The Transient, the Permanent and the Semi-Permanent
I love the enthusiasm and creativity Tom and Milne have brought to our stewardship drive. I particularly love that they have centered much of the discussion about supporting our church around foundational Unitarian Universalist principles, but my heart kind of sank when I saw our flower children with their 8 principles signs a couple Sundays ago, because I knew I’d be preaching today about how those principles will soon be neither official nor prominent among our public discussions and statements of what Unitarian Universalism is, and who UUs are, and what both holds us together as a faith movement and sets us apart as a distinct faith movement. My heart sank because I knew you loved seeing those signs carried like rallying cries, and I knew this news would be a surprise to most of you, and distressing to many of you. It seems the ultimate in bad timing to preach this sermon at this time. But the change is imminent, and it is not as sudden as it probably seems to you, and in the end it is, I think, a good thing. It’s a journey . . . and I want . . . to go . . .
Our seven principles and six sources exist in Article II of our Unitarian Universalist Association By-laws–and have for almost forty years, now, since they were adopted by congregational delegates to two consecutive General Assembly in 1984 and 1985. You can find them near the front of our gray hymnal. (And you might want to open to that page, for reference and comparison throughout the rest of this sermon). The 8th principle, adopted by many congregations including this one, in recent years, is the result of a grassroots movement to call Unitarian Universalism into greater accountability for past and current participation in white supremacy culture. It has not been, and will not be, in its current form, adopted by delegates at any past or future General Assembly. But its essence is not disappearing, and neither are the essential values of the seven principles and six sources–though the current form, language and structure of these statements about Unitarian Universalism will soon exist only as an historical document.
To understand what is happening, we need to turn to the history of our denomination and its two precursor denominations.
When the Universalist Church in America and the American Unitarian Association merged in 1961 to form the Unitarian Universalist Association, the by-laws of the new denomination contained the following language:
"In accordance with these corporate purposes, the members of the Unitarian Universalist Association, dedicated to the principles of a free faith, unite in seeking:
1. To strengthen one another in a free and disciplined search for truth as the foundation of our religious fellowship;
2. To cherish and spread the universal truths taught by the great prophets and teachers of humanity in every age and tradition, immemorially summarized in the Judeo-Christian heritage as love to God and love to man;
3. To affirm, defend and promote the supreme worth of every human personality, the dignity of man, and the use of the democratic method in human relationships;
4. To implement our vision of one world by striving for a world community founded on ideals of brotherhood, justice and peace;
5. To serve the needs of member churches and fellowships, to organize new churches and fellowships, and to extend and strengthen liberal religion;
6. To encourage cooperation with men of good will in every land."
By 1980 Unitarian Universalists found these statements not only excessively gendered but also generally outdated, and a years’ long process of conversations, discussions, proposals and amendments was begun, resulting in the current 7 principles and 5 Sources (a sixth source added some years later). The past couple email blasts from our church office included a link to an article in which a member of the 1980s Purposes and Principles Committee reflects on that process and looks forward to the adoption of the newly revised Article II, the result of a similar, multi-year process of conversations, discussions, proposals and amendments.
So it is that, beloved though they are to some Unitarian Universalists, and longstanding, the current principles and sources have not been around forever, not even as long as the Association itself. They’re not quite 40 years old. And, by the way, the by-laws language the current principles replaced–the language from the time of merger–didn’t disappear into the ether never to be seen or heard again. I was able to access that older version with a single click of a link in the article about the 1980s Purposes and Principles Committee. Likewise, the current version of our principles will not disappear. It will remain hanging on many a church wall, stuffed into countless books as a colorful but dated bookmark, and referenced in histories of our Association–both digital and paper.
It is also worth noting that just as the current version of the Principles is related to and grew out of the 1961 version, so did the 1961 version, despite representing a brand new merged denomination, grow out of earlier statements of faith of both Unitarianism and Universalism. (And so has the new Article II emerged from all of the previous formulations of what Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists have held at the center of our faith).
As I give you a few examples of earlier statements of faith and declarations of common beliefs, it will be helpful to remember, that though it has been many, many decades since it was so, through most of history, including the 19th century, Unitarians and Universalists (there were no UUs until 1961), through most of history Unitarians and Universalists were avowedly Christian. The Christian language you’ll hear in the next few minutes doesn’t reflect who we are today but does reflect the roots from which we grew and which served as our foundation.
In 1885 Reverend James Freeman Clarke outlined his “Five Points of the New Theology,” a summary of commonly held Unitarian beliefs of the late-nineteenth century: "the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, the leadership of Jesus, salvation by character, and the continuity of human development in all worlds, or, the progress of mankind onward and upward forever."
