The 1st Principle

The main ideas from this information are: - The first principle of Unitarian Universalism is the inherent worth and dignity of every person. - The principles of Unitarian Universalism have changed over the years to be more inclusive and representative of different perspectives. - The inclusion of the eighth principle, focused on dismantling racism and oppression, is being debated and adopted by more UU congregations. - The first principle emphasizes the importance of treating all individuals with value and respect, regardless of their background or status. - The belief in the inherent worth and dignity of all people is necessary for the survival and spiritual wholeness of humanity. - The current political and social climate presents challenges, but it is important to hold onto and aspire to the higher principles of love, forgiveness, and respect. Our reading this morning is by the Reverend Dr. Rebecca Ann Parker, who is a minister, a theologian, and the former president of the Star King School of Ministry, which is one of our UU seminaries. She writes, reverence and respect for human nature is at the core of Unitarian Universalism. We believe that all the dimensions of our being carry the potential to do good. We celebrate the gifts of being human, our intelligence and our capacity for observation and reason, our senses and ability to appreciate beauty, our creativity, our feelings and emotions. We cherish our bodies as well as our souls. We could use our gifts to offer love, to work for justice, to heal injury, to create pleasure for ourselves and others. Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy, the great 20th century rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote. Unitarian Universalists affirm the inherent worth and dignity of each person as a given of our faith, an unshakable conviction calling us to self-respect and respect for others. So today we begin our journey over the next few months to look at our principles one at a time. And today I want to talk to you about the first Unitarian Universalist principle. We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. It's pretty straightforward, but it has history. First and foremost, you should know that our principles have changed over the years. And I want to put a picture up of the principles as they were read in 1961, when we merged as the Universalists and Unitarians merged in 61. To strengthen one another in a free and disciplined search for truth as a foundation of our religious fellowship, I want you to notice the languaging. To cherish and spread the universal truth taught by the great prophets and teachers of humanity in every age and tradition, immemorially summarized in the Judeo Christian heritage as love to God and love to man. To affirm, defend, and promote the supreme worth of every human personality, the dignity of man, and the use of the democratic method in human relationships. To implement our vision of one world by striving for a world community founded on ideals of brotherhood, justice, and peace. To serve the needs of member churches and fellowships. To organize new churches, whoa, and fellowships. And to extend and strengthen liberal religion. To encourage cooperation with men of goodwill in every land. Six principles. Not bad. The language is a bit much. It's not inclusive, of course, in that time. Very patriarchal. Still dependent on Judeo Christianity as is our tradition. And notice that today's principle number one is principle number three in 1961. And some of the language in these principles would slide into our six sources that eventually what we have today, and we normally hand out an order of service. If you grab one, you can look on there and see our principles and sources for today. And they were adopted in 1985. So no changes since really since 1985. But what spawned the change? You, you women. Thank God. The women, yep. The women's rights movement of the 70s and 80s had a huge impact on our association, namely the UU Women's Federation, which is still around today. And they demanded that the mostly men in power change the language to be more inclusive. And it took a very lengthy process, small group conversations, conversations at general assemblies, and eventually it passed the 85 principles which we have today, passed unanimously. There was almost no pushback. But it shows you that although the democratic process is long and arduous, it is, Ken Affle said this, it is the best process that we have and is what we rely on as Unitarian Universalists. Now most UU churches have seven principles and six sources, but thanks to another pioneer in our faith whom many of you know, my good friend Paula Cole-Jones, who has been an anti-racism leader in our faith for many years, she's been fighting for the inclusion of the eighth principle, and she also is the creator of the eighth principle. Believe it or not, only 10% of our congregations 10 years ago had adopted the eighth principle, their 1,000 congregations. But after extremism and the rise of covert, overt racism, that number has grown to 20% in the last few years, so it's up to about 200 congregations, and it's up for debate in the 2024 General Assembly, so I think we're well on our way to having the eighth principle adopted. That's good news. Now we here adopted the eighth principle in April of 2018, and it was unanimous, and we have a lot of work to do still. Some of you are new here, you don't know what the eighth principle is, so I want to put that up on the screen for you. We covenanted to affirm and promote journeying towards spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse, multicultural, beloved community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions. Again, it's up for debate. Probably some