January 7, 2018

Love isthe spirit of this program. The music spans many genres but has unifying themesof justice, love, learning and hope. The messages come from podcasts, sermonsand readings from Unitarian-Universalist and other allied sources inliberal religion.  The title of this program comes from the words of abeloved Unitarian-Universalist hymn, “Spirit of Life,” including, “Sing in my heart all the stirrings ofcompassion” and “Move in the hand,giving life the shape of justice.”

Braver Wiser

“Stopping To Help“

Rayla Mattson

Unitarian Society of Hartford, Conn.

Sermon

“Your Time Is Now” (12/3/17)

The Rev. Stephen Kendrick

First Church Boston, Unitarian-Universalist

Message

“Torda 450“

Every week this month on “The Heart and the Hand,” we’ll becelebrating an important anniversary for the Unitarian Church and religiousfreedom.  It’s the 450th anniversary ofthe Edict of Torda. To give you some background on the Edict of Torda, it tookplace in Transylvania, now part of Romania, this month in 1568.  At the time, Transylvania was a Europeanbackwater that had been going back and forth between Austrian and Turkish rulefor centuries.  In this particular year,it was nominally under the Turks, but very independent.  It was culturally diverse, with Hungarians,Germans, Jews, Gypsies and Muslims.  Themajority Christians went through the Reformation with blazing speed.  In just 20 years, Lutherans broke off fromCatholics and Calvinists broke off from Lutherans.  In this religiously fluid environment, lightyears from any Pope or Sultan, the Queen in 1557 issued an act of religioustoleration, the first in Christian Europe. The Act was aimed at protecting the Catholics, who had become theminority, but got its real test when there came a new king and there also came,out of the Calvinists, Unitarians.  Thenew king, John Sigusmund, was extraordinarily young.  His mother had been ruling for him until hewas 20-years-old.  He was intellectuallycurious.  And so when these formerCatholic, former Lutheran, former Calvinists said, “Hey, we kind of doubt the Trinity,too,” King Sigusmund said, “We should probably talk about this.”  So, the King held a series of intensedebates, all over the country.  And atthe end of these debates, the King said, “You know what?  You all, just learn how to get along.  Don’t hurt each other.”  And in 1568, he and his parliamentre-affirmed the earlier the Act of Toleration. This became the Edict of Torda, what we celebrate this month.  The Edict of Torda officially recognized fourreligions: Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Unitarian.  This was the first time Unitarians wereofficially sanctioned anywhere in world history.  Enlightened as this was, at the same time, theEdict also said, “This much and no further in matters of religion innovations.”  Well, the founder of Transylvania’s UnitarianChurch, Francis David, an important figure in early Unitarianism, continuedexploring religious thought and found himself guilty of the “no new religious innovations”law when he suggested that Christ should be respected, but not worshipped.  And under a new, Catholic king, he wassentenced to life imprisonment and died in a fortress.  The Unitarian church in Transylvania,however, is still going.  It is aremarkable story, one of hard luck people, in a hard luck land, in trying timesjust trying to get along.  The Unitarian-Universalist Association has produced anamazing amount of material for reading and reflection on this history and howit sustains us as leaders and partners in resistance movements today.  Weare a church of continuing innovation.  TheUUA also has scheduled an entire year of monthly theological dialogues on thissubject.  Many of these panels will be available through the UUA’s onlinevideo conferencing system, which is very user-friendly, even for thetech-illiterate.  The first online discussion will be on January 17th at8pm.  You can find out more about that and everything related to the UUA’s“Torda 450” celebration at Torda450.org. I’ll be featuring readings and sermons on this topic throughout January.

Natural Silence

“Asian Meadow“

Andrew Skeotch

ListeningEarth.com

World Religions

dToday is Christmas in the Russian, Syrian, Ethiopian and EritreanOrthodox Churches.  It’s also Christmasin Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, India’s Malankara Orthodox Church and othermainly Eastern churches that use the old Julian calendar, adopted by PopeGregory XIII in 1582.  There are fourdates for Christmas within Christendom.

Russia is home to about 40% of the world’s OrthodoxChristians.  And its Christmascelebrations are less festive and more reverent, overshadowed as they are bythe more raucous and celebratory New Year’s, when children receive visits fromGrandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden, holdovers from the Communist-erarepression of Christmas.

Monday is the anniversary of the death, in 1642 in Tuscany,of Gaileo Galilei.  A central figure inWestern Civilization’s exit from the Dark Ages, Galileo was tried and convictedof heresy by the Catholic church for his assertion of heliocentrism, the factthat the Earth revolves around the sun.  PopeJohn Paul II apologized for Galileo’s persecution in 1992.

