Sermon: "What Does Unitarian Universalism Tell Us about All Souls Day?"

“What Does Unitarian Universalism Tell Us About All Souls Day?”
by Alexandra McGee
Oct 31, 2010
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, Unitarian Universalist
 
Context: Earlier in this church service, a child/baby dedication celebrated the cycle of life and asked the congregation to commit to helping raise the children in our faith tradition.  Immediately before the sermon, the Worship Associate read an excerpt from Ernest Cassara’s Universalism in America, pp. 137-138.  This excerpt described the deathbed experience of a Universalist minister in 1839.  This sermon was delivered two days before election day.
 
The reason that I asked Elizabeth to read you that account is because it leads us right into the crux of our question this morning:
What does our theology tell us about death and what happens after death?
 
According to the passage, this man found calmness and composure and even joy knowing that his Universalist faith promised him a place in heaven.  We heard how he trusted in streams of mercy.  For according to the Universalist theology of that time, God would bring all souls to be in heaven.
 
This deathbed account was recorded by a minister who wanted to show others the benefits of this belief system.  Consider the context in which he was writing.  The 1840s was a time in US history when many religious groups were preaching and publishing pamphlets to advocate their beliefs.  Some did say that God would judge people at death and send some to hell or purgatory. 
 
To counter this, a Universalist preacher named John Murray is famous for the quote “Give them not hell, but hope and courage.”  In those words, Murray is affirming that  Universalism is a faith that offers something to sustain us, not something that we must fear. 
 
Murray is so important to our heritage that here at TJMC UU, our youth in their religious education classes which we call our UU Stars program—for 1st-5th grades --- will study him during November.
 
This quote from John Murray is so well known that a minister was teasing me recently about it.  At a regional meeting of ministers I was telling someone about my preparation for this sermon.  He looked at me with amusement and disbelief, for taking on the topic of a UU theology about an afterlife…  then he said, “Well….Good luck”  Then he smiled and said “Give ‘em hell!” 
 
As our theology continued to evolve through the 1800s, and eventually into the merger of the Unitarian and Universalist denominations in 1961, a new aspect emerged.  Unitarianism encourages a reasoned search for truth and meaning.  Thus, we find in our UU churches and fellowships today many different beliefs about what happens after death. 
Some say that we simply cannot know what happens after death. 
Some say that we are learning lessons in this life that will play a part in determining our next life time. 
Some say that we can at least know our bodies will be recycled, thus connecting us to Mother Earth.
In our church’s women’s group, the UUpity Women, they recently shared “ghost” stories, including real life experiences. 
And one of our Covenant Groups, which are small groups within our church (and you can still join one), one group recently chose to discuss views of death.  
And, there’s even a joke about a Unitarian who dies and starts on the journey after death.  Eventually, they reach a fork in the road, where there are two signs.  One sign says “To heaven.”  The other sign says “To discussion about heaven.”
 
So, you might notice that our modern UU theology of today does not offer a solid single answer.  But, it does invite us to actively reflect on our beliefs.   Consider the how this is explained by Forrest Church, a Unitarian Universalist theologian who died last year. He wrote,
“One distinction between Unitarian Universalism and the major-scripture driven Western religions, is that we tend to view the world as a school rather than as a corrections facility.” (from A Chosen Faith, pp. 192.) In these words, I think he is saying our current UU theology focuses more on life than on death. 
 
And so I ask, how can we live our lives so that our deaths are good deaths?
 
In addition to my part-time ministry here with this congregation, I also work as a hospice chaplain. This means that I visit in homes with family in the days and weeks before death.  All hospice chaplains are committed to supporting hospice patients and their loved ones in whatever spiritual tradition gives them hope and comfort.  That means that I get to hear many different views on what happens when a person dies.
Some people really fear going to hell. 
Some people really find comfort in knowing that they will go to heaven. 
I have been deeply touched holding the hand of a man who knows that Jesus is waiting to embrace him. 
Some people tell me they don’t know what will happen, but they trust it will be peaceful.  Others tell me that they just expect to be recycled in some way---both body and spirit.  Some people tell me they aren’t scared of what happens after death, but scared of what happens during death. 
One woman told me that she sees her death as a wonderful graduation ceremony. 
 
