What Do Unitarian Universalists Worship?
November 11th, 2007 The Reverend Anne Felton Hines
After my mother’s memorial service this past August, my siblings and all our children and grandchildren went out to dinner together. It was a wonderful couple of hours, sitting out on the restaurant’s patio, taking up most of the space with several long tables lined end-to-end. After they’d finished their meals, the children left the table and played nearby, while the adults continued enjoying our conversations.
As I recall, I was sitting across from my daughter, with several of her cousins – my nieces and nephews – on either side of her and me. We had somehow embarked on a conversation about faith, belief, God, etc. – you know, the usual after-dinner chat! And all of a sudden my niece – who was raised with no religion whatsoever, but now, with her husband and two adorable children, attends a Presbyterian church – turned to me and said, “Auntie Anne, I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time: If Unitarian Universalists don’t have to believe in God, then what do you worship?”
Now, I’d just come through a 90-minute Requiem Mass for my mother, at which I’d accompanied on the piano my nephew singing “Panis Angelicus;” I’d watched as my mother’s ashes were gently laid to rest in the memorial garden at her Episcopal church; I’d been gracious to numerous friends of my mother, as well as relatives I only see at memorial services; and I’d probably finished off a couple of glasses of Chardonnay over dinner! Answering Julie’s question was not something I wanted to tackle at that moment! So I simply said, “Let’s save that question for another time.”
But her question was a good one. So I’ve decided to attempt to answer it by writing her a letter, which has become this morning’s sermon. I share it with you now:
Dearest Julie…
You asked me over dinner after Grandmommy’s memorial service what it is that Unitarian Universalists worship, given that not all of us believe in God. That’s a good question, and one that even some members of my congregations have asked me!
I can understand why the answer would be unclear. For most people, worship assumes a belief in a god – or maybe goddess! – and the stories that have evolved about the prophets of their particular religion.
Christianity is the only major religion, I believe, that has proclaimed its prophet to also be God. And when your mother and I were growing up in the Episcopal church, we recited the Nicene Creed every Sunday morning, which spelled out for us the basic theology of the Church.
But Unitarian Universalism isn’t grounded in a creed or doctrine of faith. While the Nicene Creed describes the Christian beliefs about God and Jesus, Unitarian Universalism has been what’s called a “covenantal faith;” that is, we make a promise or “covenant” with one another as to how we will try to live out our faith – and I emphasize the word “try!”
While individual UU churches might have a “covenant” that they have adopted and recite each Sunday (as my church does), as a denomination we look to a “covenant” of seven Principles, created by members of UU congregations across the country, that reflect our shared values as a religious people. These Principles do not try to explain anything to us about God or life, but rather serve to guide us in our daily living.
Through them, we “covenant” to “affirm and promote: (1) the inherent worth and dignity of every person; (2) justice, equity and compassion in human relations; (3) acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations; (4) a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; (5) the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large; (6) the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all; and (7) respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”
As you can see, nowhere in these Principles is God mentioned (though many UUs do put their faith in a Presence they would call God), or Christianity (though our religion did evolve out of the early Christian church, and was definitely part of the Protestant Reformation), or Jesus (though we certainly consider him one of the greatest of prophets and teachers, and I would contend that these Principles reflect many of his teachings).
So what meaning to us, then, does worship hold? What is it we Unitarian Universalists “worship?”
For me, it helps to take a look at the word itself. Stemming from the old English word, “weorthscipe,” worship has less to do with praising God than it does with honoring that which is of “worth” to us – that which we value or cherish. Looked at in this light, naming as “worship” what other faiths do when they gather together to praise God isn’t wrong; it’s just not expansive enough.
When I reflect on what Unitarian Universalists “worship,” I am really asking: What is it that Unitarian Universalists value or cherish? What is of ultimate worth to us?
Perhaps the broadest answer to that question lies in our seven Principles, particularly the first and last of these. Someone has suggested that those two Principles – the “worth and dignity of every person” and “the interdependent web of existence” are the “pillars” of our faith, and the five in between are how we live them out. And while I find that a helpful concept, I would contend that most UUs value – or worship – each of the seven Principles fairly equally. They are what we hold up and give voice to in community each Sunday Morning.
