"Shall Two Walk Together Lest They Be Agreed"

[Dear Gentle Reader: The sermon text which follows was an oral presentation in the midst of a worship service. Missing here are the elements that make for a communal experience: the music, the faces of companions, shared joy or sorrow, the noise of children, and the quiet silence that transforms ordinary time into the sacred. Added here are unspoken note commentaries to the text.

Added here are unspoken notes and/or commentaries to the text.

A sermon is a living event, between the preacher and the congregation. If you are reading this after hearing, don't be surprised if it is somewhat different from what you recall. If you are reading this afresh, may the sermon you write in conversation with these words improve upon what follows. Blessings, Kenn.]

An Affirmation of Our Unitarian Universalist Faith

[In 1985 and updated in 1994, the Unitarian Universalist Association adopted a set of principles that represent this generation's attempt to express what unites Unitarian Universalists. Here is an adaptation using the original words with a response in words more accessible to children:]

We Unitarian Universalists affirm and promote - the Inherent Worth and Dignity of every person;

We believe that each and every person is important.

We affirm and promote - Justice, Equity and Compassion in human relations;

We believe that - all people should be treated fairly.

We affirm and promote - Acceptance of one another and Encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

We believe that - our churches are places where all people are accepted, and where we keep on learning together.

We affirm and promote - A Free and Responsible search for truth and meaning;

We believe that - each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.

We affirm and promote - the Right of Conscience and the Use of the Democratic Process within our congregations and in society at large;

We believe that - all people should have a voice and a vote about the things which concern them.

We affirm and promote - the goal of World Community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

We believe that - we should work for a peaceful, fair, and free world.

We affirm and promote - Respect for the Interdependent Web of All Existence of which we are a part.

We believe that - we should care for our planet earth.

Sermon:
Shall Two Walk Together Lest They Be Agreed.

Hurricanes notwithstanding, our church's Long Range Planning team has begun to meet. Their work is to ask fundamental questions about our ministry:

• Where's it going>
• Whom shall we serve?
• How shall we do it?
• And what will UUCFM look like in five years time?

I roll those questions into one:

Were there no Unitarian Universalist congregation in Fort Myers, and we felt a need to create one, what human yearning would we seek to serve?

What distinctive gifts do we bring to the table of human need, and what particular ministry will we provide?

The great Unitarian preacher, A. Powell Davies, once answered the question in this way: "Life is just a chance to grow a soul." If so, then our saving work is to help people grow into their souls. Or, said differently: to become the happiest, most authentic, wise, and broadly loving people they can be. Not easy to do. Harder to measure. Which is why I answer the question more simply:

Our work is to teach love and how to act on it. Love is our teaching. It is our witness.

I will be more specific: I believe we must provide a religious alternative to orthodoxy - which I see as anti-love. What is orthodoxy? Well, here's a story that captures both the essence and the failing of orthodoxy. Though it picks on Baptists, it could be any form of orthodoxy.

A die-hard Baptist crossed a bridge one day when she saw a man about to jump off. She ran over and said, "Stop! Don't do it! Don't jump!" "Why not, man? My life sucks," the fellow said
"Well, there's so much to live for!" declared the first. "Like what?" the other asked.
"Well, are you religious or atheist?" "Religious."
"Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?" "Oh, I'm Christian."
"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?" He said, "Protestant."
"My, my! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?" He declared, "Baptist!"
"Praise Jesus! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?" The man said, "Baptist Church of God!"
"Lord almighty, me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?" "Reformed Baptist Church of God!" replied the jumper.
"Hallelujah, Jesus be praised. Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?" He said, "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!"
The devout woman paused. As she pushed him off, she said, "Die, heretic scum!"

We Unitarian Universalists are unorthodox. We don't believe in heresy nor destroying those with whom we disagree. We're about being a helping hand, with everyone.

But what is orthodoxy? In our 18th century origins, it meant something peculiar. It was a set of fixed Christian beliefs that shaped everyone's understanding of the holy, of human nature, of society, and of life's purpose. Here's the core of it then, and to a great extent, today:

• That God created the world with a pre-determined plan. All things work to fulfill God's plan - even the storm that destroyed your home.
• That humans are ultimately depraved, born of sin and salvageable only by God's grace.
• That salvation comes from the sacrifice of Jesus, called the Christ.
• That only those who accept Christ as their savior and submit to God's will, as promulgated by the church, can be restored to grace. Those who are ignorant of Christ's sacrifice or who believe otherwise are damned to eternal torment in hell. There is only one true church; all else is devil's work.
• Thus, the world is divided into two camps: the saved and the damned, the elect and the reprobate. Submission to church teaching and practice puts you in the former. All others are of the latter.
• And all this is premised on a literal reading of the Bible, as a revelation from God.

Sound familiar?



I could stop right there and say this is what we hope to be an alternative to. But orthodoxy is any "right belief" that holds all contrary beliefs to be false. Orthodoxy admits no failing and accepts no critique. "Right belief" leads to dogma and can be found in any of the world's religions and ideologies, left or right. All too often, it leads to hate, with someone pushing another off the bridge in its name.

