First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis

Now is the Time

Once upon a time, the message of Unitarianism and Universalism was radical, and outrageous. No one goes to hell, not even people who guess wrong about what god wants? God wants us to be free, and smart? To think for ourselves, and ask questions? People being different from each other is a good thing? The best way to become a better person is to help build a better world, right here and now? In today’s setting, these proclamations seem quaint, almost anachronistic. How sweet – people who still believe in equality, and life long learning and self improvement, in practicing respect; who still believe in freedom, and reason, and responsibility; who think that a beloved community has something important to offer. The world is jaded, and not without reason. What Unitarian Universalism stands for today seems as culturally improbable as it once seemed doctrinally heretical.

This is partly due to the reality that in many ways, within the liberal religious traditions, our ideas prevailed. Where once Universalist churches dotted the landscape of rural New England and the Midwest, now few mainline Protestant congregations have much of anything to say about the notion of hell, and most would argue that god’s agenda has more to do with healing the brokenness of this world than it does with learning the password and the secret handshake to get good seats in the next life. Today it is resurgent fundamentalism that comes across as provocative, daring, a courageous affirmation of unpopular but important ideas. Acceptance and welcome? Questions and doubts? Freedom to explore? That’s all so pre-Y2K! Except of course that such notions become clichés precisely because of their widespread appeal, and we have not yet come close to fully implementing these values in such a way that everyone receives the benefit of them. We have not, in fact, been there done that, and there are still hearts that long more for justice and compassion than they do for certainty.

I am fully prepared to acknowledge, on this Association Sunday, that there are other denominational organizations engaged in much more fascinating dynamics than ours, just at the moment. And I confess that I say it with no little gratitude and relief. The Roman Catholics are presenting a slow motion soap opera of scandalous abuse unfolding over decades. The Episcopalians are in a cliff-hanger of suspense over whether the ordination of gay clergy will split their global church wide open. The Baptists are having a fascinating down and dirty tug of war for who will run their seminaries, and educate their future ministers. The Presbyterians in this country are squaring off over economic sanctions against Israel. Our own UUA, thank Whomever It May Concern, is not doing anything nearly so interesting just now. It’s merely trying to figure out how to get the word out, in a culture of disillusionment and self-concern, that there are still people who want both intellectual and relational authenticity, and that some of us find it here, in these un-heard-of but undaunted Unitarian Universalist congregations.

Now, that is something, people, that as independent and individualistic as we all are, we simply cannot do by ourselves. We can do our part, certainly, but if we’re not in this together with every other UU congregation across the country and indeed around the world, it isn’t going to work. We aren’t going to buy an ad in Time magazine all by ourselves – it wouldn’t make any sense for us to do that. FUS isn’t going to professionally produce and distribute a DVD – we don’t have those kinds of resources. We can’t personally keep tabs on every other congregation in the UUA, to discover who has come up with the most innovative, effective ideas to grow our communities, so that we can try them here. Chances are, we are not going to break through our centuries long struggle for racial diversity sitting here all by ourselves on Mount Curve avenue. If these things are going to happen at all, they are going to happen in the context of association, as we work in partnership with other UU groups who share similar missions to make something helpful happen for all of us.

Doing our part, of course, is crucial. And that means, first and foremost, offering an experience of welcoming hospitality, intellectual engagement, and personal inspiration to the people who walk in this door, wondering what we are all about, and whether there is a place for them here. Doing our part also means participating, on local and district and national levels, in the work of our association; attending district meetings and events and General Assemblies; taking part in joint programs and alliances and visits with our neighboring UU congregations. And clearly, it also means responding generously to programs like Association Sunday, when we are asked to support the collective work of our denominational organization.

