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BY JOHN GIBB MILLSPAUGH, CLF MEMBER, MINISTER, TAPESTRY, A UU CONGREGATION IN MISSION VIEJO, CALIFORNIA
Unitarian Universalists are known for NOT talking about sin. We emphasize the good in human potential. We like it that way. We want a religion that focuses on human aspirations rather than human failings. We don't believe in original sin as much as we believe in original blessing. We believe that children are not born in sin, but born as limited, unrepeatable incarnations of Life itself.
But there are times we might envy the ready vocabulary other faiths have to discuss the human tendencies that can be destructive. Some human tendencies can be destructive in themselves, and sometimes positive human tendencies get out of whack—or get over-emphasized—and guide our lives disproportionately. Even good tendencies can become destructive when they are escalated out of proportion to other values. Sin is a handy term to describe those occurrences.
It's not just individual tendencies that can get disproportionately emphasized, but also institutional tendencies. We see it when corporations, which rightfully focus on making a profit, end up making that focus so exclusive that they neglect the human or environmental impact of their actions. We see this over-emphasis of a positive tendency when orthodox religions, in an attempt to provide people a clear path to the holy, end up condemning all other paths. And we see it in at least seven ways right here in Unitarian Universalism. We're not immune.
The philosophies and institutions that we cherish have their own particular ways in which they get out of whack. I love this religion, I love this movement, I love what we are about in this world and the way we work toward it. Still, I try to not close my eyes to our flaws. I can't speak to the whole movement, but I've seen Unitarian Universalism in about forty houses of worship in fourteen U.S. states. I believe I've seen certain trends, some negative and some positive, which for some reason get blown out of proportion in this faith, and in liberal religion generally. For purposes of this sermon, I'm calling these the Seven Deadly Sins of Unitarian Universalism.
Hear me loud and clear. This faith deserves to be celebrated. This faith deserves to be shouted about from the rooftops. But as you celebrate this faith and this community, as you shout from the rooftops, let there also be a whisper in your head, reminding you of the seven deadly sins to which Unitarian Universalism is prone. What are those seven deadly sins? Well, I'll give you a clue. You'll hear them in a WHISPER. The first so-called sin starts with a W. The next starts with an H. And so on.
The first trend I've noticed is Wanderlust. It's a beautiful thing about Unitarian Universalism that we are not tied to dogma, that we encourage spiritual exploration, that we draw insight and wisdom from many world religions. There is a power in this method not to be found in many more traditional religious paths.
Yet, this open-mindedness and perpetual seeking can lead to wanderlust: a very strong or irresistible impulse to keep moving. We might read this or that scripture, or practice this or that meditation technique for a while, but we are skittish about staying in one place for too long. Wanderlust blown out of proportion leads to valuing questions more than answers. So that's the "W" in "Whisper." W—Wanderlust.
The H is hypocrisy. Now, religion of any kind is particularly vulnerable to the charge of hypocrisy. Religion is in the business of establishing ideals and nudging us toward that horizon. Call the horizon enlightenment, for example. Or just name one portion of that horizon, one ideal toward which we walk—kindness, compassion, unconditional love. Religion helps us keep that horizon in our vision, and gives us the strength to walk in that direction. Sometimes religious people get accused of hypocrisy because they haven't yet reached the horizon. They are not yet perfectly kind or compassionate or filled with unconditional love. Well, that's not hypocrisy, that's just being human. Real hypocrisy, the kind that makes it to our list, happens when religious people glimpse part of that goal in the distance, and they say that they are walking toward it, and they might even think that they are walking toward it, but they really don't even try.
For example, we say that we encourage one another to spiritual growth. How actively do we try to do that? We say that we promote a world community of peace with justice. Are we truly committed to that process? I mean going beyond talking about it to putting a little bit of work toward that end. We call ourselves Unitarian Universalists, and we have a sense of what that stands for. But do we really do our part to walk toward that goal in the distance, and take the hands of others and help them on their way? Or do we stand in place? H—Hypocrisy.
