More on C’thulhu

Ever stopped to wonder what might happen if Hello Kitty met up with the wicked elder god C’thulhu? C’mon, ‘fess up, I’ll bet you have!

And why do bother with such silliness on this minister’s blog? Silly stuff like this is a way to play around with ideas. Imagining C’thulhu makes us ask: What if all Western culture’s assumptions about God were utterly wrong? Imagining Hello Kitty as the embodiment of goodness is a little harder to justify, except as a reminder to have a sense of humor when it comes to religion. Frankly, Unitarian Universalism (and Unitarian Universalist blogs in particular) need a strong dose of humor — we take ourselves too seriously.

(By the way, ever notice how Hello Kitty doesn’t have a mouth? How does she talk or eat? Chu!)

Conflict and theology

My favorite branch of theology has become ecclesiology, which I define as the study of how congregations should work ideally, how they do work in reality, and how individual congregations cooperate together. I also contend that too many of us Unitarian Universalists reduce theology to ontological theology, or the study of the nature of ultimate reality (i.e., whether God exists or not, etc.) — which I actually find fairly pointless because no one ever seems to get anywhere with ontological theology. Ecclesiology, on the other hand, is something that you can actually experience, and observe, and experiment with.

More and more, I’ve been reading up on the sociology of congregations to try to gain some insight into how congregations work in reality. I don’t want to oversimplify, but one of the biggest realities in most congregations is conflict — conflict is a fact of life. I found a great resource online for understanding conflict in congregations — a concise summary of “Levels of Conflict” — Alban Institute’s model for conflict management in congregations.

If you haven’t run into this model before, click on that link above and scan the summary. If you have run into the model before, this is the best summary I’ve run across

An ecstatic Unitarian Universalist

Transcendentalism was one of the main theological threads in the fabric of American Unitarianism in the 19th C. I’m one of those people who still think of themselves as a transcendentalists. I was, therefore, fascinated to find an excellent article on transcendentalist poet Jones Very online.

Nothing brand new in this article, but if you don’t know about Very it’s an excellent introduction to him.

Jones Very was ordained a Unitarian minister and one of the transcendentalists. In 1838 he had a spiritual opening or awakening, where he seems to have pretty completely eradicated his sense of self in an overwhelming experience of oneness with the universe.

Jones Very wrote quite a lot of poetry while in this transcendent state. You’ll find some good samples of his poems on the above Web site, or in “The New Oxford Book of English Poetry.” Eventually he got Ralph Waldo Emerson to edit his poems for publication. Emerson, so it is said, suggested some changes to the poems.

No, said Very, these are how I received the poems from god.

And Emerson is reported to have replied, Surely god knows how to spell and punctuate properly.

Very is an example of the ecstatic tradition within Unitarian Universalism — and he raises some interesting questions within our predominately rationalistic faith tradition. Was he simply insane? — or did he actually come open to the universe? Would you like to have him as your minister? — or even in your congregation? Questions to ponder….

Who should do theology?

Got a message from jfield of Left Coast Unitarian about doing Unitarian Universalist theology. He, too, thinks it is important, but in thinking about going and getting a degree in theology he finds himself less than enthusiastic.

Getting a doctorate isn’t the only way to do theology, I contend. I believe the person who had the most influence on Unitarian Universalist theology in the past century was… Sophia Fahs. Her excellent series of church school curriculum books helped to shape a theology of naturalistic theism that was also receptive to humanism. I was in church school a little past the height of the Sophia Fahs curriculum, but when I look at her books now, it’s clear how her curriculum books shaped me. Jesus the Carpenter’s Son helped me think of Jesus as a fully human political and religious thinker. The Church across the Street shaped my understanding of how I should relate to other faith traditions. Martin and Judy (which my mother taught when she taught Sunday school in the 50’s) has me seeing religion growing out of everyday experiences.

I might put Kenneth Patton second to Sophia Fahs in terms of theological influence. Patton was a humanist who believed in the power of symbols and liturgy. He developed exciting new ways of doing worship services without needing a reference to God, Goddess, C’thulhu, or whatever. You could argue that his experimentation with high-church humanism laid the groundwork for contemporary UU theology. His use of American folk tunes for hymns has, I believe, profoundly shaped the way we conceive of worship — after Kenneth Patton, we have to go beyond music composed by “dead white men” in the high Western tradition. If we would pay more attention, I think we’d see that Patton opened us to amazing possibilities in multiculturalism (even if his personal approach had a whiff of colonialism).

Oh, and forget trying to base theology on the “Seven Principles.” While Christian theologians do tend to ground their theology in interpretations of their sacred texts, the “Seven Principles” are excerpts from the UUA’s bylaws, and — alas — lack the poetry and human depth of the Christian and Hebrew scriptures. The “Seven Principles” function fairly well as a profession of faith (thought I still prefer the old Universalist Winchester Profession for sheer poetry, even though I pretty much disagree with it) — but the “SevenPrinciples” are definitely not theology.

Indeed, I sometimes wonder if one of the things keeping Unitarian Universalists from doing theology in our local congregations is that we make the false assumption that the “Seven Principles” are sufficient. They aren’t. They say “what,” but not “why” or “how” or “when.”

To answer the question in the title: Yes, Virginia, you should be doing theology, too.

