Roots and Wings
Sermon given at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
June 4, 2017
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
What’s it like to be three-hundred years old? I’ve got about two-hundred and fifty something years before I can answer that personally, but our church…and I don’t mean the building…turned three hundred this year. Indeed, 2017 marks the three hundredth anniversary of what are known as the Quaboag Plantation churches, which includes this one, Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church as well as the congregational churches in Brookfield (our friends across the common), West Brookfield, and North Brookfield. And thanks to Donna Sullivan, a brief history of the church has been included in your order of service this morning.
So, what’s it like…to be three hundred? Maybe we should start by asking what’s it mean to be three hundred or that we’ve made it to three hundred?
In my view, at the very least it means for three hundred years we have managed to remain relevant to human spiritual needs… and to enough committed people to survive all the challenges and calamities, self-inflicted or otherwise, that are ever a risk in life and with human institutions. That we’re standing…or sitting…here at all, is cause for celebration, gratitude, and reflection. We’ll do some celebrating afterwards at coffee hour and I hope you will practice gratitude for our religious communities through your lives and relationships with others and yourself. As for reflection, well, that began some time ago and here’s what I have, so far…
“Roots hold me close; wings set me free.” With these eight words, Carolyn McDade, the composer of the hymn from which this line is drawn, comes as close to anyone I’m aware of to summarizing modern day Unitarian Universalism.
Unitarian Universalism is a religion with roots…roots that stretch back to the early Christian era to the days when theological arguments about things like the nature of Jesus and Universal salvation could get you declared a heretic, thrown in prison, or even executed. Roots that strengthened and spread throughout Europe in the years following Martin Luther’s break with the Roman Catholic Church five hundred years ago in 1517, igniting the Protestant Reformation. Roots in the New World that upended the churches of the Standing Order in New England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including this one in 1827, over a host of doctrinal issues, including the Trinity and Total Depravity.
Roots that formed a common bond with the merger of the America Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America in 1961 to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. Roots that provide us with a common polity, worship form, hymnals, celebrations, rituals, principles and purposes. Roots that continue to grow and die, weaken and strengthen over time and in different parts around the globe. Roots that hold us close in community held together in covenant.
And Unitarian Universalism is a religion with wings. Wings that have carried us beyond our Judeo-Christian sources to include the teachings and wisdom of other world religions, philosophies and teachings, both sacred and secular. Wings that contributed to the exchange and debate of ideas about God, Jesus, church governance and religious authority emerging out of the Protestant Reformation. Wings that were clipped as New England churches began to divide and break up over doctrine, against the hope those who wished for peaceful coexistence. Wings that were strengthened by continued commitment to a non-creedal faith, both pre and post merger. Wings that broaden our view when tradition devolves into rigidity. Wings that break and heal…flying is not without risk. And wings that set us free to seek truth in community bound by no dogma, restricted by no creed.
Okay then. Roots and wings. Sounds great! Makes sense… right? But wait…How…how exactly does that work? If something holds me close…how can wings…set me free? It doesn’t say roots hold me close… then we let go… so wings can set me free. That’s more like Sunday worship! Well, I hope it does’t feel like that most of the time.
My point here is not to make bad jokes. But simply to note that as with so much poetic language, what is being described by the concept of roots and wings is something more easily intuited than logically explained as my descriptions of Unitarian Universalist roots and wings attest. Still, it is worthwhile from time to time, to look again at concepts perhaps easily accepted but not so easily explained lest their meaning diminish or become completely lost in the dull haze of passive familiarity.
And as a faith with Judeo-Christian roots we’d be in good company to engage in such an endeavor. For “Jesus began his ministry,” the author and Franciscan priest Richard Rohr reminds us, with the message, “Metanoia” (Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17) Which is Greek for “change.” Or more precisely, to change, open or go beyond the mind you have. Regrettably, instead of, “Change or open your mind and believe in the good news”, this powerful charge has most often been translated as, “Repent and believe in the good news.” Two quite different sounding messages, particularly to the modern ear. So, it helps to remember what Jesus initially called people to do was to take another look… beyond what you think you already know or have been told, and to see anew.
