SMALL
GROUP MINISTRY: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST WOMEN’S HERITAGE
DEEP
ROOTS AND HIDDEN HISTORY
From WOMEN AND
RELIGION—DEEP ROOTS AND HIDDEN HISTORY By Dorothy Emerson, with
assistance from Sarah Barber-Braun, Dorothy Borousch, Joan Goodwin,
David Johnson, Lucile S. Longview and Carolyn McDade for the General
Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association June, 1997,
Phoenix, Arizona
Chalice
Lighting/Opening Words:
The World’s
first Parliament of Religions could not have been called sooner and
have gathered the religionists of all these lands together. We had to
wait for the hour to strike, until the steamship, the railway and the
telegraph had brought men together, leveled their walls of separation
and made them acquainted with each other; until scholars had broken
the way through the pathless wilderness of ignorance, superstition
and falsehood, and compelled them to respect each other’s
honesty, devotion and intelligence. A hundred years ago the world was
not ready for this parliament. Fifty years ago it could not have been
convened, and had it been called but a single generation ago,
one-half of the religious world could not have been directly
represented.
We are still at the
dawn of this new era. Its grand possibilities are all before us, and
its heights are ours to reach. We are assembled in this great
parliament to look for the first time in each other’s faces,
and to speak to each other our best and truest words. I can only add
my heartfelt word of greeting to those you already heard.
Universalist
minister Augusta Chapin, greeting delegates to the world’s
first major international interfaith gathering, held in Chicago, 1893
Check in: How
are things with you today?
Topic/Activity:
Grounded in the
present, we find support in our historical roots. For example, at the
Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly in 1977, an
historic action was taken that would set in motion changes throughout
our Unitarian Universalist Association. A business resolution called
“Women and Religion” was adopted unanimously. The worship
service, “Deep Roots and Hidden History” explores the
threads of history for the preceding 130 that are interwoven in the
resolution. It is in looking backwards in time that we find deep
roots of a theme and treasures that might have otherwise been left
unfound. In that search, we also become aware that events have their
own specific time and place, and happen when the factors are right.
Consider the primary
parts of the resolution,
“WHEREAS, a
principle of the Unitarian Universalist Association is to "affirm,
defend, and promote the supreme worth and dignity of every human
personality, and the use of the democratic method in human
relationships……..
THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED That the 1977 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist
Association calls upon all Unitarian Universalists to examine
carefully their own religious beliefs and the extent to which these
beliefs influence sex-role stereotypes within their own families.”
(The full text is given at the end of the session plan.)
What impact has the
resolution made on Unitarian Universalism or upon you as a Unitarian
Universalist?
What has been or is the
impact of the resolution on ceremonies, traditions and spiritual
practices?
How inclusive does it
feel in a Unitarian Universalist community?
Is such a resolution
still needed? What still needs to be done and what can you do?
Closing:
Our Unitarian and
Universalist women of the last century. .have had one virtue in
common. They have been pioneers....
These women who have
literally made history were not outstanding persons who happened to
be Unitarians or Universalists in their religion. Not at all. It was
their dynamic religious liberalism which made them great....
The Unitarian and
Universalist religion was. . . an ethical leaven, and the result was
an era of “Feminine Foment.”
Ramona
Sawyer Barth, “Unitarian Women of the 19th Century,”
in the Journal of Liberal Religion, 1948; amended with
author’s permission to include Universalists.
Likes and Wishes:
How was the session for you?
1977
Business Resolution Women and Religion
WHEREAS, a principle of
the Unitarian Universalist Association is to "affirm, defend,
and promote the supreme worth and dignity of every human personality,
and the use of the democratic method in human relationships";
and
WHEREAS, great strides
have been taken to affirm this principle within our denomination; and
WHEREAS, some models of
human relationships arising from religious myths, historical
materials, and other teachings still create and perpetuate attitudes
that cause women everywhere to be overlooked and undervalued; and
WHEREAS, children,
youth and adults internalize and act on these cultural models,
thereby tending to limit their sense of self-worth and dignity;
THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED: That the 1977 General Assembly of the Unitarian
Universalist Association calls upon all Unitarian Universalists to
examine carefully their own religious beliefs and the extent to which
these beliefs influence sex-role stereotypes within their own
families; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the General Assembly urges the Board of Trustees of the
Unitarian Universalist Association to encourage the Unitarian
Universalist Association administrative officers and staff, the
religious leaders within societies, the Unitarian Universalist
theological schools, the directors of related organizations, and the
planners of seminars and conferences, to make every effort to: (a)
put traditional assumptions and language in perspective, and (b)
avoid sexist assumptions and language in the future.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the General Assembly urges the President of the Unitarian
Universalist Association to send copies of this resolution to other
denominations examining sexism inherent in religious literature and
institutions and to the International Association of Liberal
Religious Women and the IARF; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the General Assembly requests the Unitarian Universalist
Association to: (a) join with those who are encouraging others in the
society to examine the relationship between religious and cultural
attitudes toward women, and (b) to send a representative and resource
materials to associations appropriate to furthering the above goals;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That the General Assembly requests the President of the UUA to report
annually on progress in implementing this resolution.
|
|
|
