You may have noticed in these last couple of months that we have continued to take baby steps in our sanctuary’s décor since the big renovation at the end of last year.
Following that project of carpeting, painting and tech additions, smaller addons such as plants and new tables have appeared. We are close to being done, as evidenced by our attention being recently turned to the exterior landscape.
There’s just one element of this sacred space that remains unfinished. That is obtaining sacred symbols that celebrate and identify who we are.
The plan is to have three pieces. One is an artistic creation of a non-traditional cross denoting our Christian heritage. The other two symbolize each of our affiliated denominations.
Here’s a denominational symbol trivia question for you: which of our two denominations – Disciples of Christ and Christian Unitarian Universalism – has a chalice as its symbol?
You are correct if you said Disciples. However, you would also be correct if you said Christian UUism. Some of you may not know that the symbol for the UU denomination is a flaming chalice.
It was created by the Unitarian Service Committee, a church group that helped Jewish refugees escape Nazi persecution during World War II. Because of language barriers, they wanted a symbol to wear to discreetly inform Jewish people that they were there to help.
Every element of the symbol means something. The chalice represents communion/community. The flame represents the light of truth and reason.
After the merger of Unitarianism and Universalism in 1961, two interlocking rings surrounding the flaming chalice were added to represent the coming together of two traditions into one.
UUs often refer to a quote by poet Edwin Markham regarding the intertwined rings: He drew a circle that shut me out—Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle and took him in!
So, that’s our UU history lesson for today. You might remember that last Sunday was full of historical tidbits about this tradition that we’ve embraced.
Last week and today we’re exploring this new faith that we have chosen. Especially because we acknowledge that it can be a misunderstood faith.
This makes me think of something Mark Wyman shared with me soon after I arrived a couple of years ago. He told me the story of a man who insisted that Mark wasn’t Christian because of his progressive views did not reflect traditional Christianity.
Mark reports that his definitive response was, “I am Christian! I can identify as Christian if I choose, and I do.”
Then there was last week when I spoke of a former neighbor who saw UUs as grass worshippers. And one of you recalled Unitarians being mocked as “Loonie Unis.’
Because we know of such perceptions, there have been some concerns about what others might think of us if we have a UU association.
So, it’s important to us to appreciate and understand…Who is it that we say we are?
I’m remembering one of you telling me how, for years, you would metaphorically keep your fingers crossed during Sunday service – saying, singing, and hearing things that you didn’t mean or believe.
It’s fascinating that, while we have remained anchored within the non-doctrinal Disciples tradition, we have also migrated from somewhere else to the UU faith, and that somewhere else is usually other Christian denominations. We heard this in our reading.
And yet, the idea of our church being UU only works if there’s a Christian component. It might be confusing to some, then, to hear that we migrated from Christian traditions because we wanted a faith that didn’t cause us to cross our fingers, but retaining a Christian identity is essential.
It’s not perplexing to us, though, is it? The piece that makes it all fit is the Jesus part.
Based on that, we must be able to answer a central question: How, if at all, does Jesus fit into this Unitarian Universalism?
We’ve got a good working understanding of who Jesus is. It’s that not yet very familiar UU landscape that we’re looking out over.
To answer this, one has to consider the core of UUism, which are found in 7 values.
(You’ve heard of Buddhist 8-fold path, Christianity’s 10 Commandments, and the 5 Pillars of Islam? UUs have 7 values.)
These values are not to be confused with beliefs.
Have you ever considered the difference between beliefs and values? In religious circles it can be foggy.
While it may seem like minutia, it gets underneath why people migrate from one faith to another.
Beliefs are assumptions about truth that shape how you perceive reality (assumptions, perceptions).
Values speak to what matters to a person, and serve as a guidepost for one’s behavior.
One is passive, typically more aligned with what we inherit, while the other is active, addressing what we choose to do and how we live.
Let’s see how Jesus fits with the seven UU values.
I’ll give you a teaser…all but one are expected. But there’s always that one.
Interdependence: our interconnection to all of creation. Jesus frequently talked about this. I’m thinking of his metaphor about branches withering when they’re disconnected from the vine.
Transformation: Continual spiritual growth. In addition to his teachings, the very essence of Jesus was transformative, and those teachings transformed humanity.
Generosity : This value – about gratitude and giving – reminds me of him extolling the offering of the poor woman who gave all she had – two coins. Giving, being there, even when it hurts.
Equity: This speaks to every person’s inherent worth and right to dignity, and is first cousin to…
Justice: This addresses actively uplifting that worth and dignity by working against oppression. Jesus probably spoke about this most of all – compassion for the poor and marginalized.
