Elz Curtiss on Sacramental Energy

A fascinating comment from the Rev. Elz Curtiss who blogs as PolityWonk. Thanks for this, Elz. Lots to think about.

This marks a sacramental and liturgical milestone of great historical importance. In the 1500s, Reformation theologians and ministers abolished most of the sacramental testimonials of faith in favor of the plodding regularity of Sunday worship. Some Reformation folk preferred to keep sacramental options for outbursts of high faith, particularly the anabaptist process of conversion, confession and adult baptism. Among congregationalists of New England, these two groups divided again during the Unitarian Controversies of the early 1800s.

It is my contention that today’s Unitarian Universalst Association has adopted demonstrations as a sacramental faith-revival tool, such as The Lord’s Supper used to be. Getting arrested is our new adult Baptismal ritual. There is no question that many UU Facebook threads brook no compromise on many political issues. This raises questions about our openness on political and cultural issues. Do we really want to be as politically narrow as the Religious Right tries to be? Many of those congregations, by the way, are reconsidering whether that is the best way to serve their God and members, as people leave when their politics soften or change.

Rather than get ourselves splashy shirts (self-righteousness is usually a sin, by the way), to get recognized on the news at every demonstration that comes down the pike, we need to recover our founders’ deep conviction that sacramental energy, like sexuality, must be carefully monitored and shared only in covenental relationships. This is especially true if it has risen to the level of ritual, as these shirts imply. Showing up at every new kind of demonstration can make us the political equivalent of those much-married folks (usually straight) who so often demean that institution. And if we move to the next issue before we’ve finished making a difference in its predecessor, how are we different from a well-known politician who cheated on a wife with cancer, and justifies it now by saying he’s divorced the one and married the other?

Serving as chaplain to an Occupy movement in crisis last month showed me that political commitment by Unitarian Universalism has real value to people in need. However,what mattered was that I stood in the rain with them for four hours and then was able to shelter them in our meetinghouse when they started trying to figure out where they could go. And if our minister hadn’t already been meeting with one of their working groups, and if some of their leaders hadn’t gone through our RE program, would they have welcomed that offer the way they did?

Moral of the story: religious testimonial is not a fashion statement.