Opening Reading
"Unto the Church Universal" - Keshab Chandra Sen, 1895

Unto the Church Universal,
which is the depository of all ancient wisdom, and the school of all modern thought; which recognizes in all prophets a harmony, in all scriptures a unity, and through all dispensations a continuity; which abjures all that separates and divides and always magnifies unity and peace; which seeks truth in freedom, justice in love, and individual discipline in social duty; and which shall make of all persons, sects, classes, nations, and races, One Beloved Community;
Unto this church and unto all its members, known and unknown throughout the world, we pledge the allegiance of our hands and hearts.

Meditation
"The Power of the World" - Black Elk, Oglala Sioux and Catholic 1863-1950

The Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world [through] our religion. Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are all the stars… Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours… Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of [each person] is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves… always set in a circle, the nation's hoop, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

Sermon
Robert Hohler, one-time executive director of a Unitarian organization called the Laymen's League, recounted, "Perhaps its [the League's] most significant contribution was to the growth of the overall Unitarian denomination through its sponsorship of an innovative advertising campaign in magazines and newspapers. The ads that asked 'Are You a Unitarian Without Knowing It?' evoked a flood of inquiries from people wanting to know more. This campaign still stands as the most successful outreach program liberal religion has ever sponsored." It was powerful and effective because it used a trick question. In the strictest sense one can not be a UU unless one is part of a UU congregation. So, if we were to put the question more accurately it would be "Are you the sort of person who would love to be a Unitarian but haven't found out about the Unitarian church yet?" Or "Are you someone who shares our values and attitudes about religion but don't know about us?" Such phrases do not fit well in advertisements.

Furthermore the most successful outreach program liberal religion has ever sponsored raises some theological questions. For instance, if someone is already a UU without knowing it, does it matter that they don't know? Is the UU identity merely that of possessing liberal religious leanings, or is something else required for someone to become a UU? Once you know about a UU church why should you join it?

Still we should be asking the question because we have a duty to find all those who want and need to be here, and invite them to be a part of our congregation and our movement. There is a power here to change people's lives, to bring hope and light into human hearts, and there are all sorts of people who are living isolated lives and wondering how they could find their way toward a free and inspiring community. Of course we must first claim our own commitment to this congregation. I don't know who first came up with this idea, but imagine if politics in American went really bad, worse than they are today. Imagine that it was declared illegal to be a UU. The question is, 'would there be enough evidence to convict you?' Some might say, well, I go there sometimes, or I once was a member, but I have not done anything there in quite some while. We don't take attendance each week, so how would anyone know? A true member of this church identifies with the values and principles and power found here.

This last week I was given a booklet from a conservative religious organization about "bringing America back to God." It had all sorts of statistics about divorce and suicide and abortion that implied that these things happened because people had abandoned their form of Christian faith. But I have seen people who have been saved from suicide without any use of creeds or conventional religious ideas. I know of teenagers who were isolated, on the edge of despair, who were caught by the simple and direct attention of other kids who were on the edge of society, but who had formed their own community. Human care and contact has saved lives. Once you know that the power of the world runs in circles, not in creeds, through wind and birds nests and loving families of all sorts, then you want to create a religious community that affirms the freedom and abundance of that power. Once you see the power of reason and science in religion you want it to shape your living and be added to your source of hope. And once you have found a community that affirms this power then it is your duty to find those others who need to be here and let them know what they are missing. We must have open doors and must call people through them. But even exclusive religions can open their doors.

One of the most influential liberal Catholic theologians in the 20th century was a man named Karl Rahner. The imprint of his thought on the results of the Vatican II council was significant. He was a deeply Catholic man and maintained the centrality of the Roman Church to Christ and the centrality of Jesus Christ to salvation. He also affirmed that, beyond mere natural law, all human beings have a latent awareness of God in any experience of meaning, including what our principles call the "transcending mystery and wonder which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life." He noted that this awareness was the foundation that made the whole of the Christian revelation possible. Furthermore, and most important for this sermon, he posited the idea of the "anonymous Christian." This is someone "who lives in the state of Christ's grace through faith, hope and love, yet who has no explicit knowledge of the fact that [his or her] life is oriented around a grace-given salvation of Christ." [Theological Investigations, translated by David Bourke] In other words a person who lives by faith, hope, and love in the best spirit of Christianity, but who thinks of themselves as Hindu, or Pagan or atheist, would be a Christian without knowing it. Rahner did not argue that such persons must exist, only possible, and given the nature of God's love and grace, probable. Of course traditionalists to this day describe his theology as "bizarre," "twisted," and "dangerous." But we know that Karl Rahner was wonderfully Universalist. Instead of feeling smug and secure and close-minded about who was in his church and who was not, he opened the doors, set the welcome table, and lived by a spirit of abundance rather than scarcity. This is how we should also live, just as Rahner was deeply and explicitly committed to his faith and yet believed in the Anonymous Christians, we must love this congregation and must also believe in the "anonymous UUs," who would want to be UUs but don't know it, YET.

