Our Generosity,
Our Future
UU Fellowship
of Statesboro
September 2012
Let us
create a prayer together:
At the
center of the gathered community dwells the Holy.
We are
the prayer, each and all.
One by
one, we come to this place – whole and broken
Commencing
and concluding, laughing and weeping,
And soul
by soul the prayer begins.
Spirit
of Life and Love…
Two by
two, we greet one another – smiling, nodding, speaking, embracing.
And in
relationship, the prayer continues.
Spirit
of Life and Love, where we meet is a sacred space…
Moment
by moment the circle builds, pulsing like four hundred heartbeats.
We fill
the circle with our breath; we inspire. The circle fills us with wealth;
We are
inspirited. The prayer rises on our very breathing together.
Spirit
of Life and Love, where we meet is a sacred space
And we
are inspired by one another’s presence…
The
circle will not, cannot, go on forever, yet this circle will never die.
What
each of us finds here is what we are not. It makes us whole.
It gives
us strength to go out in the world beyond this holy community,
beyond
this sacred space, to begin yet another prayer. Let us pray:
Spirit
of Life and Love, where we meet is a sacred space and we are inspired
by one another’s presence. At the center of the gathered
community dwells
the Holy. We are the prayer, each and all. We are the
prayer, each and all. Amen.
– L. Annie Foerster
On the day that
the festival of Rosh Hashanah begins, I want to open my message this morning
with a quote from Jewish author Elie Wiesel: “Sanctuary is often something very
small. Not a grandiose gesture, but a small gesture toward alleviating human
suffering and preventing humiliation. Sanctuary is a human being. Sanctuary is
a dream. That is why you are here and that is why I am here; we are here
because of one another. We are in truth each other’s shelter.” (Buehrens and
Parker, A House for Hope, 148)
I became a
rebel in the 9th grade.
Glenn Hills
High School in south Augusta in the late 1960s had a dress code, just like most
other schools at that time. But times were a’changin, and so was what
girls wanted to wear to school. We wanted to wear mini skirts, culottes, and
blue jeans.
One day I wore
a pair of knee—length culottes, and was sent to the principal’s office. It was
not allowed. I didn’t understand why, and the authority of the Richmond County
Board of Education was not good enough. I became a rebel.
Soon after, the
board of education held a meeting at which the dress code was on the agenda. I
wanted to go with a couple of friends – one of whom circumvented the dress code
rules on boys not being allowed to have long hair by wearing a wig to school. I
told my parents that they were coming to pick me up, and my dad said no way. I
was not allowed to go. The board of education reaffirmed the dress code at that
meeting.
The next year,
the protest among us students began to swell across the city throughout the
high schools, and soon we were planning a march, from the downtown post office
to the Richmond County Board of Education headquarters on Heckle Street.
I knew better
by now – and I had my own car! So I told my parents innocently that I was going
out with my friend Mike. I drove my 1966 Ford Falcon station wagon down to the
post office, and took part in my first protest. Of course, the one thing we
failed to consider was that, once we got to the Board of Education building, we
would have to walk all the way back to get the car! My feet had blisters and so
when we got near to the post office Mike ran ahead and got the car and drove us
back home.
The next day when I got in the car I realized he’d driven all the
way home with the emergency brake on, and it was shot.
But that was
nothing compared to the sense of achievement, and the sense of solidarity, that
I had. Within the year the dress code was dismantled. Our protest had not been
in vain.
Why am I
telling this story on the morning we launch our stewardship campaign? Because
it was the first time I felt a ‘meeting of the minds,’ a common cause which
drew diverse people together to fight injustice as we saw it.
But not every
one of my protests was supported. I have, as many of you must do, Native
American roots through my dad’s biological family. I became aware of this in
high school, and aware of how modern-day Native Americans were
marginalized in our society. The American Indian movement was formed in 1968,
and the group carried out protests over issues such as poverty, broken treaties
and police harassment. I decided that in solidarity I would not stand every
morning in homeroom when we recited the Pledge of Allegiance and saluted the
flag. I decided there WAS no liberty and justice for all.
This act of
rebellion was noted, but not punished…until as a rising senior, I decided to run
for Student Council president. I was ready to represent the nonconformists in
our senior class while the other candidate was an athlete and a nice guy who
was pretty conformist.
I was summoned
to the principal’s office where a gang of teachers was waiting for me; they
informed me I would not be allowed to run since I was unpatriotic. So the other
guy won by default.
As Jane Eyre would say, “Reader, I married him…” yes, Wil
was the other candidate, so you could say I won in the end!
But when I was
disqualified, I was alone; I was not a member of AIM; I had no one to back me
up. I could have contacted the ACLU, had I known it even existed. There was no
community to feel part of and in which I could seek solace or support. Only
years later did I read of other students in other schools who have done the
same thing in protest of the inequality they see as pervasive in this country.
What I really
needed as a rebellious teenager was the Unitarian Universalist church! In March
2010 my aunt Babe died; because my dad was adopted, I never really got to know
his biological family, and only met Babe in the last dozen years of her life. By
then I was a Ministry Associate at the UU Church of Augusta. I was asked if I
would co-officiate at her funeral service, and there I was introduced to other aunts
and cousins I’d never met.