Tuesday is the anniversary of the ordination, in 1977 inAugusta, Georgia, of the first Episcopal nun to be ordained to thepriesthood.  The Rev. Canon Mary MichaelSimpson the next year became the first woman to preach at WestminsterAbbey.  Her sermon was about second-classstatus of women in the church.  She’sburied at a convent in Augusta.

Friday is the anniversary of the adoption, in 1951 by theUnited Nations, of the Genocide Convention. The treaty was ratified by 143 nations to criminalize actions like thoseof the Holocaust by the Nazis during World War Two.  Its provisions have been enforced only twice,in response to the genocides in Rwanda in 1994 and Srebrenica in 1995.

Friday is the birthday, in 1863 in Calcutta, of Swami Vivekananda.  A Hindu monk and a key figure in the growth ofHinduism, including yoga, in the West, he promoted interfaith awareness with hisvisits to America and England.  He believedthat all living beings embodied the divine such that service to God could berendered by service to mankind.

Saturday is the anniversary of the death, in 1691 in London,of George Fox.  One of the founders ofthe Religious Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers, Fox rebelledagainst British society at the time.  Hebelieved that anyone could be a minister and that church could be anywhere.  He was jailed for blasphemy and promoting socialdisorder.

Sermon

“The Holy Work of Showing Up” (9/24/17)

The Rev. Elea Kemler

First Parish Church, Groton, Mass., Unitarian-Universalist

Message

“Torda 450“

Four and a half centuries is a long time for UnitarianUniversalists.  Its not uncommon to viewthe 1980s as ‘the distant past’ in our tradition, and anything that happenedbefore the Unitarian and Universalist consolidation in 1961 as ‘ancienthistory.’  Our 19th century Americanforbears are often considered interesting or quaint. We reference their bestqualities when the authority of an ancestor is helpful, or we take inspirationfrom courage they displayed.  But almostalways it feels very far from current experience. And yet, this year we inviteyou to reach back further in history and across an ocean to 1568 in EasternEurope.  The 16th Century was alaboratory for religious reform in Europe. It centered Lutheran, Anglican and Reformed variations of Christianityin many countries and cities.  But ourUnitarian & Universalist traditions find closer affinity to RadicalReformers who were unsatisfied with these reforms and pressed for furtheradaptation.  In Transylvania, they foundtraction. The reigning monarch, John Sigismund took interest in religiousreform, and supported a series of theological debates during the 1560s.   Close at hand was his court physician,George Biandrata who was also a supporter of radical religious reform andfamiliar with the anti-trinitarian writings of Servetus and Italian theologiansearlier in the century.  With Biandrata’sinfluence, the King welcomed another radical reformer, Francis David, to be hiscourt preacher. After a decade of theological debate and the Unitarianinfluence of Dávid and Biandrata, King John Sigismund’s Diet of Torda concludedits theological explorations in January 1568, issuing a Statement of ReligiousTolerance which ends with this now famous paragraph: “In every place thepreachers shall preach and explain the Gospel each according to his (sic)understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well. If not, no oneshall compel them for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall bepermitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve…no one shall bereviled for his (sic) religion by anyone… and it is not permitted that anyoneshould threaten anyone else by imprisonment… For faith is the gift ofGod…” There is so much that the Edict points to which our religioustradition continues to rely upon: the grounding commitment that faith is notendowed with purpose or accountable to a government or an empire, but to theSacred, the Holy;  that a free pulpit anda free pew are necessities for free religious communities; even the stirringsof our commitment to resist authoritarianism as a religious practice issignaled in the Edict. An anniversary is a special opportunity to look back andremember foundations and commitments which can be touchstones for the struggleahead.  The Edict of Torda is one ofthose reliable sources of power and inspiration.  But, there is no need to romanticize history- its clear to 21st century UUs that the Edict of Torda did not go farenough.  It was a step, an importantstep, on a pathway of reform and towards greater freedom that continues today.  But, it was radical in its time – David wasmartyred for his steadfast commitment to the work of never-ending reformation-  and an inspiration rather than adestination in our own time. Beyond these matters of faith and practice, theupcoming anniversary calls American UUs to know ourselves better by celebratingthe history of the world’s first Unitarian churches.  Our international partners in Transylvania,Hungary, and around the world understand the Edict as their moment ofestablishment, and a basic part of their spiritual DNA.  Let us take this anniversary as a chance tounderstand our history more completely, to celebrate the radical reform spiritthat is at the basis of the Edict, and may we translate it into lives andministries of purpose today.

Message

“World Day of Peace“

Pope Francis

Conclusion

Seven Principles and Six Sources of Unitarian-Universalism