SERMONS

Why I Am UU

Rev. Mary Katherine Morn

Opening Words

By Sophia Lyon Fahs

By Robert T. Weston

Now blows the wind with soft, relaxing warmth. The sun beats down. The schools are out. Children swarm in the playgrounds and the streets, and eager city folk, vacation-bound, crowd the broad highways. The lakes and seashores lose their solitude and all the world seems turned to carnival. What of ourselves? There could be, now, deep peace, a time for soul-searching. We might turn to examine our own lives, to sort and probe our tendencies of thought, to sift the true from false in the things of doubt, the beautiful from ugliness unmarked. The sun beats down; it is a time for pause. Even the trees seem resting for a time as if to meditate and gather strength for the more strenuous times that lie ahead. And shall not we? Here’s the unfinished clay, half-molded, that still waits on us to think what we have been and as we are still yet have to become.

After having chosen to speak this morning on this question of "why I am a Unitarian Universalist," I paid more attention than I sometimes do to one of those generic, forwarded "read this" emails. This one promised a web site that would identify the religious affiliation appropriate for me. (Good to go on and make sure I should be a Unitarian Universalist–I guessed.) Then when I saw on the web site that this could be determined by my answers to a mere eight questions–I was hooked. It couldn’t hurt to see what it would say about my religious affiliation.

I liked that in addition to the multiple choice questions there was a place a I could rank the importance of my answer. So, on the questions I struggled a little to answer I could indicate that the question itself wasn’t all that important to me. And on others I could indicate a high importance to the issue. The last question even gave me the opportunity to indicate my position on some social issues that are very important to me. So I thought this just might work. I was a little nervous pushing the button that said, "select religion." Seemed like a lot of power to give to the world wide web…

But, rest assured–there it was–Unitarian Universalist. One hundred percent. Liberal Quaker was a close second with ninety-eight percent. It was reassuring. The list went on, down through liberal Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Ba’hai and so on to Mormon, Catholic, Jehovah’s Witness, with Conservative Christian occupying the very bottom slot.

Then, yesterday, I decided to look a little more closely at the test itself–so I went back to it. I hadn’t saved or printed my results, so I answered the questions again. I was a little alarmed to see that this time when I pushed "select religion" the top choice was liberal Quaker. (It was a little late in the week to change the title of my sermon.) In five days I had changed the answer to at least one of the questions! If that doesn’t indicate Unitarian Universalism as a preferred affiliation–I don’t know what would. And, at closer inspection I saw that my score for Unitarian Universalism was also 100%--they had just listed it second.

I suppose eighteen years ago, when I first discovered Unitarian Universalism, I might have chosen to be a liberal Quaker instead. (The test didn’t ask much at all about religious practice–and sitting in silent meditation does appeal to me.) But, now, after these eighteen years, virtually all of my adult life, I find that I am a steadfast, committed, life-long Unitarian Universalist. And I’d like to share a little with you about just why this is so.

I like the way Dick Blanton frames the question–he explains why he loves his church. I like that because it puts the right emphasis on the issue for me. This is not a casual affiliation. It isn’t merely an intellectual decision I’ve made. It’s not just the most practical route for me. In Dick’s words, this is my tribe. You are my people. I belong here. It’s a reality that has become far more than intellectual for me. I feel it in my bones. I know it in my heart. I am related to you in a special way. My relation to the rest of humanity is important–but you are my family. I chose to walk the religious path with you. Even when I disagree with you. Even when you are disappointed in me. Even when we do not bring our best selves to this work.

When I write that, I recognize that there is a sense in which my Unitarian Universalism is an embodied reality for me. So, let me take the body metaphor a little further and talk specifically about why I belong here. I’ll start where any self-respecting Unitarian Universalist would–with my head. (I am kidding here–while our image certainly remains one of severe rationalists, many of us would not start here. The importance many of us place on the intellectual aspects of religion certainly has historical basis. But, thankfully, we are not one-dimensional in this regard so much anymore. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.) As many have said before me, I cannot leave my ability to think at the door when I come to church. I am not willing to set aside the part of me that knows how to reason and reflect just because I’m practicing my religion.

