Love is central theme to Universalist belief

“God is Love”. There is a great deal of history behind those three simple words. In 1759, James Relly wrote a book entitled “Union”, a theological treatise on Universalism. The predominant Calvinist convictions of his day was that all humankind held the mark of original sin as a result of Adam’s fall and that people must be saved from this sin or suffer in hell. Calvinism held the belief that Christ freed some souls by his atoning death. This meant that only a select few would enter heaven, which left a bleak picture of hellfire and brimstone for most people. James Relly spread the good news that through his atoning death, Christ freed not some but all of humankind.

John Murray became a disciple of Relly. His new Universalist faith was not without its costs. He was formally dismissed by the Methodist Tabernacle. Murray lost his business; his friends turned away from him. He suffered the misfortune of losing both his infant child and his wife to an unknown disease then was thrown into prison for the debts he had incurred to care for them. Vowing never to preach again, Murray sailed to America on a ship.

In 1770, Murray arrived in America. Due to a navigational error, the brig became lodged on a sandbar just off the coast of New Jersey near a town called Good Luck. As the story goes, a nearby farmer named Thomas Potter had built a chapel and welcomed itinerant preachers of many faiths. Yet none of the visiting ministers preached the universal faith so dear to him that is until John Murray came ashore seeking provisions.

Both Potter and Murray believed their chance meeting was a sign of God’s Providence.

John Murray is considered the father of Universalism. He became the minister of the First Universalist Church in America in Gloucester, Massachusetts. One of his most famous statements was “Give them not hell, but hope and courage; preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.” On his deathbed in 1815 he is quoted as saying, “Remember, there is One who loveth you, with an everlasting love and will never leave you nor forsake you.”

One of the controversies surrounding Universalism even back to the time of Relly was the argument that if both saints and sinners are destined for heaven, why bother doing good? In 1805, Hosea Ballou, a Universalist preacher of the next generation, asserted that human beings are motivated by a desire for happiness and that sin is often a misguided attempt at happiness. True happiness comes in acting in accord with the system of universal benevolence and the rewards ripple outward to other people. Living a life of selfishness and dishonesty cuts a person off from true fulfillment. Atonement comes when we are reconciled with our fellow human beings and therefore aligned with God’s love.

Universalists and Unitarians consolidated in 1961 to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. As well as Theists, our liberal religious tradition includes Humanists, Buddhists, Agnostics, Atheists, and others for whom God is not central to their personal beliefs. However, all Unitarian Universalists deeply value the inherent worth and dignity of all people and the transforming power of love.

Religion is about real life. Theologians have complicated theories about the nature of God and the afterlife. Religion is about the search for ultimate meaning within our daily existence. Just because we may have rejected the doctrines and creeds of our childhood does not mean that we have given up on religion itself. We discover our sense of meaning in the lives we live, in the home, in the community, and in the world.

To believe “God is Love” means the sacred is found in relationship, in connection. This is a process that continues through out our daily living. True happiness lies not in individual attainment, but when we discover a power that is deeper and wider than self. When we are conscious of the intimate relationship of all beings, to act with justice and mercy in the world leads to personal fulfillment. Together we can build a better world. The Divine is not the goal of life but the very path on which we travel. In the words of Universalist minister, Robert Miller: “Live as though the essential power and force of the universe is love, goodness, truth, and beauty. Then you shall discover the faith for which you so ardently long”.

Rev. Amy Bowden Freedman is the minister of Channing Memorial Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Newport.