This is the story of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis (11:1-9). It comes right after the story of Noah and the flood, when supposedly all the humans left on earth were Noah and his family.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to each other, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

As Unitarian Universalists, we don't think that such bible stories are literally true. I'm no anthropologist, but I'm pretty sure that by the time our ancestors, those early homo-sapiens, emerged from the jungle primeval, there were already different tribes and clans and languages.

But the story of the Tower of Babel speaks another truth, an allegorical truth. It's the truth of how we human beings are tragically divided from each other. We are not only divided by differences of language and culture and religion, but by the inability to hear and to understand each other. Too often, we are locked into our own rigid positions... convinced we're right and that the other person (or group of people) is wrong. At the least, this leads to dehumanizing and objectifying the "Other," whether that be a race, religious or ethnic group. At the worst, it leads to persecution, violence and war. I don't need to remind you of that.

Now I could take a Pollyanna view and tell you, like that old Coke ad, "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony." Well, perfect harmony isn't possible in this world! But we could at least have a choir: a choir with different voices... some singing low and some singing higher, some humming, some fiddling, some braying or neighing, some even disagreeing. [Earlier in the service, we sang "A Place in the Choir" with the children.] A choir trying to sing in harmony... at least most of the time and maybe not perfectly.

As any choral singer knows, singing in a human choir is a bit different than an animal choir. You can't just sing your own song, but have to listen to and work with those around you. Of course, you need to follow the choir director and know your own part. But having a good ear for the person next to you is a big help.

I think that Unitarian Universalists we are uniquely qualified to listen... to have "good ears"... to be able to understand the language of others in the Babel-like diversity of America. Instead of a clashing, conflict-filled diversity, we can have blessed diversity. We can have it in our congregations and, by extension, in our communities. We can be the bridge builders across that wide divide which separates people. Unitarian Universalism has for the nearly 50 years of its existence ... and before with its two parent faiths... been very welcoming to those seeking a different kind of religion, a liberal religion. At First Parish I think we can be a model where diversity is not only tolerated, but honored... adding to the richness of our culture. I think we become that place where people may not speak the same theological language, but share a community of values. Our bell tower can be a reverse Tower of Babel, calling people together instead of driving them apart.

But let's be real for a moment. Not everything is so rosy, or harmonious, in our UU movement. As a denomination, we are not growing as we think we should. And there are many Christian churches which also claim to reach out to people of all races, classes and backgrounds. Many other churches claim to be the Universal Church. And in fact, when you walk into a Methodist or a Baptist church down the street, you may see a far greater variety of people than you do here. It's true that most Unitarian Universalist congregations are relatively homogeneous. In fact, I think this church in Taunton is more diverse in terms of social class than a suburban UU church in Duxbury or Hingham. So what do I mean that we as Unitarian Universalists could be better at honoring... even embracing diversity?

Many of us in this creedless faith worry that we don't have a real heart, a unifying core. And we worry that we don't have clear boundaries, as far as what is acceptable and what is not in a UU church. We ask ourselves, "What would a person have to do, or believe, to be thrown out of a UU church?" In fact, not being clear about who we are makes us afraid to be honest, to engage in open conversation with those who are different from us, even within our own church walls..

Because many UUs are so nice and tolerant, we may be missing a great opportunity to grow ... intellectually and spiritually. As has often been said, there are many paths up the mountain to Truth. But we are afraid, I think, to discover that these paths cannot cross, that these languages are untranslatable, and that we will be dispersed like the people of Shinar.

It's true that we are struggling to define who we are as a liberal religious movement. What is our common theology or set of beliefs... if any? Do we share common practices? If not, how can we develop them so, although not always in agreement, there can be a reasonably good choir. And a good choir, in my opinion, attracts a crowd!

I think we are developing a better choir as our denomination, formed by the merger of our two parent faiths in 1961, approaches its 50th birthday. It has been said that we are passing out of a rebellious adolescent stage and beginning to grow up. And one of our greatest strengths is the set of values and principles we hold in common as a people of faith... the songs we sing together. What are these songs, you may wonder? My friends, there is an answer! But the downside is that it's not a simple one.

Back before the merger of the Unitarians and the Universalists, a study commission was formed to find the areas of commonality between the two faiths. This would help make the merger possible despite some serious differences. Thus back in 1959, the commissioners reported their conclusions: that there were four value areas common "to almost all religious liberals through our history." These four value areas (or "valuations" as they called them) were:

1. This- worldly concerns: a religion that focuses more on the here-and-now rather than the hereafter, and the development of character rather than abrupt conversions
2. Strong ethical responsibility: a religion involved in efforts for social change and reform
3. Deep commitment to democracy: a religion which respects individuality and dissent, concerned with insuring the integrity of all; and
4. The belief that true community is religiously-based, that ours is "a religion that strives to transcend individual differences by an inclusive vision ..." (Engaging Our Theological Diversity, page 23)

But is this enough, you may wonder, to define a religion? We are struggling to articulate to ourselves, and then to the outside world who we are. This is preventing others from joining us in greater numbers. We are aware how the Christian evangelicals, with their clear statements of belief, are attracting so many converts. Yet as we dance about, first approaching, then avoiding deep discussions about theology, we find the growing theological diversity among our ranks is both a blessing and a challenge.

