11.15.15
In my time here with you already, I have heard many stories of sticking with this church despite even disappointment or disagreement.
Barbara Handley told me the story of her mom, who stuck with her Unitarian church back in the 60’s even when she didn’t agree with the vote to join with the Universalists. Some of you have stuck with this church even when there were ministers here you weren’t crazy about, or even when you had to make your way through years with just part-time ministry – or no minister. Some of you have stuck with this church even after the change in a cherished tradition, such as when the lighting of candles for Joys and Sorrows was changed to the dropping of rocks. You’ve stayed even when you disagree with something that was preached from the pulpit or a decision made by the Board. Or you were hurt here somehow, but you forgave, and returned.
I believe these stories of disappointment and renewed commitment are possible because this is a covenantal church.
Covenant…
Our religious tradition of Unitarian Universalism is built not around a creed, but around a covenant. Each Sunday in this church, we say together the Affirmation printed in your Order of Service. At the end of this Affirmation, we say, “This we covenant with each other.”
And as many of you know, after service today there will be a congregational meeting, and one of the things on the agenda will be the vote whether to call me as your settled minister. Currently I am your hired minister, hired by the Board instead of called by the congregation. The difference is that instead of having an annual contract like a hired minister, a called minister is bound by covenant. We would pledge to walk together through the long-term, committed to one another through the ups and downs.
Covenant not only describes the relationship between a called minister and the congregation but also the congregation with itself, and with other Unitarian Universalist churches…
So, what does a covenant mean? If you say the word enough – covenant… covenant… – it starts to feel a little cultish! – like we are all about to agree to drink some kool-aid.
But the truth is that we all probably live by many covenants. We often have unspoken covenants in our families to stay in relationship even through differences, distance, or disagreement. Who here tolerates a lot of discomfort with a family member they wouldn’t tolerate with a friend because of the covenant of family? We are committed because we sense that even though families can be challenging, they bring us life (of course there are the exceptional situations when this isn’t true). For those who are married, you are likely bound by a covenant – vows you have taken.
You know that covenant requires commitment, and work, and includes promise-making, promise-breaking, forgiveness and reconciliation. A covenant means walking together in this process of being human.
Covenant can be a hard thing to talk about as Unitarian Universalists because of the strong history of individualism, not only within our country but also within our tradition.
The Unitarian Ralph Waldo Emerson, while he contributed many great things to our movement, also said, “Men descend to meet.” So, we should all probably just go home right now…! 🙂
Individualism did great things for us – it brought us the freedom to search on our own for our own truth, with our own reason, and our own experiences.
We have the Protestant Reformation to thank for that – they criticized the Church of England’s hierarchy, saying that access to the Sacred and to Truth does not have to come down through the hierarchy of archbishop to bishop to priest to lowly person in the pew. Quoting scripture, these reformers said, “The spirit bloweth where it listeth.”
Clearly, the changes that led us to an embrace of individualism are changes we can be proud of: freedom, democracy, reason, intuition, doubt… These values we now take almost for granted are the products of huge revolutions undertaken by our ancestors. These values have enabled us to critique oppressive institutions and create new systems of meaning…
But too often I think we rely too much on the value of individualism.
The Unitarian historian Conrad Wright says,
Most of us, attracted though we may be to these Emersonian concepts [of individualism], pay them lip service only…To judge by what we do, we believe that the religious life is nourished by companionship and is sustained, especially in time of trial, by institutional forms.
In fact, to be fair, the characterizations of Emerson as a staunch individualist are probably misunderstandings of his ideas. As Suzanne Meyer says, to Emerson, “being a free individual is only the first step and not the end-point. To be self-actualized, as Emerson saw it, was ultimately a communal vision.”
We should remember that even as our ancestors began to lift up the individual, they did not do so without a concept of covenant. They were upending all of the traditional religious authorities of the time: hierarchy, creed, and text… Their radical doctrine relocated that authority among themselves – in the lived spirit among covenanted members.
Churches were held together by their members’ entry into a covenant to walk faithfully together in the spirit of mutual love.
This way of organizing themselves came right out of their theology: God is love and can be discerned in community. They said – not the King or the bishop, but members of any church, gathered in heartfelt union with the holy spirit of love, can discern together where the spirit leads.
In fact, Unitarian Henry Whitney Bellows believed revelation doesn’t happen to individuals but only in the collective!
But figuring out what you stand for is easier if you don’t have people who disagree with you, right?
Yet how complete is that revelation when you are all alone? Do any of us dare say that we have the ultimate answer as to how to live in this beautiful, messy world? …and even if you do say you have the answer, can you live it – day to day, all on your own?
We need each other, and so we also need a covenant.
…Because we have a hard and important job in front of us:
As Unitarian Universalists we strive to create a big enough place in which all are welcome, and yet we still have to stand for something.
Ironically, I think the misconception about Unitarian Universalism that both attracts people to it, and repels people from it is the misconception that you can “believe anything” and be a Unitarian Universalist. And I bet those who are attracted by this idea probably don’t stay long if they can’t find anything with more depth than just the freedom to believe anything.
We talked about this question just this past Wednesday in our “New to UU” classes, where over a dozen of us have been gathering.
That question came up: “Can you believe anything here? Is literally everyone welcome?”
My answer was yes… in part. This is a church not about right belief but about right relationship – so the question is always: How is the relationship?
Everyone is welcome. But, as my colleague Rev. Aaron White says, the relationship might be uncomfortable if you come here with certain things… If you come as a fundamentalist of any tradition – the belief that your way is the only way. …If you come as a perfectionist to this inevitably imperfect human community. …Or if you only value comfort in this place that values diversity and encourages spiritual growth (with growth there is often discomfort!).
So it all comes down to relationship – covenant. Our seven Principles are really all about relationship: values that help us navigate the messy process of living in the world together and trying to stand for something.
We Unitarian Universalists have encountered places in our history where taking a stand has meant really testing that covenant – because in order to take a stand, there will be disagreement. This has happened in the context of abolition, civil rights, the humanist critique, the suffrage movement, women’s ordination, LGBTQ rights…
One of my heroes – Gini Courter, the previous Moderator of the Unitarian Universalist Association, told me once in a class on governance: Remember that democracy is tedious! Calls to “just speed things up” usually require leaving out those on the margins, which means the status quo will remain, and justice will not persevere.
Top-down decisions leave no room for that new thing – that revelation – that may emerge from the mystery of dedicated communities covenanting to search together for new ways forward.
The UU minister Victoria Safford reflected:
Someone said to me not long ago, “Covenant is a promise I keep to myself, about the kind of person I want to be, the kind of life I mean to have, together with other people, and with all other living things.” … A covenant is an aspiration to go deeper in relation to ourselves, to our best intention, to our God, and to each other.
When we covenant with one another, we commit ourselves to a process. As the poet Antonio Machado said,
“Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace el camino al andar.” (Traveler, there is no road. We make the road by walking.)
We represent an alternative to the religious fundamentalism that is tearing our world apart. Democracy can cure fundamentalism, but it seems our nation’s democracy is struggling.
So, the need is GREAT, indeed, for places where we learn how to work together to make a new way, valuing diversity, working for justice, building a beloved community.
Let this be a place we live out that covenant – our world needs people to show the way.
May it be so. Amen.
-Rev. Emily Wright-Magoon