Open House

A Sermon offered at the Unitarian Universalist Church

West Lafayette, IN 47906

By Rev. Hilary Landau Krivchenia

November 4, 2007

Reading

Reading from Reverend William Schulz

Unitarian Universalism affirms:

That Creation is too grand, complex, and mysterious to be captured in a narrow creed. That is why we cherish individual freedom of belief. At the same time our convictions lead us to other affirmations . . .

That the blessings of life are available to everyone, not just the Chosen or the Saved;

That Creation itself is Holy -- the earth and all its creatures, the stars in all their glory;

That the Sacred or Divine, the Precious and Profound, are made evident not in the miraculous or supernatural but in the simple and the everyday;

That human beings, joined in collaboration with the gifts of grace, are responsible for the planet and its future;

That every one of us is held in Creation's hand -- a part of the interdependent cosmic web -- and hence strangers need not be enemies;

That no one is saved until we All are saved, where All means the whole of Creation;

That the paradox of life is to love it all the more even though we ultimately lose it.

Sermon

On Route 65 between here and Indianapolis there’s a billboard that reads: Heaven or Hell – It’s your Choice.  Every time I pass that sign I get lost in thought for a while.  I want to share some of these thoughts with you today because this is a special say – a day of open house – and in a Unitarian Universalist Congregation the idea of welcome is a vitally important one.  And it begins with the choices that we make…

Heaven or Hell.  What’s the choice?  At a certain moment in your life like on a game show do you find yourself in front of two giant doors and the host – on this show sporting a glowing white suit – says, “ Alright contestant number 250 billion nine million, Two thousand, three hundred and one – it’s your choice.  Will it be door number 1 – which we’ll call heaven – it’s full of clouds!  Or will it be door number 2 – which we’ll call hell – and it’s full of brimstone!  The music plays and the audience yells “111” and “222!” and screams the possible benefits to be gained behind each door – and the host waits, smiling, for your final answer.

            According to some traditions the choice is different.  There are the elect – special folk already chosen who are walking around us simply waiting for the God who plays favorites to dispatch them to door number 1 and your choice is if you’re going to slump around worried or despairing about it or if you’re going to sit up straight, act according to convention, and say the right prayers like the elect should and just bide your time until your numbers up and you go – well – however it was already decided that you’ll go.

            According to other traditions the choice is closer to hand.  What do you believe?  You can fill in the blanks depending upon the particular tradition and the scripture they have chosen centuries ago.  “If you believe that this deity is the supreme and superior deity then you will receive admission to door number one at the end of your earthly sojourn and if you do not -- -- then it’s door number two for you.

            In other traditions it’s not belief but adhering to a set of religious practices that will matter – your score will be reckoned not on the content of your heart but on your outward acts of worship and support of the church, temple, mosque, grove… Your acts of worship will appease the deity and you’ll be awarded entry to door number 1. 

            For yet other traditions it’s a matter of character.  If you live ethically and nobly you’ll be deemed worthy of admission to door number one.  Generations of Unitarians stood in this category.  It wasn’t what a person believed that counted – in this or that God or no God – each person held the seeds of virtue and God would judge whether in action and thought those seeds had been cultivated.  Jesus was an exemplar and teacher of virtue in whose likeness each person can be shaped – otherwise – it’s door number two….

            On our doors today are signs that say welcome to All Souls – because our understanding of what shapes us and will shape our ultimate destiny has evolved over time into something of great worth and the world needs this message and the healing power that it brings.  And it is for all souls -- for the hearts and lives of all people.

            So I’m going to give you a little history and then we’ll return to the game show –which is played in earnest in our lives. Long ago with the advent of all of these various traditions, came other traditions.

            Early Universalists like Origen questioned just what the idea of door number two – hell said about the nature of God.  In the fifth century of the Common Era an Irish monk by the Roman name of Pelagius preached a doctrine of free will and of a God too good to have created original sin.  He couldn’t abide the notion of an immortal, all knowing yet infinitely punitive judge. And he believed in the human potential for goodness.

            It wasn’t until the 18^th century that people began proudly calling themselves Universalists.  It is to those people that we proudly trace our roots – for they created both a new freedom and new responsibility for humanity that has been profoundly refreshing. 

            A couple of years ago our congregation produced a play for young people of all ages telling the story of possibly the only Universalist miracle on record.  A Universalist minister named John Murray was on a ship in 1770 that ran aground in foul weather off the coast of New Jersey.  The unfortunate Murray had fled to America to give up preaching and begin a new life in the new world.  As the most dispensable hand on deck, Murray was sent ashore for help and provisions.  There he met Thomas Potter, a farmer who’d been visited by a vision telling him to build a church from which could be preached the gospel of Universalism.  The little church had stood with but the occasional Universalist coming through to fill its pulpit so Potter was fairly eager for Murray to preach.  Murray refused. That was no longer his work nor his calling. Potter asked persistently and finally they struck a bargain – if the wind did not shift for two weeks, Murray would preach.  Two weeks passed with no change in the wind and finally Murray preached in Potter’s church.  The wind changed the very next day and Potter sailed north, a preacher with a renewed sense of calling.  Murray’s Universalism was of the variety that held that all souls would be saved who affirmed belief in Jesus Christ.  No matter the sin – a sincere profession of faith was enough.  This Universalism was highly controversial in the land of the elect – and Murray was embroiled in many a rough debate.  In one he faced a minister named Bacon, fiercely opposed to the possibility of avoiding eternal punishment. Bacon’s followers were so riled up by the debate that they left and returned to pelt Murray with eggs.  Calmly he addressed the crowd telling them that never had he been so thoroughly treated to Bacon and eggs.