I is intellectualism. There's nothing wrong with rationality, or with having a religion where some members are well educated, but I believe there is a problem with turning religious experience into an intellectual exercise. The map is not the territory, the menu is not the meal. If our religious lives are to flourish, we must not treat the religious life as an intellectual exercise. We must open our souls to the unknown, whether that is through meditation, or through doing social action work, or through prayer to a mysterious universe, or through discovering the divinity that is to be found when we gather in small groups. Religion is not only about talking, it is about experiencing, and that often requires going beyond the intellectualism.
I—Intellectualism.
In discussing the fourth tendency, I want to start by letting you know that there are a whole lot of people, in your town and in mine, who have not participated in a community of faith for some time. And they miss it. The individuals in that group are hungry for some unnamed something that is missing from their lives. Perhaps their children have begun to ask questions that they cannot answer without the answers sticking in their throats. Perhaps they went back to the religious homes of their childhood and found that they no longer belong there. Perhaps they have recently experienced a life tragedy. Consciously or unconsciously they are searching.
Just a few short years ago, you might have been in that group. Now you have a religious community. But there are others, still out there, still searching for what you have found in our religious tradition.
Imagine that later this week, you're at work, or at a party and you run into one of these people who is looking. You might not know that they are looking; they might not present themselves as if they are looking, but they are. They say to you, "Oh, you're a Unitarian Universalist. What's that?" How do you respond? Really, think about what your most likely response would be. Maybe you have tucked away a few thoughts for a moment such as this, and you share them. You talk about what Unitarian Universalism means to you. There are those who seek what we have here, and it is in our power to share it with them.
Unitarian Universalism saves lives, and I mean that literally. There are people right now who are alone and hungering for a place where they will be accepted for who they are. Not letting them in on the secret is a form of stinginess. W, H, I, S—Stingi#ness. It is so easy to take a few minutes to figure out what you are going to say the next time someone asks you what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist. You might quote Erica Alston, whose words appear in Articulating Your UU Faith by Jaco ten Hove and Barbara Wells ten Hove, and say, "It's a free-thinking liberal religion that is guided by shared values rather than a particular dogma or creed. This lets individuals claim their personal beliefs based on conscience and experience. At its core, Unitarian Universalism places an emphasis on the worth and value of every person and the interconnectedness of all things. UUs are encouraged to give life to their values, demonstrating compassion, respect, and justice, working together to make the world a better place to pass along to our children."
It would take three minutes to get that down, or a few minutes more to write something for yourself. Not taking the time to prepare ourselves to welcome other seekers into this faith, is, in a word, stingy. Let's review. W—Wanderlust, H—Hypo#crisy, I—Intellectualism, S—Stinginess.
Next is Pollyannaism. Using a word as awkward as Pollyannaism should count as a sin in itself, but it turns out that Pollyannaism is a real word, meaning blind optimism. You see this most often in our Unitarian Universalist view of human nature. The Universalists ejected hell and the devil from their theology in their earliest days here in America, and that was a good move. There is no such thing as the devil, I believe, and no such thing as hell. They do not exist. But there is such a thing as human evil. When I speak of human evil I speak of our capacity to stunt others' lives and our own. I speak of the murder of potential. We see human evil in ongoing pollution, in famines and expiring species, homophobia, factory farms, widespread gun violence, sweatshops, class and race prejudice. And more. So much more. I will only say that in our Pollyannaism, in our tendency to emphasize the good and the beautiful, we lose something. Our discussions of the ills of society somehow ring flat and shallow if we fail to engage the presence of evil that lurks underneath. We need to learn how to name human evil, how to talk about it. It's dangerous territory for discussion, for none of us can finally name what is good and what is evil. But evil pervades our world, and avoiding talking about it only leads to its perpetuation. Enough of this Pollyannaism. W, H, I, S, P—Pollyannaism.
Have you already guessed what E is? It's egotism. We have it as a movement. We honor wisdom from all the world's religious traditions, but we're sure glad that we're in this one. And that's okay. I've never heard any UU actually say it, but I sometimes get the sense that we think that everyone should want to be a Unitarian Universalist; at least, they would if they were enlightened enough. And that's pretty egotistical. W, H, I, S, P, E—Egotism.
