Note: The live recording of this sermon can be found here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/peoplesobold/episodes/GA-Annual-Meetings—Anniversary-Service–part-3-e2ib6fp/a-ab5oavi (scroll down a little and click on Part 3 to listen)
“Stand by this faith. Work for it and sacrifice for it. There is nothing in all the world so important as to be loyal to this faith which has placed before us the loftiest ideals, which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble duty and made the world beautiful….” – so wrote Universalist Minister Olympia Brown back in 1920.
My beloved Unitarian community: it’s a great privilege to have this opportunity to share what’s in my heart this evening. What I have to say tonight I offer with love for our movement and for our people, although I pray that, if ever I had the capacity to inspire some, and cause discomfort in others, that those gifts return to me tonight in equal measure!
Can you remember the very moment when you were able to say to yourself: ‘I AM a Unitarian’ and you made a commitment of whatever sort to our faith?
I can…..
I committed myself to Unitarianism around the same time as the film Moulin Rouge came out. Unitarianism and I had been dating for a while and flirting, but there came a moment when we entered into a committed relationship. I somehow knew back then I was entering into a lifelong commitment – and, although there have been some ups and downs (as there are in any relationship). Unitarianism and I are still together and still very much in love after all these years. And when I say ‘Unitarianism’ – I mean our faith, our communities, and our people. I love US, “for better for worse, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health”. (And there HAS been more better than worse!)
In the film Moulin Rouge, the young idealist writer named Christian is also searching for true love. In fact, nothing less than true love will do for him. He meets the performer Satine, and falls instantly in love with her. Yet despite seeming so vibrant and full of life, Satine is already dying.
When I joined Unitarianism I found this amazing, affirming, transforming faith. I’d been bruised by previous religious experiences, yet I still craved a space to contend with life’s big questions, a way to connect with my spirituality, and a community with which to do that. Within our Unitarian faith I found a way of being religious and a community to share the journey with. It was the thing my soul had been searching for and, in a very real way, it saved me. Maybe it did the same for you.
I went to my first GA Annual Meetings and was awestruck by the vibrancy: the number of congregations, societies, panels and commissions (as we then had). It seemed amazing to me. I was inspired. I caught the vision, and I was happy to commit myself to this faith of ours.
But like Christian in the film Moulin Rouge who finds true love, I then got a shock…..
I began to hear whispers: “It’s dying…. We’re dying”…. And the whispers would not go away.
Like most people who receive bad news, I went into denial. How could something which appeared so vibrant possibly be dying? Particularly as what we offer is the very thing so much of the world is crying out for. It seemed cruel: I had found just what I had been searching for, only to be told it was in terminal decline.
So I just didn’t believe it.
Yet the quota numbers continued to fall and even I couldn’t ignore the number of congregations closing down.
Could it possibly be true? Had I found the spiritual love of my life only to have to watch it endure a slow and painful death?
In the film, Christian and Satine make the most of their time together and reflect that they will love each other ‘come what may’.
I became a Unitarian Minister, in part, because I wanted to be part of the ‘come what may’ and because I believed that our extinction was not inevitable.
Just to be clear, I don’t believe we should exist just because of our history (although that’s important), or even because we love Unitarianism (although we do). The reason I still want us to be here, and indeed to thrive, is because of the Unitarians yet-to-be: the people who need us, who need our faith, our unique form of spirituality – for whom it might be life transforming or indeed life saving.
We owe it to them – those who are already searching for a liberal religious community, and those who don’t even yet know how much finding one could change their lives.
We owe it to them for there to be well-led congregations and communities ready for them to join.
One of the reasons I went to work for Unitarian College was because of my conviction that we must have Unitarian Ministers and we need to equip our Lay Leaders. I’ve heard it said, on a few occasions, “we don’t know why you are training all these Ministers. They’re not going to be needed!”. I disagree! We need Unitarian Ministers and Leaders now more than ever! Not just to lead our congregations to growth, but also to start new ones, and to minister to this bruised and hurting world. Thank God for our new Ministers who we have welcomed today in this Service, and for those in training, and for those lay persons who have participated in our training courses. And thank you to congregations and districts who have supported them to do so. By doing that you are showing that you have a belief that our faith has a future.
And that’s why I do what I do, because I believe there is a future. I’m sure that YOU are here at these meetings because you also believe that our faith has a future, even if we might not always totally agree on how best to build that future.
Ironically, one thing I learned early on: Unitarians are good are doing funerals! I don’t say this flippantly. We are renowned for the way we conduct Rite of Passage ceremonies. A big part of my own ministry was caring for the bereaved and officiating at funerals. We’re excellent at it! We know how to help people say goodbye.
I’ve also noticed that we are skilled at holding funerals for ourselves at times. When we close congregations or other groups, we’re ready: the Constitutions and other documents are in place so that the assets can be distributed – as it should be, that’s good governance. And when it comes to the event itself, I’ve seen it reported a number of times: “It was packed for the Closing Service”. We gave it a good send off. That’s important too. If something really is dead, then a good funeral is helpful and healing.
But….. I say lovingly…..
