Prelude Melodia Africana I by Ludovico Einaudi
Opening Words by Andy Pakula
Come into this circle of community. Come into this sacred space.
Be not tentative. Bring your whole self!
Bring the joy that makes your heart sing.
Bring your kindness and your compassion.
Bring also your sorrow, your pain.
Bring your brokenness and your disappointments.
Spirit of love and mystery; help us to recognize the spark of the divine that resides within each of us.
May we know the joy of wholeness.
May we know the joy of being together.
Chalice Lighting (you may wish to light a candle in your own home at this point). Words by Yvonne Aburrow
As we light the chalice,
We see the flame rise up,
held in the bowl of the chalice.
Just so our spirits yearn for the Divine
Held in the circle of community.
Opening Prayer
Spirit of Life and Love,
be with us as we gather for worship,
each in our own place.
Help us to feel a sense of community,
even though we are physically apart.
Help us to care for each other,
in this world in which the clouds
of war, poverty, and climate change hover.
May we keep in touch however we can,
and help each other, however we may.
Help us to be grateful for the freedoms we have
and to respect the wishes of others.
May we hold in our hearts all those
who are grieving, lost, alone,
suffering in any way,
Amen
Reading from Beliefs of a Unitarian by Alfred Hall
Unitarians believe first of all and most profoundly in God. They erect their churches for the worship of God. … This is the bond which unites them as a religious community. Beyond this, they formulate no creed, but, while offering what guidance they can, they assert that it is the duty of each man to be diligent in his search for truth and faithful to the light God reveals to him. They reverence God so deeply, that they feel they cannot fully describe him.
When this book was written in the 1930s, Dr. Hall’s beliefs that I have just read to you were shared by the vast majority of Unitarians. Yet even by 1962, when the 3rd edition was published, the editors A.B. Downing and Arthur W. Vallance felt it necessary to include this footnote: “At the present time a certain number of Unitarians in Great Britain, and far more in America, would strongly dissent from the views expressed in this section. They have carried still further the conviction stated by Dr. Hall in the words ‘They reverence God so deeply, that they feel they cannot fully describe him,’ and, paradoxically as it seems to other Unitarians, they decline to give the name God to that which they reverence, and describe themselves as Humanists.”
Alternative Lord’s Prayer
Spirit of Life and Love, here and everywhere,
May we be aware of your presence in our lives.
May our world be blessed.
May our daily needs be met,
And may our shortcomings be forgiven,
As we forgive those of others.
Give us the strength to resist wrong-doing,
The inspiration and guidance to do right,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
We are your hands in the world; help us to grow.
May we have compassion for all living beings,
And receive whatever life brings,
With courage and trust. Amen
Reading Religious Humanism from The Unitarian Path by Andrew M. Hill
One outspoken group of Unitarians, struggling bravely with the impact of modern science upon religious thought and with the emergence of evolution as a most successful model of how life on earth came to be as it is, appeared to dismiss God altogether as a relic of a pre-scientific age. The group claimed:
- That the universe is self-existing and not created
- That the human person is part of nature and has emerged as a result of a continuous process
- That the nature of the universe depleted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values
- That religion consists of those actions, purposes, and experiences which are humanly significant
These Unitarians, describing themselves as religious humanists, were brave wayfarers, and if perhaps they didn’t in the end quite replace God with godlike humanity – Auschwitz and the Gulag and the Nuclear Bomb saw to that – they did leave awkward and difficult questions which needed asking then and very often still need asking now.
How can one speak of an almighty and loving God when half the time not only the human race but also the natural order seem to run in the opposite direction; and of an all-knowing God when evolutionary theory, relativity and quantum mechanics seem to know rather more?
Prayer by Cliff Reed
God of our inmost selves
and of the stars from which we came;
who is both the core of our being
and the transcendent mystery;
of whom there is no need of proof,
because we are here to ask the question;
to whom all true religion points, but whom no religion can ever truly comprehend;
who is the truth behind the sacred myths,
but whose whole truth
no myth can capture, however sacred;
who inspires the words of prophets and poets,
but who cannot be defined in words alone;
whose presence we sense where there is love,
but which we lose where there is hatred;
God of our hearts,
we turn to you in the communion of silence…
God of the silence –
in ourselves, in this sacred place,
and in the cosmic void,
bless us in our quietness and our tumult,
in our striving and our rest.
Amen.
Reading What do Unitarians believe about God? From Unitarian? What’s That? by Cliff Reed
“God” is a very subjective word.
Unitarians recognise this and do not presume to define God for others. We believe that everyone should be free to encounter the Great Mystery for themselves “without mediator or veil.”