It's not just religion.

• In science - Darwin's theory is still under attack.
• In politics: The theory that cutting taxes for the rich will help the poor is a belief so deeply held that there can be no discussion with its proponents, all evidence to the contrary.
• All prejudice, racism, sexism, even child abuse and capital punishment are perpetuated and sanctioned by narrowly conceived right belief.
• One way and one-way-only thinking inspires civil war from Chechnya to the Sudan.
• It justifies violence and evil, from suicide bombings in Palestine to blowing up trains in Spain.
• It fed the cold war.
• It flew the planes into the World Trade Center three years ago.
• And some will argue it underlies many of our economic debates, with the well-off among the righteous and the poor among the lost.

The point is simply: Orthodoxy's singular traits are close-mindedness, intolerance, hatred, and paranoia. The orthodox of whatever persuasion always see the world in black and white, you're with me or against me. If you're with me, you're good; if you differ from me, you're bad, and I can do whatever I want to you.

Unitarian Universalism is different. We premise all our work on freedom of conviction. We don't stop loving people for thinking differently. We're not here to clone one another. We respect and treasure diversity. Our goal is not to think alike, but to alike think. Truth comes out of the dialog of many convictions, freely expressed. Or as David Ferenz, 16th century founder of Transylvanian Unitariansm put it: "Not to think alike, but to love alike." There is no hate in our faith. That is our alternative.



Back those peculiar notions. Our forebears challenged orthodoxy's dogmatic teachings about Jesus and the Bible. We Unitarian Universalists believe divine revelation is not limited to one time, one savior, nor one book. The Bible is one among many inspirational sources, to be read with great care and tested at the bar of reason. "The sun shines today, also" was how Unitarian poet Ralph Waldo Emerson put it.

And as our name Unitarian implies, we view God as a unity and Jesus as a wholly human teacher of moral wisdom. We explicitly disavow the creedal dogma that holds Jesus to be God as well.

More important, though, is our alternative view of God and of human nature.

1. Our Universalist ancestors rejected the vengeful god of the orthodox. How, they asked, could an all-knowing, all-powerful God create us as limited beings and then damn us to hell for our short-comings? No, God is Pure Love. Moreover, God's love is not reserved just for those whom the church calls saved. God's love is for all, ignorant and wise, well-behaved or mis-guided, churched or not.

The Universalists, preaching the salvation of all souls, became known as the "love church" and the "no hell church." This is true today as then. Never from this pulpit, I pray, will you ever hear the voice of hate. Never will we damn anyone, to hell or otherwise. Our alternative is love. It is our teaching. It is the call we seek to be worthy of.

That said, today, some Unitarian Universalists are discomforted with God talk, and might be just as happy being known as the "No God" church. Due the way god is used commonly - as sort of a grand insurance agent, or as an excuse to condemn those with whom one does not agree, or as an emotional expletive preceding the word "damn" - along with the notion that God is a human-like being steering the course of earth's history, selectively rewarding our side, punishing theirs - because of this, some among us reject the idea of God outright.

William Butler Yeats once opined, "Some people say there is a God; others say there is no God. The truth probably lies somewhere in between." Those who don't reject God talk, like myself, tend to understand god in symbolic, poetic, or allegorical ways. In the end, our teaching about god is a marked alternative to orthodoxy: if God is, God is love.

[I pause to note that our faith is named for a theological point: Unitarian means "God is one." In that, we're like the Jews and Muslims. This contrasts with the 4th century Christian Trinitarian formula of God in three persons. I find all that rather silly, a superstitious numerology and, frankly, an uninteresting point. Who cares how many parts God is or is not cut up into? Hindus have a million gods. Buddhists have none. The ancient Greeks and Romans had one for every human fear. Today, we worship all kinds of gods - with power, money and fame being the most popular. That we call ourselves Unitarian probably matters more to our Christian neighbors than to us. But it is our heritage. Egy az isten, God is One was the 16th century rallying cry of our forefathers. It remains a defining conviction.]

2. The second dramatic teaching that emerged in the Free Church reformation of orthodoxy two hundred years ago was our view of human kind. Core to 18th century orthodoxy was a belief that God made and sanctioned the social order. In England, later in the New World, the Unitarians, notably John Locke and Isaac Newton, challenged the notion that kings ruled by divine right or each person's place was fore-ordained and immutable. They argued: Humans are not fixed creatures, whose fate is determined by powers beyond their influence. Humans are at core free beings.

In this, we also challenged the doctrine of depravity. You cannot be a moral being without the freedom to choose, for good or ill. If you can choose, then you can choose ever more wisely. Our good news is no one is forever lost. Each person can turn toward what is good and away from what is wrong. The church's role is to help us do that. Affirming the worth and dignity, not the depravity of persons, we preach salvation by character and ethical living, not miracles. Unlike the orthodox, for us salvation to be about living an authentic life.

