“No Creed Required”

12/2/07  Rev. Kathleen A. Green

 Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 

     My name is Kathleen A. Green.  I am a member of the Green family, the White family, and the Adams family.  I have been a member of the Girl Scouts,   Toastmasters, the National Forensic League, and the International Thespian Society.  I was a member of my high school competitive speech team, debate club, drama club, piano club, and Bible Study Beauties. (I know, that one’s pretty embarrassing!).  In college, I was a member of a sorority, the student leadership team, and the local gym.  I’ve held memberships in Baptist, non-denominational, and UU churches.   I’ve been a card-carrying member of the Independent and Democratic political parties.   I’m currently a member of the Thomas Edison State College and Meadville-Lombard Theological School alumni groups, Unitarian  Universalist Ministers Association, San Diego cluster Ministers group, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Greenfield Middle School PTA, and the Petco frequent shopper club, just to name a few. 

     Whew!  I’m nearly exhausted just thinking about all of the time, effort, and money I’ve given to so many memberships.  All throughout our lives, we are members of various groups, parties, and organizations.   Some are very near and dear to us and others are the flavor of the month.  We sign the paperwork, pay the dues, and that’s it.  Different types of membership requiring very different things from us.

     Membership in a religious organization is usually different from membership in any other type of organization.  Most religious/spiritual groups ask of members that they give of their time, talent, finances, and a commitment to particular dogma or creed.  In most religious/spiritual groups membership is not to be taken lightly.  It is a privilege, an honor, maybe even a badge of courage.  And membership requires commitment.  No matter what group the membership is in, there is some explicit commitment required.  As human beings, we will be committed to something in our lives whether we claim we’re “just not a joiner” or not.  We will be committed to something.  A similar sentiment on worship was expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

A Person will worship something, have no doubt about that.  We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out.  That which dominates our imaginations and our thought will determine our lives, and our character.  Therefore, it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.

It would also behoove us to be mindful of our memberships, for what we choose to commit ourselves to is where we will find our truest selves.  Most often we commit where our heart finds a home.  If you want to see where someone’s priorities are, what is really important to someone, look for where their talents, time, and resources are given.  There you’ll find their heart.

     Membership in a Unitarian Universalist congregation is different than many other types of membership.  Each congregation decides for themselves what the specific requirements of membership are, but what all of them share is that there is no common creed required.  From the lovely little book, Building a Beloved Community, “In a creedal faith, people are united by common beliefs; in a covenantal faith we are united by mutual caring.  Our liberal religious covenant is to trust one another enough to seek help when we’re down and to offer assistance when we’re able.”

    Let’s understand that a creed is simply defined as any set of beliefs or principles.  To say “No creed required” is to say there is no one set of beliefs that all must adhere to.  It is to say that we value each individual’s search for and faithfulness to his or her own personal credo.  We are a ‘creedless’ community only in that there is not an institutional creed that is put upon the individuals.   But we are indeed a covenantal community.  We covenant, meaning we promise or pledge, to be together in a particular way.  We covenant to be together as a congregation, with all of our personal credos, in order to create a caring community dedicated to not only nurturing the needs of our members but to influencing the larger community as well.

     Because ours is a creedless faith, members we are not required to subscribe to a particular theology.  We are encouraged as individuals to garner insights from all the worlds’ great faiths, as well as from Shakespeare and from science, from art and music, feminism and from feelings.  We are asked to cherish the earth, to free the oppressed, and to be grateful for life’s blessings.  Out of this combination of reflection and experience, each one of us shapes a personal faith – a personal credo.  For Unitarian Universalists, the individual is the ultimate source of religious authority.  While it is true that we do not set up formal religious tests for legal membership, and that we welcome the devout atheist as readily as the ardent Christian, it is not true that membership is a free for all.

     My dear friend Betty, from my first Unitarian Universalist congregation in Connecticut, was one of those incredible people we call “Super Greeters”.  Betty would be on the lookout each and every week for visitors and was always the first to greet them and make them feel welcome.  Betty was not a youngster and her enthusiasm was remarkable.  It was also remarkable when my dear friend Betty switched the guest book out for the membership book, so that when visitors ‘signed in’ they were actually signing up for membership!  Betty was heard on more than one occasion saying to a visitor, “You don’t have to do anything to become a member of this congregation.  Just sign the book and you’re in!”.  Of course, that wasn’t true, and someone finally found out what was going on, put the guest book back in its rightful place, and explained to Betty about the requirements of membership!

    There are rights, responsibilities, and risks associated with becoming a member of a congregation such as Summit.  As members, we have the right to vote on ecclesiastical concerns and to chair committees and serve on the governing board.  As members, we have the responsibility to speak the truth in love with one another and to support life and good works of Summit.  And as members there’s always the risk of becoming so enthusiastic about the purposes of this faith, so transformed by the power of hope that this faith holds, that an irresistible urge may arise to tell our friends and associates about it!  At the very least, our daily decisions may be noticeably influenced by it.

