Unitarian Universalist congregations offer unique examples of covenantal communities, where the authority over various aspects of the community is governed by agreements of relationship rather than brokering of power. In this sermon [PDF], the Rev. Dr. Michael Schuler, senior minister at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, Wisconsin, explores different types of authority in different models of religion, with great insight into how power structures in Unitarian Universalist congregations enable a richer spiritual life for our members through emphasis on individual freedom and responsibility.

On Whose Authority?

by Rev. Dr. Michael A. Schuler

Several weeks ago The Wall Street Journal reported on an emerging trend in certain conservative Christian congregations. As an example, the story pointed to the experience of a seventy-one year old woman, Karolyn Caskey, who had been expelled from the Allen Baptist Church in southwest Michigan.

Mrs. Caskey had been for many years a pillar of that small congregation. A member for half a century, she tithed 10% of her pension and had been a dedicated Sunday School teacher. “She’s one of the nicest, kindest people I know,” one of her neighbors observed. Nevertheless, one Sunday morning last June Mrs. Caskey was handcuffed and escorted from the small whitewashed Baptist church by a Michigan state trooper and a sheriff’s deputy. The charge was trespassing.

(Read on … )

For many Unitarian Universalist congregations, the time of “In-Gathering,” or the first Sunday of the regular church year, is fast approaching. For many, this is a time of re-commitment to their faith community, of “getting back into the swing of things” and reconnections. Many congregations will begin their year with new faces in their pulpits, an added service, or other changes to the way they do things.

Rev. A. Powell Davies (1902-1957) preached the sermon from which this excerpt is taken on September 10, 1944. Even ninety-four years later, his message rings true. Why do we go to church? Because we can be more together than we are by ourselves.

from “On Going to Church”

by Rev. A. Powell Davies (1902-1957)

Let me tell you why I come to church.

I come to church—and would whether I was a preacher or not—because I fall below my own standards and need to be constantly brought back to them. It is not enough that I should think about the world and its problems at the level of a newspaper report or a magazine discussion. It could too soon become too low a level. I must have my conscience sharpened—sharpened until it goads me to the most thorough and responsible thinking of which I am capable. I must feel again the love I owe my fellow men (and women). I must not only hear about it but feel it. In church, I do.

I need to be reminded that there are things I must do in the world—unselfish things, things undertaken at the level of idealism. Workaday enthusiasms are not enough. They wear out too soon. I want to experience human nature at its best—and be reminded of its highest possibilities, and this happens to me in church. It may seem as though the same things could be found in solitude, but it does not easily happen so.

In a congregation we share each other’s spiritual needs and reinforce each other. In some ways, the soul is never lonelier than in a church service. That is certainly true of a pulpit, for a pulpit is the most intimately lonely place in the world—yet it is a loneliness that has strength in it. Perhaps this is because the innermost solitude of the human heart is in some paradoxical way a thing that can be shared—that must be shared—if the spirit of God is to find a full entrance into it.

We meet each other as friends and neighbors anywhere and everywhere, but we seldom do so in the consciousness of our souls’ deepest yearnings. But in church we do—in a way that protects us from all that is intrusive, yet leaves us knowing that we all have the same yearning, the same spiritual loneliness, the same need of assurance and faith and hope. We are brought together at the highest level possible. We are not merely an audience, we are a congregation.

I doubt whether I could stand the thought of the cruelty and misery of the present world unless I could know, through an experience that renewed itself over and over again, that at the heart of life there is assurance, that I can hold an ultimate belief that all is well. And this happens in church.

Life must have its sacred moments and its holy places. The soul will always seek its nurture. For religious experience—which is life at its most intense, life at its best—is something we cannot do without.

Source: from “On Going to Church” by Rev. A. Powell Davies, as reprinted in Without Apology: Collected Meditations on Liberal Religion by A. Powell Davies edited by Rev. Dr. Forrest Church.

Music can be one of the most healing balms in the face of tragedy and despair. Today, I bring you two hymn texts from Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnal, both of which were sung at this past Sunday’s rededication service at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

May Nothing Evil Pass This Door

words by Louis Untermeyer (1885-1977)

May nothing evil cross this door,
and may ill fortune never pry
about these windows; may the roar
and rain go by.

By faith made strong, the rafters will
withstand the battering of the storm.
This hearth, though all the world grow chill,
will keep you warm.

Peace shall walk softly through these rooms,
touching our lips with holy wine,
till every casual corner blooms
into a shrine.

