What is the Word for Today?

Candidating sermon by Rev. Alan Taylor
Preached at Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation
May 18, 2003

What an extraordinary week it has been! As minister and congregation, we have in seven short days shared with one another to become acquainted. You have so much talent and thoughtfulness and hope and courageous dreams among you. I am so excited about the future of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Over this past week, while meeting with the lion's share of the committees and ministries, many questions have come my way. This morning I want to respond to your inquiries with a collage of stories and thoughts that I have weaved together over the last couple of days. (If I had more time, I would have figured out how to shorten it, so make yourselves comfortable!)

I have entitled today's sermon "What is the Word for Today?" It is an open ended question that I did not know the answer to before I joined you this past week, for I wanted to come and meet you and then prepare some thoughts about the exciting opportunity of moving forward with you as your minister. What is the word for today? My sermon title also refers to the changing nature of truth as it is perceived by human beings. It refers to the Unitarian Universalist belief that spiritual truth cannot be nailed down once and for all, that new insights are ever being created and honed by vibrant spiritual communities that are engaging authentically with the world, that here at Unity Temple, we are capable of engaging with each other and the world so as to reveal ever deeper meaning and truth within our lives.

This idea that religious truth is ever evolving is an idea that is as old as the oldest surviving Unitarian churches in the world. Where are these churches that have clung to this religiously innovative idea for nearly 450 years? In the mountains of Transylvania, a region in modern day Romania that for most of its history was a part of Hungary. The Unitarians there are ethnic Hungarians. It is a little known story in western civilization how a radical religion emerged in Eastern Europe founded on enlightenment ideas. The central figure in this story is Francis David. Francis David was, in my mind, the most brilliant and courageous religious reformer of the sixteenth century. He went to seminary to become a Catholic priest. When Luther posted his 94 theses that launched the Protestant Reformation, David became Lutheran and the head of his church. Religious innovation led him to Calvinism and finally to Unitarianism. The significance of these shifts have to do with the locus of religious authority. Catholicism places religious authority in the church, in church law and doctrine, and in its leaders. Lutherans and Calvinists look to the Bible for religious authority. Unitarians often find guidance from the church and the Bible but David went one step further, he insisted that the locus of religious authority is in each person's conscience. The oldest surviving Unitarian churches in the world are direct descendents of the enlightened religious witness of Francis David.

Back in the 1560s, David was the spiritual counsel to King John Sigismund. "We don't need to think alike, to love alike," said David as he convinced the king to pass an edict of toleration in 1568. The formal name this early milestone of liberal religion was the Diet of Torda. This Edict of Toleration essentially legalized freedom of religion by allowing Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Unitarians to all worship in their own ways, calling their own ministers, and determining their own standards of membership. King Sigismund even converted to Unitarianism, the first and only Unitarian monarchy in our heritage. His faith was in the teachings of Francis David whose central teachings can be found in the hymnal, #566. (You can take a look at a future time, or if you get bored with the sermon!). Among his teachings are:

In this world there has always been many opinions about faith and salvation.
We need not think alike to love alike.
Sanctified reason is the lantern of faith.
The most important spiritual function is conscience, the source of all spiritual joy and happiness.
Conscience will not be quieted by anything less than truth and justice.
Salvation must be accomplished here on earth.

The core seeds of liberal religion were brought together by David nearly 450 years ago, as he preached that revelation is not sealed. What this means is that spiritual truth is never manifested once and for all, that as long as human beings inhabit this planet there will be new insights, new clarifications of spiritual truths, for religion at its core is a matter of the community, and the community changes over time.

I know what its like to find a faith which I can embrace with my whole self and want to spread to others. When I realized my calling to ministry, my joy and excitement about Unitarian Universalism bubbled forth that I wanted to immediately share our faith with others. I wasn't aware how much I still had to learn. It was a little over a decade ago when I embarked on my first outreach project. I wanted to create a campus ministry at UC Berkeley. I was in my first year of seminary and I had cultivated a very successful young adult group, but all the young adults were older than me. I wanted a group that brought together people ages 18 to 25, what to me seemed an especially important age.

