The Universalist God

As I see the blooming tulip-trees around town I’m reminded of my favorite mnemonic device from my divinity school days: TULIP.

Total depravity;

Unconditional election;

Limited atonement;

Irresistible grace; and

Perseverance of the saints.

These are five principle points of Calvinism, and though I like the sound (and meaning) of irresistible grace, I can say without reservation that that’s one TULIP I can do without in my theological garden or bouquet. Both total depravity and limited atonement knock it from the running.

Unitarian Universalism does not have, to my knowledge, any such handy mnemonic device, so a several years ago I played around a bit at re-working TULIP:

Truth beyond containment

Universal salvation

Love

Inter-faith, interdisciplinary, wisdom

Pursuit of justice.

It works (just barely), but as with the original TULIP, most of it isn’t readily understood as it might be applied to the lived experience of individuals. Mnemonic devices are helpful for memorization but analogies, stories, and metaphors tell us about our lives and how our theologies both explain our experience and guide our actions.

So, my TULIP wordplay experiment notwithstanding, I’ve generally stuck to my tried and true ways of explaining Unitarian Universalism, even if they aren’t quite as cute as a flower. Historically, I usually begin, Unitarianism developed out of the belief that God is One. Not one in three. The belief that the concept of the trinity is not biblically sound. Unity not Trinity. And, I go on, historically, Universalism developed out of the belief that just as a loving parent couldn’t save one child and sacrifice another, so a loving God couldn’t save some people and damn the rest. That is to say, the Universalist half of our tradition grew out of a belief in universal salvation. We can contrast that to limited atonement which understands salvation to be limited to only those who believe and repent of their sins.

I might mention the tired adage that while Unitarians believed they were too good to be damned (disputing total depravity), Universalists believed God was too good to damn them. I think I’m getting ready to retire that part of my quick introduction. Even though it highlights two important tenets of our historical theology, it’s misleading and even disrespectful in its simplicity, because there were always some Unitarians who were also universalist, and some Universalists who were also unitarian .

Next I usually go on to talk about the development of each tradition separately, leading up to the 1961 merger of the Universalist Church of America and the American Unitarian Association, resulting in the Unitarian Universalist Association. Then I spend some time talking about what UUism looks like sixty years post-merger. This is when I’ve usually referred to our statement of purposes and principles, and the sources of our living tradition. And if I’m preaching in a UU church rather than leading a class or discussion, I’ll point out that the UUA statement of purpose, as well as the principles and the sources appear near the front of our hymnal.

I don’t often highlight the fact that all three–the statement of purpose, the principles and the sources–were adopted by the 1984 and 1985 General Assemblies, and revised by the 1987 General Assembly as part of our UUA by-laws. I mention this specifically today, not because it has much to do with the rest of today’s sermons, but because our by-laws undergo periodic review and revision, and one such process is near its completion. An Article Two Study Commission has made its final report to the UUA board, and the revised Article Two will be up for the first of two votes at our General Assembly in June. The revision incorporates all of the values currently encapsulated in the 7 principles, plus the 8th principle, but not in the form of an enumerated wordy list. Rather it comprises a colorful floral-like graphic showing seven values–interdepence, equity, transformation, pluralism, generosity, and justice encircling the word love.

You can read more about the Article Two Study Commission’s work and its final report on uua.org, and I will hold at least one information session between now and General Assembly. For now I want to say only one more thing about it: it’s not in the form of a tulip, but it is not random or coincidental that the new floral graphic has love at its center, just as my mnemonic–Truth beyond containment; Universal salvation; Love; Inter-faith, interdisciplinary, wisdom [and] Pursuit of justice–had love its center.

And the good, all-loving Universalist God is our focus today..

For me it has always seemed that the loving parent analogy is the most effective way to illustrate the concept of salvation to the casual inquirer. It’s easy to get–especially for those from traditions that teach about God the Father. Other UUs take a different approach. For the past few years, for example, many have been talking about loving the hell out of the world. That’s just as accurate and certainly more catchy than my approach. Nevertheless I’m as convinced as ever of the merits of the loving parent.

Have you heard about a contest between the sun and then wind? I remember a filmstrip from my days in Sundy School. The sun and the wind were debating which was more powerful. They chose an unfortunate guy walking down the street as their proving ground, each boasting that they would be able to make the guy remove his topcoat. The wind blew and blew and blew but the guy just wrapped his coat more tightly around himself. Then the sun shone brightly upon the guy who soon removed his coat under the warmth of the sun’s rays.

