March 2005

Rev. Marcel P. Duhamel
Unitarian Universalist Church of Concord, NH

The other night I stepped onto the back stoop for a breath of air. It was quite cold, about 8 degrees F. but clear, beautiful and crisp. There is very little light pollution up on Depot Hill so one can observe the night sky quite well. The moon was in crescent phase; just a sliver of moon showing but remarkably brilliant. As I studied the moon, it became readily apparent that I could see the outline of the entire moon. Earth’s shadow covered most of it but it was still visible!

It occurred to me then that my religion is like that sliver of moon. Stunningly beautiful but only a part of the whole. Unitarians and Universalists both used to say that “revelation is too vast a concept to be contained in any one tradition.” That was true in the 19th century and it is still true today. Unitarian Universalism is a religion that works well for me; in fact it is probably the only religion to which I can belong. Nonetheless, it is not The One True Church. It is one attempt to wrestle with important questions and it respects me in sufficient measure to allow me to come to my own conclusions. There are no “one size fits all” answers to any of the most important questions human beings can ask. Also, I do not have to unravel or deny your truth to validate mine. Even apparently contradictory truths can abide side by side within UU’ism. A paradox perhaps but not a contradiction.

My enjoyment of that sliver of moon does not mean that the moon is crescent shaped, though that is what I saw that night. It was so bright, so gorgeous, so evocative of the holy.