“Do Unitarian Universalists Worship?”
A Sermon for West Seattle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Rev. Peg Boyle Morgan
September 17th, 2006  Fall Ingathering

Chalice Lighting

Clarence R. Skinner
 “Somewhere between the two extremes of arid intellectualism and fulsome emotionalism we may find an understanding of worship.”

SERMON
I was a new theological student.  And so I was honored to have Joseph Zambatfalzi and his wife stay with me during their visit to Seattle.  At the time, he was the President of the Unitarian Ministers’ Association of Transylvania—a land where since the 1500’s courageous impoverished villages of Unitarians held on to liberal Christianity during decades of totalitarian regimes.    Joseph had several appointments and speaking engagements that week, but on Sunday afternoon he was free, and so I told them “I will take you and your wife anywhere you want to go in the greater Puget Sound area:  we can take a ferry, go to Snoqualmie falls, go see Mt. Rainier…”  “Mt Rainier!” he quickly exclaimed with a big smile on his face.  “I have always dreamed of seeing Mt. Rainier.  When I left Transylvania, I told my wife that we might be able to see the Mountain!  She is a majestic, holy sight!” 

So Mt. Rainier it was.  And off we went, arriving in a couple hours at the Paradise Visitor Center.  Our drive up the mountain was non eventful, for the clouds were totally covering the mountain.  I told him how the clouds often change quickly, so that hopefully as we looked out the big windows in the observation room of the visitor center, we would begin to see the mountain. 

And so we waited, and we waited, and 45 minutes went by.  He said that he knew the beauty was there, just beyond the clouds; and then an hour went, and I knew he really wanted to wait to see the mountain; we went outside and listened to the utter stillness and felt the mist kissing our cheeks, and he said he could sense the majesty of the mountain in the quietude.  The mountain was a holy place to him, and it would mean so much if he could see her.  Two hours went by, and by then he was discouraged and tired and said to me that maybe we had waited long enough.  I felt badly. But by then I had lost hope that the clouds would clear before dark, and so we got back in the car and started slowly down the mountain.  The mood in the car was dispirited. 

As we continued along, I noticed a group of people who had gotten out of their car, and were all looking back up the hill.  I carefully, though driving, looked around to see what they were seeing. Would it be a bear?  A deer?   Wonder of wonders, it was the mountain!  The clouds were moving away from the mountain.  Alleluia! I quickly pulled the car over, and we all got out and witnessed a gradual and complete unveiling of the beautiful, majestic mountain.  We sat on a bench and gazed as the clouds ever so slowly floated away completely revealing Mt. Rainier.  Joseph was transfixed, in awe and wonder at the unmistakable, breath taking beauty of the 14,000+ foot snow covered mountain.  We stayed for over an hour. 

I have often thought about that day, ten years ago, and in retrospect I realize that as we gazed at the mountain we were worshipping—in a way that humans have worshipped since the beginning of humanity.  History shows that humans have worshipped many things long before the word “GOD” dawned upon our human mind.  Holy mountains, abundant rivers and powerful waterfalls, the brilliant sun, the constant but ever changing moon, sparkling stars, the howling wind, heroes, holy men and women, fire, beauty, and ideals—anything or anyone thought to have special significance and value.  We find that our fellow human has held up these holy objects as sacred, yearning to become closer to them—to know them, feel them, to experience them.   Worship has been natural and common at all times and in all areas of the earth, among all peoples. To worship is a very human act.  When we find ourselves in awe and wonder about something, we naturally reach toward it, physically, emotionally, spiritually.  To worship is to seek and relate to what we deem ultimate in our lives.

Unfortunately for the last 5,000 years our western culture has focused worship on an anthropomorphic god, a god with a strong personality interested in mankind, but also demanding, jealous, prejudiced towards some people and cultures, rewarding and punishing.  Later that God would be defined as one God with three persons.  However, from the beginning of Christianity our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors questioned many aspects of this theology, first questioning the concept of the trinity and the divinity of Jesus; and then the concept that we are born with original sin.  Concepts of heaven and hell were rejected, and our theology became one that focused on the belief that as humans we have the capacity to act in ways that are salvific to ourselves and to the earth upon which we live. 

But in order to do that we need to be recalled to our best selves.  Which is what worship is all about.

