The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, Oregon

UUCS Sermons
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Let’s talk about God this morning - the God who, to be quite blunt, just doesn’t like you.  In fact He (and this God is a “He”) holds you in the utmost contempt.  As one of America’s earliest great preachers and theologians put it in a sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” - which he recycled a number of times:  “God holds you over the pit of hell, much in the same way as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, (he) abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; His wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire; He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.”   So said the Puritan Preacher Jonathan Edwards to his spiritually terrorized flock.  Whoa!   Where did he get such an idea that we are loathsome in the sight of God? 

            Actually, this idea had been hanging like a big dark cloud in Western theological skies for well over a thousand years before Edwards gave such memorable expression to it in the New World .   Augustine first came up with this idea of “Original Sin,” after reflecting on the Hebrew scriptural account of Adam and Eve, and he drew the conclusion that all of humankind had fallen into a state of sin (although such a doctrine is nowhere to found in Jewish theology).    According to Augustine, unless we got baptized and saved we were destined for eternal damnation.    No exceptions – even babies who didn’t get baptized went to hell.   

            This idea that we are inherently depraved and sinful heavily influenced later Christian theologians, especially John Calvin and thus, Jonathan Edwards, who was a proponent of Calvinist theology.  And so the teaching of our unworthiness and God’s wrath filled displeasure with all of us, got preached from countless pulpits from generation to generation.    (Let me pause here for a moment to say that both Augustine and Edwards were deeply religious men, who reasoned from within a closed theological system, and in their fervent desire to affirm the power, goodness and glory of God felt logically compelled to negate human worthiness – they should not be judged solely on this.) 

            Yet there were always those of a heretical bent who challenged this notion of humankind’s innate depravity, especially the early American Universalists and Unitarians.     In the mid 19^th Century, Thomas Starr King, who began his career as a Universalist minister and later became a Unitarian minister, aptly put it:  “The Universalists believe that God is too good to damn them and the Unitarians believe they are too good to be damned,”--which is to say, we decisively threw these monstrous theological concepts of original sin and eternal damnation overboard.   Good for our forebears, who took quite a bit of heat for breaking free of the confines of such theological concepts.  

            But that was merely a first step in the right direction.  When you internalize something – and the teaching that we are inherently flawed and unworthy - has been psycho-spiritually internalized by our culture – so it’s not so easy to be done with it.   You may consciously disavow a belief but it can still reside in the subterranean depths of your being.  Consider two other forms of focused contempt – racism and homophobia.   In these cases the hatred is projected outward.   All of us here, I hope, consciously and fervently disavow racist ideologies and homophobic attitudes, as well we should, yet there is a form of pre-rational, emotional racism and homophobia that still colors our vision.    Such spiritual infections don’t clear up overnight – they linger in our collective and individual psyches for a long time.  

            So, too, does the sense that we are flawed, unworthy, which, if you think about it, is as objectionable as any teaching that other groups are inferior or sinful.   For one thing, people haven’t just learned it from the pulpit, many of us learned it from our families of origin and from society at large.   In fact, such deep seated feelings are so pervasive that it can seem like the norm and be hard to imagine any other frame of reference.

            Consider the case of an East-West dialogue with the Tibetan Buddhist leader and some westerners that took place a few years back.   In the course of the conversation one of the westerners mentioned the problem of self hatred, and the Dalai Lama was completely perplexed by this notion.   Thinking that the individual who introduced the subject was speaking about some rare phenomena he asked for clarification and was told by the other westerners that yes, self hatred is a common phenomenon in the western world.   The Dalai Lama, raised in a Buddhist culture where such ideas had never permeated, was astounded to hear that so many of us are burdened by such feelings.

            And yet I think we are, some much more than others.  We may do everything we can to ignore such feelings – stay busy, consume things, dull the pain with drugs or alcohol or food.  But underneath, there is that feeling of shame, a lack of worth, self hatred, perpetual guilt.    It is a psycho-spiritual infection, passed down through the generations, and it mutates into ever new forms.   For example, you find this reflected in that strange novel by Franz Kafka, The Trial, in which the protagonist, Joseph K. lives under the cloud of an unnamed accusation by an all powerful court for breaking an invisible law – he is just guilty for no stated reason - simply guilty for existing – existential guilt.   And this presumed guilt, which Joseph K.  is never allowed to contest, controls his entire life thereafter.   In this case it is not God who sees the individual as guilty but rather governmental bureaucracy, which has assumed a divine like role over the lives of people.   No matter.  The bottom line in the Western psyche is guilt.

            Some would contend that there is no alternative, for without a sense of guilt, we would become morally unhinged and wreak havoc in the world – that guilt is good.   I don’t mean to boast, but I consider myself an expert on this subject since I have steeped in feelings of Kafkaesque guilt for much of my life.   It’s both part of my theological heritage (I was born into the Southern Baptist faith) and my family history, too.   Guilt and shame were powerful undercurrents during my early years, and I got swept helplessly along.   So I’ve been there, done that, and I can affirm that it hasn’t done me much good, that there are better ways.

