|
|
Titleby the Rev. Elizabeth A. LernerService at UUCSS on September 23, 2001 Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, a Unitarian-Universalist woman recently ordained as a minister wrote: "If, recognizing the interdependence of all life, we strive to build community, the strength we gather will be our salvation. If you are black and I am white, If we join spirits as brothers and sisters, the pain of our aloneness will be lessened, and that does matter. In this spirit, we build community and move toward restoration." This is a painful time for all of us. We come to church to share our pain and be healed by the caring of each other and the chance to speak or weep. We speak or weep our anguish at our losses, at the stories that unfold of people killed on September 11th, our uncertainty about what is the right thing to do, our fear that things will get worse or that we will make things worse by the way we respond within and beyond our country, our guilt that our country is not blameless in the suffering of others in the world, our outrage at the hate-filled condemnation of our people and the merciless slaughter of thousands of our people. It’s a lot to contend with, even for us together, and there will likely be more to struggle with before there is less, if there is ever again less, to contend with. And this was reflected in our service last week, at which different opinions, concerns, losses and reactions were spoken and displayed among us. My sermon last week was on the theme: Called to Be More, and I spoke about my sense that amidst all the diversity of truths among is in responding to the attacks on September 11th, there were two truths that held for all of us. One was that we are all called by those attacks and their aftermath to be better people than we are - stronger, more compassionate, wiser, more thoughtful, better informed, more patient, than we are. The other truth was that the most terrible thing in grief is to be alone in grief, and the gift we have been given is that none of us is alone in our grief - it is shared by the nation, the world, and certainly by this church community. We have each other, to learn from, to draw strength from, to care for us or to accept our care, and having each other will get us through this. We know that this is a diverse community. Another meaning of diversity is ‘different.’ We come from different countries, different religions, different races, different sexual orientations, different life experiences, different political parties, and we declare every Sunday that the differences do not estrange us from each other, that all are welcome here who are drawn to be part of this liberal religious community of that searches and strives together. This church has weathered difficult times. We have struggled with issues of community, ministry, leadership, fairness, behavior, and we have always come through. Even better - we have grown through those struggles. Grounded in compassion we strive for justice and equity in the world and we begin, always with ourselves and our church. One example of that is that we are a welcoming congregation. We educated ourselves, we debated and discussed, we voted, and we declare every Sunday that we are a welcoming congregation, meaning that we are committed to being a safe and welcoming congregation to people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Another example of our growth: we are about to celebrate our fiftieth birthday. A number of UU congregations were founded the same year we were, and since them. Many of those are gone now - they failed to thrive, they failed to survive difficult times, they disbanded or split or were absorbed into other congregations. Many are still alive, but half our size or less, for the same reasons. This church has grown and endured, and come out stronger for the commitment of our members, old and new who bring with you energy, caring, searching, beliefs and questions that enrich us all. What binds us to each other? Why do we come here, and come back here? Some of us come here because this is a place that helps us define our soul’s questions and find the answers. Some come here because this is a community that helps us find what we want to do to make the world a better place, and helps us do it. Some come here because together we can offer help and caring we have to give, and receive help and caring when we need it. Some come to share laughter. Some come for a place and people to hold our tears. Some come for a program of religious education for their children, and stay for themselves. I don’t know why every one of us comes. I know why I come. I come here for the same reasons I am a minister. I come for every one of the reasons I just gave you and one more - because being here helps me be a better person. I have said before that this church and this faith calls us to be our best selves. I spoke last week about recent events calling us to be better than we are. My best hope to do that lies here among you. And that is important to me, but sometimes it is also challenging, even wearying. And that is where the discipline of community comes in. Mostly ministry is a joy and an inspiration - even sometimes work I dread turns out to be a joy and an inspiration. But occasionally it is just hard. Sometimes I want to do one thing but I know the right thing for me to do is something else - and that because I am a minister I have to do the right thing, even when I don’t want to. I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. Being a