This Sunday’s appeal is just one facet of a much larger effort the UUA is making to invest in the future of our movement. Over all, the planners hope to raise $50 million, of which $30 million will be deferred gift commitments in the donors’ estate planning, and approximately $20 million will be current income. The goal for Association Sunday is to raise $2 million of that from throughout the country, and that task has been made easier by the offer of a challenge grant of $500,000, if it is matched by other donations coming out of today. The other good news is that some $33 million of the proposed total has already been pledged, so the $50 million target is within reach. To hit the goal for Association Sunday will require gifts on the average of $50 per member from our congregations. Recognizing that not everyone can do this, I am personally giving $200, and I urge you to do more if you are able. I am also happy to report that all the members of our FUS board of trustees have committed to giving at the $50 level, for which I am very grateful, and proud of them.

But more important than where the money is coming from, is what it will be used for. Half of it will go to pay for the national advertising campaign now underway; this is the first such full scale effort we have done in several decades. The full page ad in the current issue of Time is the first of a series, which will also include a longer text ‘advertorial’ in future on-line issues of the magazine. The DVD that you just saw is being widely distributed so that UU members can offer it to friends, relatives, or anyone you think might be interested in knowing more about us. We have copies available in the FUS bookstore; the price is $2.50 each, but if that cost is a barrier for you, let me know, and I’ll work it out for you to get as many as you can use. The congregation where I grew up, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C., has ordered 500 of them, approximately two per member, for everyone to give away to people they have always wanted to invite, but never knew how to explain the church to. Personally, I wish I had a DVD that went into a lot more depth about our history and theology, because that’s what fascinates me. But the bottom line is that this piece is not for me – I’m already here; I’ve been here for as long as I can remember. And if you’re already here, it’s probably not for you, either; it’s for the folks who aren’t here yet, who don’t know that this kind of religion is possible. Once again, we do have to do our part; we have to give these out to people, and once they’ve seen it, we have to be prepared to speak from our own personal conviction and experience about what being a Unitarian Universalist means to each of us. But I’m convinced that there are professionals, who know how to present information effectively to a target audience, and that’s who designed this video, specifically for people who don’t already know about our denomination. I’m eager to take this product for a spin, and to see if it works, and I urge you to give it a try as well.

Now national PR is very helpful in establishing name recognition and credibility, but it is no substitute for local and regional publicity efforts. One quarter of the money raised by Association Sunday will go to grants for individual congregations and groups who want to try some innovative approach to public awareness or membership growth. Sometimes a little extra money can enable a good idea to take hold, and we all learn from the result. It’s even educational when these projects fail, as they occasionally do. As Thomas Edison allegedly once said, "I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that don't work." What doesn’t help us move forward is when ideas simply perish from lack of resources, and are never tried. If this Society comes up with a creative way of getting the word out that we are here, and what we have to offer, we ourselves might receive such a grant.

The final quarter of the money raised today will go to support our handful of ministers of color, and the congregations who call them. As committed as our association has always been to racial justice, equality, and reconciliation, our track record with people of color in leadership has been abysmal. The fact that those of us familiar with our denominational history can name the scant few African Americans who have been successful in our ministry is evidence enough that something has been systemically wrong in this area. We are the religion that began ordaining women in 1863; the denomination that has incorporated openly gay and lesbian, and recently transgender, people into our clergy almost without turning a hair. It has been a struggle for these historically marginalized communities to take their rightful place among our trusted and beloved leadership – I don’t want to minimize that; in my own way, I have been part of it. But something different has been going on when it comes to racial diversity, and I don’t think that any of us entirely understands it. The bottom line is that in every generation, a few courageous people of color discover our faith, and ask whether it would be possible for them to share their gifts and calling to ministry among our congregations. Martin Luther King himself once asked that question, I am told. And for far too long, the official answer was no, not really. Even after the upheavals of the civil rights movement and the sixties, when our seminaries and our settlement office began to say, of course we want you, the cultural and economic realities were that ministers of color were not prepared for the challenges they would face in our seminaries, and in ministering to largely white congregations, and the congregations were not supported in the transformation of implicit attitudes that was necessary for those ministers to be received and to succeed. Today, as the 21^st century dawns, like Edison we know many things that don’t work. We also know that in situations of anxiety and stress, people tend to respond with less generosity and openness than they otherwise might. We know that it takes money to educate people; to prepare people for ministry, and to challenge congregations to look outside the box of traditional expectations and embrace the gifts of diversity. The money that is dedicated to this effort from Association Sunday will not buy an end to white privilege or internalized racism, but it will give ministers and congregations some breathing room, to take the risks we need to take if we are ever going to live up to our best aspirations in this arena. It is only fitting that the UUA make a fresh investment in the racial diversity of our ministry; until we can move beyond the agonized paralysis of the past thirty years, our message of justice for all is only poorly endorsed by our practices.

