Unitarian-Universalist Worship?

Responsive Reading - The Oversoul #531

Ingathering Hymn

Lighting of the Chalice

"May this light warm our hearts with love and caring and guide us in the ways of truth."

Gorsedd Prayer

Grant O' Spirit, Thy protection
And in protection, strength,
And in strength, understanding,
And in understanding, knowledge,
And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice,
And in the knowledge of justice, the love of it,
And in the love of it, the love of all existences,
And in the love of all existences,
The love of Spirit and all goodness.

—Iolo Morganwg, recast by Emma Restall Orr

Song of Exultation

From all that dwell below the skies
Let faith and hope with love arise;
Let beauty, truth and good be sung
Through every land, by every tongue.

—Isaac Watts; recast by Curtis W. Reese

Sermon

Unitarian Universalist Worship?

by David Miley

My co-worker laughed - when I told him that I had become your Unitarian-Universalist Worship Committee chairman. "Unitarians don't worship anything," he said. "I know," he said, "because I played French horn in a brass quartet at lot's of Unitarian churches in California and all they had were well meaning talks." Pointing out that we are a do-it-yourself religion made up of free thinkers only raised his amusement level. "Yeah sure," he said.

This interchange is not atypical. For a religion of a quarter million people, we get lots of attention. Garrison Keillor tweaks us more weeks than not, but at least he's an equal opportunity humorist. George Will described us as not being a "red meat" religion in a much less gentle way. So what distinguishes us from an ethical society? What makes us a church that worships instead of a service club that invites speakers?

We as a denomination are famous for holding questions above answers and talking about heaven over actually going there. We could even argue that worship is just a label for a place and time to meet to discuss important issues and then have coffee. Some would even argue that coffee is worship. In the past, some have argued, in all seriousness, that the only reason to come to the actual worship service, before coffee, was to hear the announcements. I'm not making this up. We are uncomfortable about worship, because it has always seemed tied to one particular group grinding one particular Deity's ax. Our order of service reflects the lowest common denominator, a bare bones Protestant model without God, prayers or praises.

Worship originally meant worthiness. It comes down to us as "Your Worship." It implies that the speaker is holding someone as being worthy, essentially making worthy. This translated into the more common verb usage as "to venerate a power held divine." Popes and bishops represent the authority of Jesus on Earth aptly becoming "their worships." Both relatively elaborate and somewhat austere rituals both demonstrate veneration. On the surface, U-U's don't seem to fit either definition.

Our Unitarian and Universalist forbears would have no problem with any of this. They had a clear view of the Christian God and knew Who they were venerating. Over time, Transcendentalists and then Humanists eroded this clarity. God, Christian or otherwise, was pretty much banished from our discourse. During my first tour as your worship committee chairman, a previous minister was actually wary of using the "G" word in our services for fear of the amount of flak he would take. A worship committee member left our church because we wouldn't include a time for prayer in our services. One Easter Sunday, there was actually no mention of the fact that it was Easter.

Recently there has been some change. Unitarian-Universalism, led primarily by our women ministers, have loosened up a bit. Our church services now include amens and God's and Goddesses and even occasional Blessed Be's. We have Easter services and Christmas services that mention Jesus. We've had a service on prayer. I've included a prayer in our service today. From outward signs we're looking more and more like a red meat religion. But, is this any more worship than the days when God was banished from our lexicon?

Well, I've posed a whole host of questions and if my colleague were right, we could just stop here, sing the final hymn and get on with coffee and signup sheets. I'll say now that he is not right and that I'm going to hold out for heaven on Earth and in our worship services. Let me repeat Emerson's opening words-

"There is a deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is accessible to us. Every moment when the individual feels invaded by it is memorable." This is my functional definition of worship. It goes beyond honorifics or ritual veneration. It is like the Society of Friends Inner Light, perhaps more inclusive.

The Rabbi's Gift, for me illustrates that Inner Light at work. As the story opens, the monk's had fallen into despair at the impending demise of their order. Note, they were not concerned about their own spiritual life, just the continuation of the institution that they had given their lives too. A Christian abbot going off to consult a rabbi has got to be considered an act of desperation.

That desperation turns to joy. The two men interact in worship and each sees their common humanity and spiritual presence. On this, the story turns. Without this connection, the rabbi could as easily have been a fortuneteller or a talking bird. The key then, is that the abbot returns with two gifts.

The first gift is the spiritual awakening that he and the rabbi are brothers in spirit. The second gift is the actual prophecy, which is the rabbi's recognition of the spiritual awakening of the abbot and the potential for spiritual awakening in everyone.

In explaining the prophecy to the monks, only part of the message are the words. The other part of the message is the presence of the abbot himself. The combined message begins its work on the life of the monks, opening each of them to their own divinity and the divinity of each other.

I remember a service many years ago, towards the end of our Welcoming Congregation process. Within this service was a time for Gay and Lesbian members of our congregation to witness to the persecutions they had suffered for just being themselves. Tale after sad tale was told. Then non-Gay, non-Lesbian folks began to describe the times in their lives when they were persecuted for who they were. Inner Lights slowly came on. Compassion for humanity and compassion for ourselves filled this sanctuary, and for awhile, there was no gay or straight, just us together.

At other times, we have had powerful witness from our ministers and lay presenters that carried the rest of us along. Anne Blackburn's lifetime of spiritual water stewardship, Larry Ingraham's pilgrimage to an AIDS hospital in Haiti, Liz Lerner's description of being overcome by the power of place on a Greek island - each of these moments invoked the power of spirit to touch and infuse us - to invade us and make us a little better than we were before.

I use the term witness deliberately here. These were not "well-meaning talks" as my colleague would put it, but actual testimonies to the power of the spirit moving through individuals and changing lives. We make ourselves worthy and worshipful by venerating the divine immanent in the world and in our own selves.

Today's prayer was written by an 18th century Unitarian preacher and Welsh nationalist and, alas, forger. It has been modified slightly by a 21st century druid. Her changes were simply to drop "God" and insert "Spirit" in His place. That action, in many ways, is what Unitarian-Universalists are learning to do now. We are getting beyond the forms of God-speak, beyond whether to use the "G" word or not use the "G" word. We are reaching toward a direct spirit that has the power to change us and everything else that it touches.

The flow of this prayer is also instructive and mirrors, in every respect, the development of our denomination. We began based in the Christian God and from the safety of that position understood, knew, and loved justice. U-U humanist leadership during the civil rights struggle was a beacon and an admonishment to the rest of religious America. . . .But then there was more. We grew again by adding the sixth source of Earth centered religions and the seventh principle of the interdependent web of all existences. Note the similarities between Morganwg's "love of all existences" and "the interdependent web of all existences." From there, in worship and in love, which is another name for worship, we reach towards Spirit - Spirit that is in each of us, in every tree and every blade of grass. Wherever we are on this path, whether learning, fighting for justice or reaching out to our world with love, we are moving toward this Spirit.

The witness of our path is the true Unitarian-Universalist worship. It transcends niceness and is beyond doing the right thing. Our worship, at it's best, connects us to our deepest spiritual Power and midwifes that Power's entrance into our heart, mind and soul. That love spreads out to our community and the world and makes change. This is what distinguishes us from an ethical society or service club. There is a Light at the end of our tunnel. Our worship services, at their best, connect us to that Light.

Closing Hymn - Spirit of Life #123

Benediction

May the world be filled with peace and light and love.
May the world be filled with peace and light and love.
May the world be filled with peace and light and love.

Extinguishing the Chalice

In Unison: Carry the flame of peace and love until we meet again.