“A SPARK OF THAT ANCIENT FLAME”

A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Bruce Clear

Sunday, September 10, 2006

All Souls Unitarian Church

Indianapolis, Indiana

Here is a strange story. I’ve probably told this to some of you in some context before, but it is worth telling in this context.

It takes place quite a few years ago when I was minister at my previous church. I was sitting alone in my office one day when I watched a car drive into the parking lot and out came two men, well dressed in coat and tie, with a briefcase. I greeted them at the door, and when I asked why they were there, they introduced themselves. They were, believe it or not, Jehovah’s Witness missionaries! And they came knocking at my church door!

For a moment I was stunned. It took a minute to let it sink in. What “chutzpa”! I thought. To come to the door of another church to proselytize their religion, it seemed to me, was about as shocking as I could imagine as a means of seeking converts.

I resisted expressing my feelings at first, and I’m glad I did. It turns out they had something else on their mind.

I should explain that my Unitarian Church then was called the “Michael Servetus Unitarian Fellowship.” It was named after a 16^th century theologian with unitarian ideas who was burned at the stake by John Calvin in Geneva in 1553. The sign in front of the church, of course, carried the name Michael Servetus.

My unexpected guests told me that their attention was drawn to the sign as they drove by. Then one of them reached into his briefcase and brought out of the latest copy of the Jehovah’s Witness magazine, the “Watchtower.” On the cover was a picture of Michael Servetus! It turns out that the Jehovah’s Witness theology is not Trinitarian, as I would have presumed, but rather “unitarian,” in the classical sense. There is, they believe, only one person in the Godhead, not three. So they, too, honored Michael Servetus.

This story turned out to be a good lesson in stereotyping that I’ve tried not to forget over the years. We had ourselves a good conversation that day, and I was impressed that they were not there to convert me – just to share what we seemed to have in common.

As Unitarian Universalists, we tend to feel a general distaste for the idea of proselytizing. In principle, we aspire to respect the right of each person to follow their own conscience in matters of religious belief, and there seems to us something at least disrespectful, or at most arrogant, in approaching people with the idea that they would be better off changing their beliefs to conform our own.

But then, our Unitarian Universalist tradition is not so much about belief as it is about values. What we bring to the world, and what we promote in the world, are deep-seated values coming out of an ancient tradition.

Today, we at All Souls, like thousands of Unitarians and Universalists throughout the country, gather to begin a new year for our church community. This opening Sunday of the new church year is an annual ritual in which we celebrate this community which expresses our religious values. After a summer which to some was relaxing, to others was stressful, and to most was too short, it is time to gather this morning as a reminder and a reaffirmation of the principles we share.

I have always looked at this Sunday, the first Sunday after Labor Day, sometimes called a AHomecoming@ Sunday, as a day to become reacquainted with, and to celebrate, Unitarian Universalist principles and values. But today, I suggest something just a bit more. Today I propose that we not only celebrate our values, but we dedicate ourselves to promoting these values in the world, and sharing our lives as Unitarians and Universalists beyond the walls of All Souls church. I do not suggest a crusade to convert others to our tradition, but I do believe in carrying our values into the world as a testament to the tradition we represent.

I believe there are certain principles that define us as distinctive from many other traditions. Those principles were identified a generation ago in a two volume history of Unitarianism by Earl Morse Wilbur. In over a thousand pages of history, Wilbur outlined the Unitarian story going back to the days of the early church two thousand years ago, reappearing in Reformation Europe, Enlightenment England, and Revolutionary United States. He recognized that though each period of Unitarianism expressed different theological belief formulas, all forms of Unitarianism shared a commitment to three fundamental values in religion. His lengthy history of Unitarianism begins and ends with the observation that these three values never wavered over an extensive time. Those values are freedom, reason, and tolerance.

As we gather again to begin another church year of the All Souls community, I invoke a line from the Roman poet Virgil who said, “I feel again a spark of that ancient flame.” The ancient flame that fuels this religious community is, in fact, that tradition of values – freedom, reason, and tolerance.

