Rev. Emily Wright-Magoon
May 27, 2018
SERMON
Audio:
Last Sunday was Pentecost, the Christian day that celebrates the Holy Spirit.
It’s a good time to reflect on what we Unitarian Universalists mean when we talk about Spirit – and of course, as good UUs, we may mean many different things! But there are some things we can say in general, especially as we look back at our history.
I invite you to transport yourself to the 1800s in New England. There was a change happening in the churches. Orthodox religious ideas were being questioned – and our religious ancestors were right there in the middle of it. It was not only the question of the Trinity that was being debated – remember Unitarians believed that there was no biblical basis for the Trinity: that God was One, not three.
But it was more than that, too:
Was God really a vengeful, exacting God, or was God a benevolent, loving presence? Were we all predestined even before we were born to be saved or damned? Or could we nurture our goodness and develop our character? Were humans depraved, born into sin; or were we basically good creations of God? And what about reason? The orthodox believed a literal reading of the Bible was all anyone needed for salvation, whereas these new religious liberals felt that the use of God-given reason must be paired with revelation.
The temperature in this conflict rised rapidly when Henry Ware, our religious ancestor, was elected to head Harvard, the primary training ground of New England ministers. It felt like a coup to the orthodox.
At that time, the word Unitarian was being slung around like a slur – meant to offend the recipient. But, as happens with so many slurs, ministers began to embrace it willingly, taking back its power. One of these was William Ellery Channing, de facto leader of the liberal ministers in Boston. After Henry Ware’s election to Harvard, Channing delivered the next big blow to orthodoxy.
He preached a sermon at an ordination service where he knew many other ministers would be – he titled it “Unitarian Christianity,” and it is probably the most important Unitarian sermon preached ever. It was an hour and a half long – (most sermons were pretty long back then!) and it persuasively argued all of the points religious liberals were making. From then on, Unitarians claimed the label with pride.
This is where I bring us back to our topic of the day: our theology of Spirit.
As the grounding text for Channing’s sermon, he used a passage from 1 Thessalonians 5:
So: let us use our reasoning minds and our discerning spirits to, yes, question and test the religious and ethical standards of our time – and reject every kind of evil – but let us not throw it all away: “Do not quench the Spirit… Hold on to what is good.”
A similar message was given 26 years later by another of our religious ancestors: Ralph Waldo Emerson.
You know how these days commencement speeches are a big deal? – given by celebrities and politicians and public intellectuals. Well, Emerson gave a pretty big commencement speech to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School.
Like William Ellery Channing had done 26 years before, Emerson shocked and/or delighted his listeners with his revolutionary ideas in this address. The first shock came at the beginning when he began not with a passage from the Bible, as was standard at that time, but with praise of nature.
He began: “In this refulgent summer, it has been a luxury to draw the breath of life. The grass grows, the buds burst, the meadow is spotted with fire and gold in the tint of flowers….” He continued this way for some time because his address was not only about the importance of reason and moral character, as we so often remember our Unitarian ancestors, but also about something we UUs are sometimes more hesitant to claim: Emerson emphasized the life of the spirit.((See: https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/15/emerson-divinity-school-address/)) Emerson was one of the first to talk about what we call spirituality. As you’ll see in a moment, he called it “the religious sentiment.”
First Emerson rooted his theology in truth – what he considered the ultimate moral beauty. He said:
“Speak the truth, and all nature and all spirits help you with unexpected furtherance.”
From this moral aspiration, he argued, springs what may be called the life of the spirit: ((Some of the commentary on Emerson’s address inspired by: https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/15/emerson-divinity-school-address/))
The perception of this law of laws awakens in the mind a sentiment which we call the religious sentiment, and which makes our highest happiness. Wonderful is its power to charm and to command. It is a mountain air. It is the embalmer of the world. It is myrrh and storax, and chlorine and rosemary. It makes the sky and the hills sublime, and the silent song of the stars is it. By it, is the universe made safe and habitable… This sentiment is divine and deifying. It is the beatitude of man. It makes him illimitable. Through it, the soul first knows itself.
You can see this Emersonian language in our very first Source of our Six Sources:
This is in fact a profound and distinctive theological statement. Theologians call theology about the Spirit pneumatology, and, as Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker says, this first source is our pneumatology.
We believe that spirit is directly experienced. We do not have to receive it through some priest or religious rite. It transcends any of us individuals and belongs to everyone. It is mystery and wonder – impossible to fully describe and beyond reason. It’s affirmed in all cultures, perhaps differently, but connecting all of us, requiring of us humility and curiosity. It’s what enables us to renew our own spirits, and keeps us open to that which creates and upholds life, so we can join in that creation.
My colleague Rev. Charlotte Arsenault speaks of two concrete ways we can see Spirit at work in our lives:
[A] way to view the Holy spirit is as that energy behind the transition from belief into action. Like the classic image on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel – when God’s hand reaches out to man’s and their fingers touch. It is creation, manifestation. When we live out our beliefs, when our brain makes the connection to our heart and our soul. It is intentional, but creation is never fully controlled.
We can also see the Holy Spirit facilitating moments of vulnerability….Most visible when we drop our guards, lower our walls, become childlike. When we apologize sincerely, when we love without hesitation, when we do good simply for the joy of doing good, when we dance, sing, or pray. In these moments we are said to be “led” by the holy spirit.
I wonder if even the atheists among us could be open to that idea of Spirit – not necessarily as something supernatural that we call upon for aid. But like Emerson said:
Who would not want that in our lives?
“Quench not the spirit …hold on to what is good.”
As free-thinking religious liberals, we do not have to throw it all away, keeping only reason and depriving ourselves of this life of the Spirit Emerson describes.
I think back to our religiously liberal ancestors in the 1800s, who resisted the orthodox beliefs of their time, but did so without quenching the spirit.
In our own time, often seemingly surrounded by religious voices that spurn reason, that feed off of fear and superstition, we can tend to respond by wanting to look nothing like them – no emotional displays, no room for anything transcendent. But we can hold on to reason and still give ourselves over to the life of the spirit. We can be curious about a mystery working in our lives and the world, even when we don’t fully understand it.
Even when we feel we might look silly, we can sing when the spirit says sing. We can dance when the spirit says dance. We can fight when the spirit says fight. We can rejoice when the spirit says rejoice.
May it be so in your spirits.
– Rev. Emily Wright-Magoon