While these words of Martin Luther King are immanently true, it is just as true that it is the task of religion to articulate — as best it can — the words that come closest to that language of the heart. King also said, "Any religion which professes to be concerned about the souls of [people] and is not concerned about the social and economic conditions that can scar the soul, is a spiritually moribund religion only waiting for the day to be buried.

I love Martin Luther King Day. It gives me, gives us, an opportunity to celebrate in a religious way, the life of one of the great heroes of my youth. I have to imagine that’s true for many of you as well.

Martin Luther King was known to many as one of the most, if not the most, profound moral leaders of the century just ended. Martin understood the, "inaudible language of the heart." He knew that the task of religion was to make that religious impulse manifest as best he could in language that led to action — his own and his followers.

Nonviolence was not something that came easily to King. He had to study it; he had to practice it. And he had to preach it, in words, to himself and to others, over and over again so that the vision, the mission of the Civil Rights movement could lead Dr. King, himself, and all of America closer to the dream.

That dream was not founded in a capricious effort to self-style a political movement. It was political, but its politic was based in a foundation provided in a loving home by devoted parents. Its politic was based in a rich religious tradition that taught Martin that the love of God could be made manifest in humanity only by a love of humankind for all humanity.

"As you press on for justice," he would later say, "be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapons of love." The basis for Martin’s dream could be found in the Book of Romans, "Love one another." And the love he understood that passage to mean was agape, the love that is for the sake of, not oneself, but the other.

Martin was not religiously naive; he understood that God’s love, universal love, could not be hoarded by any person — oppressor or oppressed. He understood that love could only be appreciated, could only provide joy to those who shared it by opening their hearts to everyone. Giving love away, even when it was hardest, he understood was the only way that one could have love. And it was love, he knew, that made life worth living.

It was this love, this agape that was the foundation of the Civil Rights movement. We are all God’s children, the children of creation. And as such, we are all deserving of the love that is possible in this creation. There are none more deserving than others. And if justice is going to abound it will find its place through love’s abundance, not by the lack of it.

This morning our Hammer Committee, on behalf of the Board, presented us with a proposal for our new Mission Statement and Covenant. This is our attempt to articulate a vision in which we can each find affinity and membership. This is our attempt to articulate the inaudible language of the heart.

Something we need to remember is that we are indeed trying to say that which cannot be said. We have to remember that even our very best effort is fated to fall short, to be incomplete. And yet it still needs to provide us with an identity by which we know who we are, by which we know where we are going.

I have to share with you some misgivings that I experienced when I first read the product of our Hammer Committee. To do that I have to go back a couple of years to February 7, 1999. That was the beginning of the February Focus Month, which was Journey Toward Wholeness: The Work of Antiracism. It was on that date that I challenged the congregation to pursue the process of creating a new Mission Statement.

It was my feeling that the long history of this congregation’s involvement in Civil Rights and in its work for antiracism warranted specific mention in the document by which we most define ourselves. The Mission Statement process was begun in an effort to address both our historical and visionary commitments to antiracism. Not that the mission would be limited to this work, but that it would include it.

It took a while to get the ball rolling, but a year later, which was a year ago, the congregation met on January 30, 2000 in a special session to generate the raw materials from which the Hammer Committee would construct a document. I was concerned at that special session because, while there was certainly ample conversation of a mission that transcended boundaries of race (as well as gender and gender orientation boundaries among others) there was no specific language from the congregation that spoke directly to the issue of antiracism.

The Hammer Committee hammered long and hard on their product — much longer than anyone, including themselves, might have thought possible. When in September I first read the statement, I was taken immediately by its poetry, and by its sense of deep religious commitment to the values of agape, the same ones that were so central to Martin Luther King’s vision.

The statement was rooted in spirit. It was not spiritually moribund, but reached instead for wholeness through the process of transformation, and the promotion of responsibility and action. And yet I felt somewhat disappointed that the words antiracist or antiracism did not appear.

I watched as the Church Board grappled with the same issue for next three months. At first those words were added on, and then again they were taken away. After wrestling considerably with my own soul, I have to tell you that I finally came to the conclusion that the words put before you this morning are indeed the words that best and most accurately reflect the current mission of this religious institution. And I’ll tell you proudly, I do not acquiesce to these words. They inspire me and I aspire to them.