Finally we get to R, Relevance. Or more accurately, lack of relevance. This faith community makes a wonderful difference in the lives of most of its members. These include the CLF's incarcerated members, who not only receive Quest but also gain pen pals and can learn about UUism through a correspondence course. Yet, aside from the CLF's impact on our own member's lives, how does our congregation make the world a better place? We're looking at how we can participate in the Green Sanctuary program, joining other UU churches in a commitment to the environment. But that seems like just a start. As we grow, let us ask: How can our geographically-dispersed group minister to the world? How can we stand with the oppressed, build a better world for our children? I'm not going to answer those questions. But in the coming years, we as a community will answer. We're answering already, beginning to discover our potential as a congregation in full. I'm excited to see our greater, future answer. W, H, I, S, P, E, R—Relevance.
So. Those are the seven trends in Unitarian Universalism that, in my view, tend to get out of whack. Unitarian Universalism's seven deadly sins: W—Wanderlust, H—Hypocrisy, I—Intellectualism, S—Stinginess, P—Pollyannaism, E—Egotism, R—Relevance. Whisper.
We are a good and blessed people, and this is a good and blessed faith. We can transcend intellectualism and wanderlust and claim the answers that we find as we search. We can move beyond egotism and hypocrisy, and step up our efforts to live this faith. We can see that the world is hurting, and determine to lead more relevant lives. From a stinginess that makes us clutch this faith tightly to our chest, we can move on to a generosity that allows us to share it with all who might benefit. In so doing, as we walk toward the horizon, the whisper becomes a song of joy. So may it be.
BY EMILY GAGE, MINISTER, UU CHURCH OF JOLIET, ILLINOIS
There are seven words that have given me hope lately, that have made my spirit rise, that have made me think that maybe spring is going to come after all. I know exactly what they are and exactly what they will sound like when I hear them. But I have to hear them first-hand to get the full effect. They are only available occasionally in March, and it only happens once each time.
Here are the words: "Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!"
It is these seven words, proclaimed joyfully by Pat Hughes, the play-by-play radio announcer of said baseball team, that mean the most to me of the entire broadcast. (Though I am also partial to: "Cubs win!")
When I hear those seven words for the first time each year, I have this feeling of great relief. Their message is, of course, about baseball. A game is coming. This is, in itself, a joy. (At least for me.)
But these words mean more than that at this time of year. They mean March, at long last, is over. Somewhere, the sun is shining. Eventually, we, too, in Northern Illinois, will have sunny days and baseball and springtime and flowers. And it will happen sooner than we think.
It happened that the first time I heard Pat Hughes's proclamation last year was on an unseasonably warm day in the greater Chicagoland area. All kinds of people were in their shorts, enjoying Lake Michigan . I was less extreme, leaving only my winter coat behind for a lighter one, going out for a stroll. As I walked along, soaking in the sunshine, I thought to myself, "Oh! It really isn't always going to be winter." This thought truly and thoroughly surprised me. You'd think it would be less a wonderful and startling realization after thirty-some years of springtimes. But there are always times when it seems winter will never end. There are always times when it seems that every day is gray, sometimes in the sky and sometimes in our minds and hearts. And then, suddenly, something happens and we remember that it won't always be like this.
Spring isn't quite here yet. The temperature is at least thirty degrees colder than it was that one glorious day. There are only rumors and a very rare sighting of snowdrops or possible future daffodils. Baseball is still in its training phases, and only in Arizona and Florida .
But I know spring is coming. I can hear it in Pat Hughes's voice: "Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!" Those seven words are a promise. They are a promise of new beginnings, of infinite possibility, of sunshine and warmth and the sheer and simple joy of being alive.
May such words and thoughts sustain us until the day that spring is finally here.
A universally accepted educational principle says that the ideal time to learn languages is while you are young. We might endlessly debate the best way to teach math, the surest method for conveying grammar, or the optimal way to engage students in science and art, but when it comes to languages, nearly everyone agrees that the sooner one starts, the better. There is an exception to this rule, however. There is one language which is so difficult to learn that we must mature before even making an attempt. And despite countless hours of drill, most adults fail to master it. We find it hard to be silent.
