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1. Essays

Devotional Literature from Plain and Prairie

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Essay by Ronald Knapp

I. Introduction

My purpose in this paper is to make us more aware of contributions by people from what is now the Prairie Star District to the collected devotional materials shared by the larger Unitarian Universalist movement. A significant aspect of my thesis is that an appreciation of those contributions involves not only an interesting exercise but is, in fact, crucial to an understanding of the shape and character of contemporary Unitarian Universalism.

By devotional literature I mean the elements usually found in worship services such as hymns, readings, responsive reading, prayers, invocations and benedictions which, for the purposes of this paper, I am simplifying into two categories: hymns and readings. Specifically, I’m thinking of the hymns and readings, which are widely used, in spite of our diversity, all over the North American continent.

Rabindranath Tagore’s powerful poem from Gitanjali, which we call “The Mind Without Fear” (Hymns for the Celebration of Life [HCL] #391), is an example of shared devotional literature.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depths of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action—into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Although “The Mind Without Fear” does not come, historically, from our American liberal religious tradition, it does find expression in many of our churches—as readings during church services, as fillers in our newsletters or as illustrations in our sermons.

William Ellery Channing’s great piece on “The Free Mind” (HCL #420) is another example of shared devotional literature:

I call that mind free which protects itself against the usurpations of society, and which does not cower to human opinion: Which refuses to be the slave or tool of the many or of the few, and guards its empire over itself as nobler than the empire of the world. I call that mind free which resists the bondage of habit, which does not mechanically copy the past, or live on its old virtues: But which listens for new and higher monitions of conscience, and rejoices to pour itself forth in fresh and higher exertions.

From the founder of Unitarianism in America, we have a piece of devotional literature that is used in Unitarian Universalism churches everywhere.

A third example of shared devotional literature is a selection which is used annually in the Spring/Easter celebration of First Unitarian Church in Omaha, and which is being more and more widely used around the country.

I am struck dumb with wild and wordless wonder

That on this planet, hurtling ‘round the sun,

The green laughter of Spring rises to clothe

Our earth through cell and seed and birth—

Eternally, in spite of winter’s storms and cold.

Through ages of fire and of ice the flow of life

In countless deaths and multi-million forms

Has known the con-fraternity and miracle of birth.

This, my miracle, my ‘resurrection of flesh’—

Too vast, too true for little creeds, is Spring’s

Unbridled mirth!

When I first began to use this selection, I did not know the name of the author and listed its source as anonymous. Then, a few years ago, I discovered that the author was not other than John Cummins who recently retired, after a long ministry, from the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis.

A final example of shared devotional literature is “Tranquil Streams” (HCL #253) written by Marion Franklin Ham, a Unitarian minister who served Unitarian churches in Texas and Massachusetts:

As tranquil streams that meet and merge

And flow as one to meet the sea

Our kindred fellowships unite

To build a church that shall be free.

Free from the bonds that bind the mind

To narrow thoughts and lifeless creed;

Free from a social code that fails

To serve the cause of human need;

A freedom that reveres the past,

But trusts the dawning future more;

And bids the soul, in search of truth,

Adventure boldly and explore.

We shall now explore, specifically, contributions to our denominational literature made by people from what is now the Prairie Star District. Here are some things to keep in mind as we proceed:

Selection references from Hymns for the Celebration of Life are indicated by the initials HCL

Some additional information is given in the notes found in back of Hymns for the Celebration of Life

Resources used for this paper and for further exploration are noted at the conclusion of this paper.

II. Hymns for the Celebration of Life

The one collection of devotional materials that all, or nearly all, Unitarian Universalist congregations have in common is Hymns for the Celebration of Life , the blue hymnal, which contains 327 hymns and 231 readings. I shall begin this exploration of contributions by people from Prairie Star by examining contributions to that hymnal.

If I am permitted to extend the boundaries of Prairie Star District just far enough to include Quincy, Illinois—which is, after all, now yoked with Burlington, Iowa—then I can fairly say that at least 10 percent of the selections in Hymns for the Celebration of Life are by people with ties to the Prairie Star District.