Many of us are uncomfortable using the word worship because we have the word so tied to belief in that Lord in the Sky.  However, I think the simplest definition of worship that is stripped of all dogma, is to define it as the etymology of the word suggests:  the old English root means “worthship” or holding up and considering things of worth.  And the word religion has a root which means to bind up or re-connect—like ligament, and so our religious faith worships in a way that reconnects us to that which we believe is of ultimate worth.  As such our worship on Sunday morning is a time to come and be centered and to be reconnected with our values and principles in which we place our faith.  Worship need not have anything to do with supernatural activity.  It is wholly human.  According to the report of our 1980 Unitarian Universalist continental Commission on Appraisal which studied worship practices, worship is “At its best, …a radical openness to all experience, a sensitizing process that opens us up to the heights and depths of living.” 

The words of Jacob Trapp begin the sermon page of our web site.  He speaks of worship this way:

To worship is to stand in awe under a heaven of stars,
Before a flower, a leaf in sunlight, or a grain of sand.

To Worship is to be silent, receptive, before a tree astir with the wind,
Or the passing shadow of a cloud.

To worship is to work with dedication and with skill;
It is to pause from work and listen to a strain of music.

To worship is to sing with the singing beauty of the earth;
It is to listen through a storm to the still small voice within.

Worship is a loneliness seeking communion;
It is a thirsty land crying out for rain.

Worship is kindred fire within our hearts;
It moves through deeds of kindness and through acts of love.

Worship is the mystery within us
Reaching out to the mystery beyond.

It is an inarticulate silence yearning to speak;
It is the window of the moment open to the sky of the eternal.

So what does this say about our Sunday morning gatherings here at the Fellowship?  Indeed, what are we doing here each week? 

There is a story about a group of tourists who traveled a long way to be in the presence of a revered Rabbi.  When they finally came upon his home, they were surprised to see how simple it was, how unadorned and basic were his furnishings.  “Rabbi, we are surprised to see you living in such a simple place, we expected you to have been given many objects of value by those who have come to learn at your feet.”  And the Rabbi responded to the travelers, “But where are all your things?”  And they replied, “We are only traveling through, so we have only a few things with us.”  To which he replied, “Ah, and so am I just traveling through this life.”

It seems to me that we come together on Sunday to embrace the few things that we hold of value as we are passing through this life.  Worship here at the Fellowship means to notice, to appreciate, to name and to sing about what we hold as of great importance, that which is of worth, without which life would not be worth living.   

Worship is more than a program, and so I am delighted that our committee that oversees the quality of our Sunday morning together changed its name a couple years ago from Program Committee to Sunday Services Committee.   Yes, worship is more than a program.  When done well, it is something we all do together. 

I would ask you not to come to Sunday Service to listen to whoever is speaking.  Come to Sunday service to open yourself up to listening and partaking in an exchange of energy and affirmation from this religious community.  Come to sit in silence and feel the spirit of life moving between us all.  Come to laugh and move and sing to feel the harmonies we can create together.  Come to let yourself engage with a celebration of life and to be in touch with your goodness.  Come to be reminded of what you hold dear, come to more deeply engage with what you believe in, to clarify what you believe in.  Come to connect with, be transformed by something that is more than you can be by yourself.   You can worship alone, in your home or in nature if you get in touch with the depth of your being, and in what you hold dear,

But worshipping in community does more. 

What we each bring to the service may be as important as the service itself.  Ideally each of us comes with the expectation that someone life changing will take place for us, and so we enter into the time with an intention to flow with the experience, bringing our own unique experiences into the common experience.  Bringing the feelings welling up in us from our week to engage in a celebration which will hopefully be healing and learning.   Above all, we need to bring an openness of mind, spirit and self—for a closed mind, spirit and self leaves with just what you brought in and nothing more.  May we create each Sunday a caring community gathered together with the expectation that our energy and creativity will make a difference in our lives.

Worshipping in community allows us shared symbols and rituals.  The service is planned as a whole experience, and so it is important to plan on being here sitting in your seat by 10:30, so that you don’t miss the meaningful community rituals at the beginning of the service. 

The striking of the bowl signifies that we are about to begin an hour of worth together.  As the sound gets fainter and fainter, we might be in touch with the impermanence of life, and how our own energy flows out into the universe of our world.  Our prelude music is a gift that our volunteers offer us each Sunday, with great thought and hours of practice.  Their gifts of music take us to places inside us that cannot be fully described with words. 

