SERMONS

"Though I may speak with bravest fire, and have the gift to all inspire, and have not love, my words are vain, as sounding brass, and hopeless gain."

You've got to give Paul credit for these amazing words that come from a compilation of letters he wrote to the Christians in Corinth. They are words that speak to the heart of our liberal religious spirit. They are words of unity and inclusivity. Words which affirm freedom of religious expression.

In the early Christian Church the geographic divide was great. The leaders and teachers could only find their way to the communities they founded infrequently. So they sent correspondence by courier across time and distance. And likewise the new Christian communities would correspond with the evangelists.

Apparently the Christians in Corinth were disagreeing among themselves. From Paul's letter we can guess that they were taking sides about which of the Christian practices and teachings they had learned was most important. Should we be speaking in tongues, giving charity, preaching, or making prophecy? What is the right way to practice our faith?

Paul's answer is powerful. He says simply: love one another. Come together in a spirit of love. Your practice, or your doctrine, these are not the things that ultimately matter. But your love does. It is a fleeting moment of liberalism for him. He goes on to tell the Corinthians that he wishes all of them would speak in tongues. But his earlier words are not lost. Faith, hope, and love abide; but the greatest of these is love.

Later Christians would broaden the liberal spirit that is present in the earliest Christianity and lay the groundwork for our Unitarian Universalism. And it would echo this message from Paul. There was one group in particular that embraced free association without compulsion of hierarchy of any kind. John Robinson was the minister of St. Andrews Church in England. But he was finding it difficult to tolerate the oppressive rulings made by both the Church of England and the magistrate. A church, he determined, should be composed of believers who gather out of free will. Coercion or compulsion, any outside authority, defeated the meaning of religious association.

In 1607 Robinson had his church taken from him. The powers that were did not take kindly to his little experiment in forming a free church. Finally, under threat of arrest and imprisonment, one hundred of the members left England for the Netherlands. Eventually they made their way to this country. They landed at Plymouth Rock.

They wanted to establish a religious community based on the principle of free association. They wanted to be free of the constraints of hierarchical authority of any kind, episcopal (institutional) or doctrinal. Their experiment in establishing a free church succeeded. Liberal people still gather in that first Pilgrim church. They call themselves Unitarian Universalists.

The principle that kept them together was not based on the notion that they were free as individuals to come to their own decisions concerning matters of faith. What brought them together and kept them together was a commitment to share the journey in love. To learn together, to grow together, to serve together. From those earliest years in England, they articulated a covenant which expressed this commitment. It was a statement about connection-not about individual freedom, but about the freedom to associate with one another responsibly.

Lately, certainly in the last century, the emphasis in our religious movement has shifted away from free association to individual freedom. This is not a terrible thing to emphasize, of course, but sometimes we are careless when we speak of individual freedom. Sometimes we speak of individual freedom without acknowledging responsibility to each other and our communities. If all that we wish to stand for is theological diversity then there is no reason to go to the trouble of building community.

Hosea Ballou, an early Universalist, said it this way: "If we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good." If we have a foundation of connection, if we share a covenant, we can survive as a free church. If this center, this binding promise, is missing, then we will enjoy our freedom for awhile, and then discover that we are standing alone. If we do not agree in love, we can do no good for ourselves or anyone else.

So what is it that holds us together? Are we on solid ground as a free church? Just last spring we adopted, as a congregation, a statement of mission and covenant. "We gather in safe and compassionate community, seeking our spiritual truths. We affirm our interdependence, celebrate our differences, and create a thoughtful and harmonious voice for liberal religion. Through the practice of the principles of our faith, we promote social, economic and environmental justice and continue our legacy of respect and acceptance. We covenant together in a spirit of love and freedom."

There are both mission and covenant elements in our statement. Our mission is the integrity of our faith. Believing as we do, this is what we intend to do in the world. Or, because these are our beliefs, this will be our practice. Our mission statement makes reference to our seven principles and envisions a world of justice, acceptance, and respect. "Through the practice of the principles of our faith, we promote social, economic and environmental justice and continue our legacy of respect and acceptance."

Our mission is to build a world where each person's inherent worth and dignity is affirmed. Where justice, equity and compassion are the guideposts for human relations. Where those who are poor, those who are sick, those who are different have what they need to live a meaningful life. Where human beings do not despise one another because of creed or race. Where we sustain the earth, as it sustains us. Where we and all people live in peace.

I'm proud that this is our mission. Such a mission inspires me in my life to be more than I am. To have hope. To be faithful. This mission also connects us with many other people of faith. Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims-in fact people in any of the world's major religious traditions might well embrace such a mission. Which is certainly reassuring when you think about it.

While our mission may be strikingly similar to that of many people of faith, the way we go about practicing our principles in community is what distinguishes us from most other religious traditions. And that is the covenant part of our mission/covenant statement. With John Robinson, the authority for us in religion does not come from a creed. It does not come from a bishop or a king. It does not even come from our own religious conversions (at least not exclusively). Our authority comes from each other. From the commitment we've made to walk together on a spiritual path. And from the promises we've made, explicit and implicit, about how we will live and walk together.

I find the first and last sentence of our statement to be the essence of our covenant: "We gather in safe and compassionate community, seeking our spiritual truths." And "We covenant together in a spirit of love and freedom." We promise to learn, grow, and serve together with respect for one another. We promise to be together in ways that affirm each other. We promise to participate in this community in a way that allows others full participation as well. And we promise to care about each other.

Earlier this week I was brought back to an understanding of how very important this is. I was talking with someone who has only recently discovered Unitarian Universalism. She was telling me what a struggle it has been for her to find a place to live her faith. As a liberal religious person and a lesbian, every time she would associate with a religious community she would end up spending a lot of her energy on finding a way to just be who she was. Many of us can remember the energy it takes to pretend or to speak out against things that oppress our spirits.

She told me that being in community that is safe, where she is affirmed makes it possible for her to get on with the things she really wants to do in religious community-she might have said get on with the mission of her faith.

As members of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, we covenant together in love and freedom. That is why I am here. Only in a free and loving community do I find the possibility of discovering the best that I can be, and the strength to bring the best that I can be to the work of living in faith.

"In the words of Starhawk:"
Community. Somewhere, there are people to whom we can speak with passion without having the words catch in our throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us, eyes will light up as we enter, voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power. Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of healing. A circle of friends. Someplace where we can be free.