Pluralism: This one – the celebration of and drawing from diverse cultures and theologies – is the sticky wicket.
More than one author has said this value of UUism is one Jesus would’ve rejected because he clearly said I am the way, and the truth and the life. Nobody gets to God except through me.
What is overlooked here is that Jesus never said he was starting a religion, or that that religion was the only portal.
What he was saying is “This way of being that I am modeling for you, the way of love, is the way to fulfillment. There’s no back door, no Plan B on this one.”
And this way of being is found in all genuine, love-based paths with different names.
More on this in a moment.
Speaking of love, that’s the 7th, central value that is the core to the rest.
When asked what’s the most important thing of all, Jesus simply replied…love.. Love God, and love each other.
Hopefully from our brief but ample value overview, you can see how Jesus is mirrored throughout our UU guideposts.
Another often overlooked but striking reflection between the two is how both – Jesus and UUism – have challenged the religious establishment of the day that prioritizes strict religious laws over love, and belief over being and living.
Story after story that Jesus would tell – a master at metaphorical storytelling was he so that people would get it – had to do with how to follow his example of living.
Rev. Branden Robertson spoke to this when he said, “There’s a long-institutionalized story in Christianity of taking the radical renegade rabbi from Nazareth and turning him into a religious figure to be worshipped instead of to be followed.”
This led me to wonder if immersion in the glorification of Jesus contributes to people overlooking the whole point behind his message.
January 6th in our nation’s capital comes to mind.
That’s one example of using Jesus when actions couldn’t be further from being like him. It calls to mind when Gandhi, “I like your Christ, but I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
That’s an example of how not to live your faith. This next story is the other end of the spectrum.
It plays out in a true story that the teller, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, called “The Stranger on the Bus.”
What would you do if you met the stranger on the bus? It happened in Munich in Nazi Germany. A woman had been riding a city bus home from work when SS troopers suddenly stopped the coach and began examining the identification papers of the passengers.
Most were annoyed, but a few were terrified. Jews were being told to leave the bus and get into a truck around the corner. The woman watched from her seat in the rear, as the soldiers systematically worked their way down the aisle. She began to tremble, tears streaming down her face.
When the man next to her noticed she was crying, he politely asked her why. “I don’t have the papers you have. I am a Jew. They’re going to take me.”
Suddenly the man exploded with disgust. He began to curse and scream at her. He said, “You stupid cow! I can’t stand being near you.” This brought the SS men over to where the man and the woman were seated. “What is this all about?” they asked. “Why are you yelling?”
“Damn her,” the man shouted angrily. “My wife has forgotten her papers again! I’m fed up! She always does this!” The soldiers laughed and moved on past them.
Being immersed in a living faith means having the courage to speak up to save a fellow traveler. Obviously, this is not represented in the images we just saw when an attack was carried out in the name of Jesus by some.
It reminds us that names and labels are worldly constructs that can mislead, and at the same time, can be useful identifiers. And we all use them. And that brings us back to our denominational labeling.
If we are to truly live into our self-proclaimed identity as Christian Unitarian Universalists, we are called unequivocally to do two things:
Embrace and embody the values that Jesus modeled, and to unapologetically do the same with our UU values.
Mark, the next time somebody tells you that you can’t be a Christian because you don’t fit the mold, throw him for a real loop and tell him you’re a Christian UU, and then set him straight on why it’s a perfect fit.
This ‘fit the mold’ thing reminds me of the moment in the film Gandhi when a fellow Hindu asked Gandhi if he was still a Hindu after becoming upset with Gandhi for being so generous with people of other faiths.
Gandhi’s response was one of the moments in my movie-going history that had the deepest impact on me. It’s crossed my mind countless times in the years since.
Gandhi looks at his counterpart and says “Yes, I am a Hindu. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist, and a Jew.”
Then he elaborates that true religion “transcends” specific groupings and labels.
He summed this up with one simple 4-word sentence: God has no religion.
For him, being a true Hindu included “all that I know to be best in Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism.” My friends, never a more UU thing has ever been uttered. This is the spirit of pluralism!
And I can hear Jesus saying the same thing, with the other side of that coin being that the best of him is in all spiritual paths.
And so, if you’re doing the math, that answers our question of the day Was Jesus a Jewish Unitarian Universalist? Jesus not only fits our mold…he epitomized what it means to be a UU, Jewish style.
How fortunate we are to call him our own (even if pretty much everyone else can too, given that his universal message resides wherever love is).
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