Pluralism is a value written into the structure of our faith. It’s part of the framework that holds us together. By reflecting on it, I hope we will leave here with a deepened understanding of UU tradition and a deepened sense of shared sense of purpose for being together.
The new member recognition ceremony gave us a good start, no? One reason I appreciate new member recognition ceremonies is that it present the challenge to concisely identify the most important aspects of our tradition, our gospel and way of living. I try this each week. Your feedback suggests to me that sometimes I nail and other times offer more words that is necessary.
When I sent out the ceremony script to the new members and the worship team, I asked for feedback on the wording of the covenants, the promises that we would share with each other today. The responses told me that the ceremony did express much of why they choose to participate in this congregation’s shared ministry.
I have a question for you. Is Unitarian Universalist religion simple or is it complicated? How many would say it’s simple? (raise hand) How many think its complicated? How many haven’t yet decided if it IS a religion?
UU practice of religious pluralism does not match what most people think of religion. Each time I mentioned pluralism as our upcoming theme, I got confused looks and heard things like “I am not sure what that means.” I think you do, but there is something about the word that confuses us.
One sentence gets right to the core of this value. “There are many paths up the mountain.” That sentence says so much! It’s why we have symbols from several different religious traditions behind our pulpit. There is a Chinese proverb which states “There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is always the same”. A Buddhist version says “Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, yet at the peak, we all gaze at the single bright moon.”
The Hindu veda or scripture, Advaita Vedanta, as quoted by Swami Vivikenanda says “As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.
Do all religious traditions and all paths lead to the same place? Is that place an awareness of the oneness or everything? A full experience of connection with “the interdependent web of existence?” A peace that passes understanding? Is it communion with God? And what is meant by the word “god?”
Some people claim that all religion says essentially the same thing. I’m not so sure of that. However, there are certainly common patterns, a repetition of themes, various ways to serve similar purposes, various answers to the same questions; (sings) “where do we come from, who are we, where are we going.” Those of you who recognize this UU hymn remember the ending: “Mystery, Mystery, Life is a riddle and a mystery.”
In the 21st century, many people see religion as worse than useless. They see it as a relic of the past that saddles humans with superstition and tribal identities. Detractors of religion see it as a force for ignorance, harm and violence.
Opposite of them, there are many people who believe that “their” religion possesses the perfect and final revelation from God. These tend to view other religions as wrong, problematic, dangerous or evil. They may be compelled and justify murder and aggressive conquest to establish their religion more broadly.
Liberal religious traditions like Unitarian Universalists exist between these two tendencies. We see religious traditions as having grown out of different cultures, different people’s ways of life and ways of understanding life. We view scriptures as repositories of accumulated wisdom, lore, poetry and sacred stories. We see that religion can be used to harm or to heal, to oppress or to liberate.
UUs say that revelation is continuous. We encourage life long learning. We learn from numerous scriptures, viewing each as literature and poetry. We listen and learn from the metaphors, symbols, allegories and poetry of each tradition. If religion is a hand pointing to the moon, we want to look to the moon and not to the hand pointing. Moon is a symbol, and even the word god can be understood as a symbol trying to express something awesome.
Some of us choose to be guided by the story and example of Jesus. Some of us study Kabballah or Buddhism. Many of us practice Earth centered spirituality. Some of us identify as atheists, humanists or agnostics. Some of us are inspired by new thought or new age teachings. We may be proud of this an amazing and wonderful feat, and yet have trouble claiming ourselves as practicing a religion. We consider the guidance of many religions. Do we recognize how our religious tradition is guiding us?
With all the pluralism and celebration of diversity, people mistakenly conclude that UU tradition isn’t really a thing, that there’s no there there, that UUs can believe anything they want. No! not every belief, and certainly not every attitude or behavior keeps UU tradition.
You want a simple introduction to UU tradition? We don’t have to think alike to love alike! Matters of faith cannot be achieved by force! Our relationships shall be consensual. Affirm justice, equity and compassion in human relations. Look to see Revelation continue! Join in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Each of these statements has a lot of history behind it. Learning UU history is a good way to grow in understanding UU tradition.
