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What Does It Mean T#1DA5882 What Does It Mean To Be A Unitarian Universalist? Unitarian Universalists of Riderwood Village September 17, 2009 Dr. Bruce T. Marshall The Story of the Flaming Chalice It is a common practice in Unitarian Universalist congregations to light a flaming chalice as we begin worship. A flame is a universal symbol, used by many to represent the spirit that brings us life. But the Flaming Chalice has come to be a particular symbol for Unitarian Universalists, and it has its own story. Today, before lighting our chalice, I would like to share something of its history and its meaning. There are two parts to the Flaming Chalice story. One involves a history specific to Unitarian Universalists. But the Flaming Chalice, itself, is a very old symbol. It dates back over 500 years, before there was a Unitarian or Universalist church. I’ll start with the more recent history which takes us to the time of World War II and the years leading up to that. With the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the upheaval that created in Europe, the American Unitarian Association sent several missions to see if and how they could help those at risk. Particularly important were a Unitarian minister, Waitstill Sharp and his wife Martha, a social worker. The two journeyed to Prague in Czechoslovakia and engaged in a project to help political refugees escape the Nazis. When Czechoslovakia and then France were overrun, the Sharps moved to Portugal where they continued their work. Several thousand people were helped to flee regions which the Nazis controlled and where their lives would have been in grave danger. This mission marked the beginnings of a new organization: the Unitarian Service Committee. The organization needed a symbol to represent itself and also to identify those cooperating in the effort to aid the refugees. A Jewish refugee from Paris named Hans Deutsch, then working with the Unitarian Service Committee office in Portugal, was asked to create such a design. In so doing, Hans Deutsch drew upon his knowledge of a very old symbol and created the Flaming Chalice design used by Unitarian Universalists. Throughout World War II, the Unitarian Service Committee created a kind of underground railroad which enabled Jews and other victims of the Nazis to escape. The Flaming Chalice identified those working for the Service Committee and was sometimes scratched in the dirt designate a safe house for those in flight. At the time, the Unitarians and the Universalists were still separate organizations. The Universalists also became active in Europe, particularly after World War II when both Unitarians and Universalists helped with relief efforts. The Universalists formed their own agency called the Universalist Service Committee. The Unitarian and 1 Universalist service committees worked together, anticipating the time when the national organizations would join to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. The UUA has adopted the Flaming Chalice as a symbol for the association, not just its service committees. That’s the modern history of the Flaming Chalice, but the symbol itself has earlier origins. This story takes us back to the 1400s in Eastern Europe in what is now the Czech Republic. It involves a Catholic priest named Jan Hus. Jan Hus was a reformer. He was leader of a movement that sought changes in the church of his day, aimed at making the faith more accessible to everyday people. One change he advocated was to say the mass in the language of the people, rather than in Latin. Another change was to reject priestly robes that, he felt, needlessly separated the clergy from other people. He maintained that priests should wear the same clothing as everybody else. Jan Hus also changed the communion service and how it was practiced. At the time, the bread of the communion service—designated as the body of Christ—was shared by all. But only the priests received the wine, said to be the blood of Christ. So the bread was passed through the congregation while only the priests drank wine from the cup designated for that purpose, known as the chalice. Hus changed that. In the services of this reform movement, the chalice containing the wine was passed to each who was present, not just the clergy. The chalice was made available to all, and so it became the symbol of this reform movement. Church authorities became aware of what Jan Hus doing and ordered him to stop. When Hus refused, he was arrested, found guilty of heresy, and burned at the stake, which was at the time the treatment for those who ran afoul of the church. It was reported that Jan Hus held onto a chalice as he died. Soon after Hus was executed, his supporters took to wearing a new symbol sewn on their jackets. It was a chalice—symbol of this reform movement—but now it contained within it a flame. Signifying that the ideals of this movement lived on, even though its leader had died. What does that story mean to us? It pre-dates American Unitarianism and Universalism by hundreds of years. And besides, most of our congregations don’t even have a communion service, so what difference does it make who receives the wine? Well, consider the symbolism. The communion wine represents the spirit. When the priests are the only ones with access to it, then religious truth must come through them. The church maintains control. But when the chalice is shared from person to person, then it makes a statement that each person has access—each can receive truth and inspiration directly. Spiritual authority is no longer the possession of those who are in charge; it is shared by all. 2 The Flaming Chalice, then, relates us not only to our own history as Unitarian Universalists, it also connects us to a long tradition of religious reform which has been expressed in many different contexts. This is a tradition that questions whenever power is concentrated in the hands of a few, as it seeks to value each individual as having worth and dignity. Each of us has a flame that burns within, each of us drinks from the chalice of life, each of us has the power to guide ourselves toward what is right and true. What Does It Mean to be a Unitarian Universalist? What does it mean to be a Unitarian Universalist? That is a very personal question. It will be answered in different ways by different people. It may be answered in different ways by the same person in various stages of life. Today I would like to offer some possible responses to that question, drawn from our history as a religious movement. My purpose is not to answer the question for you. Unitarian Universalism is based on a foundation of religious freedom so church or clergy cannot tell you what to believe. What I can do, though, is offer some options—some ways that those of our tradition have responded. Whether you consider yourself a UU or not, my aim is to encourage you to reflect upon your own faith and what you rely upon as your guides. * * * Today’s Unitarian Universalism brings together two traditions: Unitarianism and Universalism. Both previously named specific American denominations. The American Unitarian Association was formed in 1825, though the beginnings of American Unitarianism can be traced back to the mid-1700s. The Universalist Church of America was formed in 1778. But the terms, Unitarian and Universalist, go back much farther. They take us to the beginnings of Christianity, which is where I’d like to start. During the early years of the Christian church, there were debates about the nature of Jesus. Who was he? What was and is the significance of his life? People on one side of this debate regarded Jesus as a man with a special relationship to God and a divine mission that came from this relationship. This interpretation contrasted with the views of another side whose adherents believed that Jesus was God. That view became institutionalized as the Doctrine of the Trinity: the belief that the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are equal expressions of God. Those who believed that God was supreme and that Jesus was not equal to God became known as Unitarians. “Unitarian” meant “God is one,” as opposed to the Trinitarian belief that God is three. When the early church sought to make its beliefs more uniform, Christian leaders chose the side of the Trinitarians. Unitarianism then became a heresy and was ruthlessly 3 suppressed. Nevertheless, the idea survived, appearing in various places and various times: Poland, Eastern Europe—particularly Transylvania, England, and then the newly formed United States of America. The story of Unitarianism in America is a little more complicated. It was less about the nature of Jesus than it was about the nature of people: the human condition. Early American Protestant churches emphasized human sinfulness and the necessity of being saved from that sin. American Unitarians suggested a different way, one that focused on the capacity for good that human beings also exhibit. They promoted reason as a valid tool in religious inquiry. And they rejected creeds or doctrinal statements in favor of freedom as a more authentic pathway to determining religious truth. So three basics to early American Unitarianism: (1) an emphasis on human worth and possibility, (2) the use of reason in religion, (3) a rejection of creeds in favor of freedom in religion. One example of what compelled the attention of the early American Unitarians: they studied the New Testament, aiming to separate what really happened in the days of Jesus from the stories or the myths that grew up around the history.
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