Recently, in the spirit of taking a closer look and seeing anew, children in our religious education program spent time reflecting on the hymn “Spirit of Life”, its language and what the line, “roots hold me close, wings set me free” means to them. Here’s some of what they said,
“Something to steady me and let me learn and image”
“Trees of a garden and birds”
“Principles and origins we’re raised with and the independence and opportunities in our lives”
“Family or origin and one’s own thoughts and ideas.”
“To be close to peace and happiness and free from hate and injustice.”
“Cherish and appreciate where you’ve come from while also growing and seeking opportunities of the future.”
“You cannot be completely held back or set free…there must be balance.”
I think they’re on to something, don’t you?
As the children noted, roots are those things which nurture, ground or steady us….family, origins, values, principles…trees!…I like the nod to nature as a nurturing or steadying force there…something very much near and dear to my own heart.
And then wings. Those things which move us beyond the familiar or out of our comfort zone yet carry the promise of growth. And so opportunities to learn and engage our imagination. Independence. Having one’s own thoughts and ideas about things. Liberation from the ways and systems of injustice and hatred. Growth emerging from an appreciation of the roots which have nurtured us.
We hear the sentiment of that last idea, especially, in the words of Olympia Brown, a Universalist, who in 1863 became the first fully ordained female minister. Famously, she exhorted, “Stand by this faith…Which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble duty and made the world beautiful.” But she also added, “Go on finding every new applications of these truths and new enjoyments in their contemplation….” Her words suggesting no contradiction in the concept of roots and wings as connected or complimentary rather than opposing forces.
And this is a crucial point. It’s roots and wings; not roots or wings…or even roots then wings. I was impressed to see this among the insights from the children, which was stated as, “You cannot be completely held back or set free…there must be balance.”
The poet Rilke makes a similar point in his poem “Sunset”, our reading this morning. Observing the setting sun, he writes, “two worlds both leave you. One part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth. Leaving you, not really belonging to either.” Thus he invites us to wonder, Where do we belong?
As it turns out, right where we are, in the in-between. Our humanity, the poet insists, is not defined by polarities, but rests immersed in paradox. Fully aware, as he writes, “It is impossible to untangle the threads” and “living timid and standing high and growing,so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out, one moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star.”
“Sunset” explores an essential religious question, What does it mean to be human? Rilke was not a Unitarian Universalist but his attention to paradox as part of what it means to be human has great resonance with this Unitarian Universalist. For the noted 20th C. Unitarian theologian James Luther Adams called church, “a place where we get to practice what it means to be human.” And indeed, as I noted during Caterina’s dedication today, “We are not “saving” Caterina with our actions today, we are rather welcoming her on the path to BEING human…”
I have found in Unitarian Universalism, as many others have too, a religion that has done just that…welcomed us on the path to being human. A religion that calls us not to choose between rigid polarities of the mind and spirit but toward an awareness and engagement with life’s fluid paradox, the creative tension where “roots hold us close and wings set us free.”
And it is living this creative tension that is and has long been the hallmark of individual Unitarian Universalist practice and institutional polity. A tension not resolved by common theological belief, but lived in covenant, a sacred promise about how we will be together and that we make to one another as members of this congregation and as a congregation to other congregations in our association. A promise we count as one of many roots, that grounds us for flight, that free and responsible search for truth and meaning that has been so deeply cherished by Unitarian Universalists and our religious forbearers for generations.
So, what’s it like to be three hundred? Well, I can’t answer that for you. As for me, I can say it fills my heart with gratitude to minister here with you at this time in the church’s history, to celebrate the common history of the Quaboag churches, and lift up this faith where we get to practice what it means to be human, living into our roots and wings. And that feels pretty good!
