tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56112278230301720092024-03-08T16:41:30.052-08:00Rev. Melanie Morel-EnsmingerThe sermons of Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger from the First UU Church of New Orleans. A liberal congregation 175 years young, with a long history of justice work to build a better world. Come join with us! Our worship is diverse and vibrant and spiritual, and there is plenty of hands-on work to do. You are needed and wanted here.
See you at church!
The Rev. Melanie Morel-EnsmingerThe Communications Teamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14894041501616606188noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-53105407607235184322013-05-22T11:45:00.000-07:002013-05-22T11:45:21.380-07:00Final sermon to the congregation: “I Wish You Love”<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">By the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Sunday, May 19, 2013</span></b><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">While it is in the job description of a full-time parish minister that sermons have to be written nearly every week, some sermons are easier to write than others. I remember during the Chattanooga ministry being asked to write a sermon about land mines, and in this ministry, there were sermons on the right of same-sex couples to marry. These were easy – I was against the first, and FOR the second. Sermons that touch on my most heartfelt passions are also relatively easy to write, and I’ve had no trouble penning sermons on New Orleans recovery and racism and classism and on the need for Unitarian Universalists not to forget or dishonor their histories.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Then there are the ones that take more research and analysis. For me, sermons on scientific or technical topics are somewhat difficult, and therefore the sermons on military drones and social dilemmas were products of much rewriting. And then there are the sermons that I care so deeply about, and are so emotionally fraught, that both writing them and delivering them are a painful challenge. This sermon, my final one to this, my home congregation, is one of those. While I have given farewell sermons to three other UU congregations, this one is by far the hardest to do.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">This morning I take the prerogative of an out-going minister to pass along advice to you. On my way out the door, so to speak, I have some wishes for the church’s healthy future. (Of course, I won't be all the way out the door til May 30, and will be back to preside over Cathy Cohen's Memorial on June 15th. So maybe it's like I have one foot in and one foot out.) Your prerogative, as always, is to take or leave the advice as you so choose. So here goes, my wishes for First Church:</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">My first wish is: <u>Learn to make peace with difference</u>, even emotionally charged difference. Nelson Mandela once said, <i>“You don’t make peace with your friends, you make peace with your enemies.”</i> If Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland can shake hands and promise to share power, and if Africaaners and the African National Congress can form a coalition government, then surely it ought to be possible for the much less earth-shaking differences in this UU church to be resolved amicably and without spiritual bloodshed. It’s a fine line we walk in UU churches – neither being afraid of difference, nor attempting to paper them over.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In connection with that, I have a related wish: <u>Find a reason to exist beyond liking the people already here</u>. Liking folks, while a good thing in itself, is NOT a good enough reason to be church – in fact, it’s not even necessary, it's lagniappe. If you join a church solely or mostly for the people there, you might have to quit if they leave, and the congregation is not likely to be truly welcoming to new folks. (Why should you welcome new people? You already like the people the church has now.) The most important reason to commit yourself to a religious community is that you agree with and feel personally challenged by its larger goals and purposes, and you want to work to help make them come true. Sure, it HELPS if you like the folks in the church, but it’s much more important that you like what they stand for, that you share their values, and want to participate in furthering the mission of the church.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Which leads me to a wish about the church’s mission: <u>Care more about mission than money or individuals or the building</u>. If a congregation is clear and committed on what it’s really all about, its real purpose, its <i>raison d’etre</i>, then everything else will fall into place. When a church has mutually arrived at its shared reason for being, then fundraising becomes almost easy (you don’t even need a hurricane!), appropriate boundaries can be set for misbehavior, social justice actions become committed and clear, and the sense of community is strengthened by a focus on what is held in common. Everything in a church is improved when a congregation agrees on why it exists, and what work they are called collectively to do. I’ve always believed that the purpose of a UU church is to transform people so that they can transform the world, but you may come up with a different goal. There is a great deal of momentum generated in a congregation in the act of discerning a higher purpose. Organizational consultant Margaret J. Wheatley says, <i>“There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”</i> I urge you to tap into that power, and not waste your primary energies caring for the building or worrying about money.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">My fourth wish for you is to <u>Take church leadership seriously</u>. Not everyone is cut out to be a church leader, and even those who are well-suited need two things in order to be effective: a clear and concise description of the position with its duties and responsibilities, and second, some kind of training in how to be a UU church leader, because being a UU leader is different than leading a business and different from leading a nonprofit organization. Once you have properly recruited and prepared your church leaders, support them by treating them with both respect and compassion. Let leaders know your concerns, and leaders, listen well to what lies behind stated concerns. Leaders and lay members need each other, as neither knows the whole story without the other. And dissent that is unexpressed and goes underground is toxic to a UU congregation.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The best job description in the world and the best leadership training in the UUA will not produce perfect Boards members and committee chairs – just as vocational discernment and rigorous seminary education do not produce mistake-proof, perfect ministers. We’re all human, so be prepared to forgive each other and learn from missteps in order to move forward in good health and good order.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Next, and this is very important: <u>I wish you would connect with Unitarian Universalism</u>. Yes, I know very well that this congregation has other UU churches who support First Church in its recovery, and we’re all grateful for them, but I’m talking about a different kind of relationship than needing and receiving financial and physical help. I’m urging you as church members to read the UU World magazine; visit the UUA website regularly; sign up for the latest posts and updates and resources. Church leaders at all levels should make an effort to read some of the UU newsletters that arrive here every week, with a special focus on the newsletters from the congregations in our region, and especially the three churches of the Greater New Orleans UU cluster. Board members should communicate with the Boards of other UU churches, and the Worship, Religious Education, and Social Justice Committees should also be aware of trends and ideas and best practices in their areas of responsibility in the other churches – especially the healthiest, strongest, and biggest of our local UU churches, which is the Baton Rouse UU church. I urge you to send high-level delegations (meaning Board members and committee chairs) to the annual district conference and to General Assembly every year; the Board should look over the program offerings of those gatherings ahead of time, and assign delegates to attend the workshops and presentations deemed most helpful to the church’s mission. There is no reason in the world for this congregation to be so isolated! Historically, lateral relationships between UU churches have been a source of strength, and First Church needs strength.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><u>I wish you would be a force for positive change in this area</u>. Focusing on your own recovery is a good thing, but it shouldn’t be all you think about. Having a close circle of friends is a good thing, but it ought not be the main goal of a church. For so many reasons, this congregation has real corporate power, even if you don’t realize it. You have the power and you have the history to help bring about major change in Greater New Orleans and in Louisiana. Shame on y’all if you squander that power and that history.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">And finally, and most of all, <u>I wish you love</u>. Not the namby-pamby love of a Hallmark card, not the misguided kind of love that lets another person get away with bad behavior because you love them or because you don’t like confrontation, not the insulated kind of love that keeps you focused on each other and your personal preferences instead of facing outward. I’m talking about a strong, muscular, burning love that pushes you ever forward and outward, forcing you to rise to challenges, urging you to be your best selves beyond your comfort zones, and representing Unitarian Universalism to the surrounding community like a bright light in darkness. I wish you THAT kind of love.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">While it is sad to many of you and to me that this ministry is ending, I’m still glad to be a UU minister and glad and grateful to have been YOUR minister. I am grateful for how you've shared with me your deepest spiritual experiences, your doubts, your struggles, your joys. You have allowed me into your homes and hospital rooms, let me bless your children and unite couples and grieve the losses of those we love who died. In our weekly sharing on Sundays some of you have been kind enough to say you found inspiration and meaning in my poor words. If I have said or done anything that was helpful, I am glad; if I have been less than helpful or hurtful in any way I humbly ask your forgiveness.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">We have accomplished a great deal together, in this too-short period. Some were for the recovery of the church; some were for greater interfaith connections; some were for the advancement of our movement as a whole. Some were on the cutting edge of social justice issues, such as our work on wage theft, undocumented immigrants, affordable housing, saving Avondale Shipyard, the work to institutionalize and stabilize the Center for Ethical Living & Social Justice Renewal. I’m proud of us, of you, for ALL of it.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">With all its difficulties and challenges, and yes, sometimes pain, I still believe in church. I still believe that a strong and united religious community based in liberal values is the best and most redemptive vehicle for change yet developed by human beings. I not only believe in church as an institution and as a model of community, I specifically believe in THIS church. I have loved this congregation from the first day I attended worship in the summer of 1983; my experience at First Church has often been a model to me in the years of my ministry away from you. It was my honor and pleasure to come home to my city and home to my home church to serve as your minister after the Storm -- as I always said, it's been great to be with a congregation that didn't think I had an accent and where I didn't have to learn the history and culture. While I am sad that our relationship must end, I am grateful to have served First Church and proud of all we accomplished in our time together.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">From the beginning of my time with First Church back in the 1980s, I have been struck by your near-miraculous historical ability to rise above disaster and near-disaster, by your extremes of generosity, by your stubborn commitment in the face of challenges. I have every faith in this congregation, and feel confident that at the end of the transition period you will be set to start a new settled ministry that will be healthy and productive. As we come to the end of this ministry, I find myself filled with love for First Church. I mean it now and I've always meant it -- I wish you love.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-56992989623155957482013-05-15T11:16:00.001-07:002013-05-15T11:16:32.384-07:00Flower Communion Sermon: “Messages From Flowers”
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">By the Rev. Melanie
Morel-Ensminger</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">First Unitarian Universalist
Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sunday, May 12, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the Victorian era of the 19<sup>th</sup> century in Europe
and America, there was an elaborate language of flowers. Using published flower directories
called “floriographies,” a person could carefully put together an assortment of
flowers to convey a particular message.
For instance, a bunch of pansies meant “thinking of you” while a spray
of ambrosia signaled that the other person’s feelings of love were
reciprocated. Meanings of
carnations depended on color, with yellow ones sending the message “you have
disappointed me” and striped or variegated carnations meant either a
straight-out “no” or a somewhat less negative “sorry I can’t be with you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">While today we don’t expect our flower bouquets to do that
much communication for us, it is still true that flowers can convey
messages. I remember when my son
was about 12 and he got me to drive from our house to a flower shop and then
all the way across the town we lived in and up a mountain to deliver a dozen discount roses for
Valentines Day. In the present, my
spouse Eric stops regularly at Harkins the Florist in our neighborhood for
spontaneous no-reason bouquets. I
guess those messages are obvious. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But Eric says he’s been in Harkins at times when another man
has come in and asked for an apology bouquet, and gotten the question, “Exactly how bad
were you?” I guess professional
florists have different levels of bouquets for different degrees of apology. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There are the flowers presented at proms and flowers thrown
at famous opera singers and ballet dancers and flowers given to moms and
grandmothers on Mothers Day and flowers sent to loved ones in hospitals and
flowers delivered when someone has died.
A parishioner came to see me this week bringing a beautiful bouquet of
flowers from her garden. Flowers
say, I like you, I love you, I’m sorry, Congratulations, Thanks for everything,
I hope you get better, I miss you, I honor and celebrate the life you
lived. They even say something
like, “I don’t know what to say.” So
even though we in the 21<sup>st</sup> century don’t have books to tell us what
each kind of flower explicitly means, flowers still communicate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In our religious movement, flowers are prominent in three notable
ceremonies. There is the rose with
thorns removed that is given to parents at the close of a Baby Dedication &
Naming ritual, to symbolize how parents wish to protect their babies from all
that would harm them. And there is
the corresponding rose <u>with</u> thorns given to young people at their Coming-of-Age ceremony to show that
the adults are ready to accept the young people into the adult community on
their own terms, without trying to shelter them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The 3<sup>rd</sup> important religious ritual in Unitarian
Universalism is the Flower Communion, which has several layers of meaning. We remember and honor Norbert and Majia
Capek, the courageous founders of Czech Unitarianism and heroes of the Nazi
era. We follow their intention for
the flower ceremony by lifting up the value of diversity in religious
community, and the reminder that human life is both beautiful and fragile, like
flowers. As they did, we make the
children of our community a central part of the ceremony, to recognize their
role as the future of the church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But in every UU congregation that holds a Flower Communion,
there are also the more particular meanings. For a congregation in a time of transition, the flowers are
appropriate because flowers are themselves a transition in the life of a
plant. No matter how showy,
flowers are not the end product of a plant; they are a way station to fruit and
new seed. So flowers are a good
reminder that a period of change, however uncomfortable, is temporary, and then
comes the time of fruit and harvest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the same way that spouses and partners can apologize
through the medium of flowers, a Flower Communion can be a small step in a
journey of reconciliation and healing for a congregation experiencing some kind
of conflict. We have each brought
a flower to represent ourselves, and we take home a flower that was brought by
someone else, that stands for them.
In this way, we symbolically offer a bit of ourselves to each other in
the congregation, and accept a part of another person in return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">For a congregation needing an infusion of positive feelings
about the future, flowers are messengers of hope, saying, in effect, “There are
good things to come.” For congregations
in the throes of emotion, flowers can say, “I hope we all feel better soon” and
“See? There’s still lots of beauty and joy in the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">There is very little an outgoing minister can do to help with
congregational healing in a time of transition – although unfortunately there
is a LOT a minister could do that would be disruptive and cause further hurt
and confusion. I have been
striving mightily to stay out of y’all’s way at this time and to make sure
there is a clear space for your next minister to step into.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The healing and reconciliation that is needed in First Church
can be helped by your next minister, but in point of fact, the real work must
be done by all of you with each other.
You must remember that each of you is unique and fragile, beautiful and
various. You must decide that what
you want in a liberal religious community is diversity, diversity of
background, diversity of talents, diversity of opinions – and then you must
devise your own ways of living comfortably with all that difference, finding
ways to honor and incorporate the differences wherever you can. You must come to grips with the fact
that no one in the church is perfect and that like all humans everywhere, each
of us makes mistakes. You must take your courage in both hands and speak up when you think something might be amiss, and not let your questions and concerns go underground. It is not
mistakes that kill a community – it is the inability to process mistakes and
learn from them and resolve not to make the same mistakes in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Fragile, strong, supple, tender, beautiful, various, hopeful,
joyful – so are the flowers of our Flower Communion and so are all of us. Remember that, and treat each other
accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">May the blessing of the flowers be upon you.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">May their beauty beckon to you each morning
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">And their loveliness lure you each day, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">And their tenderness caress you each
night. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">May their delicate petals make you
gentle, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">And their eyes make you aware. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">May their stems make you sturdy, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 40.5pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">And their reaching make you care. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">(from "Flowers have the Gift of Language" by Reginald Zottoli)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-9808432131956553892013-04-16T15:48:00.000-07:002013-04-16T15:48:25.108-07:00“The Whole Elephant”
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<br />
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<span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16pt;"><b>by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger</b></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16pt;"><b>Sunday, April 7, 2013<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> This
morning we try to look at the whole elephant. I am reminded of a famous quote from the Buddhist teacher
Suzuki roshi, which sort of sums up Buddhism and life, and the situation at
First Church, in one sentence: <i>"Accept what is, as it is, and help it
become its very best.”</i></span><i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> Of
course what the wise roshi did <u>not</u> say is that first a community of
people have to agree on “what is.”
Think of those blind folks and the elephant – they each had their point
of view, and these points of view were very different, and seemed
irreconcilable. But what if they
had gotten together and pooled their experiences, agreeing at the outset that
each of their perspectives was valid but none of them was complete all by
itself? What if they had tried to
put each of those viewpoints into a coherent whole? Wouldn’t they have eventually gotten an idea of the whole
elephant?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It’s been an exciting but sometimes painful period of time for this
church community. Since February,
and ending with the vote after today’s service, we’ve been engaged in a process
of openly sharing concerns and points of view about the future of ministry at
First Church. We found – surprise!
that there were lots of opinions and perspectives. For many if not most of us, this was a first-time experience
of working out what could have been a conflict in an open and transparent group
process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Many of us have been trained, from our families of origin, in our
intimate relationships, and in our workplaces, to keep conflict quiet and out
of view. We were often told not to
tell things we knew to certain people – from the grade school warning, “Don’t
tell Debbie what I’m about to say” to my mother’s well-intentioned, “Don’t tell
your father, but…” Outside of a counseling context, few of us have had the
healthy experience of sitting together in one spot and openly sharing our own
feelings and experiences in front of diverse others, and then listening to their
feelings and experiences, that may have differed, even drastically, from our
own. The process that First Church
has just undergone is the kind of practice we can, and ought to, put into place
in other areas of our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I am proud of us, of this congregation that I love so much. For the most part, folks have acted
with integrity and compassion, and for the most part, communications have been
open and responsible, mostly following guidelines recommended by Southern
Regional director Reverend Kenn Hurto and our group process facilitator
extraordinaire Valerie Lowe. We
can all be proud of the way the members and leaders of First Church have come
through this process. And I hope
we all show our boundless gratitude to Valerie, and to Stephanie Baus and Alice
Abel Kemp, who helped with the synthesis of all those meetings and gatherings
and all those comments. What a
gift, what a blessing, their work has been for this congregation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">During these months, we were often surprised by the differing points
of view of our fellow congregants.
People who knew each other well found themselves with radically
different perceptions and experiences and interpretations of the same events. Sometimes we left a meeting still
confirmed in our original opinions; sometimes we left having been changed by
the experience of truly listening to and accepting the viewpoint of another
person. This is not surprising,
because the interaction of individuals who may disagree but who respect and
care for each other is the foundation of Unitarian Universalist theology. After all, if we just wanted to be
confirmed in the opinions we already had, there’d be no need to join a UU
church, not just famous but notorious in some quarters for the diversity of
beliefs and viewpoints inside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In our outside lives, away from the covenantal relationship of being
together in a Unitarian Universalist congregation, we usually feel that people
with different opinions from ours are wrong. In some cases, we kindly feel they are misinformed;
sometimes, we go so far as to judge them as dishonest or having evil motives –
in other words, we normally figure those with opposite opinions are misguided
at best or villains at worst.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the Children’s Story earlier in this service, we learn something completely
different. Every one of the blind
men in the old story from the Jain tradition in India had experienced something
true and real. What they all
discovered was exactly what we have discovered in our church process – there
are no villains or bad guys, no one completely in the wrong, just human beings
with our different points of view, our varying experiences, our diverse
perspectives, our own emotions and feelings, each of us trying to do our best
as we see it. And we also learned
something we should never, ever forget, whether in the church or out on the
world: we can’t see the whole elephant
unless we know and share what each of us noticed in our exploration of it – we
cannot put all the pieces together unless we listen to each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It’s become something of a cliché in counseling to say that conflict
in a relationship is like an elephant in the room that everyone pretends not to
see. During these months, we have
all looked at and touched and talked about the elephant, and told each other
clearly and openly what we experienced.
This process shrinks the elephant a bit, since conflict often looms less
large with transparency, but it does not make the elephant disappear. Having finished the process and having
listened to each other, now we can see and deal with the whole elephant, and
not just the part we or our friends were holding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It is both the glory and the challenge of Unitarian Universalism to be
religiously diverse. Unlike
traditions where orthodoxy, or right thinking, is the norm, we stress
orthopraxy, or right behavior.
Right behavior includes owning our true viewpoint, that is, being open
and accountable about our needs and experiences and feelings, not ascribing
them to nameless others or keeping how we feel a secret so we can act behind
the scenes. Right behavior also
means receptivity and compassion towards differing points of view; right
behavior requires respect and tolerance for those whose opinions are different
from yours. Right behavior also
means acceptance when a decision does not go your way, and not campaigning
endlessly for the majority to change a vote you don’t agree with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Whatever happens in today’s vote, it is my hope that First Church will
move swiftly with the help and guidance of the Committee on Ministry to create
and covenant a Right Relations policy for our congregation, as our 2 sister
congregations in the Greater New Orleans UU cluster have already done, and as
the Unitarian Church in Baton Rouge has had in place for many years. An understanding of and commitment to
right behavior and right relationship can get a church community through almost
any challenge. A Right Relations
process will make First Church a better and stronger and healthier church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The truth is, we need each other and all our differences. Despite the many times that our
diversity makes us uncomfortable or drives us crazy, we’ll never deal with the
whole elephant without hearing and knowing each other’s point of view. Like a jigsaw puzzle that’s missing
crucial pieces, we never get the whole picture without everyone’s honest
opinion and perspective being taken into consideration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The original version of the story about the elephant and the blind men
came with a moral. Jainist
teachers assert that there is always some truth in what someone else says, and:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sometimes we can see that truth
and sometimes not, because they may have a different perspective which we may
not agree to. So, rather than
arguing like the blind men, we should say, “You have your reasons.” This way we don’t get in arguments. In Jainism, it is explained that truth
can be stated in 7 different ways.
So, you can see how broad our religion is -- it teaches us to be
tolerant towards others for their viewpoints. This allows us to live in harmony with people of different thinking. This is known as the <i>Syadvada Anekantvad</i>, or the theory of
Manifold Predictions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">If the Jains can find 7 versions of the truth, it’s probably true that
Unitarian Universalists can find dozens, if not hundreds. Our Universalist ancestors believed in
forgiveness and reconciliation because they believed that God forgave everyone,
and thus they would end up having to spend eternity with people who had been
their opponents and adversaries.
We UUs today may not all believe in God or in an afterlife, but we are
all together now, here, and we may as well come together, hear each other, make
decisions that take everyone into account, and when necessary, forgive and
reconcile when the decisions are done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> Conflict
and differences of opinion over leaders and goals and directions are normal in
any human group, and perhaps especially so in congregations. People usually come to a church for the
deepest and most emotional of reasons – they feel alone or adrift, they are
lonely or afraid, they feel misunderstood or alienated, they need folks around
them who will be supportive as they enter into something new and challenging,
like a new city, a new job, a new relationship, a new child. And it is always true that when
people’s most fundamental feelings are involved there is the potential for
conflict – because the things you don’t care much about don’t have the power to
get you riled up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Through this process we have learned
how to see the whole elephant – how to get the whole and complete picture,
including everyone willing to be included, listening with respect and care to
each other, opening ourselves to the possibility of alteration and being OK
with standing pat after taking in the other points of view. This is the way for First Church to go
forward into the future, with all meaningful decisions. Remember this process – it’s important.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Long-time members know that First
Church has been through much bigger challenges in its history, even its recent
history, and thus everyone can have confidence that the church can rise through
this one. The members and friends
of this congregation can and will pull together to help each other through
whatever feelings there may be about whatever decisions get made. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> As
religious liberals, as UUs, we are called to be courageous, even as trust is
scary and the future is unknown. We
are also called to love, even as we disagree, and I know First Church will rise
to this sacred calling. Because
that is who this church is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-48702572851954684032013-03-25T10:11:00.000-07:002013-03-25T10:11:47.315-07:00March Martyrs Remembered
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'New York'; line-height: 18pt;">Forty-eight years ago this month, our country
was changed by a group of people united across lines of religion, gender,
class, and race.</span><span style="font-family: 'New York'; line-height: 18pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'New York'; line-height: 18pt;">Four of them – a
young black Baptist deacon, a white Unitarian Universalist minister, a white
Episcopal seminarian, and a white Unitarian Universalist Detroit laywoman –
were murdered, shocking the conscience of the country, and resulting in the
passing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.</span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-top: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "New York";">In the winter and spring of 1965, Martin Luther
King, Jr. and his lieutenants assumed leadership of a voting rights drive in
Selma, Alabama, launching a campaign that they hoped would force Congress to
enfranchise blacks across the South.
After “Bloody Sunday,” when state troopers set upon peaceful marchers on
the Edmund Pettus Bridge, King called for support from religious leaders across
the country, and thousands of clergy, students, and lay people rushed to Selma. Never before in history had so many people
of all faiths and classes and colors come together to stand for human liberty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-top: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "New York";">Selma was no walk in the park; the campaign had
already claimed one life, <b>Jimmy Lee
Jackson</b>, the youngest deacon in the history of St. James Baptist Church, who was shot while trying to
protect his mother during an attack by police inside a crowded café following a
peaceful protest. Still, over 100
UUs responded to King, among them ministers Clark Olsen, Orloff Miller, <b>James Reeb</b>, Cliff Hoffman, and laymen
Henry Hampton and Robert Hoehler. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-top: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "New York";">After a demonstration on March 10, Olsen,
Miller, and Reeb ate dinner at a black cafe, and were attacked as they were
leaving by 4 white men with clubs.