Honoring the “inherent worth and dignity of every person,” as challenging as that can be sometimes, is surely one of our core values, stemming not only from the teachings of Jesus, but from the early Unitarians’ insistence in the basic goodness of humans. They didn’t believe in “original sin,” or the depravity of human beings; they believed instead in the “perfectability” of the human spirit. And personally, I still do today, despite all the evidence I may witness to the contrary.
I believe that first Principle also reflects the vision of the early Universalists, who found no basis in the teachings of Jesus for a God that would condemn anyone to an eternity of Hell. They put their faith in a God that was so loving that He could not bear to lose any of his children, no matter how far we might have strayed from Him – a God that saw only “the inherent worth and dignity” of us all.
Our third and fourth Principles, “Acceptance of one another” and “a free & responsible search for truth and meaning,” speak to our long-held commitment to religious freedom and tolerance. That is why there is so much theological diversity in our congregations – from Christian to atheist, from Buddhist to pagan, from Jewish to Humanist, and more; we truly do affirm the notion that there are many valid spiritual paths, that no one perspective holds the key to truth, and that each of us must be our own authority when it comes to religious understanding. We love the questions and the dialogues.
Therefore we look to many teachers, many prophets, and many “holy books” – both ancient and modern – for spiritual wisdom. If you were to visit my church in Canoga Park, you would see one of our most cherished possessions: A mobile hanging above the Chancel depicting the major religions of the world, with no one of them having prominence over another.
But we don’t stop there. We also look to the world around us, both the scientific and the mystical, the seen and the unseen. I suspect that is not so different from where a Presbyterian might look for spiritual understanding.
And it is in the broader world that we affirm our seventh Principle, which reminds us that we are a part of an interdependent web of Creation – not master of it, but part of it. Some talk of being “co-creators” with God, and the need therefore to care for the earth and its inhabitants. But I actually prefer to think of us humans as “co-inhabitors” of the earth, with the responsibility to live in it equally with the other elements of Creation. We need to think of the trees, the ocean, the air, the animals – all of Creation – as our housemates; what would we need to do to make sure they live as healthfully as we do? (I must admit to you that I, personally, fall far short of this Principle!)
And it is perhaps not only in our early grounding in Christianity, but our study of most of the world’s religions, that we have come to affirm “peace, liberty, and justice for all” as one of our core values – as part of what Unitarian Universalists worship. It is ironic and tragic that most of the wars in the world have begun because of religious differences. In looking at religion through the lens of war, we would never guess that Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism all teach peace and compassion as basic tenets of their faith. Perhaps this serves to remind us how difficult it is to truly live our faith.
But isn’t living our faith what true worship calls us to do? By celebrating what we cherish – what is of “worth” to us, we not only continually give shape to those values, but we become shaped by them.
This is why another core value of Unitarian Universalists (as it was with your grandmother) is to put our faith into action. At my church, we do this both in acts of charity – such as our weekly collection of food for the local Food Pantry, and our free art class for local youth; and in acts of advocacy and witness, such as our monthly peace vigil, the environmental protection organization our young parents’ group is creating, and the banner on our fence proclaiming our commitment to Marriage Equality. One of our Unitarian forefathers said we should “let our actions speak more loudly than our words;” and this is what we try to do.
Ultimately, perhaps what Unitarian Universalists really worship is simply Love – not a sentimental, Hallmark-card kind of love, but a profound, all-embracing love that can heal the soul, and show us the way to peace and compassion for all the world. And I suspect that that’s no different from what you worship in your church – the kind of love that Jesus taught us, not only with his radical words, but with his gentle and compassionate acts as well.
The Reverend William Sloane Coffin – a Presbyterian minister when he was alive – once wrote that “the church is God’s love organized.” While we may use different language, I would agree with Coffin’s implication: that the role of the religious community, no matter the doctrine, is to embody Love in everything we do, and radiate that Love to the bruised world that exists beyond our church walls.
My dear niece…You had no idea what you were getting yourself in for when you asked that simple question of me! I hope this missive won’t discourage you from asking questions in the future; I promise not to turn every answer into a sermon!
May you and your sweet family always feel bathed in the love of your God, and may that love become a sign of hope to all who are lucky enough to know you.
Much love, Auntie Anne.
© 2007 Anne Felton Hines. All rights reserved.
