Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation

A DYNAMIC LIBERAL RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY

May 21, 2006

Following this service and a break for refreshments and conversation, we will re-gather for our annual exercise in congregational polity. This is one of the hallmarks of a liberal religious community. All over the United States Unitarian Universalist churches hold annual meetings, usually at this time of the year. And all over the United States my colleagues and I fret about these meetings. You can never tell just what a congregation will do when they choose to exercise their power to make decisions.

On our minister’s chat, someone asked if anyone had a humorous example of “congregational polity run amok.” A colleague shared the following story in an attempt to find some humor in this annual fretting session.

“My favorite is from the BBC show The Vicar of Dibley. (Have any of you seen this? I watch it occasionally. Despite the fact that the Vicar serves a Church of England congregation, the female Vicar’s experiences are just close enough to reality to be really funny to those of us who serve liberal churches.) The Vicar's boyfriend dumps her, and she is therefor depressed and unhappy. One member of the parish council says that in the movie "Jurassic Park," the dinosaurs were resurrected by recreating them digitally. She says that in order to bring the vicar out of her depression, the council could re-create the boyfriend digitally. The parish clerk says, ‘All in favor of reconstructing a digital Simon for the vicar, raise your hands.’ The motion passes overwhelmingly.”

Now, while I would like to think that the members of Harbor UU Congregation would like to take such an action to help me out of a bad depression, I must confess there is no boyfriend to reconstruct. I think we will stick to more mundane, but still exciting subjects this afternoon.

Today we talk about our Vision Statement, and how it can guide us as we make decisions.

Do you know what our Vision Statement says? You might want to look at the cover of your Order of Service as I read it. “Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation is a dynamic liberal religious community that protects and nourishes spiritual freedom, integrity, intellect and service.”

What do we mean by this statement? It sounds good, but what does it really mean? Let us play in the fields of postmodern deconstruction for a little bit. Let us begin with dynamic. I like this word, dynamic. It feels energetic, and seems to connote movement and action.

In fact it does mean characterized by energy or effective action, vigorously active or forceful, energetic. (Random House Dictionary of the English Language) So dynamic implies not only action, but also effective action. Let us keep this in mind as we proceed.

Now, let us stipulate that when we use the word liberal today, we are talking about religious liberals. My dictionary has no fewer than 15 definitions of liberal, and so I have selected those I think are most connected to religion. Thus, liberal means, in our context, favoring or permitting freedom of action, especially with respect to matters of personal belief or expression, free from prejudice or bigotry, tolerant, characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts, … let me repeat that last one again, characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts, and a person of liberal principles or view, especially in … religion.

Religious liberals then want freedom of action in matters of personal belief and action, are tolerant, generous, … VERY generous, and have liberal views about religion. That sounds like you, and you and you, and yes, you. One of the synonyms for liberal is open-handed. I like that definition. Open-handed.

We, who are religious liberals, meet the world with an open hand, ready to give and/or receive. We do not clench our fists in anger. We do not hold them behind our backs, unwilling to shake hands and engage the world. We are not grasping. We open our hands to welcome all into our Harbor. We hold our hands out, giving of our wealth of knowledge and abilities, and of the monetary blessings we have received. And we are able to receive the gifts of others, of new ideas, of new friendships, of challenges to grow and develop.

We live and move and have our being in a religious community. I think there is no question that we are a community, but I want to emphasize that this is a religious community. This is not an anti-religion gathering, it is not a debating society, it is not a “let’s get together and make fun of the beliefs of our neighbors” group. This is a religious community. This means that we address the great questions of meaning which challenge our living.

We have a long and honorable history in the world of religion. We are the left wing of the left wing of the Protestant Reformation. And when Luther and Zwingli and Calvin stopped reforming, we continued. We grew in diversity and tolerance, and we became more than Christian. Within our community, differing religions are welcome.

We define ourselves, not by creedal statements, but by our actions. We live out our faith in the way that we treat each other and the way we interact with others in our community and the larger world. Our Vision calls us to develop into a dynamic religious community.

It also calls upon us to protect and nourish spiritual freedom, integrity, intellect and service. In this Harbor we must protect and nourish spiritual freedom by expressing our spiritual selves in different ways. We cannot allow ourselves to be limited to expressing only theism or only humanism. We cannot refuse to celebrate with our earth religionists. We cannot deny space to our Buddhist meditators. Nor are we. Let us just remind ourselves that this aspiration is set forth in our Vision Statement, and we are therefor called to develop it to its fullest.

We also call upon ourselves to protect and nourish integrity. This means we must have honest dealings with the other members of our congregation, and with the larger community. We are currently engaged in establishing a UU Café at the Muskegon Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. The Market and the city support us in this effort, partly because we said we would sell Fair Trade products. And we have received publicity stating that we would do so. To protect our integrity we must stick with those products. To do otherwise would be to betray our integrity. This week we are sending an order for Fair Trade teas and cocoa.

