Sermon preached by Rev. Lillie M. Henley 4 Feb 2007
Today we continue our series of sermon on the Unitarian Universalist Seven Principles. For our guests this morning, we find those listed on the page right before hymn no 1 in the gray hymnal. The principles begin with the words that “We the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: and then there’s a list of seven principles. The third is “…we affirm and promote Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.”
The story of these principles is rooted in the tradition of religious freedom that reaches back to the late 1700s and the fight for independence of our country. The pioneers who settled these great United States, the Puritans, the revolutionaries who fought for the freedom to govern themselves, are the same people who fostered among themselves, people who came to believe in religious freedom.
Freedom to interpret the Bible as “reasonable” people
Freedom to worship as they felt called to worship
Freedom to demand tolerance from the established churches
As you know, the Colonists who fought and won the right to create a democratic republic were Congregationalists. And for many years from the time they began settling in the colonies in the 1600s until the Revolution of the late 1700s, they were the only religion.
The Congregationalists were a people who came here in search of religious freedom; yet, ironically, they were extremely intolerant of any religious diversity. Or at least they were for the first one hundred years or so. The ferment of revolution fostered, as I said, the climate that soon tolerated the Universalists and the Baptists. Eventually, Methodists and Lutherans were tolerated. It was a longer time, however, before Catholics were tolerated.
The roots of the religious freedom that we have today in our nation, and the roots of our Universalist faith, are intertwined.
Throughout the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, there were two Christian faiths that continued to live out the religious revolution fostered in climate of democracy.
They were the Congregationalists who became, “Unitarian Christians,” and the Universalists.
These Universalists came from congregations founded by George de Benneville who preached universal salvation in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the mid 1700s and John Murray, who preached universal salvation in New York and up into New England in the late 1700s.
These two Christian faiths, true to the spirit of revolution embraced on-going development of religious ideas.
Neither religion believed that creeds and dogma were the answer to salvation.
Both adopted the religious principles that fostered belief in
Freedom to worship dictated by individual beliefs
Freedom to worship grounded in reason
Freedom to worship free of government interference
When the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of American merged in 1961, they adopted principles that were grounded in all three: religious freedom that values individual beliefs, religious discernment explored through reason, and religious tolerance of all faiths.
The principles, as I have said in earlier sermons have changed over the years, and the ones we have today were approved by the UUA general assemblies of 1984 and 1985.
Today, we reflect on “… acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations… ”
Certainly, based on our deep roots, we can understand the call to accept one another’s individual beliefs.
It was in the first half of the twentieth century, in the American Unitarian Association when the atheists, humanists, and Christians were debating on just “how accepting” the Unitarian churches could be. Would the atheists and humanists find acceptance or would they leave their Unitarian churches.
We know the story. The religious edge was pushed about as far as it could be pushed, according to the Unitarian Christians, and based on religious freedom the atheists and humanists remained in the AUA.
Someone wrote that had the atheists and humanists left, the AUA would probably not survived. Of course, we will never know.
Hindsight is the foresight we were unable to see.
During that same time, Universalists who leaned toward humanism left the Universalist churches for the Unitarian churches. And, Universalists began to think beyond an exclusive view that Christianity was the only religion which provided a view of salvation. They began to promote the belief that all the world’s religions provided a path to God.
We often envision this as the many paths up the mountain to one G-d, whatever that G-d may be called.
The second part of the principle is encouragement to spiritual growth become part of the principles?
That was the recognition that our religion is not a stagnant one. It provides a place where our individual faiths can be nurtured and replenished in community. It is here, in a religious community that we find communal support for our individual spiritual journeys.
We look at the story in Luke. Jesus is teaching
Crowd, pressed
Gets in the boat
When he is finished
Tells fisherman go out
Throw out the nets
They said, All night no luck
Jesus presence makes a difference
Simon is amazed, begins to recognize his own shortcomings
He is human and sinful he says to Jesus of these blessings
Jesus said all right
Not only all right
But you will become
Fishers of men
Jesus showed them that there is no deserving or “not deserving” of blessings
Jesus showed them that there are no “qualifications” required for service
Jesus showed them a way of life, a religion that embraces everyone
Jesus showed them that they must share the message, take it to others
Jesus showed them that they were to encourage others as he encouraged them
Our third principle has deep roots, in our own country’s story and in the stories of Jesus.
We must be grateful for our religious heritage, for it allows us to have a dynamic religion.
And when we gather we are reminded each week that we are unique in our Universal and Christian faiths.
Other Christian faiths today are struggling with their message. The Episcopal Bishop John Spong is encouraging Christianity to embrace change that will make it more meaningful to people today. His message is the same message of William Ellery Channing and Hosea Ballou and others Unitarians and Universalists of two hundred and fifty years.
Let us know our blessings.
Let us live our third principle, knowing we are grounded in a mighty God and a loving Jesus.
Let us encourage one another in joy and love.
Readings
Psalm 138
Luke 5:1-11