A Spirit of Generosity
Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta
March 2 2014
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 Richmond County 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.
When it came to telling my parents, well, 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 are marginalized in our society. AIM, 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, my husband Wil
was the other candidate, so you could say I won in the end.
But when I was disqualified as a candidate, 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 of Augusta! Four years ago, 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 here 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 this church, 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 knows 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, whether you are a recent member or a veteran UU, that you
believe this congregation 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,…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 already have been given gifts in abundance. In spite of
its problems, Mark Ewert writes, “this planet is an incredible gift to us all.
It provides sustenance, pleasure, and infinite variety. We are surrounded by
this beauty, which is ever-changing and recurring. That is just as unavoidable
as suffering, and these two opposites create the great balance of life.”
Our birth is another gift and a “fortunate one from our
parents; and we benefit from generations of inventors and designers who make
that gift of life easier, more comfortable, and more pleasurable.” Those gifts in
turn have made it possible for us to pass on other gifts: “Whatever comforts
and security we have created for ourselfves may be a source of joy for us and
help us feel more confident in our giving. Each of us has acquired benefits and
resources that now can be tapped for our giving.” (Mark Ewert)
We are blessed indeed to have a faith community that has
the courage to look outwards instead of remaining inward-looking. At its best,
in the words of Jean Vanier, it “encourages us to break open the shell of
selfishness and self-centeredness to reveal the seeds of a society where people
are honest, truthful and loving.”
We have a mission that is honored when we look outwards.
Our mission matters. Our vision for this church, for this community, and for
this world, 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. You may not connect
figures and statistics with dreams – maybe nightmares! – but this is exactly
what your board-cum-stewardship committee is doing this year.
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.
The word 'generous' comes from the Latin for ‘noble,
magnanimous’; magnanimous in Latin comes from words magna=great and
animus=soul; the Oxford English dictionary defines generous as “freely giving
more than is necessary or expected.”
Here’s a poem from Hafiz that illustrates that freedom of
giving:
“Even after all this time
the sun never says to the earth, ‘you owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that!
It lights the whole sky.”
Generosity, then, makes us great souls! What a description
to aspire to…and not only that, but the root prefix of generosity, ‘gen,’ means
birth, as in generative ‘being capable of production or reproduction.’ We can
generate generosity!
Mark Ewert writes about a woman who taught him how to
develop the daily practice of generosity that I shared with the children during
Time for All Ages. He was speaking with her about a colleague who was not
acting on something he needed her to do, and his friend simply asked him, “What
is the most generous response you can have to this situation?”
He says that whenever he is faced with a choice he asks
himself: What is the most generous response I can make? This question helps him
get back to a generous attitude.
And maybe you haven’t thought about the connection between
giving and receiving: “Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin; one
does not exist without the other. We cannot be a world full of givers if there
is no one to accept our gifts.” (ME)
“Giving connects two people, the giver and
the receiver, and this connection gives birth to a new sense of belonging.”
–Deepak Chopra
Money is about relationships. Margaret Marcuson reminds us
that “if we didn’t need to relate to one another, we wouldn’t have money. It
was invented by human beings, and we use it with each other. One of the things
money symbolizes, for better or for worse, is human connection.”
But when “our self-perception is tied to taking care of
ourselves with no help from others, we experience fewer opportunities for
accepting the normal give-and-take of care in relationships.
This level of independence can lead to an unreasonable and
rigid standard of self- reliance. Those of us who are seniors, for example, may
not adjust to our concept of independence as we age, making us unable to adapt
to a need for more assistance.” (ME)
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) When we give of our wealth
to build up this community we are filled with wealth.
Everyone is already generous in his or her own way;
“hasn’t there been a time when you cared for someone who was sick, nurtured a
young person, or benefitted someone without them knowing it? Maybe you don’t
think of yourself as generous because, like all of us, you are sometimes
impatient or do not share what you have when you could, or your idea of what
constitutes generosity is too grand to reach.” (ME)
Maybe what you need to do is become more intentional about
being generous and build upon that strength you already possess. “Every time I
take a step in the direction of generosity, I know that I am moving from fear
to love.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen
Here’s what I believe about giving: when we make giving a
priority, generosity in a closely knit community presents an opportunity for
each of us to align our beliefs, loves, and values with what we give in money
and time.