I had the requisite year of French in high school, three semesters of German in college, and in my travels I've temporarily grasped some useful phrases in Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. But I never struggled as mightily with these languages as I have with my newest subject. Silence is the most alien of tongues. The vocabulary couldn't be simpler and there are no rules of pronunciation, grammar, or tense to memorize, but silence is the hardest language to put into practice. Henry Adams claimed that he never labored so hard to learn a language as he did to hold his tongue.
For more than forty years I have argued, suggested, ranted, pontificated, protested, and lectured. These forms of speech have often served me well, but sometimes—too often—they have led to conflict, misunderstanding, and hurt. Gradually, I am learning that silence can be more effective. Holding my tongue is especially appropriate in response to angry words, impetuous insults, rash accusations, unintended slurs, disingenuous flattery, and painful stories. It is also powerful while on a long drive with a close friend, walking a familiar path with a lover, gardening on a summer morning with a daughter, or fishing a mountain stream with a son.
Like any language, silence can be misinterpreted and misused. An icy quiet can be a way of hurting those who long for our words. A wordless evening allows us to avoid a difficult subject. But some problems that appear so enormous that they demand immediate airing crumble to insignificance with the perspective of a few quiet hours. I have often wished that I had not rushed to speak but seldom regretted waiting in silence.
I greatly admire my multilingual friends, but in middle age I've largely abandoned the idea of mastering French or German. I like to think that while learning new languages might be a gift of youth, wordlessness could be a grace of maturity. Knowing how and when to be quiet is a demanding task. But with practice it may be possible to become fluent in silence.
From A Guest of the World by Jeffrey Lockwood, a 2006 UUA meditation manual, published by Skinner House and available from the UUA bookstore (www.uua.org/bookstore or 800-215-9076) or through the CLF Library (www.clfuu.org/library or 617-948-6150).
This class will begin by examining historic connections between Judaism, Islam, Unitarianism and Universalism. After establishing some background, we'll look at contemporary examples of Jewish and Muslim identities within Unitarian Universalism. We will also study and discuss intersections in theology and differing answers to similar questions from within these faith streams. Taught by ministerial intern Kelly Weisman Asprooth-Jackson, this course starts March 18th and runs eight weeks.
This class will begin by examining historic connections between Judaism, Islam, Unitarianism and Universalism. After establishing some background, we'll look at contemporary examples of Jewish and Muslim identities within Unitarian Universalism. We will also study and discuss intersections in theology and differing answers to similar questions from within these faith streams.
Taught by ministerial intern Kelly Weisman Asprooth-Jackson, this course starts March 18th and runs eight weeks.
This course is designed to help parents apply their own sense of ethics to their childrearing practices, and to help parents find ways to develop a sense of ethics and responsibility in their children. Taught by the Rev. Ken Reeves, a UU minister and clinical psychologist, the course begins April 1st and runs four weeks.
This course is designed to help parents apply their own sense of ethics to their childrearing practices, and to help parents find ways to develop a sense of ethics and responsibility in their children.
Taught by the Rev. Ken Reeves, a UU minister and clinical psychologist, the course begins April 1st and runs four weeks.
In a covenantal and democratic religion, being a member of a congregation takes intentional work. Through learning about UU history, theologies, polity, and governance we will deepen our understanding of Unitarian Universalism and what it means to be a congregational citizen. Taught by ministerial intern Mr. Barb Greve, this course begins April 1st and runs eight weeks.
In a covenantal and democratic religion, being a member of a congregation takes intentional work. Through learning about UU history, theologies, polity, and governance we will deepen our understanding of Unitarian Universalism and what it means to be a congregational citizen.
Taught by ministerial intern Mr. Barb Greve, this course begins April 1st and runs eight weeks.
We live amidst a lattice of overlapping identities: race, gender, class, dis/ability, religious heritage, age, sexual orientation, and more. Through journaling, reflection and written conversation, this class will invite you to deepen your consciousness about your relationship to systems of privilege and oppression. We will engage our creativity and our compassion—and strive to become better advocates and allies in the work of justice and liberation. The teacher for this course, Julia Watts Belser, is an author, activist, and anti-oppression educator with a passion for bringing together spirit and social justice. She is a graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry, and is now completing her final year of rabbinical school at the Academy of Jewish Religion, with a focus in feminist theology. The class runs four sessions, beginning April 16th.