I can’t help wondering if sometimes we held the funeral just a bit too early? We believed that nothing could be done and that death was inevitable when perhaps there was still a chance, but we busied ourselves with planning the funeral – understandably so – because when faced with something so painful we like to keep busy.
Yet I am not comfortable, even now, about accepting that our demise is certain.
It frustrates me that at times we do seem to go around believing that we are already dead, like the man in the story from earlier, when we still have so much to offer.
I’ve seen congregations turn around when they were at the point of closure. I’ve seen groups of Unitarians take the bold step of appointing Ministers and Leaders, or having a student with them on placement. and I’ve seen groups take a chance, and it changed everything.
And why should we just gently fade away?
As the poet Dylan Thomas famously wrote:
“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Our Chalice-light may be dimming and flickering in places – but that doesn’t mean that death is sure, only a signal that change is needed.
In our Biblical Reading earlier, we saw Jesus of Nazareth arrive at a house to find a funeral was in full swing. In fact, the text implies that these were professional funeral organisers. They knew how to put on a good show. Yet, in their rush to hold a funeral they had missed a vital detail which Jesus spotted:
“She is not dead but sleeping”….
Oh I can understand that we’re tired. It feels like we’ve tried everything there is to try and multiple times. There’s fewer of us to do the work, and the work itself can be exhausting. Going to sleep seems inviting. But we’re not dead yet!
Jesus says to the young woman: get up….wake up…..
And he directs those nearby to provide food.
Where there is life: FEED IT….. invest in it….. find the energy….the passion….take risks. RAGE rage against the dying of the light.
It was Easter Sunday this last Sunday. For years I have preached Easter Sunday sermons and – like many Unitarians – skirted around the issue of the resurrection. I’ve heard it said that Unitarians don’t really believe in the resurrection or, if they do, they believe in it in a spiritual or metaphorical sense. So it seems to me, that if we’re not sure about resurrection, then it’s better not to die in the first place……
So, my beloved Unitarian community, I beg of us:
Wake up…..
Wake up…..and feed those who have energy and ideas.
Wake up….. and, wherever possible, invest in leadership for our congregations and to minister to the world.
Wake up….Getting beyond the squabbles, the power plays, and the internal politics which can so easily stifle our congregations.
Wake up…. And dare to give our communities permission to grow. Oh it might not be exactly the same as the Unitarianism we’ve loved and cherished, but it would be selfish to say it can’t change just because we might not like it.
Wake up….. Even if that might mean standing aside to let fresh ideas come forth.
People do need our faith: this liberal, inclusive, life transforming faith.
I was able to prove in my own ministry to a degree – and so have plenty of others – that Unitarian growth is possible, although it’s tough work.
And we have some recent evidence to show that, in general, our congregations are more likely to thrive when there is a trained Unitarian Minister or trained Unitarian lay person in post.
“Oh but Ant, we’d love to be able to do that, but we’ve tried it before…. And it didn’t work….”
There are no easy answers, especially when it comes to committing to paying Ministers or Leaders…..
But one thing is sure, we can’t take it with us if we die. As the old saying goes “There are no pockets in shrouds!”
“Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
The Book of Revelation in the Bible, the book that is supposed to speak about the end of things, gives some advice:
“Wake up and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death”
Wake up…..strengthen what remains, and move forward.
Don’t let’s hold funerals too early – not whilst there is still a discernible pulse.
Instead, we have to find new ways of being Unitarian and of sharing the message. We have to find ways of congregations and districts and wider movement working together and resourcing together like never before.
In that Biblical story I referenced earlier, where the young woman woke up and was given something to eat, it says that ‘her spirit returned to her’……
And that’s what I’m praying for for us: that our spirit will return. That we’ll find the passion, the boldness, the energy which was once such a feature of our faith….. the spirit which inspired our forebears, without whom there would’ve been no Unitarianism to pass on to us.
Wake up…. And let the spirit return.
Whatever your belief about God, still, many of us love singing:
“Spirit of Life, come to me”
Surely that should be our prayer….
That Spirit of Life is needed now more than ever in our congregations – waking us up, energising us.
Unitarians may be good at funerals – but it’s not all we’re good at. Let it be said that we are good at LIFE too….and that we were good at sharing our message, and even growing.
Often we say, almost proudly, “Unitarians don’t proselytize”, but surely when you’ve found something so amazing, it becomes a duty to share that blessing with others?
“And you can tell EVERYBODY that this is our song” – – not just CAN tell everybody, we MUST tell people – for ours is a song worth singing and sharing.
It’s a song of faith. A song of freedom. And our various beliefs create beautiful harmonies not found anywhere else.
My friends – as I finish – let me say once again, just in case I didn’t say it enough in this Sermon: I love US. I love you, my Unitarian community. I’ve cherished sharing the journey with you, and I can honestly say ‘How wonderful life is because you’re in my world’.
But let’s also love the Unitarians yet-to-be and do all we can to make their path into our faith as accessible as possible. We owe it to them.
Wake up, for life is calling us on.
My time is up. I pray that I’ve used the time well.
This opportunity won’t come again, and nor should it – because I’m interested in those who will follow me, the next prophetic voices, the future of our movement.
But for now “Life call us on!” – the hymn we’re going to sing together.
Unitarian musings from North Wales 