Carrying the Language of Freedom
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This year what has taken hold of me about Passover is not so much the story itself, but the very fact that the story is reliably told and retold, generation after generation, at the family Seder. The story is a fundamental part of the language of a people. It provides the basis for religious identity, and helps to preserve the community, sustaining an enduring culture and tradition.
The whole story is about freedom, but what I’m thinking about just now is how over the centuries the Jews maintain their journey toward freedom as a group with definite boundaries, a religious group, and they continue doing that in spite of enormous odds against them. We read of Jewish soldiers in the U.S. Civil War, who on Passover managed to hold a Seder, substituting bricks for the mixture of apples and nuts that are customary, and a wild weed for the bitter herb. In the Warsaw ghetto during World War II, Jews conducted Seders from memory. Even in the concentration camps Jewish prisoners were reluctant to eat leavened bread during Passover.
The Seder is the language of the Jewish people. This aspect, this identity-preservation aspect of Passover, made me wonder about which enduring theological values are ours to hand down. If we were creating a ritual meal like a Seder, what would it be about?
At first, of course, when you come into Unitarian Universalism, you notice the freedom. No pretending you believe in a doctrine that inside you have doubts about. No guilt about not believing or about not coming to church. No hierarchy. There really is a lot of freedom. While we recognize that, for most Americans, theological freedom may not be a high priority when it comes to religion, and we fully support those who feel comfortable in doctrinal religions, creeds and doctrines are just not our particular way.
Occasionally, in my role as a ministerial intern supervisor, an intern would arrive focused on the freedom that we have in Unitarian Universalism, so I would quickly give that intern an annoying assignment: Write a reflection paper about our theological limits. The intern usually declared there are no limits: “We’re free.”
So then I’d ask, “Can you as a UU minister lead worship by sacrificing chickens? Is that recognizable as Unitarian Universalism? Can you conduct a service in Boston entirely in Hebrew or Arabic or Tibetan? Is that Unitarian Universalism? Where is the line? What is ‘the language of our people’? What pieces of theological identity are we promoting and protecting? If we were forced to leave our homes as a group and head for a promised land, what common practices would we take along?”
I could make a very long list, but I’ll name just six examples, all born of one historical and denominational period. When Unitarians set out on their theological journey toward independence in the early 1800s in New England, they broke away from the established religion of the day. What they stood for during their break for independence, and what we still stand for (among other things from other parts of our history), are these:
- If we believe in a god at all, it’s a benevolent one, not a frightening or punishing god. That’s something Unitarian Universalists carry with us on our journeys.
- We believe in the humanity of Jesus, whom we view as a wise and wonderful teacher, but not a god. That’s something Unitarian Universalists carry with us.
- We reject the doctrine of innate depravity. We do not believe in original sin; that becomes crystal clear when you listen to the words of our child dedications. We carry the theology of potential goodness with us.
- We believe in free will, not predestination. Events are not preordained, nor “meant to be.” We have the power to act in the world. We carry that free will with us as Unitarian Universalists.
- We believe in the freedom of conscience, that creeds do not serve us well. We carry that freedom of conscience with us on our journey.
- And we believe in the use of reason as part of determining personal religious truth. We carry that use of reason with us always.
We carry other aspects of identity with us too: the flaming chalice, our hymns, our rejection of the Trinity, our personal approach to memorial services and funerals, our self-governance, our commitment to social justice in the world here and now, our reverence for nature, our love of community. They are not Passover matzos, or palm fronds. When we go on our journeys, they are ours to take along.
May we carry them with us, that they may offer us solace when we need it, inspiration when the world seems dull, challenge when we are lulled into complacency, and the seeds of love and friendship when we feel alone in the world.n
Excerpted from “The Language of a People” in From Zip Lines to Hosaphones by Jane Rzepka, published in 2011 by Skinner House Books. This book is available from the CLF Lending Library and the UUA bookstore.
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