We live amidst a lattice of overlapping identities: race, gender, class, dis/ability, religious heritage, age, sexual orientation, and more. Through journaling, reflection and written conversation, this class will invite you to deepen your consciousness about your relationship to systems of privilege and oppression. We will engage our creativity and our compassion—and strive to become better advocates and allies in the work of justice and liberation.
The teacher for this course, Julia Watts Belser, is an author, activist, and anti-oppression educator with a passion for bringing together spirit and social justice. She is a graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry, and is now completing her final year of rabbinical school at the Academy of Jewish Religion, with a focus in feminist theology. The class runs four sessions, beginning April 16th.
At the end of this month, the CLF's board of directors will appoint our delegates to the June 20-24 Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in Portland, Oregon. We hope these excerpts from the reports from a few of last summer's delegates will inspire you to apply. See www.uua.org/ga for general information or contact Lorraine Dennis at ldennis@clfuu.org or 617-948-6166 for information specific to the CLF.
GA in St. Louis was outstanding. Workshops, plenary sessions, worship, my covenant group and the experience of the meta beloved community will be with me a long time.
My last GA was in Indianapolis several years ago. There have been BIG changes. One presenter said that Unitarian Universalism has moved away from hyper-rationalism, and this GA definitely had a Universalist feel. Attending a workshop on spiritual direction and finding a table on UU mystics surprised and moved me. My covenant group was a delight, and provided me time to process in a small group. Folks from Indiana, Illinois, Washington, Michigan, and Missouri shared their experiences with this Wisconsinite. It was a moment of slowing down during a very packed agenda. The CLF worship service was very moving. For me, perhaps the most moving of the worship services I attended. The sermons brought things home—describing the creative tension of humanism and theism as harmonics in the UU tradition. The cantata based on the principles was so very beautiful, and Denny Davidoff and her adoring words about the CLF helped to validate that we are part of a very vital arm of the UU tradition. Other presenters/presentations that stand out: David Korten, Rebecca Parker, Michael Dowd, Jim Scott, the Green Sanctuary movement, watching the breakthrough congregations videos and the inter/national service projects in action. Mary Oliver's presence was absolutely inspiring. It was a banquet from start to finish. Serving as a delegate allowed me the opportunity to feel connected to the UU movement and working at the CLF table was an opportunity to connect with the great folks in Boston . Thanks for all of it.
My last GA was in Indianapolis several years ago. There have been BIG changes. One presenter said that Unitarian Universalism has moved away from hyper-rationalism, and this GA definitely had a Universalist feel. Attending a workshop on spiritual direction and finding a table on UU mystics surprised and moved me.
My covenant group was a delight, and provided me time to process in a small group. Folks from Indiana, Illinois, Washington, Michigan, and Missouri shared their experiences with this Wisconsinite. It was a moment of slowing down during a very packed agenda.
The CLF worship service was very moving. For me, perhaps the most moving of the worship services I attended. The sermons brought things home—describing the creative tension of humanism and theism as harmonics in the UU tradition.
The cantata based on the principles was so very beautiful, and Denny Davidoff and her adoring words about the CLF helped to validate that we are part of a very vital arm of the UU tradition.
Other presenters/presentations that stand out: David Korten, Rebecca Parker, Michael Dowd, Jim Scott, the Green Sanctuary movement, watching the breakthrough congregations videos and the inter/national service projects in action. Mary Oliver's presence was absolutely inspiring.
It was a banquet from start to finish.
Serving as a delegate allowed me the opportunity to feel connected to the UU movement and working at the CLF table was an opportunity to connect with the great folks in Boston .
Thanks for all of it.
