Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell

First Unitarian Church
Portland, Oregon

May 3, 1998

"It will be ‘holy fools’ who will lead us into a new future and the next generation of the church. . . . . The holy fool knows that there is an agenda that is beyond efficiency, rightness, and being in control of outcomes. The mystics call it ‘union with God.’"

--Richard Rohr

The church is in trouble—big trouble. No, I don’t mean our church. I mean the church. Mainline churches have declined precipitously in recent years, as you no doubt have heard. Even the Catholics, who have long been known for rigorous attendance—miss Mass and you go to hell--have been reduced to figures in line with other denominations—a routine attendance of no more than 28 percent of the registered membership.

Are people becoming less interested in things of the spirit, then? Not at all. In fact, what we are seeing is a spiritual renaissance. It’s just not taking place in mainline churches. It’s moving in every place else, though. Look at the bestseller list. Thomas Moore’s books on the soul. The Celestine Prophecy. Kathleen Norris’s devotional books: Tom read from one earlier—The Cloister Walk. Spirituality is gaining the interest of the scientific community, and various institutes have been founded to examine the connection between faith and science, such as the Center for Faith and Science Exchange in Boston. Psychiatry is increasingly taking into account the spiritual dimension. In fact the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, better known as the DSM, which lists official mental disorders, carries a new listing: "spiritual emergencies." No, you are not abnormal because you had a mystical experience. No, you do not need Prozac. Maybe you’re getting a message from somewhere! A spiritual emergency!

When I see the evidence all around, people in so many different disciplines, including some of our leading physicists, seeking the spiritual dimensions in their work, I can only conclude that we are entering what I might call the Third Great Awakening. The First Great Awakening started in the 1720’s and the Second Great Awakening came at the end of that century, as powerful revival preachers toured the country on horseback and put fire in the hearts of the people. These religious revivals came to some extent for the same reason that we are experiencing one today—churches have been comfortable too long with business as usual, while the world has been changing.

What, then, are people wanting? How is the world changing? The present generation is much more sophisticated than those who grew up in earlier times. We have traveled to faraway places either personally or through the media. We have heard the Dali Lama speak on TV. We have all seen the film Gandhi, for example, and so when a minister says that "Jesus is the way" to salvation, they can’t help but wonder about Gandhi. Is he in hell? If so, hell might be full of good company. Something just doesn’t fit here. People leave the church. They become seekers.

The young of today are ecologically aware—they understand that we are fouling our nest. How much more basic can your spirituality be than to move into right relationship to the earth and its creatures? No major politician today can be anti-environment and be elected. Christianity has not exactly been a leader in the ecology movement. God speaks in Genesis l:26 and says: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." That of course was written before multi-national corporations "creepeth all over the earth." Churches need to interpret the scripture according to the signs of the times, else the words will be hopelessly irrelevant.

Today’s generation of seekers are looking for meaning. I believe those of us who went through the ‘60’s led the way. In the ‘50’s the empty prosperity was killing the men in gray flannel suits and the women were being strangled by their apron strings. Neither was free: he was a servant of the establishment, and she served him. Both were spiritually at sea, through the elation of peace after WW II and the rise of consumerism obscured the spiritual vacuum. The myth of the happy family and the god-fearing nation blew wide open in the ‘60’s, as the youth of this country made the rest of us face the tragedy of Vietnam; as Blacks moved to claim full citizenship; as women proclaimed that they must be treated as equals and not just an adjunct to a man and his work; as the pill freed the body electric for passionate expression, with individuals making their own rules about sexual behavior.

It was a good beginning, the ‘60’s, but disillusionment set in as we realized that the world was not going to be changed by declaration. Vietnam continued well into the ‘70’s, and America still plays the bully nation to the rest of the world, still makes the world safe, not for democracy, but for American business. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the civil rights movement was assassinated, but he was already losing control of the movement as young Blacks turned to violence in their frustration. The women’s movement began focusing more and more on middle-class women and their personal ambitions, neglecting poor women and Blacks, neglecting the needs of families and children. Sexual experimentation led to disillusionment and emptiness, as we realized that human beings need trust and fidelity, in relationship and that sex is not just another consumer item.

The ‘70’s focused on the individual. We talked about "peak moments." Gestalt therapy guru Fritz Perls told us that we were responsible to ourselves, full stop. We held encounter groups in our churches. We talked about open marriage, and some tried it out. Pretty soon, this focus on the self became untenable, as it always does. Unsatisfying. Boring, really.

The ‘80’s found us in the Age of Greed. Greed was in, greed was good, as Michael Millikin told us before he went to prison. "How can I get mine?" we asked. The best and the brightest were not becoming servants of the good, but servants of the dollar. Many people began experiencing a spiritual vacuum and started looking for something else, something that would answer a longing that money and power and material goods can never answer.