of that language will change, but I am sure that we will get the eighth principle throughout our faith in the coming years. But now I want to go back to this first principle, the inherent worth and dignity of all people. By the way, in my research I noticed that social workers actually have this as their creed. It's an important humanizing belief. Because without this belief, we really do evolve into more violent beings, and I want to say more on that in a minute. Inherent means intrinsic or fundamental or basic. And I would say that you are born with this. Worth means value. That no matter your gender, your race, your stage of life, you have value. You are born valuable. Then you have the word dignity. And dignity is about respect and esteem. R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me. I've been watching Aretha lately, and her gospel album is just like unbelievable. And it's just the story behind the gospel album. Her best-selling album is amazing, but I digress. When you put these words together, you as a human being are born with the basic, fundamental right to be treated with value regardless of whether you're rich or poor. And you should and must be treated with respect or regard or esteem. This is what the first principle is saying. But why? Because you are born with this. You are born with this. And you should and must be treated with respect or regard or esteem. This is what the first principle is saying. But why? That's a good question. Because most of the time on the planet, especially during the agrarian age, I preach about that, the rich rulers pretty much treated people like sheep, cattle, slaves of the king or queen, products to be used and abused. And then in the post-Arabic ages, in Europe, until the 15th century, a young man named Pico della Mirandola emerges. And he writes a treaty called the Oration on the Dignity of Man. Notice the language that you used picked up in 1961. Pico described human worth and dignity as intrinsic because all humans are made in the image of God, the Imago Dei. He used Christianity Pico was like a comet. He came and went from the planet, was gone by the age of 31, barely lived, but his writings spawned what we know now as the Italian Renaissance, which led to what we call the humanities and the liberal arts, which led to what would affect our movement, religious and secular humanism. Renaissance means rebirth. I like that word. And this is exactly what happened in Italy and all over Europe, a rebirth in learning and art and science, a rebirth of Greek philosophy, earth-based teachings. I mentioned the word humanism. Humanism as a movement emerged in America in the 1920s by, you guessed it, a bunch of Unitarians. We played a huge role from the beginning of this nation to the development and shaping of democracy. And that's why I say when I think about our congregation and what we're trying to do, whatever happens to our faith will happen to this country. We're a microcosm, a little experiment among a big experiment, and we're paving the way with our radical structures and beliefs and ideas to create that beloved community. This is real work. It's not play work. Don't forget that. And our humanist forebearers wanted to create a new religion for a new age that was not theistic or Christocentric, but modeled on what the world could be. It was ambitious. It wanted to do away with that anthropomorphic god in the sky, you know, the guy with the beard. He draws a judge as whether you're naughty or nice. You're always naughty and nice, and you're always worthy. But the humanists wanted to build a rational religion based on reason and a scientific method, based on being a good human being. Humanism defined a doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests or values, a philosophy that stresses an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-realization through reason. Our forebearers shaped America. Their desire led to what is known as the UU Fellowship Movement. You can look that up. But the point is, American values and UU values have always sort of coalesced. And this was because of the Italian Renaissance. Some young guy, a comet, just came here so briefly and changed the world. Never underestimate what one church, one individual can do. Now, the humanities, the liberal arts, is why Unitarian Universalists insist on a proper education, religious education. We don't like to teach dogma or religious literalism. We want our kids to learn about liberal arts. We want them to be well-rounded, to understand what it means to revere life on the planet, and teach them how to be in a relationship with others who are different. We ask them to visit other religions to see what they do and why they do it. Because if we can't see each other, we walk over each other. If we don't hear each other, then there's just noise. Or one dominates or smashes the other's feeling of worthiness, and there can be no beautiful music, no harmony, just chaos. So this first principle of ours is necessary for the survival of our species. And it is our way to spiritual wholeness as human beings. It raises us from being slaves to empire, or to the animal instinct, and allows us to harness our God powers to manifest our best in life, and demand from life our full reverence and humility and respect as a creature made in the image of God, in the image of love, if you don't like that God terminology. Now I know this is tricky stuff to preach about when so many are driven by forces that keep them blind to the truth, that seem to feed falsehood as truth. They think we need to be slaved perhaps, that we are the problem. They are following unfounded conspiracies, have been poorly educated, do not know how to parse truth from fiction, making them very easy victims. Many