So you’ve settled into your seat for the commute into Boston, pulled out the latest issue of the UU World, & notice that your seatmate is looking over your shoulder. "Interesting article," he says. "Hmmm, it is," you say. You might talk a bit about what you’re reading and then, if you’re feeling a little bold, add that the magazine is published by the Unitarian Universalists. "Who are they?" your seatmate might ask. "Oh, that’s what I am. Unitarian Universalism is the religious group I belong to," you say with some hesitation in your voice. Well, chances are, your seatmate will stop talking and quietly open his Boston Globe. But then again, he may say, "I’ve never heard of Unitarian Universalists. What kind of church is that?" And you say, "Well…" and there’s a long pause.

This is a familiar scenario to me because it’s not only what I’m reading that can prompt the question, but also when seatmates ask what I do for a living. I used to be evasive but now I just blurt out & say that I am the minister of a Unitarian Universalist Church. I’ve become used to the variety of responses-- all the way from the brick wall that magically appears to the question about whether I’m Born Again. But when people want to continue the conversation and ask what kind of church this is, I have to admit that after all these years, decades even, I still pause.

It’s hard to know how to explain this religious tradition of ours to those who probably have a different understanding of religion than we do. Are you Christians? they may want to know. (Well some of us are but most of us aren’t.) Do you believe in the Bible?

(Well, there is much wisdom to be found in the Bible, but we don’t believe that it’s the literal word of God.) But you do believe in God? (Well, some of us do and some of us don’t.) It’s so hard to explain to those who are used to defining religion as it relates to Jesus, the Bible, & God what it is that is at the heart of Unitarian Universalism. We don’t have one concise answer that we can memorize and place on the tips of our tongues.

We do have our Unitarian Universalist Principles of course, and a listing of the sources that we draw from for wisdom and guidance. I know that many of you carry copies of these Principles in your wallets so that you’ll have something to whip out and show if and when The Question comes. Well, now we also have a visual image that might be helpful as we are trying to explain this religious faith of ours.

Hanging on the wall is a print of a painting that was commissioned by All Souls Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They had taken note of the growing number of companies that were developing visuals to represent the products or the visions they were selling. And so these UU’s in Tulsa thought that it would be cool if they could come up with a visual representing the simple gifts that are at the heart of Unitarian Universalism. What they did was to gather some input from the congregation and this is what they came up with. Now if we were to do this, we would probably come up with a visual that is different from this one. However, until we have some discretionary funds in which to do something like this, we’ll have to use this one generated by our fellow UU’s in Tulsa.

Pause to sing "Faith of the Larger Liberty" #287 and hand out photos.

"Heroes of faith in every age, far-seeing, self-denying, wrought an increasing heritage, monarch and creed defying." You know sometimes people will think that we are either some kind of New Age thing, a left-over from the 60’s, or that we’re a cult. Back when the Moonies received a lot of press, there were many who confused us with the Unification Church. So it’s important for us to convey that we Unitarian Universalists have a long, rich history grounded in the Reformation of the 16^th Century. In 3 weeks I’m going to be sharing with you the story of Michael Servetus who was burned at the stake by John Calvin 450 years ago. His crime was that he had read the Holy Scriptures carefully, had found no reference to the Trinity, and therefore concluded that this doctrine proclaimed by the church was not true. For this he was burned at the stake. Michael Servetus was our first Unitarian martyr.

In spite of the danger of questioning the authority of the church—either the Church of Rome or the church of Calvin—Unitarianism spread throughout Europe, England, and finally found it’s way to the New World, as Europeans thought of this land here. Unitarianism seemed to be ideally suited for this new democracy that formed following our Declaration of Independence from England. In fact Thomas Jefferson foresaw the day when this would be the religion of choice for most people here in this new United States of America. And so the table in this painting is an early American antique to represent how deeply our roots go into the founding of this nation.

You will note that resting on this table is a Bible. It’s not centered on the table, however. Instead it’s on the edge with one corner suspended in thin air indicating that there is much in the Bible that is not consistent with our understandings & beliefs today. In spite of this, the Bible is on this table because it is part of our historical and theological foundation. It is a book that we continue to turn to because it contains wisdom that has stood the test of time. For thousands of years people have turned to these writings for guidance. However you will note that on top of the Bible is another book.

This reproduction is too small for you to see that this is one of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s books. Emerson’s book was placed on top of the Bible in order to symbolize our understanding that revelation is not sealed. What Emerson said back in the 19^th Century, was that it is wrong to believe that all of God’s wisdom & word was revealed to those writers of scripture so long ago which means that there is nothing left to be revealed. Emerson, who was a Unitarian minister as well as a literary figure, explained that whatever it is that is most Holy and sacred continues to be revealed even to people like you and me. And so on top of Emerson’s book is an untitled book, one, perhaps, that has yet to be written, a journal perhaps in which even our personal experiences and understandings of life can be recorded.

This summer I was explaining the symbolism in this painting to someone who had a gut responses to seeing these books stacked on the table. She said that when she was growing up, she was taught that you never place anything on top of the Bible. That it was blasphemy to do so for the Holy Scriptures were the word of God. But for UU’s it is different. We respect the wisdom found in Scripture. It’s part of our heritage. But the Bible is not a sacred icon for us. There are many other places that we turn toward for inspiration and guidance.

The box sitting behind the books is an antique ballot box. This ballot box represents our use of the democratic process in our churches. We do not have an hierarchical structure someplace out there that dictates to us how we are to function here in Franklin. It is up to the congregation to decide how we are going to be structured, how decisions will be made, and even who will be serving you as your minister. The authority for what happens within our congregations rests with the people and the leaders they elect to represent them. And so a ballot box sits on the table.