It’s a handy little metaphor in many situations where debates about power rage. And it comes to mind this morning when discussing the Universalist God. As Cassara pointed out in his remarks about Hosea Ballou, and was evident in the document from the 1790 convention in Philadelphia, love was key to the entire early Universalist theology. There is no hell because God loves all humanity too much to subject anyone to damnation. And furthermore, to answer those who question, “what makes you behave if there is no threat of damnation?” the Universalists replied, love. God’s love.

Like the warm rays of the sun, God’s love moves us to obedience to the moral law and to living “a holy, active and useful life.” Not punishment as a stick but love as a carrot. The eternal, universalist love of God coupled with examples of Jesus’ love. Threats, like the power of the wind, can backfire, closing us off from change, and relationship to others and even the holy. Love has a tendency to open us to those very same things. We are moved to act morally because the source of life itself, that which gives us life and sustains us throughout life, is Love. And love, true love, not cheap or easy imitations of it, calls forth love.

Now, love, especially in February, can be misunderstood as treacly, sickly sweet and sticky, mushy, all carbs and no protein. But love, real love, is a supremely hearty and nutritious force. To return to the parent analogy, the loving mother or father demonstrates that love in all sorts of ways: with hugs and kisses and bedtime stories, and a balanced diet, curfews and consequences for misbehavior; with birthday parties and family vacation and a sound education; with physical activities and music and discussion of the world’s events. Indeed, love may be all the things the court advised the King and Queen in this morning’s story–vegetables and sunshine and songs and talking and listening. At different stages in life the child may recognize only some of these as love, but the parents know they are all expressions of love. Love is not for the faint of heart–neither in parenting nor in marriage nor in friendship nor theology.

Indeed, there was a debate, among early Universalists, about the exact nature of universal salvation. Some believed it was automatic; others believed it happened only after sinners spent a considerable amount of time (read centuries or more) in purgatory. Everyone was saved in the end but it took time and suffering to get there. And that view was not seen as inconsistent with an all-loving God. It was more of a necessary, corrective time-out (parenting again!) before the inevitable salvation assured by God’s love.

This restorationist view of Universalism isn’t much in the air these days. Even salvation and God Godself aren’t as central as they once were. Love, while less often tied to an assumed belief in a supreme deity, still remains–reframed as loving the hell out of the world. But for the past century or so the core meaning of universal in Universalism has increasingly been understood to mean universal truth and wisdom–an expansive faith that finds power and meaning beyond the limits of Christianity.

When someone dies and I stand beside the grave, preparing the gathered mourners for the moment their beloved will be returned to the earth, I use a service inherited from my internship supervisor who probably inherited it from one of her teachers. Among my favorite lines is this: “God’s other name is Love.” The use of God language is comforting to mourners from almost all traditions, and the simple straightforward equating of God with Love is profoundly comforting to those whose theology does not include a belief in a supernatural god. Love, human and beyond human, holds us in embrace even at the graveside, even at our most fragile and broken, in our deepest grief.

I use the line for those reasons and because it strikes at the core of my theology. Nowhere are we beyond the bounds of love. The details of the theology–instant salvation or salvation after cleansing in purgatory, God’s essential goodness or no god at all, Jesus as a gift of love or Jesus as an example of love, universal salvation or universal faith–the details of the theology are negotiable. But the love is not.

It is a great gift we have inherited from the Universalis side of our merger tradition. And it is a gift we do well to remember this month in particular, as stores and restaurants and screens of all kinds are blanketed in a sea of pink and red hearts and cupids and bows. Love is not the sole provence of believers of certain creeds. Love is universal. Love is not the sole provence of sweethearts, of lovers, of life-partners. Love is universal. Love is not the sole provence of those who are happy or successful or have several hundred Facebook friends or TikTok followers. Love is universal. Love is not the sole provence of straight cis gender white folks. Love is universal. Love is not the sole provence of the temporarily able-bodied. Love is universal.

My TULIP mnemonic for Unitarian Universalist values and theology isn’t going anywhere. Soon, along with other member congregations of the UUA we’ll adopt–or not–the new love-centered Article Two. And that’s important, as part of the required periodic revision of the by-laws, and will be useful for teaching new Unitarian Universalists and others what we hold central to and in our faith. But for our everyday Unitarian Universalist lives and the living church, The Beatles had it right all along, all we need is love.

Emerson was right, too. When the half-gods go, the gods arrive.

With gratitude that Love is supreme among them, amen.