Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Briarcliff, Croton, and Ossining

Repairing the World

Given by James Covington on May 16th, 2004

I warmly and enthusiastically welcome those of you who have joined us this morning. I also welcome you to a long and active liberal tradition of social activism that goes back to our early beginnings, at the time of the Reformation.

In the answers to the question, “What is a UU?” that several of you forwarded me last week, most of you highlighted the freedom we advocate for individuals to formulate a personal religious faith based on reason and verification and experience. But as Marge Grimm, who had just returned from marching for women’s rights in Washington, reminded us two weeks ago, we also enjoy a rich history of social activism. And she was right.

Certainly in America, from the late eighteenth century, when Benjamin Rush, one of the earliest opponents of slavery, defended social equality, our tradition is filled with individuals who have spoken out and marched for liberal values of equality and freedom for all. We remember Theodore Parker’s passionate advocacy of abolition in the mid-nineteenth century. We remember Adin Ballou, with his critique of industrial society and William Ellery Channing with his abhorrence of poverty. Olympia Brown was ordained to the ministry in 1863, the first denominationally ordained woman minister in the U. S. and we remember her along with Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, Dorothea Dix, Susan B. Anthony and many others.

Many Unitarians provided haven for those Jews escaping Nazi Germany. A Unitarian Minister in Czechoslovakia, was put to death in Dachau in 1942. More recently, many of our leaders and lay members were on the front lines of the civil rights movement in the 60’s and the pro-choice movement for women. UUs provided haven for war resistors during the Vietnam War, our Beacon Press published the controversial Pentagon Papers, and thirty years ago, our denomination began to address the discrimination practices against gay, lesbian and transsexual individuals. We now openly, publicly pronounce our support and acceptance of the gay and lesbian community and welcome them into our midst. Most recently some of our ministers were arrested for performing marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples.

There are many other agencies within the Unitarian Universalist Association that stand for social action and social justice. One of our more well-known, independent organizations is the UU Service Committee. Founded in 1939 as a rescue mission to reach Jews and liberals in Nazi-threatened Prague, the UUSC has sponsored war relief, medical assistance, and community development projects around the world.

Historically, agencies sponsored by the UUA and more importantly many local congregations have lived up to the UU slogan, “deeds, not creeds,” by petitioning legislators, supporting boycotts, sponsoring refugees, encouraging the presentation of unpopular views, or engaging in a host of other kinds of social concerns.

Over all, Unitarian Universalists have a tradition of being a public nuisance. For 200 years our leaders, members and institutions have stood witness, sometimes with little company, for values of social justice. If we truly believe in the principles we uphold –the inherent worth and dignity of every person, justice, equity and compassion in human relationships, then how can we not as a volunteer association, always be involved in social action by addressing and actively working for economic justice, human rights and world peace?

There is in Judaism a concept called “repair of the world.” It strikes me that one of our missions as liberal religious people is just that—to repair a broken world and heal its wounded people. In a word, faith exists by mission.

As Unitarian Universalists with a proud history of repairing the world, we cannot be content to be mere occupants of time and space. We want our time on earth to mean something; we want the space in which we live and move and have our being to be in good repair. We want our religion to be expressed by our hands. As the French psychologist Charles Peguy once wrote: “Religion begins in mysticism and ends in social action.”

Of course social action can sometimes get tangled in politics. Often times, the social cause I stand for is also a political issue. I support gay marriage as a human rights issue. Gay marriage happens to be opposed by President Bush who wants to pass a Constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriage. So how can my stand for gay rights not also be political?

As a minister I live on the ragged edge between politics and religion. I try to relate my understanding of Unitarian Universalism to public life, but with careful sensitivity to the diverse views within our congregation. I have always mixed religion and politics in this pulpit—sometimes more than some of you prefer, and not enough for others of you.

It is hard enough to walk this tightrope in ordinary times, but it is exceedingly difficult in an election year, particularly this one we are in. I see the political role of the church as prophetic—dropping Micah’s plumb line of righteousness over politics; with Isaiah loosing the bonds of injustice. The religious institution is rather like the League of Women Voters with a theological twist.

English author G.K. Chesterton once described America as “a nation with the soul of a church.” Religion and politics have always mixed. Many clergy advocated the American Revolution. Some urged recognition of Christianity in the new constitution. The Religious Right claims that the founders desired a Biblical theocracy.

In fact, we have a “Godless Constitution.” Clearly the founders wanted a secular society informed by religious people, not a religious society controlled by ecclesiastical potentates.

How do UUs fit into this picture? Theologically, we are clearly left; politically we are eclectic. Traditionally, we have defended separation of church and state. We are passionately committed to involvement in issues, but as a religious community, we cannot give corporate support to any candidate.

Not only this, our commitment to freedom of conscience means I cannot speak for you. I preach my values from a free pulpit; you listen from a free pew.

