Pathways Church, A Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Southlake, Texas
The Rev. Kathryn A Schmitz
May 25, 2008
We receive fragments of holiness, glimpses of eternity, brief moments of insight.
Let us gather them up for the precious gifts that they are and, renewed by their grace,
move boldly into the unknown.
Sara Moore Campbell, UU Minister
Meditation On This Day by Kathy Schmitz, published in Beyond Absence
Readings Gila monsters meet you at the airport, by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, Pictures by Byron Barton
Sermon Summary: A recent ad campaign by the Unitarian Universalist Association featured the slogan, When in doubt pray, when in prayer doubt. It has caused a lot of conversation in the greater UU universe so it seems like a wonderful time to explore the value of doubt in our spiritual lives.
Sermon:
I begin with two short readings:
Robert T. Weston, UU minister
Cherish Your Doubts -- #650 in SLT
Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the attendant of truth.
Doubt is the key to the door of knowledge; it is the servant of discovery.
A belief which may not be questioned binds us to error,
for there is incompetence and imperfection in every belief.
Doubt is the touchstone of truth; it is an acid which eats away the false.
Let no one fear for the truth, that doubt may consume it; for doubt is the testing of belief.
The truth stands boldly and unafraid; it is not shaken by the testing:
For truth, if it be truth, arises from each testing stronger, more secure.
Those that would silence doubt are filled with fear; their houses are built on shifting sands.
But those that fear not doubt, and know its use, are founded on rock.
They shall walk in the light of growing knowledge; the work of their hands shall endure.
Therefore let us not fear doubt, but let us rejoice in its help:
It is to the wise as a staff to the blind; doubt is the attendant of truth.
Michael A. Schuler
Cherish Your Doubts, Closing Words
Cherish your doubts, for doubt is the servant of truth.
Question your convictions, for beliefs too tightly held strangle the mind and its natural wisdom.
Suspect all certitudes, for the world whirls on -- nothing abides.
Yet in our inner rooms full of doubt, inquiry and suspicion, let a corner be reserved for trust.
For without trust there is no space for communities to gather or for friendships to be forged.
Indeed, this is the small corner where we connect -- and reconnect -- with each other.
Doubt and trust. Two significant and useful elements our quest for truth and meaning.
This morning, I invite you into the on-going dialog within the Unitarian Universalist movement about doubt and trust, about faith and wonder, about belief and truth.
That our movement has an on-going debate in this area is, for me, an important and deeply cherished reality.
There is no pronouncement of how things are that we must either buy into or reject. We are in-dialog – with each other, with our history, and with our possible futures.
Some of you will have noticed that I often, though not always, use the term ‘movement,’ to refer to Unitarian Universalism. I could call it a faith tradition, a denomination, or a religion, but usually I call it a movement. This is, in part, because of the sentiment captured in this quote from the year 1921.
It comes from L.B. Fisher, the editor of the Universalist newsletter, The Leader:
Universalists are often asked to tell where they stand. The only true answer to give to this question is that we do not stand, we move... We do not stand still; we do not defend any immoveable positions, theologically speaking, and we are therefore harder to count or to form into imposing numbers. We grow and we march, as all living things forever must do
(Source: Rev. Meredith Garmon, What Is Liberal Religion All About?, http://www.uuf.org/WhatLiberalReligionIs.asp, accessed 5/13/08))
We grow and we march, as all living things forever must do.
We are on a journey, together. We do not stand still. There have been, and will undoubtedly continue to be, attempts to give the one definitive description of who we are. And yet, even in this day of electronic media, I suspect that any such description will be out-of-date before it is published. Ours is a living tradition. A movement.
One of the questions that I have often heard in conversations about who we are, is: What is there, in Unitarian Universalism, that if you removed it, you would no longer have Unitarian Universalism?
I had never thought of, or heard, an answer that was really compelling for me. However, this week, as I tackled the question of doubt, I began to think that perhaps, doubt, or at least an appreciation for doubt, might be something that, for me, Unitarian Universalism wouldn’t be Unitarian Universalism without.
