Please click the link to watch Rev. Cynthia’s video recording of this sermon.

On this Sunday before Election Day, I would like us to consider one of the shared values we claim as Unitarian Universalists, generosity, because government of the people, by the people and for the people cannot exist without the generosity of the people.

Our denomination’s bylaws say, “The Unitarian Universalist Association will actively engage its members in the transformation of the world through liberating Love…. As Unitarian Universalists, we covenant, congregation-to-congregation and through our Association, to support and assist one another in our ministries.”

Transforming the world through liberating love. Supporting and assisting one another in our ministries. This requires a generous giving of ourselves. Look around this room. Consider your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors. Do you know someone who will be a poll worker on Tuesday? Do you know someone who will be driving someone to the poll? Do you know someone who has been registering new voters? Do you know someone who has been phone banking to encourage people to vote? Do you know someone who has written postcards to voters? Do you know someone who is running for office? These people being generous with their time and their abilities helps to create a government of, by and for the people.

Our Unitarian Universalist bylaws say, “We draw from our heritages of freedom, reason, hope, and courage, building on the foundation of love. Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love.” We should extend this Unitarian Universalist calling into our calling as citizens as well.

Twentieth-century Unitarian minister A. Powell Davies said, “I agree with the writers of the City of Man, who say that ‘(the one) who is only an American is not yet an American.’ For the founding principles are universal. The need abroad is just as much an obligation as the need at home. Human rights do not cease at national frontiers, and neither does responsibility. If this did not appear so in the past, it was because conditions then did not obviously proclaim it. Today, the earth—we have heard it over and over again- is just one neighborhood. Fair play is needed not only in one place but in all places; justice is essential everywhere. And more than justice. Mercy! Compassion! And that is part of what it means to be an American.”

“We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love.” And we are not just accountable to our fellow Unitarian Universalists although those are the people most likely to hold us to account. We are accountable to our neighbors with the signs for a different party than ours in their yard. We are accountable to the child in Sudan. We are accountable to the people of western North Carolina. We are accountable to the hostages of Hamas. We are accountable to the Palestinian refugee. We are accountable to ourselves. Are we living our values? Are those values centered in love? If we can answer yes to both those questions, then we are generous people.

I have said before that the Braver/Wiser emails are among my favorite UU communiques in my inbox.

In June of last year, Shaya French wrote this for the Braver/Wiser email.

First a quote: “We are trying to change what’s at the very top of this structure, the president…but I’m like, ‘But no one’s actually practicing democracy…. Yo, do you sit down together and talk about how you’re spending the resources of your home and your community? Do you talk about how you’re agreeing to keep each other safe? Do you talk about how you’re agreeing to share time and who has decision-making power and do you make those decisions together?’…. So even the people running for office are often people who’ve never actually practiced democracy in that way, and they’re not practicing it intimately.” —adrienne maree brown, in a podcast interview

Then French says, “I was seventeen when I learned what democracy was. I was with seventy-five young people at the Youth Empowerment and Spirituality UU conference on Star Island as we chose our leader for next year’s conference. It had only been a week, but I loved these people—and I was so damn impressed. The candidates had given short speeches about their hopes and commitments and left the room. We were left to decide. Each person who spoke did so constructively and kindly. People spoke about their leadership skills and how they felt in their presence. One friend of a candidate shared a concern about how one of the potential leaders managed their many competing priorities. Then we voted anonymously.

“In the seven years since I bridged, I don’t think I’ve been part of an election process run by adults that was so loving.

“When I reflect on what made the YES elections work—despite disappointment by those who weren’t chosen—I think it’s because of the time we spent building relationships. Our nightly worship services were about connecting with each other, and feeling part of a whole, more than about our individual faith journeys. We’d taken time to hang out casually; to build connection. In that election, we were able to think beyond who we liked best and think about what the group needed most.

