Good Questions

"Those who ask questions cannot avoid answers."
-- Cameroonian Proverb

Meditation: We light our chalice on Sunday mornings “to heal and not to harm,… in the spirit of love.” Our meditation this morning asks us, what we mean when we say love. It is an excerpt from a poem by W. H. Auden, entitled “O Tell Me the Truth About Love”

Some say love’s a little boy,

And some say it’s a bird,

Some say it makes the world go round,

And some say that’s absurd,…

Is it prickly to touch as a hedge is,

Or soft as eiderdown fluff?

Is it sharp or quite smooth at the edges?

O tell me the truth about love…

When it comes, will it come without warning

Just as I’m picking my nose?

Will it knock on my door in the morning,

Or tread in the bus on my toes?

Will it come like a change in the weather?

Will its greeting be courteous or rough?

Will it alter my life altogether?

O tell me the truth about love.

Reading: by Unitarian Universalist minister Bruce Marshall, from A Holy Curiosity 

What do I trust? What can I rely upon to help me determine what is true and what is right?  

We receive much information, many opinions. A variety of authorities would like to convince us that their way is true. But they crowd each other, and it is not clear which interpretation is correct.
       This world is a marketplace of values. People with different visions of what is right compete for our allegiance. We see the choices and can justify many options. What can I trust to help me choose that which is right? Religions are about trust. They point our way through things we cannot fully know.
       In some religions trust is centered in a sacred book, such as the Bible or the Koran. In some religions a holy person or a class of holy people interpret the unknown. Others have a code of approved beliefs: a doctrine, a creed, an agreed-upon statement that a person trusts. 
         … Our trust is not grounded in a sacred book or a holy person or a statement of belief. Rather, we are open to the many forms through which truth and right can be known. We trust this openness over any formula that claims final authority to guide all people in all times. Truth and right, we believe, are most likely to emerge in an environment that encourages us to explore our ideas and convictions. 
       This principle is fundamental to the liberal religious tradition… 

Reading: by Billy Collins, a poem entitled “Questions About Angels”

Of all the questions you might want to ask

about angels, the only one you ever hear

is how many can dance on the head of a pin.

No curiosity about how they pass the eternal time

besides circling the Throne chanting in Latin

or delivering a crust of bread to a hermit on earth

or guiding a boy and girl across a rickety wooden bridge.

Do they fly through God's body and come out singing?

Do they swing like children from the hinges

of the spirit world saying their names backwards and forwards?

Do they sit alone in little gardens changing colors?

What about their sleeping habits, the fabric of their robes,

their diet of unfiltered divine light?

What goes on inside their luminous heads? Is there a wall

these tall presences can look over and see hell?

If an angel fell off a cloud, would he leave a hole

in a river and would the hole float along endlessly

filled with the silent letters of every angelic word?

If an angel delivered the mail, would he arrive

in a blinding rush of wings or would he just assume

the appearance of the regular mailman and

whistle up the driveway reading the postcards?

No, the medieval theologians control the court.

The only question you ever hear is about

the little dance floor on the head of a pin

where halos are meant to converge and drift invisibly.

It is designed to make us think in millions,

billions, to make us run out of numbers and collapse

into infinity, but perhaps the answer is simply one:

one female angel dancing alone in her stocking feet,

a small jazz combo working in the background.

She sways like a branch in the wind, her beautiful

eyes closed, and the tall thin bassist leans over

to glance at his watch because she has been dancing

forever, and now it is very late, even for musicians.

Good Questions

A Sermon Delivered on May 19, 2013

By 

The Reverend Axel H. Gehrmann

If you have been reading our church newsletter attentively, or if you have been to church in the last few weeks, you know that you are about to hear a “Question Box” sermon: a sermon shaped by the questions some of you submitted, either by email or on a slip of paper dropped into this question box. (show box)

In the liberal religious tradition, we believe we are most likely to find truth in an open environment that encourages us to explore our ideas and convictions. So, while some people may think a church should provide us with definitive answers to the questions that confound us - questions like: What is God? How can we tell right from wrong? What happens after we die? - in this church we give as much attention to the questions asked, as to the answers found. 