Amen and Blessed Be
Sermon given at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
June 4, 2017
by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
What’s it like to be three-hundred years old? I’ve got about two-hundred and fifty something years before I can answer that personally, but our church…and I don’t mean the building…turned three hundred this year. Indeed, 2017 marks the three hundredth anniversary of what are known as the Quaboag Plantation churches, which includes this one, Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church as well as the congregational churches in Brookfield (our friends across the common), West Brookfield, and North Brookfield. And thanks to Donna Sullivan, a brief history of the church has been included in your order of service this morning.
So, what’s it like…to be three hundred? Maybe we should start by asking what’s it mean to be three hundred or that we’ve made it to three hundred?
In my view, at the very least it means for three hundred years we have managed to remain relevant to human spiritual needs… and to enough committed people to survive all the challenges and calamities, self-inflicted or otherwise, that are ever a risk in life and with human institutions. That we’re standing…or sitting…here at all, is cause for celebration, gratitude, and reflection. We’ll do some celebrating afterwards at coffee hour and I hope you will practice gratitude for our religious communities through your lives and relationships with others and yourself. As for reflection, well, that began some time ago and here’s what I have, so far…
“Roots hold me close; wings set me free.” With these eight words, Carolyn McDade, the composer of the hymn from which this line is drawn, comes as close to anyone I’m aware of to summarizing modern day Unitarian Universalism.
Unitarian Universalism is a religion with roots…roots that stretch back to the early Christian era to the days when theological arguments about things like the nature of Jesus and Universal salvation could get you declared a heretic, thrown in prison, or even executed. Roots that strengthened and spread throughout Europe in the years following Martin Luther’s break with the Roman Catholic Church five hundred years ago in 1517, igniting the Protestant Reformation. Roots in the New World that upended the churches of the Standing Order in New England in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including this one in 1827, over a host of doctrinal issues, including the Trinity and Total Depravity.
Roots that formed a common bond with the merger of the America Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America in 1961 to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. Roots that provide us with a common polity, worship form, hymnals, celebrations, rituals, principles and purposes. Roots that continue to grow and die, weaken and strengthen over time and in different parts around the globe. Roots that hold us close in community held together in covenant.
And Unitarian Universalism is a religion with wings. Wings that have carried us beyond our Judeo-Christian sources to include the teachings and wisdom of other world religions, philosophies and teachings, both sacred and secular. Wings that contributed to the exchange and debate of ideas about God, Jesus, church governance and religious authority emerging out of the Protestant Reformation. Wings that were clipped as New England churches began to divide and break up over doctrine, against the hope those who wished for peaceful coexistence. Wings that were strengthened by continued commitment to a non-creedal faith, both pre and post merger. Wings that broaden our view when tradition devolves into rigidity. Wings that break and heal…flying is not without risk. And wings that set us free to seek truth in community bound by no dogma, restricted by no creed.
Okay then. Roots and wings. Sounds great! Makes sense… right? But wait…How…how exactly does that work? If something holds me close…how can wings…set me free? It doesn’t say roots hold me close… then we let go… so wings can set me free. That’s more like Sunday worship! Well, I hope it does’t feel like that most of the time.
My point here is not to make bad jokes. But simply to note that as with so much poetic language, what is being described by the concept of roots and wings is something more easily intuited than logically explained as my descriptions of Unitarian Universalist roots and wings attest. Still, it is worthwhile from time to time, to look again at concepts perhaps easily accepted but not so easily explained lest their meaning diminish or become completely lost in the dull haze of passive familiarity.
And as a faith with Judeo-Christian roots we’d be in good company to engage in such an endeavor. For “Jesus began his ministry,” the author and Franciscan priest Richard Rohr reminds us, with the message, “Metanoia” (Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17) Which is Greek for “change.” Or more precisely, to change, open or go beyond the mind you have. Regrettably, instead of, “Change or open your mind and believe in the good news”, this powerful charge has most often been translated as, “Repent and believe in the good news.” Two quite different sounding messages, particularly to the modern ear. So, it helps to remember what Jesus initially called people to do was to take another look… beyond what you think you already know or have been told, and to see anew.