In order to reach these people we have to tell everyone about our congregation and way of religion. For example, I once was talking to people after a wedding I had performed near the White River, when a young woman told me, "I was part of that church once, I liked it and I always loved your building." I asked her if she remembered what the church was all about and she spoke of freedom of belief and making the world more loving, just and fair. Then I asked her if she still believed in promoting those things and she said 'yes.' Then I asked if she had ever signed the book. When she said yes again I told her that she was still a member of the church, but was an inactive member. I said that the church was still hers anytime she needed it, and building was still her building, in a sense. She thought about it for a second and said "I think that fits, I am a non-active member." So there are many types of UUs who don't know it. She may someday decide to return. Or perhaps she will direct someone else this way. At least I let her know that she is still partially a UU. For another example there are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons who are not yet ready to join any religious organization, but who are made more hopeful knowing that people like them are part of our church.

On top of that there are many people who are aligned with our church and our principles, but who will, for one reason or another, never be members of our church. One significant example was Virginia Ball. As the wife of a life-long Universalist she was a close supporter and a generous friend of this congregation, but she was officially a member of First Presbyterian church. I also think about all those Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Pagans who are part of other religious traditions but who benefit from our congregation. There is something unique about this congregation. We have our own tradition our own style of worship this special building, but it is not ours alone. A few weeks ago I was in this room with many Muslims and others raising money for Afghan women and children. A week later there was a SAMA event here for Muncie Hindus. This past week we celebrated Vesak, the Buddha's birthday with a monk who had been raised as a Hoosier, went to Thailand to be ordained, and then returned here. I loved the article in the paper about that ceremony. There weren't many words, mostly photographs of people in our building, and the words "Unitarian Universalist Church" were repeated six times. (Note: there were at least three Buddhist-UUs there that morning.)

People of other faiths may not claim ours but can claim an affiliation with our principles and our sprit of community, and connection, compassion and trust. Everyone will benefit from our deep commitment to protect religious liberty, except for those who wish to coerce people into religious conformity. All people of all faiths are empowered by our commitment to democracy. Not merely representative but full participatory democracy. Everyone should join with us in promoting the full use of the democratic process in society at large. In the end there are those who may never be affirming of our faith and who may see this church as directly opposed to their theology, but still they need to know what we stand for. Also, we need to tell them who and what we are.

We need them to know us. "Iron sharpens iron," say the Hebrew proverbs, as one person's mind sharpens another. Moreover, they may even become allies in promoting what we wish to promote. I think of Rev. Rick Warren for example. Through his conservative "Purpose Driven Life" books and programs he has inspired many people to say that God loves them and God has a purpose for their lives. His theology is much more exclusive than ours. But recently he has gathered evangelicals from around the country to say that the poisoning of the environment, the misuse and abuse of God's creation is a sin. He has given a voice to those evangelicals who are willing to respect the interdependent web of being as the essential resource for our lives and who think we have a duty to live in harmony with the earth, not greedily burn it up. Furthermore Rick Warren and Billy Graham also initiated a letter writing campaign asking our government to address social justice issues. "I deeply believe that if we as evangelicals remain silent and do not speak up in defense of the poor, we lose our credibility and our right to witness about God's love for the world," Warren wrote in his appeal for participants in the campaign. Mr. Warren is not a UU, but at least is an ally on some of our principles. He should know what we stand for and why we are here.

We must reach out and find all those who would love to be UU but don't know it yet. We must reach out to all those who are partial UUs and don't know it yet. We must reach out to those who are allies on our core issues, but who will benefit from the values and principles we promote. To conclude let me remind you of a story that the UU Association President, Bill Sinkford, has often told from the 1999 UUA General Assembly in Salt Lake City. While there UU leaders "met with the head of missionary work for the Mormons. Since we were coming to town," Bill says, "the Mormons had done their homework and knew a lot about us. One of them said… 'You know, Unitarian Universalists have a remarkable ability to attract visitors proportionately [far] more than the Mormons do. But you're lousy at holding on to them.' This is a fact, we are doing a lousy job of holding on to the visitors we attract. After some discussion he concluded, 'If your churches were half as successful at integrating and retaining members as we Mormons are, then Unitarian Universalism would be the most dangerous religion in America." To become the most dangerous church toward racism, hatred, and injustice, to be the greatest threat to oppressive, coercive and narrow-minded religion, is a great goal.

To become the most dangerous church in America we need to do a better job of figuring out what people are seeking here. Then we must decide if we are making false promises, or simply not doing what we said we should be doing. What we really need is to integrate and retain the people who seek this community, and at the same time increase those who know about us and who will someday seek us out. So I ask you, to paraphrase the apostle Paul, whatever in this church is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is wholesome, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything here is excellent or praiseworthy: you have a duty to tell others about it and invite them to join with us. For here is one part of mighty circle of Truth and through its power will come healing, wholeness, and liberation. Even to UUs who don't yet know it.