Good questions lead us to good answers. And good questions, in and of themselves, can provide us insight and inspiration. Our questions say something about who we are, where we come from, and where we hope to go. Sometimes one person’s questions can touch on our own questions. They can help us further on our way. 

Today, ten of the questions some of you have asked will serve as inspiration for all us. (various members of the congregation read the questions in bold)

1) How do atheists fit in Unitarian Universalism? What do they bring to the table and what can they take from it? I am a firm non-believer, and although I have always felt welcome, I still feel slightly out of step. I come to UU for the community, to broaden my own horizons, and because I value the undogmatic religious education available to my daughters, but I often wonder how other UUs see atheists.

How do atheists fit in here? This is a good question. One way to get at it, is simply in terms of numbers. So lets do a quick survey of those who are here this morning. If you believe in God, please raise your hand. (wait, look) If you don’t believe in God, please raise your hand. (wait, look) If you are not sure whether or not you believe in God, please raise you hand. (wait, look) And if you don’t like to raise your hand in answer to questions like this, please raise you hand. (wait, look)

At times when I have asked these questions in the past, the congregation was split pretty evenly three ways. A third theists, a third atheists, a third agnostics. For me, this simple fact is one of the most exciting things about our faith.

I myself am undecided about this question. There are days when God strikes me as a crucial religious idea, that I deeply embrace. Other days, I hear someone talk about God, as if he were judge, jury and executioner of the universe, sitting on a throne in the sky, and I think – no way do I believe in God. But most days, I am simply not sure.

The fact that anyone with whom I talk at church may or may not believe in God creates a very broad playing field when it comes to grappling with questions of meaning and morality. It creates an openness that I think is precious and unique among the world’s religions. It is a perpetual reminder to choose our words carefully and respectfully. We don’t all agree on what God is or is not. It is very helpful to keep this in mind when exploring any religious question. For instance…

2) Are there just happy coincidences, or do things sometimes work out because of a higher power?

Whether or not we believe in God, we may believe in a “higher power.” We may believe that there are forces at work in the world, which we do not fully understand. I know there are plenty of powers I don’t understand, for instance those that govern quantum mechanics, or those that determine whether the stock market rises or falls. I don’t understand the power that creates life, and I don’t fully understand the power of love.

The laws of science and logic help us grasp some of the forces that govern cause and effect. What we can’t explain, we call a coincidence or random events. And yet these, too, must be driven by some power – whether higher or lower, or all around us.

This question reminds us of the mysterious powers that surround us, and leads to further questions. For instance….

3) Why do bad things happen to good people? What constitutes bad?

Why do bad things happen to good people? This is another very good question. The rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book about his struggles with this very question, after he learned that his three-year-old son, Aaron, was diagnosed with a rare congenital disease that caused premature aging, and would kill Aaron by the time he was a teenager. Clearly his innocent three-year-old child didn’t deserve this illness and suffering.

The death of Kushner’s son led him to reflect deeply on the meaning of suffering. Looking for answers, he read the Book of Job, in the Jewish scriptures, which tells the story of a righteous man who is severely afflicted – his children are killed, his material wealth and physical health are taken from him, and even his closest friends condemn him, because they believe he surely must have done something to bring this divine punishment upon himself. So Job gets angry at God and demands an explanation. But God says, who are you to demand answers from me? What do you know about running a universe – creating heaven and earth and all the stars? You have no idea of the extent of all I do, and why. Job quickly sees God’s point. He is humbled and apologizes for questioning God. And in the end Job’s health, wealth and happiness are restored.

Interestingly, Kushner’s book is not entitled “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” It is called, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” That’s an important distinction. It is not a question of “why do bad things sometimes happen to some good people?” But rather a statement: “bad things happen to all of us.” The question then becomes, when bad things happen to you, what are you going to do about it?

