Editor’s Note: W. Fred Wooden is a career Unitarian Universalist minister. He was ordained in 1980, after earning a doctorate at Meadville Lombard Theological School, the UU divinity school in Chicago. He served parishes in Petersham and then Groton, MA, Austin, TX, Brooklyn, NY, and Grand Rapids, MI. He has served the Unitarian Universalist Association at both the regional and national levels.
He has written elsewhere: “Having served a wide range of congregations, I see Unitarian Universalism as both struggling and essential. We are struggling to find our voice and place in a rapidly shifting world, a time of what I call ‘spiritual climate change’ that will oblige everyone to consider reforming everything other than our fundamental mission. That mission, however variously expressed, comes down to three things: ‘to free the mind, grow the soul, and change the world.’ This fundamental mission is larger than UUism but often most visible in our communities. Like the words once attributed to Hosea Ballou, We ‘may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine.’ We are called to ‘use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women.’ Manifesting this liberating, animating, and agitating hope is what we are about. Helping our communities come closer to that is my calling.”
Unitarian Universalism, the world, and language itself have all continued to evolve since Fred wrote the above paragraph. But it helps me understand his thinking as he ponders the proposed revision to Article II of the UUA Bylaws. I am pleased to share his thoughts. I am particularly moved by his concept of “a Unitarian Universalism that is larger than any of its statements.” He writes:
I know most colleagues know where they stand on A2, and this isn’t shared to change your point of view. I offer it because know some of us are having some challenges with some folks about it, particularly those who fall into my demographic. I’ve written this as something that offers a way for those folks to move into a place of understanding and grace, through my own story which began most of fifty years ago.
Back in 1975 I entered Meadville as a cradle UU. This was my religious identity and proudly so. I was also a slightly closeted UU Christian. Meadville in those days carried a large flag for humanism, and proudly so. More than once fellow students and even a faculty member or two barely hid their condescension toward my obviously dated and downright silly point of view. Even after seminary, churches to which I sent my record declined me because of my UU Christianity. There were moments when I wondered if I could serve my own faith community?
I share this experience to help explain why my acceptance of the new Article 2 is rooted in a UUism that is larger than any of its statements. No iteration of UUism can or should stand forever. Have we not all heard the story of someone challenging a Universalist to say where we stand, to which the Universalist answered, “We don’t stand, we move.” Amen.
That does not mean we always move in the right direction. We have our own sordid moments when it came to gender, race, sexuality, class, and yes, theology. But moving is what we do, following the winds, ‘that bloweth where it listeth,’ and JLA was fond of quoting.
Is the new Article 2 better than the current? Worse? Time alone will tell. It is the spirit of the moment we are in now, and thus the words of our time. Will everyone feel included and affirmed? No. That never happened before; why should it now? Should those who feel excluded leave? No. Stay, and in good faith live the faith.
Take it from someone who has been rejected by UUism over and over and yet remains.
UUism is larger than me, or us, or any statement. It has to be or it is not worth believing in. I chose to believe in it even when it did not believe in me. I am doing it now. That’s what faith means.
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