“Nurture Your Spirit; Help Heal Our
World”© (Association Sunday)
Rev.
A colleague once suggested to me that every
newcomer walking through the doors of our congregations takes a mental snapshot
as they arrive. Each of us has done
this. If you are new today, you are
noting the banner on the wall, the loveliness of the space, the odd way almost
everyone likes to sit on one side of the room, entering it seems through some
secret door in the back, and streaming in just before and after the
prelude. You notice the people, check to
see if you are dressed more or less like they are, wonder
if they are truly ready to welcome you to this place.
Are these my people? Could this be my religious home? Could I indeed nurture my spirit here, and
help to heal a hurting world?
We hope that the answer is a
resounding yes. Over the 111 years that
this congregation has stood here, countless unremarkable yet transformative
acts have occurred among the people here.
Friendships have been formed, songs sung, hearts stirred by beautiful
music. The words of the eighteen ministers
who have stood here before – starting with George Henry Badger in 1896, and
continuing on to this very morning – have changed lives, fallen on deaf ears,
angered people, fallen short, and risen to the level of poetry and verse. They have in every case been the free and
unfettered voice of this liberal religious tradition, which embraces the search
for truth and justice, while never claiming to rest there.
People have married here, and found
refuge here after storms in their lives.
Children have been blessed as whole and complete beings here, and
recognized for the gifts they are. Youth
have stood in this pulpit sharing their credos as they come of age. This space has been transformed many times
into a place of community fun and celebration and laughter. And, of course, we have shed many tears
together as we have had to say goodbye to beloved embers who have died, but
whose lives live on in our hearts and in the very fabric of the walls
here.
We are here. We invite you to join us on the journey. We don’t approach religion with dogma or
creed, but with a genuine curiosity and longing to connect with one another,
and the ultimate, however we may define that.
Unitarian Universalism has a proud history. We claim many sages, prophets and leaders –
Emerson, Jefferson, Adams (John, John Quincy, and Susan B.) Channing,
We are also a tiny minority in the
religious landscape of
·
First, people
are hungry for meaningful ways to explore what it means to be human in the
context of a religious community that has an open approach to the search. People are lonely, isolated and scared. We don’t have to read expert opinions
(although they support these claims) to know that there is a loss of a sense of
belonging in our culture. People long to
make real friends based on the whole of who they are – doubting, vulnerable,
imperfect, opinionated, loving, and infinitely precious. People want to nurture their spirits in
communities that are loving and supportive.
·
Second,
people want to find others who will work with them to help heal our world. Fear is being peddled to us in daily
installments through print, image, and sound.
And, there is a lot to be afraid of. We are bogged in a dreadful war that is
costing not only lives but is impinging on the integrity of our democratic
values. The economy is changing, the
dollar dropping, technology jamming our lives with devices that are supposed to
make life simple, but instead seem to complicate. Polar bears are drifting out there on smaller
and smaller ice floes, while our animal selves squirm in discomfort at July
temperatures leaching into October apple picking days. As human beings we have our flaws, but I
believe that at heart each one of us wants, with every fiber of our being, to
make a difference in this world; to leave as our legacy greater possibilities
for our collective children than we ourselves could even imagine during our
lifetimes.
And yet; we wonder, how can we possibly heal this
earth that has been so polluted by violence and material waste? Here, we find together a community that
cares, hope to shore up the fearful heart, and company for the task that is
before us.
We each take a snap shot as we enter
this hall the first time; and some of us return and make of this place a
religious home – a place to continue the journey. In that first picture of this place, we liked
what we saw, and decided to jump in and be a part of it. Being more a people than a place, it requires
all of us to help this congregation thrive.
But beware becoming too nostalgic for the photo
image you took on your day of arrival, for this is a living, changing
community. Enough endures to have the
faces, the cadences of the service, and the rhythms of the year become familiar
and comfortable, but at the same time this isn’t a still life painting but a
living tableau. As our UUA Moderator,
Now is
the accepted time, [writes WEB DuBois] not tomorrow,
not tomorrow, not some more convenient season….Today is the seed time, now are
the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest, and the playtime.
Now is the time for Unitarian Universalism to take
seriously its own unique worth and dignity and really make an effort to reach
out to the larger world, saying “Hello! We are here! We deeply welcome you to join us.” While we may not like the idea of growth or
of focusing on numbers, we need to worry a little that our experiment in
radically free religion is either going to grow, or die on the vine in the
foreseeable future. Here is the hard
truth: There are fewer UU’s today than there were one hundred years ago. We are growing annually at a rate less than
1%, which has us decreasing as a portion of the
As
my colleague
Today marks an exciting day in the
birth of a new era for Unitarian Universalism.
For the first time ever, we are a part of an Association Sunday, in
which thousands of UUs across the nation are participating, pooling their power
and resources in order to feel our own power and to empower others. A little later, you will have the opportunity
to make a financial contribution towards some exciting outreach efforts being
made by the UUA. If you feel that
Unitarian Universalism has served you well this is a chance to reach out to
others who might benefit from our free faith.
If you are a visitor today, we invite you to be our guest, and we thank
you for joining us today. As our UUA
President Bill Sinkford puts it, “Now is
the time to…let the world know we are here, and to welcome those who seek our
community of peace, justice and love.
Now is the time for our congregations to grow stronger and more
effective because our religious values are sorely needed to help heal a wounded
world.”
Hanging just outside of my office is
a photograph of the congregation as it was about 15 years ago. Terry Ellen, my predecessor is standing there
beaming his warm, generous smile in the front row, and around and behind him
are the friendly faces, some still here (albeit a bit longer in the tooth
now!), some now gone, that made up the snapshot of this congregation at that
time. About 4 years ago we repeated the
exercise, with Tom Di Bella bravely climbing the roof
of
Welcome all of you to this special place on a day
of celebration. Together, may we bring
water to the thirsty, wisdom to the seeker of truth, joy to children and youth,
warmth to those who seek the company of friends, and justice to a world that is
hurting. May we walk together in love.
Amen.