The UU Chalice and Flame: History and Symbolism
by Margaret Kiihne
The chalice and flame as a symbol of our Unitarian Universalist faith reaches back
to 1940 . Its presence evokes historic facts, but also symbolism and inspiration. This
morning Dab and I would like to recall its history, consider the life of this particular
chalice, and hear your thoughts about its meaning.
The story of how the chalice and the flame became our Unitarian Universalist
symbol begins in the 1940s. Hans Deutsch was an Austrian artist who drew critical
cartoons of Adolph Hitler during the 1930's and had to flee when the Nazis invaded Paris
in 1940. He arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, where he met the Reverend Charles Joy who was
the Executive Director of the Unitarian Service Committee. The USC was a secret network
of couriers and agents who helped eastern Europeans escape from Nazi persecution.
Deutsch, an admitted non-believer, was so impressed with the USC and Reverend
Joy that he was soon working for them. He admired Unitarianism as a practical
philosophy doing active, really useful social work instead of just, as he put it, “magic and
mysticism.”
The Unitarian Service Committee was an unknown organization in 1940 which was
a special handicap because in the cloak-and-dagger world, establishing trust quickly
across barriers of language, nationality, and faith could mean the difference between life
and death. Disguises, signs and countersigns, and midnight runs across guarded borders
were the means of freedom--quick and sure recognition was essential.
Therefore, Joy asked Hans Deutsch to create a symbol for their papers to quote
“make them look official, to give dignity and importance to them, and at the same time to
symbolize the spirit of our work. When a document may keep a man out of jail, give him
standing with governments and police, it is important that it look important."
With pencil and ink Deutsch drew a chalice with a flame. The design appeared in
many circumstances: a seal for papers, a badge for agents moving refugees, a symbol
scratched in the dirt to identify safe houses, a drawing on clandestine notes. Countless
lives were saved by the use of this distinctive code. Faith in action; lives of service.
In time, the chalice and the flame became a symbol of Unitarian Universalism all
around the world.
But there is another chalice story from some 500 years earlier.
Most are taught that the Protestant Reformation began in 1517, when Martin Luther
nailed 95 revolutionary theological proposals to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany,
thus precipitating the great split in western Christianity.
But there were certain other church people who pre-dated Luther by a century or
more who questioned the same corrupt church practices that Luther later argued against.
Among these was one Jan Hus, a Catholic priest in Prague who was at the center of a
controversy with Rome in the year 1415.
Hus believed in "the priesthood of all believers" --The idea that all people--clergy
and laity--have equal access to the divine, to religious experience, and to the possibility
of spiritual transformation.
Hus, because he was a priest, was allowed to partake of a portion of the communion
sacrament not allowed to the common laity. That is, he was allowed to drink communion
wine from the chalice. Hus spoke out against this, and eventually, he did more than just
speak out. He began to serve both the bread and the wine to his congregation during
communion.
When he refused to admit this "doctrinal error,” Hus was brought before the
Council of Constance, tried for heresy, and sentenced to be burned at the stake. True to
his principles to the end, he is said to have held a chalice in his hands as the fire of the
stake engulfed him.
His followers, known as Hussites, continued in secret the practice of fully shared
communion, and, significantly, adopted as their symbol a chalice with a flame. This symbol
became the unofficial emblem Czech nationalism; and when, in 1968, Soviet Army tanks
rolled into Prague, graffiti featuring chalices with flames were drawn throughout the town
in symbolic resistance.
The historical connection between our current use of the flaming chalice and the
martyrdom of Jan Hus is tenuous. Still, it is interesting to note similarities between the
story of Jan Hus, and that of Hans Deutsch, some 500 years later.
Now I want to turn our thoughts to this chalice on the table in front of us today—its
first day as a symbol of our Fellowship here in Winona. I also want to tell you a little about
the clay and the potter that are forever intrinsic parts of our chalice.
The Book of Genesis explains the origin of the name “Adam” in these words: “God
formed man of the dust of the ground.” Adam is the masculine form of the Hebrew
adamah meaning “ground” or clay. The first human being was called “Adam” because he
was formed from the ground. Thus, human life not only comes from the earth and returns
to it, but is actually of the earth.
Clay has in fact been classified as a “living organism” by scientists because it
contains the two basics of LIFE: a DNA memory and a mechanism for reproduction of
itself .
In writing about clay, I was reminded of a very powerful moment that took place
here during the Sunday service when Brianna Melom gave each of us a handful of damp
clay to hold. Brian Aldrich spoke afterwards about how that clay in his hand connected
him for the first time with the experiences he’d had at the time of his mother’s death. The
clay had brought Brian across a divide to a subsequent place of peace.
Pottery holds the history of human activity: In fragments and pots which are
thousands of years old, we see into past cultures--their daily life, religion, vegetation.
This chalice too holds a history:
Ray and I asked George Lowe to build it. He is a quiet man, a peace activist, teacher,
husband of a basket-maker, father of two. But I think these words from his Artist’s
Statement explain best why we went to him:
“Within the realm of handmade pottery, it becomes possible to speak of sacred
things: the spirit of the vessel and of the materials and the process. Spirit brings life and
energy into the work. It is this that inspires me to spin the clay into shapes that can bring
pleasure to someone else. The world needs art. I am happy to be a part of this wondrous
activity as a potter.”
Further respect for the clay comes when we look at the process George--and any
potter-- followed to create this chalice:
After homogenizing the clay, he had to “center” it on the wheel. This is the most
important and most difficult skill to master in the entire process--as it is in life. The clay
must be centered or the shape formed will never have a chance at balancing. Each of us
has certainly grappled with finding our own center—finding the philosophy, values,
religion, and sources of wisdom that will sustain us in life.
Next, the potter opens the clay on the wheel, opening it up to its new life.
Then, by “throwing”--drawing up and shaping the clay, he changes the shape but
only to a point before collapse. He has to find out how much this particularly piece of clay
will take. Every hunk thrown has a different consistency, and the potter’s own strength is
changeable.
Finally, the piece is fired which leads to permanent changes: It hardens the clay to
the strength of granite--which lasts forever. After explaining this, George sighed, “Maybe
that’s what we all need to be strong, a trial by fire.”
The flaming chalice drawn by Hans Deutsch is the official symbol of the Unitarian
Universalist Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Association. No single
meaning or interpretation of the chalice is official. But religious symbols can connect us
with experiences of the sacred, the transcendent.
While the stories of Jan Hus and Hans Deutsch and knowledge of clay and the potter
all give us a framework, it is only through our own personal experiences that the flaming
chalice--like any symbol--comes to have value. And as UU’s, we are accustomed to and
encouraged to create an individual belief system--to build our own theology--following
our reason, our conscience, and our UU principles.
To begin our discussion, let’s look again at the second verse of the Chalice Reading
in our “Order of Service” which you’ll find inside the hymnal:
We light this chalice; it is our symbol.
It represents all of the important things
Which make us who we are
And which hold us together.
What do the chalice and the flame represent for you?
What are the “important things”?