April 27, 2003

Imagine a world where Unitarian Universalism doesn’t exist. None of us would likely be here now. This would probably be the ground floor of a luxury apartment building, because no Universalist forebears would’ve built a church here. Most of us would probably have never met, separated by our different professions, races, sexual orientations. There wouldn’t be a phone number at this address where people of

different religions who want to get married in a spiritual manner can call. There wouldn’t be a Metcalf House next door where people can turn their lives around. We wouldn’t have this crazy, loveable bunch of people to see all through the week. And on the larger scene, there would be no people wearing chalice pendants or lapel pins reading out calls for justice at shareholder meetings. There would be no network of friends

across the country where we could drop in on a service while traveling and know we’d find something inspiring and challenging. When you got a form that asks you for your religion, you’d have to put something else. What would it be? Roman Catholic? Southern Baptist? Methodist? Hare Krishna? Unaffiliated? Not that I have anything against people who choose those faiths, just they’re not my first choice.

But we don’t have to live in a world without Unitarian Universalism. We have all those things we cherish. But we must preserve and nurture them. Any group is potentially only one generation from extinction, or only one generation from flourishing beyond the wildest imagination….

This is Canvass Sunday. This is when our Society joins together to rediscover its reasons for being.

This year, we welcomed a number of new members. Each of these people bring with them a hope for Unitarian Universalism and for our congregation. They bring a hope that this is a place for making meaning and finding wholeness.

What brings people into a Unitarian Universalist congregation? What keeps them there? It’s not much of a stretch for me to remember back to when I began my UU journey, when I was in a similar place to those we’ve welcomed today.

Let me tell you my story, parts of which you may have heard before. Maybe you will find it similar to your own.

I was born in Pennsylvania, raised Mennonite. One might describe Mennonites as “Amish lite.” Pacifist, often politically radical, but theologically conservative in a Christian fundamentalist sense. At 15 I was baptized, in accordance with the Mennonite belief that one should only take this step when old enough to make a personal commitment to Christ as savior.

I found much meaning in my native faith, becoming an enthusiastic and evangelical advocate for it, still questions haunted me: Could the God of love also be the God of hellfire to those who did not believe the way I had been taught to believe? If so, I thought, someone should call Amnesty International, because there are clear human rights abuses involved. What earthly despot could possess the hardness of heart necessary to sentence all but one religion to everlasting torment?

As I entered college, such questions followed me. How could it be that the agnostic artists and writers I loved and fed my spirit on fell outside of “grace.” Their spirituality, as I perceived it, was greater than many of the Christians I knew. I poured over books. I prayed. I sought answers I could believe. In the end, I broke with the Mennonite faith of my youth, exploring in turn Quakerism, the Bahá’í faith, and Tibetan Buddhism. Finally, at the Community Church of New York a Unitarian Universalist congregation, I found a place where I could truly feel at home, a place where the spirituality of every person was honored, where my questions were welcomed.

I saw Unitarian Universalism as a free country of the spirit. As my Mennonite ancestors had sought refuge in Holland and later in America, I had found a place to worship the God who called to me.

And like America, we are a place for immigrants. (Though there are some of us who have been UU all along). So many of us come from other religions or none. This accounts for some of the turbulence of our denomination, but also for it's unusual dynamism. Where else can Humanists, Christians, Pagans, Buddhists, and Jews sit in the same pew, singing the same hymns—even if they do look ahead to see if they agree with the next verse?

In a strange way, I felt that I had not rejected my Mennonite past, but had gone to it's roots and continued it. Both Mennonite and Unitarian Universalist history begin with an affirmation of reason over encrusted dogmatism, whether the question is peace and baptism or the Trinity and the nature of salvation.

Unitarian Universalism is a radical faith. Literally, it goes to the radix, the Latin word for “roots.” And the task of every generation is to return to those roots, to fertilize the good we find and to prune branches no longer yielding spiritual fruit.

Many people are dissatisfied with the worn remedies and simplistic solutions brought forth by fundamentalism. We stand as a harbor for the apostate, those who have left the comfort or the pain of their previous lives to search for truth and wholeness with us.

I want to be a part of that.

I want to be here when a stranger enters those doors for the first time, wondering if this is the place he or she has been searching for.

I want to be here when a senior citizen and young adult tell each other jokes at coffee hour.

I want to be here when we struggle together for justice.

I want to be here when we have our wonderful, rollicking canvass dinner each year.

These are a few of the reasons I’m a UU minister. But one does not have to go to seminary to support the UU movement. We all support each other through friendship, prayers, laughter, or a listening ear.

But on this Canvass Sunday, as we celebrate all that this Fellowship and our chosen faith do, we need another form of support as well. Robert Anton Wilson is a favorite writer of mine, as you may know. There is something that he calls “bio-survival tickets.” It’s these, which, like it or not, allow modern humans to survive and prosper. The particular tickets we use in this country are printed with engravings of the patriarchs of our national family: Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson. In this form they remain quite abstract. They represent life and health in potential.