We know that our world is changing. Eurocentricism is becoming passe as we realize that dark-skinned people will soon be the majority. We feel a lack of security as we get downsized out of our jobs and perhaps move to temporary employment. We sense a declining responsibility for the common good, as school taxes are denied and schools crumble. We distrust our political leaders, and every year fewer of us bother to go to the polls. With our new communications technology we have a glut of information but a dearth of wisdom.

Robert Kaplan, writing in The Atlantic Monthly (February 1994) predicts that in the next half century we will see the "reprimitivization" of the Earth, with a breakdown of the distinction between war and crime. The population will grow from 5.5 billion to 9 billion, all fighting over the remaining resources. People will ease their fears by adopting various ideologies, claiming the high road, blaming those who differ, turning to violence. This is the kind of brave new world that is approaching. And in the face of it, we lack a sustaining story to calm our fears and guide us as we work toward solutions. Salvation has to be redefined. We know that we can never be saved alone. That our sin is much bigger than missing Mass on Sunday, that we are, like it or not, pursued by systemic sin that denies life on a massive scale. The devil has cast off his old disguise and is appearing in new forms. What does the church have to say? What new forms, new languages, will be necessary to communicate this story?

First of all, I predict a theological shift, with the theology of fear giving way to a theology of love. Matthew Fox, the now-Episcopalian priest who was forced out of the Catholic church because of his unorthodox spirituality, wrote a book questioning the doctrine of original sin. The title: Original Blessing. We have been held in God’s love from the beginning.

Another change. People are going to church these days because they want to grow spiritually, not just because attending church is the respectable thing to do, as in times past. Those days are over. People who walk through the door of this church or any other are coming as seekers. The churches that are growing the fastest are high commitment churches, full of people who long to grow in the faith.

The church of the future will not have an all-powerful, all-wise priest or minister at the head. Yes, there will be professional leadership—certain people called out to serve—but members of the church will begin to see themselves as ministers. Ministry will not be the purview of the pastor alone but of the people. Congregants will come together in small groups to pray or meditate before they begin a committee meeting. They will share their values and beliefs, they will talk about the exigencies of everyday living. The Finance Committee will understand that they are not chiefly about money, and Buildings and Grounds not chiefly about—well, buildings and grounds. They will know that they are there to deepen spiritually and out of that deepening, to serve.

The church of the next century will need a new language in which to speak of the Holy. Jesus will need to be reinterpreted, as Marcus Borg and others are now doing. Music will take on less of a white European face and will be more inclusive of the changing population. Hymns will give way to more contemporary music, including a variety of ethnic music. The jazz band will take its place alongside the church choir. I’m thinking of the Spirit-filled services I’ve attended at Glide Memorial Methodist Church in San Francisco, where Cecil Williams, a Black minister, preaches alongside a jazz ensemble, preaches to rich women dressed in furs and street people right out of the Mission District, all in the same congregation. And in another part of that city, in the basement of Grace Cathedral, Matthew Fox is conducting his Rave Masses for standing-room-only crowds of young people. His religious services employ a total environment of computers, giant video screens, high-decibel "techno" music, and dance to deliver the message.

The awakening church of the next era will not be so analytic, not so tied to tradition and authority. It will lean more toward the intuitive, the visionary, the archetypal. Teachers from the East have heavily influenced those who attend our churches and synagogues, and it is not unusual for a Jew who attends synagogue, for example, to be engaging in Buddhist meditation and perhaps even attending Sufi dances or taking Tai Chi lessons. The path is becoming multiform, and various faith traditions are adding richness and meaning to each single path.

The feminine principle will be stronger in the church that is coming. In traditional forms of spirituality, the seeker is often posited as the lone pilgrim on a quest for purity or enlightenment. Feminine spirituality, however, is strongly relational. It emphasizes healing and affirms that healing takes place only in the context of relationships. The emphasis on healing and community leads justice-seeking. Rather than transcendent, the feminine principle is more immanent—that is, finding the Divine Source within. The human resources of feeling and imagination and intuition will enter more fully into our religious experience.

Church-goers of the 21^st century will not be particularly loyal to any denomination. They don’t mind what the label is—Methodist, Episcopal, Unitarian—just so they get what they are looking for, and that is authentic, meaningful religious experience. Many seekers now attend giant mega-churches which have no particular affiliation with any denomination, nor any religious symbols in the worship space.

