THE FUTURE OF OUR FAITH
Northwest UU Congregation
The Rev. Morris W. Hudgins
October 10, 2010
Introduction
I completely understand David’s and Keith’s emotion after attending a General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. I remember my first General Assembly. It was over 35 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday. It took place in Boston, MA. I was the minister of a UU church with about 100 members. When the General Assembly is in Boston it can have as many as 10,000 UUs in one place because there are so many UUs in Boston, the birthplace of American Unitarianism. More recently when the General Assembly was in Boston, we met in the Fleet Center for Sunday Worship. The room was packed. There were probably 200 young people in the Center. They started the Wave. It is probably the first and last time over 5000 UUs did a Wave.
My first General Assembly in Boston also gave me the opportunity to hear Unitarian and Universalist historians. Conrad Wright, Professor Emeritus of Harvard University was lecturing at 8 a.m. in the morning at Boston University, and I was there along with hundreds of others to hear the foremost expert on American Unitarianism. Almost a decade later I would write a dissertation on our history and theology, and I had to make a special trip to Boston to talk with Dr. Wright. He was the inspiration behind my work.
Just as exciting are the Plenary Sessions where the business of the Association takes place. My favorite is the discussion of the resolutions of Immediate Witness. This is when we discuss resolutions about the pressing social issues of the day. The meetings are conducted by the Moderator of the UUA. The first Moderator I experienced was Joe Fisher, a Congressman from California. I said it is not possible to follow Joe. The next moderator was even more impressive, and each one following. Today Gini Courter is the Moderator.
These days, it is done with civility. This was not always the case. I have heard stories about General Assemblies in the 1960’s when there were walkouts and protests. Those were the days. During this period we were challenged by the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement. We like to say is that we were involved in the anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement. Many but not all were.
When I joined the Association in 1973 I heard stories about UU ministers who were criticized by their congregations for going to Selma to support Martin Luther King, Jr. We had over 200 ministers who joined Martin, but others were reluctant to go, especially if they were not supported by their church leadership. You probably know that two Unitarians were killed in that march—James Reeb a UU minister from Boston and Viola Liuzzo, a layperson from Detroit. Many Unitarian Universalists have risked their lives for their faith.
Your may have heard that Sandy Springs has requested and has received the okay to be exempt from the requirements of the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. Last week Karen Reagle discussed this in the Second Hour program. Karen feels passionately about this issue. The fact is the Voting Rights Act was passed immediately after the death of Unitarian minister James Reeb.
There is a sadness about this fact. The Act should have been passed earlier, but it took the death of a white man to move congress to take this action. It made a difference. The question we all need to ask: Do we want to go back to a time when part of our population is disenfranchised? What are the motivations behind the city of Sandy Springs? Will this spread and will other municipalities request the same exemptions. I have recommended to the Executive Committee that they appoint a Task Force to study this issue and make recommendations. Our church needs to stand on the side of love, and encourage our cities and state to be concerned about all of our population. The issue that is most pressing is compassion toward all people, especially minorities in our midst.
One thing I would like to remind you is that our Association has been on the progressive end of the political spectrum. This shows at General Assembly. This has not always been the case. In the 19th century many Unitarians and Universalists were slaveholders. So the abolitionist movement was a minority in our two Associations. Then later we were challenged by the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Many women and clergy in our movement were very supportive of Women’s Suffrage. But not all. Like in the Civil War, households were sometimes divided.
In another sermon I will talk about the Iowa Sisterhood, a group of mostly Unitarian female ministers in the Midwest. These women were not supported by the Association. Most got out of the ministry and went into other reform movements at the end of the 19th century. It was almost 100 years later that we supported women in the ministry in great numbers. Today women are a majority in our movement. I don’t know of another religious group that can say this. I am proud of this progress of the last 50 years. I am also ashamed of the treatment by the Association of women in the 19th century.
I am proud of the minority who supported the abolitionists, the Underground Railroad, progress in the treatment of victims of war, mental patients, and prisoners. Unitarians and Universalists like Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton were at the forefront of these efforts. I will talk about these movements when I teach UU History later this year.
I am also proud of Beacon Press the publishing house of our Association that published the Pentagon Papers gathered by Daniel Ellsberg, after larger publishing houses and newspapers refused to publish them. We should all be proud of this.
Unitarian Universalists have a proud history of reform. It goes back to the Reformation when Unitarians and later Universalists risked their lives for religious tolerance, the emphasis of reason in religion, freedom of religion, the Unity of God (Unitarianism) and the potential for all human beings to be saved (Universalism)
I hope you all will consider going to Charlotte next summer—the third week in June. It will give you a feeling of our larger movement. You will realize that we have a long history that goes back over 450 years in Europe—Poland, Transylvania, Holland, England and America. You will also learn that there are Unitarian Universalists in Africa, India, the Philippines, South America, as well as in Europe. Representatives of these countries are often greeted by the Moderator of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Last summer some youth from Transylvania were welcomed by the Moderator, then later they were hosted by the young people here at Northwest. I was able to join them for a trip to the Aquarium here in Atlanta.