“When I think about how ‘democracy’ takes shape in a country of 330 million people, it seems almost inconceivable that we’re talking about the same process as my 75-person youth conference used. But it gives me hope, too, that it’s possible to learn about self-governance in the decisions we make in our families, schools, congregations, and conferences.

“Having relationships where we can speak truth to one another and disagree requires that we invest in each other. It means we must care about something bigger than ourselves… and these are skills we get to practice every month of the year, not just in November.

“Each and every time we make a decision with another person—or a group of people—we can practice democracy. Are we listening deeply to another? Does everyone who wants to get to speak? Am I clear whether I’m speaking up for my own wants or needs, or the good of the group? Are we following our own values? And perhaps most importantly, have we worked to build our relationships and truly know each other so we can respect each other when we disagree?”

As all Braver/Wiser emails do, Shaya ends with a prayer.

“Spirit of Life, may we be active participants in the liberatory potential of democracy. May we practice it in our relationships and social groups, in our congregations and schools and local governments and in (our) General Assembly.”

I think what Shaya French writes speaks clearly to our Unitarian Universalist value of generosity. From our bylaws: “Inseparable from one another, these shared values are… [for one]:

“Generosity. We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope. We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.”

Hear that again. “Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.” Aren’t those relationships the base of democracy?

Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams wrote in his book On Being Human Religiously, “The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions⁠—social, economic and political—of the common life.”

Unitarians and Universalists, along with many others, have been shaping our democracy by their generosity for more than two centuries now, and there is a basic belief that underlies this project. In 1949 Rev. A. Powell Davies, then the minister of All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, DC, wrote a short book laying out that grounding. He titled the book America’s Real Religion. Let me share with you some of what he writes in the Foreword and in closing.

In the Foreword, Davies lays out what he believes is the spiritual base of democracy. I have adapted his words slightly by changing man to person, mankind to humanity, brotherhood to kinship, but I have not changed his meaning.

Davies writes, “Because democracy exalts freedom, not dogma, it can be world-uniting. The attempt to unite the world upon the basis of dogma, whether political, religious, or any other kind is sure to fail. Dogma divides. It is dogma that is dividing the world now: communist dogma, authoritarian religious dogma. They can only deepen the world’s divisions… Democracy, however, which converts the war-to-death of dogma into peaceful conflict of opinion can provide the world with unity.

“But if it is to do this, we must understand better what democracy is spiritually. Without its spiritual content, democracy as a system will be emptied of what gives it substance and will collapse. What, then, in spiritual terms, is the definition of democracy? Most simply stated, democracy is the social and political expression of the religious principle that all (people) are (kin) and (humanity) a family; democracy is (kinship): (kinship) unrestricted by nation, race or creed.”

Davies declares, “If this is our basic faith and if we are willing to reject beliefs of every kind that contradict it or limit it, then we are reaffirming the religion upon which democracy is founded and freedom has a chance to claim its future.”

This is the spiritual idea present in our Declaration of Independence. We are all created equal. Much of our American history has been working to get rid of the beliefs that have limited our democracy; slavery, women’s subservience to men, a hierarchy of races, a rank ordering of citizenship that puts native born above immigrant.

To quote our Unitarian Universalist values statement again: “Generosity. We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope. We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.”  We are connected to one another, not just Unitarian Universalists, but everyone, in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.

Davies ends his book by saying, “As the New Testament asks, How can a (person) love God, whom (they) have not seen, if (they) will not love (their) (sibling) whom (they have) seen? It is this that must be changed. And it can be changed: through the religion of (kinship) and democracy: America’s real religion.

“The time for this religion has arrived. It has arrived not just in America but everywhere. For America’s real religion is the world’s real religion. The only religion that can save us and heal our dissensions and build a world of justice and liberty and peace… the faith upon which democracy is based—the faith within democracy—is neither local nor ephemeral: it is the victory of truth over superstition, of liberty over servitude, of the universal over the provincial, of ennoblement over debasement, of (kinship) over exclusiveness… of love over fear… the religion, and the only one, that can lead the stricken world of the present into a happier, more hopeful future.”