Just two years later, the Reverend William Channing Gannett was commissioned by the Western Unitarian Conference to compile a statement of beliefs, resulting in a document titled 'Things Most Commonly Believed Today Among Us'. The Western Unitarian Conference, meeting in Chicago, adopted by this statement of faith by a vote of 59 to 13.
"We believe that to love the Good and to live the Good is the supreme thing in religion;
We hold reason and conscience to be final authorities in matters of religious belief;
We honor the Bible and all inspiring scripture, old and new;
We revere Jesus, and all holy souls that have taught men truth and righteousness and love, as prophets of religion;
We believe in the growing nobility of Man; We trust the unfolding Universe as beautiful, beneficent, unchanging Order; to know this order is truth; to obey it is right and liberty and stronger life;
We believe that good and evil invariably carry their own recompense, no good thing being failure and no evil thing success; that heaven and hell are states of being; that no evil can befall the good man in either life or death; that all things work together for the victory of the Good;
We believe that we ought to join hands and work to make the good things better and the worst good, counting nothing good for self that is not good for all;
We believe that this self-forgetting, loyal life awakes in man the sense of union here and now with things eternal—the sense of deathlessness; and this sense is to us an earnest of the life to come;
We worship One-in-All — that life whence suns and stars derive their orbits and the soul of man its Ought, — that Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, giving us power to become the sons of God, — that Love with which our souls commune."
Fifty years later, the Unitarian Commission on Appraisal issued a report highlighting points upon which Unitarians agreed and those upon which they did not agree:
"Unitarians Agree
In affirming the primacy of the free exercise of intelligence in religion, believing that in the long run the safest guide to truth is human intelligence.
In affirming the paramount importance for the individual of his own moral convictions and purpose.
In affirming that the social implications of religion are indispensable to its vitality and validity, as expressed in terms of concern for social conditions and the struggle to create a just social order.
In affirming the importance of the church as the organized expression of religion.
In affirming the necessity for worship as a deliberate effort to strengthen the individual's grasp of the highest spiritual values of which he is aware.
In affirming the rational nature of the universe.
Unitarians Disagree
As to the expediency of using the traditional vocabulary of religion, within a fellowship which includes many who have rejected the ideas commonly associated with such words as "God", "prayer", "communion", "salvation", "immortality".
As to the wisdom of maintaining the definitely Christian tradition, and the traditional forms of Christian worship.
As to the religious values of a purely naturalistic philosophy.
As to the adequacy and competency of man to solve his own problems, both individual and social.
As to the advisability of direct action by churches in the field of social and political problems."
On the Universalist side of history, statements of faith had and retained a distinctly more Christian character.
The Winchester Profession of the New England Convention of Universalists in 1803 set forth three articles:
"Article I. We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest and final destination of mankind.
Article II. We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.
Article III. We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practise (sic) good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men."
In 1899, the Boston Declaration of Universalist General Convention stated:
"The conditions of fellowship in this Convention shall be as follows: The acceptance of the essential principles of the Universalist faith, to wit: The Universal Fatherhood of God; The Spiritual authority and leadership of His Son, Jesus Christ; The trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God; The certainty of just retribution for sin; The final harmony of all souls with God.
The Winchester Profession is commended as containing these principles, but neither this nor any other precise form of words is required as a condition of fellowship, provided always that the principles above stated be professed."
And in 1936 a Universalist Bond of Fellowship asserted:
"The bond of fellowship in this Convention shall be a common purpose to do the will of God as Jesus revealed it and to co-operate in establishing the Kingdom for which he lived and died.
To that end, we avow our faith in God as Eternal and All-Conquering Love, in the spiritual leadership in Jesus, in the supreme worth of every human personality, in the authority of truth known or to be known, and in the power of men of goodwill and sacrificial spirit to overcome evil and progressively establish the Kingdom of God."
I’ve tossed a lot of words and dates at you, just now. We won’t be having a quiz on who wrote what when, and which bodies adopted which statements of faith. What I hope has become clear to you is that revisiting our statements of faith has been a regular occurrence in the history of Unitarianism, and Universalism, and Unitarian Universalism, and that each subsequent statement of faith or formulations of beliefs echos back to earlier ones–even the Christian character of early Unitarians and Universalists is preserved in the 1961 principles, and in the 1984 Source referring to Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.
The process that has brought about the graphic on the cover of today’s order of service, and the language on the insert to the order of service, which will be voted on in probably slightly amended form at General Assembly in June–this process of study and discussion and revision and more discussion is in line with our previous practice. Such processes are how we, in each new age, have crafted the message by which we communicate to the world and ourselves who we are and what we hold at the center of our shared faith. Moreover, this current process and all the early processes, are a manifestation of what we have long believed to be the nature of religious life. It has never been about simple messaging.