With laughter drown the raucous shout,
and, though these sheltering walls are thin,
may they be strong to keep hate out
and hold love in.

Spirit of Life

words by Carolyn McDade

Spirit of Life, come unto me.
Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion.
Blow in the wind, rise in the sea;
Move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice.
Roots hold me close; wings set me free;
Spirit of Life, come to me,
Come to me.

Source: Singing the Living Tradition, hymn #1, “May Nothing Evil Cross This Door,” words by Louis Untermeyer (1885-1977); and hymn #123, “Spirit of Life,” words by Carolyn McDade.

Please forgive me for my seeming indulgence today, but this is something I wrote this past Sunday that seemed to come through me rather than from me, and I want more people to read it.

Living What We Profess

by Jess Cullinan

This very morning, a week after terrible tragedy took two of their number and terrorized the rest, the congregation of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church has once again gathered for worship. They have rededicated their sanctuary, seeking to reclaim its peace and serenity and joy. They are holding their heads high, and their beacons of hope, and thousands upon thousands of us across the land are with them in spirit as well.

The message going around and around my head from all of this is that this world has never needed our liberal religion more than it does right now.

We are living in a time when the language of the Bible and that peace-loving carpenter’s son are being used as weapons, as bludgeons, calling for fear and shame and separation, and in a time when we need nothing more than to come together, to love one another more deeply, and to heal our world.

There are things we know as Unitarian Universalists, but we are all too quiet about them:

(Read on … )

This piece was written by Sara Robinson, a journalist and Unitarian Universalist, in response to the events in Knoxville, Tennessee this week.

You can still donate here, and attend a vigil in your area if you feel so moved.

Of Madmen and Martyrs

by Sara Robinson

We are an odd group, we Unitarians.

Conventional wisdom says that we’re soft in all the places our society values toughness. Our refusal to adhere to any dogma must mean that we’re soft in our convictions. Our reflexive open-mindedness is often derided as evidence that we’re soft in the head. Our persistent and gentle insistence on liberal values is evidence of hearts too soft to set boundaries. And all of this together leads to a public image of a mushy gathering of feckless intellectuals that somehow lacks cohesion, backbone, focus, or purpose.

You can only believe this if you don’t know either the history or the modern reality of Unitarian Universalism. The faith’s early founders, Michael Servitus and Francis David, were executed for the radical notion that belief in the Trinity — which excluded Muslims and Jews — should not be a requirement for participation in 16th century public life. Four hundred years later, in the same part of the world, other Unitarians died in concentration camps for having the courage of their humanist convictions. Viola Liuzzo, a 39-year-old mother from Michigan who was killed by the Klan in the days following the Selma march in 1965, was one of ours, too.

(Read on … )

By now, all are aware of the terrible tragedy that befell the people of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Here is a list of resources for ways in which you can help:

• Pray.
• Donate to the Relief Fund
• Leave a message at the Supporting Our Friends in Knoxville blog
• Attend a vigil, many will be held across the country
• Send a paper crane to the children of the church:

  c/o Brian Griffin, Director of Life Span Religious Education
  TVUUC
  2931 Kingston Pike
  Knoxville, TN 37919

• Join the Facebook group, Thoughts&Prayers–Knoxville UU
• Pray.

Please comment if you have other items to add to this list.

Sometimes it is important, spiritually, to let go of our individual control. Unitarian Universalism places a great value on the individual search for truth and meaning, but also on the value of conducting that search in community. We realize that sometimes, we are weary and just need to rest.

This hymn for an Evening Service, from the 1917 Hymns of the Church: With Services and Chants, published by the Universalist Publishing House, recognizes this need. The tune, Lux Benigna, was written by the Rev. J.B. Dykes and the words by Rev. Dr. John Henry Newman.

Lux Benigna, for Evening Service

words by Rev. Dr. John Henry Newman

Lead, kindly Light, amid th’ encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene: one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path: but now,
Lead thou me on.
I loved the garish day; and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long thy power has blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

Source: Lux Benigna, tune by Rev. J.B. Dykes with words by Rev. Dr. John Henry Newman, from the 1917 Hymns of the Church: With Services and Chants, published by the Universalist Publishing House, page 7, via Google Books.