I was delighted to learn, in seminary, that this places me in a long and wide tradition of religious people. My Christian history professor was Klaus Penzel. In one class he told us about the spiritual practice of German religious scholars. He got quite passionate as he spoke–I could tell he was speaking of his people, the place he belongs. He described the great tradition of scholarship as religious practice. These were religious people and scholars. He explained that for many of them the library was sacred, reading and writing holy acts. Scholarship–prayer.

Now, obviously, not all of us are interested in religious scholarship. But, learning and expanding our understanding are components of religious practice for most Unitarian Universalists I know. I am a Unitarian Universalist in part because my mind is engaged, challenged, and perhaps most of all welcomed here.

I am also a Unitarian Universalist because of my hands. I can remember my early impressions of Unitarian Universalism. One of the things that drew me in was my sense that within this faith tradition there is a serious commitment to translating our intellectual understandings to action in the world. I sensed a striving for integrity, consistency, faithfulness. I met people who spoke of concern for the environment. And I learned that they were out in the world trying to preserve the natural world. I met people who believed in civil rights for all people. They marched and wrote letters and practiced equity in their professional and personal lives. Then I learned about the part of this tribe that has gone before. About ministers and lay people in the nineteenth century who stood up for the abolition of slavery. About Unitarian Universalists who have led the way with religious freedom, the separation of church and state. About women and men who spent their lives struggling for the rights of women and gay and lesbian people.

I was not naÔve. I knew that all of us, Unitarian Universalists included, fall short of living our principles in every way. But I was drawn to the integrity and faithfulness that I felt was present. Not all of us will march, or write letters, or give speeches. But a commitment to contributing to a better world is something that Unitarian Universalists I know share with each other. I am a Unitarian Universalist in part because my hands are encouraged here to do the work of justice. The work of my hands is welcomed here. My hands and my head are drawn together here, in faithfulness and integrity.

Finally, I am also a Unitarian Universalist because of my heart. Like many others, of course, we sometimes resist the needs of our hearts. Sometimes we belittle emotion or passion–believing, perhaps, that they distract from the real things in our lives. More often, I think, we are afraid of these mysterious powers in our lives. We can’t control our feelings. We fear being driven by them. And it is pretty hard to speak of them.

What comes to me is that sense of you being my people. The powerful feeling when I look out at you and recognize that we share a bond of belonging. That you welcome me here–my heart and the rest of me. That you have made a commitment to walk with me, to journey with me, to laugh with me, to cry with me. And I have made the same commitment to you.

Last Sunday was a powerful day for me. I’d been away on vacation for a couple of weeks. I got back late Saturday night. I was tired on Sunday morning but I wanted to come hear Mary Louise’s sermon. The minute I got here I felt so warmed. It was so good to see you and be here with you. In a place I truly belong. With people who love me and whom I love. I don’t know why I find that here with you. I don’t really understand all of this heart stuff. But I am a Unitarian Universalist in part because I feel it and I passionately want that sense of belonging in my life.

It’s about my head, my hands, and my heart. But really it is not about any of these things, because it is always about all of these things. It is about the way I am able to bring these things together in my life. Religion, I’ve said recently, comes from the root that means to bind things together. I have always felt a strong religious impulse in my life. I want things to come together. I want, for myself, to live as a whole person. To engage all the parts of me in living. In this sense to live as fully as possible.

I also value the possibility of bringing people together. Religious community does that. I find that in Unitarian Universalism wonderfully diverse people are bound together in spirit. I love that. I also find that Unitarian Universalism offers me the vision of all people bound together in our humanity. All colors of people, all creeds, all ages, all people. People of different nations, people of different ability, people of different sexual orientation. I love this.

This Unitarian Universalism to which I belong challenges me to be as whole as I can as a person. To live as fully as possible. To engage in living with integrity. Wholeness. This Unitarian Universalism to which I belong also welcomes me. All of me. In this belonging I am nurtured. And in being nurtured it is possible for me to bring the best that I can to the practice of my religion.

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