Hymns with such ties include the great contemporary UU hymn, “Bring, O Past Your Honor” (HCL #254), which was written in 1942 for the centennial of the First Unitarian Church of Geneva, Illinois, by Charles Lyttle who was—early in this century—a minister of the First Unitarian Church of Omaha; “Who Thou Art, I Know Not” (HCL #46), which was written by Harry Kemp while “under great stress upon attending the Unitarian Church in Lawrence, Kansas;” “Past, Present, Future” (HCL #116), which was written by Frederick Elliot, one of the great presidents of the UUA who was at one time minister of Unity Church of St. Paul.

There are also a number of hymns in Hymns for the Celebration of Life by William Channing Gannett, another minister of Unity Church, and Frederick Hosmer, the Quincy Connection, but I want to deal with them a little later in this paper. The reading collection found in Hymns for the Celebration of Life contains many readings by people from what is now the Prairie Star District. Among my favorites in that collection are “Awake, O Man” (HCL 356), by Edwin Palmer—once minister of the Lincoln, Nebraska, Church—which deals with both human achievements and failings; and “An Eternal Verity” (HCL #456) by Waldermar Argow, who served the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Church. I frequently use Argow’s reading to open Sunday services:

Because we are human, we shall ever build our altars;

Because each has yearnings, we offer everywhere our prayers and our hymns.

For an eternal verity abides beneath diversities:

We are children of one great love, and members of one another.

One reading I have a strong personal attachment to is found in the “Benedictions, Closing Words” section of the hymnal (HCL #537), and is by John Brigham, minister of the Burlington, Iowa church before Eric Haugan. Brigham was in the UUA Department of the Ministry when I decided to become a Unitarian Universalist minister, and it was he who assisted me in receiving fellowship. “Hold the Hope of discovery High within you,” Brigham says,

Sharing the hope,

and whatever discovery may come,

with others.

In my opinion, the most significant single piece of contemporary devotional literature to be found in Hymns for the Celebration of Life was written by a minister who served the First Unitarian Church of Omaha. That minister is Robert Weston and the selection is “Out of the Stars” (HCL #345):

This is the wonder of time;

this is the marvel of space;

Out of the stars swung the earth;

life upon earth rose to love.

This is the marvel of man,

rising to see and to know;

Out of your heart, cry wonder:

sing that we live.

Here is a list of other contributors to Hymns for the Celebration of Life, all of whom have ties to churches, as named below, in the Prairie Star District. There are, no doubt, others whom I have missed, but this list should well illustrate contributions by people from Prairie Star District.

Napoleon Lovely, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (HCL #510)

Wallace Robbins, Unity Church, St. Paul (HCL #460)

Frank Carlton Doan, Iowa City, Iowa (HCL #474)

Robert French Leavens, Omaha, Nebraska (HCL #477, #483, #544)

Samuel McChord Crothers, Unity Church, St. Paul (HCL #484)

James Villa Blake, Quincy, Illinois (HCL #494)

Arthur Foote II, Unity Church, St. Paul (HCL #533)

Robert Weston, Omaha, Nebraska (HCL #421)

III. The Blue Hymnal and the Red Hymnal: A Contrast

The blue hymnal, Hymns for the Celebration of Life, was published in 1964, the year I left the Methodist ministry to become a Unitarian Universalist. I immediately fell in love with the blue hymnal and though I know that there are many who feel it has major shortcomings, I love it still. It was one of the things that convinced me that liberal religion could continue to deal with religious questions in the contemporary world.

The predecessor to Hymns for the Celebration of Life was the red hymnal, Hymns of the Spirit, published jointly by the Unitarians and the Universalists in 1937. Some UU ministers and congregations still prefer to use the red hymnal.

At first glance, the two hymnals are very much alike and, for that matter, much like most other hymnals. Basically, they both contain a collection of hymns and a collection of responsive readings. When you look more closely into the matter, however, there are some important differences. Hymn of the Spirit, although it contains some token elements for humanistic worship—some hymns and readings and orders of service—it is primarily a traditional collection: a collection that identifies the movement within Protestant Christianity, a collection that reflects Channing Unitarianism.