The Vision Statement of Harbor UU also calls upon us to protect and nourish our intellects. Our tradition relies upon the use of our minds to help us understand and embrace religious truths. We do not require you to check your brain at the door, nor do we exempt aspects of our faith from rigorous examination. We ask you to continue to use your minds in your religious lives. We are called to help you develop your intellect, and that of your children in our worship and education programs.

Service completes our Vision Statement. We recognize that a liberal religious community blessed with the gifts we have received must render service to the larger world. Here we teach our children that it is good to help a child in far-off Nepal go to school. We teach them that planting flowers in the neighborhood is a gift to the people among whom we meet. We teach our teens and grown-ups that there are hungry people in our area, and that serving hot and nutritious meals is part of we can help hungry people. Our faith emphasizes that how we enact what we believe is far more important than how we state what we believe.

Let us recap our Vision Statement: “Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation is a dynamic liberal religious community that protects and nourishes spiritual freedom, integrity, intellect and service.”

It is an inspiring Vision Statement. The next question is then, “How do we reach the totality of the vision?” I suggest there are three ways; cherishing our community, expanding our possibilities, and seeking out new members.

If we are to be a dynamic liberal religious community, we must care for the members and friends who make up Harbor UU. Those who are ailing in body or spirit need to be embraced in our tender care. We try to keep people who are home-bound connected to our community. When the spirit flags, we reach out to encourage those who need it.

Cherishing includes valuing the gifts of each person. Our talents and abilities vary; some of us have the gift of experience, and some of us have the gift of fresh eyes. Some of us experienced folks have more financial resources. Some of us younger folks have more energy. Some of the newer folks think there might be a better way of doing this or that. (Gasp) Some of the not-so-new folks are comfortable the way things are. Some of us have a gift for analytical thinking, and some of us can craft a lovely ritual.

All of these gifts are needed. All are valued. If we are to enact our vision, all that participate in our community must feel and be cherished.

Expanding our possibilities will help us increase the dynamism of our liberal religious community. I believe we can find new ways of reaching out into the community. Our venture at the Farmer’s Market is one example. By our presence at this popular gathering spot we are raising our visibility in our community. By selling ethical products we demonstrate our values. With our smiling faces we invite people to get to know us. By planting native plants we beautify the area. With our music we enhance the gathering place and demonstrate the dynamism of our congregation. And we are earning money to support our programs at the same time.

I think the enactment of our Welcoming Congregation status will expand our possibilities. Not only do we say publicly that we support and welcome gay, lesbian, transgendered and bi-sexual people we also demonstrate to others who hold our values that this is a welcoming religious community for everyone. The Welcoming Congregation Task Force members are already thinking about next steps. They are planning how to take effective action to spread the good word of this welcoming dynamic liberal religious community.

Part of the key to effective actions is that it requires the participation of many people. We need volunteers to staff our UU Café at the Farmer’s Market. Volunteers not only sell coffee, but also engage with a group of folks who just might be interested in hearing about our faith community. When we become an official Welcoming Congregation, we need everyone to share the news with neighbors and friends.

If we are to attain the vision we said we wanted, if we are to become the congregation we said we wanted to be, we need more creative thinkers to help us expand our possibilities. We will need volunteers to help us put into effective action the programs and possibilities we dream. Please, if you have such a dream, share it with someone in leadership. We cannot enact it if we do not know what it is.

If we are to live out our vision we need to seek out new members. Today we welcomed into membership another new member, and are delighted to have her. However, there are more people out there who hunger for a dynamic liberal religious community. There are others who seek a harbor—a faith community in which they and their liberal values are welcomed, a congregation where they don’t check their brain at the door, and in which they feel welcomed and cherished.

We have a bang-up membership committee that has put into place a system for truly welcoming every person who visits, and has a program in place to gently escort them through the membership process when they are ready to make that journey. But they can’t do their work until a visitor walks through that door. Inviting the visitors is the work of everyone.

So I am hereby deputizing all of you as official inviters. I am asking you to study the people with whom you interact every day. Think about whether they might be hungering for a dynamic liberal religious community. If you think that may be so, it is now your task to invite them here. You might even suggest that you would pick them up and bring them here for a visit. Just think what would happen if everyone took his or her new task seriously! We would soon have a dynamic, liberal religious community that protects and nourishes spiritual freedom, integrity, intellect and service.

The decisions you will make this afternoon will affect whether this vision is possible. How you make these decisions will also affect the vision. Remember that cherishing the members of this community means listening to their concerns, differing respectfully, and honoring their participation, whether you agree with them or not.

Let us go forth to gather later to enact one of our liberal religious values. Let us remember our Vision as we make critical decisions about the future of our congregation.

Shalom and Saalat.

Blessed Be and Amen.