"Who Are We?"
by Rev. Kimi Riegel
November 2, 2003

Reading: Martin Buber
"The real essence of community is to be found in the fact . . . that it has a center. The real beginning of a community is when its members have a common relation to the center overriding all other relations: the circle is described by the radii, not by the points along its circumference. And the originality of the center cannot be discerned unless it is discerned as being transpicuous to the light of something divine. All this is true; but the more earthly, the more creaturely, the more attached the center is, the truer and more transpicuous it will be."

Sermon: Who Are We?
We are a Creedless Faith. That means there is no book, no set of doctrines or even a single person that can set down definitively what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist. There is nowhere we can turn to get the answer to the question do I fit in here? There is no external string with which to tie our community together. So what is it that binds us as Unitarian Universalists? Where is our center to which we all cling? In Buber’s words where are the radii and to what do they point?

When I was in seminary I spent time with the Lutherans on several interfaith projects. Early on they wanted to try to understand my faith tradition. Questions like: “What do you teach your kids if there is no Bible?” were common. It just didn’t make sense to them to have a religion that didn’t tell you what to believe. Explaining our faith to others would be much easier if we had a central authority or message.

Our children’s religious education when I was growing up was mostly about science and other people’s faiths. Unitarian Universalists discovered in about 1970 that our young people had no feeling for what it meant to be a UU. So we began to create curricula with the goal of giving our kids a UU identity. Now we teach them about our history; the heroes and heroines that light our past and all their wonderful ideas. We teach them about the seven principles – the things that most Unitarian Universalists believe. And yet is this really a UU identity? When they hear these stories do they feel the same sense of “those are my people” that the Jewish stories create for their young people. Do they understand why their parents are UU? Do they have a clear picture of what holds us together?

And what about the adults? Mark Hamilton, a member of our Commission on Appraisal, writes: “The joke goes, ask six UUs a theological question and you'll get seven different answers. There's considerable truth to that—that’s why the joke is funny. (Indeed, seven seems a bit low—I would say ten!) We have such diversity of beliefs and opinions that it's difficult, if not impossible, to find something about which you can say, “Unitarian Universalists believe such-and-such.” And even if we do say something like that, we will almost immediately add, “Of course, you don't have to believe that; most of us do, but some don’t.” This is well and good, but it can give the impression that we’re wishy-washy and can’t make up our minds. It brings up the question: In all our profusion of theological perspectives, is there a common core? Are we really ‘the church where you believe what you want?’ What is it that holds us together? To borrow a phrase from minister Katy Korb, What is the handle of the umbrella, under which all our theologies shelter? [1]

The UUA’s Commission on Appraisal is a standing committee of the UUA. It is charged with the responsibility for studying topics that are of importance to Unitarian Universalism. Its task is “to catch the crest of the wave” and study issues that are not so new as to be virtually unknown or irrelevant to denomination members, nor should it be so established that UUA members feel it is passé. The commission is currently midway through its study of the question “Where Is the Unity in Our Theological Diversity?” The most common response of UUs to the Commission’s tackling of the issue of unity is “Wow. Great topic. Good luck.”

At our annual denomination-wide General Assembly, the Commission presented a workshop where they asked folks:

What is at the center of your personal faith? What is your passion in your spiritual life?

What do you think binds us UUs together?

Are these conversations taking place in your congregation? If so, what promotes them? If not, what are the obstacles?

After taking about 10 minutes to discuss each section of questions, participants and group scribes handed in their index cards and notes. Then there was a time of general feedback, during which some participants said, among other things, that they were surprised at how often the issue of connection among congregants came up; how timely this conversation is, given the current tenor of congregational life; and how people were saying basically the same things but using different terms (love, connectedness, searching, spirit).

 I think the conversation the Commission has started is very important for the reasons already stated; we need to articulate our core. There isn’t a UU minister on the planet that hasn’t tried his or her hand at naming the center of our faith. My answers to the first two questions they pose are fairly simple. The center of my personal faith is a belief in the basic goodness of humans. The passion of my life is to pay attention to that which is life affirming. 

 My faith in humans being basically good runs contrary to fact sometimes. I look for proof and find it most days -- though not all. One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes is “Faith is believing what you know ain't so.” Thus I have faith that humans are basically good even if some days it can be hard to find. That belief in goodness is the basis for most of my actions and reactions. I try very hard to hold on to that faith when I struggle with others. I judge other claims against this faith. Religions, governmental policies and philosophies that contradict my faith in the good of humanity are not ones I care to entertain. Faith in human goodness is the ground, the center from which I gain strength and hope; necessary components of keeping going when times get tough.

 The passion of my life is to help create a world that is more life enhancing. It’s simple really. I look for those people, places and activities that are life affirming. I strive to behave in ways that are life enhancing. Sure I fall short, sure I miss the mark and I even forget sometimes, but my passion brings me back to what is important and central to my existence, the continued existence of all life.

 The second question (What is the center of our faith?) is less straight forward, because of course it involves more than just me. My suggestion would be that our center is the promise of freedom. Our promise to one another to give each other the freedom to have our own opinions and travel our own road serves as a core we refer to. It provides a ruler for knowing what is us and what is not us. 

The promise of freedom really has two parts; the promise and the freedom. We promise, we covenant, we agree, we, we, we. There is a “togetherness” in the promise and that is central. The togetherness is not sacrificed for the freedom and the freedom is not lost in the togetherness. You can see the push and pull, you can see the checks and balances, without the together the freedom runs a mock, without the freedom the togetherness becomes a mass of sameness. 

And, of course, there is paradox. We ministers love paradox. Freedom and togetherness can seem contradictory and yet without one, there is no other. Freedom is not easy to achieve and still maintain the together part. It is the tension between inclusion and exclusion, individuality and collectivity; it is particularity in contrast to cohesiveness. Walking the fine line between my freedom and the group cohesion and center is the radii that Buber talks about. When you put a promise of freedom at the center of the circle the connections, the radii, between it and the outer circumference become clearer. Our individual positions on religion could make it hard for us to connect, but that promise to one another makes it clear that we all return to the together part of our freedoms. Thus for me the core of this faith is the promise of freedom.

 The Commission also asks the questions whether we are talking about these issues in our congregations -- and if not, why not? I suspect in most congregations we are not having these conversations because there isn’t time and opportunity. Why don’t we change all that? Why don’t we begin the conversation right now? What is the center of your faith? What is the passion of your life? What holds this congregation together?

 Many wonderful affirmations have been written by Unitarian Universalists.

“We covenant to dwell together in peace, seek the truth in love and help one another” or

“We teach the fragile art of hospitality, we revere both the critical mind and the generous heart, and we prove that diversity need not mean divisiveness”[2] to mention just two. You can find many more at the back of the hymnal. 

 Let’s start an affirmation-writing project for our congregation. We need to articulate our center so our creedless faith will have the handle for our sheltering umbrella, will have a center to pass on to our young people, and we will have an answer to the question “Who are the Unitarian Universalists at Northwest?” Not a codified, carved in stone center that never gets looked at again, but a statement that affirms who we are now. It starts with each of us taking the opportunity to share our beliefs, what are the centers for our personal faith. It moves into the conversation; given our diversity what holds us together? It ends with a simple phrase that we can say to each other as part of our Sunday worship. A phrase that affirms us, centers us and reminds us of the best we strive to be. Namaste.