caring community engaged in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning sounds great - but sometimes, as with all things, it’s hard. It’s a lot to manage. Being a caring community engaged in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning that honors and welcomes diversity - well, that adds more to the mix. What makes it possible, and so extraordinarily worthwhile, is the universal ministry we heard about earlier in the excerpt from Isaiah 61, and our understanding of the principle in George Odell’s words: we need one another. I am not the only minister in this sanctuary. Every one of us, every one of you, is also a minister. To minister means to furnish, supply, to administer, to give service, care or aid, to attejnd to wants, necessities, to contribute as in to comfort, happiness, etc. Every one of us ministers in this community in one way or another. I know it’s kind of unfair that we don’t say more about that when we welcome people to ‘join if you feel you have been coming long enough to wish to become part of this church community,’ but it’s true - being a member or friend of this church is a meaningful thing that calls us all to be our best selves. I don’t work to be my best self to do it for you - I do it as one of you, and because of all of you. You are a big part of what inspires me in ministry - of what keeps me in ministry. We keep each other in ministry - we do need each other - we call each other to be our best selves and grow as we strive and see each other being what we wish to be. Being in community is a spiritual discipline. It takes as much intentionality and reflection, commitment and care as any Buddhist meditative practice, any Daoist life of balance and prayer, any other faith’s devotional ways. We are unlike the early Christian desert fathers whose devotion was to dwell lives of privation alone in order to be holy and in communion with divine. Our faith calls us to be present in this world, working to make it better, together. All our church rules and practices are based in community. Who ordains ministers? Not other ministers, not seminaries, not the Unitarian-Universalist Association headquarters in Boston...congregations. Congregations decide when a minister is called and prepared to take up ministry and hold the power to ordain us such. Who sets the goals for our faith, our positions on world and domestic issues, our principles and purposes, our agenda at our annual denominational conventions? Congregations. Ours is a trickle-up polity - everything we are comes from congregations, from all of you and people like you in other UU congregations across our continent. The responsibilities of our ministry are real, and the gifts are tangible in our history, our association, our buildings, our publishing house, our leaders and in each of us. This is a time when our country is struggling to be a peaceful home of diversity while we contend with forming our response to terrorism. One of the strengths Unitarian-Universalism has to offer our nation is our own firm commitment to honoring and nurturing pluralism among us. It is one of the things that makes us particularly important in this age when people are learning what our global village really is and what we really want it to be. We can stand as a model for the caring nation we want and believe in and work for. We do not want, and do not believe in and work against, condemning or threatening people who look different or who believe different things from us, as evil or responsible for evil. We want our country to be united and careful, both here at home and in the world. Let us show our country that it can be done. I know we do not all agree with each other about what to do now about the terrorist attack. As events unfold, our disagreements may endure or change or disappear. But whatever happens, we need to be careful with how we treat each other, with how we disagree with each other. The great Universalist minister Hosea Ballou wrote: We all know what it feels like to disagree with someone we care about, towards whom we feel some responsibility. It’s hard to do. And we know what it feels like to disagree with someone towards whom we feel no responsibility, whom we care nothing for. Those are very different experiences. This church is a caring place. It is and will remain a place where it is safe to bare our hearts and ask for help and share pain and joy. We are responsible to each other. We may speak the truths of our souls here, but we must speak with compassion and with concern to hear each other, to learn from each other, to take care of each other, just as we wish the world to do. Hosea Ballou is right - if we agree in love, there is no disagreement that can do us any injury, but if we do not, no other agreement can do us any good. We need not always agree in principle, but we must agree in love. This is an important time for us all to rededicate ourselves to being caring and careful with each other. Will you join me please in speaking the litany by Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley I read at the opening of the sermon. I will read each proposition, and ask you to join me in saying together "it will not matter." "If, recognizing the interdependence of all life, we strive to build community, the strength we gather will be our salvation. If you are black and I am white, If we join spirits as brothers and sisters, the pain of our aloneness will be lessened, and that does matter. In this spirit, we build community and move toward restoration." Amen. |