One of the largest and most successful mega-churches in the nation is Willow Creek located in an affluent suburb of Chicago. The sleek campus resembles a Fortune 500 company, with its glasswalled building, winding lake, and carefully manicured landscape. The church itself resembles a civic center, with a 5,000 seat auditorium and state-of-the-art audio-visual trappings. Fifteen thousand people attend its services each week. The minister, Bill Hybels, tanned and of a distinct entrepreneurial spirit, has been criticized for catering to the affluent. People have written books about churches like his with titles like Selling Jesus and Dining with the Devil. (I love it when these folks fight with one another!) He sees his approach, as he says, as "seeker sensitive." After all, somebody has to minister to the rich! Though we may not want to emulate the mega-church, we can learn from them. From the way they figure out people’s needs and then try to meet people where they are. From the way they provide for youth and singles and various other constituencies within the larger church. From the worship services that are exciting and compelling, utilizing new technology and the arts to form a fresh liturgical language.

These large and dynamic congregations number no more than 400, but they are the fastest growing churches in the country. Half of all churchgoing Americans are attending 12 percent of the nation’s 400,000 churches. From another perspective, half of American Protestant churches have fewer than 75 congregants. These smaller churches are having problems with survival, especially in an area like our own in which land values are so high. But that’s not the only reason that larger churches are thriving. The Baby Boomers are over-committed folks, especially the women. They need a church that doesn’t rely so completely on their volunteer time, and they want a variety of quality programming so that they can be assured that their children will enjoy a good educational experience and the adults, an excellent worship service.

So where do we as Unitarian Universalists fit into this emerging picture? When you think about it, we are the church of the future. Or we could be, if we would change our ways. Let me explain.

First of all, we do have a story that sustains. Our story is the story of religious freedom and tolerance, starting with our Judeo-Christian heritage back in Reformation times, and carried on through the centuries. Back then we were all Christians, but radical Christians who demanded that the right of conscience be held above all other laws. Our forebears clung to this principle even unto death, and we stand in their debt. Ours is not a church of fads and frills, playing on the styles of the moment, but a church grounded in a noble history of the free faith tradition. There is depth here that we can draw upon as we craft the church of the next century.

We are a church that long has honored many sources of truth. We read on Sundays from holy text, but also from modern poetry. Our music might be Bach, but it might as easily be Black gospel.

We have never motivated anyone by fear, never pronounced hell and damnation on anyone--and maybe that’s why our collection plates are so light--but we believe in a God of love and mercy, who weeps even as we weep, who numbers the very hairs on our head, who knows when every sparrow falls. The Universalists—that half of our name—believed in universal salvation. They were the most tolerant and accepting of all people, and we have that part of our heritage, too, to lead us as we go into the next century, a century in which the world will grow continuously smaller, and tolerance and understanding of differences will be crucial.

From the pagans and Native American spirituality, and from the eco-feminists among us, we have learned that we must cherish the earth as a living being. Our Seventh Principle is one that we must develop more fully in practice, but we get it—that we are stewards of this planet, not owners, and that the survival of one depends upon the relationship of each to the other.

We are a contemporary church. One of my tasks as a minister in the free church is to reinterpret theological language that has lost its meaning. For example, what is sin nowadays? What does it mean to be saved? We need new answers to century-old questions, answers that recognize the world we live in and that speak directly to the concerns of that world. We know that the demands of love are the demands of justice, and that we cannot claim spiritual growth without the claims of compassion.

What church is better prepared than ours to be the church of the future? I was talking with John Buehrens, the President of our Association last Friday, and he gave me the good news that membership in our congregations is up 4.7 percent this past year. That is a phenomenal figure, when you consider the membership erosion in mainline churches. More people are beginning to discover us and are liking what they see. We’re a natural for this age.

There is one thing that will hold us back, though, and that is the lack of a sense of mission. I must say here that I believe our church as a strong sense of mission. But too many Unitarian Universalists say things like, "Oh, I wouldn’t want to proselytize!" and that translates into never even speaking to a visitor on Sunday morning. Too many of us think somehow that the church exists to meet our needs alone, and do not see a larger vision than "what’s in it for me?" Too many of us think that small is in and of itself good and that big is bad, with no real evidence for that. Big is different from small, that’s all. And I can tell you this: that when you are a church of 1440 people, as we are, you have a voice that matters.

We have a message that the world sorely needs, and it goes like this: there is only One Love, and we hold that love in our very flesh. No one is unworthy of this Love, and it is our task on this earth to watch for it and receive it, as its various manifestations break out all over the place and surprise us into being. We are to take that new being and bless others. I am reminded of the ending of a Flannery O’Connor short story entitled "Revelation": Mrs. Turpin is a rigidly upright Christian lady who is dying. O’Connor writes: "she sees a vast swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire. Upon it a vast horde of souls were rumbling toward heaven . . . she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burnt away."

As we move into this next century, let even our virtues be burned away. Let us wait upon the Lord.

So be it. Amen.

Copyright © 2000, Reverend Dr. Marilyn Sewell. All rights reserved.