Unitarian Universalist Christians

These testimonies first appeared as an article in the May/June 1998 issue of the Good News.

Something we hear a lot: “But if you’re Christian, why be a UU?” To answer that simple but profound question, we speak out from the depths of our historic and contemporary understandings of the faith. The gospel is alive and well in our free faith. Being Christian and UU is not an oxymoron, as these testimonies liberally show.

Because the ideal is most possible in freedom

I am a UU because I believe the freedom to search for truth without the shackles of others’ interpretations, opinions and beliefs about God’s relationship with man gives me the freedom to love God. I am a Christian because I believe that the ideal for humanity — a world in which we all care for each other and the interdependent web of life — is most possible following Jesus’ teachings and ways.

Eileen M. Klees
Beverly Unitarian Church, Chicago

I don’t know how NOT to be

I am a Unitarian Universalist Christian because I don’t know how NOT to be. I was raised Creole Roman Catholic (as opposed to, say, Italian or Polish or Irish RC) and although there were parts of that tradition that still appeal deeply to me, I knew from a very early age that that was not who I am, that I did not and could not believe most of what was being taught as doctrine.

When I left the Catholic Church (or did it leave me?), disconsolate and confused over having no place to put the strong vocational call I was feeling, I translated my sense of mission into social and political action for justice. While this was in many ways very gratifying, I found it wasn’t enough, on its own, to satisfy the inchoate craving within me.

Then when I discovered Unitarian Universalism after my son was born, I was thrilled to find a church where I was not required to pretend to believe things I did not and could not, a church where actions for justice were part of the church’s regular program, a church where lay people could speak their minds, a church that not only allowed, but encouraged, study of other religious and spiritual paths. If it was at times a little dry and if it almost always lacked color and ritual and pageantry I craved, I thought I could live with that.

Then when I learned about feminist spirituality from the “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven” classes and further readings and study, I rejoiced to find that so much of that color and ritual and pageantry I had missed from Catholicism was actually prechristian paganism and I could have it back! I eagerly embraced the new movement and became very active in UU paganism.

And then when I attended General Assembly in Palm Springs and discovered the UU Christian Fellowship, every thing came full circle for me and in a sudden flash of revelation I realized that I did not have to give up Jesus or New Testament Bible stories or Christian holy days or my favorite saints or my interest in Buddhism, my pagan soul, or my rational mind.

“That’s what I am,” I thought with joy, “I’m a UU Christian!” I always have been, it seems, I just never knew that there WAS such a thing.

I’m a UU Christian because it is the only spiritual path I know of that allows me to be all of who I am, with all my crazy syncretisms and hyphens and life experiences and longings. I am a UU Christian because I find it to be the most demanding, challenging, rewarding, grace-filled religious way to be.

Rev. Melanie Morel Sullivan
Minister, UU Church, Chattanooga, Tenn.

To know God in intimate terms

I am a Christian because of the incarnation. Jesus called God “Abba,” or father. He talked about God in intimate relational terms. Jesus took God off the mountaintop and out of Heaven and placed God in the midst of humanity. I like his statement at Luke 17:20-21: “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There is it is!’ For, in fact the kingdom of God is within you.”

In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, “Whoever drinks from my lips shall be as I am and I shall be as he.” In truth, God, being Spirit, needs us as much as we need God. We are the means of God’s incarnation. We can make God manifest in the world just as God has made us manifest in the world.

Jack Richbourg
First Unitarian Church, Memphis, Tenn.

A God who makes claims on us

I consider myself a Christian because I pray to (and with) the God to whom Jesus pointed: a God who is involved in human history and affairs, a God who delights in our freedom but who makes moral, ethical and spiritual claims on us, a God who is capable of loving and forgiving us as individual persons.

I believe that God calls us to extend the same respect and love to others that God extends to us. The covenant of mutual care between free persons that lies at the heart of our Unitarian Universalist churches is the embodiment of how God intends for people to relate to each other.

Tom Schade Intern Minister,
Horizon UU Church, Carrollton, Tex.

For that matter, why be Christian in orthodoxy?

Why be a Christian in the UUA? The UU community is my community.

Christianity is my faith stance. Why not be a Christian in the Catholic Church? That would be challenging too. Why not be a Christian in the United Church of Canada? That isn’t a snap, either. Why not be a Christian in the Anglican Church? Not as easy as it sounds.