I had a great time at General Assembly, especially covering the CLF booth. I met people from Puerto Rico, Canada and Germany who all needed our services. I also had the chance to visit with several small groups or friends of small groups—some I had met the previous day at the Small is Beautiful workshop. I also passed out a fair number of Church of the Younger Fellowship booklets, as many seemed interested in a method to retain our young adults after the bridging ceremony is over (which I attended at GA, also). I attended the UU University before GA and came away with many new ideas—especially on generosity versus scarcity. Our CLF ingathering was fun and our worship service was stupendous. The annual meeting was short and sweet. However, in the future, I think it would be a good idea for us to take a roll-call of delegates at both these events so we can tell who is there and put a face with the names. Maybe we could even make arrangements to sit together in the plenary sessions! I took part in a covenant group at GA, as I had not been in one before. It was everything I had hoped for. I am so glad the CLF offers these spiritually stimulating creations and hope more of you will become qualified as moderators so we can expand the program. The need is certainly there. Even though the venue was vast, I thought the worship services were all moving and spiritually rewarding. That was a major accomplishment of those planning and participating. Most slots had two or three things in them I just "had" to attend! Sunday came too quickly and I was happily exhausted, but satisfied. We left with a real sense of accomplishment. I hope to be able to represent the CLF as a delegate again in the future and imagine you all feel the same!
I had a great time at General Assembly, especially covering the CLF booth. I met people from Puerto Rico, Canada and Germany who all needed our services. I also had the chance to visit with several small groups or friends of small groups—some I had met the previous day at the Small is Beautiful workshop. I also passed out a fair number of Church of the Younger Fellowship booklets, as many seemed interested in a method to retain our young adults after the bridging ceremony is over (which I attended at GA, also).
I attended the UU University before GA and came away with many new ideas—especially on generosity versus scarcity.
Our CLF ingathering was fun and our worship service was stupendous. The annual meeting was short and sweet. However, in the future, I think it would be a good idea for us to take a roll-call of delegates at both these events so we can tell who is there and put a face with the names. Maybe we could even make arrangements to sit together in the plenary sessions!
I took part in a covenant group at GA, as I had not been in one before. It was everything I had hoped for. I am so glad the CLF offers these spiritually stimulating creations and hope more of you will become qualified as moderators so we can expand the program. The need is certainly there.
Even though the venue was vast, I thought the worship services were all moving and spiritually rewarding. That was a major accomplishment of those planning and participating.
Most slots had two or three things in them I just "had" to attend! Sunday came too quickly and I was happily exhausted, but satisfied.
We left with a real sense of accomplishment. I hope to be able to represent the CLF as a delegate again in the future and imagine you all feel the same!
After choir, the annual Church of the Larger Fellowship worship service took place in the same room. Other volunteers were starting to put brochures on the chairs, so I helped. That led to handing out programs as people wandered in, and it felt like a blessing to say, "Welcome!" to each one. It felt just like being back in Palo Alto at my old church. It felt like MY church, where I am comfortable and part of the infrastructure. "The singing? Oh, the musicians are practicing. Come in and listen and the service will start soon. This is CLF; you'll love it! We have wonderful sermons and terrific music. Don't miss it!" And it was all those things. We sang five or six songs, heard the premiere of two parts of a new cantata, nodded and "amened" to Revs. Jane and Rosemary. Jane hugged me, remembering me. Oh, that felt so good, so welcoming. As Jane said last year, wasn't it Just Like Church? Oooooooh, yeah.
After choir, the annual Church of the Larger Fellowship worship service took place in the same room. Other volunteers were starting to put brochures on the chairs, so I helped. That led to handing out programs as people wandered in, and it felt like a blessing to say, "Welcome!" to each one. It felt just like being back in Palo Alto at my old church. It felt like MY church, where I am comfortable and part of the infrastructure. "The singing? Oh, the musicians are practicing. Come in and listen and the service will start soon. This is CLF; you'll love it! We have wonderful sermons and terrific music. Don't miss it!" And it was all those things.
We sang five or six songs, heard the premiere of two parts of a new cantata, nodded and "amened" to Revs. Jane and Rosemary. Jane hugged me, remembering me. Oh, that felt so good, so welcoming. As Jane said last year, wasn't it Just Like Church? Oooooooh, yeah.
Read the rest of the GA blog that Louise Hornor wrote with Sean Walsh at infopubs.blogspot.com. And go to www.uua.org/ga/ga06/2077.html to experience the CLF worship service for yourself.
BY JANE RZEPKA, SENIOR MINISTER, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
I am eight years old, or maybe eleven, watching "The Price is Right" game show on TV. Probably I have the sniffles or something, and am home from school. I am an American child being enculturated, watching and learning how grown-ups behave. I take this show seriously.