Participating in the religious life of the denomination and the congregation is the second way. During the new member ceremony you heard that all we do here is faith development, all we teach is UU, and the congregation is the curriculum. We learn together how to seek fulfillment of our deepest held values.
It becomes hard to see and understand our ministry if we insist it matches all dominant conceptions of ministry. Many think that a religion must require adherence to a set of doctrines that are allegedly stated in their one sacred book.
We support spiritual growth by participating in a covenant with the congregation. Covenants are the promises we make to each other about why we have come together, what we will do and how we will treat each other. Every service, and every church activity is shaped by the covenants or promises we make with each other. UU children learn to make their own covenants. They express what’s important to them, listen to what others express as important, and they negotiate to come up with something that makes life more wonderful for everyone. In a sense all groups are multicultural. And rather than enforcing conformity to an old cultural standard, UUs learn how to respect and include people with different beliefs, worldviews, and preferences.
Honoring our covenants has led us to value pluralism, celebrating diversity, and learning from multiculturalism? We learn and grow by our efforts to be inclusive. Our efforts to establish rapport sometimes fail. Our efforts to connect inadvertently result in awkward or hurt feelings. People share things that are meaningful or sacred to them but problematic for us. It’s hard to know when and how to speak up. Learning doesn’t happen automatically. Integrity is hard work. It takes willingness to see how our speech and behavior impact others, willingness to examine our speech, thoughts and behaviors, willingness to be vulnerable, willingness to learn together.
Faith development is linked to the ability to trust. We work together to create an environment that makes it easier to admit mistakes and learn together. A skill that facilitates connecting across differences- is generous translation. To read about this go to our website to find the sermon “Blessed are the translators!”
When our beliefs are different, we learn to listen and strive to connect with universal values that lie beneath speech and behavior. We listen to people’s sacred stories. We don’t have to believe them literally or the same way they do to be able to hear their sense of what is sacred. Doing this practice in community leads to shifts in consciousness, cultivating new experiences of the holy.
We approached religion as poetry, and we came to appreciate multicultural expression of faith, awe, wonder, and Great Mystery. This work requires humility; starting with an awareness that our ideas are not perfect, our truths, partial at best. Humility continues when we acknowledge that it can be difficult to connect across cultural differences.
Another version of that path to the mountain goes “there are many paths to G*d.” One way to understand the peak experience of different religious traditions is to connect or come before a reality that transcends our separateness. Coming to God might mean coming to oneness, coming to peace, coming to truth.
In 2008, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published a major study on religious affiliation, beliefs, and practices in the United States. The study suggested that 70 percent of Americans, 65 percent of all self-identified Christians, and 56 percent of all evangelical Christians believed that there are many paths, other than faith in Christ, to God and eternal life. Apparently, even religious conservatives may be drawn to faith that affirms love as supreme, that affirms our kinship. Often people can find a love that is beyond belief.
That is one of the promises of our faith tradition. Our Universalist forebears affirmed that G*d’s all-powerful love would reach us all. That taught that in the end, God’s love would be irresistible and would lead to reconciliation.
Our gospel today might be that people with different worldviews and theological beliefs can come together in unity with a shared intention to bring heaven to this world. Our ancestors understood Jesus’s phrase heaven to mean divine order. Today we unite in our efforts to see the Beloved Community become a reality on Earth.
In “Being Liberal in an Illiberal Age,” Rev. Jack Mendelson wrote
“Creating a religious way of life is far too important to be left to the propounders of creeds and dogmas. We become Unitarian Universalists not by substituting one confession of faith for another, but by opening our minds to receive truth and inspiration from every possible source.”
We participate in UU tradition because it’s an outrageous affirmation of life, because it calls us to serve life and find truth inside and around us. We respect our different ways of naming and understanding wholeness and or the holy. We work together to support faith development, to face the seemingly impossible challenges of our age, ever affirming dignity, mystery and wonder, reminding each other that we are part of sacred and unending story still being written.
Amen.
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