The lighting of the chalice is a ritual that reminds us and holds up our values of service to the world, upholding the worth and dignity of all people—in part because it came out of our history of putting our faith into action by acts in Europe to save Jewish, gypsy and gay people during the Holocaust.    We express our cherishing of each other by rotating the honor of lighting the chalice—moving first through those with longest tenure in our Fellowship, as well as the shortest tenure with the ritual of Chalice Children—our seven year olds who light it for the first time—the same age that the Roman church offers a first Holy Communion.

Our Unison Affirmation is a clear alternative to what many of us who were raised in Christianity recited as a child—in the form of the Apostles Creed.  The Unison Affirmation is a clear statement of what we hold true—what we hold up as worthy.  We say… 

Love is the doctrine of this Fellowship, --you see ours is not a faith without beliefs.  We believe in love, and much more! 

The quest for truth is its sacrament—which means that revelation of truth is not fixed and memorized in childhood, nor is it determined by bishops or rabbis.  Life long truth seeking is life changing, and a sacrament is something that when acted out, changes us.   Continue to seek and listen, and be changed!

And Service is our prayer—our faith calls us to make a difference in the world around us, whether here, in our own home, our workplace or school or community. 

To dwell together in peace—we seek to learn to integrate peace within our own selves and between us.

To seek knowledge in freedom—we respect your freely chosen beliefs. You do not have to believe anything I say on Sunday—which is freedom of the pew, nor does anyone tell me what to preach about—freedom of the pulpit.

To serve humanity in fellowship—our religion calls us to embody our values wherever we go.

Thus do we covenant with one another.  A covenant is an agreement, wrapped in love. 

Right up front in the service we recite this affirmation together.  This is a sacred time, as we express what is important to us—what holds us together as a community.  During the saying of these words I hope we will feel the power of a small but growing group of people affirming a way of life that respects our freedom to believe what we believe, and seeks to make the world a better place for each other, and beyond our walls.  What better outcome can a faith community have? 

The time with our children says clearly how much we value them, and the story time is valuable for us all to consider what we want to share with our youngest, as well as how powerful a simple story can be for us all.  Our singing them out is an act of love for us all, to share in caring for our kids, whether we personally have children here or not.

Listening to the joys and sorrows of each other, we deepen our connections with one another.  When joys and sorrows are respected by all, and not used to slip in a commercial for a committee, we go deep into our common ground as humans.  We are reminded of what moves our lives and what makes them worthwhile.  We begin to sense our interdependence with each other and with all of life. 

Our sermon time addresses a broad range of topics, from learning about the teachings of prophetic men and women—like Krishnamurti, Buddha, Jesus and Eli Weisel, to personal spiritual practices such as text meditation of Eknath Easwaran, listening to the still small voice within, or considering the meaning of apology;  our sermons frequently address applying our faith and its values to modern day justice issues, and integrating new science into our faith lives.

No matter what the morning topic is, I hope that it will have some relationship to your lives, that it will make some difference to you, as you search inside and try to become the best possible person you can be.  I hope it helps you to re-order or re-shape or reinterpret your own experience and to reaffirm a few things of worth that you value in your life, for this short time you have to pass through.

Our sharing time after the sermon affirms that we are a sharing community with wisdom dispersed throughout. 

Our morning offering time, when we place our checks and dollar bills in the basket affirms that we are not controlled or supported by a might hierarchy, but only through the energy, resources and gifts of time that we share with our community. 

And our ending circle and five-fold Amen is an affirmation of our 75 minutes together.   Amen means “so it is”  or we might say “Yes, indeed yes!”  to what our time together has meant.

Do Unitarian Universalists worship?  Yes you bet we do.  We worship each Sunday morning, holding up what it is we value and believe in, principles that we know are necessary to the survival of this planet. 

May each Sunday make a difference for you, and for those who love you.  May it be a celebration of the mystery of life, with gratitude for that which upholds life—that which is greater than ourselves alone and is hinted at in our experience of the spirit connection and love within community.

May our time each week move the clouds a little so that you may gaze upon what you find majestic and ultimate. 

May it be so, Amen