This is the alternative, hope-filled message of our gospel. God is universal love. People are by nature free, and disposed to become good.

3. A third observation: As our faith matured, we saw God's love expressed as human compassion. Our faith calls us to be God's hands, to create holiness in the world. The religious life is more than personal salvation. It includes the redemption of society itself. As your personal fate not sealed, neither is society's. We can, together, make this a better world. Wrongs can be righted, hate put aside; love and justice can prevail. That's what we're about.

This why we are such social activists, committed to reforming the world according to religious ideals. Our faith inspired a Universalist nurse, Clara Barton, to found the American Red Cross. It lies at the core of our witness against slavery and racial discrimination. It is why woman's suffrage was led by Unitarians Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone. It is why we stood arm in arm during civil rights struggle. It is why today we keep working to dismantle racism, sexism, and homophobia.

How refreshing all this is when compared to the pernicious nastiness of orthodoxy - manifested by the likes of the Christian Coalition, who claimed 911 occurred because we Americans had insulted God, or who argue hurricanes are God's punishment. How life-giving is our loving message in contrast to orthodoxy's mean-spirited selfishness, its paranoid hatefulness, its threat of hell and fire, and its prophecies of doom and gloom. We do have a ministry to perform that is a genuine religious alternative - let there be no doubt in your hearts, dear friends. Let there be no doubt how urgently our teachings are needed. We have a religious alternative to provide.



There's one other point I need to make this morning. People often ask: If you don't have a set creed, what holds all your parts together? A tough question, and one church leaders often fret about - about which you'll hear more next Sunday.

When someone joins our congregation, I give them my hand and say,

"On behalf of our members and the 400 year traditions of the free church,

I extend to you the Right Hand of Fellowship. I am glad to have you walk among us."

This phrase mimics the words that define the Free Church, since its origins in the Puritan exodus to the New World.

In 1648, after years of discussion, church leaders came together in Cambridge, Massachusetts to adopt a Platform of Church Discipline. It is a remarkable document, from which American democracy emerges. In contrast to Europe, the Puritans defined the church simply as the free assembly of people who choose to walk together on a religious journey in the service of the gospel. At the time, many congregations had bonds of union, or covenants that defined their purpose. For instance, here is one from the Salem congregation:

"We Covenant with the Lord and one with another; and doe bynd ourselves in the presence of God, to walke together in all his waies according as he is pleased to reveale himself to us in his Blessed word of truth."

Notice there is no creed. The emphasis is on promising, binding, and walking together. Long ago, the prophet Amos asked, can people walk together if they don't agree (Amos 3.3)? What our Puritan ancestors sought to do was to build a church, not on words or practices, but on a simple pledge: Agree or disagree, we're in this together, seeking religious truth as it may become known to us.

More than 350 years later, that still is our bond. A simple handshake that says, you're one of us. Come, let us walk together in the ways of love and truth. This is the glue of our shared ministries.

The question Amos put so long ago is as vital as ever. If we are to be a healthy congregation, more, if we are to be a vibrant country, we must commit ourselves to walking together, committed to shared ideals and not to pushing out those who think differently. Yes, the commitment is always to truth; I don't tolerate lies. Yes, the commitment is always to love; I won't tolerate hatred. But truth can known only in conversation, not in coercion, in loving respect, not in disdain.

So, dear friends, let us join our hands and hearts, binding ourselves one to another as we seek to find the divine and holy in all our living. May there be ever more love among us. May we practice it more ably with and for our neighbors, near and far.

In my years of ministry, I grow ever more appreciative of the wisdom of our Universalist forebears. One, Hosea Ballou, spoke of the ultimate reconciliation of humans with the divine, but first argued we must continually work to be reconciled to one another. It is with his words I close. He defined the alternative way of the free church:

"If we agree in brotherly and sisterly love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good. May love continue."

May it so be. Amen.



Reading After the Sermon:
I Call That Church Free by James Luther Adams.

[Jim Adams served our churches broadly in the last century. He became a leading theologian in his own right, sponsor of Paul Tillich's escape from Nazi journey. He gave voice to the social justice implications of Unitarian Universalist faith.]

I call that church free which enters into covenant with the ultimate source of existence,
That sustaining and transforming power not made with human hands.
It binds together families and generations, protecting against the idolatry of any human claim to absolute truth or authority.
This covenant is the charter and responsibility and joy of worship in the face of death as well as life.
I call that church free which brings individuals into a caring, trusting fellowship,
That protects and nourishes their integrity and spiritual freedom; that yearns to belong to the church universal;
It is open to insight and conscience from every source; it bursts through rigid tradition, giving rise to new and living language, to new and broader fellowship.
It is a pilgrim church, a servant church, on an adventure of the spirit.
The goal is the prophethood and priesthood of all believers, the one for the liberty of prophesying, the other for the ministry of healing.
It aims to find unity in diversity under the promptings of the spirit "that blowth where it listeth...and maketh all things new."