            Then along came a young man whose idea of Universalism was more expansive.  Hosea Ballou’s daring ideas and wit were evident in early life and his father – a traditional man forbade his reading Universalist and radical tracts in the house.  One day young Hosea was questioned about a suspicious book he’d stuffed into the woodpile.  “Was it,” his father asked, “one of those troublemaking books that raise questions?”  “Yes,” said Hosea.  “What’s it called” his father asked.  “The Bible.” Replied the young man.

            Ballou couldn’t believe that a loving God – and he did believe in a loving God – would create these mortal, flawed creatures – who’d certainly err and then punish them infinitely for finite mistakes. He came to believe that hell was a fiction made up by church men to scare people into better behavior or at least to a strong church subscription. Hell is surely terrifying.  I attended Hell house a few a years ago when it came to town.  I haven’t forgotten the coffin doors they forced us through or the heat and screaming in the Hell Room or the piteous people reaching up toward us crying out for help.  In the next room was Jesus bleeding on the cross.  Fear and guilt are powerful prods but not to Hosea – he was certain that humanity would be eager to please and to live up to the hopes of a loving God. A circuit preacher often out on horseback he met a Baptist preacher one day and they engaged in debate.  The story goes that the Baptist preacher said “Brother Ballou, if I were a Universalist and feared not the fires of hell, I could hit you over the head, steal your horse and saddle, and ride away, and I’d still go to heaven.” Ballou responded, “If you were a Universalist, the idea would never occur to you.”

Ballou believed that a God capable of creating humanity was capable of guiding that humanity through love.  As a late member of one of our Canadian churches said, “Love is a powerful force for good than fear.”  Ballou came to believe that all souls – no matter their belief or history would be reconciled by the grace and power of God – who would renew and reform their souls.  He said “love which is the spirit of the life of Jesus is not confined to particulars, to names, sects, denominations, people, or kingdoms.”

American Universalism became a theologically and socially progressive religious movement opposing slavery, affirming the rights of women, and speaking out for all those oppressed.  The sense of a loving God was an inspiration to being a loving people and that meant a deep inclusiveness.  The road wasn’t always smooth, but in 1863 the Universalists officially ordained the first woman minister: the Reverend Olympia Brown.

            In 1893 the World’s Parliament of Religions brought Universalism and Unitarianism into closer contact with one another.  It also challenged them both to an ever more universal view of religion – for in Chicago they dialogued with the just and loving of many nations and faiths.  Both movements were inspired by the promise of a universal spirit that could embrace without erasing differences -- every faith, nation, and person in an inclusive and redeeming love -- a Universalism as wide as the universe.

            As the First World War passed became clear that the scale of human suffering was so great that the notion of waiting for redemption in an afterlife seemed frivolous. Universalists began to question the contrast between the violence of war and the teaching of Jesus and to call for the kingdom of heaven now on this earth.  The Humanist Manifesto was written in 1933 calling for humanity to walk toward justice for its own sake.  Clinton Lee Scott was the only Universalist minister to sign the declaration but his signing had an impact broadly on Universalism.  The real challenges were the human challenges to preserve life, to honor the world and all creatures that here dwell, how to cultivate love and hope in a world gone awry.  Universalism had grown into the modern era with a sense that theological positions were preventing humanity from creating the world that would be truly saving – a world given as a garden and sorely in need of healing and of love.   Whatever any God might do about eternal suffering – humans were called to alleviate suffering, to seek eternal life – not in the hereafter – but by nourishing life in the present so that it may flourish in the future.

            Our challenge only deepened through the 20^th century as we faced the holocaust and the deeper call for an enlightened humanity – beyond sect, nation, doctrine – a universal humanity.  The same questions and challenges faced Unitarians – and in 1961 the two groups merged and a larger faith was created. 

            For this larger faith the question of which door to choose has radically changed.  Here the choice is different in many ways – we believe that there are no elect – no chosen people. Because we are all here we are all chosen by life. Here it’s not matter of belief – you may wrestle out your own beliefs.  No one has captured the fullness of the truth.  Salvation doesn’t depend upon a set of beliefs in one deity or another or upon a belief in any deity at all.  Here – though we gather in hopeful celebration – it is not a matter of performing ritual acts.  And, while we believe that character and ethics are critical we believe in the inherent worth of all persons and would hold with no god small enough to micromanage fate.  And more – it is not your character and action alone that matter – all our fates are linked and our suffering and relief are connected – as the Reverend Buehrens said – no one is saved until all are saved. 