The blue hymnal, on the other hand, is much broader and represents, more completely, the contemporary realities of liberal religion. This difference is especially noticeable in the two collections of responsive readings. In one, Hymns of the Spirit, most of the readings, like those in the hymnals of most Christian churches, are taken from the scriptures; taken from the Old and New Testaments. The other hymnal, Hymns for the Celebration of Life, contains many readings from the other great religions of the world, from UU historical sources, and from the great literature of the world.

It occurs to me, whenever I compare the two hymnals, that publication of the red hymnal, Hymns of the Spirit, in 1937, was a traditional event which represented the world of Channing Christianity and which expressed an Eastern spirit, whereas publication of the blue hymnal, Hymns for the Celebration of Life in 1964, following close upon the merger of the Unitarians and the Universalists, more clearly represented the world of Parker Unitarianism, and expressed a Midwestern vision. The editor of the blue hymnal, after all, was a minister from what is now the Prairie Star District, Arthur Foote II, who was minister of Unity Church in St. Paul.

IV. Responsive Readings and Great Companions

That last thought—the thought that Hymns for the Celebration of Life expresses the Midwestern spirit—occurred to me only after Charles Stephen of the Lincoln, Nebraska, Church sent me, in preparation for this paper a copy of Responsive Readings, which was published in 1939 by the Iowa Association of Unitarian Churches. I’m not sure of the geographical boundaries of the Iowa Association, but I am sure that it included the Nebraska churches since it was edited by Arthur Weathersly of the Lincoln Church, with Lawrence Plank of the Omaha Church on its editorial committee.

Responsive Readings is a broad, diverse and lively collection of responsive readings for use in Unitarian churches in our area. The collection—54 readings in all—includes selections from the Judeo-Christian tradition and from traditional UU sources like Channing and Emerson, but also includes selections from Buddhism and Hinduism and from literary sources that range from Plato to Nietzsche, from Marcus Aurelius to Romain Roland, from Tagore to Bertrand Russell.

Responsive Readings was published two years after the red hymnal, Hymns of the Spirit. I do not know the circumstances under which Responsive Readings was conceived and published, but it is not difficult for me to assume that it was a reaction to the types of readings found in the red hymnal—readings which are largely traditional in nature. Again, it is not difficult for me to assume, although I do not know this to be the case, that Responsive Readings became one of the prototypes of the spirit, if not exactly the content of the broad collection of readings found in Hymns for the Celebration of Life.

The publication of Responsive Readings was itself influenced by another publication event; an event, which I think greatly, influenced the evolution of Unitarian Universalism in 20th Century America. I am thinking of the publication of the two volumes of Great Companions: Volume I was published just after the First World War; Volume II was published in 1941. The two volumes of Great Companions contain hundreds of selections from world literature, which pay attention, as the author says,

… to that which is excellent and permanent,

to that which gives grandeur to the passing

hour, to inner resources and possibilities

proper to us, on which we have never drawn.

Copies of Great Companions, which were printed on fine paper and, after the publication of the second volume, in boxed sets, were found—and still are found—in Unitarian and Universalist homes all over the continent, and were often presented to young people when they became church members.

Like Responsive Readings, Great Companions expresses an expansive vision and, like Responsive Readings, its editor, Robert French Leavens, had ties with what is now the Prairie Star District: he was minister of the First Unitarian Church of Omaha. The spirit of Midwestern liberal religion had a profound effect on the evolution of contemporary Unitarian Universalism.

V. The Western Conference and “Things Commonly Believed Among Us”

The spirit that found expression in Responsive Readings and Great Companions was itself, in turn, a reflection of the spirit of the Western Unitarian Conference. To understand something of that spirit we need to take a brief and, to be sure, superficial excursion into UU history. A more detailed account of the Western Conference can be found in Freedom Moves West by Charles Lyttle.