The hearts on the table, the blue heart-shaped vase and the red & white striped one, are there to symbolize the radical concept that it is love that is at the core of our religious lives. Not obedience or repentance or a desire for salvation. But love. Scripture says that God, speaking through Jesus, said, "You shall love one another as I have loved you." This is probably the most challenging part of who we are attempting to be as religious people. To remember and remain centered in love for each other and love for whatever it is that transcends who we are as individuals. The hearts represent love.

The Statue of Liberty represents the value that we place on freedom in religion and freedom in belief. We take it so for granted in this time and in this place and forget, perhaps, that people died in order that we might be free to pursue the path that is the right path for us as individuals. But we also know that this freedom has to be used responsibly, aware always of how our personal freedom will impact the larger community. And tied in with this of course is justice. Freedom, responsibility, justice for all. And so joining the Statue of Liberty on the table is the Scale of Justice.

The flowers in the vase are reminiscent of the flowers we bring for our Flower Communion each year in June. It is our tradition to have each person in this congregation bring a flower, representing his or her own individuality, uniqueness. And out of these individual flowers we create bouquets here around the pulpit symbolizing that our congregation is filled with diverse individuals, and yet we come together here to create something bigger than just ourselves. It is our religious community that is symbolized by this bouquet.

The water in the vase represents that which sustains and nourishes us. We may have different names for this source of nourishment. Some of us may even call it God. But whatever it is, it’s formless, it surrounds us, it’s even within us. Each of the flowers in this vase is different and yet they are all being nourished by the same source and whatever this source is, it is flowing through the flowers themselves.

The vase itself represents the church, the meetinghouse, the place where we come together to be reminded of that which is most sacred, to be reminded that we are companions on our spiritual journeys. But you’ll note that the glass is clear, you can look right through it. We don’t isolate ourselves here. This isn’t a fortress protecting us from the rest of the world. Instead we carry our religious understandings and practices into the rest of our lives and into the world itself. We care desperately about living lives of integrity. Of living responsibly. And of doing our part to make this a better world for every one.

The blue and white vase sitting on the ballot box comes from a village in Transylvania. We are blessed in this congregation to have a partner church in one of these villages, the village of Adamos. A village that I hope many of us will be able to visit next year. The people there want us to come. Our oldest Unitarian churches are in Transylvania. In fact the church which houses the Unitarian church in Adamos was constructed in 1518. Our religious roots in eastern Europe are very deep.

The single flower in the vase represents the individual. Within Unitarian Universalism we encourage each person to discover the religious path, the spiritual path, that is going to be most consistent with his or her own experiences & understandings of life. As a result within this congregation we have some who are humanists, some who are theists, some who are Christians, some who are earth-based, some who are informed by Eastern philosophy & practice, some who are pantheists, or panentheists, and others who are just confused. And yet we come together here in community because we know that it’s not enough to be religious or spiritual on our own. And when we come together we enter into a covenant which we’ve expressed in our Unitarian Universalist Principles.

The dead oak leaf resting on top of the books represents those who’ve been part of our congregation and have died. When I first came here to Franklin in 1987 there was a small group of elders who loved this church, whose family connections went back to founding of this church in 1856. As I came to know these people and love them, I started to dread the day when I might be called to officiate at their funerals. I thought back then that I could never do it. I would just have to leave before any of them died. I loved them too much. But I didn’t leave soon enough and so, one by one I officiated at their funerals. Joe Cook, Grace Buchanon, Edna Fitzgerald, Marian Chilson. And there have been other beloved ones as well: Kristin Poole, Phyllis Russell, Pearl Blanchard, Polly Loring, Frank Fisher, and of course little Jake Flannery. The leaf resting on the books reminds us that these dear ones are never really gone. They remain part of who we are and what we will become.

And finally you will see that there is a leaf in this painting that is falling. It is falling to remind us of our own mortality. That our experience of life is so brief. It goes so quickly. And therefore it behooves us to pay attention to what we do with these lives of ours. To pay attention to our relationships with our families and friends and co-workers. To aspire always to our highest ideals and live our lives grounded in our deepest beliefs. To welcome all of life—its sorrows and its joys—and to be grateful. And most of all to love each other.

And so, there you have it. Unitarian Universalism explained with a visual no less. As I said earlier, this probably wouldn’t be the way we would choose to portray this religious faith of ours, but it is sufficient for now. Good enough. And so this print will hang over there on that wall for the foreseeable future and what I would encourage each of you to do, is to make it your personal mission to explain this print to those who were not here this morning. You are charged to ask someone next Sunday or the Sunday after if they’ve had a chance to look closely at the picture. And if they haven’t, take them over there and explain it to them. There is a crib sheet hanging next to the picture that will remind you of what each thing symbolizes and we’ll have additional copies like this on the table.

And then I would also ask that you take this copy home and put it on your refrigerator and if a relative or a neighbor happens to comment about it, you can say, "Oh, well this is a representation of Unitarian Universalism, my religious faith and home". And if you’re feeling really brave, you could even post it on your file cabinet at work. And really get a reputation for someone to avoid at the water cooler.

But you know, folks, we can laugh about how hard it is to talk about this religious faith of ours and our reluctance and discomfort in doing so. And yet there are so many out there in the larger community whose lives could be enriched & even transformed by learning about our church. There are many who are searching for what we have to offer here. We must let more people know about us because it is my fervent belief that our aching, conflicted world could be better if there were more people who shared our liberal religious understandings of how to be in relationship with each other.