
Standing Before Us (Unitarian Universalist Women and Social Reform 1776-1936)
by Dorothy May Emerson.
"In the liberal religious traditions of Universalism and Unitarianism, women were often the ones to activate and demonstrate the values of their faith, such as freedom, tolerance, acceptance of diversity, and individual rights…by engaging with these women of the past, we hope to empower and inspire today's women and men to continue the work of creating a world of justice and peace for all." This statement from Emerson's preface sets the tone for 160 years' worth of stories, speeches, poetry, and essays from UU women "pioneers" whose dynamic religious liberalism gave them the courage to speak the truth and to effect dramatic changes in the everyday lives of people.
Transgender Warriors
by Leslie Feinberg. Here is an eye-opening journey through the history of transgender individuals—a powerful testament to resilient spirit demanding integrity and freedom. "Feinberg reminds us that the struggle was always for justice and freedom." As recognition is given to these warriors, the call is to make the world a safer place for people of all
genders and desires.
Quest July 2000 Contents
 From Your Minister
by Rev. Jane Ranney Rzepka, minister, CLF
"Summer reading." A nice concept: reading as recreation, relaxation, fun. So I checked the pile of books in my bedroom and picked up The Best American Mystery Stories, 1997. (OK, so I'm a little behind in my reading.)
Once underway, I come upon a story about a detective on assignment in a small town in Brazil. I am enjoying the local detail—I've never been to Brazil—and the plot. My detective (I'm on his side, after all)...my detective is a clever detective, and he uses his wits to escape
several scrapes. It's fun.
Then one night my hero spruces up and ventures out to a rendezvous, the kind of meeting we all know is risky. But out goes my clever detective nonetheless. He meets the scary guy in an alley, and the scary guy breaks my hero's neck and kills him. End of story.
Hey! What kind of story is that?!
I know now that for me, part of escapist reading lies in the sure knowledge that good triumphs, that our heroes will continue on in sequels with movie rights, that at the very least we're left with poignancy and hope. The good guy doesn't just die for no reason; in the land of fiction, we count on some kind
sensible "reality."
Some of us wish that religions could work that magic, that theology could devise a plan where, in spite of indisputable injustice and suffering, everything is actually going according to a cosmic plan that is sensible and fair. Indeed, a number of the world's religions offer just such a system. But Unitarian
Universalism does not.
When a child dies, or when a loving relationship turns destructive and debilitating, when accidents do irreparable harm, when disease strikes, we acknowledge the tragedy. If there's a silver lining, we're glad for it, if there's hope or humor or tenderness along the way, so much the better. But fundamentally, we know that life presents us with catastrophe sometimes. For most Unitarian Universalists, there's no sense in which the personal disaster was meant to happen, or that it occurred because we could handle it, or because it would teach us a lesson. Crisis, for us, is not a failure of faith or perspective or strength. Sometimes, the clever detective just dies. Not an easy theology.
In the aftermath of tragedy, we each accept the jobs of mourning, of making meaning, and living life again, as our religious education director, Betsy Williams, outlined so well in the April issue of Quest. We turn to those people we can count on for support. Some of us go deep inside ourselves for insight and grounding. Others ask what action might be taken to memorialize, to mitigate the pain, to make such tragedy less likely in the future. We read poetry, scream out in anger, walk the beach, ask for help, write, sing, join support groups, cry, initiate action—whatever it takes to heal up enough to live again. And we can. And we do. That's our way.?
Jane Rzepka
Minister
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Letters From Members
The letters below were sent by
e-mail to the staff, or to the CLF
e-mail list, CLF-L@uua.org.
To: jrzepka@uua.org
Subject: Walter Bergman
My congregation and I appreciated your reference to the life of Walter Bergman in the most recent Quest (March 2000). He was also a member of my congregation, and we celebrated his rich life and his deep contributions to liberal religion and the spirit of our democratic Republic during a memorial service a few months back. His compelling life is chronicled in the book, The First Freedom Ride: The Walter Bergman Story, by ACLU Fund Press. He was a true hero of the American experiment, and was true to the essence of the gospel of Jesus to love God and neighbor as self.
Brent Smith, minister, Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan
To: CLF-L@uua.org
Subject: Science and Religion
This morning at the table after breakfast, we read and discussed the lead sermon in Quest (March 2000), "Science and Religion: No Contest" by Ken Read-Brown.
Nicholas, age 11, is very much an inquisitive, science kind of a guy. He had lots to say about the Galileo story. Carter, my wife and a Presbyterian minister and English lecturer, teaches a couple of courses in the religion department at Wake Forest University and led a discussion there about the sermon this past week. Furthermore, our community is currently embroiled in conflict about the placement of the Ten Commandments in the courtroom by county commissioners. So there was lively discussion about religious dogmatism on the part of government officials, the relationship between science and religion, and the difference between scientific fact and religious truth. Tonight we plan to top it off with "Inherit the Wind" on video.
Kudos to Ken Read-Brown. If anyone knows him please pass this along.
Tom Frazer, Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Quest July 2000 Contents
 REsources for Living
Betsy Hill Williams, Religious Education Director, CLF
I first became involved in UU religious education in the 1980s, churches were a-buzz with the concept of lifespan religious education. We were enjoying a rebirth of the notion that religious education is not just for kids. This was hardly a new concept for Unitarian Universalists, whose Transcendentalist forebears' call for "self-culture" put education at the center of religious life. Study guides and discussion guides for popular books like Being Liberal in an Illiberal Age, A Faith for All Seasons, and A Holy Curiosity were (and still are) popular among CLFers seeking to deepen their individual or group reading. Other more comprehensive, self-contained curricula that followed, such as Building Your Own Theology and Parents as Resident Theologians, are harder for isolated CLFers to take full advantage of but these works do, nonetheless, contain thoughtful material for individuals or families to adapt.