However, most Unitarians would use the word “God” to signify that which they believe to be of supreme worth. God is that which commands ultimate reverence and allegiance. God is the inspiration and the object of those who seek truth in a spirit of humility and openness. For some, Christian language about God as a loving, personal power – father-like as Jesus experienced – comes closest to their own belief. Increasingly, the feminine aspect of the divine is recognised too – God as Mother, the Goddess. Many experience God as a unifying and life-giving spirit: the source of all being, the universal process that comes to consciousness as love in its creatures. Some use the word “God” to signify the human ideal, the noblest visions and aspirations of humanity against which we measure ourselves. God as an inward presence – the “still, small voice” – means more to many than any external power.
Such understandings are not, of course, mutually exclusive. There are some Unitarians who avoid using the word “God” altogether. For them it has become debased or corrupted by abuse, or simply doesn’t mean anything to them. Does this sound confusing? Only if you really think that God – that which is ultimate in the universe and in our lives – can be reduced to one neat formula. Human experience suggests otherwise, and Unitarians accept this.
Time of Stillness and Reflection God is in your nostrils by Rory Castle Jones
God is spirit.
God is light.
God is in your nostrils.
God is sun.
God is nature.
God is up there,
and down here.
God is gracious.
God is merciful.
God is in every breath you breathe in and breathe out.
God is fire.
God is mighty.
God is the strength in your heart,
and your help in times of trouble.
God is truth.
God is good.
God sits delicately on the end of your tongue.
God is salvation.
God is refuge.
God calls us to bring good news to the oppressed,
to comfort and heal the broken-hearted,
and proclaim liberty to prisoners.
God is within.
God is great.
God is on your lips, with every word and every kiss.
God is one.
God is peace.
God is a righteous judge, railing against injustice,
with you in all that you do, and wherever you go.
God is your shield.
God is love.
[silence]
God is nowhere,
and everywhere.
God is in your breath, and on the tip of your tongue.
God is on your lips, and in your heart.
God is in your nostrils.
Musical Interlude I Giorni by Ludovico Einaudi
Address Unitarian Views of the Divine
The evolution of Unitarian views of the Divine (or God) is a fascinating study.
For the last 500 years, Unitarians (or Socinians, as they were previously known) have primarily been defined as “one who, member of a religious body that, maintains against the doctrine of the Trinity that God is one person; advocate of general freedom of belief” which is how the Concise Oxford Dictionary describes us today. And it would be true to say that, at least up until the beginning of the 19th century, such a definition would have been accepted, at least as a starting point, by most Unitarians. For example, Theophilus Lindsey, minister of the first avowedly-Unitarian congregation in Britain, set down what might be called the classic Liberal Christian position in 1790; he wrote:
- “That there is ONE GOD, one single person, who is God, the sole creator and the sovereign lord of all things.
- That the holy JESUS was a man of the jewish nation, the servant of this God, highly honoured and distinguished by him.
- That the SPIRIT or HOLY SPIRIT, was not a person, or intelligent being; but only the extraordinary power or gift of God, imparted first (Acts i,2) to our Lord Jesus Christ himself, in his life-time; and, afterwards, to the apostles, and many of the first christians, to impower them to preach and propagate the gospel with success.
- That this was the doctrine concerning God, and Christ, and the holy spirit, which was taught by the apostles, and preached to jews and heathens.”
At the beginning of the 19th century, Unitarians (generally) still agreed with the statement of Charles Wellbeloved, Principal of Manchester College, York: “Convince us that any tenet is authorized by the Bible, from that moment we receive it … and no power on earth shall wrest it from us.” By the end of the century, Reason and Conscience had become the primary criteria for religious authority, even above scripture. The person mainly responsible for this radical development was James Martineau, whom Smith describes in The Unitarians: a short history as “by common consent the greatest influence on the development of modern British Unitarianism.”
Over his long life, which almost spanned the century, Martineau’s views evolved from determinism (a belief that any event whatsoever is an instance of some law of nature) and materialism (a belief that everything is wholly dependent on matter for its existence, and that there is only one fundamental kind of reality, and that this is material) to a belief in the freedom of the spirit. He also changed from believing in a rigid scriptural Unitarianism to “free faith based on the inner authority of the enlightened conscience.” Much more room was given to intuition and feeling, as opposed to subjecting everything to cold reason.
This evolution of Unitarian thought in the 19th century inevitably influenced how Unitarians perceive God. In my readings today, I’ve tried to show how various Unitarians have tried to answer the question “What is the nature of God / the Divine?” over the last sixty or so years. And the wonderful thing about the Unitarian faith (in my eyes at least) is that all these different beliefs are accepted; and the right of any individual Unitarian to believe as he or she wishes is paramount (so long as that belief is submitted to their own reason and conscience and to the checks and balances of being part of a religious community).