What is expected of adults, I'm wondering? These grown-ups get to be on national television—what do they know about, care about? What do I need to learn?
Bill Cullen, the show's original host, invited contestants to "Come on down." And did they ever! They'd see a potential prize—a refrigerator or room-full of furniture—and the hopefuls tried to guess the retail price. Whoever came closest without going over won the prize. As I say, I somehow took this show seriously, even without knowing that "The Price is Right" would become the longest running TV game show in American television history.
The elementary questions I was asking, there with the sniffles, were questions that are answered in most cultures by religion. What are our fundamental values? What's the canon, the body of lore that we need to incorporate into our being in order to become fully functioning adults in our society? What does "getting it right" look like? Some children my age memorized verses of the Quran, learned the stories in the Christian scriptures, focused on the Five Books of Moses at yeshivas, were being introduced to the disciplines of Yoga. But I was watching "The Price is Right," memorizing the prices of washing machines and fur coats and dinette sets. I tried to learn to care about them, to want them. I practiced jumping up and down and squealing in case, if I were really on the show someday, I won the lawn mower, or the china place settings, service for eight. Not to mention the grand piano or the odd bonus prizes, a 16-foot Ferris wheel, 100 pounds of Swiss cheese, or even an actual elephant. The elephant would definitely require some screeches of delight.
But Sundays roll around, and in our family we always went to Sunday school at our local Unitarian Universalist fellowship. While "The Price is Right," or the stock market, or any number of consumer pastimes can become something like a religion, the Fellowship offered a corrective—another model for what grown-ups cared about, how I might behave, what I needed to know to grow up in my particular culture.
Neither the building nor the religion was particularly fancy. Both were functional though, and completely in line with a quote I found in my great-grandfather's book of Unitarian sermons: "I know that religion sends me out into the world with a stronger inclination to display a good will, a just, honest, helpful will than I should have without it. Such is the leading test." This was not the world that Bill Cullen lived in, nor later, Bob Barker. The Fellowship offered a world where adults just got together and tried to be better people. At least that's how it looked to me.
Peter Berger's The Sacred Canopy came out about then, in which he says that people sometimes forget how to behave. "They must, therefore, be reminded over and over again. Indeed, it may be argued that one of the oldest and most important prerequisites for the establishment of culture is the institution of such reminders."
I know now that there's more to religion than that. It's broader and deeper than a tap on the shoulder and a reminder about the Golden Rule. Yet I do need to be reminded to lead with the assumption of good will, to do everything I can to live simply and save the planet, to make a little space for gratitude and calm. It really helps to have this religion, this Unitarian Universalism, with its unabashed focus on lives here and now, its encouragement for grounding in goodness and health, its constant reminders that we have work to do in the world. It is not the only religion, it is not the perfect religion, but as the Rev. Minot Simons said just over 100 years ago in my old book, it's a religion that sends me out into the world with a stronger inclination to display a good will, a more just, honest, and helpful will than I would otherwise have.
I have not watched "The Price is Right" in many decades, though I know it's still on and—who knows—I might like it a lot. But I'm glad for religion's tug, reminding me always that in spite of the possible lure of dinette sets, Unitarian Universalism offers me more.
BY LYNN UNGAR, MINISTER FOR LIFESPAN LEARNING, CHURCH OF THE LARGER FELLOWSHIP
At the beginning of this issue, John Millspaugh writes about the "sins" of Unitarian Universalism. And one of the things he says is that UUs don't talk much about the idea of "sin." So I thought maybe I'd better. After all, if the kids have a handle on the subject, then you can explain it to the grownups.
Sin is one of the things that many non-UU churches talk about a lot. There is this idea in the Christian church called "original sin." In the Hebrew Bible (often called the Old Testament) there is a story about the first people, Adam and Eve, in which they disobey God by eating fruit that they weren't supposed to touch from a special tree. It's an interesting story, and we could talk some time about what it all might mean, but the point here is that some people say that because the original people messed up, everyone is born guilty. Which might seem kind of unfair to you. After all, if your grandma stole a car before you were born, it wouldn't really mean anything at all about you, would it?