Even if we are powerless to avoid the suffering we will each invariably encounter in the course of our lives, we always have a choice in terms of how we respond to that suffering. Will we collapse, or will we persevere? Will we despair, or will we hold on to hope? Will we let our hearts harden, or will our pain open our hearts, and deepen our compassion for the suffering of others? Kushner chose to respond by writing a book that has provided comfort and inspiration to thousands of readers.

Even the most difficult experiences can teach us something important about life. This is not to say that we should seek out suffering. But it challenges us look beyond our immediate experience, and see beyond the bad, to the possibility of a greater good.

So, in the long run, and in the big picture, what constitutes bad? The answer surely depends on our point of view. Are we looking from our particular human point? Or from God’s point of view – however we might conceive of God? Another question that leads to further questions. For instance…

4) - What does the other U in UU mean to you? [What does it mean to be a Unitarian Universalist?]

Good question. As many of you know, historically, Unitarianism has been more interested in human potential rather than divine power. So, for instance, when studying the life of Jesus, Unitarians tend to focus on his humanity rather than his divinity. If we live our lives ethically, compassionately and kindly, we can all be just like Jesus.

Universalism has more to do with how we imagine God. Unlike those who believe in a higher power who is a harsh judge, and will send the majority of us to hellfire after death, Universalists believe in a loving God who embraces all people, who excludes no one. A God who is not in the business of damnation, but rather universal salvation.

At the risk of sounding too simplistic, I might say that Unitarianism focuses on human powers of reason, whereas Universalism focuses on divine love. One speaks more to the head, the other speaks more to the heart. To be healthy and whole, we need both.

Remembering our religious history can help us better understand who we are today. And it can inform questions we may have about the future. For instance…

5) Two hundred years ago, a significant number of our Unitarian congregations were formed as a result of splits from what were then Congregational churches.  Fifty plus years ago the Congregational denomination, via a merger, became the United Church of Christ, the UCC.  About the same time, the Unitarians and Universalists merged to become [the Unitarian Universalist Association], the UUA. Since those mergers, the UCC membership numbers are down by almost 50% to approximately one million today.  The UUA membership numbers have remained static at approximately 200,000.  In recent years, the UUA president and the UCC president have decided to be seen together, work together and occasionally speak together on common themes. Both the UCC and the UUA are "liberal" denominations. Should the UUA and the UCC explore possibilities for a merger?

Now there’s a good question. Seven years ago, the presidents of the UUA and the UCC met. In February of last year, they met again, this time joined by several senior denominational leaders. In recent years the two denominations have collaborated on social action initiatives. We also developed the human sexuality curriculum “Our Whole Lives,” together. 

But while UCC is a liberal religious denomination, it is clearly Christian. If the two were to merge, the joint denomination would need to embrace the many non-Christian perspectives of UUism – among them atheists, pagans, Hindus and Jews, and many more. And the non-Christians among us would need to accept a higher degree of explicitly Christian language and theology.

How we would ever reach agreement on such a momentous organizational step raises further questions. For instance…

6) What is our polity, and why does it matter?

Another good question. What is our polity? “Polity” is a word that doesn’t often come up in casual conversation. But it is worth thinking about. Polity, the dictionary says, is how a group organizes or governs itself.

We practice “congregational polity.” “Congregational polity” is a central part of who we are, both institutionally and theologically. It goes back to our roots in sixteenth century England, and a protest against the centralized power of established churches, where popes and bishops had powers similar to princes and kings. Challenging monarchy and religious hierarchy, our forebears believed in a religious grassroots democracy, in which authority was vested in local congregations, rather than national or international religious bodies.

So for instance, the UUA is not a denominational body that has the power to tell us how to do our church business. It is simply an association of congregations just like our’s – the Unitarian Universalist Association.

We believe that in our congregational meetings every member has the right and the responsibility to shape the work of our religious community. Each of us is endowed with the powers once reserved for priests and prophets. A well-conducted democratic process, for us, is an almost sacred ritual. If we had sacraments, the practice of a vibrant and thoughtful congregational meeting would be one of them.

The discipline of congregational polity is what allows us to transcend our individual differences, deepen our common convictions, and engage in collective action. Which issues we should act upon, and how we should go about it, of course, is a different question…

7) Here's my question for submission:  What is the obligation (if any) of faith communities to take a collective stance on moral/social justice issues vs. respecting the individual's position on these issues? 