The turning point for me, the conversion experience, came at a Board meeting last month. Our Board member, Chris Davitt, in an impassioned plea, helped me to recognize that to specify our work against any one form of oppression is to reinforce oppression against other oppressed groups. I struggled with that concept at first but then I recognized the truth of it. My summary of it is overly simplified, but it is to say that if we are going to attempt to speak the language of the heart, we need to speak not only for the souls of all people. We also need to speak against those social and economic conditions that attempt to limit any people. Thanks to the diligent work of our Hammer Committee, this proposed Mission Statement does that.

Any social justice work, to be effective, needs to take place within a specific focus. Yet beyond that focus there is always a larger context. The larger religious context here grows out of the principle of agape. In the Unitarian Universalist tradition we might recognize agape as the motivating force behind our efforts to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of all persons. This is the basis of Universalism and it is the object of Unitarianism. We come from one source; we promote one common unity.

• While racism continues to be the granddaddy of oppressions in this country, having provided the foundations and structures of our unjust economic and social systems;
• While efforts towards antiracism have long been our greatest endeavors of social justice work in this congregation;
• And while I know that the work of antiracism will continue to be a high priority of my own as well as that of the congregation;
• I’m satisfied knowing that this lofty ambition sits squarely and religiously within a context of words — that can never be wholly accurate — but that do speak to the heart, in order to inspire me likewise to work against oppression for justice for and all men and women, gay and straight, young and old, able or disabled, hearing or non hearing persons.

I am here to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of all persons as well as the interdependent web of life which holds us in communion. And I think the proposed statement does just that. It holds out for us that the purpose of our religious community is transformation — transformation of our hearts, our lives, our congregation and our world. Transformation is the process of love working to fulfill — unutterably fulfill — each of these entities. Within the next few weeks you will have the opportunity to make that decision for yourself, to see if you can recognize yourself, recognize your church within the context of this Mission Statement.

We are on this earth, I am sure, to do more than merely survive. We are here to be, "unutterably fulfilled," as Dr. King said, to live religious lives of intention and high purpose. We are here to be with and for one another, to transcend the agonies of life, and to reach for unfathomable joy by affirming and promoting one another. We are here to love one another.

On an individual basis this means we need to attempt to speak the inaudible language of the heart: to remind ourselves and each other, over and over again, of our potential and responsibility to live such a life of love. And we need to allow ourselves to be reminded and inspired by the great, historical religious leaders. Dr Martin Luther King stands within a long tradition of such leaders:

• The Buddha’s loving detachment and compassion; Mother Theresa and Dorothy Day’s compassion that was not a conservative compassion, but a radical one;
• Jesus, whose message of agape led him to sacrifice and redemption;
• Krishna and Mohammed, who taught us of the oneness of all things;
• Moses, whose law taught us to live responsibly in community;
• Erasmus, who taught us that the measure of divinity is a human measure;
• Hosea Ballou, who told us that unless our actions are done with love, they can not be of benefit;
• Theodore Parker, who by his words and deeds showed us that, indeed, love is the doctrine of this church;
• And all radical theologians through the ages that have tried to help us to see that to be in synch with our divinity, to be in synch with our spiritual selves, we must also be in synch with the world around us, within our earth, and within our societies.

On a congregational level we have the opportunity to create and adopt language that will, as nearly as possible, help us to speak that unspeakable language. It must be a language that frees us, that unleashes us to do the work of love that lies before us. These words need not limit us; they need to launch us. They will never be complete, but they can point us in the direction of completion.

The religious work of love to which we are called has applications in every sphere of our lives. On national and global levels we are called to ever new opportunities to promote the language of the heart: to promote the possible, to stand up against cynicism, to work against injustice, to work for the dream that all children, that all of us, will be judged not by the color of our skin nor any other artificial barrier.

Let us work to fulfill the dream so that we might prove ourselves by the content of our character, by our ability to reach beyond ourselves for the sake of the other, for that will be our salvation. Perhaps one day an adequate mission might be simply to love one another. But for now we live in a fragmented world with so many particularities. May we each do our part in gathering together the pieces so that we might all step together toward transformation to that day.

May it be so, Amen

Create a spiritual community that nurtures and inspires us as we search for meaning in our lives.

Reach out and welcome all who wish to be part of our community because diversity of race, culture, sexual orientation, and economic background enriches us all.

Guide and challenge our children in their life long journey of discovery and spiritual growth.

Explore religious and cultural traditions so that we may honor our differences and our common ground.

Take responsibility for helping to solve the problems of our community.

Promote social and economic justice, working to dismantle all forms of oppression.

Celebrate artistic creation as a spiritual element of life.

Be humble before the beauty and mystery of nature by actively preserving our environment.

Invest our family resources to build and sustain this community of aspiration.