Unitarian Universalism is sort of the Missouri of religions. I'm refering to Missouri being called the “Show Me” state. The origin of this slogan is attributed to Missouri's U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver who speaking at a Naval Banquet in Philadelphia in 1899 said:... "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me."

Well, when it comes to “frothy eloquence” I can't say my metaphor holds true. Frothy eloquence has been a central part of our religious tradition. I believe it can be traced to our Boston aristocratic Unitarian heritage. Erudition, intellectual prowess, and eloquence have continued to play a crucial role in the life of UU congregations. Finding a brilliant and articulate minister is the goal of most every UU ministerial search committee. Our churches pride themselves on having well educated ministers. We value education, and the making of decisions based on intelligence rather than the sway of base emotions.

However, our insistence on having the best educated, most erudite and eloquent ministers has also contributed to a tendency in some congregations to become an elite club. Some people want to be UU in order to be “in” with the “right” people; the educated, a better class of people etc. Despite classism, we have carried on a prophetic tradition as advocates for social justice.

This brings me back to the reason we are like Missouri, the show me state. A popular slogan throughout our history is: "deeds not creeds." This slogan expresses a distaste for frothy theological doctrine. We've eschewed overemphasis on belief, and chosen instead an emphasis on the development of moral character. From our historic beginnings, we have been skeptical and critical when religion focuses its energy in attempts to convert people to a particular doctrine, or theological belief.

The first Unitarian churches formed around the rejection of the doctrine of the trinity, and ever since then we have prided ourselves on being a tradition of heretics. From the beginning our members have shared a sense of incredulity that wars are waged over differences in doctrine. We have held that doctrine is less important than behavior. Our emphasis: does our congregation help us to live ethically, to promote justice and dignity for all? We are bound together, not based upon a particular interpretation of bible, or even a set of beliefs and doctrines but by covenant. We want our religion to demonstrate a spirit (perhaps a reverence for life) that leads to compassionate and just actions.

This thinking is expressed in several places in scripture. Mathew 7:16 says “You shall know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” A modern version of this sentiment was written into the song “And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, and they'll know we are Christians by our love.
The sentiment can be found in the Hebrew scriptures in Proverbs 20:11 Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right." It can also be found in Galations 5:22 “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Or lastly, James 3:12 “I will show you my faith by what I do.”

How many of you would say that this sentiment is an important part of why you are here? Is it important to you that we keep our focus and efforts on ethical behavior rather than attempting to forge agreement or submission to a particular theological doctrine?

Our origin contributed and our history continued our emphasis upon justice and social concerns. It doesn't take much to connect the dots, and imagine how we went from this emphasis away from doctrine and onto ethics, and in the late 20th and early 21st century many UU congregations- especially Fellowships became disinterested in ritual, theology, and other matters traditionally thought of as religious. Several congregations developed cultures rife with anti-religious sentiment, places to a large extent congregated by members who claimed to value intellect, reason and science, members who were intolerant and condescending of others that identify as believers or people of faith.
We forgot or turned our back on our Unitarian and Universalist history. We have wanted to forget that Unitarians were Christians who valued biblical scholarship, historical accuracy, and reason. We were Christians who stressed the humanity of Jesus and his ethical teachings, and insisted on freedom in choice of important religious matters.

By seeking to follow Jesus, the Unitarians became leaders in many movements for improved living conditions for poor or underprivileged populations. Prominent Unitarians emerged as leaders in many fields of progressive social reform. Famous 19th century Unitarian reformers included Edwin Chadwick, Jenkin Loyd Jones, Theodore Parker, Charles Booth, Lydia Maria Child, and Dorothea Dix.
Although it was exclusively Christian, the early American Unitarian church had attributes that remain to this day. We were the first religious institution to give primacy to science, biblical scholarship, and literary criticism. Many of the early American leaders were scientists and have been characterized as having Enlightenment attitudes of skepticism and free inquiry. The expectation that each individual has the right if not responsibility to determine what is true, dates back at least as far as our American Unitarian origins.
The Unitarian Society was formed in 1791 and attempted to unite non-conformists groups. The diversity of beliefs and the individualist culture was a hinderance to success. An insistence on freethinking individualism remains a part of our UU culture, and continues at times to get in the way of our achieving greater collaboration and cooperation.
If the early American Unitarian church sounds similar to today's progressive social movements, there certainly is a tie. It is important to remember, though that devotion and orientation to Jesus were important in Unitarian emphasis on social concerns. Another factor that I will focus on next week is the optimism of Unitarianism (and Universalism.) Unitarians and Universalists rejected the dominant Calvinist doctrines. The nontrinitarians or Unitarians emphasized the humanity of Jesus. Along with this came a focus on liberation, the potential for human moral development and even transformation of character. This pre-humanist humanism was the basis of Unitarian emphasis on social justice.

The Universalists' reasons for developing an emphasis on social justice arose from a slightly different theology and values. Like the Unitarians, the Universalists understood Jesus message of salvation to be an invitation and challenge to transform individual lives and human society. While the Unitarians emphasized the humanity of Jesus, the Universalists emphasized the love of God. John Murray argued that belief in a loving God, made inconceivable the notion that God would condemn people to an eternity of torment. The Universalist message was extrapolated from bible verses like Romans 8:39 "neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Given this, the Universalists reasoned that eventually every soul would be saved, reconciled to the love of the one who created us.