Over the years, the minister and I have added new adult religious education curricula to the CLF library that can be adapted easily for individuals and groups and that we believe would interest our members. Many CLF members belong to small fellowships that take advantage of these adult programs. Groups enrolled in our Church on Loan program (about 40 each year) also use the adult programs to strengthen relationships and build membership. I've reviewed two new acquisitions below. Please remember you are most welcome to call, write, or e-mail me if you or your group would like other recommendations.
Thoreau as Spiritual Guide, a Companion to Walden for Personal Reflection and Group Discussion, by Barry Andrews
Reading this wonderful new guide to Thoreau's Walden reassured me that it isn't just four generations of New England blood in my veins that draws me to Emerson and Thoreau, but the unique and rich spiritual tradition of Transcendentalism that, as a Unitarian Universalist, I have also inherited. "More than anything else," writes Andrews in the Preface, "the Transcendentalists tried to achieve a balance in their lives between work and leisure, nature and civilization, society and solitude, spiritual aspirations and moral behavior. They did so on the basis of a this-worldly form of spirituality characterized by a reverence for nature, an organic world-view, a sense of the miraculous, an optimism about human potential, a search for what is universal in religion and personal experience, a strong ethical sensibility, and an encouragement of the individual in his or her own religious quest."
Many of us today seek the same balance, the same depth of self-understanding and fulfillment that was the goal of Transcendentalist self-culture. They pursued self-culture through a variety of spiritual practices that will sound comfortingly familiar to many of you: journal-writing, contemplation, reading, walking (sauntering was their preferred term) and conversation. It is the "conversation" model, made famous by Margaret Fuller in Elizabeth Peabody's Boston bookstore, which Andrews intends this guide to imitate.
Each of the six sessions begins with opening words from the chapter or chapters of Walden to be discussed, followed by concise and illuminating chapter summaries that define and clarify major themes, and ends with provocative questions for discussion and closing words from a modern source on the same theme. If your "spiritual temperament" inclines you toward dialogue and discourse, this companion guide will provide you with rich material for small group discussion. Individuals interested in learning more about this profoundly important part of our spiritual heritage and its impact on our religious lives today will find this guide equally well-suited for deep reading and personal
reflection.
Evensong, an Eight-Week Series of Gatherings, by Barbara Hamilton-Holway
"In the beginning was the hearing," starts Hamilton-Holway, borrowing a notion from theologian Nelle Morton that "'…a hearing brought forth the word.' [Morton] imagines 'a great ear at the heart of the universe,' hearing people to humanness and wholeness." (Womanspirit Rising, Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow) The goal of Evensong is to listen, to hear and be heard as participants explore their thoughts, experiences, doubts, and beliefs about traditional religious concepts. It is to share in a hearing that will bring forth the word and so bring forth humanness and wholeness.
Whether you are new to UUism, or in a group of long-standing UU friends, Evensong provides a simple structure to engage you in deepening self-understanding and strengthening interpersonal bonds. Each evening gathering follows an order of service (fully developed and photocopy ready) that includes singing, listening to readings drawn from a bowl, personal sharing by each participant, and a closing circle. Participants are asked to prepare for each gathering by writing or drawing about the upcoming week's topic. Topics include spiritual experiences, the divine, human nature, spiritual teachers, religious community, loss and death, and personal ministry.
Listening is at the core of Evensong. Listening strengthens relationships and community. Being respectfully listened to strengthens your self-confidence and trust that you will speak your truth wherever you go: your home, your neighborhood, your workplace, and the larger
community in which you live.
Quest July 2000 Contents
Movies in the Garden
by Emily Gage, Minister, Universalist Unitarian Church, Joliet, Illinois
Alice Walker has a poem that begins and ends with these words: "Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise."
Live frugally on surprise.
In the summertime, especially, I have no trouble living on surprise. There are new wonders everywhere I turn, if only I go out into the universe to greet them. One can never know what the grace of the world may offer us.
I was putting a fence up around my garden a while ago, mostly for my own peace of mind, when a little girl came tricycling by. "What's that for?" she asked, after she had introduced herself and invited me to her birthday party.
"Well, I'm trying to keep out small animals," I explained.
tricycling by. "What's that for?" she asked, after she had introduced herself and invited me to her birthday party.
"Do they like to eat and sleep and watch movies in your garden?" she inquired, trying to get the sense of the problem.
"Actually," I replied, "I don't think small animals ever watch movies."
tricycling by. "What's that for?" she asked, after she had introduced herself and invited me to her birthday party.
"Yuhh-huhh." she said with the great insistence only a five-year-old can have. "I was by here Friday night and there was a tiger watching a movie in your garden."
tricycling by. "What's that for?" she asked, after she had introduced herself and invited me to her birthday party.
And I laughed with surprise.
It seemed as good an explanation as any for my missing cucumber plants.
tricycling by. "What's that for?" she asked, after she had introduced herself and invited me to her birthday party.
I hope that on your journey this summer, whether it's to your own backyard or across the ocean, that you will remember Alice Walker's words. "Expect nothing. Live
frugally on surprise."
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Last updated June 12, 2005
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