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UNITARIANS WHO
MADE A DIFFERENCE:
William Ellery
Channing: Reluctant Radical.
INTRODUCTION:
On my refrigerator door at home, I have only two pieces attached. (I
continue to resist what is an innate Unitarian inclination to bumper
sticker the whole world with slogans.) One of these is a quote from
Gandhi distributed during our summer services in 2006, which reads: “May
I be the change that I want to see in the world.” And the other states:
“It is by seeing things as better than they are, that we arrive
at making them better.”
One reflects a desire to
have a concrete part in working to bring about change for good; the
other underscores the importance of attitude in all of life…positive
thinking…possibility thinking…choosing to see things as better than they
are, and thereby speeding the day that they really do become better.
The latter is typically
American, where we birthed Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale. It
was also our Founding Fathers who identified that happiness was a
birthright of all Americans. So small wonder that we have an innate
inclination to be positive, to turn our face optimistically towards the
future, taking on all comers: anytime, anywhere, anyplace. We can do it!
To the point that we even say things like, “Any thing is possible.”
For certain, there are
some amazing things that have happened in our lifetimes. In fact, I’ve
read at a book entitled Physics of the Impossible, in
which the author has this great quote from Einstein which reads, “If at
first an idea does not sound absurd, then there is no hope for it.” So
the “Impossibility Thinking” of the Rev. Robert Schuller is as
American as apple pie.
So let’s agree at the
onset: A positive attitude can do wonders. It can change oneself and
those around us.
Let’s also agree that
there are some things that are no longer relevant to our life and times.
It’s not whether they are true or false; rather, it’s, “So what?” They
don’t really resonate with the reality before which we stand. For
example, in preparation for this sermon, I read extensively in and on
William Ellery Channing, the founder of the American Unitarian
Association in 1825. (It’s probably my last effort in that regard. It
says something about one’s theological journey to go from defender of
the faith, to critic, to really not caring.)
Anyway, it was a big deal
in 1819, when Dr. Channing, a leading Congregationalist minister at the
prestigious Federal Street Church in Boston, preached a sermon in
Baltimore denying the Trinity. It was brave for him not only to speak
it, but to have it printed, and to say, “Find one place in the New
Testament where the word ‘God’ ever refers or means three persons in
one being.” Jesus is mentioned hundreds of times in Christian
scripture but never referring both to God and Jesus.
Channing also opined that
when Christian scripture was being formed, its first writers and
adherents were practicing Jews…Jews who repeat the schema
regularly, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One.”
Imagine what would have
happened to the early Christian Jews, if any of them, had said that
actually the word “God” should be interpreted to mean “God is three
Persons in one Being” as the Nicene Creed would describe it 300 years
later. The Jews listening to the Early Christians would have strung them
up if they had done anything to suggest that God is anything but One.
So when Channing said
those things in 1819, it was a brave and courageous thing to do with
orthodox Christians ready almost to lynch him – in Jesus’ name, of
course. But times have changed. Now I can say the same thing he said in
public, and so can you, and it will be almost totally ignored.
From this 2009
perspective, I don’t need Jesus to forgive me of my sins, to save me
from the fiery pits of hell, and pull me back from the banana peel on
which I was standing, ready to slide into the pit any second.
But at age 16, when I had
a life-changing experience based on that story, what it did gift me
with, was a lifetime of trying to understand the who, what, when, where,
why and how of my life. In so doing it enables me from this juncture to
look back with deep appreciation at how much different life might have
been had that event not occurred.
But despite how real that
experience was for me, in our multi-cultural society – a world of
Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus and millions upon millions of others –
we have to ask the question, why should the events in one tiny part of
the world be decisive for all the rest, when there were just as dynamic,
just as revealing, just as powerful stories occurring elsewhere?
Which is why I say that
it’s very important to realize in this post-Ptolemy, post-Copernicus,
post-Newton, and Einsteinian world that we live in, those kinds of
issues, have little relevancy to the reality of our world today, other
than as issues of historical interest and theological debate.
They are what we call the
poetic expression of religious faith. They are neither right nor wrong:
They are poetry. The trinity, the resurrection, the miracles attributed
to Jesus: Those are poetic expressions of the human search and longing
for understanding of how an awesome Universe out there translates to
life lived here on one of its many billions of planets.
That’s not to diminish the
power of religious faith. Some of those poetic expressions have been
transformative for millions. Think the Islamic Koran, think the
Jewish Torah, think the Christian New Testament, think of
the purported writings of Buddha, Confucius, the Tao, and the endless
other texts like Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon, and Mary Baker
Eddy’s Science and Healing. There are others probably birthing as
we speak. What incredible poetry.
But here’s what we mean
when we speak respectfully of the world’s many sets of sacred
scriptures: All of them are true, and some of them actually happened.
May I repeat that: All of them are true, and some of them actually
happened.
But when we discuss them
in terms of faith and practice, it is never as history that did or did
not happen, but as poetic statements about life and faith that may or
may not speak to us in our time today.
So the point is: We need
to realize we have graduated from the
believing-six-impossible-things-before-breakfast level…we no longer are
part of that scene. The beliefs and creeds, the claims and
justifications for their uniqueness, are simply put: poetry.
Any criticism of them is
comparable to criticizing a painting, or artwork, because the spiritual
enterprise is at its essence an exercise in creativity. We kneel before
the awesome Mystery that engulfs our Universe, and we pray that we may
somehow find a way to live and love that will help ourselves, help those
in need, and give back to the Universe.
So Dr. Channing’s 1819
sermon at The First Independent Church in Baltimore, though historically
important in the formation of a denomination, is only a footnote in
Christian history, even though a foundational moment in the beginning of
what we know today as Unitarian Universalism.