Well, that's the attitude of Unitarian Universalists in general. We tend to think that babies are born OK—pretty great, in fact—and just need to be taught how to make good choices and care about others. However, it's also true that human beings make bad choices on a regular basis. In fact, the Greek word that the Christian Bible uses for sin comes from archery—the sport of shooting arrows at a target—and the word means "to miss the mark." Don't know about you, but I "miss the mark" all the time. Not that I do a lot of archery (although I was really terrible at it when I tried it in high school). But in the same way that you might try to shoot an arrow into the red dot in the middle of the target, but it lands in one of the outer rings, many times our choices aren't as good as they could have been.
You go to clean your room but get distracted by a toy you haven't seen in a while and the room stays a mess. You know fruit and cheese would be a better snack than cookies, but you snag the cookies anyway. You know that it's better to finish homework before playing, but you ignore the homework and run outside. Missing the mark. It happens to everyone, and for a lot of things it isn't really that big a deal. A room that stays messy for another day probably won't really hurt anyone, at least unless they break a leg tripping over a toy on the floor.
But sometimes our "off the target" choices really do cause problems. What if you were talking to Casey and you said something mean about Taryn because it sounded funny or cool. But then Taryn found out and told all your friends that you were mean and told lies. You could lose a lot of friends that way, and a lot of feelings could be hurt. Uh-oh. Not only did the arrow miss the bulls eye, it missed the target entirely and whacked into someone in the next field.
One of the things that can happen with these kinds of mistakes—these sins—is that you can make them worse by trying to wiggle out of being in trouble. In the Adam and Eve story, when they are confronted with having eaten the fruit that they shouldn't have touched, Adam says, "It's Eve's fault—she gave it to me!" And Eve says, "The serpent tricked me—he made me do it!" But blaming other people for your bad choices doesn't really get you anywhere. Believe me, it didn't work for Adam and Eve.
It turns out that an important piece of thinking about sin, and our human tendency to mess up, is that it gives you a chance to think about how you can try to fix things afterwards. Rather than trying to blame someone else or pretend it never happened or create a lie that might cover your mistake you can try this simple approach.
It is pretty much guaranteed that at some point in our lives we will all make choices that are unfair or unwise or unkind. But if we can admit our mistakes, apologize, and do our best to make things right, then we can act out of our Unitarian Universalist belief in the "worth and dignity" of every person—including ourselves.
Did You Know... that the month of March is full of important dates in Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist history?
March 1st, 1840—Plain Guide to Universalism was published by Thomas Whittemore, in hopes of persuading people in the U.S. to become Universalists. March 9th, 1854—American Unitarian Association president, Samuel Kirkland Lothrop, began work to establish the press that would eventually become the UUA's Beacon Press. March 17th, 1830—Irish Unitarian Association was established. March 18th, 1568—Prince John Sigismund of Transylvania issued the Act of Religious Freedom and Conscience, two years after the trinity had been denied by the Synod of Torda. March 28th, 1841—Dorothea Lynde Dix visited her first prison, which led to her becoming a leader in prison reform and rights for persons with mental illness. March 31st, 1889—Joseph H. Jordon was ordained by the Universalist General Convention, becoming the first African-American Universalist minister.
March 1st, 1840—Plain Guide to Universalism was published by Thomas Whittemore, in hopes of persuading people in the U.S. to become Universalists.
March 9th, 1854—American Unitarian Association president, Samuel Kirkland Lothrop, began work to establish the press that would eventually become the UUA's Beacon Press.
March 17th, 1830—Irish Unitarian Association was established.
March 18th, 1568—Prince John Sigismund of Transylvania issued the Act of Religious Freedom and Conscience, two years after the trinity had been denied by the Synod of Torda.
March 28th, 1841—Dorothea Lynde Dix visited her first prison, which led to her becoming a leader in prison reform and rights for persons with mental illness.
March 31st, 1889—Joseph H. Jordon was ordained by the Universalist General Convention, becoming the first African-American Universalist minister.
Assembled by CLF ministerial intern Mr. Barb Greve from This Day In Unitarian Universalist History by Frank Schulman, published by Skinner House Books and available from the UUA bookstore (www.uua.org/bookstore or 800-215-9076) or through the CLF Library (www.clfuu.org/library or 617-948-6150).
Last updated February 25, 2007
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