To explain this statement I have to give you one more date and one more prominent Unitarian name, along with one less prominent name..
In 1841 Unitarian minister Theodore Parker preached on the Transient and the Permanent in Christianity, on the occasion of the ordination of Rev. Charles C. Shackford. Remember, though Transcendentalism was on the rise, the majority of 19th century Unitarians were Christian. Parker was speaking of his faith, a precursor of our own denomination. Parker took as his text that day Luke 21:33–'Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my word shall not pass away.'
In his sermon, running some 36 typeset, printed pages, Parker argued that the religion of Jesus, the word of God as taught and lived by Jesus, is true, universal, and unwavering–permanent–while the Christianity preached and practiced through the ages is transient–dependent on setting and speaker, and ever changing. He declared:
"…the difference between what is called Christianity by the Unitarians in our times, and that of some ages past, is greater than the difference between Mahomet and the Messiah. The difference at this day between opposing classes of Christians; the difference between the Christianity of some sects, and that of Christ himself; is deeper and more vital than that between Jesus and Plato, Pagan as we call him.
In other words, Parker was arguing what we sometimes hear still today, nearly two centuries later–that the religion of Jesus and the religion about Jesus are two vastly different religions.
Parker explained in more detail:
…there seems to have been, ever since the time of [Christianity’s] earthly found[ing], two elements, the one transient, the other permanent. The one is the thought, the folly, the uncertain wisdom, the theological notions, the impiety of man; the other the eternal truth of God…
…transient things form a great part of what is commonly taught as Religion. An undue place has often been assigned to forms and doctrines, while too little stress has been laid on the divine life of the soul, love to God, and love to man. Religious forms may be useful and beautiful…But they are only the accident of Christianity; not its substance."
Parker goes on to say the same of doctrine, creeds and confessions; they are transient due to faults such as narrow observation, inaccuracy, or illogical reasoning. He appeals to science for a metaphor in support of his assertion:
"Now the solar system as it exists in fact is permanent though the notions of Thales and Ptolemy, of Copernicus and Descartes about this system prove transient, imperfect approximations to the true expression. So the Christianity of Jesus is permanent, though what passes for Christianity with Popes and catechism, with sects and churches, in the first century or in the nineteenth century, prove transient also."
We keep rewriting our principles and such because we know Parker was right: Truth is eternal; expressions of Truth are temporal. And because we believe that one of the central tasks of the religious life is to continually peel away what is transient and get ever closer to what is permanent. Though our attachment to the familiarity, usefulness, and some would argue beauty of our current Principles and Sources is deep, our commitment to the very values those dated words purport to represent calls us to give them up, in our pursuit of closer, better approximations of capital T Truth.
It is unfortunate that most of the process of revising Article II of the UUA by-laws (as called for in other sections of the by-laws) happened without active participation of this congregation–without even the awareness of most of you that this was going on. As your interim minister, Reverend Susan was focused on pastoral care and shepherding you through and out of the pandemic shutdown. I’ve been focused on getting to know you and on learning to center my worship craft and preaching on SoulMatters’ themes. Association level happenings have not been given priority. So it may seem to some of you that this monumental change is being imposed by the Association, as if we don’t comprise the Association, as a mandate that flies in the face of our congregational polity. I assure you to the contrary; this has been a very participatory process, and if the changes to the by-laws are adopted, it will happen, as I said earlier, by congregational delegate vote at General Assembly. If you have concerns or questions, I hope you will look at the links we sent out in recent email blasts, or be in touch with me.
As I said at the outset I am supportive of the changes. I’ve long felt that the current principles tend to get misused as a sort of creed, and that they are wordy, and that they are, frankly, pretty generically progressive. I’m eager to begin teaching and preaching Unitarian Universalism using these new tools. The flower-like graphic with core values encircling love at the center isn’t perfect–and it, too, is transient. But it is, or soon will be, our common statement for this age, of who Unitarian Universalists are, and what both holds us together as a faith movement and sets us apart as a distinct faith movement. It will stand, for a time, as evidence of our engagement in an unending and messy process of discovering ever greater clarity and purity in our comprehension of eternal Truth. And then one day, when it is as beloved, as familiar and time-worn as our current statement, it will become the seed or the soil or the compost from which a new generation of Unitarian Universalists grow their ages’ statement of who Unitarian Universalists are, and what both holds Unitarian Universalists together as a faith movement and sets UUs apart as a distinct faith movement–a transient crystallization of permanent Truth, the beauty and precision of which we cannot now imagine. And so our living tradition will continue on.
Amen.