Should I trade the misinformed person who just discovered UUism and asks “if they are Christian why do they remain UU?” for the stuff that happens in the Catholic Church, the United Church, the Anglicans? I would think it is tough to be a Christian in a nominally Christian, socially acceptable, orthodox church. If the word Christian has something to do with witnessing the gospel of Jesus, it must be tough, indeed. There are congregations of inclusive love in those outfits here and there, networks here and there. But I observe Christians to be in a minority in those groups! Just like in the UUA!

So I will stay with this community! I know my community, and love my community. And this is where I am called to be.

Let me tell you a story. The day I arrived in my first parish charge, the phone rings. A woman asks, ” Can I speak to the pastor?” I reply, “Speaking.” She asks, “Are you the one who has come here to marry them queers?” I am shocked. But having been around the block with gossips, I ask her, “Are you asking for yourself, or for a friend?”

She is taken aback, but persists. “Do you call yourself a man of God?”

I answer, “I am a man of God.” She says, “How can you marry them when the Bible condemns their lifestyle?” I told her about my Bible, and my Jesus, and conclude with, “You can’t take Jesus from me. Jesus wasn’t a bigot.” At which point she hangs up. Now, my humanist-oriented parish committee was showing me the office. Listening to the phone call, they heard my responses. When I got off, I told them what had transpired. They looked at each other and said “We can’t let them take Jesus from us!”

I’ll bet you my caller was a Bible pounding nominal the new minister of a nominally Christian outfit I wouldn’t have had to unpack.

Rev. Clyde Grubbs
Minister, Lakeshore UU Congregation, Beaconsfield, Quebec and First

Universalist Church, North Hatley, Quebec

To be true to our tradition and history

I share a desire for a freedom to test the outer limits of my Christian faith. Within my church I am not told I am wrong, just looked at quizically when I say I “have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” Occasionally I have had it suggested to me that I might be more comfortable somewhere else, but that is rare.

I also believe that the memory for tradition and history within the UUA is probably shorter by light years than any other denomination. In two or three generations it is possible to pretend that our movement came from sources entirely out side of Christianity. Too often we as UU Christians are willing to not speak up for fear of offending newcomers, and we suffer as a movement. I believe we have a responsibility to speak up as witnesses echoing Murray, Channing, Parker, etc. I believe we are far richer as a denomination when people see the rich diversity which includes Christians with a “smile on their face and a song in their heart.”

Finally, I remain a UU Christian as a witness to those in mainline Christianity that, yes, universal salvation is alive and well, and a beautiful option to those people mired in shame based churches. Over the past 20 years I have come to believe that salvation is indeed a process and not an event, and that God loves me more than I ever realized. I am incredibly grateful for the Christian leaders of Unitarianism and Universalism of the past and those of you who continue with me as UU Christians. Hallelujah! (As my grandma used to shout in church while she waived her handkerchief.)

Dave Dawson
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, UU, Charlottesville, Va.

A tradition that speaks on profound level

I have reclaimed my Christian roots. And I have struggled with how to continue to grow in my faith and not only remain a UU but also serve my congregation faithfully.

I am trying to be proactive. I joined the UUCF, I joined the Internet chat list (which has been a lifesaver), I go to local Taize services, I have tried to identify the Christians in our congregation and bring them together. But more than any thing, I try to listen to others, especially those who consider themselves atheist or agnostic, because they have the most to teach me.

I am a Unitarian Universalist because the ideal is that I am free to choose my path. It is the only religion where I can change my theology and I don’t have to change churches. I have chosen the Christian path because it speaks to me on a profound level, but it is not the only path to God or to enlightenment or to wholeness.

Sally Murphy,
Music Director, Unitarian Church of Victoria, British Columbia

A renewal toward a postmodern church

I have come full circle. I left the Methodist Church of my youth, not out of hurt or anger, but because it simply wasn’t enough. Only after exploring Eastern mystical traditions, Western rational thought (humanism), and other perspectives was I able to re-enter and reclaim the tradition in which I am rooted and in which I can most easily immerse myself and develop spiritually, which is Christianity. I do this on my own terms, in light of the understandings and experience that both liberal Christian and non-Christian spirituality has given me. And the only communities I know that can accept such a “syncretist” position are the Unitarian Universalists, the Quaker “universalists” of the Friends General Conference, and a few liberal Protestant congregations. Of course, I have entered UUism as it has embarked on what I think is a spiritual renaissance, and I probably would not have joined if this were not happening. But I think this spiritual renewal can make us into the “Postmodern Church” in the 21st century, accepting a newfound diversity, and provide a forum for expression of an enlightened Christianity.

James D. Hamilton
Live Oak UU Church, Austin, Tex.