Olsen and Miller were roughed up, but Reeb was hit squarely on his
temple, and died the next day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-top: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "New York";">After watching Reeb’s funeral on TV, Detroit UU <b>Viola Liuzza</b> told her husband and kids,
“I’ve got to go.” Taking the
family car, she arrived in Selma and was made a shuttle driver with Leroy
Moton, a 19-year-old Selma native, as her guide. On March 25, returning to Selma from Montgomery, a carload
of KKKers, one of them an FBI informant, fired a shotgun directly at Liuzza,
killing her instantly. Moton,
covered in her blood, played dead and thus survived. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-top: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "New York";">The fourth Selma martyr was <b>Jonathan Daniels</b>, a young white Episcopalian seminarian from New
Hampshire. Despite the murders of
Jim Reeb and Viola Liuzza, he had bravely stayed on, trying to change the
hearts and minds of white Episcopalians in Selma, teaching in voter
registration schools, and driving volunteers. He was killed by a shotgun blast from a white storekeeper
that summer. The storekeeper
pleaded self-defense and was acquitted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body" style="margin-top: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: "New York";">Jackson, Reeb, Luizza, and Daniels. They remind us that freedom and
equality are ex-pensive; some paid with their lives. They leave to us their
unfinished work of equality and dignity – work that can only be done by people
united across all the barriers that separate us. May they inspire us in the work that remains.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-39551463511223300252013-03-13T12:14:00.005-07:002013-03-13T12:14:56.704-07:00Why We All Need The GoddessA Sermon for Women's History Month<br />
by The Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />
First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />
<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
1st Reading: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
A
Creed for Free Women (and such men as feel happy with it) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
by Elsa Gidlow</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am from
and of The Mother.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am as I
am.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wilfully harming none, none may question me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As no
free-growing tree serves another or requires to be served.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As no lion
or lamb or mouse is bound or binds,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
No plant or
blade of grass nor ocean fish,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I am not here to serve or be served.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am Child
of every Mother,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mother of
each daughter,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sister of
every woman,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And lover of whom I choose or chooses me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Together or
alone we dance Her Dance,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
We do the work
of The Mother,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She we called Goddess for human comprehension.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
She, the
Source, never-to-be-grasped Mystery,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Terrible
Cauldron, Womb,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Spinning out
of her the unimaginably small</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And the
immeasurably vast--</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Galaxies,
worlds, flaming suns--</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And our
Earth, fertile with her beneficence,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Here, offering
tenderest flowers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Yet flowers whose roots may split rock.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I, we,
Mother, Sisters, Lovers,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Infinitely
small out of her vastness,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yet our
roots too may split rock,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Rock of the
rigid, the oppressive</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In human affairs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thus is She</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
And being of
Her</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thus am I.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Powered by
Her,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
As she
gives, I may give,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Even of my
blood and breath:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But none may
require it;</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And none may question me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am. I am That I am.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2nd Reading:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
i sat up one
night by ntozake shange</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
i sat up one
nite walkin a boardin house</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
screamin/cryin/the
ghost of another woman</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
who waz
missin what i waz missin</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
i wanted to jump outta my bones</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
& be
done wit myself</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
leave me
alone</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
& go on
in the wind</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
it waz too much</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I fell into
a numbness</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
til the only
tree i cd see</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
took me up
in her branches</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
held me in
the breeze</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
made me dawn
dew</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
that chill
at daybreak</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
the sun
wrapped me up swingin rose light everywhere</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
the sky laid
over me like a million men</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
i waz cold/I
waz burnin up/a child</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
& endlessly
weavin garments for the moon</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
wit my tears</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
i found god
in myself</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
& i loved her/I loved her fiercely</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sermon:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In honor of Women’s History Month, we take up a topic that has been
suppressed and repressed over centuries, and only in the last 50 years or so
has been rising again from the second wave of the women’s rights movement. In this sermon we look the <b>refeminization of the divine</b>. That our congregation is currently
hosting the new, updated version of “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven,” the UUA
curricula on feminist spirituality first published and brought to this church back
in the 1980s, is an additional good reason for us to look at this phenomenon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">“Feminist spirituality” – now there’s an interesting term. By that I mean the notion
of the divine feminine, God as female. I believe that it is important for us religious liberals to incorporate </span><span style="font-size: 19px; line-height: 28px;">feminist spirituality</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> into our worship, practice, and religious education.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">For some UUs, especially
but not limited to those of older generations, the idea of God itself is
suspect, and thus it seems extra meaningless to try to imagine God as
female.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">But many other UUs are
finding, sometimes to their surprise, that learning about early goddess
religions and visualizing the Divine as feminine has profound effects.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">And these profound effects can cross
age, gender, culture, and orientation boundary lines, opening up not only new
perceptions but also widening a person’s internal view of themselves. </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> The original "Cakes for the Queen of Heaven" curricula had an introduction entitled "Why Women Need the Goddess." </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">But in this sermon, I am asserting that
we ALL need the goddess – not just women, but men and children, and the earth,
too.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">After all the insights of the second wave of the feminist movement in the 1960s, it might be obvious that women need the metaphor of the Goddess for 3
basic reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">1) to celebrate and affirm the female body
and its rhythms and cycles;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">2) to legitimate female power and to value
female will; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">3) to reflect the sacred power within
women and children and nature, of birth and death, of creation and destruction,
and to see their essential interconnectedness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In a society -- our society! -- where certain properties and characteristics labeled female
are devalued, where a particular kind of female body is objectified and made
into a commodity for the marketplace, where women and girls are
disproportionately at risk as victims of violent behavior in the home, at school, at work and on the street, women
and girls surely need the transforming symbol of the Goddess. The concept of the Goddess has much to
offer women who are struggling to be rid of the established prejudices of the
patriarchal system – that female power is evil, that the female body is a
product, that female willpower and assertiveness is
"bitchiness." Hardly a
week goes by when we don’t see in the news media stories of women being denied
jobs or promotions or equal pay, or of sexual harassment on the job or at
school. And it’s not just “out of
the world” where this is a problem – women UU ministers still don’t receive the
same compensation as male ministers with the same level of training and experience,
and are still not given the opportunity to be senior minister of our largest and most
prosperous congregations at the same rates as male ministers. (We've even lost ground in this area, as three of our largest congregations that had women Senior Ministers have chosen to call men as their successors.) Fifty years after the second wave of
feminism, we are still fighting some of the same old
battles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Patriarchal religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam,
are based on assumptions of male domination and female inferiority, despite
relatively recent efforts in all three to mitigate women's position. (While there are many positive aspects
in all 4 religions, attempts at mitigation without addressing the underlying
problem amounts to simply striving to make women more comfortable <u>within</u>
their inferiority. As Archbishop
Tutu of South Africa once said of apartheid,, "We don't want our chains made more comfortable – we
want our chains removed.")<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">So we can agree that women need the Goddess, but what about men? In a patriarchal structure, men, even
those who are atheists, have a Father-God made in their own image, their
father-son relationships are made sacred, and their primacy in the world made
divine right. So the thinking
might be: Men are just fine,
they've got all the power – it’s women who need help, woman who need the
Goddess. Those men ready, through
their own social or spiritual development, to reject the patriarchy and its
religion can now move on ahead to agnosticism or atheism without considering
anything else. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">But that would be wrong. The devaluation of
the human body, the spirit/flesh, sacred/ secular false dichotomy, the
relegation of caring and nurturing solely to women, the glorification of
violence as both erotica and entertainment, and the perception of nature as
something to be used and consumed (thus bringing us to our current ecological
crisis) – all of these have been just as injurious to men as to women. (In <u>The Temple of My Familiar</u>, Alice
Walker has one female character tell another, “Men are damaged by the system,
as we are.”) Oppressions always
damage the group on top as much as the group on the bottom, only in different
ways. Assumed superiority is just as
hurtful in its way as assumed inferiority.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Perhaps the saddest of the list of damages suffered by men under
patriarchy is the separation of men from the processes of birth and the raising
of children. We are fortunate
that, at least in some progressive families, this situation is beginning to
change, although it is true that while men shoulder more of the responsibility
than their fathers and grandfathers did, it is still overwhelmingly the woman’s
job, even if she works outside the home.
But only when men are equally, lovingly involved in all aspects of
childcare and child rearing that the children of our world will be valued and
properly cared for. As a matter of politics, workplace rules about time off for childcare will not change until men are more involved. The nurturance
of the next generation is truly <u>human</u> work, fit for all genders, and needing to be honored. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;"> Finally, men need the
Goddess and the power of that symbol in order to reclaim and value inside
themselves those qualities that our patriarchal culture has categorized
negatively as "feminine":
the powers of connection and realtionship, of birthing and creativity,
of relating, of caring and feeling and emotion. These are human qualities, and need to be developed and
promoted in every person. The current
Men's Movement is beginning to address some of the issues involved in
patriarchal assumptions, and how these have damaged men, and men's
relationships with children and women as well as with each other. But, still, how often have you seen a
“joke” on a sit-com or a commercial about a man having to “turn in his man-card” for being too
emotional or caring too much about some topic deemed strictly female?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">But it is not only adult women and men who need the balancing corrective
of the feminine divine. Our
children too need to know about the Goddess. While many children strive to form their own views about God,
especially lucky UU children, they are still members of a popular culture that
places men on the top and claims that God is male. It is both affirming and empowering for children to learn
that there are many different ideas of God. UU children need to be armed with liberal spiritual insights
to counter the ones so prevalent in our culture. Unitarian Universalist kids need to be able to see God
as invisible "like the wind," God as animal, such as a lion or an
eagle, God as mother, God as grandfather, God as a fellow child. As adults, children with this kind of
religious background might be expected to be open and welcoming to theological
viewpoints different from their own—an important quality in adult Unitarian
Universalists, and greatly needed in 21<sup>st</sup> century America.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Women, men, and children need the Goddess as a life-affirming symbol of
the power of the divine female.
But that’s not all. The
earth desperately needs the Goddess too.
One of the oldest names given to the earth, "Gaia," has also
become the name of a scientific theory and movement that holds that the earth's
matter – the air, water, and land surfaces, as well as the plant and animal
life upon it – forms the complex system of a unified whole, that in fact, that
we are all part of one living being. The Gaia scientific movement has inspired in turn a
religious movement, Creation Spirituality, and a political movement,
Eco-Feminism or the Green Movement, all 3 of which stress interdependence and
interrelationship, as does our 7<sup>th</sup> UU principle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Women and men raised in patriarchal religions and secular cultures –
that is to say, <u>we ourselves</u> – have lost much of that sense of communion
with the earth and the wider universe, that feeling of unity, oneness with all
of creation, that our ancestors took for granted. The Bible’s notion of stewardship, of being responsible for
the upkeep of something that doesn't belong to you, has degenerated in our time
to domination and control, with men having dominion over women, children,
animals, and the fruits of the earth, as well as the earth itself. The perversion of
"stewardship" into "ownership" led directly to the
depredations of the Industrial Age, the effects of which we are still suffering.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Many secularists and many UUs have rejected the unacceptable Father-God
and all that goes with him – but ironically have nothing to take his place,
leaving a vacuum. Into this vacuum
rush all kinds of ways to deaden our pain, to silence the spiritual yearning
within. Cosmically alienated
individuals search for what they yearn for through mind-altering chemicals, the
numbness of alcohol, immersion in work, and the temporary respite of sexuality
without mutuality. Our modern
psychosis isolates us not only from ourselves and other humans, but also from the
wholeness of creation and the kingdom of the spirit, which we deny because we
associate it with the patriarchal religion we have rightly moved away
from. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">In the lonely quest for they know-not-what, many estranged people fall
victim to the easy answers of fundamentalism or the just-as-easy eternal skepticism
of the irreligious. Where do we go
from here? I say instead, let us
reach out for the Goddess, to find out what it might mean for all of us, men
and children and women and the earth, to have a concept of female divinity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">There's a practical reason for UUs to include the divine feminine as part of our congregational lives. Younger people coming into our churches are not
afraid of spirituality and theistic language. They may well be dissatisfied with the religions of their
past, if they had one at all, but they have not rejected <u>all</u>
religion. They are not only willing
to explore diverse interpretations of the spiritual, they seem to realize
intuitively that more spirit is exactly what their lives of estrangement and
separation need. We will lose our
young people unless we are willing to explore feminist spirituality within the context
of our Unitarian Universalist "free and responsible search for truth and
meaning." That includes
the Goddess.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">All of us, men and women and children, need the Goddess, for wholeness,
for healing, for transformation, for our present and for our future. We need the Goddess for she reveals something about ourselves
and our lives, something that has been missing, something we’ve been yearning
for. The realm of the spirit is
alive and it is oceanic in its diversity.
It is just as wrong to claim no name for it as it is to claim only
one. Marge Piercy speaks of the
challenge of naming in a poem:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Like any
poet I wrestle the holy name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">and know
there is no wording finally<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">can map,
constrain or summon that fierce<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">voice
whose long wind lifts my hair<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">chills my skin
and fills my lungs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">to
bursting. I serve the word<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; tab-stops: 63.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">I cannot
name, who names me daily,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;">who speaks
me out by whispers and shouts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 18.0pt; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 63.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%;">Truly, the Shekinah – the spirit of God/dess – lives in each of us, if
we will only stop and listen to those "whispers and shouts." </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">Grateful for the religious pluralism that is our heritage as Unitarian
Universalists, let us celebrate what we ALL might gain in knowing and honoring the
Goddess.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">So might this be!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><b style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;">AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</b></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-11216578514267415542013-02-28T10:31:00.002-08:002013-02-28T10:31:56.557-08:00“Looking Behind, Looking Ahead”
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A Sermon for the 180</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">th</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16pt;"> Anniversary of</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .25in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sunday, February 24, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Only two years after being seated on the Mississippi Presbytery
as the minister of First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, The Rev. Theodore
Clapp had formal charges of heresy and immoral conduct lodged against him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The proceedings ground on for 6 long
years, back and forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, Parson
Clapp, as he was familiarly known, was convicted of heresy (the immorality charge was dropped) in December of 1832.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It was a fair verdict – Parson Clapp WAS a heretic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his sermons, he had denied the
divinity of Jesus and the doctrine of the Trinity, asserted that Sabbath
observance was optional, and said he did not believe in intercessory
prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps even more
disturbing to the Presbyterian authorities was his rejection of hell and the
doctrine of eternal damnation (he was famously inspired to universalism while
at a party at a parishioner's home).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">News
traveled slowly those days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Word of Clapp’s conviction did not reach New Orleans until February of 1833.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meetings were held – and we have to
assume in the homes of members as well as at church – and many discussions
ensued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Good thing they had
neither email nor parking lots.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As with any issue in any church at any time, people were
divided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were folks were
wanted to keep Parson Clapp as minister and those who were appalled by his
heresy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On February 26, 1833, a majority
of the congregation voted to keep Clapp and to remove their congregation from
the Presbyterian faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The
minority retained their ties to Presbyterianism, and their descendants are our
neighbors at First Presbyterian across Claiborne Avenue.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1837, the congregation was listed in the directory of the
American Unitarian Association, and has remained ever since as a Unitarian, and
later as a Unitarian Universalist, church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since February
26, 1833, this congregation has weathered countless church fights, 6 major wars
(the congregation really had to struggle to survive the Civil War and the
Vietnam War, a hundred years apart), several local epidemics (Parson Clapp’s close observations of mass deaths in his diaries are still taught in epidemiology at
Tulane Med School), and many cultural and social issues – emancipation, women’s
suffrage, humanism, integration and civil rights, second-wave feminism, gay
rights, paganism, the environment, to name a few -- that resulted in congregational
conflicts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The church has also
survived and overcome bankruptcy, a fire, a firebombing, lack of building
maintenance, a major church split, and of course the destruction of Hurricane
Katrina.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have had 2 ministers
with tenure over 30 years, and a large number of short-term ministries,
especially during periods of stress, such as after the Civil War and during the
Depression. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Our current
average ministry, not counting interims, since Rev. Albert D’Orlando’s retirement in 1979 is slightly
over 6 years.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Even during Parson Clapp’s ministry, when so many non-members
attended services that the church’s nickname was The Strangers Church, the
actual official membership has been rather small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the exception of a short post-World War II period of
the Baby Boom, the church has never had a large bustling membership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet, over our history our church has had an outsize
impact on the important justice issues of our day in every era.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">At this time, the week of our 180<sup>th</sup> anniversary as
a heretical progressive religious congregation, we look back at our past to
gain inspiration and hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We know
what our church’s ancestors faced, and what they managed to overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We draw the spiritual conclusion that
we can certainly overcome whatever challenges we have to face in the present,
since our current troubles really don’t seem as bad as what we’ve already triumphed over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We learn a spiritual lesson from our looking back – that it’s
important that the majority of church members prevail when there’s a
conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Conflicts are messy and
uncomfortable, and conflicts are usually NOT what most folks come to church for
– but only by sticking with the church through such hard times can the
congregational majority achieve what they want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a minority in the church who wanted to stay
Presbyterian and get rid of Parson Clapp; it was a minority who disliked the
methods and message of Rev. D’Orlando; it was a minority who were afraid of
what standing up publicly for gay rights would mean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But because congregational decisions were arrived at
democratically, the majority was able to move ahead in the directions they had
chosen for themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Democracy
in all its complications and participation when the going gets gets rough become for us a spiritual discipline, and like most
spiritual disciplines, hard to stick to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Another lesson we learn from First Church history is that
there are few quiet times in liberal religious life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While some of us might long sometimes for the quiet
meditative sort of spirituality characteristic of Quakerism or Buddhism or
cloistered Christianity, Unitarian Universalism is usually NOT that kind of
faith and New Orleans is not that kind of city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are a religion of action, a religion of words, and quite
often, a religion of conflict, in a city vibrant with sound and music and
coping always with the mechanisms of change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A third important learning from First Church’s past that we
carry forward with us is the importance of our young people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially since the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, and I would especially lift up the interim ministry of Rev. Krista Taves, the
education of our children and their participation in the life of the church has
been a major hallmark of our religious identity, and since Hurricane Katrina,
an important engine of our recovery and renewal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we were not known in the community and among the other
local UU churches for high-quality, professional religious education for children
and a lively group for youth, we would be a much, much smaller congregation
than we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is not just in
numbers that our young people have enriched us – they have brought major issues
to our attention with their passion and commitment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">We look forward also assured that while social justice issues
can certainly rile up the folks and cause a ruckus, they also energize and
revitalize our wider ministries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
cannot tell you how wonderful it is for me to go places in the city and have
strangers congratulate me on the things First Church stands for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This city needs and wants our voices
and our bodies, and we are strengthened by adding our partnerships in the
Center for Ethical Living & Social Justice Renewal, the Greater New Orleans
UU cluster, and the New Orleans AIDS Task Force as part of our public ministry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What lies in our future no one knows, but we can perhaps
discern some patterns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The largest
and healthiest churches in our denomination have long stable ministries, so
that is something we ought to strive for (no matter who that minister is) as we
also work towards financial stability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It has been predicted at one UU conference recently that the coming
trend is conjoined congregations in one locality, reducing duplication of
effort and sharing resources and even paid staff – so we may want to look to
make our connections with the Greater New Orleans UU cluster even stronger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First Church has spent a large of our
history disconnected from the wider UU movement, and yet the UU friendships we
developed after Katrina might help us to be more UU than ever, keeping abreast
of what’s happening in our faith tradition, and appropriately utilizing the resources that the UUA and the District
and the Region can offer us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">And finally, our theological evolution over 180 years has
been tremendous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From our start as
a Presbyterian congregation, we became unorthodox, liberal Christian; moved
first toward a radical humanism that evolved almost into its own orthodoxy; and
then embraced earth-based and feminist spirituality and neo-paganism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We incorporated Buddhist meditation and
Jewish holidays into our worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Liberal Christianity circled back into our congregation under Rev.
Suzanne Meyer (whose Candidating Sermon back in 1988 was controversially entitled “Just
as I Am, Without One Plea” after the traditional Baptist altar-call hymn).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rev.
Marta Valentin brought a new mysticism into our services post-Katrina.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Feeling Ultimate Life & Love
Group, called the FULL Group, showed a core group at First Church who were
willing and even eager to explore a wide variety of spiritual disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are at our best at First Church when
our worship life engages people physically, intellectually, emotionally, and
spiritually, and encourages members to go deep in whatever spiritual path they
have chosen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Democracy, controversy, religious education, engagement in
social justice – this is what we carry forward with us from our 180-year history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Financial and ministerial stability,
strong lateral relationships and connections with the larger Unitarian
Universalist movement, and internal theological and spiritual diversity are
part of what we hope to fully realize as we face our next 180 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">As Jyaphia Christos-Rodgers wrote
for our 175<sup>th</sup> anniversary:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>“The fleur de lis, the chalice,
and the flame, together rising from the water, rising from the soul of a people,
in a city that remembers with care.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we have before, we will again – we rise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rise from and with our city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rise with and because of our sisters and brothers in
faith, those close by and those far away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We rise because of our love for each other and our commitment to this
faith and this church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No matter
what, we rise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We rise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-33822895314549201872013-02-07T12:43:00.000-08:002013-02-07T12:43:49.032-08:00“The Masks We Wear”
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Homily for Carnival Sunday<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">by the Rev.
Melanie Morel-Ensminger<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First Unitarian
Universalist Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sunday, February
3, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">David Gelfand was a devoted member
of this congregation and a distinguished professor of constitutional law at
Tulane Law School.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Years
ago, he and his wife Mary bought elaborate matching pirate costumes
which they wore every Mardi Gras until David’s death during the evacuation after Katrina.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, it was amazing to
watch David transform from his usual dignified, pedantic, professorial self into a roguish, daring
pirate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During this year's Krewe du Vieux parade, I
encountered a man wearing an anonymous smirking Guy Fawkes mask, made famous in
the movie “V for Vendetta.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and
I exchanged a few words, appropriate for the occasion, and I was amazed to
discover that I was talking with church member Robért Sullivan! Imagine that -- Robért as a revolutionary! Masks are like
that – it’s hard to wear one without taking on the qualities of that mask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Masks are part of religious ritual
in many times and places and cultures:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Native American, African, Australian, Indonesian, Asian, medieval
European.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Masks are used in
theater to disguise and enhance performance; think of Japanese kabuki, the gorgeous theater arts of Bali, and the famous Commedia dell’Arte of Italy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An actor in a mask is hidden from view, but emotions are
still clearly visible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the
Juilliard School of Dramatic Arts in New York, young actors in training wear
masks to hide their faces while learning to convey feeling and affect through
their bodies, postures, and hand gestures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a mysterious way, a person in a
mask takes on the qualities of that mask, which of course they had all along,
perhaps without realizing – like David Gelfand as a pirate and Robért Sullivan
as the revolutionary Guy Fawkes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Actor Kevin Kline has said in interviews that he feels more himself when
masked in a role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some
cultures, a religious ritual is not complete without a priest or priestess
donning a mask of a deity, taking on that persona, in effect becoming that god
or goddess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It happens all the time at Mardi
Gras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dull boring person becomes
an alien while sporting the mask of ET; a shy person roars behind a monster
mask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A sedate grandmother acts
very bubbly in a Dolly Parton mask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A wild and crazy guy who wears a mask of the pope suddenly feels like blessing
the crowds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One year at Mardi
Gras, a friend of mine, in a full devil costume and mask, gave an earnest interview
to the Christian Broadcasting Network.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The interviewer definitely found my friend devilish!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, it is not necessary to wear
an actual mask to be in disguise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes we speak of someone’s facial expression being a “mask.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us, everyday, in different
situations, wear “masks” of one kind or another; we play different roles
depending on our circumstances and situations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Although most of us strive for an
optimum level of honesty and authenticity in our lives, it is not humanly
possible to be all of ourselves at every moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Appropriateness and timing enter into the equation, limiting
our expression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, there’s
nothing wrong with wearing a ski mask on the street on a bitterly cold day, but
wearing one inside a bank might draw the attention of the police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the same way, different parts of
ourselves are appropriate at different times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The masks we wear vary
tremendously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some we don for very
short periods of time; others belong to us a lot longer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some we put on voluntarily; others are
thrust upon us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some are
job-related; some are relationship-related; some have to do with our emotions; others have to do with our avocations
and hobbies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being a parent, being
a child of our parents, a sibling, an employee/employer, minister/lay person, Board
member/committee chair, spouse/partner, friend, teacher/student, client,
computer geek, curmudgeon, fake-friendly, really welcoming, bridge player, knitter, gardener, Democrat,
Republican, southerner, European-American, African-American, male, female, gay,
straight, Unitarian Universalist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Everything we do; every job or responsibility we hold; every
relationship we’re a part of; every group we belong to; every role we play in
life requires us to wear a slightly different mask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s no such thing as living
without any mask at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In life,
the best we can strive for is to take off the masks that we find limiting or
false or hurtful, and to keep on the ones that help us to have more courage and
hope and strength and humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May
we choose to do that, every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our children have been preparing for
this season and this service by making and decorating masks, which they will
wear for the parade that closes out this service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The children will be throwing beads, so watch out for flying
throws!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-80149739414026028632013-02-07T12:37:00.001-08:002013-02-07T12:37:41.353-08:00Guest Service: Where Do We Go from Here?
