Washington Avowal I

Watch and Pray (Derek Parker) has begun to muse on the Washington Avowal.

The Washington Avowal which like the 1899 “Five Principles is technically an interpretation or elaboration on the Winchester itself. I used to like it, it has a certain poetry and an activist sensibility, but now I read it as a slippery slope away from historic Christianity, towards (at best) cultural Christianity, to thenceforth into something completely other. Plus the “progressively establish the kingdom of God” just rings as naive.

The irony is that the Washington parish (Universalist National Memorial Church) doesn’t use the Washington Avowal, even though it was adopted by the Universalist General Convention in this city; indeed, at the Mayflower Hotel, a rather swank and un-Social-Gospel place to get a martini.

Plus, each document (1803, 1899, and 1935) was trying to accomplish something different, making comparisons at best difficult, and probably inappropriate. Until we get at the grammar of theological expression, neither the direct heirs of the Winchester Profession, or its collateral heirs (the UUA) is going to make much headway in crafting coherant theological statements.

Winchester at 200

The day has arrived! Happy Winchester Profession bicentennial day!

The Profession:

Article the First
We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest and final destination of mankind.

Article the Second.
We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.

Article the Third
We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practice good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men.

More: Winchester Profession.org

Churches marking the Winchester Profession

Ever ready to comb the Internet for what people are saying about all matters Universalist, I’ve noted the following churches will be having Winchester Profession themed services this year.

September 14

All Souls Church, Unitarian Universalist, West Brattleboro, Vermont . The Rev. Barbro Hansson, minister.

September 21

Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford, Massachusetts. The Rev. Hank Peirce, minister. (Hank is also a friend, and he and his wife Rebecca attended my wedding. I feel cooler just knowing them.)

September 28

Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Gray, Tennessee. The Rev. Barry Whittmore, minister. (And Barry’s a friend, too. A theme emerging.)

November 26

First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, Tennessee. The Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, minister. (We used to be in the same district.)

More to be added as I find them.

Universalist quotation XXIX

“We are children born of God. There are differences of degree — but all are of the same spirit, birthright sons of God. From this affirmation we are to look upon men; according to it we are to direct our conduct.” (Lee S. McCollester)

In “The Practice of Universalism,” the occasional sermon for the Universalist General Convention, October 27, 1907, at the Church of the Restoration, Philadelphia. Forty-second Annual Report of the Board of Trustees [of the Universalist General Convention] (1907), page 120.

Universalist quotation XXVIII

“To me it appears reasonable that we shall be together in the after life as we are here — still pupils in one great school; that the wise will continue to instruct the ignorant, the strong to help the weak, the good to reclaim the erring. But however that may be, none of us can be where God is not.” (J. Frank Thompson)

In “The Universal Fatherhood of God”: the first pamphlet in “The Five Points of Universalism” series, presumably between 1899 and 1935.

Universalist quotation XXVII

Following up on my earlier posting:

“God is not to be propitiated, but served and loved and enjoyed. Religion is not a scheme of rescue, but daily manna from heaven.” (Isaac M. Atwood)

“Spiritual Side of Universalism” in Centennial of the Universalist Profession of Faith (1903), p. 154

The sources of this faith . . .

On the old “boy in the bands” I used to have in the margin something called, “The sources of this faith” which gave some context for the “1903 Universalist Creed” I profess. That’s what’s in the right hand margin of the current blog.

The two sources are:

1. The Winchester Profession, adopted in 1803

Article the First
We believe that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament contain a revelation of the character of God, and of the duty, interest and final destination of mankind.

Article the Second
We believe that there is one God, whose nature is Love, revealed in one Lord Jesus Christ, by one Holy Spirit of Grace, who will finally restore the whole family of mankind to holiness and happiness.

Article the Third
We believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparably connected, and that believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practice good works; for these things are good and profitable unto men.

WinchesterProfession.org, [defunct] another of my sites

and

2. The Apostles’ Creed, here the ELLC version

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell (or, the dead)
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

English Language Liturgical Consulation

DeBenneville's Life and Trance

The Life and Trance of George deBenneville can be now found at www.universalistchurch.net/faith/lifeandtrance.html, which is another of my web persuits. Enjoy it with your July 26 G. deB. observances. I’ll work up a suitable list of “propers” (worship elements appropriate and particular to an occasion) to be posted here.

And I cannot help but notice in reading the other Unitarian Universalist weblogs that, as far as a “vocabulary of reverence” goes, God isn’t doing too badly on the World Wide Web.

Build a Profession, part one

In his Universalist’s Book of Reference (1901 ed., “revised and enlarged”) E. E. Guild was able to identify twelve distinct theological propositions in the Winchester Profession, though I’m not quite as hopeful as he was, neither would I call all twelve essential to Universalism. Indeed, I believe the first edition of Guild’s work come out in 1853, and I’ve seen versions of his twelve principles that reflect other stages in his thinking. For your reflection, one of these stages — the ten point “Bible Creed” — is found at
the True Grace Ministries website.

