Nerdy Religion Time

Once again I will be filling in for Rev. Robin for her column. We’ll be tackling another fun subject this month in our Nerdy Religion time together. One of the questions I get most often about Unitarian Universalism is what we believe about God. As Unitarian Universalists one of the topics it seems we are least able to discuss is what our beliefs are relating to God. It makes sense that we would be both squeamish and curious on this topic because our views differ and we know that this has been a place of discord for Unitarians and Universalists since long before any of us were born. I propose that we open the channels for discussion on this a little bit.

Historically both Unitarianism and Universalism come from theistic, Christian traditions that make two major, and to some heretical, statements about God. The Unitarians believed that there was one God, rather than the Holy Trinity which consisted of God, the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Our nerdy forefathers came to this conclusion because they analyzed the text of the bible and they didn’t believe that the bible actually has the trinity in it. You can get super nerdy about that by following this link.

The Universalists didn’t believe that God would send people to hell forever. In fact they believed that it would make God evil. These nerdy forefathers derived their conclusions from logic. They didn’t belief that the bible supported the idea of eternal damnation, but moreover they didn’t think it would be fair. They believed there is no way that God could be both loving and capable of setting up a system where people could be punished infinitely for a finite amount of evil living. They believed evil needed to be punished, just not forever. I challenge any one of you to be nerdy enough to read all of this.

For us what we believe God is, if anything, isn’t so uniform, but I believe that the lessons gleaned from these two ideas about God still have a great effect on Unitarian Universalists. From the Unitarians and their one God we see a divine in whatever form that is open to all. There is no God that exists only for some and not for others. The sacred in this world, whether that be God or nature or the spirit that connects us is open to any and all.

From the Universalist we take the idea that there is no special treatment in this life or the next. While we don’t know what happens after you die, we know that it is not affected by your works, beliefs or rates of church attendance. Again, the sacred is available to, within and among all people. None are left out.

What do you think? Tell me about what God is for you in the section below.

See you Sunday!

Nerdy Religion Time

For the next two months I’m going to take over Robin’s column in the newsletter while she is busy having babies and not getting a lot of sleep. 

One of my favorite things to do as a minister is explore ancient texts and ideas to figure out what they can teach us today. I’m a pretty nerdy guy, and it shows in the way I think about things. That's why I’m calling this Nerdy Religion Time. One of the topics I get questions about most often at newcomer orientations is about Jesus. What do UUs think of him? What does he mean to us? Here’s my take:

First and foremost I think that UU’s are pretty different, so it's hard to answer what most folks think about Jesus. Both Unitarians and Universalists come out of the Christian tradition and a lot of the moral teaching attributed to Jesus informs what we believe and how we act to this day. For instance, Jesus was one of the first to call into question the idea that poverty and sickness were signs of God’s displeasure (Mark 2:1-12 and many others). This may seem like a pretty archaic idea, but it's still around especially when dealing with addiction and AIDS. Jesus taught that health and wealth were not signs of righteousness and identified God with those who suffer. 

When we speak out against repressing the voting rights of the poor or cutting the social safety net, and whether or not it comes to our mind, we are influenced as a tradition by Jesus’s words: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20), “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40).

Jesus quotes the book of Isaiah from the Hebrew bible to sum up what he thinks his mission is:

‘The Spirit of the God is upon me,

because God has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the God’s favor.’ (Luke 4:18-19)

Now, it might not be the Spirit of God that is upon you, but I hope that there is something that stirs within your soul and calls you to strive for justice. I think that when we are at our best, Jesus’s mission statement would work for us as Unitarian Universalists as well. I’ve done a little translation to fit it into UU vernacular:

The spirit of all that is sacred is upon us,

because we have been anointed by the holy among us;

We have been sent to bring good news to the oppressed,

to bind up the broken-hearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and release to the prisoners;

to proclaim that this is the year of Justice,

this is the year of equality,

this is the year when love for all

will bring comfort to all who mourn;

will provide for those in sorrow all over this world—

to give them courage instead of pain,

gladness instead of mourning,

and praise and celebration instead of a faint heart.

What do you think? Can you get behind Jesus’s mission statement of justice, either its original or adapted forms? What do you think about Jesus? Leave a comment below or send me an email.

See you on Sunday?

Rev. Justin