Rebecca Parker in her book Blessing the World tells a story about gaining maturity as a giver,
a lesson that was taught to her by a congregant during the annual stewardship
drive in the Methodist church she served: “I first began to tithe because I was
taught to do so by my church, and my church taught me to obey its teachings…I
continued to tithe, however, because the people I most loved and admires
tithed: my parents and leaders of the religious community whose lives really
challenged me by their goodness…but as my faith matured further, I came to my
own reason for tithing, because to tithe is to tell the truth about who I am:
I am a person who has something to give. I am a person who
has received abundantly from life. I am a person whose presence matters in the
world, and I am a person whose life has meaning because I am connected to and
care about many things larger than myself. If I did not tithe, I would lose
track of these truths about who I am.” (ME)
“The ancient tradition of tithing can be traced back to
the nomadic Israelites, who acted out their belief that everything on Earth
belonged to Yahweh through the practice of each household giving a tenth of
their livestock herds to local religious leaders. This practice eventually
included agricultural produce and evolved into a way to encourage obedience to
God identified with Israel and the temple.” (ME)
Tithing in this day and age to is support the institution
where we come together to live out through fellowship our commitment to its
mission. I feel very fortunate to be able to give back to this church by
tithing, my Baptist grandparents would be proud of me! My telling you about my
pledge may sound like a challenge to you, I am tithing, will you, or in the
words of one Minister who
unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan: "I Upped My Pledge - Up
Yours."
But whether or not you tithe or give another regular
amount, it is a way of ‘putting skin in the game’ (ME) and of developing a
sense of stewardship. No matter what level of donation you make, you receive
congregational benefits “in full measure,” the same as any other member.
If you give more of yourself as a volunteer at leadership
levels, “then you will have greater influence on the workings of the church.
But this is held within the structures and polity of the community itself as we
have constituted it, and your giving or withholding of money does not become
linked with personal gain. Each of us should feel invited to step forward with
our resources according to our ability; this separates what we gain from how
much we give and keeps us in right relationship.
Let me be clear about this: Our community prompts us to
give in ways that "fuel our own growth of generosity, rather than improving our
level of status.” (ME)
In fact, we do have what some people call “angels in the
congregation” who are able to give substantial amounts in pledges, but we need
to all consider stepping up so that the gap is narrowed. We are grateful for
what these major donors do for our church, but we’ve allowed them to carry a
big portion of the budget, and to be frank it would put our budget at risk if
they were to suddenly not be here anymore. I care enough to lift this up here
before you this morning…even though such frank talking reminds me of the
minister who got up one
Sunday and announced to his congregation: "I have good news and bad news.
The good news is, we have enough money to pay for our new building program. The
bad news is, it's still out there in your pockets."
Some of us don’t like to talk about money, and Mark Ewert
says that many of us may find that our thoughts about money are fueled by
dominant cultural messages about obtaining comfort, happiness, and security
through money.
After all, American culture emphasizes earning and
financial status, spending beyond basic needs, and aspiring to various forms of
luxury. But he states that “The most culturally challenging action in a
consumer society may be to give away money to benefit others, with no
reciprocation or personal benefit expected in return.”
And when we do spend money, we are supporting others: our
resources have the opportunity to help others – when I get my hair cut, I am
helping my hairdresser’s family; when I leave a fair tip at a restaurant, I am
making a contribution to the life of that server. We don’t expect any personal benefit
from our spending decisions, and as a Roman Catholic nun once observed, “Like
prayer, money is everywhere, linking us with one another and bringing something
new.”
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 in the reading we heard earlier; when I worship on
Sundays, I feel the abundant blessing of belonging to a community that tries to
live out those values. And my congregation is where I develop my ability to
receive and give.
Quoting the Buddha, Lama Surya Das says,
“Giving brings happiness at every stage of its expression.
We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous; we experience joy in
the actual act of giving something; and we experience joy in remembering the
fact we have given.”
If you feel
that you have received care, support, respect, freedom in belonging to this
church, if you have ever felt it is a shelter, a sanctuary, then you’ll feel
like you’ve received an abundance of nourishment.
Do you see the flow of abundance in your lives?
Your generosity can ensure the future of this congregation and its values and
its dreams. What might we be called to do together?
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
Augusta area and beyond.
May it be so, blessed be, Amen.
Sources:
Mark
Ewert, The Generosity Path, 2013.
Margaret
Marcuson, Money and Your Ministry,
2013.
Rebecca
Ann Parker and John Buehrens, A House for
Hope, 2011.