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<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Planning the Direction of our Ministry<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Valerie A Lowe, First
Church Member<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">January 27, 2003<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">French
poet Paul Valery wrote</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <i>“The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to
be.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">This is true of many
things – our lives, city, our church community, our families and our
selves. We may have envisioned one
future, and circumstances and life situations may have altered our plan. The truth is, we’re always at a
crossroad… of looking at now and the future. Of now and the past. And perception of what we see in either
direction – past or future … can and often does change.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Today we discuss planning
the direction of our ministry – I thought you might have a few questions for me
about why I am even talking about this topic today. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Why would I want to address this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">business</i>
topic from the pulpit?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Surely it’s not a lamp of spirituality. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, in the context of our liberal faith, this is an address
about how we can foster the requirements for a search of our truth. By
discussion of what we need and want for our ministry, we claim our spirituality
and search for truth and meaning. This is a tenant of our faith.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Why am I in the pulpit today to discuss this? Surely I am not
a minister, at least I am no more a minister than you – and still, I am no less
of a minister than you. In late November or early December last year, Board members Claudia
Barker and Alice Kemp approached me. The Annual Budget Drive was nearly complete;
the large pledges were made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
realized that funds were not adequate for a full-time minister, and they knew that this would affect the congregation. So they asked me if I would lead a series
of discussion about professional ministry with members of the congregation to define what we
want. I drafted a plan to host these discussions and presented it to the Board
in December. They approved it and also suggested I offer a sermon or homily in
late January about what I am doing.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;">Another question you may have is “What are Valerie's qualifications to lead talk
about this or lead any discussion on the direction of ministry?” A fair question. For the past
seven years, I have served as an organizational change managers for a large
company of 70,000 employees. I am certified in change management and I facilitate
change through planning, communications, discussions and education. This is
what I do for a living, and I believe my skills will serve us well here, too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, what will I talk about today? I’ll address:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why this process is challenging, providing some context on the nature of
change and small church interests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How we are conducting these discussions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo8; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Some benefits for you to participate in these discussions on ministry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l11 level2 lfo7; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And how I hope to engage you in these discussions<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why is this planning process challenging and important?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Just being in community places us in a consistent state of flux. What
one person says may influence you or others, even enough to change our thoughts
and behaviors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We affect each
other and we can change because of that<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We are small church and
attached to our past<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level2 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">In a newsletter from the Lewis Center for
Church Leadership, Lovett Weems addresses “Leadership and the Small Church,”
stating that people in small congregations who may have experienced pastoral
changes, and/or political and economic changes, view such changes negatively. Citing Denham Grierson, Australian religious educator, Weems concludes that
small churches live either in the past or the future. I believe it is human nature to grasp what is familiar and hold it close.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Change
is hard – we’re all challenged by this, some more than others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dynamics of change on a group may
be even more challenging than to individuals Surely you’ve seen this in members of your family: some
people may really find a change to routine extremely difficult, where another
family member adapts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Particularly
as we age, we become less flexible and adaptable to change.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level2 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Anthony Pappas in his book <i>Entering the
World of the Small Church</i> says “For small church people, history goes the
wrong way… It goes toward the good that was or that was thought to be.” Pappas
discusses how leaders in small churches often link a future vision to what it
used to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Again
I hear the poet Paul Valery whispering to me<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“the future is not what it used to be.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 99.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Unless we plan with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">intention</i>, change will take its own
path. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Tenable change – the kind that
grabs hold and people adopt – is done with intention, not just by
circumstance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Companies like
certainty and to control change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
hold that small churches – if pushed to make changes – also like that to be
predictable. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 99.0pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Social
commentator Lewis Hyde defines how the individual might be able to encapsulate
the thoughts of the collective group he or she lives in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“</span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In anthropology, there is a interesting
resurrection of an old word 'dividual' So we live in a nation that values
individuality, we live in a nation of individuals. But a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dividual</i> person is one who is imagined to contain within himself or
herself the community he or she lives in.”<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">If
we look at the transitions we’ve been through, and collectively discuss a
direction forward in our ministry – can we collectively plan a future that
benefits us collectively? Not just
a future that benefits me or you individually, but one that benefits US. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">To
plan our future, we need to communicate, that means – talking, listening,
reflecting, discussing. In order for this to occur, we need a comfortable
environment of trust. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">So
here we are at a crossroad – with some of us struggling to see our future, some
struggling to let go of an idealized past and projecting that on our future. Some of us, like me, struggling to define the difference between an ideal
spiritual and ministerial direction and what we can collectively afford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others among us are challenged to
communicate their ideals, because of perceived and real miscommunications<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l10 level2 lfo11; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">To
achieve that, I pose that we must come to these discussions with our own
“individual interests” in mind, but be open to the “<i>dividual</i> interest”
on our ministerial direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, let me talk about how
I hope this series of discussions on the future direction of our ministry will
go<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We’ll meet in small group gatherings<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Covenant groups, committees
– groups that exist in the congregation already<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Attendance one time – so
people who belong to a few different groups will only attend one session.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We will have groups of 4 –
6 people in each session – any more would make the duration of the meeting too
long to assure each person is heard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We will have an agenda and establish our ground rules, then begin a discussion
of 8 prepared questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Afterwards, I will transcribe your comments to the
questions and publish agreed summary statements. We will define other common
statements across groups that may be important to share anonymously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo12; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">What will we do with those outcomes? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll forge another discussion on plan development<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How will this discussion benefit
you? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">First, there’s benefit just in participating – your voice, your
collective voice, your needs and wants will be heard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Small group communications yield improved communications<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Intentional</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> discussions provoke us to
listen to others<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This process will help us build up our relationships and create the
foundation of healing of any wounds<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">By understanding the vision of a future - Creating a collective
awareness of our condition and hopes for the future:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level2 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We find a sense of
certainty in that vision<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level2 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We face the future with
intention<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 1.25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level2 lfo13; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We affirm a shared sense
of hope<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo13; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And finally, this process makes us all stronger:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black;">you can’t
forge steel without putting it to the fire.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In response to Paul
Valery’s “The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to
be. ” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hope is that by
engaging in these discussions on the direction of our ministry, our future will
be whatever we intend it to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 6.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><b>And so it shall be … Amen,
Ashe, Shalom, Salaam, Blessed be.</b><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-1627021245422857002013-01-22T15:58:00.000-08:002013-01-22T15:58:04.983-08:00"The End of Despair"
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A Sermon for Martin Luther
King, Jr.'s Birthday Weekend</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">by the Rev. Melanie
Morel-Ensminger<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">First Unitarian Universalist
Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sunday, January 13, 2013<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“What would
it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other’s despair into
hope?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">These words
from Adrienne Rich’s poem “Dream Before Waking” have been haunting me ever
since I was reminded of them by a quote in the <u>New York Times Magazine</u>
from December 30, the issue in which notable people who died during the year
are memorialized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I carried the
magazine with me and read it during my recent vacation days visiting family out
of state.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">One evening during that vacation time, we sat in a
comfortable living room in Hershey, Pennsylvania, listening to a young couple related
to Eric speak of how their city, the capital of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, was
changing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They complained that the
city was full of crime, so dangerous that they wanted to move further away from
the city center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They went on and
on about it, and I have to tell you, Eric and I exchanged glances that said,
“They think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their </i>city is
dangerous!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And finally I picked
up my iPhone, thinking I would do an online search of violent crime in
Harrisburg vs. New Orleans, so that I could “trump” the couples’
complaints.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was, when I
discovered that the Crescent City is ranked 21<sup>st</sup> in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">world </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">first </i>in the United States for murders, behind cities in Mexico,
Columbia, Honduras, Brazil, Guatemala, Venezuela, and El Salvador, with close
to 58 murders per 100,000 people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was so stunned to learn so graphically that I live in the murder
capital of the United States that I couldn’t even twit the couple over their
concern about Harrisburg.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“What would
it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other’s despair into
hope?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I thought
of these words again when I was in conversation with a member of the UUA
General Assembly Planning Committee about the possibility of our city’s hosting
the 2017 gathering of Unitarian Universalists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I asked if the high murder rate here was a factor in the
Committee’s decision-making, and got the frank reply that the real sticking
point was the price of hotel rooms, because the GA Planning Committee realized
that the majority of those murders occurred only in certain neighborhoods,
among people who mostly know each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was a little stunned, but I guess sort of grateful that the Committee
was looking at it that way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“What would
it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other’s despair into
hope?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These words keep haunting me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On this Sunday before the birthday of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who often spoke of “hewing out of the mountain of
despair a stone of hope,” we contemplate the church, the city, and how and even
<u>if</u> we can be part of helping to change the despair of New Orleanians in
the most dangerous of the city’s neighborhoods into hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">First Church is, and always has been, a Unitarian
Universalist urban congregation, and the great legacy of Martin Luther King,
Jr. is one of ministry to the inner cities of America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the period of the 1960s and 70s,
our liberal religious movement, following a nation-wide cultural trend, began
relocating its urban congregations to the suburbs, and we are now mainly a
suburban denomination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The UU
urban congregations at one time were a dwindling group, but it is a trend that
shows some small signs of reversal—the most dramatic being the announcement by
All Souls UU Church in Tulsa that they are moving BACK to the central city. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The urban churches of the UUA have much in common, despite
differences in geography, theology, culture, and history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All urban churches share certain
challenges:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that few of our
members live within walking distance of our churches; that the neighborhoods
surrounding our churches are more economically stressed than most of our
members; that we have more ideas and energy than the money and folks needed to
carry them out; that the problems of the cities in which we are located often
seem paralyzingly insurmountable; that the ethnic, racial, and cultural make-up
of our congregations does not usually reflect the composition of either our
cities as a whole or our immediate neighborhoods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we UU urban congregations also share some wonderful
positive attributes as well:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a
determination not to abandon the city for the more prosperous suburbs; a
commitment to the liberal values of inclusivity and pluralism; a dedication to
making our cities better places to live for ALL the people who live there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“What would
it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other’s despair into
hope?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Maybe this
is a hard question for us at First Church – maybe the stress and anxiety of the
snail’s pace of our recovery and rebuilding since Hurricane Katrina keeps us
almost unable to see beyond our own despair; maybe it’s too much to hope for
that church members and friends would be expending much energy in the wounded
neighborhoods of our wounded city.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But I don’t think so – I think on the contrary that maybe if
we turned our ministry outwards so that we could all feel that First Church was
relevant and useful in the healing and recovery of the whole city, that it
would paradoxically be easier for the church to heal and recover, because it
would be clear and obvious that we were not standing for ourselves alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And maybe, just maybe, working to
transform our neighbors’ despair into hope would help to transform our own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“What would
it mean to live in a city whose people were changing each other’s despair into
hope?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What would
it mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would that look
like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is to be done?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could we effect such change without the
UU staples of debate, discussion, and more debate and discussion?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could efforts in this direction be made
before the Community Kitchen is built?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Adrienne Rich answers her own question by saying<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">…You yourself must change it. –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though
your life felt arduous<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">new and unmapped and strange<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">what would it mean to stand on the first<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">page to the end of despair?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">I don’t have all the answers – hardly any, in fact – but I do
know some things we can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can
join with the other congregations of the Greater New Orleans UU cluster
(Community Church in particular is doing great things with their partnerships
in the 7<sup>th</sup> Ward), with our Center for Ethical Living<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>& Social Justice Renewal and their
volunteers and local partner organizations, and with people of other faiths and
cultures in New Orleans to do community organizing to redress inequalities, and
transform despair into hope.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Our liberal faith demands it; our own history demands
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has never been enough for
religious liberals to merely give lip service to our democratic ideals or to
our religious beliefs – the God of Moses, Isaiah, Deborah, Jesus, Paul, Mohammed,
Jefferson, Parker, and Martin Luther King Jr. demands that we put our beliefs
into action, that we "walk our talk."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In the past, people of faith, whatever their belief system,
have led the way to justice; in the future — and if New Orleans is to be a
healthy, desirable place for ALL our children to bring up their children – we
must help do it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will do
this by beginning to ask, "What can we do together today to make justice
and build peace for every single one of the people of New Orleans?" and
then doing the work that must be done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When that question is asked in New Orleans, you can bet I want to be in
that number of the saints marching to hope and justice and equality with all of
you, joyfully taking our place in the healing of our city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope and pray that we will face this
challenge, follow the path set out for us by our forebears, and live up to our history
and our ideals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">So might this be!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-30987404982056965112013-01-15T15:00:00.006-08:002013-01-15T15:00:54.953-08:00Unexpected Outbreaks of Cooperation
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">A Sermon by the Rev. Melanie
Morel-Ensminger</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">First Unitarian Universalist
Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sunday, January 13, 2013</span></b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">You
never know when you’re going to need an unexpected outbreak of
cooperation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just this week, an
opportunity arose within our church as confusion over the date of the Martin
Luther King Jr. holiday caused a disruption in planning for this service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within the space of just 2 days, and
with me being a thousand miles away, we had to pull together this morning’s
service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a terrific show of
cooperation and teamwork, office volunteer Jolanda Walter, Music Director Betsy
McGovern, and accompanist Jane Jensen all agreed to drop our carefully laid
plans for this Sunday, move it all to next week (which actually IS Martin
Luther King weekend), and quickly finalize today’s service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had to be done, I couldn’t have done
it alone, and it needed everyone’s cheerful cooperation – it all came together
and I’m so grateful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Today’s
topic really is a fascinating subject:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just how is it that the normal rationally-selfish orientation of an
individual human being becomes cooperative within a community? Natalie Glance
and Bernardo Huberman, co-authors of the Scientific American article excerpted
for our Reading, have studied what is called the social dilemma phenomenon for
years, employing both mathematical analysis and elaborate computer models, and using
previous work by other scientists. From all this work, they have drawn several
conclusions that have important implications for all those involved in a group
of people requiring cooperation, such as unions, corporations, governments,
voluntary organizations -- and of course congregations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short, what we learn from the study
of social dilemmas is important for just about everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">In
general, as in the Diner’s Dilemma scenario, human beings generally function in
ways that tend to maximize the outcome of a situation for themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is, individuals will make such
choices UNLESS some factors enter in that convince a person to act more
altruistically, more in line with the common good of a group or community, even
if that choice is somewhat disadvantageous to themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Glance
and Huberman found that there were 4 factors that increased the amount of
cooperation in a group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First is
the tenure of an individual within the group; that is, how long a person has
been a member, and how long they expect to stay a member.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A person brand-new to the group, or who
is planning to move away, is more likely to act in their own best interest than
to think of the welfare of the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On the other hand, a person who’s been a part of the group for a long
time, or one who plans to make the community their home, tends more toward
behavior that fosters the common good of the group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This
same principle holds true in a church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Folks who are new, or who may not be committed to staying, are less
willing to support the congregation with their time, talent, and treasure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the other hand, generally speaking,
it is often the longest-term members of a church and those who expect to stay
for a long time who are usually its most generous givers and hardest workers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
2<sup>nd</sup> factor in cooperation is the size of the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The larger the crowd, the more
reasonable it would be to expect that the effects of an individual’s action
would be diluted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the dinner
party example, $20-$25 either way makes little difference if the check is being
divided among 30 diners -- but it makes a BIG difference to 5 diners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In general, the larger the group, the
harder it is to maintain cooperation of all the individuals involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Again,
we find that this also works in churches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a very small church, a shortfall of $100 can break the budget; in a
middle-size congregation a deficit of $1000 is a crisis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a large church, there might be
tolerance for variances that would be unthinkable to congregations in the
smaller categories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An amount
that’s hard to raise for 50 people is somewhat easier for 100, and is a walk in
the park for 1000 people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the
same token, once a pattern of non-cooperation has begun -- what Glance and
Huberman call the stability function -- it is much harder to jumpstart
cooperation in a large group than in a small one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The possible positive effects of individuals is diluted in a
large group, and the possible negative consequences loom so large, that the
disincentive to defect vanishes, and cooperation becomes difficult.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">This
is not to say, however, that cooperation is impossible in big groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The examples given by the authors of
the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union show that
cooperation toward even momentous change IS possible in even the largest of
groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To increase the likelihood
of cooperation, Glance and Huberman recommend forming smaller groups within the
large group -- much like the way the UUA recommends the formation and nurture of
small group ministries, or Covenant Groups, within Unitarian Universalist
congregations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
3<sup>rd</sup> factor is the amount of information available to the people in
the group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not too surprisingly,
communication fosters cooperation -- in fact, studies show that redundancy in
communicating, what the authors call “repeated iterations,” promotes
cooperative attitudes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more
the participants talked to one another, the more information that was shared in
the group, the more often the same information was repeated, the greater and
stronger the cooperation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once
again using the Diners Dilemma as our example, if the dinner guests talked out
loud about their menu choices and what they felt like eating (and spending),
then the more likely it would be that all would stay in tune and not attempt to
“free ride” each other.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Perhaps
to even say that communication is important in securing the cooperation of the
members of a congregation is a big DUH!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is certainly something that our congregation has been reminded of
quite recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is a little
surprising how many churches -- including our own -- forget the importance of
good communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">To
increase the spirit of cooperation in any group, but especially a religious
community based in congregational polity, the members have to feel that they
are included, kept informed, and not being led around in the dark by leaders
who don’t trust them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Years ago,
there was a cartoon that circulated around the middle managers of the
Godchaux’s store on Canal Street where I worked as assistant store manager.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cartoon showed an unhappy-looking
mushroom; the caption said, “I must be a mushroom, because they keep me in the
dark and feed me manure.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
store was family-owned and not very open to new ideas and outsiders; it has
since gone out of business.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a strong
and healthy community, there is no such thing as too much communication.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
4<sup>th</sup> factor may surprise you -- it sure did me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is diversity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll bet you thought, as I did, that
the more homogenous the group, the better the cooperative spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disparate beliefs, Glance and Huberman
found, tended to increase the amount of co-operation in a group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their studies showed 2 kinds of
diversity that affected social cooperation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One is a difference in what they called a “threshold” which
basically means different people have different tolerances in different
situations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">The
other difference that impacts cooperation is factions, or small groups within
the larger group that share a particular outlook or point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, among our diners there
might be both struggling students and successful professionals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The variations within the subgroups
would be much smaller than between the 2 subgroups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">What
does this mean for a liberal church?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For one thing, it would mean that there really IS “unity in
diversity.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more inclusive the
church, the more varied the beliefs and philosophies, the easier it is to
foster co-operation, as each different person with their differing threshold
and each subgroup with their new belief system makes the decision to commit to
the community as a whole, causing a rippling cascade effect throughout the
congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of us thinking
alike, all of us agreeing, all of us being of one mind -- turns out to be,
counter-intuitively, the <u>wrong</u> way to build a strong cooperative
religious community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">So
how do you increase cooperation in a social group?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You rely on the example of the most committed individuals
with the longest horizons; you break the larger group into smaller more
cohesive units; you increase the amount of communication and the rate and iteration
of information flow; you open up the group to be more inclusive, more
diverse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you get a UU
congregation to be a more cooperative community, to raise the amount pledged in
the Annual Budget Drive, to get more volunteers for Sunday School, to act in ways
that foster the common good?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
do the same things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But
there’s no utopia, no perfect community, no completely cooperative
congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The automatic default
setting on most human beings is self-interest, not altruism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Folks will always slide back into
seeking a free ride, or getting the most they can while giving the least they
can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The way that Glance and Huberman
chart the flow of cooperative human behavior, it’s easy to see why they say
that building a community will always be “punctuated by unexpected outbreaks of
cooperation.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">But
pockets of collaboration can spread; outbreaks of cooperation can become a
full-scale wave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Community,
although it requires a lessening of the maximized outcome for the individual,
turns out to have unmeasurable benefits that most folks eventually feel is
worth the risk and the trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">It
IS a social dilemma, all right -- how to nurture the spirit of co-operative
community while still valuing and upholding the rights of the individual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it easy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By no means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is
it worth it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe most of us
would join me in saying, from the heart, Oh yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So might this be, for our lives and in this congregation!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">AMEN
-- ASHE – SHALOM -- SALAAM -- NAMASTE -- BLESSED BE!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-25497145467018184052012-11-27T11:44:00.000-08:002012-11-27T11:48:57.268-08:00“On Poverty” – A Sermon for the Sunday after Thanksgiving<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By The Rev. Melanie
Morel-Ensminger</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First Unitarian Universalist
Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sunday, November 25, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we gather to examine
poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a difficult topic,
fraught with shame and blame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember during the 1950s when my father’s union was on strike our family
received a big box of groceries to tide us over and my mother refused to go to
the door to get it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was in
college, my young husband and I went on food stamps, and we tried to time our shopping
when no one we knew would be at the store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently when I attended the ground breaking for the new
Unity for the Homeless building on Louisiana Avenue, several homeless people
spoke in favor of the project; one man spoke almost apologetically, as though
asking forgiveness for being homeless.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Unlike most injuries and illnesses (with the exception , poverty is a condition
for which both those in it and those outside of it assess blame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is shameful to be poor for those who
are, and it is common for those who are not to blame those who are.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">And yet, there are millions of people in our country who are poor
through no fault of their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So many
elderly struggle to get by, so many people who are disabled in some way live in
desperate circumstances, and so many little children are poor – here in our
city, the highest concentration of the poor are children under the age of 12. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it their fault?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Should we blame them?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Some people are poor because it is necessary that they be
so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We live in an economic system
that virtually requires some portion of the population to be poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there were no poor people, then who
would harvest crops, clean houses and hotel rooms, mow lawns, empty bedpans in
nursing homes, and collect garbage?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Saudi Arabia, awash in petroleum wealth, actually imports poor people
from Indonesia and the Philippines to do the kinds of work no Saudi will do –
and to take the abuse that no Saudi would take.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Theologian Walter Brueggerman terms systems that feature
great disparities of entitlement and poverty “Pharoah economies” and he says
prophetically, “Wherever you live, it is probably Egypt.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He points out that just as in ancient
temples there was a courtyard for the common folk; a special inside area for the