I initially tried advertisements and posters, but I got virtually no response. So I decided I might have better luck if I went out on the campus and handed out flyers. I set out to Sproul Plaza, the same courtyard where the demonstrations over the Viet Nam War and the civil rights movements emerged. I remember the first time I got out there. I simply scoped out the scene, never taking out my flyers as I wondered how I could get myself to talk to complete strangers. There was a group of young guys with dreadlocks drumming. A couple of fundamentalists raved about how everyone better repent or go to hell, and there was a little old man in faded suit who sang off-key into a little amplifier. It wasn't the most auspicious group of people to become a part of, but the second time I ventured out, swallowing hard against vanity and timidity, I quietly held out my flyers for all to see. Now I had designed these flyers that asked several questions, such as: Are you interested in spirituality? Is critical inquiry a core religious value for you? Do you approach religion with an open mind? If you answer yes, come to the Liberal Religious Alternative. I had taken pains to orient my questions to be positive in scope. But I couldn't resist putting at the very top in big bold letters ARE YOU DISGUSTED WITH RELIGION THAT INSISTS UPON DOGMA. That was my bait line.

People did stop to talk with me. There was a man in the military who shared with me his pagan beliefs and that he was active in bringing pagan services to the military. There were people who tried to tell me that I needed to convert to Christianity, and there were far more others who expressed agreement with the questions on my flyer.

On the fourth day I was out, an older man approached me. He introduced himself as Kenneth. Kenneth told me he was concerned about the first question, the one in the biggest letters at the top. He asked me if I wanted to cultivate a community that catered to people's disgust. I was a little defensive as I told him my experiences of dealing with manipulative Christians. Kenneth persisted, offering words difficult for me to hear: The catering to people's disgust with dogmatic religion offers no ground for an affirmative, positive religious identity for either the individual or the collective. This was an important conversation for me.

I learned from Kenneth that before we seek to reach out to others, we need to know who we are. We as Unitarian Universalists often define ourselves in terms of what we are not: we are not bible thumpers, we are not a faith tradition that has sacraments, we don't believe in the trinity ... Then with disdain and ridicule, many of us look down upon people from whom we define ourselves as apart. Squeamish, and perhaps with considerable fear, we retreat on to a pedestal and revel in showing how stupid and absurd people are to believe in this or that belief. Such judgments are not healthy. They are divisive. They block us from making meaningful contact with people of different faiths.

Kenneth taught me a second lesson. When we are willing to confront someone with concerns about what is disagreeable to us, we open up the opportunity for conversation. In so doing, he opened up a dialogue that resulted in productive reflection for both of us. It does not matter whether we come to agree, it matters that we are willing to talk to one another. It matters that we are willing to confront and challenge (with love!) people we disagree with. It matters that we are willing to be open to constructive suggestions and feedback.

I know that I am not alone in making this mistake. It is a growing edge of many of us Unitarian Universalists. We have been so hurt from our religious past that we are prone to scorn and hold with contempt anything that smacks of the past we reject. In the name of tolerance, we justify putting down religions that have a different focus than our own, and yet if we truly want to be intolerant of intolerance, we must acknowledge our own propensity for intolerance, arrogance, and holding others with contempt.

One of my favorite questions I received this week was about which spiritual holiday has the most meaning for me. The Jewish High Holy Days that culminate with Yom Kippur. It is the one religious holiday that I know of that doesn't celebrate a person, an event or a season. But instead the Holiday celebrates the human capacity to change and grow. The wisdom that under girds Yom Kippur is a cornerstone of my ministry.

Human beings aren't the only things that can change and grow. Religion and spiritual truths and religious communities all change and grow as well. Francis David knew this. He was so certain of it, that he refused to affirm the creed his Unitarian contemporaries created. He knew that at the heart of our religious human nature is creativity, that God's love finds innovative expression with every new generation, including those that do away with God language. He held to his conviction that revelation is not sealed.