don't have reverence for the planet, let alone their neighbor. They don't understand the laws of attraction and gravity, that you end up creating the very thing you fear, you get what you're looking for. They fearmonger, and willingly let go of their freedoms for the sake of the anthropomorphic figure who can maybe save them, and he can't, and they're willing to sell their souls for this false sense of security, that in the end will let them down. They oppose the fresh and vibrant spirit of liberalism, because of fear of what is equality and equity and diversity would mean. So they don't lift up the worth and dignity of all. And yet they can listen to the teachings of Jesus about loving your neighbor, but they prefer separate and unequal, cheating, as long as their side wins, and they feel safe, even if it's a false safety. But on the other hand, there are others who see them as a pestilence, that the world would be better without them. They would say that too. Of course, I said that. We might call them stupid or dumb, racist, extremist, uneducated, subdued by the cult of nationalism. It's all a hot mess. How do we love our neighbor when our neighbor despises us or we despise our neighbor? I can tell you that we can't continue this belief system, us versus them, Hatfields and McCoy. It does not transform the heart. It only leads to what Martin Niemoller wrote. You've heard this before. First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was a socialist. I was a liberal. I was a liberal. I was a liberal. I was a liberal. And I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was nobody left to speak for me. Eventually, this way of thinking on both sides will lead to a grim reality, but I'm an optimist. I don't believe that is our human destiny. There is something in the human spirit, even when we're at the precipice, something in the human spirit that awakens us to those better angels of our nature, as Lincoln said. Now, some of us figure it out fast. Some of us, it takes a while. It takes disappointment. But I believe there will be a generation born that will not be traumatized by this world. Hard to believe. But I believe it. It sounds insane, I know. But I believe this is our human destiny. Therefore, how do we make that happen? By holding on to those intrinsic, inherent values, that first principle. Because they do not change. Goodness, mercy, honesty, forgiveness, and love, the inherent worth and dignity of all. Love, not in spite of, but because of. And I can't forget that I can shape the reality around me. I can call out lies with love. I can call those around me, as I'm doing now, to those higher ideals. We can remind people of their humanity and others' humanity, that higher call, that we all have the capacity to do great and terrible things. Our first principle reminds us of every person's supreme inner potential. That's Rebecca Parker. That we must leave room for our and their development. Mother Teresa said, give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough, but give the world the best you got anyway. That's what it means to live the first principle. My friends, we are living in crazy times. We don't know what will happen with democracy. We don't know about all these guns and homes in America and radical extremism that has been given a front seat to power. We don't know even what's going to come on January 6th and what that will spawn. We don't know what to do with the yard signs that indicate that this neighbor of ours is probably racist. We don't know fully what to do about our kids and their mental and spiritual health, with all this stuff that's being thrown at them. It's a lot. It's a lot. And I kept thinking about this. Is this a lot just for now? But then I started thinking, you know, Dr. King had to deal with a lot. Mother Teresa had to deal with a lot. Go listen to those stories. Gandhi had to deal with a lot. Frederick Douglass had to deal with a lot. Our ancestors who came, my ancestors who came here on slave ships had to deal with a lot. Your ancestors who came up here poor as dirt had to deal with a lot. That is life. Life is a lot, so buckle up. I like to say put your faith belt on. Not your seat belt, your faith belt. Keep holding on to those higher principles. Keep holding on and leaving space for grace. Why do we hold space for others and grace, space for them to turn their lives around? Because that is the reciprocal nature of the cosmos. What goes around comes around. We have to leave space for reconciliation, for people to come back to the table. That's hard when you think about people who have broken your heart or emasculated you, taken advantage of you, makes you nauseous. But that's the only way we can move forward. So remember these UU principles. They are there to inspire us and to aspire us to something larger than ourselves. So when you say we're not living up to those principles, we're aspiring. We're not there yet. So keep inspiring and aspiring and to take it one day at a time and one person at a time and one conversation at a time and one hydrating drink of water at a time and one nap at a time. And one day, someday, some generation, someday, the day will arrive when we will be together and no longer live in fear. As our hymn says, we're going to sing this later, and the children will smile without wondering whether on that day thunderclouds will appear. Some have dreamed, some have died to make a bright tomorrow, and our vision remains in our hearts. Now the torch must be passed with new hope, not in sorrow, and a promise to make a new start. Wait and see, wait and see what a world this will be if we share, if we care, you and me. Wait and see, wait and see what a world this will be if we share, if we care, you and me. Amen. Applause