As Cliff Reed explained in our third reading, Unitarians today “do not presume to define God for others. We believe that everyone should be free to encounter the Great Mystery for themselves ‘without mediator or veil’.” This respect for the individual’s right to work out their own beliefs has resulted in a wide spectrum of perceptions of God within our denomination. Even within my own small congregation in Northampton, there is a wide diversity of belief. Some are what I would call “Liberal Christians”, who would define God in Christian terms as a “loving, personal power – father-like, as Jesus experienced”; others would say that they “experience God as a unifying and life-giving spirit; the source of all being, the universal process that comes to consciousness as love in its creatures.” Yet others, whom we might describe as religious humanists, would use the word “God” to signify “the human ideal, the noblest visions and aspirations of humanity, against which we measure ourselves.” And then there are some whose chief perception of God is that of the “still, small voice” within us, rather than any external power. It should also be realised that these beliefs are not mutually exclusive. Most of us would say that belief in a combination of them is where we would find God.
It is also a vital tenet of Unitarian belief that all are free to work out their own positions, in the light of their own ongoing experience. This openness to new thoughts and ideas is a key concept in Unitarianism; indeed it is what has kept it green and growing down the centuries. Our movement has been underpinned by a process of continuous and continuing revelation. At different times and in different countries, different ideas have been considered to be most important. In the 20th century, two distinct strands of Unitarian thought have led to a dichotomy in belief, which summarises quite neatly the different ways that Unitarians perceive God or the Divine or the Spirit of Life and Love.
On the one hand are the Liberal Christians, whose roots lie in mainstream Christianity, and who reverence Jesus above other teachers. Such Unitarians would be inspired by the words of the American minister Theodore Parker, who wrote in 1841 that “Christianity is a simple thing, very simple. It is absolute, pure morality; absolute, pure religion; the love of man; the love of God acting without let or hindrance. … The only form it demands is a divine life; doing the best thing in the best way, from the highest motives; perfect obedience to the great law of God. Its sanction is the voice of God in your heart; the perpetual presence of him who made us and the stars over our head; Christ and the Father abiding within us. All this is very simple – a little child can understand it; very beautiful – the loftiest mind can find nothing so lovely. Try it by reason, conscience and faith – things highest in man’s nature we see no redundance, we feel no deficiency. Examine the particular duties it enjoins – humility, reverence, sobriety, gentleness, charity, forgiveness, fortitude, resignation, faith and active love; try the whole extent of Christianity, so well summed up in the command, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind – thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” and is there anything therein that can perish? No.”
On the other hand, there are the less theistic Unitarians, who believe that the teachers and writings of all faiths are equally inspirational. And there are some who do not believe in any Divine being at all. Which is fine – as Unitarians, we are all on individual spiritual journeys, and take our inspiration from many sources.
Personally speaking, I find inspiration and truth in both strands of belief – I believe in a personal God, and find Theodore Parker’s words both challenging and inspirational. I have found that my faith has evolved over the years. When I first became a Unitarian at the age of 18, it was in rejection of my childhood faith. So I felt at home at the more humanistic end of the Unitarian spectrum. Today I have moved almost full circle, not to the Christianity of my childhood precisely, but to a more radical, mystical interpretation of the teachings and example of Jesus.
In the last decade or so, I have been much influenced by the wonderful writings of Richard Rohr, the Franciscan author, and Director of the Centre for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico; and those of the late Irish Celtic Christian mystic, John O’Donohue. Between them, these two Catholic mystics have introduced me to a Christianity that I never dreamed could exist. One in which God is overwhelmingly loving and merciful, not judgemental and harsh. One in which there is a spark of the divine in everyone. One in which it is possible to have a personal relationship with God, because that of God in each person is reaching out to the Divine in the world; one in which the grace of God and the Spirit are active in the world; one in which the whole world is regarded as sacramental.
On the other hand, I would still not call myself a Unitarian Christian – a Quakerly-inclined Unitarian, perhaps, but not a Unitarian Christian. Because I believe that the teachings of other faiths, Judaism and Taoism, and also Buddhism and Paganism in my particular case, also hold great truths for humankind. I count myself lucky in belonging to a religious movement in which I can hold both these strands of belief together, and forge from them my own truth, and worship God – Father and Mother, Spirit of Life and Love – in my own way.
Closing Words by Sue Woolley
Spirit of Life and Love,
our time together is drawing to a close.
May we respect one another’s journeys,
and may we find that of comfort and consolation
in our own perceptions of God, the Divine.
May we return to our everyday world refreshed,
may we share the love we feel,
may we look out for each other,
and may we keep up our hearts,
now and in the days to come, Amen
Postlude Stella del Mattino by Ludovico Einaudi