We seek to live life better.
To do this, we join with others.
-----We think and we pray.
-----We work and we worship.
-----We participate in a religious congregation.
As Unitarian Universalists, we do not seek to live this better life in another world. I think it was Thoreau who said on being asked if he believed in another world, "One world at a time, please!" We UU's seek to build the better life here and now. From the days of the early Christian church to the present, our rejection of the worship of Christ begins here. In this tradition, Jesus is a role model, rather than a conjuring device to stick on the dashboard of our cars. We seek to live our lives as ourselves, as he did. We will not settle for less.
The better world and the better life are, for us, here and now, in the insistent present. A central component of our liberal religious tradition is that spiritual awakening and material improvement are not necessarily opposites, enemies. We do not teach that "He who has the most toys wins," but we like our conveniences.
Today, can we hold together spiritual growth and material accumulation? This is the question before us as Unitarian Universalists. It is also the question, I believe, before our American civilization. Camus said that in a world of executioners and victims, it is up to the thinking person to be on the side of the victim. Is it that simple? We cannot escape suffering, but can we avoid being pain's agent?
The growing division between haves and have-nots, both at home and globally, seems to be becoming a permanent characteristic of Pax Americana. Salmon Rusdie says that with these uncertainties, it is no surprise that Americans rush to press their faces into the lap of God. Is that what our spirituality is about: a forgetfulness of our privileges as a people, a denial of how blessed we are?
Spirituality is about being here now. Can we do this? -- even some of the time? Can we be here, now, without hearing our neighbors' cry of suffering, feeling the tragedy of Earth? What is the good life? How shall you live a better life? I can't answer that for you. I can make one suggestion: think about what I have written here; share it and discuss it with other Unitarian Universalists.
Ministry is bringing people together to explore and celebrate a better life. As we share with one another we move off a materialistic outlook, into a more spiritual point of view. Simply to ask invites spirituality. As we minister with one another, as we are role models unto each other, we open the adventure of living. All groups in the church, from the Sunday morning worship to small discussion groups, have at their center this concern: how shall we celebrate, how shall we live a better life. And as UU's, we do not have the answer -- only this dialogue with one another.
This is our task: an American renewal -- a renewal, not only for each of us, but a great renewal for all humanity.
Frank Carpenter