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Reflection, May 2002 (as submitted to First Days Record)
by Jennie A. Barrington, Minister,
the Church of the Unity, Unitarian Universalist,
Winchendon, Massachusetts

“to Speak the Truth, Symbolically”
Jennie A. Barrington

“Life is short, but truth works far and lives long; let us speak the truth.”
--Arthur Schopenhauer, from The World as Will and Idea, 1819

This is a test (or perhaps a koan). Imagine that there has been a fire in your sanctuary. You now have both the opportunity to re-design its décor, and the responsibility to do so fittingly. The question at hand is the symbols (or lack thereof) behind the pulpit. In so imagining, keep in mind the following:

Why you are a UU;
The development of Universalist, Unitarian and UU theology historically;
What we as a denomination actually believe now;
What the worship traditions of your church have been;
The current mission and values of your church;
Ways we should stretch ourselves -building appropriately on our past and present-to develop worthy worship practices and theology in the future;
Whether what you’ve imagined presents to the larger community a message which is clear, positive, inviting, accurate, and good PR; and
What it would be like to preach a UU sermon with that design behind you.

With all of the above in mind, rank the following designs according to:

I can’t live with that;
I strongly disagree;
I disagree somewhat;
I can live with that;
I agree somewhat;
I strongly agree; or
“That’s It!” (spoken with a joyful sigh of relief)

Let your imaginations run wild, Gentle Readers. Some answers will follow…

Design One:
Symbols of every religious tradition we can come up with all in a line, all one size, all made of the same material, none more prominent than another. Or this design in the windows, one symbol in each window, with nothing behind the pulpit.

Design Two:
A flaming chalice symbol.




Design Three:
Behind the pulpit are, in receding order: the choir director, the choir, the organist, an enormous 150 year-old organ, a very large window to the outside world, the light from which is almost entirely blocked out by the organ pipes.

Design Four:
The Darwinian fish symbol, with its little feet and mischievous smile.

Design Five:
A Christian cross and a Star of David.

Design Six:
The words “God is love.”

Design Seven:
A clear window to the natural world.

Design Eight:
This is getting far too busy-looking; it’s boggling my mind. Let’s go more abstract. What we’ve really been all about is the search for truth. So get rid of all the symbols and words and go with… Light! Put in search lights! Five or six of them, each in constant motion, none of them ever alighting on anything definite.

Design Nine:
Design your own, describing or drawing it in the space of thirty words or less.

Some answers:
I. Many UU sanctuaries have an array of religious symbols. But that does not accurately reflect our theological history, nor our current worship practices. How many of those sanctuaries have symbols of religions which they’ve never referenced, are not now referencing, and never intend to reference? We look to a variety of religious sources now thanks to the transcendentalists. They and the humanists were an enormous influence on our movement. UU worship would be better represented if symbols for transcendentalism and humanism were included than with pretty symbols of religions we barely ever even pay lip service to.

If a chalice symbol is the best your congregation can agree on, I can live with that, but I offer a caution or two. It feels too inward-looking to me, as though we are worshipping our ideas to the exclusion of others. When we do uphold the flaming chalice in our worship, let’s remember what it originally stood for-- the stand martyr Jan Hus died defending, that worship should be in the plain language of the people, and that the people have the right and the ability to lead worship themselves, in their own homes, without a clergy person present.

The configuration of the choir director, choir, organist, organ, and blocked window is, in fact, what I preach in front of on Sunday mornings. Would it were not, but I am glad the question at hand caused me to examine what congregants are gazing up at behind me, and to imagine how that might be better one day.


Anyone who has read or heard my preaching knows by now that I am unapologetically theistic. Yet I never said everyone else has to be. If a congregation can agree that they are a humanist Unitarian Society, and are willing to forego theists, Universalists, and those who need to worship in a church then who am I to say they shouldn’t? And at least the Darwinian fish has a sense of humor, as evidenced by its smile, and cute little feet.


V. The cross and the star are the symbols which got me pondering all this in the first place. Universalists, Unitarians, and UUs have been Christian far longer than we have been incorporating other religious traditions. Reminding people of this is to speak the truth well. I have been grateful for the chance to learn from the newsletter pieces of my colleagues in Worcester while their congregation tries to solve this koan. And I am really grateful that the controversy is in their sanctuary and not ours! Perhaps I should not be too quick to wish away the organ pipes which block our window and allow us to sidestep this issue.

VI. “God is love” once graced the sanctuaries, rooftops, communion tables, and architecture of Unitarian and Universalist churches, believe it or not. I’d love to bring that back. But then we might stunt our exploration of Buddhist, Taoist, feminist and earth-centered spirituality. So “God is love,” though very close, is not my final answer. Though it sure would be clear, positive, inviting PR.

VII. A view of the natural world is fine, as long as we don’t advocate the worship of trees, dirt (healing or non), rocks (pet or wild), crystals, or clouds (or Joni Mitchell albums). These things can be vehicles connecting us to a higher truth and a greater good, but should not be idolized (well, maybe some album covers).

VIII. Search lights would not make for a concise inviting PR message, and I, for one, wouldn’t want to preach in front of them. Though they might accurately represent some of our current worship practices…

IX. Here’s my ideal design: The diverse sources of our spiritual exploration are represented by a variety of primary texts (scriptures, the Origin of the Species, the Humanist Manifesto, Cries of the Spirit, etc.) down in front of the pulpit, showing that we incorporate, but do not worship, them. Behind the pulpit, clear light radiates upward from a single source (make it a chalice symbol if you’d like) to become an ever-widening band. Behind that clear light are colored shapes which overlap to create more colors. A line of symbols of world religions makes us look like a house divided, whereas it will be inter-faith dialogue and multi-cultural cooperation which will solve the problems of poverty, hunger, racism, pollution, and war. We UUs are uniquely poised to be at the forefront of those solutions.

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