After the formation of the American Unitarian Association in 1825, the new denomination began to establish new churches in the Midwest. After a number of new churches were established, they were organized into an association called the Western Unitarian Conference. As the Western Conference grew, a conflict developed between the American Unitarian Association and the Western Unitarian Conference—between the Eastern churches and the Western churches—a conflict known in our literature as “the issue in the west.”

The crux of that conflict was ideological. The Western churches, influenced by Theodore Parker, became more open to non-Christian and non-theistic ideas. The Eastern churches, loyal to William Ellery Channing, insisted that Unitarians must be both theists and Christians. The conflict grew and intensified until, it can be fairly said, there were two Unitarian denominations on the continent: the American Unitarian Association and the Western Unitarian Conference.

The controversy raged through the last half of the l9th Century and began to be resolved only when the Western Conference passed a resolution, in 1887, called “Things commonly believed among us.” That resolution is one of the most important documents in American Unitarian history, so it is reprinted here in full:

The Western Conference has neither the wish nor the right to bind a single member by declarations concerning fellowship or doctrine. Yet it thinks some practical good may be done by setting forth in simple words the things most commonly believed among us—the Statement being always open to re-statement and to be regarded only as the thought of the majority.

All names that divide “religion” are to us of little consequence compared with religion itself. Whoever loves Truth and lives the Good is, in a broad sense, of our religious fellowship; whoever loves the one or lives the other better than ourselves is our teacher, whatever church or age he may belong to. The general faith is hinted well in words, which several of our churches have adopted for their covenant: “In the freedom of the Truth and in the spirit of Jesus Christ, we unite for the worship of God and the service of man.” It is hinted in such words as these: “Unitarianism is a religion of love to God and love to man.” Because we have no “creed” which we impose as a condition of fellowship, specific statements of belief abound among us, always somewhat differing, always largely agreeing. One such we offer here:

We believe that to love the Good and to live the Good is the supreme thing in religion;

We hold reason and conscience to be final authorities in matters of religious belief;

We honor the Bible and all inspiring scripture, old and new;

We revere Jesus, and all holy souls that have taught men truth and righteousness and love, as prophets of religion.

We believe in the growing nobility of Man;

We trust the unfolding Universe as beautiful, beneficent, unchanging Order; to know this order is truth; to obey it is right and liberty and stronger life;

We believe that good and evil invariably carry their own recompense, no good thing being failure and no evil thing success: that heaven and hell are states of being; that no evil can befall the good man in either life or death; that all things work together for the victory of Good.

We believe that we ought to join hands and work to make the good things better and the worst good, counting nothing good for self that is not good for all;

We believe that this self-forgetting, loyal life awakes in man the sense of union here and new with things eternal—the sense of deathlessness; and this sense is to us an earnest of the life to come.

We worship One-in-All—that life whence suns and stars derive their orbits and the soul of man its Ought—that Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, giving us power to become the sons of God—that Love with which our souls commune.

“Things commonly believed among us,” says David Parke in The Epic of Unitarianism, “paved the way for eventual reconciliation in the Western Conference in 1894, and represents Western Unitarianism at its best.” I think it does more than that. It represents the emerging spirit of liberal religion, not only regionally, in the West, but for the continent and the movement as a whole.

To understand the contemporary shape and character of liberal religion you need to know this resolution and to understand how influential it was in determining what Unitarian Universalism was to become. “Things commonly believed among us” is one of the great documents of our heritage and deserves to take its place along side Channing’s Baltimore address, Emerson’s Divinity School address, and Parker’s “The transient and the permanent in Christianity.”

The author of this important document, the author of this Unitarian declaration of independence, was William Channing Gannett, minister of Unity Church in St. Paul. Gannett—more than any other person related to our regional history, I expect—represents the spirit of this part of the world; a spirit that played a central role in the transformation of Unitarian Universalism.