Without a doubt, the sine qua non of Universalism is the
belief that all persons (variant: all sentient beings, if one believes in angels or, nowadays, alien intelligences) will be, in time, saved; that is, we will be “holy and happy” in this life and hereafter. There was a great reluctance to say how this happens, or when, or exactly how: indeed, pick that too hard and you would have found how many ways Universalists diverged on these matters.

This essential principle was, by 1901, described by E. E. Guild in part by the twelth proposition on his list:

That the DESTINY OF MAN, IN THE PURPOSE OF GOD, IS HIS ATTAINMENT AND ENJOYMENT OF HOLINESS:

God’s plan with regard to man was formed before creation was begun. It was shadowed forth in the promise and prediction given after the first transgression, and was often announced with more or less
distinctness in the Old Testament; but its most complete revelation is made in the Gospel. (Titus 1:2; Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 2:2; 45:22-25; John 3:35; 6:37-40; Acts 3:19-21; Galatians 3:8; Ephesians 1:9,10;
Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 1:19, 20; 1 Timothy 2:1-6.)

In announcing God’s purpose the inspired writers do not ignore the presence and power of sin, ignorance, or perversity, but declare that none of these can be insuperable barriers. Nor is there any hint that the operations of divine grace are confined to this life; but on the contrary, that whatever Jesus has to do by the appointment and purpose of God for men living upon the earth, that he has also to do for those whom we call the dead, and that in his name all shall be subdued and won. (Jeremiah 32:17; Romans 8:18-25; 11:25-36; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 8:10-12; 1 Peter 3:18, 19; 4:6; Revelation 4:9-13; 5:9-13.)

(A word about the appearance of supercessionism in the above: I don’t think it is there, but rather that God’s promise begins with one nation (Israel) and is unfolded through the Gospel to all nations. Israel is not negated. Indeed, concern about the salvation of Israel seems to lead some people, first to Paul, then to universalism. See Jan Bonda’s The One Purpose of God for an elaboration.)

Whew! How we can sensibly put these beliefs into words is part of my long-term work. Until then — look! — after about a week and a half we have a glimmer of sun.

What to profess?

I never thought so many people would take an interest in this humble blog. Thank you.

Some of the well-wishing inquiries came with the question, “how do I get one of my own?” I’m not using any web-logging software; just this CSS (thanks, free-of-charge, to Firda Beka at bookofstyles.org [site defunct], modified a bit).

In time, I hope to “power it” with MovableType, but that’s a learning curve I’ve no time to climb.

Much after Sunday worship.

I read a section from Leo Tolstoy’s My Confession in worship, and led it with
a review of Adin Ballou’s influence on him. I should have gone to Friends of Adin Ballou first! This site keeps growing, and is clearly one to watch.

What to Profess? My friend Derek Parker, an Earlham seminarian and the lay pastor of the Universalist Church of Eldorado, Ohio asked me (and I post here with his permission)

If you were building a new Universalist church from the ground-up, what are 3 or 4 essential theological convictions you would like to see in a contemporary Universalist profession? Or would you just repeat the Winchester Profession with updated language?

What a tantalizing question, and one that I hope to spill into this blog and the pulpit in months to come. But first things first. I wouldn’t reject, update, or adopt wholesale the Winchester
Profession in a new church, no matter how much I love it. (And I do.)

Instead, the Winchester Profession deserves its role as the foundational theological standard for Universalism, and one can build on it.

I have sometimes been criticized for not “correcting” the gender language of the Winchester Profession. For the record, I’m trying to uphold the letter and the spirit of what the 1803 Convention asked of future generations in its adopted Plan of the General Assocation:

Section 10th. The Association reserves to itself, under the direction of that divine wisdom which was to accompany the followers of Christ to the end of the world, the right of making hereafter such alterations of this General Plan of the Association, as circumstances may require. But there is no alteration of any part of the three Articles that contain the Profession of our Belief ever to be made at any future period.

(You can see the whole document and much more at www.winchesterprofession.org/eddy1876.html.) [22 April 2005: I let that site lapse in 2003.]

The 1899 and 1935 documents (a “declaration” and a “avowal” respectively) recall “encapsulated” that which came before it.

Thus the Winchester Profession had official standing, not just pious sentiment, until the Universalists consolidated with the Unitarians.

But there are examples — I’ll have to see if I can dig them up — of local churches and state conventions before 1899
(and perhaps after) adopting theological symbols for the fellowship of ministers and churches (locally, I assume the members, too) which stated more but never less than the Winchester Profession. (Of course, there is also the 1903 composite creed, which though it had no official standing, did make it into a denominationally published
prayerbook for more than a generation.)

This might be the theologically appropriate approach to composing a new theological symbol for Universalists. But this also begs a reading of the Unitarian Universalist Association bylaws:

Section C-2.3. Non-discrimination. The Association declares and affirms its special responsibility, and that of its member congregations and organizations, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its and their activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed.

Section C-2.4. Freedom of Belief. Nothing herein shall be deemed to infringe upon the individual freedom of belief which is inherent in the Universalist and Unitarian heritages or to conflict with any statement of purpose, covenant, or bond of union used by any congregation unless such is used as a creedal test.

So, what constitutes a creedal test? And who decides?