"Nothing and Everyone" - the Reverend Alison Hyder
November 4, 2001 - the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Provincetown
Opening Words: by Walt Whitman [“I hear it was charged against me” from Leaves of Grass, 1855]
I
hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions;
But really I am neither for nor against institutions;
(What indeed have I in common with them? – Or what with the destruction
of them?)
Only I will establish in the Mannahattan, and in every city of these States,
inland and seaboard,
And in the fields and woods, and above every keel, little or large, that
dents the water,
Without edifices or rules, or trustees, or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades.
READING: From John Morgan, "The Last Universalist in Town,"
UU World (July/August 1993)
The small white chapel sits at the intersection of three roads in rural New England. Paint is peeling on the clapboard siding. The last Universalist in town has given me the keys to look inside. She tells me that from time to time a wedding is held here, but that is all. Teasing, I say that, with a majority of one, her church's annual meeting may be the only one in our denomination that ever runs its course without heated debate. There are cobwebs in the doorway as I enter. A wood stove sits in the rear; the numbers of hymns for a Sunday service are still posted on a board at the side of the chapel. Going up to the pulpit, I find a Bible. It's still open to the Book of Jeremiah, which is strangely appropriate, considering the history that Jeremiah lived through - the temple destroyed, the people in exile, the heavy atmosphere of despair. But in the midst of all this, Jeremiah took an unusual step: he bought land in his devastated hometown and planted a garden there. That, I thought, is the mark of a genuinely powerful religion: Its hope for the future is so strong that it can act in the present on that hope. Three years ago, my wife and I had a son, Jonathan. Now, more than ever, I hope we can help Universalism live on into the 21st century. I want Jonathan to know about Universalism, to feel connected to its heritage. I want him to know about the Bible, to know about other world religions, to experience worship and not just lectures. I want him to hear the Universalist message that the Creative Power of the Universe is more like a forgiving mother than a stern, forbidding father; that the blessings of Creation are open to all; that grace is here in the holiness of the ordinary; that women and men of conviction can make the world more just and loving; that we are here in this time to spend our souls dearly for the sake of Life, that we will one day find each other again in the Great Mystery where no souls are lost forever. I don't want him to grow up feeling that it doesn't matter what you believe, that he is alone in his spiritual struggle, or that worship is a matter for the brain only. I don't know what our denomination will look like when Jonathan turns 21 in the year 2010, but I pray, and not without faith, that he will find a religious home where the Universalist heritage is not just alive but flourishing.
SERMON: “Nothing and Everyone” – Rev. Alison Hyder
Everyone
once in a while someone will ask me what Unitarian Universalists believe.
So usually I start out by saying that we do not have a creed. Unitarian
Universalists, I add, come from all sorts of backgrounds and have all
sorts of beliefs. And we don’t, as a religion, demand adherence
to any particular testament of faith. Each person is guided by his or
her own conscience, I say. There are UU Buddhists, and Christians, U Us
who believe in the existence of angels and those who have faith only in
the discoveries of reason and science.
Now thoroughly puzzled, my questioner asks, “well, what’s
the Unitarian belief about God? Or the afterlife? Or abortion?”
“There isn’t one,” I state. Which is to say that there
isn’t one, official, authorized UU tenet. We believe in many things
– like justice and dignity and clean air. But there is no “Unitarian
Universalist belief.” Instead there are over 200,000 beliefs. Every
single person in our denomination has beliefs, certainties, scriptures,
longings and doubts – always doubts – that guide and inspire
and mold him or her through life. Together, these bring a dynamic richness
to our denomination that is our constant challenge and greatest delight.
It is not easy to affirm and satisfy so many widely divergent needs. Very
often we just have to bite our tongues to silence during a lay-led service
or joys and concerns, and trust. Trust that the speaker is seeking his
own highest good, however much we may differ. Trust that we can learn
from those differences and be the better for it.
It’s amazing to me how much hatred that kind of tolerance can attract.
We got an envelope a couple of weeks ago – no return address, unclear
postmark. It said “pastor” in the corner, so I got to open
it. It contained a photocopy of a letter an Oklahoma woman wrote to a
newspaper stating that the country’s Godlessness has brought about
the attacks. Needless to say, our downfall started with evolution - in
the schools, that is – and continued with things like divorce, drugs,
homosexuality and day-care. The writer said, “It’s recorded
in the Bible that God withdrew care and protection from His people because
of their sin and allowed evil nations to occupy their land. America must
repent and turn back to God because there’s nowhere else to turn.”
Whoever sent this little warning wrote a note to me saying “Shame
is apon [sic] every minister, priest and rabbi who doesn’t follow
the teaching of Moses. The above preach to tickle the listeners in their
congregation so the offering plate will be filled. Shame, shame, to all
that say they believe in GOD and practice what is written [in the letter].
One cannot put filth with GOD. GOD’s commandments aren’t that
difficult to follow or the teaching of Jesus Christ! Get on the right
track American citizens before it’s to [sic] late!”
Now, this was a fairly benign – if pointed – letter. No threats
or insults. No red ink or funny powder. No signature, either, of course.