The spread of this doctrine was so successful that today it becomes difficult for us to remember the power of its radical force. Universalism was once the 8th largest denomination in the US. To some extent the reason for it's decline was the spread of its message. Mainline Protestant churches shifted tremendously from an emphasis on the fear of a punishing God to faith in the power of a loving deity.

The power of the message of Universal salvation has been lost on us for at least two generations. Our churches found little reason to talk about hell, and in many of our churches there was little worship of or even discussion about God. As a group, we have no fear of hell or of a punishing God, so it's been hard for us to value or even grasp the power of the Universalist gospel.

Imagine, that in the early 19th century, Maria Cook was arrested for preaching the doctrine of universal salvation. That's how threatening our gospel was to the religious establishment. I think it remains a potent although seldom used force to challenge the oppression that is fostered by churches that teach and preach the idea that eternal damnation awaits any who deny that Jesus is God who died as an atonement and sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

It should be no surprise that a church built upon the idea of salvation for all of humanity, quickly began its interest and participation in progressive social concerns activities. In the early years of American Universalism, Judith Sargent Murry began writing books and plays advocating for women's rights. She attributed the egalitarian message of Universal salvation as being the cause for her inspiration and determination to advocate for the rights and dignity of woman.

Our early Universalist churches were the first to welcome African Americans into membership. Benjamin Rush, Universalist and signer of the declaration of independence was among the first to decry the evils of racism and slavery. The Universalists were among the first to join and support the slave abolition movement. They were the first denomination to ordain a woman. And from the early years in America, Universalists became advocates of public education and assistance to those suffering from poverty.

The Universalists like the Unitarians were oriented to follow the teachings and the life example of Jesus. They understood Jesus message as being an invitation to discover the love and loving nature of God. They heard Jesus as asking for followers, not worshippers. Universalists believe we are called to demonstrate God's love by being an instrument of mercy and justice to all who are outcast and/or oppressed.

I mentioned earlier how the attributes of our early American Unitarian ancestors, eventually led away not only from emphasis on beliefs, creeds and doctrines, but to an avoidance of most things people associate with religion (ritual, faith, devotion, prayer, discipline, spiritual practice, having sacred texts.) I suggested that we began with a skepticism of overemphasis of beliefs, and ended up being the “Un-church” or what Michael Durall refers to as the “Almost Church.” We drifted ever further from interest in religious beliefs and practices.

I suspect that some of the reason we went the way we did was the dominance of the Unitarians over the Universalists. In 1961, the two denominations merged. People immediately began referring to us as “Unitarians.” Perhaps today I have begun to make clear the reasons why I always say “Unitarian Universalist” whenever someone refers to us as Unitarian.

Connie Goodbread, UU DE says of the 1961 merger that led to the forming of the UUA, “The Unitarians ate the Universalists.” “But, she continues “you are what you eat.” The merger in 1961, has long been know by fans of Universalism as the submerger. And I want to celebrate that what gets submerged has a tendency to reemerge. That is what is happening in the 21st century. We are reconnecting with the value of faith in the love or benign nature of the source of life. Because of science, telescopes, microscopes, and computers, we may,n some was be more sophisticated than the ancient Hebrews, and their progeny the Christians in our understanding and languaging of the source of life. As Uus we are religious liberals. We allow a vast spaciousness for the many ways to refer and point towards the sacred and eternal. Many of us reject the notion of “a” god or deity. Despite or because of the great diversity of ways we imagine or refer to the eternal, the word God remains useful but not perfect. It refers to something beyond categorization, beyond language.

What is important is that we have continued to have reverence and find reasons to trust the goodness of life and being alive. We have continued to affirm the inherent worth and dignity, the sacredness of every soul, not merely those who share our beliefs.

And so our activism has shifted, and is returning to the transformative power of love. Of course there is great reason to be angry at the injustices, oppression, the destruction of our ecosystems. However, we are increasingly choosing to shift our focus from what we don't want to what we do want. We are choosing to stand on the side of love, rather than get stuck hating “those people” who we see as maintaining outdated oppressive belief systems. Like our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors our religion offers a spirit of hope and love that causes us to be unwilling to settle for any form of oppression, but to keep on walking forward, to journey toward wholeness.

Our faith today listens to the spirit of many languages that express the divinity, the sacred and mystical nature of life in each of us. Our faith dares us to remember that we humans were called to something greater than we have yet known, that there is more love somewhere.

It dares us to have the courage to dream new possibilities for ourselves and for this world. While others are resigning to inevitability of social ills as proof of the nearing of the end times, we dare to state the fact that no one can say for sure exactly what will be. Why not then do what we can to steer toward heaven, rather than some imagined hell?

Our faith calls us to do our part, to do like the Unitarian and Universalist Christians of old, and accept Jesus' call to become agents of divine love. To be agents of hope and justice and mercy. To avoid the temptation to turn away from injustice, corruption, greed, to avoid the temptation to be discouraged or cynical. Our tradition asks us to have the faith to bring divine love to all our brothers and sisters, to become instruments of peace and justice.

I would like to suggest, even to those who eschew any concept of a deity, to consider the value of having faith in the source of creation. To see in the unfolding of creation, something worthy of our trust. And to return to the truth, that it stands to reason that if the source of life is worthy of our trust, then eternal damnation is inconceivable. I would ask us to consider that what the future has in store for us may be greater than anything we can imagine.

And when we gain the ability to embrace the gift of life, we will have courage and faith to do what we can to help it along.

Next week we will explore the UU tradition of optimism in our pursuit of peace and justice. Until then, go lifted up and believe that love will work miracles through you. Have patience with each other and with yourself.
Blessed be. Amen. May it be so.