A Sermon by Rev. Henley in a joint service with Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring, MD, at the UUCSS on June 7.
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden back.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
“Life is a journey.”
It is an often repeated phrase.
Someone told me there is a mourner’s Kaddish in Reform Judaism that says, “Birth is a beginning/and death a destination/and life is a journey.
Most of us Unitarian Universalists, I believe, would agree how we live the journey is more important than the destination. We have a tendency to be more concerned with the present life than we do the “after life.”
It must be a characteristic of the religious liberal. And while our heritage is rooted in the theology that all souls will be One with God, the metaphors and meaning of that theology have changed significantly over the years. Today, though, I want to focus on the image of journey—of choosing between the two roads that diverged.
It seems our journeys are not one continuous journey where we move gaily forward in a straight line. Our journeys are, just as Frost suggests in his poem, a movement along a path, that often divides, that often presents choices, that often calls us to change direction. Sometimes, it is as if we are living one life, and then something happens, we have to make a choice on our journey, and we know our lives will never be the same. Frost wrote: Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.
Jonah was on his journey when he heard YHWH say, “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh right now. Raise a cry against it!” [The Inclusive Bible The First Egalitarian Translation] Now Jonah was doing all right, living his life, tending his flock, and taking care of his family. But YHWH’s voice was calling him to Nineveh. Jonah saw the road diverge; take the prophetic message to Nineveh, where surely these people would ostracize him, or worse kill him or go to Tarshish, where he would be safe. For now, let’s leave Jonah about to sail for Tarshish.
We will go back in time to the sixteenth century and move to the twenty-first century.
The spirit of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation was alive in England. There were those who wanted to cleanse the Church, the Puritans. They were living their lives, taking care of their families when their road diverged. Risk their lives and stay in England where they were ostracized or journey across the Atlantic where they could worship in freedom?
The spirit of freedom was alive in the Colonies. In New England the Puritans became the Congregationalists. Their churches were filled with those who would become the mothers and fathers of this new nation. They were living their lives, taking care of their families when the road diverged. Bend their knees to the King or fight for their freedom?
The spirit of religious freedom was as strong as the spirit of revolution. From these Congregational churches the road diverged and Baptists walked along one path, Unitarians walked along another path, and Universalists walked another. These “new” religions, rooted in rebellion grew with this new nation.
The spirit of legal reform was alive in all three—the Baptists, the Unitarians, and the Universalists. They were the churches who filed the law suits that ensured real religious freedom. Before long, there were Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, even Catholics, and many smaller denominations worshiping in this new nation.
The road diverged, most kept to the path of creeds and doctrine, the Unitarians and the Universalists took the path of true religious freedom.
When the Transcendentalists suggested that reason, and in the nineteenth century, reason meant discernment, when the Transcendentalists suggested that through reason humankind could find religion, the Unitarians remained united; no one suggested that the road diverge.
When the spiritualists held their séances, no one suggested that the road diverge.
When the advocates of the Social Gospel suggested that the cross be placed off-center in the Universalist circle, no one suggested that the road diverge.
When the religious naturalists wanted to recognize the presence of divinity in nature, the Universalists remained united; no one suggested that the road diverge.
When the humanists suggested that we could have a religion without a supernatural God, some did suggest that the atheists join the Free Religious Association, but those who believed in religious freedom spoke the loudest and no divergent path was taken.
But religious freedom is hard to sustain in a culture that values “sameism.”
Sameism, yes, I made it up, I could use conformity, but “sameism” is so much more poetic!
Sameism says, we all wear the same fashion
we all buy the same car
we all read the same books
we all use the same toothpaste
we all believe in the same religion
and
we all believe in the same God
Religious freedom is hard to sustain in a culture that values “sameism.”
What else happened?
Historians tell us that the other mainline Christian churches became more “liberal,” and
The Unitarians declined
The Universalists declined
Their paths converged, there was a merger, and now, we are all Unitarian Universalists.
We must face the reality of our religion and our world. In a culture that values “sameism” there are a lot of people who need our spirit of religious freedom. They are the people who recognize that doctrine and dogma are “un-reasonable.” People are looking for a religious community who accepts them. Their God has not died, but the old metaphors have. God is no longer supernatural, God is transrational.
Dr. Brooks, the minister of UNMC for forty years, said we are not an evangelical people. We go out and do social justice work, but we rarely invite people to come back to church with us. …but we rarely invite people to come back to church with us.
Where did we leave Jonah? We left him headed to Tarshish where he thought he would be safe. Two roads diverged in the desert, and Jonah took the safe path. But, YHWH wanted him in Nineveh. There was a need for him in Nineveh. Just as people today in our culture and around the world have a need for religious freedom and a free religious church, Nineveh had a need for a prophetic voice.
Johan wasn’t safe in Tarshish. He set sail, but was thrown overboard and eaten by fish. What a story.
Jonah found out that when there is a need we are called,
by the voice within,
by our God,
by the Need itself, to travel the path “… less traveled by…”
The future of Unitarian Universalism has to be a greater acceptance of diversity—economic, ethnic, and religious. We must take the path that needs to be taken, and that will make all the difference.