initiates; and then a holy of holies open only to the priests and the rulers --
so today are airline seats and healthcare apportioned the same way, in a 3-tier
arrangement that favors a few, creates a small in-crowd, and leaves everyone
else out in the cold.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">The Pharoah economy is characterized by 3 elements, which all
seem normal and right to those who benefit from it: accumulation of wealth;
amassing of political, social, and military power; and the control of
intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In such a society –
and stop me if this sounds familiar – the rich get richer, hold more and more
power, and control secret knowledge unavailable to the many.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a triad that spells poverty,
disease and death to the 99%, while it ensures entitlement and privilege to the
elite.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">If we can free ourselves from the narcotic of materialism
enough to dream, we can imagine a different world, a world organized on
principles of equality and justice, a world without fabulous wealth and also
without dire poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As opposed
to the Pharoah triad of wealth, power, and wisdom, that Walter Brueggerman
calls “triad of death,” there could be, maybe ought to be a triad of justice, right
relations, and loving-kindness, a triad of solidarity and equity, a triad of life.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Our meditation on poverty this morning might have been
familiar to some of us here at some point in our lives; I know I recognize
parts of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So many people live a
daily struggle to make ends meet, to juggle this dire need and against that
equally dire need, to fight against competing goods – pay the credit card bill
or pay the car registration?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Gamble without health insurance or keep your child from all
extracurricular activities that cost money?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pay higher rent to live in a nicer neighborhood or pay lower
rent and chance your child being in a bad environment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of these are easy choices, and
each has its drawbacks.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">It was academic for us this morning, to sit in meditation and
make our imaginary decisions, but it is not a game to the nearly one-third of
the citizens of New Orleans, over 74,000 men, women, and children, who live
below the poverty line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who are
they to us, these folks who are poor, who live in shabby neighborhoods with no
grocery stores, in apartments and houses that the landlords won’t maintain, who
deal with crime and gangs, whose children attend the worst schools in the city,
and who receive the worst healthcare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Who are they to us?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">They are not the Enemy and not the Other and not Strangers; they
are our sisters and brothers, our fellow New Orleanians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They share our geography, our culture,
our humanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we are “our
brother’s keeper,” they call us to responsibility and accountability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The presence of so much poverty in the
city we love reminds us of the necessity of the triad of life – justice, right
relations, and compassion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">It is possible to dream of a world based on such principles,
but is it practical? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it even
fair to preach about eliminating poverty to a small congregation, one with its
own deep financial challenges?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Isn’t it beyond even the larger numbers of 3 combined churches of the
Greater New Orleans UU cluster?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Here is what I think – the seeming impossibility of the right
thing to do is no reason not to do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If a thing is right, it is right even if it is difficult or
impossible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">We are a covenanted community – we have made certain promises
to each other, some explicit and some implicit, about how we will be in the
world, towards each other and towards all other human beings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically what we have promised or
covenanted is the same as the triad of life – justice, right relations, and loving-kindness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what we owe each other and what
we owe to all our fellow citizens.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Even in our present numbers and state of finances, there are
things we can do, things we ought to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We can stand with our community partner organizations made up of poor
folks and those who work with poor folks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We can demand justice for wage theft, and press our city and state
government to make real penalties for those who cheat their workers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can monitor and support our public
schools, and volunteer to read to kindergarteners and help tutor young students
in need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can work with Unity to
end homelessness in New Orleans; we can lobby for more affordable housing units
to replace the public housing that was demolished.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Yes, we are a small church, and yes, we are not a wealthy
church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we have a certain
amount of influence and power, if we choose to use it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are things we can do, things we
can devise, to improve the lives of our sisters and brothers in New
Orleans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">I am struck by what Albert Ruesga, of the Greater New Orleans
Foundation, said in an interview with the <u>Times-Picayune</u>, that “history
will not absolve us” if we allow post-Katrina New Orleans to be filled with the
same inequities and injustices that existed before the Storm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suppose in a more orthodox church it
might be said that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">God</b> will not
absolve us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For Unitarian
Universalists, I hope it’s enough to say that our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">consciences </b>will not absolve us.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">It may well be true, as Jesus is supposed to have said, that
the poor will always be with us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But that their circumstances should be so dire, so desperate, so painful
and so difficult – that, I think, does not have to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the Sunday after our national
holiday of satiation, of napping with full stomachs, and of dining for days on
delicious leftovers, let us resolve to dedicate ourselves to being allies of
the poor in our city, to doing what we can to alleviate and improve the
situation of our sisters and brothers struggling with poverty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">May
this be so!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM –
SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 36px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">
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</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">SOME STATISTICS ON POVERTY
IN NOLA</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
Federal Poverty Income Level for 2012 for an individual is $11, 170; for a
couple it’s $15,130. For a family
of three, it is $19,000, and for a family of four, it’s $23,050. For each additional person in a family
unit, add just under $4,000.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Based
on 2010 Census information, 31.5% of New Orleans resident live on annual income
below the federal poverty level, while only 22.7% of the residents of the state
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>11.6% of New Orleans residents
have annual incomes below 50% of the federal poverty level, while only 7.2% of
all Louisiana residents do.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">52%
of the male residents of New Orleans living below the poverty level are aged
5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>60.8% of the female residents
of New Orleans living below the poverty level are aged 15 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of those New Orleans residents living
below the poverty level 61,868 are African-American and 12,357 are white.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The highest concentrations of poor New
Orleanians are children under the age of 12:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>25.9% are under 5; 26.4% are 5 years old; and 24.4% are aged
6-11 years.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The
demolition of many of the city’s housing projects post-Katrina were supposed to
lead to less concentration of poor residents in particular neighborhoods, but
in a report published in March 2012, it was found that nearly 4 out of 10
children in New Orleans live in high-poverty neighborhoods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Researchers believe that concentrated poverty
isolates poor residents from opportunity and services, leading to higher crime
rates, joblessness, failing schools and ill health. Brookings Institution
analysts call this a "double burden": Families with little money find
their struggles exacerbated when they live in areas of concentrated poverty.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">37%
of all New Orleans households would not be able to survive for more than 3
months if their main source of income were disrupted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many would not last 3 months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Researchers say it would take a minimum of $5,000 for a
family of 3 to cover basic needs for 3 months.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Albert Ruesga,
president and chief executive of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, said the
data on local poverty are a "call to action" for foundations,
nonprofits, churches, local governments, employers, and banks to find solutions
on how to improve the financial security of local residents. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ruesga said,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"History
will not absolve us if we create in post-Katrina New Orleans the same disparities
that existed before." <span style="font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-15047874000251254492012-08-15T11:16:00.001-07:002012-08-15T11:16:46.446-07:00Revisiting The Port Huron Statement at 50
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A Sermon by the Rev. Melanie
Morel-Ensminger</span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">First Unitarian Universalist
Church of New Orleans<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sunday, August 12, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a funny scene in an even funnier movie, “The Big Lebowski,”
the iconic “Dude,” portrayed by Jeff Bridges, tries to impress a woman by
claiming to have been one of the authors of “the original Port Huron statement”
and disavows any connection to what he disparagingly calls <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“the compromised 2<sup>nd</sup> draft.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For millions of people, this is all
they know of the Port Huron Statement, which marked its 50<sup>th</sup>
anniversary in June.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I think
we should remember the Port Huron Statement, remember that it was brave and
prophetic and visionary, remember that despite its relative obscurity to the
general public, it had a far-reaching effect on justice movements that followed
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Learning the story can be an
object lesson in how being effective in the long term can mean failing in the
short term – something I believe that we religious liberals need to be reminded
of from time to time.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is difficult to look back now on the summer of 1962.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an almost impossibly innocent
time, very different from today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There was almost no campus unrest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The only public protests were coming from disenfranchised African-Americans
in the South and these were not yet highly publicized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There had not been a political assassination of a national
figure in this country since the shooting death of Huey Long in Louisiana in 1935.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Cold War was raging, and many
people feared nuclear Armageddon was imminent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A proxy war was going on in a place called Vietnam, where
American troop levels had recently tripled, but the war had not yet escalated,
and American casualties had yet to become an issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was no second-wave feminism, no American Indian
movement, and no environmental movement (indeed, as shown on an episode of <u>Mad
Men</u>, at this time many families routinely abandoned their trash at picnic
sites).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gay, lesbian, and
transgender folks were deeply in the closet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the most part, people, especially white people, felt
they could trust their government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most of it sounds almost comically foreign to today’s world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And into this time of relative comfort, relative prosperity,
and relative apathy, came a group of fewer than 100 university students, most
of them white and middle class, for a convention at a run-down camp outside of
Detroit owned by the AFL-CIO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
group had already undergone an evolution:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>begun as the Student League for Industrial Democracy back in 1905, it
had been for generations the university arm of the organized labor
movement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1960, deciding that
the name and the overt labor connection were not conducive to recruiting new
members, a group at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor changed the name to
Students for a Democratic Society, SDS for short.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A convention was called for June 1962 in Port Huron, Michigan, and students all over the country were invited.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To prime the pump, so to speak, a draft statement was written
before the convention by recent graduate and fledgling journalist (later SDS
president) Tom Hayden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He worked
on it from March until the convention began on June 11, citing diverse secular
and religious philosophers, including Pope John XXIII (hard to imagine any
so-called radical group today quoting a Catholic pope!), and drawing on the
concept of “participatory democracy” espoused by his philosophy professor at
Michigan, Arnold Kaufman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
draft – hotly debated, edited, and revised – became what was released on the
convention’s last day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The copy I
downloaded from the Internet runs to 40 pages and over 25,000 words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 296.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is an interesting and idealistic,
if dated, document.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In it, SDS
criticizes big business AND organized labor; economic inequality and lack of
jobs AND the arms race (for which it faults Russia and the United States
equally); the Republican Party AND the Democratic Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It attacks racial discrimination and
the idea that America is always virtuous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It calls for increased worker involvement in decisions about their
workplaces, and for an enlarged public sector with more protections for those
at the bottom of society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
promotes participatory democracy, with real participation by real people, as a
solution to most of what it critiques about American society.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Presciently, the Port Huron Statement decries single-issue
politics, and declares that all the problems it cites – racism, militarism,
classism, colonialism, ethnocentrism, lack of jobs, corruption in big-city
politics, urban blight, political apathy, and so on – are interrelated, and
must be fought together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
view of political and moral challenges being all-of-a-piece was definitely well
ahead of its time and presaged the UU principle of the interconnected web by
several years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The statement was unabashedly spiritual in its focus, citing
a “disillusion” in American values when faced with the hypocrisy of the arms
race and the racial situation, and a “decline of hope” in the country, saying
that to be idealistic was considered “deluded.” The authors declare the country
to be in “stalemate” and its people “apathetic and manipulated,” living in a
pervasive climate of fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They stared
down materialism, and ringingly declared (in the original exclusive language): <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the
vast distance between man and man today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These dominant tendencies cannot be overcome by better personnel
management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of man overcomes the
idolatrous worship of things by man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And this in a time when there weren‘t <u>nearly</u> the over-whelming
amount and ubiquity of “gadgets” in society as there are today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Indeed, one even wonders exactly what gadgets
the young adults of 1962 could have been so concerned about.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A page earlier, the authors wrote movingly, with
near-religious fervor (again in the exclusive language of its time), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“We regard men as infinitely precious and
possessed of unfulfilled capacities for reason, freedom, and love.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A beautiful statement of faith in
humanity, completely unscientific and unprovable and thus clearly in the realm
of spirituality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Port Huron Statement went further and called for the arms
race to be supplanted by a “peace race,” and declared that the country’s
“principal goal should be creating a world where hunger, poverty, disease,
ignorance, violence, and exploitation are replaced…by abundance, reason, love,
and international cooperation” – propositions which they admitted would be seen
by “many” as “juvenile hallucination.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But this also presaged another principle of Unitarian Universalism, that of “the goal
of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 295.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The statement was ahead of its time
in other important ways as well, decrying the plight of America’s great cities
(which hadn’t even deteriorated in 1962 to the extent they have today), lack of
mental health facilities and adequate pub-lic hospitals (ditto), prisons as
“enforcers of misery,” the de-cline of American public education (this at a
time that many today consider a “golden age” of public schools), “institutions
and practices that stifle dissent,” and agricultural policies based on
scarcity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who among us here today
would argue with any of these points?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And who doesn’t feel a certain frisson of disappointment that the points
and the suggestions made by the idealistic young people in the Port Huron
Statement were not more widely shared and implemented?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our Children’s Story this morning,
adapted from one in “Tales for Little Rebels,” was first published in the early
part of the 20<sup>th</sup> century, 1912 to be exact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It speaks of someone imprisoned behind
walls, a place once comforting and nurturing, but growing to consciousness of
confinement and constriction, and finally having to break out of quietness and
apathy to break down the walls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
young people of Students for a Democratic Society also came to consciousness of
confinement and constriction, in a time of quietness and apathy, and decided that
they too had to break down the walls.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is not the place of this sermon
to defend what happened later inside the SDS, nor to offer an apology for any
actions taken in later years by disaffected former members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My purpose was to lift up the content
of the Port Huron Statement (to remember what it really said, and not what folks may <u>think</u> it said), and to
salute the authors and signers for their prescient assessment of important
political and moral issues, and their heart-felt endorsement of humanity with
peace, equality, justice, freedom, and participatory democracy for all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were, at least for a time, on the
side of the angels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their concerns
are our concerns (or ought to be); their commitment to true democratic
principles is our commitment; their religious faith in the potential of every
human person is also ours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If I have piqued your interest, and
stimulated you to read the statement in full, and/or to watch the SDS segment
of the series on the 60s on the PBS website, or if this sermon just causes you
to rethink your opinions in some way, then I will feel I have accomplished some
small thing. And if this sermon inspires you to get involved in the participatory democracy movements and justice issues of our time, so much the better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So dedicated were these brave young
prophets from Port Huron, now in their 70s, to collective action and
non-hierarchical relations that we know very few of their names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we can still send out our grateful
thanks for their ideas, their idealism, their dedication, and their spiritual
grounding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether consciously or
not, the movements that followed them owe them no little debt, including the
Occupy movement of today.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 128.0pt; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Let us rededicate ourselves, as the
Port Huron Statement says, to “abolish squalor, terminate neglect, and establish
an environment for people to live in with dignity and creativeness.” </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">May
this be so! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM –
SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-7850449762640137992012-05-23T10:06:00.004-07:002012-05-23T10:06:36.458-07:00MY HYPHENATED THEOLOGY – AND MAYBE YOURS TOO<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>A Sermon for New Member
Sunday</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>By The Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>First Unitarian Universalist
Church of New Orleans</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Sunday, May 20, 2012<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Recently a First Churcher asked about my personal theology,
and I realized that it was not a topic that we as a congregation have done much
talking about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bringing in a
Consulting Minister after a major disaster is not a situation that allows for a
lot of congregational choice, and when that minister is a former member of the
congregation, there may be a certain amount of “been there, done that”
attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the minister's
theology is a subject of much discussion when a congregation searches for a
settled minister, and there’s usually a lot of questioning of the potential new
minister about what that minister believes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I candidated for the ministries in Chattanooga,
Tennessee, and in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, there was a lot of lively
conversation about my compound theology, and in the course of those exchanges,
those congregations and I learned a lot about each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And over my years of being a UU, I’ve
discovered that I am not alone in having a spirituality that is, as they say on
Facebook, “complicated.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today’s service of welcoming new members is the perfect time
for sharing about what I believe and what is my spiritual practice (or what ARE
my spiritual practiceS), because one thing I’ve learned in nearly 20 years of
UU ministry is that I am not alone in crafting together my own individual
theology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most contemporary UUs
have put together more than one strand of our Living Tradition as their
personal brand of spirituality, and it’s good for our newest members to hear
about this practice and begin to incorporate this understanding into their way
of being Unitarian Universalist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What’s really interesting to me is that if you go online to
look up the topic, you discover that other religious denominations also speak
of “hyphenated theology,” but they mean something different than what I’m
talking about here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When other
faiths say “hyphenated theology,” they are usually referring to cultural or
ethnic identity coupled with Christianity, such as, African-American-Christian
or Korean-Christian, or they mean putting together two different Christian
denominations, such as a Methodist-Lutheran or a Presbyterian-Baptist.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I or another UU says "hyphenated theology" we
mean something completely different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For example, take me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ask
me about my theology, and I'll answer, "I'm a Buddhist-Christian-Pagan-
Humanist." I usually add, "not always in that order."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the main reasons I'm a UU -- and
a UU minister -- is that there is no other faith that would allow me to be all
of who I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope that at least
portions of my religious journey resonate with yours.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was raised Roman Catholic, but not completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By that I mean, I was baptized a
Catholic, was sent to parochial school, and took the sacraments, but it was not
our family faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For various
reasons, our parents did not attend church with us, and since neither my mother
nor my father were knowledgable about Catholicism, they could not answer any
questions or help us to deepen our practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I learned about Jesus and Catholic doctrine in school, and
while I liked and admired Jesus And his stories, I was always iffy about points
of Catholic teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn't
make myself believe in hell, and I certainly couldn't believe that good people
of non-Christian religions were all going there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I was a Universalist before I knew there was a word for
it.). It didn't help matters that I felt drawn to the priesthood -- a fact I
learned quite early to keep to myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As soon as I was given the choice, I stopped stopped attending
Mass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I experimented for a while
with the short-lived Catholic community movement, where I had my first
experiences with designing liturgy and preaching a homily -- but in the end I
felt the Catholic Church had rejected me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After that I turned to what you might call the religion of my
father:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a compassionate, engaged,
activist humanism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father once
explained to me how he had first gotten involved in organized labor and civil
rights by saying, "I couldn't stand how they treated people," which
may be as good and succinct way to describe humanism as there is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humanism is the honoring of what is
human, our reason, our intelligence, our instincts, our emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Humanism is caring for other people; it
is the very life expression of being humane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For my father as for many other humanists of his generation,
humanism was not merely a rejection of conventional religion and orthodox
doctrine, it was also a call to action wherever there might be injustice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father's humanism drew him to work
for justice for workers and for people of color; I added to that the great
justice issues of my time, the Viet Nam war, feminism and equal rights for gay,
lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersexed people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got involved in anti-war protests,
the Equal Rights Amendment, Dutch Morial's campaign to become the first black
mayor of New Orleans, against nuclear power, and healthcare accessibility
issues for people of color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I did not think I needed religion -- justice was my theology,
and the people engaged with me in all this good work were my community, my
congregation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I had any
lingering yearnings for the way I sometimes felt during prayer or in the Mass,
I kept that a secret even to myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were times in my work for justice when I felt a wave of
transporting, transcendent emotion -- like on the night Dutch was elected --
but on the whole I thought I was doing just fine without religion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">During this period I married and had a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's funny now to look back and see how
I unknowingly turned pregnancy into a spiritual practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I who never execised went regularly to
fitness classes for expectant moms; I who never cared what I ate went on a
special high-protein good-for-the-baby diet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From my healthcare activism, I knew too much about what
could go wrong with childbirth in a hospital, and so I found and worked with a
midwife to do a home birth, complete with birthing classes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without knowing I was doing so, I
entered into a readiness for feminist spirituality, with its honoring of the
physical functions and capabilities of women's bodies, its treatment of birth
and nursing as sacraments, its cloistered precincts dominated by women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my son Stephen was born, I felt
powerfully connected through time and space to all women who had ever given
birth, and to a nameless and faceless Goddess who also gave birth and nurtured.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was having the baby that brought me to Unitarian
Universalism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By whatever
conventional reasoning, we thought the baby needed a church -- needed some kind
of religious education to help give our child answers to Life's big questions
(hopefully answers that the baby's father and I wouldn't gag at).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a very short search, we ended up
one summer Sunday in this congregation, in the building at 1800 Jefferson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And here I found the religion I thought
I had made up in my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was so
relieved, and so sorry I hadn't found this faith earlier, I wept.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So here I was, with my activist humanism, my New Orleans
Catholic background, and my nascent yearnings toward feminist theology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you believe in coincidence, you
won't be surprised to hear that soon after I became a UU, in the early 1980s,
the UUA published the adult curricula "Cakes for the Queen of Heaven"
and through taking that course I finally learned of the pagan origins of
Catholic rituals I missed, and heard the stories of the great Mother Goddesses
who had been worshiped before the advent of Christianity. The ground was
prepared and the seeds took root, and I became an enthusiastic pagan, helping
to found this congregation's first pagan group, and joining the Covenant of UU
Pagans, the denominational gathering of UUs around the world, where over time I
have served in several leadership roles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I soon incorporated into my new pagan practice the customs of folk
Voodoo, many of which had been familiar to me since childhood, such as
devotional visits to the tomb of Marie LaVeau (who in her day had been both
Voodoo high priestess and a devout Catholic) and making gris-gris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I have never been trained or joined a
Voodoo group, but my research and practice on my own have been important to
me.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But becoming a pagan did not make me any less a humanist -- being
non-literal about religion, caring for people, and being active in justice work
and politics were all still very important to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess it helped that, like my father, I had never been an
"anti-god" humanist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
remember one time my father giving money to my sister who going to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>St. Louis Cathedral, telling her to
light candles for his parents and siblings who had died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My sister said incredulously, "But
Daddy, you don't believe in all that stuff!" and him replying quietly,
"No, but they did." I learned from him to respect the beliefs of
others, even when I didn't share those beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I guess you might say I was a UU Humanist-Pagan when I
attended my first UUA General Assembly in the mid-1980s, and got unexpectedly
blown away by a worship service led by two UU Christian ministers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn't even know there was such a
thing as a UU Christian, let alone a UU Christian minister!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was amazed at the different, liberal,
non-literal way they interpreted familiar stories from the Bible, and it felt
wonderful to be hearing again about good ol' Jesus, but without the oppression
of so much forced doctrine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
learned that liberal Christians don't have to believe Jesus was God, and that
was SO incredibly freeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that
GA, I participated in communion for the first time since Dutch Morial's
funeral, and I felt connected to all the people throughout two millennia who
had shared that riual meal and remembered Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once again in a UU worship service, I cried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I joined the UU Christian Fellowship,
and served that organization in several leadership roles. I guess I had become
a UU Humanist-Pagan-Christian.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By the late 1980s, I had stopped trying to forget that I had
once aspired to the priesthood, and followed my call to ministry into seminary
-- which in my case was the Loyola University Institute for Ministry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In seminary, I met the Jesuit priest
who was only half jokingly called "Zen Ben Wren" and learned about
Buddhism and meditation practice and the conscious effort to "be here
now." For me, with my near-frantic planning and looking ahead and
anxieties about what might or might not happen in the near and far future,
Buddhism was a great gift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
practiced mindfulness while riding the streetcar, while washing dishes, while
walking to pick up my son at school.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a way that might sound strange to you but not to me, I found that
Buddhism deepened my pagan and Christian spiritualities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And so over the course of time I became what I am today and
what only a Unitarian Universalist can be:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my own personal spiritual and theological blend of
Christian-Pagan-Humanist-Buddhist, not always in that order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray, sometimes to God and sometimes
to Goddess; I meditate and practice mindfulness; I use the Voodoo tarot given
to me as an ordination gift for guidance and divination (and sometimes for fun); I take communion with
UUs whenever I can; I visit Marie LaVeau's tomb and ask for help (and while I'm
there, I throw in a request to guide the city to her next-door neighbor, Dutch
Morial).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sure, there are times when I am more one theology than the
others, but there are never times when I feel ONLY one. And there has never
been a time when I felt I would better fit in some other church or
religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, who would
take me?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On this New Member Sunday, I want to challenge all of
you: What's YOUR hyphenate? How has your life experience conjugated
your spirituality? Are you a Mystical
Humanist? A Buddhist-Christian or
a Zen Atheist? A
Jewish-Pagan? A Voodoo UU? Don't be fooled into thinking, as some
other religions teach, that in order to be UU you have to give up whatever you
loved from your religious journey.
