We avow our faith in

God as eternal and all-conquering love;
the spiritual leadership of Jesus;
the supreme worth of every human
the authority of truth, known or to be known; and
the power of persons of good will and sacrificial spirit to overcome all evil and progressively establish the kingdom of God.

Sermon:

I wonder if the children here have thought about the name of our religion: Unitarian Universalism. You might think that it's a rather long name. It's certainly a lot longer than Christianity or Judaism or Islam or Hinduism. It's even longer than Roman Catholicism. Did you ever wonder why our religion has such a long name? Or that it has two names? Sometimes you might have a hard time saying... or even remembering both names, Unitarian Universalism. To tell you the truth, even grownups have a hard time repeating them over and over and simply say "Unitarian" or "UU."

So why does our religion have two names? Here's the story. Some 45 years ago, even before some of your parents were born, two separate religions, the Unitarians and the Universalists joined together to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. They had each existed separately in this country for many, many years. The Universalist churches came first, just before the American Revolution.

At the beginning, the two religions were different in some important ways. But they had one thing in common: People in both groups were willing to look at religion in a new way. They thought that religious beliefs shouldn't be fixed for all times, but change as human knowledge and understanding grew. Beliefs about God, the nature of the universe and human beings should change, they thought, according to new discoveries and new ways of thinking.

You heard in the Universalist Declaration of Faith that they believed in "the authority of truth, known or to be known." It takes some humility to say you could be wrong or don't know, but it also allows your mind to grow and mature. I'm sure you can think about something you believed when you were younger which you no longer believe... something which might even seem silly now.

I'd like to speak this morning about Universalism, the side of our faith which is often ignored. I'll speak about its beginnings and about what Universalism can offer us, especially at Easter ... a way to reclaim Jesus from Christianity.

In the early years of Universalism in this country, about 130 years ago, the Universalists decided that orthodox Christians were wrong about heaven and hell. In those days, most Christian ministers preached that we were all born sinners ... even innocent little babies! This is called Original Sin. Unless people repented of their sins and believed as they believed in Jesus Christ, God would send them to hell when they died. And there, in hell, sinners would stay in endless torment and misery.

Maybe some of you have run into people who believe this today. They might insist they are right and you're wrong. Maybe they've told you that you're going to hell. That's pretty upsetting to be told this. But it's worse, I think, to actually believe that we're all born bad. And that God would condemn most people to hell. And that some small group of people, called the Elect, would go to heaven. That seems pretty unfair to me and unloving of God.

Universalists had a different idea. Many years ago, they still believed in heaven and hell as actual places were people went after death. (Today most Unitarian Universalists don't actually believe in heaven or hell or think we can't really know one way or another.) But those old time Universalists believed in Jesus' teaching that God loved all people no matter who they were or what they had done. Even if they were mass murderers! God as a loving God would not condemn people to hell for an eternity. They believed in the universal salvation of all souls, thus the name "Universalism." More traditional Christians denounced this belief and called the Universalists heretics, not meant as a compliment.

But Universalists weren't all of one mind of salvation. Some thought sinners would go to hell for just a few years... or to a middle place called Purgatory, which wasn't quite as bad as hell. The Reverend Elhanan Winchester thought 50,000 years. After all, what's a few hundred thousand years compared to eternity? You'd stay there in hell or Purgatory until you learned your lessons about what is good and what is evil and sincerely repented your sins. After you repented, you went to heaven. There you were united with God in great joy and happiness.Another group of Universalists thought everyone went straight to heaven without delay since Christ's sacrificial death saved people for all times.

At any rate, the founder of Universalism in this country, John Murray, told his followers to preach "Not Hell, but Hope." Universalism became known as the "No Hell" religion. It became very popular among folks who were tired of the old, scary religion.

Universalism began in England with the dynamic preacher James Relly around 1750. John Murray, who was born into a Calvinist Anglican family, learned about Universalism from Relly. In mid life, he sailed from England to America in 1770. Seven years later, Murray started the first official Universalist church on this side of the Atlantic in Gloucester, Massachusetts. More about Murray in a moment.

We heard what Universalism had to say about heaven and salvation. What does it say about Jesus? Through the years Universalist ideas on Jesus changed dramatically. In the beginning, most believed Jesus was the son of God and the Savior of all humanity. They accepted the Christian dogma that Jesus was part of the holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and thus were Trinitarians.

The Universalist state convention in Philadelphia in 1790 adopted five articles of faith. One article said they believed Jesus Christ was the Mediator between God and humankind. But he was more than a mere messenger. He was the incarnation of God in a human body. The statement goes on to say that Jesus Christ gave himself as "a ransom for all" people and that he redeemed them by his blood. By his death through the Crucifixion, the whole human race would be restored to happiness. The aim of people was to understand God's message in the scriptures and to become holy. This meant to lead moral, active and useful lives... simply to be good and to do good works. So in that sense they were traditionally Christian.

Fast forward about 13 years. Many Universalists began to view Jesus as less than God and more of a special divine person. There was another convention, this time in Winchester, Massachusetts in 1803. There they adopted a Profession of Faith. It said in part, "We believe that there is one God, who nature is Love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness." Still sort of Trinitarian. But note that here Jesus is the revealer of God's nature, which is Love. It doesn't say that Jesus is the incarnation or embodiment of God. And there is no mention of ransom or blood or death. Instead, people are to be good because being so makes them both holy and truly happy.

