Salvation

I just experienced a talk, a sermon to be precise, that offered an interesting and somewhat refreshing definition of salvation. I am not a religious person; I belong to a Unitarian Universalist congregation precisely because of the dearth of religiosity there. That in and of itself raises other issues but that’s not related to salvation. The sermon I referenced discussed the meaning and value of community. Those of us who come together in this congregation are frequently at odds concerning various topics, including politics, environmentalism, social justice, race, and food (we have a cadre of increasingly militant vegans on board). 

The speaker, an ordained minister of the faith, brought up that salvation is community, while sin is separation. Pluralists like myself often don’t believe in the concept of sin, although we do concede there are moral wrongs. The speaker reframed the concept of sin as separation – separation from each other, separation from everything outside of ourselves. That includes the planet, recognized divinity (if any), and the great mysterious unknown. Oppression is sin because it separates us from each other. That is more comprehensible and less judgmental to me, and I can take that to heart.

Community is generally what most of us search for on some level. If we are musicians, we typically want to find other musicians. If we are athletes, we seek out other athletes. Whether bibliophiles, audiophiles, artists, dog lovers, cat lovers, or carpenters we often feel more completely understood by others who share our interests and expertise. That’s not a bad thing, and we are generally better together.

The only issue becomes, wait for it…conformity. Assent or agreement is not requisite for a community. In fact, the real work may be to remain in community while in conflict. Not in spite of conflict, but because of conflict. Humans are going to conflict. It’s our nature, I think, but we don’t have to go to war simply because we disagree. Actual wars are frequently fought over finite resources, but when there is not a scarcity we’re only fighting over power. We’re fighting over the power to have our way. 

Before the speaker this morning, I participated in a discussion concerning “safety and security” in our congregation. As older women of my home town would say, “Lawd, haf mussy!”. A bunch of over privileged white guys with credentials prattled on and on about FEMA grants and security cameras and buying a golf cart with a flashing yellow light to patrol the grounds. You can’t make this shit up. How incredibly pompous and self-important this sounded to me. They explained that risk for non-mainstream Christian communities of faith has increased over the past few years, which is true. Our risk in this town, however, is not equivalent to that of the Jewish synagogue or the Muslin mosque. We’re in a good part of town and this is not a high crime town. Yeah, let’s get a golf cart like the typical country club estate community and then convince ourselves how welcoming to all we are.

So, the juxtaposition between that and the presentation on community was stark for me, and I came away from the latter angry and jangling. This congregation still does the same things and expects different results – they have a few non-representative but “qualified” people of the dominant culture make decisions for everyone, and claim that’s demonstrative of community. That, my friends, is truly sinful because it separates quite a lot of us from the sanctuary we are promised there. I am there rather than most other places because it promised to be different from the alternatives. This is not different. This is the same dominant culture bullshit it always has been, and it’s not welcome in my little corner of the sky. 

What to do, what to do? For myself – the only audience for that query – I will speak my piece and then withdraw. They will do what they are going to do, no matter what I say. I will care a little less, speak a little less, participate a little less but I will not love a little less. There are individuals I can quickly do without, but the faith itself is very strong for me. Unfortunately, we are still merely human and not always equivalent to the promises of the faith. Some of us have clearly missed the point, but them’s the breaks. I’m going to go and forage for food in the kitchen and know that reality just sucks on some days more than others, and oh bla dee oh bla dah…life goes on.