A Time for Religious Liberals
Sermon by Steve Edington
September 14, 2008
When we had our Water Sharing Service last Sunday I had several choices I could have gone with, opting - you may recall - for the New River in southern West Virginia where several members of my extended family took a whitewater rafting trip during a family reunion in Charleston. It was really a wonderful gathering, which is why I gave it my "water sharing priority," as it were.
A close second, however, would have been a bit of water - had I collected it - from the Housatonic River in western Massachusetts. The Housatonic runs just a short ways away from an establishment called The Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, a few miles south of Stockbridge. The Center was founded by singer Arlo Guthrie and named for his father, Woody. It is housed in the very church building that Arlo immortalized over 40 years ago in his monologue/song "Alice's Restaurant" when a couple named Alice and Ray Brock, who were good friends of Mr. Guthrie's, lived there. The church/Brock home was also featured in a movie by Director Arthur Penn, using the same "Alice's Restaurant" title.
My motivation for going there, in fact, had come just a week earlier when I celebrated - with Michele - my 63rd birthday by going to an Arlo Guthrie concert at Lowell's Boarding House Park, at which I saw a few of the members of this congregation. I don't know if it was planned or not, but Arlo ended up doing the whole 20+ minute version of his signature song that night. A week later I was down in the New York City area for a Labor Day family gathering on Michele's side. Since nothing was on tap for Saturday of that weekend I headed north where I spent an afternoon at the Guthrie Center Church. It actually is a Church once again. The full name of the place is "The Guthrie Center An Interfaith Church." Its mission statement (I guess you could call it that) is "To bring together individuals for spiritual service as well as cultural and educational exchange."
The small staff - which consisted of a guy named George and a couple of volunteers - were busy getting ready for a concert that evening. So after a brief and friendly conversation they told me to just feel free to wander around, which I did. Wandering around is something I'm especially good at, and one of my more notable lifetime achievements.
I took in the ambience of the place, which had a decidedly religious and spiritual tone to it, and picked up some of the literature which informed me that "we respect the rich heritage that our Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Moslem ancestors have handed down over the centuries. We anguish with traditional peoples everywhere whose ways of life are disappearing in the modern world. Our teachers are from many paths and many traditions." Over the front door are the words: "One God - Many Forms; One River - Many Streams; One People - Many Faces; One Mother - Many Children." At another spot were some of the words from Woody Guthrie's song Tom Joad:
"Everybody might be just one big soul; Well, it looks that way to me.
So wherever you look in the day or night; That's where I'm going to be."
I came away with a head full of thoughts, and felt strangely inspired as well. This is what I'm really striving for when I have a good wander, by the way: Thought and inspiration. I thought this sounds like an outfit I could serve. More to the point, it is closely akin to the principles and values of the congregation I do serve, and am proud and delighted to serve.
That was the thinking part. I felt no need or desire at all to recast the Guthrie Center Interfaith Church folks as Unitarian Universalists; they're doing just fine as they are. For all I know some of them may even be UUs. What I felt, though - and this was the inspiring part - was a personal kinship, a personal connection, with all that I was seeing, experiencing, and reading there.
There's a liberal religious spirit afoot out there - and in here - that is not defined or contained within any one faith tradition or denomination, or association; and not even within any specifically laid out set of principles and values however well stated. As another year in the life of our UU congregation here in Nashua, New Hampshire gets underway, one challenge or invitation before us is how do we tap into that spirit, and how do we live it out.
I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating here. The great divide when it comes to religion, and persons of faith, is not between denominations. It is not even between faith traditions - for all the differences that can be found among them. Instead, it lies between those who see their faith in a particularistic, or exclusivist, way; and those who see their faith and their faith tradition through a more universal lens. Those persons, that is to say, who see their faith as part of a larger mosaic in which persons of faith and good will, and who are socially conscious, reach out to one another to help heal the broken parts of our world.
I'm going to take the optimistic view this morning and say that, for all the expressions we see of fundamentalism - within a number of faiths all around the world - this universal way of which I'm speaking also has a good deal of strength and staying power. Whether it shows itself in a funky little place like the Guthrie Center, or in the various Interfaith organizations that exist in communities across our land, including our own, or in some of the more global efforts where persons of a wide range of faiths unite to achieve greater levels of what our UU principles call "justice, equity, and compassion in human relations," I am heartened by how the "the universal way" does take hold and find expression.