Recently, in the spirit of taking a closer look and seeing anew, children in our religious education program spent time reflecting on the hymn “Spirit of Life”, its language and what the line, “roots hold me close, wings set me free” means to them. Here’s some of what they said,
“Something to steady me and let me learn and image”
“Trees of a garden and birds”
“Principles and origins we’re raised with and the independence and opportunities in our lives”
“Family or origin and one’s own thoughts and ideas.”
“To be close to peace and happiness and free from hate and injustice.”
“Cherish and appreciate where you’ve come from while also growing and seeking opportunities of the future.”
“You cannot be completely held back or set free…there must be balance.”
I think they’re on to something, don’t you?
As the children noted, roots are those things which nurture, ground or steady us….family, origins, values, principles…trees!…I like the nod to nature as a nurturing or steadying force there…something very much near and dear to my own heart.
And then wings. Those things which move us beyond the familiar or out of our comfort zone yet carry the promise of growth. And so opportunities to learn and engage our imagination. Independence. Having one’s own thoughts and ideas about things. Liberation from the ways and systems of injustice and hatred. Growth emerging from an appreciation of the roots which have nurtured us.
We hear the sentiment of that last idea, especially, in the words of Olympia Brown, a Universalist, who in 1863 became the first fully ordained female minister. Famously, she exhorted, “Stand by this faith…Which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble duty and made the world beautiful.” But she also added, “Go on finding every new applications of these truths and new enjoyments in their contemplation….” Her words suggesting no contradiction in the concept of roots and wings as connected or complimentary rather than opposing forces.
And this is a crucial point. It’s roots and wings; not roots or wings…or even roots then wings. I was impressed to see this among the insights from the children, which was stated as, “You cannot be completely held back or set free…there must be balance.”
The poet Rilke makes a similar point in his poem “Sunset”, our reading this morning. Observing the setting sun, he writes, “two worlds both leave you. One part climbs toward heaven, one sinks to earth. Leaving you, not really belonging to either.” Thus he invites us to wonder, Where do we belong?
As it turns out, right where we are, in the in-between. Our humanity, the poet insists, is not defined by polarities, but rests immersed in paradox. Fully aware, as he writes, “It is impossible to untangle the threads” and “living timid and standing high and growing,so that, sometimes blocked in, sometimes reaching out, one moment your life is a stone in you, and the next, a star.”
“Sunset” explores an essential religious question, What does it mean to be human? Rilke was not a Unitarian Universalist but his attention to paradox as part of what it means to be human has great resonance with this Unitarian Universalist. For the noted 20th C. Unitarian theologian James Luther Adams called church, “a place where we get to practice what it means to be human.” And indeed, as I noted during Caterina’s dedication today, “We are not “saving” Caterina with our actions today, we are rather welcoming her on the path to BEING human…”
I have found in Unitarian Universalism, as many others have too, a religion that has done just that…welcomed us on the path to being human. A religion that calls us not to choose between rigid polarities of the mind and spirit but toward an awareness and engagement with life’s fluid paradox, the creative tension where “roots hold us close and wings set us free.”
And it is living this creative tension that is and has long been the hallmark of individual Unitarian Universalist practice and institutional polity. A tension not resolved by common theological belief, but lived in covenant, a sacred promise about how we will be together and that we make to one another as members of this congregation and as a congregation to other congregations in our association. A promise we count as one of many roots, that grounds us for flight, that free and responsible search for truth and meaning that has been so deeply cherished by Unitarian Universalists and our religious forbearers for generations.
So, what’s it like to be three hundred? Well, I can’t answer that for you. As for me, I can say it fills my heart with gratitude to minister here with you at this time in the church’s history, to celebrate the common history of the Quaboag churches, and lift up this faith where we get to practice what it means to be human, living into our roots and wings. And that feels pretty good!
Amen and Blessed Be
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