The First Universalist
Unitarian Church of Wausau
History & Symbols
The first Universalist Unitarian Church was founded in
Wausau in 1870 as the “Universalist Society.” The first building,
at the northeast corner Fifth and McClellan Streets, was sold to Saint Stephen
Lutheran Church. A second building
was built on the opposite corner in 1886.
This property was later sold to the Mt. Sinai Jewish congregation.
Our present building was completed in 1915. In our over one hundred thirty years we
have been served by twenty five ministers. Two of these, Brainerd Gibbons and Carleton Fisher, later
served as Presidents of the Universalist Church in America. Carleton presided over the historic
meeting in 1957 when the Universalists and American Unitarian Association
agreed to merge into the Unitarian Universalist Association. Our congregation formally changed its
name to the First Universalist Unitarian Church in 1997.
The Flaming Chalice
The flaming chalice – set off-center within two
circles – is derived from symbols used by the Unitarians and
Universalists before the two groups merged in 1961.
Universalists
had used the symbol of a small cross in
the corner of a larger open circle.
This depicted their Christian roots while acknowledging that
Christianity was only one aspect of the world of faith. The Unitarian Service Committee developed the flaming chalice in
the 1940s as a way to identify themselves in their work to help refugees
fleeing Europe. Taken together,
the flaming chalice, set off-center within two circles, became a symbol for the
merger of two groups into The Unitarian Universalist Association.
Like the merger of these two groups – promoting a
religion of both the mind and the heart – the flame and the chalice have
a yin/yang aspect. Taken together
they can represent our quest for balance, and the truth that opposing
principles often prove one another.
So when our congregations gather, we often light a chalice.
What does it symbolize to you?
· The
unpredictable dance of the spirit supported upon a base of reason?
· The
light of individual freedom held up for the world by a solid caring community?
The flame can represent testing, courage, sacrifice, and
illumination. The chalice can
represent both our giving and receiving of life-sustaining gifts. Together they
contain activity and stillness; change and constancy; destruction and
regeneration.
The flaming chalice is an amalgam of imagery from the
world’s religious traditions.
With its bowl open wide to receive the breadth of our joys and sorrows,
it invites new interpretation. It
says, “you too can ... no, you too
must discover for yourself the
meaning in this life which we celebrate together.”
Windows
by Jim Olsen (1914-2002) church member 1949-2002, adapted
What
do I experience... what do I think as I sit and gaze upon the windows above the
pulpit? That depiction of the
babe, the mother, the men, the animals attending and witnessing?
And what of the three men appearing on the windows above the
rear balcony?
Can Unitarian Universalists (Christians, humanists,
atheists, and religious liberals of every sort) worship in such
surroundings?
One must have a passing acquaintance with the Bible story,
whether taken as fact, or as a figment of the imagination of sages long ago, to
find a reason for those windows.
A child was certainly born on a day long ago, just as babes
are coming into the world today and will be born tomorrow. In his or her mother’s arms, with
family and friends surrounding, the babe ought to be welcomed into a caring
place called home or church.
We of this congregation, as a protective and concerned
community, hold each child, our own or that of others, in warm and tender
embrace.
And those three men who dominate the rear window –
regal, imperious, imposing... diverse ethnic characters: white, black, brown...
what might be their thoughts as they gaze from afar across the sanctuary to
that scene in the front?
They seem to express that curiosity which elders hold for
every newborn whose future they watch in wonderment and hope.
(The images on these windows cannot be claimed by any one
sect, but are timeless in symbolizing the depth of the human experience.)
And as those three kings might march down these aisles
toward the window in the north, they would pass between rows of windows honoring
early members of this church; but more symbolically, perhaps, representing a
community of believers who would watch in awe and gladness the spectacle of the
exemplars of power, bowing in reverence at the sight of a new life coming into
the world.
World Religions Symbols
by Julie White
If
you’ve seen some folks in black T-shirts or carrying tote-bags with the
symbols of the world religions – you may have wondered what they all
mean. Here’s a brief
overview:
The cross is a
symbol of Christianity, representing sacrifice and redemption. The Hilal or Crescent Moon & Star is a symbol of
Islam. The Islamic year is
governed by the lunar calendar.
People have often used stars as guides. The Om is the
sacred symbol for the divine in Hinduism.
The past, present, and future are said to exist in its deep, humming
sound.
The Six-Pointed Star originally known as Solomon’s Seal combines the alchemical signs for fire and water. It became a sign of Jewish identity, The Star of David. The Yin-Yang symbol is popular in Chinese culture and associated with Taoism and Confucianism. It stands for harmony, balance, and interdependence. The Wheel may look familiar to earth-centered spiritualists, as The Wheel of the Year with its eight nature holidays. It’s original intent in this piece was as a simplified version of the Buddhist Wheel representing the cycle of birth, death, and reincarnation. The spokes are the eightfold path.