            As we grow older, we begin to realize, if we have chosen some path of growth, that we have basic choices about our lives - more momentous choices and more freedom than we might have realized.    There are many paths a person could take to discovering new paths toward greater wholeness.   One path I have chosen, a path I walk on daily, is the path of meditation – the discipline of being mindfully present in each moment, of dispassionately observing how the mind works.   After many years of practice I still consider myself a relative beginner, but there is a definite shift in my sense of being –  I know that this is a good path.   By sitting quietly and observing my mind I can observe how thoughts and feelings of guilt and anxiety and unworthiness drift into my mind.  Earlier in my life, such thoughts and feelings would completely color my subjective reality and swallow me whole.    Now, more and more, I can simply observe such feelings without identifying with them, and I realize that they are just conditioned, transitory thoughts and feelings; they do not tell me anything about who I am or about transcendent truth or reality.  They are just thoughts that pass through the mind because of previous conditioning.   And seeing this, a person gains a new sense of freedom from such feelings.  You realize you don’t have to believe in the dogma they preach, you don’t have to embrace the idea that you are a bad, guilty, unworthy person forever and ever.    You don’t have to indulge in habitual acts of lacerating self contempt in a futile attempt to appease a remote, judgmental God.   You can walk right out of that Kafkaesque court where you are presumed guilty and you won’t get zapped by lightning.   

            The free thinking theologian Matthew Fox notes that instead of “Original Sin” we should speak of “Original Blessing” when we think of our human condition – because we are born blessed, not cursed, the foundation of our being is goodness not depravity, our inherent nature inclines toward compassion, not hate.   I’ll confess that it’s a challenge to let go of old mental habits, but it can be done.    I know this from my own experience, I know this from deep conversations I’ve had with members here who have made progress on the road from self hatred to self acceptance. 

              This is important because we are much more likely to grow when we have a positive self regard and also, it helps others grow when we they sense we see them as truly worthy.    After all, if you feel like you’re no good, inherently guilty, rotten at the core and there’s really no chance of ever improving, then despair, relapse, failure become more likely.   We need core beliefs that encourage us, not discourage us--as it notes in our Purposes and Principles where we speak of “acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.”

            So, why don’t we just banish guilt altogether, just toss it overboard?  We don’t need to take that heavy burden of guilt on our life voyages, because we’re all good people, aren’t we?  Well, maybe not ALWAYS good.    And herein lies a danger, a pitfall for us religious liberals who believe in the goodness of humankind.  We are on the right path, but if you don’t walk with your eyes open you can fall right into it.   

            When I am in a reflective, genuinely humble mood, it’s not hard for me to remember those times when my thoughts, my actions or lack of action, my words and deeds were less than admirable.   I can think of those times when fear vanquished  courage, when indolence and indifference trumped meaningful endeavor, when selfishness beat down a generous impulse, when anger drove away the spirit of forgiveness,  when I said something I wish and hadn’t and when I didn’t say something I wish I had, times when I left a kind deed undone.   Then, too, I am self aware enough to know that I am not completely self aware and have blind spots, faults and failings I cannot even see or fathom.    My presence in the world has not been an unalloyed blessing to all. 

            Shouldn’t I feel guilty about this?    Shouldn’t you feel guilty for those times when you’ve missed the mark, transgressed, done harm to yourself or others?    No, I don’t think so.   Guilt can too easily become a constant burden – in our culture a person can too readily take on the permanent identity of the guilty person.  There is another way.

            It begins with confession – at least to yourself, if not another.  Confess, acknowledge your shortcomings, your failings.    Think of the harm you have done, wittingly and unwittingly.   Think of the pain, the misunderstanding, the anxiety, the anger, the fear, the hatred and greed this may have caused.  Apologize and make amends if possible.   It’s not only the multi-national corporations who do harm in the world.   We do, too.   Beware of those self righteous ones who only demonize others and who are blind to their own failings!   It’s important to set aside some time in your life to do acknowledge our - dare I say it? – our sins – our sins of omission and commission. 

            Why should we do this?  So we can feel genuine remorse.  Remorse.   It’s not the same as guilt.  With remorse you acknowledge the damage you have done, and being aware of the pain it has caused you, resolve to do better.  But you also move on.  You don’t lie in the ditch of guilty self reproach.  You get up, you forgive yourself and you let go and you move on toward the light of love.    Here we certainly don’t believe in eternal damnation.  So why should we believe in perpetual self condemnation or condemnation of others?   Guilt too easily becomes a static state; no change is possible.  Remorse is a fluid process which leads to higher ground.  

It’s a good thing to walk a spiritual path that periodically takes you to a place of humble awareness, so you can reflect upon your life, honestly consider how you are doing so that you can remember that you are blessed, not cursed, and you are called to bless the world, not to curse it.