As far as I know, there is no other religious institution quite like us. There is no other religious group that says you are welcome as you are; you are free to believe according to the dictates of your own conscience—no church dogma, no scripture, no priest or pastor is a higher authority than your own conscience. As someone said in our UU orientation last week, “As long as nobody tries to box me in, I think I can be happy here.” We won’t box you in. We are a liberal democratic institution—you make institutional decisions about resources, you vote to call your ministers. And we are a justice-seeking institution. Ideally, we internalize spiritual truth that is ours; truth we have chosen freely and then we try mightily to live out of that truth all week long.

It is sometimes said: “You can believe anything you want to believe and be a Unitarian Universalist.” It is true that we believe that there is truth in all religious traditions, and we draw wisdom from many sources. Some people characterize us as wish-washy, without any serious theology. There are multiple jokes illustrating our penchant to be inclusive. My favorite is the light bulb joke—it starts, “how many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb? “ Answer: “None. God has predestined when the lights will be on and off.” How may Episcopalians?” Answer: “Eight. One to call the electrician, and seven to say how much they liked the old one better.” “How many Lutherans?” Answer: “None. Lutherans don’t believe in change.” “How many Unitarian Universalists?” Answer: “We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in you own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, that is fine. You are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your personal relationship with your light bulb, and present it next month at our annual light bulb Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, three-way, long-life and tinted, all of which are equally valued paths to luminescence.”

In spite of the jokes, we’re not an “anything goes” faith. We are not wishy-washy—just the opposite. If it’s easy to be a Unitarian Universalist, then it’s easy to be curious, tenacious, and courageous. If our faith is easy, then it’s easy to ask the hard questions of life, to persist in asking them, even though our answers must ever be partial. If our faith is easy, then it’s easy to confront injustice and systemic evil. No, I would not say that our faith is an easy faith, but a faith that demands all that we have and all that we are.

Our faith is a faith for this century. Unitarian Universalism is grounded in a noble history of free faith—all the way back to the left wing of the Protestant Reformation. We’re not an upstart faith. We have martyrs who died for this faith. There is depth here, and a long tradition. We’re not Unity, and we’re not the Living Enrichment Center. We are not a social club. Or an ethical society. We have never motivated anyone by fear, never pronounced hell and damnation on anyone—maybe that’s why our collection plates are so light compared to the Fundamentalists. We are a church that knows that we are stewards of this planet not owners. And that the survival of one depends upon the relationship of each to the other. We re-interpret theological language that has lost its meaning for a people who are thirsty for understanding, for direction. We are, then, what I would call a truly contemporary congregation, the church of the age. We need to take our place, just there.

Congregations exist so that people can grow spiritually, and then out of that growth, bless the larger world. That is the reason for our being. When we forget our mission, we fall into petty quarrels, pick at our navels and fritter away our resources of time and energy.

I pray that will not happen here. We have a wonderful congregation of human beings. I love the energy and dedication and exchange that goes on around here. I always have uplifting and nurturing experiences with you on Sunday mornings when we come here to share our sorrows and our joys and celebrate our connectedness and the gift of life. Overall all we are a caring community in which we nourish one another despite our political differences and share our joys. But if our worship and our caring do not also embody commitment to the Beloved Community of Earth, we take no delight in it. What we do together here, is not a substitute for social responsibility.

I think we must also be a community of moral discourse and action. AT every age level there should be an ongoing conversation about moral values and social action. Moral discourse and action are carried on in pew and pulpit, in class-room and coffee hour.

It delineates the moral traditions in which we stand. It transcends purely partisan rhetoric. It links religious values with so-called policy choices that have to do with poverty, separation of church and state, human rights, economic justice, corporate welfare and human welfare, war and peace.
Many of us participate in social action in different ways throughout the week. We know when we leave here that the “service now begins.” But we need to also pay attention to how we can foster social action as a congregation. Many of you are new to us. We are all gifted in many ways. Some of you are more gifted in social action than others. I urge you to join with our social concerns committee this year.

I would love to see a strong, committed group of people taking an active role in social justice this year. God knows, if we can’t do it now, when can we? I know, social justice programs are more difficult for smaller, suburban churches, than inner-city churches, but still, I see no reason for us not having a more vital say in the social needs of our community.

As UUs we also have a healing message to offer a hurting world and values that this world sorely needs. The world needs repairing; if we don’t help repair it, who will? WE cannot afford to be silent. We must speak. And speak again and again and again. And march, as several of you did a few weeks ago at the Women’s March in D.C. And write e-mails to our congress people. And lobby. We cannot do it all, and we may not see the results, even in our own life times. But we cannot afford to be silent. We must speak for our children. And we must speak for the very salvation of our own souls. Because it is our responsibility, you see, to repair the world, always, knowing that our work will never be finished.