In 1805 another Universalist minister spoke out boldly and again changed people's beliefs. This was Hosea Ballou, another minister in Massachusetts. Ballou published his Treatise on Atonement, which talked about the use of reason in religious matters and rejected the doctrine of the Trinity as unscriptural and irrational. This was some 14 years before the father of Unitarianism, William Ellery Channing, preached on the same subject in his famous Baltimore Sermon. In other words, the Universalists were ahead of the Unitarians in rejecting the Trinity, but never got the recognition they deserved.

Over the 60 or so years, Universalism became very popular. Naturally, many people liked the message of "Not Hell, but hope." In fact, at one time it was the fastest growing religion in America. Although the exact numbers are not known, at its peak around 1850, Universalism may have had 700,000 followers. It had hundreds of churches and religious societies, both large and small, all around the country. But many weren't well organized since the Universalists weren't big on structure and organization. And many fell apart over the years. In rural areas some churches became Methodist or Baptist as those faiths became more liberal and accepted the doctrines of a loving God and of universal salvation.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, another split was developing among Universalists. A good number had moved away from Christianity altogether, or at least pushed it more in the background and looked to other world religions for inspiration. But other Universalists still clung to their Christian roots. The split between the two groups became known as the Humanist/Liberal Christian controversy.

In 1935, they finally agreed on the Universalist Declaration of Faith, which defined some common beliefs and unified them again. This declaration included the phrases "God as eternal and all-conquering love [and] the spiritual leadership of Jesus." To Universalists Jesus is now all human, although still a very special teacher and guide.

In 1946, a group of ministers put their heads together and came up with a unifying symbol of Universalism. It was a large circle with a small cross off to one side. This is called the Off-Center Cross. As Richard Trudeau, a UU minister in Weymouth, described it, "The circle represents the universe. The empty space at the center represents the mystery at the heart of the universe that people call 'God.' The cross represents Christianity, that path toward God out of which Universalism grew. It is placed off-center to acknowledge the validity of other paths." So this symbol linked Universalism to its Christian roots, but also opened its heart to other forms of spiritual enlightenment.

Since then, particularly since the merger of the two denominations, some of our ministers and historians want us to remember the special contributions of Universalism to our liberal faith.* The New Massachusetts Universalist Convention is an organization of individual UUs devoted to fanning the flame of Universalism. At their website, they present the Universalist Declaration of Faith and offer the following explanation of that phrase I just mentioned, "The spiritual leadership of Jesus." "It's important," they say, "to notice that this doesn't say 'Christ,' and it doesn't' say 'only Jesus.'"

"Jesus, not Christ. Universalism upholds the religion of Jesus but not religion about Jesus (mainstream Christianity). 'Christ" is Christianity's title for the 'son of God' who 'died for our sins' and was resurrected on the third day. By contrast, the Jesus of Universalism is the Jesus of history-an Israelite prophet and defender of the powerless whose eloquent restatements of traditional Israelite ethical principles move people still.

"Not just Jesus. Since at least 1805 Universalism has acknowledged the importance of other spiritual leaders-like Moses, Buddha, and Lao-Tzu. And interest in world religions is integral to the meaning of the off-center cross."

One of stated goals of the New Massachusetts Universalist Convention is to rescue Jesus from Christianity. They argue that we need heroes and stories to inspire us. At one time, stories about Jesus were a principal source of inspiration. The UU movement needs to take Jesus back, in a way thinking people can accept.

Here's an example of how we can reclaim Jesus, taken from an old issue of the Convention's newsletter. (No. 10, Winter 2002). "The following story is from the gospel of Mark, a collection of tall tales about Jesus that nevertheless have a basis in fact:

"A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling said to him, 'If you choose, you can make me clean.' Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do choose. Be made clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean." (Mark 1:40-42)

"Many UU refugees from mainstream Christianity remember how they were expected to accept the entire story as literally true. [They] understandably close their ears to the story now. But it's not hard to separate fact from fiction. In ancient times 'leprosy' was a general term for a wide variety of disfiguring skin diseases. The man could have had psoriasis, for example, and his condition actually could have improved over the next few days.

But the point of the story lies elsewhere. People were terrified of lepers. Lepers had to live outside of town and, when walking on a public road, had to ring a bell to warm others to stay away. Lepers were untouchable, lonely outcasts. When Jesus touched the leper, the man's illness may not have immediately disappeared, but the man must have immediately felt better, emotionally-he had been accepted by a leader revered in the community. The point of the story is that Jesus' vision of a radically egalitarian, earthly 'Kingdom of God' inspired him to go to extraordinary lengths to make people feel included."

I applaud the efforts of many UUs today not to let Universalism be overshadowed by Unitarianism. I am glad they are thoughtful in helping us reclaim our roots in liberal Christianity guided by the teachings and example of the historic Jesus.

Many UUs today say they are tolerant of differences in religious belief, but really don't extend that same tolerance to Christianity. This is understandable, since many are refugees from Christianity. Or have ancestors who suffered from Christianity's historic dominance in the Western world. But to ignore our faith's Christian heritage and the good things that come from it is not only to display that same intolerance which we say we deplore, but also to throw the baby out with the bathwater. To ignore our past is to make our faith rootless. To ignore our past makes us unknown even to ourselves, let alone to others.

In a world of intolerance, we cannot ignore Jesus' special message of radical acceptance of all people. We cannot to ignore the message of "God as eternal and all-conquering love." This can be the salvation for many refugees from traditional Christianity, helping them reclaim their own heritage in a healthy and healing way.

May the keepers of the good news and the good heart of Universalism be blessed. May their messages of God's loving nature and Jesus' radical acceptance of al, including the least among us, be the saving message at Easter and for all times. Amen.