At the same time, I'm not naïve. The particularistic way is still quite strong. Senator McCain's choice of a running mate is as good an indication as any that the evangelical voice and vote is one that continues to be taken quite seriously and catered to. But even here the tectonic plates may be shifting a bit. A new generation of evangelical leaders is beginning to emerge; best typified, I would say, by Rev. Rich Warren who hosted a well conducted Presidential forum last summer with the two candidates.
Rev. Warren is the minister of the 20,000+ member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. His, and his congregation's, theology is basically - fundamentally if you will - that of the Christian right. But he, and other leaders like him, do take seriously the admonitions of the one who is central to their faith - The person of Jesus - about attending to the needs of those whom Jesus called "the least of these." They engage in some very effective and widespread forms of social outreach - from the needs of their local communities to places as far away as Darfur. So while I reject their theology, I salute their care, concern, and compassion for what remains, in many places, a very broken world.
I'll return now to my statement about our need to tap into the spirit of the liberal religious way, since we are among those who choose the universal approach. As we now embark upon another year in our life I wish to recall for you - over the next several minutes - some of what it means to be in community with one another and to share in ministry with one another, as we are recalled once again to this place that is so important to so many of us.
We are recalled to this place, to this house and home, to be in ministry with one another in our journeys of the spirit, in our searches for greater levels and depths of truth and meaning in our lives, in our pursuit of the holy, the sacred, the transcendent - however we wish and choose to name it - in each of our lives. Yes, you can do that on your own. Yes, there are times when the only person you need and want to be with is your singular self. I know that personally; it's what makes me such a good wanderer.
But I'm also convinced, both from my own life and by what I've witnessed by over 30 years in the liberal ministry that the spiritual path, the path of discovery and meaning, takes on more depth, and is just plain more fun, when it is a shared one. My single favorite - and frequently invoked - comic strip is from the now discontinued "Shoe" where one of the characters says "I've been thinking about it for a long time and I've decided it's hard to be an individual all by yourself." That's why were here with one another, and in ministry with one another: Because it's hard to be an individual all by yourself.
I'll interject a Public Service Announcement here: If you have a friend, family member, workplace associate, or someone you know through any other channel, and whom you sense is trying to be an individual all by him or herself when it comes to things religious and spiritual; and whom you feel would find some enrichment, and a sense of belonging, in this congregation please invite them to our Open House Sunday in two weeks on September 28. While all of our Sunday services need to be designed to introduce ourselves to the seeker and the newcomer; this one is especially so. Two of our members, Donna Larue and David Golden will speak about UUism, and how participation in this congregation has made a positive difference in their live - and I'll bet there are a lot of people who are not here right now, who could key into a message like that. So your job is to get them here on the 28th.
Another part of our ministry here, to return to that, is to care for one another as we attend to the times in our lives that call for celebration [like an 80th birthday] as well as when we need the comfort and care of one another in times of pain and loss and sorrow. A good part of our ministry has to do with how we take care of one another, and I feel blessed over the years to witness the many ways in which our members and friends reach out to one another when the need for loving human hands and hearts comes to us, as it so often does.
We are also brought to this home - those of us on the liberal religious way - by the yearnings of our hearts and minds and souls and spirits. We come needing to be connected to one another and connected to that Larger Reality, that Greater Spirit of Life about which we sing each Sunday, that enfolds and blesses us all. We return to this house seeking a safe and trustworthy place where lives can be freely shared, where fears can be faced and examined, where our souls are fed and nurtured, and where our lives - in both their brokenness and their wholeness - are affirmed.
All that said and affirmed, what brings us here is not, and cannot, be just about us. If such were the case this would be a shallow community, and we're anything but that. What also brings us here is the need for a supportive standpoint from which we may address our concerns and hopes for our larger world. Together we are a supportive standpoint from which we may be advocates for justice and peace; and for a safe and saner world. Such a standpoint does not require unanimity of opinion on how these things are to be accomplished, but it does call for a common commitment to work towards their fruition in this ministry we share.
On this note, I'll interject my second, and, I promise, final PSA for today. Highlight also the Sunday of October 5th. It's one week after the Open House. Our guest on that Sunday will be Mr. Mark McPeak - a gentleman I've come to know and admire over the past several months as a very dedicated and articulate individual when it comes to advancing our liberal religious principles and values. Mark is the newly named Director of our Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's Just Democracy program. He'll be expanding upon what I just said, and then will hold a forum after the service to further explain the work of the Just Democracy program and let you know how you can be involved with it. Do plan to be with us on that Sunday.
