"Beyond Belief" sermon

Here's an excerpt from a sermon given by Peter Morales (president of the UUA) at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia a few weeks ago. The complete sermon can be found here: http://www.uucava.org/page/beyond-belief-by-uua-president-rev-peter-morales-feb-12-2012

Laurel sent us a link to this sermon because she thought that it connected to the vision work that we are trying to do in our church, and I chose to share this part that asks us to think about questions similar to the ones we've already started to discuss. What do you think?

Also, if you read something that seems connected to your vision of the future of our church, please share it with the Futures team so that we can post it here.

Now for Rev. Morales:

True religion is about what we love, not about what we think. True religion is about what you and I hold sacred. The practice of true religion is faithfulness to what we love.

The key religious questions you and I must answer are these: What do we love so much that we are moved to tears? What gives us unspeakable joy? What brings us peace beyond understanding? What do we love so much that it calls us to action? What do we care about so deeply that we willingly, joyfully, devote our lives to it?

When we focus on what we truly love, we ask life’s essential questions. We ask questions like, “How shall I live?” When we ask the question together in community, it becomes, “How shall we live together? What shall we do together?” When we focus on what we truly love, we discover something wonderful: we discover that we love the same things.

We realize that we need one another. We want to be compassionate and gentle with one another. We want to raise children who are kind, joyful and responsible. We aspire to create a religious community where we can come to know one another more deeply. We want to create a place where we can cry together, laugh together, sing together, learn together, and act together.
We want a place where we can come together to remind ourselves of what is truly worthwhile. That is what worship is—it is literally an affirmation of worth.

And we want to make a difference in the world. We are not content to be a club. We know there are hundreds, thousands, of neighbors who love what we love. And if they love what we love, they have the same religion we do. We open our hearts and our doors to them.

Religion beyond belief is the religion millions of people long for. It is religion that transcends culture, race and class. It is religion where we can grow spiritually, a religion where we can forge deep and lasting relationships, a religion where we can join hands to help heal a broken world.

The central issue before us as a religious movement is not to decide what we believe. That will just set us to arguing among ourselves until the theological cows come home. (Trust me, the theological cows have been gone for millennia and they’re not coming home in our lifetime.)

No, the central issue before us all is whether we will accept the challenge to become a religion beyond belief. We live at a time when religious tribalism kills people every day. Fundamentalists try to force their beliefs on others. Millions upon millions want no part of that kind of religion.

Yet the options offered by secular consumer culture are empty. People know that consumerism is a false god. Modern society, with its mobility, has eroded the network of relationships that gave people a deep sense of belonging and transcendence. Rigorous studies in social psychology show us that modern Americans are the most emotionally isolated people who have ever lived.

People, millions of them, seek a community where they can nurture relationships, raise children, deepen spiritually, and serve a mission that is worthy of their highest ideals.

What these millions are seeking is a religion beyond belief. We can be that religion. We can feed the starving multitudes.

This is our challenge here in Arlington and across our Association.

There is so much more we could be doing. Just think of the possibilities here. Just think of the possibilities across this land. You have an important role to play. I invite you to embrace new possibilities.

The possibilities for our entire movement are breathtaking.
This is our challenge. We must know what we love. And then we must let that love guide us. This, my friends, is true religion. It is not really religion without belief. It is religion beyond belief. It is a religion to be lived and felt. This is the religion our world so desperately needs. This, I am convinced, is what we are called to be.