Another thing that happens at the General Assembly are workshops to help churches in specific areas. Search Committees can hear about the Search Process. Finance Chairs, Treasurers and Fundraisers can learn about how to raise and oversee funds in a church. Membership Chairs can learn about how to attract, assimilate and keep members. Social Justice advocates can join together with hundreds of others who have similar concerns. Environmentalists can discuss the Interdependent Web and how we can take care of our vulnerable resources. Presidents and future Presidents of congregations can meet with other Presidents to discuss their successes as well as their trials and tribulations.
The most important thing for me is to meet with my colleagues who I get to see only once a year. All of us can hear attend public worship services to hear some of our greatest preachers. The Ware Lecture is also open to the public. This is the lecture series that has featured Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, May Sarton, Eliot Richardson, Holly Near, and many others. If you go to the General Assembly you will not want to miss the Ware Lecture.
Obviously, the issue that is at the forefront of most UUs today is that of Immigration. As David told you, this was an important issue that faced the General Assembly in Minneapolis because we had committed ourselves to go to Arizona in 2012. The Board was recommending that we boycott and lose hundreds of thousands of dollars deposited for that Assembly. I am so glad we are going. I look forward to joining thousands of UUs in Arizona to support the immigrants who are now part of our country.
What some people seem to forget is that America is a land of immigrants. Our forefathers and mothers came to America, the land of opportunity, and are now part of the fabric of America. We are a land of many ethnicities and religions. It is time we stand up for tolerance, opportunity and freedom for all.
There is another ugly side of America, intolerance toward people who are different, prejudice toward minorities, anger at all Muslims because radical Muslims hijacked their faith to commit violence toward others on 9/11. We should not blame all Muslims for the actions of a few. Members of this church have reached out to the Muslim community. I want to support them. I hope you will do so as well.
Next summer I plan to teach a workshop with a Jewish attorney in Washington, D.C., who leads a workshop every year at the Southeast UU Summer Institute on Spinoza. He is a Spinoza scholar and also supportive of the movement to bring Israelis and Palestinians together. He believes that Unitarian Universalists have a unique opportunity to help with this effort, because we have respect in both the Israeli and Muslim communities.
When I look at our faith, and the biggest challenge of the coming years, it is this. I hope UUs all across this land will reach out to the Muslim communities, to understand their religion and make sure they feel supported by a nation that believes in tolerance, freedom and reason in religion.
It seems that radicals on both sides get all the attention. Unitarian Universalists are mostly moderates who welcome all to our churches and reach out to others seeking justice. This is the religion of our past, and I hope the future of our faith.
Another part of our faith that you will see at our General Assembly is that we are a broad faith. We have UU Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Pagans, as well as UU Christians. Historically we came from our Judeo-Christian heritage. UU Christians are very active in our movement. I remember when there was an attempt in the 1970’s to remove the word God from our Purposes and Principles. The UU Christians, mostly from New England, objected. You will notice in our Purposes and Principles that our tradition draws from many sources, including the wisdom of the world religions, humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, the spiritual teaching of the Earth-centered traditions, but also the Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves. As a Unitarian Universalist I hope the future of our faith always affirms our Judeo-Christian roots, which go back to the Reformation. We are movement that affirms continued reform, but we must remember our past as well.
The Green Sanctuary Movement is one of the most active parts of our movement. This will be evident at the General Assembly in Charlotte. Since the 1980’s when we added the Interdependent Web to our Purposes and Principles, we have been at the forefront of this movement. I am glad to see what is happening here at Northwest. I have been in eight UU congregations; three of them have applied to be a Green Sanctuary. Your committee is the most active of all of them. I plan to encourage and support them while I am here.
If you go to General Assemblies of the UUA you will notice that we are also an Association “standing on the side of love.” In the 1980’s we also began welcoming gay, lesbian and transgender persons into our ministry and into our churches. This is quite evident at our General Assemblies. I entered the UU ministry in 1973, and there were few openly gays and lesbians. Since that time things have changed dramatically. I have a feeling over 20% of our ministers are openly gay. Jeremiah Gold-Hopton would probably tell you that we have a ways to go to completely welcome transgender persons into our ministry, but we do profess to do so. Many of my colleagues who were in the closet in the ‘70’s have been open about their sexuality and have changed the attitudes of many of their parishioners. I am proud to be a part of a movement that has done so. The future of our faith depends on all of us to overcome our prejudices and stereotypes.
Finally, if you go to General Assembly you must attend the Service of the Living Tradition. This is the service that welcomes new ministers into our ministry, gives them final Fellowship after they have proven themselves in the active ministry, then acknowledges their retirement and memorializes them when they leave this world. I plan to retire from full time ministry after I finish my interim ministry here at Northwest. It could be next summer in Charlotte or if you ask me to serve a second year, the following year in Phoenix, my retirement will be acknowledged. I expect all of you to be there. As someone told me a few years ago, “Morris, I have a feeling you will never retire.” No, I do plan to retire from full time ministry, but they are probably right. Ministry is part of my blood now. I will always be active in a UU congregation, and I will join my colleagues in ministry wherever they are.
I hope all of you will consider opening yourself to our larger movement, witness the liberal faith of the future, and support it as we welcome all people into our church, stand on the side of love, support immigrants, defend civil rights for all, reach out to other communities of faith, and protect the earth, it is our home. Thank you.