Yet as time passes, we also know more about our denomination through self-examination. This may be our saving grace! The UUA's Commission on Appraisal has the responsibility of conducting independent studies and coming out with a report every few years on how we're doing. The commission is, in fact, an independent group, outside the administration and the UUA hierarchy. It is formed by a membership vote at our General Assemblies every few years.

According to the UUA Bylaw's, the Commission on Appraisal's charge is to "review any function or activity of the Association which, in its judgment will benefit from an independent review and report its conclusions to a regular General Assembly." In other words, it has to pick an area of concern, most likely something which is negatively affecting our movement, study it in depth, and then put together a detailed, yet readable report for everybody to see. The last Commission on Appraisal was titled Engaging Our Theological Diversity and it was released in 2005.

What did they find? Good news! That there are great areas of agreement not in only our values, but in our personality traits and our culture.

I hope by now you are familiar with our "wayside pulpit" sign - the big sign in the corner of the churchyard opposite City Hall. It says "the search for truth and meaning" ...a phrase taken from our fourth UU Principle: "the free and responsible search for truth and meaning." Truth ... and the quest for truth... are of central importance to us as religious liberals. We humbly talk about "the authority of truth known or to be known"... honoring the search for truth as much as its discovery. We know that truth is every evolving. And I think we tend to be more intellectual than other religions about seeking our religious or spiritual truths.

That's pretty obvious to those who have been around us any length of time. But what about those personality traits I just mentioned? A doctoral candidate named Brandon Miller studied two groups of fifty UUs, one from New England and one from the Midwest. He also surveyed more than 800 UUs at a General Assembly in Cleveland. Here's what he found.

First of all, UUs possess an openness to novelty, more so than the general public. We "find it easier to live with ambiguity and are not as likely to yearn for certainties in [our] religious perspective. [People like us] are more at ease in community with others who see things differently from themselves." (page 46)

Second of all, we are risk-takers. UU tested very highly here. "This suggests that while many people may be discontented with their religion of origin, those who break away to dry a different faith may do so because they find change more intriguing than threatening and because they are temperamentally more open to taking this type of risk."

Third of all, we like creativity. This trait is closely connected with openness and risk-taking. One author wrote, "highly creative people tend to have a taste for complexity and novelty and are more likely than others to take authority with a grain of salt-to see the shadings of grey rather than in terms of black-and-white contrasts." This goes along with being an intuitive type of person, as opposed to a sensing type. The latter, the sensing types, are the practical sorts of people who rely on the facts in front of them. Intuitive types of people see patterns and make hunches about connections. Many of us tend to be both creative and intuitive.

As far as our spiritual dimensions, we are a mix of thinking and feeling people in the way we engage the world. Researchers found this was linked to both sex and generation. Older men, those over 60, tend to be more thinking in their spirituality. Women and younger men tend to be more feeling. Just think of the great number of women ministers in our denomination now and how this has impacted our congregations.

Respondents to the surveys also saw themselves as people who are loving, who practice compassion and are interconnected. They also saw themselves as heretics - in the sense of people who chose. The word "heretic" comes from a Greek root meaning "someone who chooses." We don't claim to be the chosen people, but can claim to be the choosing people.

One trait the study revealed struck a very personal chord with me. We see ourselves as outsiders or misfits. We may be part of the mainstream economically or sociologically, but we (many of us) "experience a persistent psychological lack of belonging." This feeling of being on the margins can be because of chance or circumstances (such as a physical handicap) or because we have chosen a different path. If we are "come-outers" from other religions-as many of us are-we ay be outsiders even to our families of origin.

And in fact we are different from people in the surrounding culture, because we share a unique way of seeing things that's so at odds with theirs. Many of us have a sense of not belonging. And many people who come to a UU church say, "I have felt like an alien all my life-I thought something was wrong with me because I did not experience the world like those around me did."

The downside is that often many of us have a hard time letting go of that outsider identity. It's hard to overcome a life-long defensive attitude and a resistance to being part of any group, even an accepting and supportive group. This might be a reason for our reluctance to engage in open and honest debate or discussion about core religious beliefs. It's easier to be somewhat superficial and walk away.

But this sense of "otherness" - of being the Other - also makes us more sensitive to other folks who are similarly outside of mainstream society. We are more compassionate to people who suffer - whether from poverty or from illness or from racial discrimination or homophobia or any other form of unfair discrimination. We are more open to differences and more aware of the humanity in each of us.

This is my prayer:

That we as a freedom-seeking, truth-seeking, loving and compassionate people continue to mature, shifting our focus from individualism to interdependence. May we never lose our own uniqueness, but recognize the subtle ties that bind us beyond belief or creed.

May we each may work to create a warm and supportive, yet challenging and transforming community for ourselves and each other and for those who haven't yet joined us. May we realize that our diversity is a true blessing.

And may we learn to really sing in harmony.

Amen and go in peace.

Engaging Our Theological Diversity. A Report by the Commission on Appraisal of the Unitarian Universalist Association. May 2005