When I was
speaking to one of my newfound cousins about being a member of the UU Church of
Augusta, she said to me, “Oh, when I was a teenager I actually went to that
church a few times.” All I could think of was, “Why didn’t I know you then? I
could have taken a shortcut through all my searching and I would have found the
spiritual home and supportive community I needed then!” I would have had a
sanctuary…
Back to Elie
Wiesel’s statement about sanctuary: we all, at one time or another, need a
sanctuary: “Sanctuary is a human being. Sanctuary is a dream. That is why you
are here and that is why I am here; we are here because of one another. We are
in truth each other’s shelter.”
You are here
this morning because, at some point, you needed a sanctuary. If, like I did
eventually, you came to the UU faith tradition and thought it was THE
liberating force of your life, then you felt a sense of relief, of inner joy,
of gratitude that remains in your heart even today. To be with people who
understand your search, who welcome your questions, who don’t judge you, and who
support your quest for justice and truth – for me, it was worth the search! My
teenage search for justice was not in vain.
Rebecca Ann
Parker know what that means when she says, “The progressive church holds a
feast of life spread for all – it is ours to share with any who can find
nourishment within our walls.” (Buehrens and Parker, 167) I hope that, whether
you are a recent member or a veteran UU, that you believe this fellowship can
nourish your spirit and enrich your life.
But the
nourishment of our own selves is only half the story. We seek more, and we ARE
more, than individuals going through life on our own. We covenant together, and
we work together, to live up to the seven principles that we affirm and promote
as UUs.
Again, quoting
Parker:
The mission of progressive faith is to embrace the beauty of diversity
and the diversity of beauty…to love one another and this earth as paradise,
here and now, the place Jesus promised us we would be when he said, “Today you
will be with me in paradise.”
…This mission requires each person to answer the question, What will
you do with your gifts? And it requires vibrant commitment to life together in
community. (Buehrens and Parker, 170)
We are blessed
indeed to have a faith community that has the courage to look outwards instead
of remaining inward-looking. This morning, when you recited this fellowship’s
affirmation, you said as much. We have a mission that is honored when we look
outwards.
The Aiken UU Church, where I am Consulting Minister, has this as
their mission statement: “We are working together to create a welcoming and
inclusive community which supports spiritual growth, ethical living, and
open-minded exploration of religion.”
Our mission
matters. Our vision matters…and we need to pass on that vision if our precious
faith tradition is to have a future.
The author of The Little Prince, Antoine de
Saint-Exupery, put it this way:
“In a house
that becomes a home, one hands down, and another takes up, the heritage of mind
and heart...It is needful to transmit the passwords from one generation to
another.”
In my mind, one
of those passwords should be ‘dream.’ The words of one of my favorite hymns urge
us to “Come and go with me to that land”…we can dream of a better land right
here on earth. The celebration of Rosh Hashanah is the start of a new year, a
new chance to dream new dreams. You may not connect figures and statistics with
dreams – maybe nightmares! – but this is exactly what your board and
stewardship committee are doing this year.
Dreaming up a
visionary budget requires a leap of faith. This fellowship looks to the future
and what it takes to get it there, through the generosity of each of you in
giving your time, your talent, and your treasure. And in L. Annie Foerster’s
reading we heard the sentence: “The circle fills us with wealth; we are
inspirited.”
When we give of
our wealth to build up this community we are filled with wealth.
When we think
of the UU legacy we are so fortunate to have – the rebels who sometimes gave
their lives to ensure freedom of religious expression – we can feel honored to
be asked to carry on the flame of our UU values.
If you can feel
that this faith community has values and a purpose that you share, then, as so
many here in this congregation do, you will commit to living out those values
and that purpose in your daily life.
If you feel
that you have received care, support, respect, freedom in belonging to this
fellowship, then you’ll feel like you’ve received an abundance of nourishment.
When we are
gracious about receiving, “it is easier to be generous givers. We see more
easily what flows to us; we recognize and appreciate the abundance in our
lives. When we feel abundant, and recognize the flow as unending, it is easier
to give from a place beyond all reason: our values.” (UUA, FORTH Stewardship
Education Ideas I)
After a long
spiritual journey over more than four decades, I was amazed to find a faith
tradition with values like the ones Rebecca Parker lifts up; when I worship on
Sundays, I feel the abundant blessing of belonging to a community that tries to
live out those values.
Do you see the
flow of abundance in your lives? Your generosity can ensure the future
of this fellowship and its values. We can – with the contribution each of us
makes through our time, talent, and treasure – do more than just dream, we can reach
our vision of the future, in which we stand as a proud beacon of progressive
religious freedom and expression, diversity and radical hospitality for the
Statesboro community.
May it be so,
blessed be, Amen.
Gaye Ortiz
September 2012.
Works Cited:
Buehrens, John A, and
Rebecca Ann Parker. A House for Hope. Beacon Press, 2010.
Foerster, L. Annie. “Let
Us Create a Prayer Together.” http://www.beelabyrinth.com/2011/08/let-us-create-a-prayer-together/
Saint-Exupery, Antoine de. "From Generation to Generation." In UUA, Singing the Living Tradition, 1993, #649.
UUA. FORTH (Forward
Through The Ages) Stewardship Development Program. http://www.uua.org/finance/fundraising/forth/index.shtml