Unfortunately, two years after signing the Edict of Toleration into law and inspiring liberal religion across the land, King Sigismund was killed in a carriage accident. His brother Stephen ascended the throne. A Catholic, Stephen was highly suspect of religious authority outside of the church. Stephen demanded that the Unitarian church develop a creed. In order to survive, it had to. But Francis David refused to agree to it. His faith had developed such that no creed could contain it, for his faith was in the human capacity for religious innovation. So Stephen banished David to a dungeon. The price for being true to his faith was his life. He died in the dungeon cell within a year.

One of you asked me about my favorite theologian. It is Howard Thurman, who was a professor at Howard University when he served as a mentor to Martin Luther King Jr., and then as Dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, and finally as co-founder and minister for the last 20 years of his life of the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco, the first racially integrated church of America. Like David, he was a religious liberal, urging that we need not think alike to love alike. I hope to have the opportunity to share much more about him, but for today, I share with you a reflective passage from For the Inward Journey (slightly condensed):

At times when the strain is heaviest upon us,
And our tired nerves cry out in many-tongued pain
Because the flow of love is choked far below the deep recesses of the heart,
We seek with cravings firm and hard
The strength to break the dam
That we may live again in love's warm stream.
We want more love; and more and more
Until at last, we are restored and made anew!
Or so it seems.
But when we are closer drawn to [the source of our love],
We can see the tragic blunder of our cry
Not for more love our hungry cravings seek
But more power to love.

Teachers and spiritual visionaries and social reformers all have come to the same place, whether it is Gandhi, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothea Dix, the Buddha, Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, Theodore Parker, Olympia Brown, or Orestes Brownson each of them have or have had a spiritual foundation based on love, a concrete love, not simply a sweet sentiment of attachment, but a love that is active that seeks reciprocal and mutually beneficial relations with one's friends and enemies. Lesbian theologian Carter Heyward puts it so well, "Love is a conversion to humanity-a willingness to participate with others in the healing of a broken world and broken lives. Love is the choice to experience life as a member of the human family, a partner in the dance of life, rather than as an alien in the world or as a deity above the world, aloof and apart from human flesh."

This kind of love calls us to participate with others in all different kinds of projects that call upon us to sacrifice ourselves so that we find more power to love. The past few months, I have been like you, publicly resisting the headlong rush into war with Iraq, participating in rallies, local vigils, and a press conference. As intense as this past year has been, there was another uprising of love that I want to share with you. A few of you have heard the following story when I was asked about the most inspiring moments in my ministry in Woodinville.

Three and a half years ago, the World Trade Organization held its meetings in Seattle. I hadn't ever heard of the WTO until a church member gave me a pamphlet and suggested that I might want to do something about it. I was dubious, but upon reading it, I was alarmed and did more and more reading. I hosted David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World, for an interfaith forum. I preached on the subject. And I was one of six ministers that actively solicited sponsorships for a full-page ad in the Seattle Times. Covering page 6 of the front section it read in large letters, "Unitarian Universalists Voice Concern With the World Trade Organization." It listed our principles and purposes and listed the hundreds of names of people who helped sponsor it. On the floor of my church, I hosted thirty students from Lewis and Clark College and thirty students from Colorado College, and I participated in the direct actions of the morning and the rally and march that brought labor unions, environmentalists, and concerned citizens from all walks of life. It was one of the most hopeful events I have ever witnessed and been a part of. Unfortunately the media seized upon the property destruction caused by a small band of anarchists. The following few days, I received emails and phone calls from a few of my members, including a retired business executive who had earlier expressed displeasure about my focus on the WTO, that there was no way to reconcile the position of the protestors with the wanton destruction that occured. I reflected on Gandhi's teaching of satyagraha, truth-force, and found the deeper truth that brought together those of all political perspectives: Seattle has taken on damage for the world, so that the issues of corporate power and privilege can be brought to light. If you haven't read your current issue of the UU World, I urge you to do so. In my mind, the one of the most pressing issues of our time

Several times I have been asked whether one can be a religious liberal and a political conservative. Absolutely. The mark of a religious liberal is an open mind and a willingness to dialog. We agree to disagree. Further I regard Unitarian Universalism as fundamentally a religious association, not a political association, and it is healthy to have a diversity of political perspectives, just as it is healthy to have a diversity in other areas.

