U*U Seminarian Paul Oakley Has Just Delivered A Short Sermon On Sin And Repentance That I Believe U*Us Would Do *Well* To Read

And then *responsibly* pay heed to. . .

Hopefully the once and future Rev. Paul Oakley won't mind too much if The Emerson Avenger plagU*Urizes a *good* chunk of his excellent Sunday sermon titled 'Sin and the First Principle' so that U*Us may better *appreciate* it. In fact I am kind of hoping that Paul will be honored by my decision to make some "fair use" of his fine words -

Former UUA President Rev. Bill Schulz takes a different approach to the First Principle than do many UUs. He says outright that "inherent worth and dignity" is quite simply not a true representation of reality. Rather, the member congregations of the UUA have *covenanted* to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Article II of the UUA Bylaws says nothing about that being an objectively true statement, nor does it say we have to believe it is true (which requirement would be a creedal statement), rather it is a *commitment* to affirm and promote this principle along with the others. That is, we agree to *act* in ways that fulfill a joint-and-several commitment to act AS IF it were true. Not because of the *other* person's inherent reality, but because we have faith that it makes us better to act as if the other person is a person of inherent worth and dignity. . .

But given all the above, might it still be possible, even desirable, to think of repentance as a liturgical and spiritual practice worthy of a Unitarian Universalism stripped bare of its pretensions and irrational fears? That is, repentance as an act of primary theology. Neither theodicy nor a theology of evil (both of which are secondary) is necessary for that. A clear sense and willingness to admit that we are imperfect and sometimes do harm, sometimes even intentionally, however, is paramount.

Here is the comment that I just submitted in response to Paul's sermon -

Excellent blog post cum sermon BTW Paul.

And a much needed one in the "less than perfect" U*U World AFA*I*AC. Too many of the U*Us I know seem to be pathologically averse to responsibly acknowledging their "mistakes" aka "imperfections" aka *sins*. I dare say that a clear sense and willingness to admit that U*Us are imperfect and sometimes do harm, sometimes even intentionally. . . is indeed paramount to enjoying "right relations" with the dreaded Emerson Avenger. It is pretty important in enjoying "right relations" with his more mild mannered "altar ego" Robin Edgar too. :-)

Believe it or not I had a little chat about sin and repentance with a "less than perfect" U*U minister who sent me an unwanted Thanksgiving gift earlier tonight, immediately prior to seeing this short sermon of yours and reading it. Well maybe it is more of a monologue aka "rant" at this point. . . ;-)

U*Us U*U World-wide would do *well* to take your sermon here to *heart* and Stand On The Side Of Love for people who they have intentionally or unintentionally demonized or marginalized, or otherwise harmed in various ways. Of course everyone else in the "real world" would do well to do that as well which was pretty much the inspiration for World Day of Conscience. In fact WDC was largely inspired by the quite regrettable conscienceless behavior of some of the U*Us I know who cannot bring themselves to admit that they are imperfect and sometimes do harm. I guess that conscienceless U*Us who are severely allergic to repentance and reconciliation are good for something after all. :-)