The Heretics Parade
UU History goes back for thousands of years,
Has crossed many lands, has resulted in tears.
You see, we’re a people who question the norm,
And our questing has brought to us many a storm.
So lean in more closely as we bring you this tale,
A story so great, it behooves us to regale
You with the details from many years in our past
That you may see – UUs are built to last.
Though you would not have guessed it from our troubled beginnings,
(We’ve been forced, through the years, to sit out many innings)
Our belief that God was one thing, and not three,
Kept our forebears afloat on a dis-quieted sea.
And here, now, today, for your viewing pleasure
A Heretics Parade – listen up, and take measure
Of the tenacity, intelligence, courage and pluck
Of those who came before us, and with any luck,
You’ll notice, you’ve inherited some of their qualities –
A tendency to question, a penchant for heresy.
For though times have changed, and religion’s more free,
(Being burned at the stake's now a mere memory),
Still there is risk in being left of the right,
And as our ancestors show us, it is worth the fight!
First on our list is a student of Jesus,
that Jewish messiah who was sent here to teach us
To love all our neighbors as we love ourselves,
But was hanged on a cross by those who had wealth.
The apostles wrote later that after three days,
Jesus arose, resurrected, came back from the grave!
But Mark, a disciple who loved Jesus dearly
Wrote about his friend’s death, and he wrote it all clearly,
That Jesus, the man, died by crucifixion
And he never came back – Instead, it was his mission,
His words, and his deeds, and his love that lived on
Inspiring us all, even though he was gone.
When the first Unitarians read the Gospel of Mark,
They believed they were reading the truest remarks
About that historical time, and the way
Jesus died, was mourned, and remembered, but stayed
Decidedly gone. He was, after all,
According to Unitarians a man, not a God.
that Jewish messiah who was sent here to teach us
To love all our neighbors as we love ourselves,
But was hanged on a cross by those who had wealth.
The apostles wrote later that after three days,
Jesus arose, resurrected, came back from the grave!
But Mark, a disciple who loved Jesus dearly
Wrote about his friend’s death, and he wrote it all clearly,
That Jesus, the man, died by crucifixion
And he never came back – Instead, it was his mission,
His words, and his deeds, and his love that lived on
Inspiring us all, even though he was gone.
When the first Unitarians read the Gospel of Mark,
They believed they were reading the truest remarks
About that historical time, and the way
Jesus died, was mourned, and remembered, but stayed
Decidedly gone. He was, after all,
According to Unitarians a man, not a God.
300 years later, in the City of Rome,
The Emperor, Constantine, felt disquiet at home.
The new Christians could finally believe what they wanted,
But they couldn’t agree! Constantine felt quite daunted
By the task of uniting the people of his nation,
And making them all agree as to the station
Of Jesus of Nazareth, now gone near 300 years,
And yet people bickered – they wanted things clear.
Christians in the Roman Empire disputed
Whether Jesus was a god with his powers diluted
Only because he was in a man’s body.
Or, a man so wonderful God thought he embodied
All good things that a person on earth should be,
And so adopted him as his child, took him under his wing.
Arius, a Libyan priest, and a self-proclaimed Christian,
Believed that of course Jesus was just a man –
Arius sang and wrote poems and preached,
But Alexander, the bishop, wanted to see him impeached!
He thought Arius’ words were deceitful and wrong,
Whether spoken in prose, in a poem, or song.
Alexander believed Jesus was divine from the beginning,
Sent to the Earth to forgive people’s sinning.
Well, Emperor Constantine called a big meeting,
To once and for all settle these views that were competing.
He gathered the bishops from all over the land,
He called upon Arius, the priest, to take a stand.
They gathered in Nicea, in the country of Turkey,
And this is when things got a little bit murky.
You see, a priest is lower in rank than a bishop,
So Arius couldn’t speak to defend his position.
Instead, the bishops all mounted an attack
On Arius’ character – they called him a hack!
A charlatan, a deadbeat, a bad heretic,
And by the end of the conference, all those names did stick!
Arius and his two supporters (both bishops) were found
To be heretics, and were sent underground.
They refused to sign the first Christian Creed,
And they remained all their lives punished for this deed.
But what do you think? What if Arius could talk?
Would we all be Unitarians, walking our walk?
The Emperor, Constantine, felt disquiet at home.
The new Christians could finally believe what they wanted,
But they couldn’t agree! Constantine felt quite daunted
By the task of uniting the people of his nation,
And making them all agree as to the station
Of Jesus of Nazareth, now gone near 300 years,
And yet people bickered – they wanted things clear.
Christians in the Roman Empire disputed
Whether Jesus was a god with his powers diluted
Only because he was in a man’s body.
Or, a man so wonderful God thought he embodied
All good things that a person on earth should be,
And so adopted him as his child, took him under his wing.
Arius, a Libyan priest, and a self-proclaimed Christian,
Believed that of course Jesus was just a man –
Arius sang and wrote poems and preached,
But Alexander, the bishop, wanted to see him impeached!
He thought Arius’ words were deceitful and wrong,
Whether spoken in prose, in a poem, or song.
Alexander believed Jesus was divine from the beginning,
Sent to the Earth to forgive people’s sinning.
Well, Emperor Constantine called a big meeting,
To once and for all settle these views that were competing.
He gathered the bishops from all over the land,
He called upon Arius, the priest, to take a stand.
They gathered in Nicea, in the country of Turkey,
And this is when things got a little bit murky.
You see, a priest is lower in rank than a bishop,
So Arius couldn’t speak to defend his position.
Instead, the bishops all mounted an attack
On Arius’ character – they called him a hack!
A charlatan, a deadbeat, a bad heretic,
And by the end of the conference, all those names did stick!
Arius and his two supporters (both bishops) were found
To be heretics, and were sent underground.
They refused to sign the first Christian Creed,
And they remained all their lives punished for this deed.
But what do you think? What if Arius could talk?
Would we all be Unitarians, walking our walk?