As we gather to welcome the new church year, we are here to celebrate those shared values. We celebrate them best in the way we work together as a community. As a religious community our lives are intertwined with each other – whether our children play together, whether we meet together on Boards and Committees, whether we disagree on what church priorities should be, whether we claim different theological positions, whether we live in different lifestyles, whether we listen to different music, vote for different candidates, hold different opinions about public policy, or have different ideas about life goals – in a deliberate community of covenant, we practice our values in an environment of respect. Here are some behaviors that are implicit in the values we affirm from ancient times:

Ø Religion is to be inclusive, tolerant, and open, rather than restrictive narrow and closed. It can be liberating when we don’t constrict it with required beliefs.

Ø All people deserve respect for their inherent worth and dignity, regardless of their circumstances in life, regardless of race, politics, gender, sexual orientation, or class. Yes, all people deserve respect for their inherent worth and dignity, regardless, even, of their religious opinions, for no one, not you and not me, has the corner on truth.

Ø Each one of us is ultimately responsible for our life journey, for our beliefs and faith. We cannot claim Bibles or church doctrine or science or anything as a final authority, for we ourselves must make our own choices.

Ø All beliefs and opinions, even about how the church is to be run, are subject to doubt and to discussion in the open forum of community conversation. No one has the ability to trump the opinion of another, whether the subject is religious belief or church policy.

Ø No one has the right to coerce another in matters of belief. Liberty of conscience is an essential quality of truly free religion.

We celebrate that our church is non-creedal. Rather than prescribe pre-ordained beliefs, we hope to honor each person’s personal quest for truth. What we share on our individual journeys are those values.

Former UUA President John Buerhens put it this way:

“At its very core, the important thing about religious living is not what we profess with our lips, but how we witness with our lives. . . . A non-creedal church. . . simply called to live in the deep questions. To keep faith with our (tradition), all we need to do is keep living in the big and enduring questions: What are we doing to demonstrate our faith in human unity and our love for the world?”

John Buehrens is right in describing our center as deeds rather than words, as values rather than beliefs. If there is anything that keeps me being a Unitarian Universalist, it is admiration for the values of individual Unitarian Universalists I encounter, seeing the difference they make in the world. When I see individuals in this church involved in community activities that make the world more open and accepting of others, when I see them resist acts of prejudice and judgment, when I see people respond to others with open minds and conscientious hearts, when I see them passionately concerned about a society with justice for all, a world with a healthy environment, and a community where children are respected and nurtured, when I see individuals with minds that question accepted answers and look for new ways of understanding the world, when I see people who use their minds as a gift and treasure rather than rely on rigid dogma for answers, then I know I am in the right religious tradition.

The way to promote our values, the way to Afeel again that spark of an ancient flame,” is by offering our values as an example of what our religion is about.

We are all anxious to see the completion of our building renovation project. Though we know that delay in any construction project is about as predictable as death and taxes, we are still excited to have it finished.

Over the last year – even over the last five or six years – I have been awed by watching so many people in this congregation committed to seeing the completion of our building renovation. Everyone here has given all they could of time or money to see that it is successful.

Especially over the summer, many on the Building Renovation Committee – and others beyond the Committee – have been here on an almost daily basis to oversee what needs to be done.

Those who have been part of this process, beginning with the original planning and including the capital fundraising campaign, and on through this construction time, show commitment to the religious community of All Souls. But I also know there is more to it than that. Commitment isn’t just to this congregation. It is more fundamentally to the values of this tradition, the “freedom, reason, and tolerance” of our history, the “ancient flame” of religious principles that sparks our story. We feel again the spark of that ancient flame.

On the opening Sunday of a new church year, we gather in celebration of the values that makes us a community. I suggest this morning that we not just celebrate, but we promote those values, feeling the spark of “that ancient flame” that fuels who we are as a religious community.

I will close with some words from Harvey Joyner, the Unitarian Universalist minister who supplied the reading earlier this morning.

AOur multi-faith church affords us the room for freedom of belief, respect of those different from ourselves, and opportunities to enact our responsibility toward others and our world. As we go about telling others of our unique message, let us remember that it is not our job to convert anybody. Our job is simply to be who we are. Our job is to shine our light as a beacon for those who are looking to share our path on the return trip home to healing and wholeness. Despite all the differences between us, we are called in our various ways to say and do basically the same thing, because we are motivated to bear witness, in word and action, to the same spirit of love that nurtures and empowers us.@