As religious liberals, we have both the freedom and the responsibility
to "build our own theology" out of the lumber of our lives and
experiences and learnings. While
it may be a little more challenging than the faiths that tell what you have to
believe in order to belong, it sure is a lot more interesting, and sometimes,
fun. To our newest members, I say, We are glad that you've joined us on this quest. May we honor each other's journeys, and learn from them. <b>So might this be! AMEN -- ASHé -- SHALOM -- SALAAM -- NAMASTE -- BLESSED BE!</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-89821003943996056152012-05-01T14:52:00.001-07:002012-05-01T14:52:51.683-07:00Easter Sunday 2012<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">READING BEFORE SERMON, EASTER SUNDAY 2012<br />taken from an essay by the late Rev. Suzanne Meyer, from when she was serving First UU Church, New Orleans</span><br /><blockquote>
Lover of the quick profit, the annual raise,<br />vacation with pay. Want more<br />of everything ready made. Be afraid<br />to know your neighbors and to die.<br />And you will have a window in your head.<br />Not even your future will be a mystery<br />any more. Your mind will be punched in a card<br />and shut away in a little drawer.</blockquote>
<br /><br />This Easter I encourage you to practice resurrection. Note, I did not say, “believe in resurrection,” I said practice it! For the poet Wendell Berry, practicing resurrection doesn't refer to a metaphysical act or a theological proposition. For Berry, the art and science of resurrection is found in those countless disciplined acts of resistance to all of the forces in modern life that dehumanize, oppress, and reduce precious individuals to robots. Don’t let your mind be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer -- wage a guerilla campaign on behalf of love, justice, and joy. Practice resurrection!<br /><br /><blockquote>
When they want you to buy something<br />they will call you. When they want you<br />to die for profit, they will let you know.<br />So, friends, every day do something<br />that won't compute. Love the Lord.</blockquote>
<br /><br />In the springtime, in the greening time, as life is renewed, we must renew our opposition to all the forces that crush the spirit, erode the soul, stifle freedom. We must place our hope in the things that endure. For this is eternal life. Berry says: <span style="font-style: italic;">“Invest in the millennium -- plant sequoias.”</span> In what he calls his “Manifesto,” Berry encourages us to<br /><br /><blockquote>
Love the world. Work for nothing.<br />Take all you have and be poor.<br />Love someone who does not deserve it.<br />Denounce the government and embrace<br />the flag. Hope to live in that free<br />republic for which it stands.</blockquote>
<br /><br />Practicing resurrection means expanding the sense of self outward from the rather arbitrary borders of our own skins, becoming so large and expansive that death no longer has any dominion. Buddhist Joanna Macy writes: <span style="font-style: italic;">“The way we define and delimit the self is arbitrary.”</span><br /><br />Berry shares Macy’s expanded sense of the self. His theology is juicy, erotic, rebellious, some would say mad. He is a heretic because he refuses to believe that resurrection was a one time only, one-person only event. We are the living dead buried under all of the flotsam and jetsam of modern living, seduced by the false promises of secular materialism. We are cut off from the earth, the soil, the humus, the natural cycles of life and death. Life is an innately spiritual experience; and we have lost touch with that. Much of Western religion has been necrophilic -- death loving, world renouncing. But we have it within ourselves to rise, to become biophilic -- life loving, world embracing. Resist! Refuse! Recycle! Resurrection happens! So practice resurrection. <span style="font-weight: bold;">So ends the reading.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Coming Back from the Dead” A Homily for Easter<br />by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, April 8, 2012</span><br /><br />There is a rather famous Easter story that is supposed to have occurred in a New England Universalist church some 60-odd years ago. One Easter Sunday, the choir was processing down the center aisle, singing an old Universalist hymn entitled, “Up From the Grave He Rose.” There was a hot air register in the middle of the aisle and the last soprano got her high heel caught in the grating. She kept on singing, stepped out of her shoe, and kept on walking. The man behind her, thinking he was doing her a favor, picked up the shoe -- and the whole grate came with it.<br /><br />Nobody missed a beat. The man walked on with the shoe and the grate in his hand, and, still in tune and still in step, the man right behind him fell into the open register and dropped from sight. As the choir sang the final “Allelulia! He arose!” the congregation was startled -- to say the least -- when a shout came from the hole in the floor: <span style="font-style: italic;">“You'd better all be out of the way, because I'm coming up!”</span><br /><br />I’m told that the man emerged from the netherworld of the crawl space, as the choir burst into the second Easter hymn, and the whole congregation cheered. Resurrection took place in a Universalist church that Easter, and everyone shared in it.<br /><br />One of the biggest differences between Unitarian Universalists and our sisters and brothers of more traditional faiths, as Suzanne Meyer points out, is that most of them believe that resurrection was a one-time-only event for one-person-only, with the rest of us promised resurrection only after we die and only if we're good enough, while we religious liberals realize how often such events as rebirth and resurrection occur in each and every one of our lives. We all share in them.<br /><br />The story of Jesus is not the earliest one we have of a godlike figure dying and rising again. It seems that humans have always needed to be reminded of the possibility and hope of renewal and that is why Easter-type stories of rebirth and resurrection are part of human religious history. (Interestingly, the majority of these early figures are female.) The first deity to die, enter the underworld, and return to the living was the Sumerian goddess Inanna, who was seeking answers and more power. The second was likely the Egyptian goddess Isis, who was seeking her lost love, Osiris. The ancient Greeks had Persephone, who either went willingly or was kidnapped, depending on which version of the myth you choose to go by. Our own name for this holiday, Easter, comes from the name of the Indo-European dawn goddess of the east whose special celebrations always took place at the vernal equinox. In different regions, she was known as Eostre, Astarte, Ashera, Aurora. (Another item of interest is the fact that many scholars believe the Jewish heroine-queen Esther whose holiday, Purim, is also celebrated at the spring equinox, is a manifestation of the Canaanite version of this same goddess.)<br /><br />The rituals of the springtime dawn goddess varied with the culture and region, but usually included baskets of flowers and spring greenery, a dawn service, and baby animals such as lambs, goats, rabbits. Eggs, symbols of the goddess's sacred womb of rebirth and of the fertility of the spring season, were also part of the holiday in many places. Children were honored as embodiments of new life. (Stop me if any of this sounds familiar.)<br /><br />Whether ancient peoples believed in the stories told about their various goddesses literally or metaphorically we will never really know, and it doesn't matter. We religious liberals in the 21st century are free to view them as useful and beautiful symbols, without fretting over historic or scientific accuracy, which is not the point anyway. Rebirth and resurrection are necessary to being human; they are needs from deep within us. We especially seem to feel it at this time of year.<br /><br />Spring itself feels like a rebirth and resurrection of our earth, the Japanese magnolias and redbuds and forsythias and all the soft new green, lifting our spirits with their beauty and their scent (even when they also irritate our sinuses).<br /><br /><blockquote>
•There's the rebirth and resurrection of finding a religious home where you can be yourself, with all your doubts and questions and life experiences, after you had given up hope that there could be a church for you.<br />•There's the rebirth and resurrection of finding love when you feel you didn't “earn” it or that you don't “deserve” it. (It's lucky for all of us that love isn’t apportioned that way, because so few of us would get any.)<br />•There's the rebirth and resurrection of rising again after dealing with addictions and substance abuse, and discovering you can go, one day at a time, into a life of sobriety.<br />•There’s the rebirth and resurrection of finding a way to keep on keeping on after a tragedy or disaster. (Now, there’s a resurrection First Churchers and other New Orleanians know about first-hand!)<br />•There's the rebirth and resurrection of finding friends when you need them the most, when an illness or a death or a catastrophe has put you in the tomb-like darkness of despair and alienation. All of these rebirths and resurrections can be celebrated as signs that renewal is always possible, even in a world like ours, dominated by death and tragedy and cynicism and pain.</blockquote>
<br /><br />In Rev. Suzanne’s essay, poet Wendell Berry reminds us that the forces of the tomb are always out there, ready to lay to rest all the mystery and juice and beauty of life in exchange for the mess of pottage that is secular materialism. Believing in rebirth and resurrection means placing our hopes in what endures: love, compassion, the things of the earth, the natural cycles of loss and return.<br /><br />My colleague Maureen Killoran of our church in Asheville, North Carolina, writes that<br /><blockquote>
[r]esurrection literally means "to rise again," to rise up from the ashes of destruction and, like the phoenix, set forth anew upon the path of life. Each of us, by virtue of being alive, has fallen. Resurrection means to come back from those deaths both large and small, our times of imprisonment in the tomb of the soul. Resurrection means to triumph over opposition, and each of us has, at one time or another, faced [our] fear and moved beyond.</blockquote>
<br /><br />For us as religious liberals, coming back from the dead does not occur when an angel, or some other supernatural being, appears after 3 days or 3 weeks or 3 years to roll away the stones upon our hearts. We come back from the dead when courage and hope reach through our despair and pain; we come back from the dead when we engage the world not as a threat, not as a monster, not even as a necessary evil, but as a delightful challenge. We come back from the dead when we are realistic about what we can accomplish and yet let our sense of mirth and play help us to determine where to draw the line.<br /><br />On this beautiful Easter day, I invite you to take a moment to reflect on the times in your life when you have been in the dark of the tomb of the soul. It may have been a disappointment so great that you tried to insulate yourself from the world. Or it may have been a loss of someone or something so beloved that you felt abandoned and alone. Whatever it was, each one of us has felt it -- that feeling of fear, dark and cold, like being shut away in a tomb.<br /><br />From there, I ask you to remember what it was that brought you "back from the dead" -- the person or community that supported, comforted, and encouraged you, who made you feel alive once more. Something or someone came to us when we were locked in a cave in our souls and rolled away the stone, revealing a deeper dimension of hope and connection. This Easter, I encourage you to practice rebirth and resurrection by recalling to mind your own times of hopeful renewal.<br /><br />Rebirth and resurrection -- they're not unique, legendary, supernatural events, but the stuff of life, your life and mine. And there may be no better time to contemplate all that renews and returns than glorious Springtime. May this Eastertide find us heartened and challenged by our own times of rebirth and resurrection in the midst of the darkness of our times: deception, meaningless, materialism, despair. May we daily find the miracles of hope we need to truly live, instead of merely surviving. <span style="font-weight: bold;">So might this be! AMEN –ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-40451090827779860562012-05-01T13:30:00.001-07:002012-05-01T13:30:39.328-07:00Jazz Fest Service: "Rhythm Saved the World"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><b>A Service by The Reverend Melanie Morel-Ensminger</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><b>First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><b>Sunday, April 29, 2012</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“Rhythm Saved the World”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">According
to Pops Armstrong, rhythm has played a part in all justice movements, going
back to Joshua’s trumpet at Jericho.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In honor of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival this weekend, this service
pulls some hymns out of our UU hymnals and looks at how they came to be written
during what great social<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>justice movement
in history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Some
of what you learn today you might already know, but other information may be
new to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either way, knowing
how these songs were first used and what they originally meant will enrich our
experience of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We on the
Worship Team hope you enjoy this service and that it sends you off to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jazz Fest in the right spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And if you’re not going to Jazz Fest
today, that it gives you a great musical feeling anyway.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">“Bread and Roses”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The slogan "<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Bread and Roses</span>" originated in a poem of that name by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Oppenheim"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">James Oppenheim</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">,
published in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Magazine"><i><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">The American
Magazine</span></i></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> in December 1911, which attributed it to
"the women in the West." It is commonly associated with a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_textile_strike"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">textile strike</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence,_Massachusetts"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Lawrence</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">,
</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Massachusetts</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
during January–March 1912, now often known as the "</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_Roses_strike"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Bread and Roses
strike</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">".<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Lawrence_Textile_Strike"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">1912 Lawrence Textile
Strike</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">, which united dozens of immigrant communities
under the leadership of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Workers_of_the_World"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Industrial Workers
of the World</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">, was led to a large extent by women. The
popular mythology of the strike includes signs being carried by women reading <i>"We
want bread, but we want roses, too!"</i>, though the image is probably
ahistorical.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">A 1915 labor anthology, <i>The Cry for
Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest</i> by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Upton Sinclair</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">,
is the first known source to attribute the phrase to the Lawrence strikers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A republication of Oppenheim's poem in
1912, following the strike, attributed it to "Chicago Women Trade
Unionists". To circumvent an injunction against loitering in front of the
mills, the strikers formed the first moving </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picketing_(protest)"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">picket line</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
in the US.</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">[3][4]</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The strike was settled on March 14, 1912 on
terms generally favorable to the workers. The workers won pay increases,
time-and-a-quarter pay for overtime, and a promise of no discrimination against
strikers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The slogan appeals for both fair wages
and dignified conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“Spirit of Life”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">As a UU World magazine article put it
back in 2007, ‘Spirit of Life” holds a unique place in the spiritual lives of
UUs around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">In
six short lines “Spirit of Life” touches so much that is central to our
faith—compassion, justice, community, freedom, reverence for nature, and the
mystery of life. It finds the common ground held by humanists and theists,
pagans and Christians, Buddhists and Jews, gay and straight among us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">Written in the early 1980’s, by
feminist and UU sympathizer Carolyn McDade, it was inspired by a late-night
meeting at a college over solidarity with oppressed people in Central
America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She scribbled the words
and a simple melody line on a piece of paper, and gave copies of it to be used
in mimeographed songbooks for women’s groups and groups<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>working for justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It circulated that way for years, and
in the early ‘90’s, the UU Hymnbook Commission asked permission to include it
in what we know now as the gray hymnal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At First, McDade didn’t want it to be printed as a hymn, because she
didn’t think of it as a hymn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
the commission members told her that if “Spirit of Life” was not in the new
hymnal, they feared they would all be killed by angry UUs!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She relented and it was enshrined as #123, perhaps the best-known and
most beloved of all UU songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“We Shall Overcome”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;">“We Shall Overcome” began its life
as an early gospel, originally called “I’ll Overcome Someday,” written by </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">African-American
composer </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Albert_Tindley"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Charles Albert Tindley</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
in 1901.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It underwent a slight
transformation in lyrics at the famous training school for labor and civil
rights activists, Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee, where my
father trained before World War II and where Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King,
Jr. later attended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At Highlander,
</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zilphia_Horton"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Zilphia Horton</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">,
wife of Highlander co-founder Myles Horton, who was serving as Highlander’s music
director (don’t you find it interesting that a social justice training center
had to have a music director?), reworked the hymn for use by organizers, with
help from Highlander alum Pete Seeger<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
published in 1947 as “We Will Overcome” by Pete Seeger’s </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Songs"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">People's Songs</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The song was
taught to countless </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">organizers, who brought the song to
countless other people. The Highlander version was first recorded by folk singer </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Glazer"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Joe Glazer</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">,
in 1950.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It quickly became the civil
rights movement's unofficial anthem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">There is a story that is told about a
Unitarian summer camp at Highlander that was raided late one night by the
Tennessee State Police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the
frightened youth and their counselors were rousted from their tents in the dark
by angry state troupers, the story goes, one Unitarian girl began to quietly
sing, “We are not afraid” and all the campers and the adult chaperones took it
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that is how that stanza
came to be part of “We Shall Overcome.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I do not know if that story is completely true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know there were Unitarian summer
camps at Highlander, and I know that one night they were raided by state
police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know if a
Unitarian girl began to sing – but I like to think that she did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">One of the most moving times I shared
this song was during my 1998 trip to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>India with the UUA Holdeen India Program, where a group of UUs took
turns singing with a group of untouchable and lower caste workers organized by a
Holdeen partner organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
UUs sang in English; the workers and organizers sang in Hindi, Marati, and
Urdu, and I felt our group surrounded by a mighty cloud of witnesses of those justice-seekers who had sung the song before us and were spiritually singing it with us in the present. It was a powerful moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-size: 15.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Amazing Grace”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">"<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Amazing Grace</span>" is a Christian </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">hymn</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
with lyrics written by Englishman </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Newton"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">John Newton</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
(1725–1807), published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption
are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be
delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is
one of the most recognizable and most famous songs in the English-speaking
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Newton wrote the words from personal
experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction but his
life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often
put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination. He was </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressment"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">pressed</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
into the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Royal Navy</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
and became a sailor, eventually participating in the slave trade. One night a
terrible storm battered his vessel so severely that he became frightened enough
to call out to God for mercy, a moment that marked the beginning of his
spiritual conversion. His career in slave trading lasted a few years more until
he quit going to sea altogether and began studying theology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Ordained in the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_England"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Church of England</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
in 1764, Newton became a pastor in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olney,_Buckinghamshire"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buckinghamshire</span></a>, where he
began to write hymns with poet </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cowper"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">William Cowper</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">.
"Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day
of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses, and it
may have been chanted by the congregation without music. It has been associated
with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a tune named "New
Britain" to which it is most frequently sung today. It can also be
sung to be the tune of “House of the Rising Sun,” as First Church has done many times in the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“I Heard the Bells”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">"<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day</span>" is a strange hybrid – it
is an anti-war </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_carol"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Christmas carol</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The original poem was written in 1864
by American poet and Unitarian </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"> during the Civil War.</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The song tells of the
narrator's despair, upon hearing Christmas bells, that "hate is strong and
mocks the song of peace on earth, to all good will" and concludes with the
bells carrying renewed hope for peace among humankind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Longfellow's oldest son Charles joined
the Union army without informing his father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Longfellow found out by a letter dated March 14, 1863, after
Charles had already left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In November,
Charles was severely wounded</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">in Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already grieving the recent loss of his
wife Frances, Longfellow was inspired to write "I Heard the Bells" on
Christmas Day in 1864.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was not
until 1872 that the poem is known to have been set to music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">It is not Christmas, but our country is
at war yet again, and we need all the encouragement we can get toward hope for
peace on earth, good will to all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“We Are a Gentle,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Angry
People”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Activist singer-songwriter Holly Near is
the author of this song, listed on her albums as “Singing for Our Lives.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She wrote the song in 1978, immediately
after the horrific hate-crime killings of San Francisco<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mayor George Mosconi and Supervisor
Harvey Milk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then, it has
been translated into many languages, new verses have been added, and it has
been sung an uncountable protests and rallies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“Steal Away” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Many if not most of what we now know as
African-American spirituals had more than one purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, they are what they seem to
be – religious songs, derived from hymns taught by slave masters or
missionaries, based on stories and passages in the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the songs also carried coded hidden
messages about escaping to freedom, such as “Follow the Drinking Gourd” to follow the stars of the Big Dipper to freedom, and
“Steal Away” and “Wade in the Water” to avoid the bloodhounds, and disguised gibes at slave holders, such
as “Everybody Talkin’ ‘Bout Heaven Ain’t Going There” and “Let My People
Go.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Under the guise of religious
services and entertainment, the enslaved people were able to send each other
signals about reaching freedom and what guides to look for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were empowering songs of hope and
self-liberation in a time of despair and enslavement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“Siyahamba”/”We Are Marching in the Light of God”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">"Siyahamba" originated in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">South Africa</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">,
originally composed around 1950 by Andries van Tonder, an elder of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaans"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Afrikaans</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
Christian denomination; it was sung in this version in Afrikaans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">It was later translated into Zulu by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thabo_Mkize&action=edit&redlink=1"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Thabo Mkize</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">,
sometime during the 1960’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
that, it was used defiantly and joyously for anti-apartheid protests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">In the late 1970’s, a Swedish choral
group heard the song being sung by a girls’ school in Natal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The choral director recorded the song
and transcribed it, and from there, “Siyahamba” went around the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">It has been translated into many
languages, and several denominations, including ours, have a version in their
hymnals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also used in
schools internationally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">The first time I heard it sung at UUA General<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Assembly, it brought tears to my
eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s sing it with feeling,
and put our bodies into it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">“If I Had a Hammer”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seeger"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Pete Seeger</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Hays"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Lee Hays</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
co-wrote the song in honor of Progressive political and social movements in
1949, and first performed it publicly on June 3, 1949 in New York City at a
testimonial dinner for the leaders of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_United_States"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Communist Party of
the United States</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">, who were then on trial in federal
court, charged with violating the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Smith Act</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
by advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government.</span><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess you can figure why it didn’t
become a big hit at that time and in that context.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">In 1962, the song was covered by Peter,
Paul and Mary and became a </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Hot_100"><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Top 10</span></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">
