I've heard folks says that we can believe anything we want. How true is that? What does that mean?
Sometimes, we let some folks act in ways that are the antithesis of our principles, because we are free. We say things that don't really match up with that principle of inherent worth and dignity. Maybe, we don't pay all our pledge, because we didn't like a few sermons, or we hold back from participating fully in congregational life because, you know, you don't have to go to church every Sunday or in the summer. We break covenant or are out of right relationship with each other, because we are free.
We are creedless, we have no doctrine, no test of faith. We are free and bondless in what we can believe. We can believe anything or nothing at all.
When I decided to take this journey to become a commissioned lay minister, I was seeking a more mature understanding of this idea of free thinking.
The Central East Region (CRG) has a program in which a person can study, learn, and reflect on Unitarian Universalism. In the program, a person is paired with a mentor. My mentor is Rev. Lynn Kerr. I also have a list of required reading and with the guidance and feedback of Rev. Lynn, there are activities-such as this- that are suggested. I expect this process of becoming a Commissioned -Lay Minister to be about 3 years before, I would be considered for the process of commissioning.
And in the process of commissioning there is an interview where there is more discussion and contemplation about spiritual growth. Successful commissioning means that the chair of the CLM program would write a letter of acceptance and a copy of that would go to First Unitarian Church of Toledo. And then there is a celebration at church. Yay.
Of course, it’s possible that I could be asked to go back and study longer. So, metaphorically that would be like, pulling a cake out of the oven and finding that it needs to cook a little longer- too moist in some areas and when pressing the cake with your finger, you see it doesn’t bounce back quite enough to indicate that it is dry enough on the inside. And that’s ok, because as I said, I am seeking a mature understanding of thinking freely.
Free is a word that is so often misunderstood in my profession of librarianship, too. Librarians promote the freedom to read. Read whatever you want- just read. And the librarians are there to assist you in the search for relevant and accurate information. For me, librarianship is informed by the late 19th century American theory of pragmatism.
The democratic ideal is created by resolving social and political problems, according to Educational Psychologist and pragmatist, John Dewey. People must inquire about an issue, define it and identify the who, what, and how of its relatedness. William James, pragmatist and psychologist, in talking about truth looks at the instrumental value of information based upon its relations. To understand the situation in which a person finds theirself, find also, its relations. These elements of pragmatism make the idea of a free public library being the cornerstone of democracy come alive. And in my opinion, these ideas are the reason that free libraries are said to be the People's University. It is because, you are free to read it and to think your own thoughts and make active sense of the situation.
Just like Unitarian Universalists you are free to think and come to conclusions based on your direct experience.
I am a free thinker. And for me, acting in accordance with that free thinking is important. If it wasn’t important, surely, I never would have never acted upon the information I was assimilating in graduate school studying sociology and community development and community organizing in the early 1990’s. Because in addition to my current profession, I’ve spent a lot of time in my life as a community worker for housing civil rights and teaching about racism and sexism and classism- the isms- what presently is studied as intersectionality,
Even now, my passion is connecting people with resources to become financially literate. With that literacy, it is my hope that people will be less susceptible to fraud and predatory lending. It is my hope that the least of those among us will be equipped to address financial situations with confidence instead of fear, desperation, and trepidation.
I threw myself into this kind of work on principle and on purpose. Just because, I am free thinking with no belief in a particular doctrine does not mean that I don’t have principles.
In A Chosen Faith by John Buehrens and Forrest Church, they discuss one of our twentieth century Unitarian Universalist theologians, James Luther Adams. Adams discussed how, even we UU’s can be fundamentalists by making freedom an idol.
By fundamentalist, I mean that the word free is taken expressively as opposed to instrumentally. In contrast with inquiring about a situation or responsibly searching for all the related and interconnected processes or parts of a problem and acting on that situation freely, we declare that we are free. We declare our faith as free.
Yet, faith without works is dead.
Surely, we uu’s know what this means. I was raised by a father with a Baptist religious background and a mother who attended a Pentacostal church that her family established in a small southeastern Ohio city.
Though, my mother went to church religiously and learned about Jesus and his teachings, she was less likely in her life to help the stranger or assist the poor. Her salvation was based on accepting doctrine. It was enough for her to accept Jesus as her personal savior.
Yet, one part of the Bible used in her faith, James 2:14-26 says:
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your[a] works, and I will show you my faith by my[b] works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?[c] 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[d] And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Footnotes:
James 2:18 NU-Text omits your.
James 2:18 NU-Text omits my.
James 2:20 NU-Text reads useless.
James 2:23 Genesis 15:6
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
So, I experienced some cognitive dissonance when I observed church going folks who could have faith and declare being free from sin, yet did not necessarily embody the work.
It appeared to me that accepting the doctrine, released the faithful from any responsibility to do the work. But it is this work that brings about the Beloved Community.
Marilyn Sewell in her essay, The Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person, says that our faith is free. And this freedom allows us to respect the various choices that people make about their spiritual needs. Moreover, it is this freedom that allows UU’s to be advocates for the oppressed.
So when we say we can believe anything, are we walking down the road toward worshiping freedom that is accountable to just freedom?
I think that a more mature understanding of this idea of free thinking, includes this statement by Francis David:
We need not think alike to love alike.
You see, my free thinking has inspired me to walk a path toward Beloved Community. Congregations exist because we are walking together toward a cause bigger than ourselves.
Is that cause not the creation of Beloved Community in this life?
To me, the creation of Beloved Community comes from living together in covenant and acting in right relationship. And that requires principles. We are free from doctrines and we are free to embrace all the life-giving and life enhancing information from sacred texts, inspirations, and direct experiences.
We are walking many different paths yet we are making the road to Beloved Community. And it will take all of us walking our different paths in this big wide world in order to create Beloved Community. This is the mature faith I seek. When asked who I am, I want the world to know that she is walking a path to the Beloved Community. She is a UU and that is a faith that makes the road by walking it.