But the irony is that the same sentiments that motivated the writers are
what have driven the Islamic fundamentalists to condemn this country.
They just cannot stand any kind of deviation from their thinking. Their
Gods are specific, strict and intransigent. Death is only the first step
in his judgment; there are further punishments after we die.
But we here at the UU Meeting House belong to a faith that has always
held higher standards for God than for humans. Our God is not only compassionate
and just, but tolerant, creative, and wise. We can no more speak for God
than we can comprehend God’s dimensions. We can only search for
the spark from within.
Our Unitarian forebears – going back to Judaism and the beginnings
of Christianity itself – considered God a unity, a whole, supreme
being. They deemed Jesus to be a prophet sent by God as a teacher and
leader. Jesus was the son of man, and not God incarnate. And it is Jesus’
very humanity that made him so compelling as a role model. We could all
hope to emulate Jesus and grow closer to the Father, God. They were not
concerned with institutions or with dogmas. They simply wanted to interpret
the Bible for themselves and follow Jesus’s example of tolerance
and love.
From the outset, Unitarians were hated and despised and persecuted for
these beliefs, not only by the Catholics, but especially by their fellow
Protestants. In 1553, John Calvin had the outspoken Unitarian champion
Miquel Servetus burned at the stake, along with his books. Faustus Socinus
was dragged through the streets of Cracow. But their beliefs took hold.
Pamphlets reached England, France, Germany and Holland. Starting in the
16th century, congregations of Unitarians began to form in eastern Europe,
in Poland and Transylvania. In 1568, the Unitarian King John Sigismund
issued the first Edict of Religious Tolerance in European history. He
wrote, “No one shall be made to suffer on account of his religion,
since faith is the gift of God.” The edict was revoked by his successors,
and religious hatred continued. But Unitarians continued to survive in
Transylvania and exist there today, still on the margins of society, struggling
but sure.
Tolerance has always been central to Unitarian thought. It’s not
just because we’ve been persecuted and mistrusted. Plenty of oppressed
groups are righteous and vengeful toward their many enemies. And it’s
not as if we’re never smug. No, it is because for us, humanity is
a higher value than tradition, higher even than religion itself. We believe
that humans were endowed with reason, and that it is therefore the right
and responsibility of each person to follow the dictates of his or her
own mind and conscience. There is nothing in this world that should not
be held up to the light of examination. For Unitarians, knowledge is never
a threat to God. We kind of figure that God got there first. God knows
it all already.
In England, Unitarianism began to emerge as philosophers like Milton and
Newton sought a wider scope for their beliefs. But though eventually some
churches formed the religious movement grew into its strength here in
the United States thanks to the congregational movement founded near here
by the pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony, who believed in a democratic form
of religious governance. Unlike the Episcopalian hierarchy, each congregation
was empowered to choose its own leaders and ordain its own ministers -
even, as it happened, when they were Unitarians.
Aside from the fact that there is no mention of the Trinity in the Bible
and Jesus never claimed to be equal to God, I am really not sure why Unitarians
began to emerge in such force in 18th century New England. Maybe because
more people were actually reading the Bible for themselves. Maybe there
was more room to ask questions. Maybe because it encourages the individual
and the independent. Maybe Jesus the man was easier to emulate than Jesus
the God. As the Reverend William Ellery Channing preached in 1819, “we
believe that he was sent …to effect a moral or spiritual deliverance
of mankind… by his instructions respecting God’s unity, parental
character and moral government…by the light which he has thrown
on the path of duty; by his own spotless example, in which the loveliness
and sublimity of virtue shine forth to warm and quicken, as well as to
guide us to perfection.” [“Unitarian Christianity,”
preached at the ordination of Jared Sparks in Baltimore, Md., 1819].
Channing said “Political liberty is of little worth but as it springs
from and invigorates spiritual freedom. Without this inward spiritual
freedom outward liberty is of little worth. The human soul is greater,
more sacred than the state and must not be sacrificed to it.” [quoted
in Unitarianism and Universalism by Henry Cheetham, p 43]
Within 30 years, Ralph Waldo Emerson was charting a radical new course.
Having given up the Unitarian ministry, he wrote essays that suggested
that humans were capable of union with God and nature; therefore all religious
traditions contained some portion of the truth; no tradition predominated.
Each individual seeker would be a source of insight. With Margaret Fuller
and Thoreau, the Transcendentalist movement shaped this country profoundly,
introducing Americans to Hindu and Buddhist thought and enhancing our
relationship to nature.
Unitarians taught (if they didn’t each believe) that each person
is equally human and equally capable of improvement. Of course, there
were conservative and elitist members, merchants who profited from the
slave trade and were bigoted and sexist. But “improvement”
was a favorite word of 19th century Unitarians, who set their energies
to improving lives through the creation of the public school system, kindergartens
and Universities, beginning the social work movement, fighting for the
abolition of slavery and for women’s rights, humanizing the treatment
of the mentally ill, and founding the U.S. Sanitary Commission (precursor
to the Department of Public Health), and the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals - among other things. Unitarians actually believed
that regular people could achieve some sort of common good. And it was
their moral duty to do so.