My friend and colleague, The Rev. Diane Teichert, serves the First Parish UU Congregation, in Canton, Massachusetts. In a 2001 sermon, she reflected on faith and doubt.
Teichert has been an activist throughout her life and her reading that morning was from the Christian Scriptures.
(James 2:14-18)
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. (NSRV)
Later, in her sermon she writes:
I remember a time many years ago, as a young teen perhaps, when I secretly hoped that on Easter morning I would wake up and miraculously believe that Jesus had risen! How much easier everything would be!
That it never happened might explain why the passage I read earlier from the second chapter of the Book of James was among my favorites in the Christian Scriptures (James 2:14-18). Not having the required belief in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, at least I could live a life of faith through my works!
I must have skipped over what it says in the first chapter, though. (James 1:5-8) "If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord." Devastating!
Teichert continues:
It takes time to recover from such a punishing message. I would eventually come to understand that passage to mean, "Trust that you shall have the wisdom required for the task, if not before then after with hindsight, if you seek wisdom and are open to it, not withholding part of yourself in either false pride or self-reproach."
(Faith-based Living, A sermon preached by Rev. Diane Teichert, First Parish Unitarian Universalist - Canton, MA, March 4, 2001, http://www.fpuucanton.org/sermons_2000-2004/sermon_010304.html, accessed 5/23/08)
By creatively combining trust with not knowing, Teichert eloquently captures the faith that is available to us. A faith that we can move forward, open-heartedly, in spite of our questions and our doubts.
Another voice in the conversation is my colleague, the Rev. Joel Miller, of Buffalo, NY, who writes:
The joy for so many of us who worship as Unitarian Universalists is our faith without dogma: without a required set of beliefs, our doubts are not problems; instead, our doubts are one of many inner spiritual tools.
(Blessings of Dark and Light, a sermon by Rev. Joel Miller, UU Congregation of Buffalo, NY, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2007, http://www.uubuffalo.org/index.php?src=news&refno=10&category=Weekly%20Sermons, accessed 8/23/08)
Faith has been used against too many people as a weapon. I know we have people in this room who have had faith used against in this way. We need to remember that doubt can also be used as weapon. I suspect there are some here who feel they have had doubt used against them in ways that were not particularly helpful.
Both faith and doubt, I would contend, are ill-used when perceived as a weapon. And yet, both are blessings when viewed in their most life giving forms.
Which brings me to the inspiration for my reflections this morning. The recent ad campaign by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Setting aside, for now, the debate we could have about whether an advertizing campaign is the best way to spread our message, I want to talk about the ads themselves.
All of the ads are edgy. They are meant to be provocative. And, in that, at least, they have clearly succeeded. They got a reaction out of Unitarian Universalists.
Here is the ad that ran last month in Time magazine
The large print, meant to be eye-catching says:
When in doubt,
pray.
When in prayer,
doubt.
There are critics everywhere.
Some Unitarian Universalists say, (sigh), Why do we have to lead with doubt?
Some Unitarian Universalists say, (snort), Why do we have to talk about prayer?
These would be great questions, if the ad was meant to attract people who are already Unitarian Universalists. But they aren’t. They are meant to attract those people who are wrestling with questions of doubt and faith. People who cannot abide the faith messages they have received or heard. Who have been told that their questions and their doubts are not welcome, are wrong, are sinful. The spiritually homeless. Who might find a welcome home among us. If they knew we were here.
But they don’t. Because we’re too busy arguing over the message.
Because some of us want to be a debate club. Don’t worry, you won’t find anything religious here.
I do beg to differ.
And some of us want to pretend that we are just a regular church, only nicer.
Well, you know what? Every church wants to think that it is the nicer, more accepting, more truthful religion.
Some of us don’t want to do anything that will offend the more religiously orthodox.