There is something poetic about money. Like Proteus, it can change into any of a thousand forms: Chinese takeout, a Volvo, a lottery ticket, a book. Add to these a few forms your money will turn into when you pledge.

The title of my sermon this morning is “People, Purposes, and Programs.” People, Purposes, and Programs.

It’s been clear to me these last two year how much people mean to each other here, how much we appreciate each others’ talents and efforts, how much we’re concerned about each other’s struggles, and how much we want to contribute to each other’s development. UUSIS is people reaching out to people.

I encourage you to read over our UU Principles and Purposes again before you make your pledge this year. You’ll find them at uua.org or ask me for a copy. You can never get too much of them. Savor what every word means to you. President Bill Sinkford can sit in his office in 25 Beacon Street and issue press releases, I can sit in my office and think up programs, but the real power of Unitarian Universalism rests with you in the pews. It is you, through your actions, who make our purposes reality.

And let us not forget our Society’s programs. Every dollar you contribute goes to fund important work such as adult religious education, our building and grounds, our district and denominational structures, fundraising projects, advertising, or ministry. Think about those programs that mean the most to you.

I know there are some in our congregation that give very generously, but unfortunately that’s not always the case, either here or in the denomination as a whole. We UUs have a tendency not to give to our institutions as freely as one might wish. In fact, in studies UUs finish on the low end of giving among religious groups! UUA moderator Denise Davidoff wrote these stinging words in UU World magazine. She wrote, “We don't support our association of member congregations. Why? Because we members don't support our own congregations. We don't pay our professionals enough, and we're stingy about benefits and retirement funds. We are so cheap it makes me want to cry! Is this how we prove that we care about our faith?”

UU publisher and author Michael Durall agrees, writing,

I suspect that in most UU congregations, the median [pledge] is $500 or less, including non-pledging families. That means the majority of UU's give $10 per week or less to their churches…

[Durall goes on,] The reason churches continually struggle with the canvass is that UU's are not generous people, either to their churches or other causes. Of course there are exceptions, but as a whole, we are cheap. Until we recognize and admit that fact, theme dinners, witty songs, skits, and other gimmicks are stopgap measures. They will not change the way we under-fund our churches, underpay our clergy and music directors, and under-fund the UUA.¹

But ours is a denomination of change. Surely a faith that challenged Calvinism, sent five Presidents to the White House, ordained the first woman minister, and helped to found the NAACP can learn to give more.

Nor is a lack of giving restricted to lay people. There’s no rule that says a minister has to pledge. In fact, a minister friend of mine has said that any minister who pledges is a fool. (He’s since come to see the self-defeating folly of this attitude). Well, be that as it may, I will pledge. Why? Because I believe in this movement and in us.

While many congregations underpay their ministers, I’m quite satisfied with the compensation you plan to pay me as your fulltime minister next year. You gave me a 7% raise from this year, when my hours were listed as three-quarters time. But I don’t want to just increase my pledge by 7%. That would be too easy. I want us to succeed past our wildest expectations. Therefore, I will increase my pledge not by 7% but by 36%, from 1100 to 1500 dollars. (That’s my pledge, ReBecca is a member of the Community Church of New York and pledges there). I know there are some of us who can afford to make similar increases, investing toward a brilliant future here at our Society.

And lets not underestimate the potential power of our collective investment. The Census Bureau reports that in 1999, the latest year for which they have data, the median per capita income in Fairfield County was about 38,000 dollars. Half of people were above 38,000, half below. If we are roughly typical of Fairfield County, our members have an annual combined income of about 3.6 million dollars!

How much of that money will be pledged to fund our values? That’s entirely up to you. Conservative religious groups tend to pledge above three percent of income. Some fundamentalist denominations demand that their members tithe, that is give 10% of their income. To some, the 10% tithe is only the minimum, the money above which is considered the offering!

Denominations with a more theologically liberal outlook don’t typically ask for, or get, anything near that level of giving. It comes down to this: What kind of Stamford, what kind of America, and what kind of world do we want? More narrow-minded viewpoints? More unquestioned obedience to power and tradition? More exclusion and group-think? Or, do we want to live in the midst of ever-growing acceptance and love, transcending all that separates and divides us?

As already mentioned, UU’s are typically near the bottom in giving. But there are congregations that actively defy what’s considered typical. We, too, can be a real example to our fellows in faith.

If all of us who can afford to gave three to five percent of our income, we would surpass the denomination and blow past our 100,000 dollar goal.

We all know the saying, “Put your money where your mouth is.” This morning, I challenge you to put your money, your time, and your energy where your heart is, in Unitarian Universalism and this Society.

¹ UUA Interconnections: Forum, Jul./Aug. 1998. (http://www.uua.org/interconnections/letters/vol1-4-letters.html) [accessed 4/27/03].