The questions it leaves
today though, are what presuppositions do we bring to the table now when
we discuss theology and faith? May I suggest it’s our MPA. Please let me
explain what I mean by reducing faith to your MPA:
1. M for Mystery:
Our bodies…our species…our habitat…our planet…and all that Planet Earth
encompasses are a marvelous part of the Mystery of Existence in this
Awesome Universe. There’s this cycle of life that keeps repeating
itself…here we are in the cycle of life being played out before and
around us. How incredible. Think beyond our planet, to the galaxy and
the Universe. What Mystery.
And no matter where in the
scheme of things we find a place to explore, to question, the Mystery
remains.
That’s why our spiritual
practices are always based upon a conviction that we came from that
Mystery and that our lives and those we come into contact with are
enhanced by a spiritual practice that attempts to connect with the
Mystery. So “M stands for Mystery.”
2. P for Poetry:
The dominant culture of which we are a part gives us a specific language
with which to address the Mystery. However, it comes in poetic form.
Sometimes we add music to the poems and call them hymns. We say words
and give them an opening and closing and call it prayer.
We have complete books of
poetry that our culture has bequeathed to us…they’re called “sacred
scripture.” In them we read of the struggle to understand the Mystery
and to record that struggle.
3. A for Application:
Not only do we acknowledge the incomprehensibility of the Mystery, as
well as the poetry of the faith that enables us to address that Mystery,
we also know that all of that has to have an application to our lives
and the lives of those with whom we come in contact.
In other words, what differences do
addressing the Mystery through the poetry of faith make in our lives…in
its application? Debate. Argue. Disagree. But does the faith we live
make a difference for ourselves and for others?
That’s the framework of our effort to
understand who we are, why we’re here, where we’re ultimately going,
what resources we have for the journey, and when does it end, and how.
Our MPA: Mystery, Poetry, and Application.
CONCLUSION
Quite fortuitously, I had an experience
this past week I want to share with you. Some of you may remember that a
few years back I mentioned to you about my oldest sister’s daughter, my
niece Pam, who, along with her husband, was sent to prison for ten years
for using, producing and distributing crystal methamphetamine. At the
time, she was a mother of two adult children, and also a grandmother of
four grandkids. While in one of the women’s prisons in Oklahoma, she
finished her GED, and was valedictorian of the 40 or so other graduates.
During her incarceration, she was moved
to a transition facility in the same county as her family; which enabled
her to secure a daytime job at the local Crown Plaza Hotel, serving the
booming oil business Oklahoma was enjoying at that time. She then
returned to the prison at night. Finally, she was paroled to her
mother’s home, wearing a required electronic ankle bracelet, and
checking in and out with law enforcement every time she left the house.
Finally, she was off of
probation, and was making enough to get her own apartment, which was
within walking distance of the hotel where she was meaningfully
employed. In her work, she was able to use her considerable computer
skills.
Then the Great Recession
reached Oklahoma. Because of her value as an employee, Pam weathered the
first round of cuts, but eventually the lack of customers at this
upscale facility reached down to Pam’s level and she lost her job, along
with almost a third of her other co-workers. As soon as possible, she
moved to a different, cheaper apartment complex that was served by a
City Bus Line; she then started applying for jobs. If she were to write
a classified ad, it might include the following:
Available:
a 50-something grandmother, ex-felon, one time drug dealer and
addict, a high school only graduate, whose unemployment compensation
checks will soon be used up, and is dependent upon a bus line for
transportation to and from work. Had a great work record in the past,
and superb computer skills now. Willing to work hard; needs a job badly.
It’s a familiar story, with minor
details. Since she is restricted from driving, she mentioned to her Aunt
Grace recently that she was hoping to buy a bicycle she could use to go
to the grocery store, the library, and the bike paths around a beautiful
lake not too far away. But her mother was still so traumatized by her
older sister’s death on her boyfriend’s motorcycle that she begged Pam
not to get any kind of cycle.
Grace mentioned it to me
over the phone Thursday. It so happened that I had recently been to
K-Mart and I saw all the bikes they had – some really neat looking ones
for hardly $100. I only had one bike growing up that my father bought
for $2 at a cattle auction, which the very next day my brother backed a
cattle trailer over. So I always like to look at new bikes…always a
little wistfully.
Friday, I called Gracie and
left a message on her recorder that if she had time to help Pamela shop,
I would spring for the cost of a bike. The next day Grace reached her
sister Norma on her cell phone to pass along my offer. When she reached
her, it so happened that her daughter Pam was with her. Guess what they
were doing? Window shopping at K-Mart. Guess what they were looking at,
at that very minute? Bicycles, and trying to decide how to purchase one
for this 50-something grandmother. And Norma, my sister, was trying to
get over her obsessive fear of her daughter’s riding a bike in traffic.
All of this at the very moment that Grace called to tell them about my
offer to pay for a bike.
Now we could call all of that a
wonderful co-incidence, couldn’t we? All those things converging for
good at one time? But we could also shift to the language of faith and
describe how sometimes in our world there’s a tilt in support of a young
grandmother trying to rebuild her life as she struggles with the
consequences of some really bad choices in life.
Grace called Saturday evening to confirm
that Pam had indeed found a bike for $109; her mother had sprung for a
helmet, a tire pump, and a headlight. And they were in the store waiting
for Pam’s brother to come in his pickup to take Pam and her bike home.
I love the poetry of faith which
expresses itself in grateful appreciation for the blessings which our
lives are constantly the recipients of. So maybe not all things are
possible, but there are genuine benefits that accrue from believing that
sometimes good things do happen and are moved forward by our attitudes
and positive efforts.
Shalom. Salaam Aleikum. Amen. And
blessed be.
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