I have one more base to touch today before we close. We began our service this morning with Steve and Pat Ladew lighting our chalice in remembrance of their friend Linda Kreager. As many of you know, she was one of two persons who were killed, the other person being Mr. Greg McKendry, who placed himself in front of the killer's gun to prevent further shooting. Six others were wounded. It all happened during the Sunday morning worship service at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville this past July 27th. The story ran through several news cycles on the national networks before becoming the stuff of yesterday's papers. But, even as this incident has receded from the national news, it remains a horrible incident that continues to weigh heavily on the hearts of our sister and brother UUs around the country as our congregations gear up - as we do here - for another year.
The shooter, Jim David Adkinsson, who entered the church fully armed in a service that featured the children doing a musical presentation, did not choose this congregation at random. As will probably be revealed more fully in his trial, he'd had prior contact with the Knoxville UUs, and had some familiarity with who we are and the things we stand for. In his tortured mind and soul, he believed his own failings and many of the ills of society could be laid at the feet of liberals and gay people. He further stated that because he could not get to the leaders of the "liberal movement" he would then target those who put them in office. His overall rationale for his act was the liberals are destroying America.
That kind of message gets aired practically every day in certain quarters of our nation's air waves and print media. Yes, Mr. Adkinsson bears the responsibility for his terrible deed, and he will pay whatever price the legal process eventually dictates. But I still have to wonder if the purveyors of the "liberals are destroying our country" line are given any kind of pause at all when someone takes their despicably dishonest message to the horrible level that this man did. I'll leave it at that.
We held a service of remembrance and vigil for those killed and wounded, for the UUs of Knoxville, and for their pastor the Rev. Chris Buice, here in our sanctuary a few days later. I was very appreciative of all who were able to attend on rather short notice.
Nothing can, nor ever will, make such a senseless and horrible wrong right. What gave me at least some measure of redeeming gratitude, however, was the response of many of the Knoxville faith communities in ways that demonstrated the universal way, in matters of religion, of which I've been speaking this morning. There were outpourings of support and assistance from a very wide range of the Knoxville faith communities that transcended the lines that can so often divide them. It was the Second Presbyterian Church, whose property is adjacent to the TVUUC, that hosted a vigil and service of remembrance the following evening at which our Association's President, Rev. William Sinkford spoke.
In the August 10th issue of the Sunday New York Times, our Association ran a full page notice responding to this tragedy. It, too, was a message from our Association's President. I've had the page enlarged and displayed, and have put it in the dining room after our service so you can see it. I'll read a portion of Bill's words now as a way of bringing these thoughts to a close. They not only respond to the tragedy of Knoxville - they also give us our marching orders for this year:
"On Sunday, July 27, the peace of the morning worship service at the Tennessee Valley UU Church was shattered by violence. A man beset by his personal demons opened fire with a shotgun...We mourn the loss of Greg McKendry and Linda Kraeger, and our hearts and prayers to out to their families and friends. We are praying for the recovery of the wounded. We celebrate the bravery of the congregants who, with no thought for their own safety, rushed to disarm the shooter before he could kill others...Our prayers are also with the shooter that he may find peace and reconciliation...
"In the aftermath of this horrible tragedy it would be understandable if the Knoxville UUs responded with anger, with fear, with despair. Instead they have greeted hatred with love and have created meaning from a horribly destructive act...
"Unitarian Universalists know that our congregations are places where our spirits can be nurtured and we will be lovingly supported on our spiritual journeys. But we are not content to leave our faith in our sanctuaries when Sunday worship has ended. We are called by our faith to help heal our world. And we thank the people of all faiths who have reached out with support."
On August 3rd, just one week after the joy and innocence of their Sunday service we defiled by gunfire, the TVUUC congregation rededicated their sanctuary to peace. Inspired by the UUs of Knoxville, Unitarian Universalists everywhere have rededicated themselves to our religious mission: to welcome the stranger, to love our neighbor, to work for justice, to nurture the spirits of all who seek a liberal religious home, and to help heal this broken world."
Bill then concludes with these words: "We will not give in to fear. We will meet hatred with love. We will continue to work for justice. Our hearts, and the door of our more than 1000 Unitarian Universalist congregations nationwide will remain open. Unitarian Universalists stand on the side of love. We invite you to stand with us."
Our doors here are among the doors of the more than 1000 UU congregations around our country to which Bill Sinkford refers. May all who come through them find a loving community where spirits are nurtured, and where the task of healing our world may go forward.
Stephen D. Edington
September 14, 2008