hit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has since been recorded by
dozens of other artists, in several languages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To many people, it has become divorced from its origin as a
protest/justice song, but remember the next time you sing it that it really is
“the hammer of justice, the bell of freedom, and the song about the love
between my brothers and my sisters all over this land.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-37866463656660038942012-03-13T10:23:00.003-07:002012-03-13T10:34:38.116-07:00“The Story of Us”<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Sermon by The Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, March 11, 2012</span><br /><br />This was a difficult sermon to write. I was asked by several members of the Greater New Orleans UU cluster not to do this sermon, and one local UU asked me if I was sure this sermon was a good idea. I must think it’s a good idea, or I wouldn’t be here. <br /> <br />Recently, a group of UUs from all 3 local churches participated in a session of the new curricula “Resistance & Transformation” that we are testing for the UUA, a session that was based on the story of New Orleans Unitarians in the Civil Rights era. Since then, I have thought it was a shame that more of us weren’t able to be a part of that session and the discussions that followed. <br />The draft curricula that the 3 GNOUU congregations are testing tells one side of the New Orleans story, that of our former minister emeritus The Rev. Albert D’Orlando, from the collection of his papers held at Andover Harvard Library. Today’s reading is taken from several different documents at the library that Rev. D’Orlando compiled and edited after his retirement, that were further edited by the authors of the “R& T” curricula. <br /><br />One thing I learned early on in ministry, and that was emphasized in the Interim Ministry Training I took before coming home in 2007, is that there is no such thing as The Real Story or The True Story. Any event involving more than one person means there is more than one story – and each one of those stories is real and true for the person telling it. But if only one person or faction is telling the story, the story is less than complete.<br /><br />I’ll tell you something else. With very very few exceptions, narratives framed around super Good Guys and evil Bad Guys are not completely true. Most events in life involve pretty good people, middling well-behaved people, mostly well-intentioned flawed people acting the best way they know how at the time. Sure, with the benefit of passing years and excellent hindsight (not to mention our superior judgment!), we feel we can look back and discern heroes and villains. But we ought to remember the words of Niebuhr with which we lit our chalice this morning: <span style="font-style:italic;">“No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint.”</span> It’s equally true that no virtuous act looks quite as virtuous from different points in history.<br /><br />Each of the UU churches of greater New Orleans has told themselves a story about what happened in the Crescent City during the 1950s and ‘60s, and the stories are all related, but different. New members who join each of the churches eventually learn their congregation’s “official version” of this story, whether orally through passed-down tradition, from the church’s printed history or its website, and from local history-based sermons. Since new members have nothing to compare it to, the official version becomes their version. When I joined First Church in the 1980s, I learned the First Church story and it became for a long time my story, and in that story there were Good Guys and Bad Guys. And guess what? All the Good Guys were at First Church.<br /><br />The way we have told the story at First Church is roughly that there were bigots and brave fighters for justice contending for control of the church, and that the brave fighters won. But there are other ways to tell the story. Let’s play a few rounds of the childhood game “What if?” and see if it changes anything.<br /><br />What if you’re an upper-middle or middle class person and your new minister is from working class Boston? And what if that minister is Italian? Prejudice around Italians in New Orleans was endemic, probably dating back to the 1891 lynching of 11 Italian men for the unsolved murder of police Chief David Hennessy. As late as the 1980s, even Italian restaurants in the city had “wop salad” on the menu. (My own father, a liberal New Orleanian if there ever was one, jokingly referred to my mother in letters written in the 1950s as his “dago wife.”) And what if the new minister from Up North has preconceptions about people in the South? (I know I experienced that while serving a congregation in suburban Philadelphia in the early 2000s.) You can’t entirely help the culture clash that ensues, because all of you are people of your place and time, with all that that implies.<br /><br />What if you have been a Unitarian lay leader for years, and a lot of things about your new minister’s management and leadership styles rub you the wrong way? (Even people who loved Albert would say that he could be stubborn and dogmatic.) What if you’re a Unitarian Board member, and a new minister comes in and starts telling you what to do? What if the minister and the minister’s supporters seem to be accusing you of being a bad person? What if the new minister doesn’t want to hear your point of view? What if the minister appears to be drawing a line, in effect saying “My way or the highway”? Would you be evil for feeling your legitimate decision-making power was being taken from you? Would it be wrong to resent it?<br /><br />What if you knew that actions your church was considering could negatively impact your life? What if you had physical fear that your connection to the church could get you fired from your job, or get your house fire-bombed? And what if this wasn’t mere paranoia, but were events you could see happening all around you? What if you had small children at home? Are you positive that you would put your livelihood and the lives and safety of your children at risk for a social justice issue? (At my family’s house in Chalmette in 1960, my parents had fire drills so we kids could get out of the house safely in case we were fire bombed by the KKK. Our house was never bombed, but my father's car was, and my parents felt they had to expect it. First Church was fire-bombed, but luckily the damage was minor.)<br /><br />What if you essentially agreed with your minister on the social justice issues, but felt things were moving too fast? Or that the minister was being too pushy in getting his goals accomplished? What if you were sure that things would get better if the minister would just go more slowly, and bring more people along? Does that make you a bad person?<br /><br />What if the conflict over these issues was costing your church thousands and thousands of dollars? Would it matter if you agreed with the minister or not, wouldn’t you think, as one former First Churcher wrote to me, that it might be better for everybody if things calmed down?<br /><br />And what if you were just a regular congregant, not a church leader, just coming to church on Sundays, not sure of what might be going on behind closed doors of the Board meetings and the minister’s office, and the American Unitarian Association and later the UUA? What if all you heard were bits and snippets and rumors? Would you end up believing, as some did, that the church was spending thousands of dollars of its own money in the civil rights struggle? (It wasn’t – there were donations from around the country, including from playwright Arthur Miller, kept completely separate from church funds, but using the church’s name for tax purposes.) <br /><br />If you weren’t active in the wider liberal religious movement, would you assume that what was happening might be unique to your church? (It wasn’t – it was happening all over the country, not just the South.) If you felt constantly scolded and harangued by social justice sermons – even if you basically agreed with them – wouldn’t you get tired of them? And if you made your unhappiness known, wouldn’t you assume that your minister thought you were a bad person? (He didn’t – Pauly D’Orlando told a First Churcher at that time that Albert never thought the dissenters were bad people, although it is true that he nursed a personal bitterness about the conflict that prevented him from ever attending a Community Church function, including installations of new ministers, which, by tradition, all UU ministers within easy travel distance are expected to attend.)<br /><br />What if church meetings got more than uncomfortable, with shouting and name-calling and rudeness? Wouldn’t you want to absent yourself, have a little peace on your Sundays?<br /><br />And there’s another important factor. What if the financial disaster that ensued – the forced sale of the parsonage, the city’s condemnation of the Gothic-style building that so many members loved, its subsequent demolition, the mortgage for the new building in a very different modern style, the “exile” period of services held at Temple Sinai while the new church was built, the hemorrhage of pledges and people, the doubling of the church insurance after the KKK fire bombing – could be traced in a roughly straight line to money troubles that still plague the church today? In 1967, the church had $17,000 of its own in the bank and owed $56,000. (In today’s dollars, it’s probably about where we are now.) Is that just the cost of doing justice work?<br /><br />If you were a member of First Church who left, angrily or sadly, during this period, wouldn’t you feel, as one elderly former member, at the time a member of North Shore, said passionately to me a few years ago, that your church had been “stolen” from you? (Someone, I don’t know who, placed in the coffin at our Jazz Funeral service in January a note that said, <span style="font-style:italic;">“I have to let go of Rev. D’Orlando tearing down our church building.”</span>) If you were a member of First Church who remained, either passive or a true believer, in the aftermath of the controversy, wouldn’t you feel abandoned? Would it surprise you to learn that after Katrina many members of Community Church felt robbed, and many First Churchers felt left behind?<br /><br />Even the happy ending reported in this morning’s reading feels a little pyrrhic – after what is has been called the Black Empowerment Controversy in the UUA in the later ‘60s, First Church was among the UU churches that lost most if not all of their black members – and has never built back to comparable numbers. <br /><br />Let me emphasize to you that as a white person striving to be anti-racist, I know that the choice to go slow, or not to participate at all in the civil rights movement, is a white privilege. I know that deciding whether to associate with people different from me – and how many of those different people I will allow around me – is a white privilege. I know that making a choice to take risks or not with your job or with your home or with the safety of your children is still today, sadly, a white privilege, because parents of color know their children are almost always already at risk, whether or not they actually do anything. I do know that some white parents did choose to take those risks for what they saw as a higher cause – I know this because my own parents made that decision, but I do not blame or judge other white parents for making different decisions. Safety and security are legitimate parental choices.<br /><br />Let me be clear – however flawed they were, and however I might take issue now with their methods or even their goals, I still think of white people like Albert D’Orlando and my parents as heroes. On the other hand, I have lost my sure and certain conviction that the members of First Church who left between 1958 and 1968 were the Bad Guys. <br /><br />I am grateful to my dear friend and colleague Rev. Jim VanderWeele of Community Church and to all the members and friends of all 3 area UU congregations who are participating in the test of the “Resistance & Transformation” curricula, and to all the UUs of this area who have spoken with me or sent emails about this important period of our history. I have learned so, so much. Rev. Jim and I are gathering together these recollections to send to the UUA. Hopefully, by including the comments of locals who were around in those days and are willing to share, the authors will incorporate this material and add new perspectives to the course that will help UUs for years to come.<br /><br />The foundational issues that the events of those years bring up – no, make that, the issues that get shoved in our faces! – are still with us today. Even if a minister is completely in the right about a social justice issue (which of course is much easier to tell looking backwards!), like civil rights or the Vietnam War, how much should that minister push or pull the congregation to come along? How should a UU congregation negotiate a clash – over anything – with their minister? How much should UU ministers moderate or modulate their convictions when faced with dissenting congregational leadership? How often should a minister preach on a favored topic, even if the minister deems it to be of utmost, even critical, importance? What exactly is the power and authority granted by UU congregations to their ministers? Does it come automatically or does it have to accumulate over time? How should a congregation come to consensus on controversial topics? What if standing for social justice issues loses a church so much money and so many members that it ceases to have effective ministry? And what if concern over money and members keeps a church from taking a stand?<br /><br />This also raises the question about what is a “true” story, or at least, what is a complete story. Albert D’Orlando wrote down things as he remembered them, and the folks who have shared with me told things the way they remember them. Although many of us may prefer a story to be "black and white," as in a lot of life, things are complicated and messy and emotional, and there is no way to ascertain some kind of “objective” or “factual” account of everything that happened. Whenever conflict arises in a UU church, we ought to keep in mind that we need as many viewpoints as possible, and reserve judgment until we do.<br /><br />There are no easy answers to any of these questions, and no prescribed formula that congregations can follow. This is part of the challenge of congregational polity, of congregational democracy. In fact, it’s part of being Unitarian Universalist – no easy answers. And each UU congregation has to work this out, over and over again, for itself.<br /><br />I preached this sermon this morning for several reasons. Because our story was part of the “Resistance & Transformation” course, and a group of local UUs experienced it, the story was already in the air and being talked about, not only here, but around the country. Because I feel so deeply that nothing can be resolved or gotten over unless we talk honestly and openly about it. Because since Katrina we’ve been in close relationship with the other UU churches, and the events and feelings of those days still hang over us. It’s hard to be in right relationship with folks you think of as the Bad Guys. <br /><br />Whatever were the many tangled reasons that folks left First Church and helped form Community Church, it must be said that CCUU has had in the past and has now members of color, and that today their wider ministry includes a vibrant and participatory partnership with the Red Flame Hunters Mardi Gras Indians, the children’s arm of the Original Big 7 Social Aid & Pleasure Club in Tremé. First Church does not presently have a comparable relationship in the African-American community. <br /> <br />There are 3 Unitarian Universalist churches in the New Orleans metro area, and we have formed a cluster together, raising funds, worshiping together, planning social justice activities, enjoying fellowship, and sharing the Center for Ethical Living & Social Justice Renewal, the 501(c)(3) organization we formed after the Storm. None of the 3 churches is perfect, and none of us has been “made whole” since Katrina. We each have slightly different worship styles and different kinds of buildings and different flavors of theology. We each serve slightly different segments of the greater New Orleans community. In order for Unitarian Universalism to grow and prosper and help heal this broken and wounded metro area, we all need each other.<br /><br />I will say what I believe now about this painful period of our shared history, by telling you a family story that’s seemingly unrelated. When my son Stephen was about 6 or 7, we took him on one of my preaching trips to San Antonio. While there, we went to the Imax to see a movie about the founding of Texas and the fight at the Alamo. Near the climax of the movie, my son began to cry loudly and had to be carried out. In the lobby, we questioned him and he blurted, <span style="font-style:italic;">“I couldn't take it, Mom! It was so sad, Mom! They were both right and they were both wrong!” </span><br /><br /> That’s how I’ve come to feel about what happened in the Story of Us – <span style="font-style:italic;">it’s so sad, they were both right and they were both wrong.</span> We need to forgive ourselves and each other, and move forward in love and confidence in our shared ministry. I hope we do just that, because New Orleans needs us. <span style="font-weight:bold;"> AMEN – ASHE -- SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMSTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-82925433161184867792012-03-01T11:40:00.002-08:002012-03-01T11:44:25.975-08:00“Time Out of Time”<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Sermon for Leap Year<br />The Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, February 26, 2012</span><br /><br />This week is February 29, Leap Year Day 2012. It’s an unusual date, one we only see on our calendars every four years, and so the Worship Team and I thought we’d do something a little unusual for this service, mixing up elements of our usual Order of Service. I heard through the Unitarian Universalist ministers’ grapevine that other UU churches are experimenting this morning, doing things in an unusual way to celebrate Leap Year. Several churches are, like us, scrambling their regular order of service. One of my colleagues has inserted a small circular disk marked “2-IT” into today’s bulletin, telling his congregation that today is the day they could finally get “around to it.”<br /><br />A very old childhood memory rhyme explains the “what,” but not the “why” of Leap Year Days:<br /><blockquote>Thirty days hath September,<br />April, June, and November;<br />All the rest have thirty-one<br />Excepting February alone:<br />Which hath but twenty-eight in fine,<br />Til leap year gives it twenty-nine.</blockquote><br /><br />A brief lesson in both history and astronomy might be in order. A year is what we call the period of time it takes for the earth to complete its orbit around the sun. Well, we call it a year, but the scientific truth is, it doesn’t take 365 days for the earth to go around the sun – it actually takes 365 whole days and 1/4 of another day. That means, every four years, we have to do something about that extra day that piles up.<br /><br />Back in ancient Roman times, the folks who put calendars together (in those days it was religious leaders, which is why our months are named after Roman gods and goddesses, such as Jan-uary for Janus the two-faced god of entranceways, and May for the eternally young goddess of love and beauty) fixed the problem by adding in an extra month of 22 days every several years. But this actually made the situation worse, as the seasons of the year floated through the calendar and were never in the same months two years in a row. <br /> <br />Julius Caesar, by all accounts a bossy but very sensible person, eliminated the extra month, made some months 31 days, some 30, and added an extra day every 3 years, thus creating the Julian calendar. His successor, his nephew Octavian later styled Caesar Augustus, changed the name of one of the months to July to honor Julius and another to August to honor himself, which is why October, the original 8th month, as its name indicates, is now the 10th, and December, the 10th month, is now the 12th.<br /><br />In the year 8 of the Common Era (to recognize that the whole world is not Christian, it is more honoring of diversity to say “Common Era” or CE instead of Anno Domini or AD, which means “year of our Lord” and “Before the Common Era” or BCE instead of Before Christ), a 4th change occurred when some monks in Europe discovered that the Julian calendar still didn’t completely cover the time gap, so they made Leap Year every four years instead of every three. <br /><br />But there was one more change to come. In the Renaissance, using what was then highly advanced equipment to scan the sky, astronomers found that the earth’s orbit was actually short by 11 minutes from 365 and 1/4 days. To make up for this difference, Pope Gregory XIII made the final change: thus the calendar we use today is called Gregorian. Pope Gregory declared in 1582 that Leap Days could occur in any year divisible by 4, but NOT 100, except when the year is divisible by 400. (Are you confused yet?) Anyway, that’s why we have Leap Years in the first place, and why both 2000 and 2004 both had Leap Days, but there won’t be one in 2100.<br /><br />Interestingly, the Gregorian calendar is not perfect either, but it will take more than 3,000 years for the margin of error to catch up and force us to add another day to the year. No word yet on what that day might be called when it arrives sometime around 4582, but I don’t think we have to worry about it yet.<br /><br />Over 4 million Leap Year babies are born each year world-wide, leaving that many people celebrating their actual birthday every four years. Oddly, different countries have passed different legislation to denote what day will be a Leap Baby’s legal birthday; some nations have chosen February 28 and others March 1.<br /><br />Since it is “time out of time,” traditions have sprung up around Leap Year Day – in Ireland and Scotland, it is thought to be the only time an unmarried woman can propose to an unmarried man. (Leap Day is not to be confused with Sadie Hawkins Day, invented by American cartoonist Al Capp in his strip “Li’l Abner” and which fell in early November.) In some cultures, Leap Day is thought to be good luck and in others, bad luck.<br /><br />Time out of time. For those of us who celebrate it, Carnival is time out of time, a round of days where the normal is suspended and happenings that would be weird and strange and even unwanted are thought of as acceptable and desirable. Spend hours waiting for and watching a parade? Pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for outrageous outfits and silly unusable items that will be given away to people you don’t know? Begging for hand-outs of those same items from those same strangers? It’s all perfectly normal, but only during Mardi Gras, that very special time out of time.<br /><br />Time out of time. In almost all religions, worship is considered time out of time, time taken out the mundane and the secular, time set aside in the week to be special, holy, extraordinary. Not just an hour or so to be gotten through, but time sacralized by intention and action. In that time out of time, we are given the gift of reflection and prayer and challenge and the comfort of music and the companionship of like-minded others. <br /> <br />Time out of time. What should you do with a day that only comes once every four years? Lots of people consider that a day not usually on the calendar is a good day to do things you don’t usually do, to do things you like but don’t normally have time for, or to do things that you’ve been putting off – thus my colleague’s handing out “round 2-its” to his congregation this morning. Since it is literally out of the ordinary, Leap Day is a good time to consider the ordinary routine of our lives, to reflect intentionally on why we do what we do, and to think on whether or not we want to make changes or alterations in that normal round of living. Leap Day is an “extra” day in our lives – so what will we do with it?<br /><br />Of course, another way of thinking is that Leap Day is nothing special at all, just another day, just like last Tuesday was just Tuesday in most places, even though it was Mardi Gras, the day of days, here in New Orleans. Looked at in that way, we have to admit that every single day we wake up is a new opportunity to take stock, to rethink what we do and how we do it, to wonder if our lives fit with what we say we believe. Or, as the Mardi Gras Indians say,<span style="font-style:italic;"> “Jockomo feenanay – chaque a mois fin année – each day is the end of the year.”</span> <br /><br />We don’t really need a Leap Day to do this kind of reassessment – we need instead a leap of our minds and hearts, to go beyond our regular routine, to stretch ourselves beyond what is normal for us, to be fully awake and aware of our actions and intentions and of our habits of mind.<br /><br />That’s what we hope to achieve with this topsy-turvy service – a leap of our minds, a leap of our hearts, to jump beyond the ordinary routine of our days, to make us think and make us smile, to consider what time out of time means for us. Whatever we decide to do with February 29 – or any other day in our lives – may it turn out to be time well spent. <span style="font-weight:bold;">So might this be! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-5640610201159748792012-02-16T12:03:00.002-08:002012-02-16T12:11:37.706-08:00“Ardent Souls & the Love That Casts Out Fear”<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Service for Valentine’s Weekend<br />by the Rev, Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, February 12, 2012</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">READING BEFORE SERMON<br />From Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth, chapters 12 &13<br /></span><br /><br />Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.… There are different gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.… <br /><br />Now to each one the gifts of the Spirit are given for the common good. To one there is given a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge, to another faith, to another gifts of healing, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another speaking in different languages, and to still another interpretation of languages. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit….<br /><br />Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with us. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.<br /><br />Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? If they were all one part, where would the body be? There are many parts, but one body.<br /><br />The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” God has put the body together, so that there should be no division in the body, that the parts should have equal concern for each other. <br /><br />If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.<br /><br />I will show you the most excellent way:<br /><br />If I speak in human or angelic languages, but do not have love, I am only a booming gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can discern all mysteries, and if I have faith that moves mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.<br /> Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.<br /><br />Love never fails. Where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are languages, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things. For now we see only a dark reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.<br /><br />And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Make love your aim.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">So ends our Reading.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SERMON</span><br /><br />In the Morel family, Valentine’s Day was a pretty big deal. With my father, my youngest sister, and my brother all bearing the middle name “Valentine” -- a tradition in my father’s family, going back generations -- the day became a holiday of cards and candy and flowers for all of us, not just for my father and mother. So I’ve always loved Valentine’s and have many pleasant associations with it. <br /><br />Although this is our Valentine’s service, themed on “love,” we are not talking about the kind of tender feelings shared between individuals. However delightful and necessary to human happiness, romantic love is definitely NOT “the love that casts out fear,” our topic this morning. Robert Ingersoll wrote, “The more we love the more we fear.” It is indeed true that when two human beings love each other in that romantic way glorified in Valentine cards, they are always subject to fears: fear that the loved one will leave, will change, will love someone else, will withdraw their love, will eventually die. Fear is a kind of unspoken subtext in even the best and healthiest of one-on-one intimate relationships. A sermon on THAT topic will have to wait for another Valentine’s Day.<br /><br />What kind of love is fearless, what kind of love offers a refuge from being afraid? What is the love that casts out fear? I believe it is the love of which St. Paul wrote, the love exemplified by the members of this church who have stepped forward to serve as elected leaders of this congregation and whose willingness to so serve we honored in this service – and that is, communal love in spiritual community.<br /><br />Sometimes English can seem a hopelessly inexact language. We only have one word for “snow” – it’s been said that the Aleut people of Alaska have dozens. We only have one word for “yam” -- the Maori of New Zealand have several. We use the same overworked word for the emotions between lovers, the feelings between parents and children and siblings, the way close friends feel about each other, the bonds within a healthy religious community, and for how some of us feel about chocolate. One poor word, “love,” made to serve all these different purposes. <br /> <br />The Greeks had different words for love depending on which kind it was. <span style="font-style:italic;">Eros</span> was for the passion between lovers; <span style="font-style:italic;">filios</span> was the affection within a family. There was another word for friendship, and yet another for preferring one thing or one taste over others (like chocolate). And there was still another word for the bond in a covenanted community, for the spiritual glue that holds a congregation together. The word is the one used in Paul’s original letter; that word is <span style="font-style:italic;">agape</span>.<br /><br />Paul’s letter is quoted so often that has almost become a cliché. Many of us pretty much stop listening when someone starts off, <span style="font-style:italic;">“Love is patient, love is kind…”</span> I wonder if it would make a difference to us if we knew the context in which Paul was writing.<br /><br />In ancient times, Corinth was a bustling port city, full of all kinds of people – rich, poor, striving, of many different nationalities and ethnicities; it had a reputation as a party town. (Rev. Suzanne Meyer once described Corinth in a First Church sermon as being somewhat similar in character to New Orleans.) A group of Corinthians, having been converted by Paul on one of his mission trips, had formed a house-church, a small congregation meeting in the home of a well-off member. The little church was struggling, not over finances, but over personalities. The argument had devolved into a dispute over whose spiritual gifts were better, and more useful for the community.<br /><br />Stymied by the conflict, the congregation appealed to Paul. Which gifts were better? they asked him; whose talents were more needed by the congregation? If they expected Paul to referee, they were mistaken. Instead, they got a rebuke. Paul waxed sarcastic to make his point: <span style="font-style:italic;">“Is a hand better than a foot? Should an eye say, ‘I’m better than an ear?’ ”</span> Poking them, calling them childish, Paul stresses that ALL gifts and talents contribute to the health of the community, just as the various parts of the body contribute to the health of the person.<br /><br />After this chiding, Paul soothes the contentious congregation in Corinth with a recipe for what will heal their conflicts and seal the rifts between them. He provides them with a virtual checklist for life in religious community. Agape, love in community, is kind and patient and looks for ways to serve; it doesn’t jump to anger and it doesn’t keep track of grievances. Love in community trusts, hopes, protects, and stays the course. No matter how often this scriptural passage gets used in weddings, it wasn’t meant to advise a covenanted couple, but a stressed-out covenanted community.