Here in Oak Park, most people here enjoy great privilege. Our culture is one that encourages us to maximize our options, to keep ourselves relatively isolated, and to be looking out for our own interests ahead of others. Our growing edge is to discern what we are willing to make sacrifices for, what is worthy of our obligation, and in what parts of our life are we willing to give up our freedom or privilege. Like most of you, I don't want to embrace a way of life that is stifling. I don't believe as some argue that we should return to an image of the past that boasts of order, obedience and conformity. But I know our lives can fall into meaninglessness, that it is easy to simply be superficial and silly with one another and not ever go deeper and explore the convictions that come from our passion. It is tempting to embrace me-ism to the extent that we deny and turn away from grace and beauty. We need to pay attention, and even more than that develop our capacity for sustained attention. And that is, simply my friends, the essence of spiritual practice-developing our capacity for sustained attention, thereby disciplining ourselves to not get constantly distracted by what leads to self-absorption and instead committing ourselves to what will allow us to transcend ourselves and authentically engage the world around us.

Someone who knows your congregation well, said to me of Unity Temple, "The congregation will have high expectations of their new minister." I replied, "Good! I will have high expectations of the congregation." I believe strong relationships are built on looking to the best in each other.

If you call me as your minister, I will challenge you to be ever more loving
I will challenge you to continue to cultivate a culture of generosity
I will challenge you to bring forth ever new religious understanding
I will challenge you to embrace a spiritual foundation for engaging the world
I will walk with you through times of grief, crisis, joy, and triumph
I will seek to speak truth with love as my conscience impels me
I will remind you often of the transformative power of love
I will strive to lead you with a non-anxious presence
I will become intimate with the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright
I will actively care for myself and attend to my marriage
I will inevitably disappoint you. When disagreements emerge, I will attend to our disagreements and conflicts with respect and care.

Just like any relationship, there will be excitement and euphoria, perhaps a long honeymoon period or perhaps not so long, and then a realization that the other is fully human, complete with weaknesses and shortcomings. And it will be then that we can truly grow together. It is the same in any relationship, when we come to accept the shortcomings of those with whom we are in relationship, then we are able to see the other's humanity through the lens of our own. It is then that the opportunity for true love reveals itself, and that we can mature in a long, deep covenantal relationship together.

I am here before you looking to the long road ahead, expecting to serve you and with you for at least a decade perhaps two or more. It is not lost on me that your next minister will walk with this congregation through the centennial celebrations of Unity Temple that will include not only plenty of publicity for this congregation, but also plenty of fundraising opportunities for this building. Many of you have made abundantly clear that this congregation also needs to attend to the building next door if this congregation is to serve more children and families. I will gladly lead you in attending to this institution so that Unity Temple can serve as a Beacon of hope, courage and love for its second century.

What is the word for today? The word is that which is in bud, wanting to be known and celebrated. The word is that which is in our hearts longing to be expressed. The word for today is being honed by our love, as we remember that we need not think alike to love alike. It is tempting to take the word of others, but we must remember that each of us will have our own word, that the word will vary, and yet it is an expression of the oneness that binds us together. For some of us the word is community. For others it is beauty. For others it is discipline. For others, truth. And others, surrender. For me, the word for today is love, the kind of love that Willard shared in small acts of kindness, the kind of love that leads us to changing our religion, the love that calls us to give of ourselves beyond expectation such that we find ourselves transformed.

May it be so. Blessed be. Amen.