     A couple of years ago, I visited a mosque for Friday prayers with a Muslim friend of mine from Chicago.  We had been engaged in several conversations about what our chosen faith required of us and then why we chose to be members of a particular house of worship within our faith.  Shireen told me, “I am a member of the religion of Islam, which means I must recite the shahadah correctly and deliberately; pray five times a day; observe Ramadan; give 2 ½ % of my money to charity; and make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca.  But I am a member of my mosque because it is my community.”

     Membership is belonging to a particular group - linked to particular persons by a relationship.  We are not self-sufficient creatures.  That may be a hard pill for some of us to swallow.  But we need each other.  It is not a sign of weakness.  On the contrary, it takes a degree of courage, humility, and strength to recognize that we need one another.   

We Need One Another is the title of a reading found in our hymnal:

We need one another when we mourn and would be comforted.

We need one another when we are in trouble and afraid.

We need one another when we are in despair, in temptation, and need to be recalled to our best selves again.

We need one another when we would accomplish some great purpose, and cannot do it alone.

We need one another in the hour of success, when we look for someone to share our triumphs.

We need one another in the hour of defeat, when with encouragement we might endure, and stand again.

We need one another when we come to die, and would have gentle hands prepare us for the journey.

All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us.

  A common truth for Unitarian Universalist communities is that regardless of the size or constellation of the congregation, the ministry in our faith communities is mutual.  The Sufi sect, an ancient Islamic group of mystics, have long recognized this type of ministry.  They honored the human need for mutual caretaking of one another when they first began singing a chant that has endured through the generations:  “From you I receive, to you I give, together we share, from this we live.”  That Sufi chant is a palpable reality in our UU congregations. 

    With the requirements and responsibilities of membership at Summit, even without a creed, come rewards:

Members of Summit are reward with: Opportunities for learning and expanding our minds – adults here have Freethinker discussion groups, meditation meetings, and covenant groups (small group ministry); while the youngest among us learn about the wide variety of existing perspectives and ideas about God, and helps them to express their thoughts and feelings on the subject, and our Coming of Age youth explore their own individual emerging faith.  Is this not worthy of commitment?

Members of Summit are rewarded by: Inclusion in an intergenerational community – Just two weeks ago, we worshipped together, young and old, as a community of all ages; side by side.  Next week the children of this community will present much of the worship service with their holiday pageant.  No matter the age or gender or background – being together and learning together in wholeness.  Is this not worthy of commitment?

Members of Summit are rewarded with: Compassionate support -  When the devastating fires hit this area just over a month ago, the members of this beloved community reached out with support to one another.  The members of this beloved community responded with compassionate strength.  Is this not worthy of commitment?

Members of Summit are rewarded by: Challenge  - a multitude of opinions to learn from and awareness that, yes, there can be unity within diversity.    Is this not worthy of commitment?

Members of Summit are rewarded by:  Being part of a larger voice -   participating in the AIDS walk and Gay Pride parade, supporting local organizations such as Crisis House and holding Amnesty International meetings here; standing on the side of justice for all of our sisters and brothers.  Is this not worthy of commitment?

Members of Summit are rewarded with: Appreciation  - this beloved community recognizes every member as precious and valuable.   What could be more worthy of commitment? 

What other membership can offer all this?  Not the Sierra Club my friends, not the Country Club, and not the Green Party!   Not even the Bible Study Beauties!

     I must add, however, that membership will not always be easy or comfortable.  There will be a need to make room for growth.  And with that growth there will be new faces, new conflicts, new concerns, and transitions we may not feel completely prepared for.  In order to become a member one has to be willing let go of the fear of commitment and be willing to sing along with those words of the Sufis.

     There are some here today who are visiting Summit for the first time, or the second, or fifth.  You might be visiting because you are looking for a place where you can make such a commitment.  I invite you to return to Summit again and again.  To get to know this community.  To see if indeed this place would be worthy of your commitment.  There are some here today who have held membership in this community since its inception, or for several years, or who have recently joined.  I invite you to think about what brought you to the threshold of commitment and what has kept you here.  There are some here today who have been here for a while, and who contribute generously.  For one reason or another you haven’t committed to membership.  I invite you to consider what it is that keeps you a part of Summit and yet what it is that keeps you from formal membership. 

     As we enter this holiday season and close of the calendar year – a time of gift-giving and receiving, and a time of introspection – may we all give ourselves the gift of a few moments of reflection.  A few moments to reflect on the commitments we have made this past year; the commitments we have continued to make year after year.  Remembering that what we choose to commit ourselves to is where we will find our truest selves. 

     Just as we can choose this faith, we can choose to commit our talents, our time, and our resources to this faith. A member makes a formal commitment to be a part of the Beloved Community; recognizing that we are not alone, that we need each other; sees value in community and value in what they can offer to the community, and says, “I am pleased to be considered among the membership of this congregation.” 

     As Rev. Tom Owen-Towle says, “Who of us really wants to come to the end of our journey and realize that we’ve been little more than a spectator on the sidelines, a toe-tester, a yes-butter, only partially committed to those communities that are safe and saving for us and all whom we touch?”

Not I, my friends.  And I trust not you.

May it be so.