VI. Unity Hymns and Chorals

William Channing Gannett, minister of Unity Church in St. Paul and author of “Things commonly believed among us,” along with Frederick Hosmer, who served the Quincy church, were the two great Unitarian hymn writers of the last quarter of the l9th Century and the first quarter of the 20th Century. In 1890, Gannett and Hosmer teamed to produce a new hymnal called Unity Hymns and Chorals, a work which was revised and enlarged in 1911. My copy is the 1911 edition.

Unity Hymns and Chorals is a most unusual hymnal, one with pages literally divided horizontally, so that the singer can match words to a hymn of any appropriate tune. It also is unusual because of its philosophical tone. There is an almost prophetic quality to parts of the introduction to the hymnal.

… our hymns reflect the religious feelings underlying what is called the Liberal Faith, feelings of moral longing and consecration, of dependence on the One in All, of childlike trust in the Eternal Goodness, of happy thankfulness for life, of free communion between man and man in brotherhood, and between the child-soul and the indwelling Father-Soul. There are not so many hymns of Duty, Brotherhood and Service in the book as we had hoped—mainly because such hymns, in singing and poetic forms, are not yet many in the world. But there is more than the usual proportion of herald-songs—songs of the Good-to-Be. More, also, than is common of hymns touched with the wonder and beauty of Nature, and of what may perhaps be deemed “poems” rather than “hymns.” Songs suffused with the thought and feeling, without the name, of God will be used increasingly as “hymns,” we think. The imagery of Christian hymns has been largely borrowed from a drama of salvation now passing out of credence; its place will be taken by imagery drawn from Nature and life, and this is almost equivalent to saying that “hymns” are likely to broaden in their scope, and, in broadening, to grow more poetic and more beautiful.

Gannett and Hosmer, from our part of the world, from the area that is now the Prairie Star District, contributed some of the greatest hymns of liberal faith, some of the most moving celebrations of the uniqueness, vitality and spirit of free religion.

It was Gannett who contributed the opening hymn in Hymns for the Celebration of Life, “The Morning Hangs a Signal” (HCL #1). I never fail to be moved by this hymn, especially in the final stanza:

The soul hath lifted moments, above the drift of days,

When life’s great meaning breaketh in sunrise on our ways.

Behold the radiant token of faith above all fear;

Night shall be lost in splendor and morning shall appear.

It was Hosmer who fit new and beautiful UU words to the tune of “Onward Christian Soldiers” (HCL #215):

Wider grows the kingdom, Reign of love and light

For it we must labor Till our faith is sight.

Prophets have proclaimed it Martyrs testified,

Poets sung its glory, heroes for it died.

Forward through the ages In unbroken line,

Move the faithful spirits At the call divine;

It also was Hosmer who penned the words for the beautiful Autumn hymn, “I Walk the Unfrequented Road” (HCL #277):

A beauty springtime never knew haunts all the quiet ways,

And sweeter shines the landscape through its veil of autumn haze.

I face the hills, the streams, the wood, and feel with all akin;

My heart expands; their fortitude and peace and joy flow in.

But a last word should be given to Gannett who, more than anyone else, I think, represents the spirit that energizes the Prairie Star District. That spirit is found in “It Sounds Along the Ages” (HCL #247):

It sounds along the ages, soul answering to soul;

It kindles on the pages of every bible scroll;

The psalmist heard and sang it, from martyr lips it broke,

And prophet tongues out-rang it till sleeping nations woke.

From Sinai’s cliffs it echoed, it breathed from Buddha’s tree,

It charmed in Athens’ market, it hallowed Galilee;

The hammer stroke of Luther, the Pilgrims’ seaside prayer,

The oracles of Concord one holy word declare.

It calls—and lo, new justice! It speaks—and lo, new truth!

In ever nobler stature and unexhausted youth.

Forever on resounding, and knowing nought of time,

Our laws but catch the music of its eternal chime.

VII. Conclusion

The contributions of people from the area that now is the Prairie Star District to the larger liberal religious movement is enormous. It is not too much to say that, in our history, we received a “goodly inheritance" from the East and passed it back to the whole nation immensely enriched.

VIII. Resources