Almost two centuries ago, the publishers of the liberal journal "The Christian Register" made this editorial statement in their maiden edition:

The commitment to freedom within the context of community goes back to the earliest efforts of those who would become Unitarians and Universalists. If they had not come together, to support one another in their work and explorations, and to spread the word of the new religious path they were pursuing, none of us would be here today. If we intend to leave a legacy of equal value to the generations who will follow us, we must be prepared to be pioneers in our own day, as they were in theirs. They followed the railroads across the frontiers of a developing nation; the least we can do is pull together the resources to explore the unfolding possibilities of the internet and the mass communications of our own day, to put our beliefs out on an equal footing in today’s market place of ideas. Business as usual is not going to cut it; we need to get bold and generous; we need to get our act together, and be the interdependent web that we like to talk about.

Every week at this assembly, we pass the collection basket, not just because this First Unitarian Society needs money in order to function, and not just because we believe in the causes to which we contribute our special collections, and not even just because it helps each of us in the practice of generosity. All those things are true, but more importantly, we receive an offering here every week to remind ourselves and one another that the freedom to choose the religious community our dollars will support, and to give that support openly, is a precious right – one for which our spiritual ancestors struggled and even died. Our Sunday offerings are a statement of what we care about, and what connects us, and how we choose to use our resources to give our values form in the world. On this very special Sunday, we have the opportunity to acknowledge with our dollars the vision that connects us not only to one another in this room, but to the larger community of Unitarian Universalists throughout this country, in every room – large and small, showy and shabby, classic and contemporary, north, south, east, and west – where a chalice is burning this morning.

That support will never be any more convenient, and it will surely never be more necessary, than it is today. The envelopes are ready to hand in your orders of service. Dearly beloved, the time is now. We’re in this together. Let’s dig down, and reach out, and make it happen.

I’m going to ask you to turn to number 1028 in your turquoise hymnbook supplement, but in order to give you time to write out your checks, and so that you can catch the rhythm of the song, our singers are going to give us the whole thing, all three verses, and then we’ll start again at the top, and invite you to stand and join in.

=================================

Opening words from Suzanne Meyer

We have come together today, not because we expect to find perfect people here,

But rather because we hope to find, and to become, authentic people here.

We have come together today, not to be assured of our own righteousness,

But because we are continually searching for the right, the good, the uplifting.

We have come together today, not to seek absolution for our sins and failures,

But rather to acknowledge our imperfections,

and take courage to make amends for our failures to ourselves and others.

We have come together today,

Not in order to be told what to believe and how to act,

But rather because we need each other’s encouragement

to act according to our own best beliefs.

We have come together today,

Not because we expect to find God in a scripture or a ritual,

But rather because we are hoping to discover something sacred within our hearts

and within the hearts of others.

We have come together today,

Not because we believe that holiness exists within these walls alone,

but rather to be renewed in our aspiration for wholeness in the world.

For all of these reasons, and others that remain hidden in our hearts,

we have come together today.

As we kindle the flame of this chalice, we connect with all the Unitarian Universalists who have gone before us, adding their light of truth and love to our community of faith.

As we kindle the flame of this chalice, celebrating Association Sunday, we connect and affirm our common bonds and purposes with all the Unitarian Universalists who are lighting chalices on the East-Coast, the Mid-West, the Mountains, the West-Coast, and around the world.

As the flame grows, so grows our faith in life and love, and in the wisdom of our liberal way in religion.

As the flame grows, so grows our faith in the future, in one another, and in the good we can do together.