<br /><br />Learning to be loving in a covenanted community is challenging, perhaps even more challenging than the emotional risks of finding a life-mate. The fears and mistrust and willingness to forgive are multiplied many times over by the number of individuals in the group. The impulse to cut and run when things don’t go exactly one’s way are even greater; the social pressure to stay together much less; the itch to control, to manage, to be in charge -- in a totally well-meaning and benevolent way, you understand -- is even stronger. And yet, there is evidence that we humans have been gathering in spiritual and religious communities since the Neothilic age, and we show no sign of abating. Perhaps it is just as inherently human to want to be in community with others as it is to desire a life partner. <br /><br />Each person in a covenanted community, each of US, is called -- not to be saints or paragons of unselfish virtue or to be without moral flaw or blemish, but to be our best self. Each one of us is called to do the best we can within the confines of our personal circumstances, in the most loving and compassionate way we can. In committing to a religi-ous faith and spiritual community, we should bring our deepest passions, or as UU author Michael Durall writes in his useful little book, Church Dos and Don’ts that was read by the church trustees for their recent Board Retreat, the church needs “ardent souls.” (Durall was saying that the Membership Team needs ardent souls, but I think the whole congregation needs them too.)<br /><br />The congregation in Corinth may not have been the first covenanted community to show how difficult this all is, and of course they weren’t the last either. Every religious congregation, whatever their faith tradition or size or ethnicity, has experienced the kind of conflicts that arose so long ago among the Corinthians. Although the rewards of community life are tremendous, both for the individual and for the community, the challenges are equally great. But then, being in an intimate relationship with another person is also dauntingly difficult. There is so much fear and mistrust to overcome on both sides; there must be a constant willingness to forgive. Yet, hard as it is, people fall in love every day and decide to give the whole scary relationship thing a try.<br /><br />In this church community, in this religious movement, we have made certain promises to each other; promise is what covenant means. We are knit together in affirmation of the Unitarian Universalist principles. We have vowed to support one another’s spiritual growth, and to work together to bring about justice. We have pledged this to each other, not with our fingers crossed or with a secret caveat that says, “As long as you agree with me” or “I only promise this to the folks I already like,” but across the board, congregant to congregant, the whole church covenanting with the whole church. We work together for our shared goals and dreams, empowering our elected officers to keep the vision and lead us forward.<br /><br />As part of our shared covenant, we are all called to serve. Everyone hears the call, but we each seem to hear different messages, at dif-ferent pitches and frequencies, and with different outcomes. Some of us have the economic status and financial comfort to give generously. Some of us have free time that we are willing to devote. Some of us have talents and skills that can be called upon. Some of us are able to teach and some of us are willing to learn. Some of us are good with children and others of us are good with tools. Some of us are good with numbers and others of us are good with words. There is always something each one of us can do for the betterment of our church community.<br /> <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">“Love is patient and kind, love is not resentful or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or full of ill will…”</span> Earlier, I called this “virtual checklist for life in religious community.” Agape, the love that casts out fear, is the love that acts in community with others, in service to others. It is the love that has relinquished interest in outcomes and cherishes the process; it is the love that refuses to be fooled into thinking that ends justify means, no matter how noble those ends. It is the love that acknowledges -- joyfully and painfully -- that as individuals we will not always get our own way, that we will not always be completely comfortable, that we will not always agree with each other. But we will do that difficult thing for the sake of our community: we will continue to love each other anyway, and try to help one another, and forgive each other again and again, and work together to change the world for the better. In this way, we will show to the world that love in community doesn’t mean perfect people always getting along perfectly, but instead is the sacred process of nor-mal folks rising to be their best selves, becoming ardent souls, reconciling over and over when, inevitably, they fail to be their best selves. This is agape; this is compassionate community; this is the love that casts out fear. <span style="font-weight:bold;">AMEN -- ASHE -- SHALOM -- SALAAM -- NAMASTE -- BLESSED BE!</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">BENEDICTION</span><br /><br />Contrary to Lennon & McCartney,<br />Love is NOT all you need,<br />But it is a darn good start.<br />Make love your aim<br />In your personal life,<br />In your family life,<br />In your workplace,<br />And in your church.<br />Go now and make peace!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-55171488509544363002012-01-19T08:33:00.000-08:002012-01-19T08:39:51.354-08:00Following a Star (or something like one"<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Sermon for Epiphany <br />The Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, January 8, 2012</span><br /><br />This morning we come to the end of our holiday series, which took us through Buddhist Bodhi Day, Hindu Divali, Jewish Hanukkah, Pagan Yule, African-American Kwanzaa, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. (Don’t forget our Jazz Funeral for the Old Year on January 22, when the UUA Board will be our special guests.) Today’s service highlights what in the Greek and Russian Orthodox religious traditions is considered their Christmas, and in the New Orleans cultural tradition is considered the start of Carnival, and it’s also been the customary day to take down your Christmas tree. That day is January 6th, variously known as the Epiphany, the Feast of the Magi, Three Kings Day, and the Twelfth Day of Christmas.<br /><br />The holiday commemorates the familiar episode in the nativity story related in the gospel of Matthew, in which wise men from the East, called magi (a Persian word that is the root of the word as “magic,” which means priests of the Zoroaster), follow a star that leads them to baby Jesus, whom they present with rich and highly symbolic gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. That 3 gifts that are mentioned led to a tradition that there were 3 men, but the Bible story does not give a number for the traveling wise men, nor were they kings, but hey, that’s the way myths develop. To help us celebrate in true New Orleans style, we will have authentic New Orleans kingcake at Coffeehour. Look out for the little plastic babydoll baked inside the cake – if you get it, it means you’re the king or queen of the day! The custom is that whoever gets the baby brings the kingcake next week, but don't feel obligated. <br /><br />Over the holidays, I watched a program on PBS on the historical and scientific scholarship on the story of the magi – about where the wise men might have come from, how long their journey must have taken, whether they followed an actual star, or whether it could have been an unusual alignment of planets. It was fascinating, and I learned some things I didn’t already know, and someday, I just may preach about all that stuff – the back story, if you will, of the holiday myth.<br /><br />But this is not that Sunday. Right now, today, I don’t care 2 figs if the story of the wise men and the star they followed is true is any verifiable sense, or if there’s a scientific explanation of the star that may or may not have been leading whatever number of wise men from wherever the hell they might have been from. That’s not important to me right now. What’s important is here’s this lovely story that millions of people have been telling for close to 2 thousand years, about some folks who were led on a long and difficult journey toward something they judged so important that they called it sacred, something that made them leave their comfort zones, something that drew them onward and outward to a place of hope and joy.<br /><br />All of us need something in our lives – a touchstone, a lodestar – that points beyond ourselves and our own selfish needs and immediate concerns. The North Star was once considered essential for navigation and direction; it was called by sailors and explorers the lodestar; in the centuries since then, the term has come to refer to anything that leads or guides, that serves as inspiration or model. All of us need something to help direct us, to propel us forward when life’s events batter us and challenge our hopes for the future.<br /><br />For some of us, that star might be another person. It might be our partner. Some of us were fortunate to find life mates early, when both were young and just forming, adult lives just beginning. Others of us found the loves of our lives only after years of mistakes and lonely wandering. Either way, when you have united with the right person, you have someone who watches your back, who supports and encourages you, someone whose loving critique call you back to your best self when you are tempted to lose your way. When you have found such a person, you might well sing to them, “You are my lucky star.”<br /><br />For others of us, our lucky star might be a child, our own or a grandchild or a beloved niece or nephew or just a child we are close to. For short periods, we are granted the gift of seeing life through their eyes, and can behold, however briefly, the glory and beauty and wonder of the most prosaic things. We find inspiration in their optimism, their sense of possibility, their unconditional love; we are energized by their unquenchable spirits. We are inspired by the purity of their vision.<br /><br />There are those among us for whom the guiding star is an ideal, like justice or peace. Our star always goes before us, lighting a way that has never been before, guiding and directing us, inspiring us to ever-greater feats of strength and courage. While we may sometimes falter, our star twinkles in a dark sky, and we find ourselves once again on the long path to recreate the world as a better place. And then there are those of us who feel guided by a relationship with the Infinite or Spirit of Life or God or Higher Power. Whether we feel this connection through prayer or through formal meditation or during devotional reading of sacred books or in natural settings, alone or in groups, we feel refreshed and renewed by our contact with the spirit that animates the universe. When we are low, we draw on that power and find it inexhaustible, leading us onward to greater meaning and purpose.<br /><br />Many of us, like me, have found ourselves with different guiding stars at different times in our lives. Maybe we had no partner and we found our life’s purpose in important causes or in our spiritual lives. Maybe a time came when we had or adopted a child, or became connected to one through another relationship, and we unexpectedly found inspiration in that child’s trust and confidence. Maybe the love of a child brought us almost without volition to consider religion. Maybe a time came in our lives when we found a person to share ourselves with and suddenly it was as though every-thing fit together at long last. Or perhaps you are a person with more than one lodestar – there’s no law that says you can have only one!<br /><br />What is the star in your life? What light do you follow? What shines before you and draws you ever onward? Each of us has something in our lives we consider larger and more important than ourselves, something that gives our lives hope and joy and meaning, something that shines in the dark-ness and brings us out of our times of despair and alienation. Everyone follows a star, or something like a star, even though not all of us describe it that way.<br /> <br />But not all stars are created equal – beware what it is that you give priority to in your life, what you make into your guiding light. Hedonism, personal pleasure, is ultimately empty and leads inevitably to the crushing burden of financial debt, substance abuse, or meaningless sex without authentic intimacy. You cannot buy or drink or party your way into fulfillment and wholeness. It never works, it always backfires. Even the love and commitment to another person, your spouse or your child, can be selfish and limiting; it will not work as a guiding star unless that more personal love leads to a wider compassion and love for other people, other children.<br /><br />In the Monty Python spoof of the Christian story, The Life of Brian, the wise men get bad directions and end up at the wrong house in Bethlehem, and hilarious complications ensue. But in real life, following the wrong star can have drastic and tragic consequences. When you faithfully follow your true star, your life is deepened, and while you still encounter losses and challenges, you are better able to deal with what life deals out. That is the measure of whether the star you are following is the right one – are you better or less equipped to handle anger, grief, and setbacks? Do you generally feel more or less whole and healthy and fulfilled as a person? If you cannot answer these questions in positively, then it is time to re-think the direction in which you are going. It is time to choose another lodestar.<br /><br />The wise men faithfully followed a star, and found what they were looking for, and it was for the good of all people. May the stars we follow be the same for us. <span style="font-weight:bold;">AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-13424656004758885032012-01-03T12:17:00.000-08:002012-01-03T12:22:43.079-08:00Christmas Eve Homily:<span style="font-weight:bold;">“No Chorus, No Lights, Just a Whisper”<br />The Reverend Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />December 24, 2011</span><br /><br />In Old Testament times, shepherds were not reputable people. They were not well-off owners of valuable livestock – in fact, they were mere hired hands, looking after someone else’s valuable livestock. Their job was to keep the sheep alive, make sure they were not stolen, eaten by wolves, or just plain lost. In fact, shepherds had such a bad reputation in those days that years later when the adult Jesus told a story about a “good shepherd” it was as shocking to his listeners as his other parable, The Good Samaritan. It was unheard-of. Everyone knew shepherds were unreliable, dirty and smelly from living amongst the flocks, and likely not honest. (Most owners would probably go look first at the shepherd’s hut if a lamb was reported “lost.”) I’ve often thought about how Mary and Joseph must have reacted when the odiferous and unruly group of shepherds piled into the stable that night so long ago.<br /><br />But, as we are told in the classic Christmas story, “The Shepherd’s Whisper,” first published in 1941 by the newspaper columnist Heywood C. Broun (not his son the sportscaster) not <span style="font-weight:bold;">all</span> of the shepherds gathered on the hill outside Bethlehem that night went to follow the star and see the newborn baby. One shepherd, Amos, stayed behind. <br /><br />He wasn’t nasty about it or anything. As he kept telling his colleagues, it wasn’t in his heart. He didn’t feel moved to go, and he certainly wasn’t going to go just because everyone else was. Plus, he had an important job to do: watch over a flock of frightened sheep to keep them from hurting themselves, for as everyone knows, sheep can panic easily and end up over a cliff or in a pile, with lots of injuries. And on top of all that, one of his ewes was near term, and would need his assistance with the birthing of her lamb. So he refused to go, stubbornly sticking to his guns in the face of ridicule and cajoling and even anger from the other shepherds (who apparently, true to form, felt no compunction at all about leaving behind all those valuable sheep to fend for themselves.) It was not in his heart, he had important responsibilities, he would abide.<br /><br />It’s not that he didn’t see the bright angels, or hear them singing their joyous song, or notice the unearthly radiance lighting up the midnight sky. He saw, he heard, he noticed – but he remained unmoved. Signs from God, voices of commanding angels with voices like thunder, heavenly songs, weird bright stars – it worked for all the other shepherds, but not for Amos. It was not in his heart, he had important responsibilities, he would abide.<br /><br />I like to think of Amos as one of the world’s first religious skeptics, maybe a proto-Unitarian Universalist. A staunch Humanist parishioner of mine years ago in Chattanooga once commented in answer to a jesting question that if he did hear the voice of God telling him to go do something, he’d get a check-up to see what was wrong with him. Let’s face it, for many of us religious liberals, choruses of angelic song and bursts of heavenly light just don’t have the effect on us that they seem to have on more conventionally religious folk. Some of us need something less dramatic. <br /><br />A whisper told Amos that he was a Divine figure to the helpless sheep which depended on him. A whisper told him that he too could be a Savior in his own way. A whisper told him, that lowly and despised as he was, even as his concerns were dismissed by the other shepherds, that he had the ability to make his own choice. And he made it. How UU is that?<br /><br />Despite all the fuss made over the centuries over the lights, the angels, the star, the chorus of voices and all, perhaps the real message of Christmas lies in Amos’s whisper. After all, if there were too much noise that night, how would anybody hear if the baby started crying? Or if one scared sheep bleated out in pain?<br /> <br />If we allow the sacred message of Christmas to be drowned out in loud tape recordings of carols we used to like but are now sick of, holiday jingles rewriting favorite Christmas songs til we can no longer remember the original words, frantic bell ringing that’s supposed to sound joyful, and peevish arguments over whether it’s better to say, “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays,” then we will not be able to hear the more important but less flashy sounds of the season.<br /> <br />The most important things about Christmas are not the angels, the singing, or the lights. Despite all that, Jesus was born to two ordinary people in a country occupied by a foreign power. They are not well-off, not famous, not (despite the genealogies of Joseph in the nativity story of Matthew) of royal blood or lineage. They’re pretty much working class. Because of some bureaucratic order, they’re on the road, with no good place to stay, so they’re stuck sleeping with somebody’s animals. And yet the baby born that night grew up to change the world, and is still changing the world through the power of his teachings.<br /><br />Mary and Joseph could be any homeless couple anywhere, like the man and his wife sleeping on a grate in Washington DC, a few days after Christmas in 1991. My son, then 9, tried to give them the $20 bill his Nana had given him but the man refused to take it. “I can’t take your Christmas money, baby,” he told Stevie. Instead, the man did accept some bills from my son’s father, and we were left to explain to Stevie about the man's pride not letting him take a large bill from a child.<br /> <br />That couple’s children could grow up to change the world. Children sleeping tonight at the Salvation Army Shelter just down the street from the church could grow up to change the world. Children in Central City could grow up to change the world. Children of undocumented workers could grow up to change the world. Children born tonight in University Hospital, in a barrio, on a reservation, in Iraq or Pakistan, could grow up to change the world. Unfortunately, little Keira Holmes will not grow up to change the world because she was killed this week in a shoot-out across the courtyard of the “Callio” housing project.<br /><br />The whisper we need to hear says that each child, each person, each one of us, is important, no matter the status of our parents or the economic resources of our family, no matter our race or ethnicity or sexual orientation or gender identity, or what country we live in or what country we’re from. The whisper we need to hear says that since we have the potential to change the world, the decisions we make matter, the choices we make matter. <br /> <br />Let us draw hope and strength and courage from that message. Let us be inspired by the shepherd Amos to make our best efforts to be Divine figures, to be our own kind of Saviors, to be the people who change the world for the better.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-15603244800197677732011-12-13T12:46:00.000-08:002011-12-13T12:51:29.031-08:00“Sitting on Our Ticket” A Homily for Advent<span style="font-weight:bold;">By the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, December 10, 2011</span><br /><br />This service begins a series for the winter holiday season. Next Sunday, we will celebrate our Winter Holidays of Light ser-vice, and will decorate the church tree. On December 21, in honor of the Winter Solstice and the longest night of the year, we will hold our annual Candlelight Labyrinth Walk at 6:30 pm. On Saturday evening, Christmas Eve, also at 6:30 pm, we will celebrate the birth of the Christ Child with a traditional service of lessons and carols and an open-table communion. After the service, there will be an Open House with Christmas goodies and hot cider to share. Then, on Christmas Day, we will delay our service til 11 am to give folks time to open presents, and I’ll lead a simple circle of sharing. On New Year’s Day, the service will also be delayed til 11 am, and our Director of Religious Education Lydia Pélot-Hobbs will lead an informal service. On January 8, we’ll mark Epiphany or Kings Day and will share kingcake at Coffeehour. Our annual Greater New Orleans UU cluster Jazz Funeral for the Old Year with a Dixieland band is set for January 22, so that we can enjoy it with the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Association, meeting in New Orleans for the first time since Katrina. <br /> <br />This morning we look at Advent. For Christians, it is a time of waiting and quiet reflection before Christmas; it symbolizes the time of waiting for the birth of the Christ. For many children, Advent is the countdown to presents on Christmas Day, and there are literally thousands of Advent calendars to help make waiting easier.<br /><br />Sometimes waiting can be positive. The old adage, “Good things come to those who wait” – said by many of our parents – became a common saying because it’s often true. Some things can’t be rushed. No matter what you do or what you want, babies take 9 months, seedlings take 2-3 weeks, bread dough takes about 40 minutes to rise, new kitchens take however long they take.<br /><br />Unitarian Universalism is a religion of action, not of words, not even of meditation and prayer, although of course many UUs DO meditate or pray. Our historic watchword has long been, “Deeds not creeds.” Waiting is a form of inaction, and is not comfortable for most Unitarian Universalists. Waiting can even be harmful, especially if immediate action is called for.<br />If your toddler is wandering off in a mall parking lot, for instance, or if your kitchen catches fire while you are preparing your holiday dinner, waiting is not a good thing. In the story by Arnold Lobel, "The Letter," Toad glumly waits for a letter to come in the mail – even though his best friend Frog is right in front of him. In the story by UU minister Robert Fulghum, a young woman sobs in the Hong Kong airport about her lost ticket home – which she is sitting on top of. Waiting is sometimes the wrong thing to do, especially if it keeps people from doing what needs to be done.<br /><br />The young woman in the Fulghum story had everything she needed to move on, but she didn’t know it. She was stuck, over-come with powerful negative emotions that glued her to her seat; she felt helpless and lost and confused and sad. So she sat and sobbed. If she had gotten up off her chair, she would have discovered that it was in her power to get where she wanted to go. No one was preventing her from getting there, she was stopping herself. She was sitting on her ticket.<br /><br />In our congregational situation, waiting would also be wrong. No matter what decisions the Board makes, there’s important work to be done right now, and no reason to wait. The faithful, faith-filled work of coming back together as a congregation, of forgiving and reconciling with each other, cannot wait, and must be done now. We must start as soon as possible to learn clear UU pro-cesses and procedures and implement them; we must mend fences with our district and re-establish communications with the wider UUA. We must not succumb to the temptation to “sit on our ticket.” We already have everything we need to move ahead right now, to educate ourselves, to heal the congregation, to practice forgiveness, to better organize our committees and teams to perform their responsibilities in our shared ministry, to encourage attendance at district workshops so that our lay leaders can learn to be better church leaders. Waiting on any of this would be wrong.<br /><br />Several years ago, in the newsletter of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, Eliza Blanchard wrote a short Advent meditation:<br /><br /><blockquote>For Christians, [Advent] calls for reflection as well as joyful anticipation, since the infant they await represents redemption, salvation in the hereafter. For those of us focused on bringing about salvation in the here and now, the season offers us the opportunity to ask: What are we waiting for? There is no one anticipated event that we expect will save the world.… During this season, we may rest for a while in the glow of holiday lights, but we do not wait. We will not stop working for all to share life’s blessings. We light our lights, pick an avenue for change, and work in the world, knowing we have the power to make it a better place.</blockquote><br /><br />You know those holiday commercials that urge you to buy now, saying: <span style="font-style:italic;">“Don’t delay! Operators are standing by!”</span> Let’s take those words to heart spiritually. We don’t have to wait; in fact, we should act right away. There is work to be done, and no reason to wait. Your family needs you, your church needs you, your city needs you, the world needs you. Don’t delay! Get up off your ticket! <span style="font-weight:bold;">So might this be! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-71471221441489354982011-12-07T12:51:00.000-08:002011-12-07T12:54:28.103-08:00“What Are We Waiting For?”<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Sermon for Advent<br />by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />North Shore Unitarian Universalists<br />Sunday, December 4, 2011</span><br /><br />This morning we mark the season of Advent along with our sisters and brothers in the Christian community all over the world. This Advent service is part of our on-going holiday celebration, which begins with this service, and continues next Sunday with the Intergenerational Holidays of Lights service. After that, North Shore will enjoy a beautiful service of special Holiday Music. Just as a reminder, there will be NO service at North Shore on December 25, Christmas Day, when everyone is encouraged to enjoy their sacred time with their loved ones. <br /><br />The folk at First Church want to invite you all to a special Winter Solstice Candlelight Labyrinth Walk in our Sanctuary on the night of December 21st at 6:30 pm. It’s a beautiful service, and a wonderful way to mark the longest night of the year and the turn of the seasons.<br /><br />The UU holiday celebrations will continue into the new year as the congregations of the Greater New Orleans UU cluster come together with the President, Moderator, and Board of Trustees of the UUA to hold our annual Jazz Funeral for the Old Year on January 22. That service will begin at 11 am.<br /><br />The word “advent” comes from the same root word as “adventure,” and means the anticipated arrival of an important something or someone. On the Christian liturgical calendar, the 4 weeks of Advent are said to represent 4,000 years of the faithful waiting for the Messiah. Orthodox Christians are still waiting, this time for what they believe will be the second advent, or second coming, of Christ at the end of all time. <br /> <br />As Unitarian Universalists, inheritors of a long and proud liberal religious tradition, Advent is still a time of anticipation for something important that’s coming, but we do not believe that our job is simply to wait. We religious liberals do not just wait, we also work for the changes that will bring about the new world we anticipate and hope for.<br /><br />This sense of humanity being co-responsible with God for bringing about of the world of justice and peace and harmony is also a very Jewish idea. The concept that God needs us to help heal the broken world -- <span style="font-style:italic;">tikkun olam</span> in Hebrew -- is characteristic of Hassidic Judaism and has become a hallmark in progressive Jewish circles as well.<br /><br />In the early years of the 20th century, the proponents of the Social Gospel, some of them Unitarian and Universalist, brought that same idea to liberal Christianity, insisting that the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus spoke of required the work of human beings in order to be completed. It was not enough, these reformers insisted, to be pious and to attend church and to read the Bible. Religion could not be separate from the way people lived their lives in the world -- instead, actions must be taken to bring Biblical ideas of equity and mercy to bear on current-day social issues. During this turbulent period of history, the NAACP was founded (with Unitarian minister John Haynes Holmes as one of the original co-founders), social service organizations were developed, and religious folk of many different Christian denominations got involved in advocating for racial justice, improving facilities and treatment for the mentally ill, prison reform, and changes in immigration law. <br /><br />Although the Social Gospel movement lost energy and steam after the 2 world wars, when it became difficult to sustain a movement based on the idea of the improveability of humanity, the basic foundational concept of human beings in partnership with the Divine to bring about the Realm of God, the world of justice and peace, has never been lost. The idea that we human beings have a duty to help build the Peaceable Kingdom by the way we live our lives and how we behave and treat one another is still one of the most important aspects of religious liberalism. We do not believe that we are passive recipients of God’s favor, or that we are helpless pawns of an indifferent fate -- we believe that what we do can make a positive difference in the world. Not only that, but we believe that we have a moral and ethical responsibility to do so. <br /> <br />I do not know if this story is true, that it actually happened. But it feels true, and it should have happened. In the way that we can learn even from fictional stories, I offer this one to you: A story is told of a rural town in England that was badly damaged during the Second World War, and which began its heart-breaking and weary work of restoration when the war finally ended. In the old town square had stood a large statue of Jesus with his hands outstretched in an attitude of invitation. On the pedestal were carved the words, “Come unto me.” One night, during a night-time bombing raid, the statue had been reduced to rubble. <br />With the aid of master artists and sculptors, the statue was eventually reassembled -- all except for the hands, for no usable fragments could be found. It was thought that the artists could be asked to fashion new hands for the statue. But when word got out of the proposal, a public protest went up, and the people of the town insisted that the statue be left without hands.<br />Today, in the public square of that English town, stands a restored statue of Jesus, arms open wide, but without hands. On the base are carved the words, <span style="font-style:italic;">“He has no hands but ours!”</span><br /><br />No hands but ours. We are the hands of God, Divine instruments for doing what must be done in the world. God has no hands but ours, and there is so much work still to do.