Davies says we don’t need to give up our Christianity or Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam to follow what he calls America and the world’s real religion just any part of our faith that goes against that faith in our common humanity. And all of the world’s faiths have some version of the Golden Rule which if followed leads back to that earlier quote from Unitarian Universalist theologian James Luther Adams, “The faith of a church or of a nation is an adequate faith only when it inspires and enables people to give of their time and energy to shape the various institutions⁠—social, economic and political⁠—of the common life.” To be generous.

In a pamphlet called “Faithful Voter Reflection Guide 2024,” put out by Interfaith Power and Light, are these quotes from various faith traditions. From the Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda: “In Hinduism, we believe in the concept of dharma, or duty. Voting is our duty as citizens, and it is also a way to contribute to the well-being of society.”

From the Roman Catholic Christian Pope Francis during a historic address to Congress in 2015 noting that the Golden Rule has political implications and requires action: “This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves.”

From Maha Parinirvana Sutra (Buddhist scripture): “As long as followers of the Way gather together and meet in harmony… care for the vulnerable among them… tend the sacred places in their environment…can they be expected to prosper and not decline.”

From the Quran surah 49, verse 13 of Muslim scripture: “O humankind! We have made you… into nations and tribes, so that you may get to know one another. The noblest of you in God’s sight is the one who is most righteous.”

From the Native American Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph: “The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it.” Download IPL’s 2024 Voter Guide in English—Interfaith Power and Light.

“…democracy is the social and political expression of the religious principle that all (people) are (kin) and (humanity) a family; democracy is (kinship): (kinship) unrestricted by nation, race or creed.

“If this is our basic faith and if we are willing to reject beliefs of every kind that contradict it or limit it, then we are reaffirming the religion upon which democracy is founded and freedom has a chance to claim its future.”

Government of the people, by the people and for the people requires this belief and a generosity, that as our values statement puts it, “connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.”

I end with a prayer by Unitarian Universalist minister Dayna Edwards:

“Spirit of Life and Love,
Times are tough and trepidation swirls in our hearts.

“Groceries are expensive and our paychecks don’t go as far as they used to.
Incendiary words drip off the lips of our politicians and sow division in our nation.
People we loved are lost to hateful rhetoric and dubious conspiracy theories.

“And still there is hope.

“Through the generations, our democracy has been threatened, questioned, and buffeted.
Our government has not always lived up to its ideal of freedom for all.
We are grateful for all those organizers, journalists, freedom fighters, clergy, 
and regular people who knew that the people of our nation 
are called to do better and be better. 
Those like Grace Lee Boggs, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ida B. Wells, 
Dolores Huerta, Harriet Tubman, Viola Liuzzo, 
and so many others who knew that freedom isn’t free, 
who saw the deep and intricate connections of the human web, 
who cared enough to show up and keep showing up, 
who loved the people of this nation enough to keep fighting for who we could be.

“They gave us hope.

“They gave us hope that even though our democracy isn’t perfect, 
striving toward excellence in the way we care for the people of this nation, 
serve the people of this nation, 
and govern the people of this nation
is a worthy and noble cause.

“Our faith also gives us hope.

“A faith that knows that transformation is a holy and sacred task, 
that affirms that the democratic process is a faithful act, 
that brings a generous heart and a lens of justice and liberation to all that we do, 
that values equality and equity and is centered in love.

“Our love gives us hope.

“A revolutionary love that challenges us to find the worth and dignity in those with whom we disagree, 
love that inspires us to amplify the voices that are often silenced, 
love that holds us when the work of liberation seems so daunting, 
a love so big it bears the heavy weight of complex humans with ease.

“Spirit of life,
May love, hope, and wisdom guide us in our lifelong work toward liberation.

“May it be so. Amen and blessed be.”

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