Now, all this time I’ve been talking about Unitarians. The Universalists
were a completely distinct group of people, a separate denomination altogether,
although with some interesting parallels. Like their cousins, Universalists
could trace their theology to various brave and independent Christians
throughout the centuries. And although individuals professed – and
were persecuted – for their beliefs in England and Europe, Universalist
congregations only took root in the looser soil of this country. It was
really very simple. Universalists believed that God loves and accepts
every human soul.
I know, it sounds like a no-brainer. But Americans liked to be scared
back in the 18th century just like today. Before there were horror movies,
around the time of the American Revolution, Jonathan Edwards swept New
England with his fiery sermons about God’s judgment and wrath, and
the eternal hellfire awaiting the vast majority of people. Humans are
depraved, and only a few, chosen souls are saved. It is ordained. Poverty
and illness are indications of God’s displeasure, because God punishes
the sinful and rewards the good. So people took a virtuous pleasure in
other’s misfortune, while ever living in fear. Into this miasma
of gloom came the Universalists, preaching of the universal love of God
for humans, and the absolute and complete success of Jesus Christ, who
after all died for just that very cause. Believing otherwise is to deny
the efficacy, the power, of Jesus. See, Universalists, although rarely
educated in those fancy Unitarian universities like Harvard, also knew
how to read the Bible. And what they found there was love and tolerance
and joy. There was no need to fear an angry God, for God accepts everyone.
There’s a story about the great Universalist preacher Hosea Ballou.
Actually, there are a lot of stories about him. But in this one, he is
on the road for a preaching engagement, and was staying with a lady who
believed in punishment and judgment, and that people would be saved only
if they are good. Arriving at the house on a Saturday afternoon, Ballou
found her in the kitchen, mop in hand. Looking up, the woman said,
“Well, Mr Ballou, they say you hold that all men will be saved.
Do you really believe that doctrine?”
“Yes, Madam, I really believe it.”
“Why, sir! Do you really believe that all men will be saved just
such creatures as they are?”
Seeing as she did not understand the nature of the issue, Ballou asked:
“What is that you have in your hand, dear woman?”
“Why,” she replied laughing, “it is my mop.”
“Your mop? Well, what are you going to do with it?”
“I am going to mop my floor. I always do it on Saturday afternoon.”
“Well, sister, I understand you. Are you going to mop it up just
as it is?”
“Mop it up just as it is?”
“Yes, you wished to know if I hold that all men will be saved just
as they are. Do you intend to mop up the floor just as it is?”
“Why,” she replied, “I mop it up to clean it.”
“True,” said Ballou. “You do not require it to be made
clean before you will consent to mop it up. God saves men to purify them;
that’s what salvation is designed for. God does not require men
to be pure in order that he may save them.” [Ernest Cassara: Universalism
in America – A Documentary History]
Early Universalists were also involved in social movements, abolishing
the Masschusetts death penalty, improving prisons, founding schools, universities
(including Tufts), schools for African Americans in Virginia and Alabama,
institutes for the blind, and founding the Red Cross and the circus (PT
Barnum, that eternal optimist and philanthropist, was among the many,
many influential Universalists and Unitarians I could mention. I can’t
tell you how hard it is for me not to list more of them).
The point is, though, that both Universalists and Unitarians always affirmed
humanity in all of its forms, always put their respect for the individual
conscience above religious dogma and authority, and for some of us, above
faith. In so doing, they not only created religions of hope, but of change.
Everyone brought something new into the mix. Humanists with their dedication
to rationality and scientific inquiry; people in interfaith marriages
rejected by their own faiths, practicing Buddhists. Instead of demanding
conformity to their beliefs, both Universalists and Unitarians expanded
their identities; they expanded the circle ever wider, until they even
included each other. The two denominations finally merged in 1961, challenging
and complementing each other still. And we are still expanding our identity,
still stretching that circle wide.
So it is not that U Us don’t believe in anything. Just the opposite,
in fact. We think belief is so important that we dare not impose it on
others. You could almost say that by sanctifying nothing, we affirm everyone.
Including you.
Each of you is on your own religious journey, informed by the beliefs
of your parents, times of crisis and wonder, readings that touched and
inspired you, and the stirrings of your own minds and hearts. What we
offer is respect and encouragement. What you bring us is the gift of hope.
CLOSING WORDS: by the Rev. Olympia Brown, minister of the Universalist Church of Weymouth, Mass, 1864-1870. This is from her last ministry in Racine, Wisconsin:
“Stand
by this faith. Work for it and sacrifice for it. There is nothing in all
the world so important as to be loyal to this faith which has placed before
us the loftiest ideals, which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened
us for noble duty and made the world beautiful. Do not demand immediate
results but rejoice that we are worthy to be entrusted with this great
message, that you are strong enough to work for a great true principle
without counting the cost. Go on finding ever new applications of these
truths…always trusting in the one God which ever lives and loves.”