As I sit with people talking about their upcoming death, I see that no matter what the beliefs of each person, that ultimately, what each of us is looking for is comfort.
 
Most religions have a standard answer and that gives comfort.
In UUism, we often spend a lot of time on reason and on good deeds. 
But I ask you, will these help us when we are dying, or when a loved one is dying?  Reason can only carry us so far. 
Energetic good deeds can only carry us so far.
What gives comfort?
 
What I have seen is that ultimately what gives us comfort is our relationships.
 
Relationship.  Community.  Loved ones.
 
How can we practice this Theology of relationship?
Holding a hand during a time of uncertainty,
listening during a time of despair,
giving food during a time of crisis,
being quiet when no words suffice.
talking to our loved ones about death. 
So that when we reach a point when we are not able to talk anymore, that we have not left anything unsaid.
 
There is a story that when Henry David Thoreau was dying, his aunt, who was very appartently very pious, asked him if he had made peace with God.  The story goes that he replied:  “I did not know we had quarreled.” 
 
My friends, I exhort you to have these conversations. 
Before you die, and before your loved ones die, take the chance to say the things you are proud of, the things you forgive, and how you feel about dying.
 
But I think that is not all that I think our theology tells us when we consider death.  There is a second part to my message this morning.  Let’s go back to the notion that we will give people hope and courage instead of hell.
 
Why have so many religions offered hell as an option after death?  Because hell is the punishment for sin.  Having this incentive not to sin is considered very useful to society.  In fact, the Universalists in the mid-1800s were critiqued for lacking this incentive.  I quote: (see Cassara, p. 133;  footnote citation on p. 280, see Chap 4, note 6)
“It cannot be denied, that the advocates of Universalism are mostly to be found in that class of people which includes The intemperate, the thief, the robber, the profane swearer, the murderer, the corrupt and dissolute, These people are generally pleased with the preaching of Universalists…”
 
So, we really have to ask ourselves, does our Universalist faith keep us from behaving well? 
Does it make us poor citizens of society? 
Does it prevent us from seeing the effects of our behavior?
 
Is having hell actually a useful incentive?
 
Those of you who have children at home may have had them ask you about the things that other children at school talk about.  One of the things that kids might talk about at on the playground, or lunchtime, or on the bus, is what kind of behavior is right, and how you’ll be punished if you do wrong.  They may talk about what is right to believe and where you’ll go (heaven) if you believe right, and where you’ll go (hell) if you believe wrong.  Maybe your kids ask you about heaven and hell.
 
My friends, I ask you this morning, How are we as UUs to help in the raising of our children in this environment? 
 
I suggest that we must take it into our own hands to define what we mean by sin.
 
I believe the definition of sin is when right relationship is broken.
            Anytime that the inherent worth of one person is degraded by another. 
            For example, this might happen in marital relations. 
            It might happen in employment practices. 
            It might happen in immigration policies.
 
Our Unitarian Universalist theology does not have a very well developed concept of sin.  In fact, this problem was lifted up at the recent October 8th anti-racism conference in Richmond, held by our UU region.  We discussed racism as a system, social sin.  Theologian Danielle Dibona says:  “As an association of congregations, we are theologically immature.  This immaturity in our theology shows as a lack of understanding of a concept of sin, and thus a lack of redemption.”  She is talking to us about redemption.  What will redeem us?  What will save us in the face of our sins?
 
I call us to practice right relationship. 
To vigilantly honor each person that we interact with.
To maintain wholeness in every aspect of our church. 
To wisely craft social policies with an eye to everyone who will be affected. 
 
I call us to name when right relationship is broken and to put our energy toward mending broken relationships and restoring wholeness. 
 
When we empower ourselves to name sin on these terms, then we do have a reply to help our kids respond to what they hear about hell.
 
For if we really do believe that we are all going to be together in heaven, we need to start practicing to get along now.
 
In a recently-published book called Sum, by David Eagleman, you can find creative short essays about all the different ways that God might be running heaven.  One tells about a God who invites everyone to heaven… and then She is dismayed… to find that the Republicans and Democrats… still can’t even get along in heaven.
 
"In the end, my friends, our theology tells us that the quality of our relationships in this lifetime is what will redeem us.”
 
Blessed be.  Amen.