The Don Skinner Fan Club

he most recent issue of Interconnections (March, 2005) arrived in my mailbox yesterday. If you don’t yet know about it, Interconnections is a newsletter published by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) for lay leaders of Unitarian Universalist congregations (it’s also published online — just click the link above). And long-time journalist Don Skinner, the person who reports and writes all the stories in it, deserves a fan club.

Why? I think Interconnections is the single best resource the UUA offers congregations. The current issue alone has a number of excellent articles. One example: the article on membership titled “Church Exit Interviews Measure Programs, Appeals.” Somehow, Don Skinner found out about Linda Laskowski, chair of the Membership Committee at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley. Linda has been doing top-notch work at understanding why people stay in her church, and why people drift away — I was fortunate enough to work with her last year when I was at the Berkeley church.

Or this article: “Orientation a Vital Part of Church Board Experience.” Here in Geneva, it seems to me the Board does a pretty good job of orienting new members, but this article offers still more ways to orient Board members so they can start being productive immediately. Beyond the major articles, Don Skinner scatters lots of little short tidbits of news and information which by themselves make Interconnections worth reading. For example, in the “Questions and Answers” section of the current issue, there’s a quick update on the Green Sanctuary program, and a suggestion or resources to reactivate Social Justice Committees — both topics of immediate interest here in Geneva.

So I’m starting the Don Skinner fan club. He deserves a fan club. He does almost the whole newsletter himself. His writing is clear and straightforward. Anyone who cares about Unitarian Universalist congregations will find his newsletter a goldmine of helpful information (I know I’ve learned more tips about making congregations function well from his reporting than from any other source).

Who else wants to be a charter member of the Don Skinner Fan Club?

More Dr. Lyttle

Thinking about Dr. Lyttle yesterday prompted me to glance through some of the old church newsletters he produced from 1949 through 1964. At the top of the March, 1962, issue of “The Geneva Unitarian Pioneer,” Dr. Lyttle included this quotation:

“That worshipper of mine who cherishes no hate against any human being, but is full only of friendliness and compassion; who is free from self-seeking and the illusions of the self; to whom sorrow and joy are the same; always patient and content; given to meditation; self-controlled, resolute — he [sic] is dear to me. He [sic] before whom none is disquieted and who is disquieted before none — he also is dear to me….” (The Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita)

Further down the page, I find this announcement:

“‘The Ethical Teaching of the Major Oriental Religions’ has been chosen as the central theme of our pre-Easter sermon series. It will be interesting to note the ehtical unison amid the diversity of ideological counterpoint. The treatment of each ‘gospel’ will, however, be as realistic and practical as possible.”

What a religious inheritance we have been given in our church. What a privilege to be part of this historic church!

Remembering Dr. Lyttle

Today, I happened to be talking with Dave Johnson on denominational business. Like me, Dave is currently serving as an interim minister. The conversation meandered, as such conversations do, and we wound up talking about the congregations we’re currently serving.

When Dave found out where I’m serving, he said, “Geneva, Illinois? I spent some time out in the Geneva church.” Turns out he was a student at Meadville Lombard Theological School when Charles Lyttle was both a professor at Meadville Lombard and the minister out here in Geneva. And Dave was one of the student ministers Dr. Lyttle brought out to gain experience here in Geneva.

Needless to say, I asked Dave about Dr. Lyttle. Dave told me one story about Dr. Lyttle coming out from Chicago to do a child dedication. But when he got here, he realized he had forgotten to bring a flower. It was spring, so Dr. Lyttle went out the front door of the church and grabbed the nearest flower. The long stalk and the roots came with the pretty white flower, but that didn’t stop Dr. Lyttle. He marched into the church carrying the flower, roots and all, and the child dedication went on.

Dave added that photographs of Dr. Lyttle don’t adequately represent his sense of humor, and his sense of fun. Dr. Lyttle thought church should be fun, says Dave, and he made sure the Geneva church was a fun place. (I think you can see some of that in the portrait our church has of Dr. Lyttle — the artist has captured a definite twinkle in his eyes.)

Dr. Lyttle sounds like my kind of minister.

Conversations at coffee hour

A few years ago, I heard Ruppert Lovely speak. He was the long-time minister at the Countryside Unitarian Universalist church in Palatine, Illinois. He said that he believed the main task of a minister was to do theology with his/her congregation. Other tasks of ministers are incidental to doing theology. This seems to imply that the main purpose of the congregation is also to do theology.

At coffee hour here at our own church this morning, I found myself involved in a number of theological conversations. People here like to talk theology. My guess is that that’s why many or most people stay with this church — so they can talk about the ultimate nature of reality and the meaning of life, what happens after death, what the nature of humanity is, what people ought to do with our lives, whether there is a transcendant reality — all those great theological questions.

So how about this statement: every part of church life should be shaped by theological questions. Why can’t that be true, too? Which would mean that committees should figure out the thological grounding of their work. Finance people should understand the theological nature of their work. The Board should shape overall policy of the church based on theological considerations. I’d even argue that we already do this much of the time in Geneva — our founding covenant, which we still say each week in worship services, and which we read at the beginning of Board and Council meetings, frames our work together in theological terms.

Since we’re Unitarian Universalists, someone is bound to argue with me and assert that theology is not at the center of church life. Admittedly, I would be surprised if were entirely correct about this. Nonetheless, I’ll bet I’m not too far from the truth (whatever truth is).