  Coming from a Catholic background, growing up I was used to edicts coming from the top down, some I agreed with (preferential option for the poor), many others I didn't (status of women; birth control; celibate male priests; the hierarchy, etc.) which has led me to the UU faith which, from a hierarchy standpoint, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Personally, I think it's important for groups to take a stance on important issues (like our congregation has on becoming a welcoming community).  But....that's also why I left the Catholic church--they (at least the leadership) have taken a stand on many issues that I don't personally agree with.  So I find it a dilemma. 

Yes, as a religious community we are called to address issues of meaning and morality, both in the lives of our members, and society at large. As Dr. King put it so well: injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We ourselves are the ones who freely choose which issues to address. We are the ones who shape our vision of a more just society.  Collectively we know more, and collectively we can do more than any single one of us alone. Our differences of opinion and understanding are not merely tolerated but celebrated. Our respectful and critical conversations help us clarify and deepen our individual convictions, even as we agree to join together for a common cause. For example… 

8) Where is the justice in determining who qualifies as a true full member of one or the other gender and may live in the full sun?

This is one of those questions that hardly needs an answer, because the question already says so much. The question is actually a statement. It says the gender stereotypes that are perpetuated in our society are a source of serious injustice for all those who don’t fit neatly into conventional gender boxes. And that needs to change.

Fourteen years ago we voted to become a congregation that is explicitly welcoming to bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people. As we educated ourselves on the complexity of gender issues, we learned that people are assigned a biological sex (i.e. male, female, intersexual), but we define our own gender and what it means to us – whether we are a man, woman, or transgender.

Becoming a welcoming congregation was one example of how we collectively acted on an important social concern that involved religious, legal and moral dimensions. But of course there are many other social issues that deserve our attention, for instance….

9) Under what circumstances is it morally OK to end your own life? How will we overcome the stigma of choosing to die with dignity vs. life with the fear of or the actuality of being warehoused without dignity? The financial and emotional cost are not the same.

This is a good, but tough question. For almost two thousand years Christian thinkers have considered suicide a sin. In Christian nations it was long treated as a crime. But this perspective was challenged in the 19^th century by John Stuart Mill. He made the case that people who are terminally ill, and who ask their doctors to help them end their lives are not committing a crime, because no one is being harmed. As long as the decision is freely  made by a competent adult, based on accurate information, the state should not interfere.

Along similar lines, delegates from UU congregations across the country adopted a general resolution in 1988 that said, we “advocate the right to self-determination in dying, and the release from civil or criminal penalties of those who, under proper safeguards, act to honor the right of terminally ill patients to select the time of their own deaths.”

Bear in mind – this resolution is not binding for our congregation, or for any single one of us. But it does express the convictions of thousands of UUs who grappled with this issue in the 1980s, and felt strongly enough about it to adopt this resolution, encouraging us to act through our congregations, and to petition legislators to provide legal protection for the right to die with dignity.

Combatting gender stereotypes, promoting justice in issues of sexual orientation and identity, and advocating for death with dignity – these are just a few of the ways we as a congregation can make a real difference.  

And one final question…

10) My basic burning religious question comes from the Serenity Prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” How do we obtain the wisdom???

Yes, how do we obtain wisdom? We can study the words of wise men and women, holy people or sacred books. But above and beyond that, we find wisdom by continually questioning ourselves and each other. We gain wisdom by looking critically and humbly within ourselves and around us. We gain wisdom by cultivating an open and discerning mind, and a warm and compassionate heart. 

Religion teaches us that we cannot find wisdom alone. We need each other. We need others to ask the penetrating questions we ourselves overlooked. We need others to offer possible answers we ourselves had never considered. And when life is so hard, when we almost despair, we need others to help us keep hope alive. 

May we have the wisdom to ask tough questions of ourselves and each other.

May we have the courage pursue even the most demanding answers.

And may we join together in the spirit of love, 

so that together, we can build a better world.

Amen.