            And we choose the good – not out of fear of punishment nor for hope of reward – but for it’s own sake – thus we often joke that we are good for mothing – but really – we aspire to be good for all things and for all that is. We stand with three doors before us and the third simply more fully into this life and the healing, saving work of this world – the universe in which we all live and upon which we are entirely dependent and which it turns out – is entirely dependent upon ourselves.

            Remember the story of the good man who’s promised a preview of heaven and hell and finds himself with his guide standing before two houses.  They go into the first and the people are seated around a table with bowls of soup but for utensils they have spoons with such phenomenally long handles they can’t get the food to their mouths.  They’re in an agony of hunger and frustration.  The man asks “that’s hell?”  The guide answers –“oh yes!”  Then they enter the second house and are met by nearly the same scene: a full feast and diners with impossibly long spoons.  But here the people are happy and satisfied – they’ve discovered that with the long spoons they can eat if they just reach across and feed one another.  Leaving the two houses it’s clear that heaven occurs when self-interest is nudged aside by love, imagination, and generosity -- when it’s not your own salvation you care about but the nourishment and care of all that lives.

Universalist Henry Ledyard said: “The mission of our church has been a double one, first to contravert the one-time prevalent idea of an endless hell. But the second and more important one awaits fulfillment . . . a fight which shall continue until the real, actual hells, before our very eyes, are destroyed.” Well – Amen brother!

            There are tragedies and natural disasters, but on balance it’s humans that choose door number one or door number two – not for the future but in the present – it’s humans who’ve created not only the idea of hell – but hell itself – here, now.  It’s humanity that also creates heaven.  I went to yesterday to pick up a couple of signs for the church and the young man who gave me my signs said in a warm voice – does Citizens for Civil Rights still meet there?  I said – yes, they do – and he answered “I have friends in that group and that’s really important work that you do.” I felt a surge of joy – that group has been meeting in our building for many years.  This congregation has made it a priority to serve justice and offer comfort and strength to many people over its years. 

The Talking Heads have a song called Heaven and they sing:  “Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens. Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.” But I realized in that interchange at the store of signs and in so many places – that heaven is not a distant pale place where everything works perfectly and nothing ever happens – but that heaven is a place where we are thriving in our humanity and so many things happen – that bring joy and bring healing into the world.  This is the new promised land – promised in every religious tradition – with different descriptions – but underneath each one is the promise that the new land is right here – within our hands, within our power – our power to create each moment.  Heaven was a door to pass into to help people imagine its beauty and work to create it now – that was what Jesus meant – it was what the Buddha hoped to introduce with his teaching.  In contemporary Unitarian Universalism heaven is not a place you wait for – a door you enter and magically you’re back in Eden – Heaven is a life project of choices and actions.  Heaven is an aspiration for the present – east of Eden.

Heaven happens when we host CCR, work on relief for Darfur, raise awareness about child abuse, about the Middle East, raise money and gather toys for LUM Jubilee, or things for the women’s shelter, bring a friend a casserole, visit them in the hospital, remind them that they’re loved.  Heaven happened when a group of people came here on Wednesday and created new order and beauty and Saturday when people came and gave time.  Heaven happens every time we make it happen – every time we practice it.  In small ways and large.

As a kid I studied piano in large music building and I’d go in once a week to take my lesson in a room with two side by side pianos. My teacher and I would play and practice together while all around us people of all ages were in different rooms with diverse instruments doing the same thing – learning – practicing.

Our virtue – our virtuosity depends not on our being perfect but on diligent and heartfelt practice that we share with other people.   In Unitarian Universalist Churches at our best we know that every person we greet is a new partner with whom to practice, a new teacher, and a new world – another person aspiring to something of worth – joy, hope in the present, wisdom, healing, strength, and connection – just like ourselves and yet unique.  At our best we enter our encounters hoping, ourselves, to learn, to grow, to offer healing, to find peace, and to share joy. At our best we watch ourselves as a loving parent would watch – in hopes that the seeds of goodness and love are nourished and encouraged to grow.  Some Unitarian Universalist Churches are called All Souls – and I think of this especially around all Saints day – because we’re not a faith of saints but of human souls and all lives.  The heart of Unitarian Universalism is this – that it is ever growing as the larger faith – that recognizes that we can walk away from the game show and make more lasting, important choices than those that simply benefit ourselves in a hoped for future – choices that create wonders in the hoped for present.  As the larger faith we know that there are many doors but that – ultimately they all open onto the very scene we are facing now – this world, our lives, one another, and the challenge of our times.  So the door we choose is the one that can unite us, that’s truly universal – that creates a salvation we can feel in the present and know will endure for the future a Unitarian Universalist door that opens – not onto our small congregation – but onto the congregation of all souls.  In a saving welcome as wide as the world.