<br /> <br />Advent may be a time of waiting, but what are we waiting for? Unitarian Universalists, whether theist or not, do not believe in the theological concept of an outside savior; we are not hoping and waiting for a Messiah; we do not have the luxury of thinking that a deus ex machina will arrive at the climatic moment and save the day. The time is now, and there are no hands but ours. <span style="font-weight:bold;">AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-2060574191444685312011-11-08T09:49:00.000-08:002011-11-08T10:00:58.555-08:00“Eid Al Adha – Sacrifice & Delight”<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Sermon by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, November 8, 2011</span><br /><br />Today we look at the Muslim holiday of Eid al Adha, a holy time that celebrates the story told in the Qu’ran of the Patriarch Ibrahim’s willingness to obey Allah and sacrifice his son Ishmael. The willingness was enough, and at the last moment, Allah provided a lamb as a substitute sacrifice. For Jews and Christians, a similar story is told in scripture, only the Patriarch’s name is Abraham, the son is Isaac, and the sacrifice is a ram. For all three religions, the message is the same – honoring the dedication and commitment to God that leads to willing sacrifice, even of something treasured and beloved. (For those who look askance at a deity that would even ask such a thing, all three faiths stress that God did not allow the sacrifice to take place.)<br /><br />If you think that this situation is one that could never happen today, think again. Just yesterday, on a reality television program (yes! I confess! I watch reality TV!) about in-laws in conflict, I watched as an over-protective mom demanded that her son-in-law sell his muscle car, a car he had lovingly restored and worked on since high school, in order to prove that he really loved his wife, her daughter. It was the worst thing in the world to that young man, and he agonized over it. As he delayed, the mother-in-law escalated her taunts. Then, as a tow truck arrived to take the car away, the son-in-law broke down and went inside the house to hide his emotions. The mother-in-law watched from the stoop as the car was hooked to the towline, and at the last minute, seeing that her son-in-law was willing to go through with it, she asked the tow truck driver to disengage. She was convinced the young man truly loved her daughter, and the sale itself was unnecessary.<br /> <br />“Sacrifice” is another one of those religious terms that we Unitarian Universalists have trouble with. In last week’s service, we looked at a selection from a young UU blogger who was near despair with this religious movement because of the inability or unwillingness of the UUs around her to discuss traditional terms like salvation, sin, and redemption in UU terms. The blogger Wondertwisted did not mention sacrifice, but she might well have added it to the list of words that UUs don’t want to talk about.<br /><br />Sacrifice, like salvation last week, is a term that Unitarian Universalists can relate to better once we look at its original meaning. Sacrifice comes from two Latin words, <span style="font-style:italic;">sacer, </span>holy or sacred, and <span style="font-style:italic;">facere, </span>to make or to do – so its original sense was “to make holy” or “to perform a sacred function.” Like the familiar legend of the bluebonnets, of the Indian child who sacrifices her favorite doll in order to bring rain to her tribe, a sacrifice can be a giving away, a giving up, or a giving to one’s God. It is taking something that might be thought mundane or ordinary, and making it holy. <br /><br />I want to talk about sacrifice today, and not just because today is the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al Adha, and not just because we religious liberals can relate to the original meaning of the word. I want to look squarely at the idea of sacrifice for religious liberals, because I believe sacrifice is not only essential to spiritual life, but to all meaningful relationships. I believe that sacrifice is inextricably intertwined with all the delight in our lives.<br /><br />I know that’s a big statement, so let’s unpack it. Think of everything most important in our lives – intimate partnerships, parenting and grandparenting, being part of families, achieving success in careers and avocations, belonging to a religious community, even participating as active citizens in our country. Every single thing that we can name that is important to us requires a certain amount of sacrifice. Maybe we don’t use that word for our choices in all those different areas, but sacrifice is exactly what is happening.<br /><br />Take your closest, most personal relationships, whether an intimate partnership, being a parent, or just being part of a family. In order for those connections to work and to satisfy us on emotional and spiritual levels, we have to give up at least a portion of some things that normally we hold dear – complete independence, total personal autonomy, the ability to do al-most anything we want anytime we want to do it. We sacrifice those things – even if we don’t think of it that way – for a higher good, the relationships, the connections, because we believe it is even more sacred to us than our freedom. And when things are going well and the relationship is in balance, we reap great delight from that sacrifice.<br /><br />The same principle applies when we exercise our talents in work that is paid or in our favorite hobby or past-time. In order to get really good at cooking or playing trumpet or writing or selling or practicing medicine or law or whatever, we have to sacrifice some of our time in order to learn basic, intermediate, and then advanced skills in our field. We have to sacrifice financially, to be educated and trained in the area of our interest, perhaps also purchasing expensive tools or instruments or materials. But in the delight we get from gaining new skills and being able to get even better doing something we love doing, we tend not to think about the sacrifice involved.<br /><br />What is true for intimate relationships and for work (whether paid or unpaid), is even more true in spirituality. Belonging to a faith community, committing ourselves to a religious path, requires sacrifice. Want to sleep late on the mornings of worship services and have all your after-work time to yourself? Gotta sacrifice that. Want to spend every cent of your money for your own and your family’s current and future pleasure and security? Gotta sacrifice that too. Want to have a life free of complications, conflicts, and challenging decisions? Oh yeah, gotta sacrifice that too.<br /> <br />No one in relationship, in religion, or in work is completely free. In order to be partnered, to be a parent or a grandparent, to be in religious or secular community, to excel at something, each one of us makes a sacrifice of some of our precious autonomy, our individuality, our ability to be on our own, our monetary resources. We sacrifice for our delight and most often find, when things are going well, that we don’t even think of it as sacrifice.<br /><br />Many of you could tell a story of sacrifice if you began ot think of it that way. It might have been after Katrina, when you were living in evacuation in someplace maybe cleaner and safer than New Orleans, a place not riven by disaster. Maybe folks around you urged you to stay. But for whatever reasons crazy to outsiders, you gave up all that and came home to New Orleans, to your ruined house that had to be rebuilt, to your near-ruined city, and this near-ruined church. It was a sacrifice, given in love, for what you thought – and hopefully still think – was a higher good.<br /><br />In the spring of 2007, when Board president Ann Maclaine called me in New Jersey to tell me First Church wanted me as your Consulting Minister, I was completely delighted and accepted at once. Only later – in fact, a few hours later, when my spouse Eric asked me about it – I had to sheepishly call her back and ask how much the compensation package was. I truly didn’t know, and frankly, I didn’t care. And when she told me a figure that was considerably below the Atlanta-area congregation that wanted me as their Interim Minister, it didn’t matter. It didn’t feel like a sacrifice, because I was coming home to New Orleans and to First Church.<br /><br />Sacrifice and delight are indeed two sides of one coin. These two cannot be separated. If one is a devout Muslim or a Jew or a Christian, the sacrifices made in the name of Allah, Yahweh, or God, are worth it because of the religious delight one receives from adhering to the precepts of one’s faith and obedience to one’s God. Sacrificing for one’s partner – as that partner also sacrifices for you – builds our delight in one another. Sacrificing for one’s child, for the child’s health and well-being and future, is part of the delight of being a parent. Making certain sacrifices for one’s religious community and one’s home city, to ensure its health and continuity, enhances the delight we feel in those communities.<br /><br />Of course, no one’s life is all sweetness and light, and none of us is always glad about the sacrifices we make. In fact, although it is true that most of the time – when things are going well – we don’t even think of what we’re doing as “sacrifice,” when we hit potholes and rough spots in our lives and relationships our sacrifices are suddenly revealed to us (and not in a good way). In times of conflict and controversy, things we once did for love are transmuted into onerous and painful sacrifices. <br /> <br />In really negative circumstances, we regret the sacrifices that we once made in perfect willingness; we might demand to be repaid (as when one former spouse demands recompense for putting the other former spouse through school), or we might want some kind of punishment to be inflicted on the party that hurt us, or we might draw a line on the sacrifices we’re willing to make in the future (as when parents decides not to loan their feckless adult child any more money).<br /><br />When we begin to look at it that way, it might seem like sacrifice and delight are completely separate, or even that they are opposites. We might be tempted to say that when we’re happy, there’s no sacrifice, only delight, and that when things are bad, there’s no delight, only sacrifice. But underneath we know it’s not so. Sacrifice and delight are partners, and work together in all the most important aspects of our lives; it’s just that we don’t always see them in their true light.<br /><br />So it is not a question of <span style="font-style:italic;">“Will I ever sacrifice?”</span> or <span style="font-style:italic;">“Am I willing to sacrifice?”</span> for the simple reason that, unless we are complete hedonists or complete hermits, we already <span style="font-weight:bold;">ARE</span> sacrificing in some area or aspect of our lives. The question is instead, “What in our lives gives us the most delight, is most valuable, most sacred, to us, and what are we willing to sacrifice for its sake?” An important follow-up question might be, <span style="font-style:italic;">“And am I willing to stay the course when things get difficult?”</span> in our relationships and in our communities.<br /><br />Eid Al Adha is a Muslim festival of sacrifice. It may sound strange to our ears, celebrating sacrifice. But maybe we too need a time to remind us that sacrifice brings delight, and to reflect on what is most valuable, most sacred, in our lives, to which we would willingly sacrifice. <span style="font-weight:bold;"> So might this be! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-43077660323794258032011-10-25T10:06:00.000-07:002011-10-25T10:33:39.966-07:00“Salvation?”<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Sermon by The Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />Given at First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, October 23, 2011</span><br /><br />Last August Music Director Betsy McGovern brought a new UU controversy to the attention of the Worship Team, all over a blog written by a young adult woman UU calling herself Wondertwisted, who posted a provocative piece entitled “A Dear John Letter to UUism.” Apparently the post generated comments all over the Internet and Facebook by UU ministers and lay UUs. I read the original essay and all the comments, and felt inspired to do this sermon. (Wondertwisted's blog can be found at http://wondertwisted.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/a-dear-john-letter-to-unitarian-universalism/ )<br /><br />I was inspired to write this sermon, not just because there’s a recent uproar in our denomination, although that’s a good and legitimate reason to do a timely sermon, and not because I had read a book, but because I personally know something wonderful that I feel called upon to share. I want to talk about salvation in our church because I know that ours is a saving faith, because Unitarian Universalism saved my life.<br /><br />I don’t mean that I was in physical danger, like the child trapped in the well in today's children’s story, or that I was in fear of losing my immortal soul after death, in the language of my Roman Catholic childhood. What Unitarian Universalism saved me from my own personal hell. As our former minister Suzanne Meyer preached in St. Louis in 2003: <br /><br /><blockquote>…there are many kinds of private hells in which living men and women dwell every day. These are small personal hells of meaninglessness, banality, and loneliness. Hells of shame, hells of guilt, hells of loss, hells of failure. There are as many kinds of these small hells as there are people who live in them. </blockquote><br /><br />It didn’t feel like hell at first, as many of these small private hells do not. I thought I was finally, after years of struggle, on my way to financial security and material prosperity. I had a job I had worked hard to get and that for the most part I enjoyed. It was in high-level fashion retailing, a career I had aspired to since my teenage years. I had a beautiful little son and a marriage I thought was strong. If there were stirrings of feelings of loss, of something missing, of things not being quite or completely right, I diligently kept those emotions in check.<br /><br />Even after our family first found Unitarian Universalism, here at First Church in 1983 (although in our former building at 1800 Jefferson), I still didn’t think that the church was mainly for me – I thought I was there for Sunday School for my son. Sure, I enjoyed the services, and I was glad to be making new friends, but it didn’t feel personal.<br /><br />One thing I know for sure is that you can’t keep a deep and serious unhappiness a secret from your own body. I began experiencing stress-related physical symptoms – a mysterious rash that cleared up on my day off from the Laura Ashley store, lack of sleep, nightmares. I finally was diagnosed with cancer in 1985. I quit my job and underwent surgery, and spiraled into a depression. If I had to sum up how I felt, I would have to use words like shame, guilt, futility, uselessness, meaninglessness. In the words of the old hymn, I felt lost, I felt wretched.<br /><br />I know Unitarian Universalism is a faith that deals with salvation because our faith saved my life. Within our faith and within this very congregation, I found purpose and meaning and community. I was, without elaborate or formal ritual, released from the burden of guilt and shame I was carrying. I was freed to believe, to have faith in, first of all, myself, and then in the power of life and love moving through community to make my life, and the world, better. I can hardly talk about this without great emotion, without choking up, because it means so much to me. <span style="font-style:italic;">“I was once was lost and now am found, ‘twas blind, but now I see.”</span> That’s salvation, and I found it here.<br /><br />I feel terrible about Wondertwisted’s heart-felt words and her less-than-good experiences with Unitarian Universalism. But I’ll tell you one thing that makes me feel even worse – the number of comments on her blog and on Facebook from UUs who discount what she shared, who basically tell her, “Move on if you don’t like it, we UUs don’t deal with salvation.”<br /><br />Unitarian Universalism is, again in Suzanne Meyer’s words, in the business of saving souls. We are indeed a salvation faith. And we do this, not by promising people a better life after they die – in fact, we take no denominational position on any afterlife – and not by scaring folks about some terrible eternal place they end up after death. Most UUs believe that life on earth, this one right here, can be scary enough and terrible enough, without recourse to some after-life Hell. Our small private hells are sufficiently painful; I know that mine was.<br /><br />Do you know what one of the most common reactions new people have to Unitarian Universalism? In essence, it’s <span style="font-style:italic;">“Where have y’all been all my life?”</span> Nearly every new UU I speak to practically complains that they needed our saving faith at some challenging or sad point in their lives, but they didn’t know we were there. I resonate with that reaction, because it is similar to how I felt. And I feel now with all my heart that it’s almost a religious crime for us not to be shouting about Unitarian Universalism from the rooftops, especially from the rooftops of New Orleans, still reeling and wounded from Katrina, still filled with people chained up inside their own small private hells of alienation, loneliness, grief, and despair.<br /><br />Unitarian Universalism is a saving faith, a salvation faith. More than anything else, our job as a church is to save souls. We can get so caught up in the details of rebuilding our building, and raising money to do that and still run the church, doing our community service projects, trying desperately to balance the budget, teaching children, recruiting volunteers, forming committees, endlessly meeting and debating and discussing, that we can easily start to imagine that any one of these things is the main thing we are about as a church. We can get distracted by these things for a while and forget that we are in the business of saving souls. <br /><br />So many people come through our doors every Sunday who are not looking for Unitarian Universalism, who are not looking for another place to give their time and money, who are not here because they are rejecting any or all religion. They are here because they feel lost, lonely and hurting, because they feel something is missing, even though they may appear to all the world to be just fine and dandy. They have no particular interest in religion — our brand or any other brand. They just know that they’ve already tried everything else: alcoholism, workaholism, drugs, shopping, gambling, partying, travel, therapy, self-help books and groups and programs. There’s nothing left for them to try and besides, we don’t charge admission — even the coffee is free.<br /><br />A few of the commenters to Wondertwisted’s blog understand because they too have experienced the saving power of Unitarian Universalism. Julian wrote: “I believe UUism saves souls. I do believe there is salvation in UUism.” Tim Bartik posted: “People NEED a positive message on how they can be ‘saved’ towards a better relationship with themselves and people and this world, and many have a need to address their relationship with the broader universe.”<br /> <br />One commenter wrestled with the word. Susan Dorbeck wrote: “Now I’m struggling with what salvation means in this world, how to define it. What in me do I want saved? What do I want to save? Salvation is a big word. Does it mean comfort and solace? Does it mean an end to poverty and oppression? Does it mean hope and faith? Or the means by which we achieve those ends?”<br /><br />Those are all good questions, and they are among the deepest religious questions there are. Why are we Unitarian Universalists not publicly wrestling and struggling with these important questions? Why is a devout and dedicated Unitarian Universalist young adult like Wondertwisted having to go elsewhere to have that conversation? Why aren’t all of us religious liberals using that language when we talk about our faith and our church to others? Do we really think our friends and neighbors are dying spiritually for a lack of joining a committee, having a stimulating conversation, hearing an interesting speaker, giving donations to a church, or drinking all that free coffee? Whether folks can articulate it or not, they want their lives to have purpose, they want to feel like they are living for something, they want their souls saved. <br /><br />We are not misusing the word “salvation” to say that we are a salvation faith. We are instead going back to the original meaning of the word. In Hebrew, the word translated as salvation meant “to make sufficient.” In ancient Greek, the word meant “to make whole” or “to make healthy.” In both languages, the word used for salvation was almost exclusively secular. In almost every use in scripture, the word we know as “salvation” was focused on the here and now. When we use salvation on our terms, we are using it the way it was originally meant. We ought to feel just as free to use “salvation” our way as we do to use “church” our way.<br /><br />I’m going to give the last words in this sermon to the spirited and passionate young woman who kicked this topic off. Here’s an excerpt from Wondertwisted’s September blog post, following up on the controversy stirred by her post in August. If you need me to say it, then I will – I agree with her completely.<br /><br /><blockquote>If UUs don’t think the faith has anything to say about salvation — or redemption or transformation — then the Internal Revenue Service should revoke the tax-exempt status of every congregation with “Unitarian Universalist” on its shingle. And the good people in the meetinghouse should ask themselves what the heck they’re doing there. If they aren’t there for a chance at reforming their lives, their hearts or their communities, then why are they there at all?…</blockquote><br /><br />May we Unitarian Universalists claim our rightful place as a faith that saves souls, as a church that deals in salvation, so that we can reach out to all the folks in greater New Orleans in their own small private hells. <span style="font-weight:bold;">So might this be! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611227823030172009.post-17794056722786948532011-10-04T13:40:00.000-07:002011-10-04T13:52:04.050-07:00Three Word Mission<span style="font-weight:bold;">A Sermon for Association Sunday<br />by the Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger<br />at First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans<br />Sunday, October 2, 2011</span><br /><br />This past June, I had a kind of an epiphany at the UUA General Assembly, the annual meeting of delegates and members of Unitarian Universalist congregations from all over the U.S. and the world. For the past 7 years, one of the things that happens at GA is that certain congregations are awarded the title of Breakthrough Congregation. The UUA website explains what that is:<br /><br /><blockquote>… the Breakthrough Congregation initiative was an effort to identify those congregations that had achieved significant and sustained numerical growth and give them an opportunity to share what they’ve done, and how they’ve done it. </blockquote><br /><br />Breakthrough Congregations are selected by the UUA’s Growth Team, and each congregation shares their story at General Assembly. I was especially struck by the presentation and video of the UU Congregation of Fairfax, Virginia, pastored by my friend and colleague Mary Katherine Morn. <br /> <br />To give you a little background, Rev. Morn has been serving Fairfax for 8 years – in fact, I did the Chalice Lighting at her Installation ceremony. Over the time of that ministry, the minister, Board, and congregation have together embarked on a conscious and intentional process of transforming important things about their church – how it was governed, how it thought of itself, what its purpose was, how they would treat each other, how they would present themselves to the world, and how they would welcome new folks. <br /><br />One of the first things that the Fairfax congregation changed about itself was its Mission Statement. Now, UU congregations in general have a problem with Mission Statements. Sometimes they are too long, and almost nobody in the church, even those who helped write them, can remember them. Let me give you a couple of examples of this kind of Mission Statement:<br /><br /><blockquote>•The First Unitarian Church of Wilmington, Delaware, inspires lifelong spiritual growth. We promote religious freedom and joyfully offer our community and our world the transforming message of our Unitarian Universalist principles. We share a freely-chosen faith that opens minds and deepens understanding of life's enduring mysteries. We rely on reason, intuition, personal experience, and diverse religious traditions. As individuals in community, we commit our energy and resources to this mission.<br />•Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Poconos: We are an accepting congregation, diverse in religious and spiritual expression, uniting in fellowship to enrich our lives and inspire the community by promoting Unitarian Universalist principles.</blockquote><br /><br />I defy anyone to remember either of those.<br />The 2nd issue with UU church Mission Statements is that sometimes they are so inclusive as to be almost useless. A Mission that is too anodyne, trying not to offend anyone, ends up offending by being too general. A couple of examples:<br /><br /><blockquote>•Thoreau UU Congregation in Stafford, Texas: We are a spiritual community of open minds and caring hearts, working for social justice and religious freedom in Fort Bend County.<br />•From the UU Church of Lancaster: We are a welcoming, nurturing community that celebrates our spiritual diversity. Commitment to our Unitarian Universalist principles inspires us to create positive change in the world.</blockquote><br /><br />These statements are well-meant, and they're not offensive, but they’re boring. They could apply to almost any church.<br /><br />You may be wondering how the First Church Mission Statement compares. You can judge for yourself – turn your Order of Service over, and there it is: <br /><br /><blockquote>•We are a richly historic, diverse and inclusive, liberal rel-igious community of free thinkers, inspired by reason and spirit. Members of First Church commit to seek meaning and wholeness in our lives and justice in the world.</blockquote><br /><br />Not bad.<br /><br />By contrast to all of these, the Fairfax congregation went in a different direction, and came up with a 3-word Mission Statement that the whole congregation could get behind, buy into, remember, and actively apply to their church life. Their Mission Statement is <span style="font-weight:bold;">Grow, Connect, Serve</span>. That’s it – <span style="font-weight:bold;">Grow, Connect, Serve</span>.<br /><br />If you go to the UUA website and view the Fairfax Breakthrough Congregation video, or go to the Fairfax website, you will see how this Mission is applied through everything the church does. The congregation understands “grow” in both senses, as to grow in numbers of members, and to grow in spiritual depth. They strive always to connect authentically with each other, and also to connect warmly with newcomers to the church. They see service as part of who they are – service to their church and service in the wider world. Grow, Connect, Serve. It’s their mantra, its their reason for being, it’s their motto, it’s their mission. Over 8 years, living up to it has helped them become a UUA Breakthrough Congregation.<br /><br />I was very impressed with everything I saw and heard about Fairfax, and I was also inspired – which is of course why the UUA exists, why we are in Association with other UU congregations, and why we’re celebrating Association Sunday this morning. We can help one another, we can inspire one another, we can learn from and teach one another. <br /><br />But I’m NOT suggesting we copy the Fairfax 3-word Mission Statement. Inspired by them, I came up with one I like for us. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to like it – indeed, it would be great if this Association Sunday sermon would spark a congregational conversation to come up with our own 3-word Mission Statement.<br /><br />The 3 words that I came up with have a few more syllables than the Fairfax Mission, but I think they fit us better. Try this out: <span style="font-weight:bold;">Hospitality, Community, Solidarity</span>. Let me unpack them one by one.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hospitality</span> is a term that has been associated with the city of New Orleans for hundreds of years. It is also a religious imperative, common in traditions both Eastern and Western. It means to welcome the stranger, to make guests feel at home, to treat a new person with honor and affection, to create a home that is warm and welcoming. Hospitality shares a common root with “hospital,” and so there is an implication of healing. For the Semitic tribes of the hostile desert in Biblical times, hospitality wasn’t mere politeness – it ensured the safety and even life of travelers.<br /> <br />First Church has been including a reference to “radical hospitality” in its self-presentation well before Katrina, and it has become even more important after the Storm. We’ve practiced hospitality with each other as we returned home to the city and to First Church, we’ve practiced hospitality as we’ve welcomed new members, and we’ve practiced hospitality to the thousands of volunteers who have come to take part in our recovery and restoration. Practicing hospitality as our congregational spiritual discipline is natural to us, and thus it is a good choice as the first word in our 3-word Mission Statement. <br /> <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Community</span> is a term often bandied about, commonly used interchangeably with congregation. But you can have a congregation without having a community. In a congregation, folks attend the same religious organization. In a congregation that becomes a community, there’s more – folks care about one another, help one another, support one another. But even more importantly, folks in a congregation that becomes a community are accountable to each other. They make promises about being in right relationship, they call each other back to those promises when during stress or conflict they become obscured. In a congregation that becomes a community, the members are strengthened by their bonds with each other, and always seek ways to enlarge the community. As the second word in our 3-word Mission Statement, we would proclaim our aspiration of the ideal of Beloved Community that Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of.<br /><br />Many UU churches, like the one in Fairfax, speak of service, and service is a good thing. But there is something beyond service, beyond social justice issues and projects, beyond helping those who are oppressed and in need – and that is <span style="font-weight:bold;">Solidarity</span>. Solidarity says that we aspire to go beyond service and helping – that we aim to stand with those often considered “the other” or “those poor people,” whoever they are. We who have been victims of disaster and prejudice ourselves stand with those for whom that is their constant state of being. We who have overcome great loss stand with those in loss and grief.<br /><br />There is a poster in the kitchen of the New Orleans Rebirth Volunteer Center, upstairs on the 2nd floor of the First Church Religious Education wing, pointed out to all the volunteers who have stayed here since Katrina. It portrays a community of indigenous people in Australia who collectively came up with a passionate expression of how they felt about the outsiders who came to “help” them. The poster says:<br /><br /><blockquote>“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” </blockquote><br /><br />Now, that’s Solidarity, and that is better, more just, more equitable, than mere service.<br /><br />It took the Fairfax UUs 8 years to become a Breakthrough Congregation, and they did not have to overcome a major disaster and the attendant challenges of rebuilding membership, finances, and a building complex to do it. But it can still be an inspiration to us. We are only 6 years out from Katrina, and with the partnership of our Association and congregations and individuals within our Association, we have come a long long way. But we too can aspire to be a Breakthrough Congregation, we too can transform our habits and processes, and we too can start by changing our Mission Statement so that it inspires and challenges every single First Church member and friend to our finest efforts towards <span style="font-weight:bold;">Hospitality, Community, & Solidarity. So might this be! AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com