One of the most important events at the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly is the Ware Lecture, where we invite an important thinker from outside our movement to speak to us on a topic of interest to Unitarian Universalists. Previous speakers include theologian Rheinhold Neibuhr, Martin Luther King, Jr., poet Mary Oliver, and scholar Elaine Pagels.

This year, the speaker was Van Jones, an activist working to tie issues of environmentalism and social justice, particularly poverty concerns, together to create real change, and he had a warning for Unitarian Universalists: “Y’all are about to mess up and be successful!” when it comes to needed social and environmental change.

A good description of his lecture can be found on the UUA website, along with a video (WMV format, or Real Media) of the event.

In this speech, given in July of 2005 to the Spiritual Activism conference, Mr. Jones sides with Rabbi Michael Lerner in calling for an alliance of spiritual progressives across the board to enact real changes in our society, and speaks particularly to the anti-religious bias that is a very real presence in many progressive organizations.

The Religious Left Fights Back

by Van Jones

Rabbi Michael Lerner is stirring up trouble again—thank God.

Earlier this week, Lerner was the main organizer of a national gathering in Berkeley, California, for the religious Left. His “Spiritual Activism” conference was intended to help launch a much-needed new initiative: the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP).

Lerner has been the spark-plug for many progressive, faith-based undertakings over the years, including Tikkun magazine. But this latest effort is an order of magnitude more challenging than anything he has attempted thus far. And given the stakes for our ailing would-be democracy, the birthing of NSP may prove to be his most important calling.

Lerner wants to help forge a new alliance of “religious, secular and ’spiritual-but-not-religious’ progressives.” This alliance will someday expose and challenge the cancer of American consumerism. And it will oppose the religious Right’s abuse of scripture to promote war, intolerance and ugly corporate agendas.

(Read on … )

Today in Fort Lauderdale, before the Unitarian Universalist Association’s General Assembly gets started, the ministers and other religious professionals are meeting for C.E.N.T.E.R. (Continuing Education Network for Training, Enrichment and Renewal) presentations. This morning’s keynote speaker was Old Testament scholar Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, and a response was given by Unitarian Universalist minister and scholar Rev. Alice Blair Wesley (in abstentia, as her flight was delayed, unfortunately).

Rev. Blair Wesley, now retired, has been a strong voice for the importance of covenant in our congregations, delivering the 2000-2001 Minns Lectures on her ideas. This sermon was delivered in April 2005 at the First Parish Norwell Unitarian Universalist Church in Norwell, Massachusetts.

It Matters Most What We Love

Rev. Alice Blair Wesley

We sometimes say that self-determination and independence are our basic values. Well, self-determination and independence are very important. Yet, consider this: Have you ever heard anybody say, “I choose today — or I chose last week or I will choose next Tuesday — to love my children”? Or, “I determined, after studying the facts, to love ice hockey rather than baseball”? Or, “I decided at age 25 to fall in love with the person I married at 26″?

You never heard any such thing. Especially in the realm of romantic love, we celebrate love as something that happens to us. We say ours was “love at first sight.” Or, “One date and I was swept off my feet.” About a sport, or a favorite author, we might say, “One game — or one page — and I was hooked.” Sometimes people even say of our churches, “One service and I knew I was at home,” meaning, “One service and I loved these people and this institution.”

At its outset, and also in its renewal, there is a crucial element of passivity in all love — whether we’re talking about the love of friends, or love of our work, or sports, or nature, or learning. For love is a response to the charm, the beauty, the worth, or the potential worth of something outside ourselves. To see and feel that charm we have to be open to impressions we can receive only if our attention is “captured.” We don’t act in order to love; rather, when we are acted upon, we love in response.

(Read on … )

Here follows part 2 of “Why Worship,” by the Rev. Alan Taylor from Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oak Park, Illinois, one of this year’s Breakthrough Congregations. Part 1 can be read here.

Why Worship, part 2

by Rev. Alan Taylor

While every place where we walk is holy ground, there is something especially holy about the space where we come together, open our hearts and minds, and here reflect on our deepest concerns.

So much more is possible in a group because we are relational beings. Worship points us beyond ourselves. By coming together we open up possibilities unseen and not yet imagined.

Worship therefore offers hope, hope of healing, hope of reconciliation, hope of transformation, hope of overcoming the brokenness in our lives. Worship helps us remember there is more to our lives than our various concerns, struggles, and frustrations. Worship is an embodiment of the truth that we are not alone and that we as human beings are enough, that we have the spiritual resources to get through any challenge no matter how awful or trying.

(Read on … )