Well, they already disagree with us and we aren’t after them or their people. We need to be willing to say who we are. Clearly and unapologetically. Saying, come have a comfy religious home with us, will not draw the attention of people who need us – need us.
And it’s not that I think that our congregations and fellowships can’t be great spiritual homes. I do. That’s why I have given my life to this work. That’s also why I want a message out there that will not be overlooked by people who have given up on religion as usual. That’s why I think it has to be an edgy message.
After catching the eye of those who are intrigued by the idea that it is ok, not a heresy, not sinful, to use doubt and prayer in the same sentence, their eye will see the rest of the message:
If you have more questions than answers when it comes to faith, you’re not alone. Many of us yearn for a loving, spiritual community that is guided, not by a creed or dogma, but by an open-minded quest for truth and inspiration. There is a religion that welcomes your search. Welcome to Unitarian Universalism.
The ad concludes with logos, websites, and offers for free a DVD with more information.
I was told by one UUA staff member that while the non-UU’s are attracted by the big letters, it is the small tag line that captures the hearts of many UUs.
Nurture Your Spirit. Help Heal Our World.
For many of us, this tag line beautifully captures what our faith is about, what we are trying to do.
And the acknowledgement that your faith and your doubt are welcome here, is both the method and the message. Our spirits will be nurtured and our world healed when people can bring their whole selves to their lives and spiritual journeys – their whole selves, including their faith and their doubt.
It is when the totality of our being is recognized and affirmed that we can have faith that we can move forward, open-heartedly, in spite of our questions and our doubts.
Our story this morning gives us a delightful example of the need for both doubt and faith.
(Gila monsters meet you at the airport, by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat, Pictures by Byron Barton)
The little boy who does not want to move “out west” with his parents is filled with fear because of his misconceptions. Imagine the prayer that he might have prayed.
Dear God, Please don’t make me move out west. I want to stay here. Everything and everyone I know is here. It is bad there. I won’t like it and I’ll never be happy again. Please make my parents change their minds. Amen.
He had the parochial mindset, that where I am from is best. This can be a physical place but it can be an emotional, conceptual, or spiritual place, as well. When we become parochial, we close ourselves off from new experiences. We cease to grow.
In our certitude it is a good idea to have a dash of doubt. It leaves room for wonder, adventure, and new learning.
And our little boy would also have benefited from some faith in his skepticism. Faith, perhaps, in his parents. Faith, in humanity and it commonalities that transcend difference. Faith, in his own ability to adapt and grow.
Faith and doubt.
We need them both. It is perhaps, like this morning’s song – a dance (Let it be a Dance, by Ric Masten). A flow between seeming opposites. Following & leading. Planting &harvesting. Laughter & pain. Faith & doubt.
Something like a dance. A balancing act.
The image on this mornings’ sermon slide is a yin-yang symbol that represents such balance, such flow.
That in our faith, we must have a doubt.
That in our doubt, we must have faith.
Faith and doubt are each important additions to the spiritual tool kit we carry on our human quest for truth and meaning.
I close with the reflection of another UU minister, The Rev. Richard, Gilbert, in a piece titled In Praise of Doubt.
Richard Gilbert, UU Minister
In Praise of Doubt
It is not that we are not believers.
It is that our belief
Has to be passed through the fires of skepticism
And boiled in the crucible of doubt.
You have heard it said,
"Ours is not to reason why,
Ours is but to do and die."
But I say unto you,
Ours is not to doubt and die,
Ours is to seek the reason why.
When we doubt, we affirm the importance of reason
And our confidence in ourselves as centers of religious authority.
When we doubt, we affirm the seriousness of the religious quest.
When we doubt, we recognize that truth was not engraved in stone 2,000 years ago.
When we doubt, we acknowledge that our understanding of truth is imperfect.
When we doubt, we strengthen our faith.
For the faith of doubt, we give thanks;
For the doubt of faith, we make glad thanksgiving.
For the courage of adventure
That welcomes questions
As much as answers;
For the beloved community of seekers,
We sing our alleluias into the silent darkness.