Sermon

March 12, 2006 UNEDITED
Rev. Barbara McKusick Liscord
Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Milford, NH

Yesterday morning, when I went out for a morning walk, the sun had already warmly softened the earth. Cracks opened in the soil and strong green spears of daffodils were evident. Five robins hopped and pecked in the meadow. I wore light layers and noticed the difference from weeks ago when I would not only put on thick layers from head to toe, but would steel my muscles to the cold wind that swung open our old wooden storm door. Sun warmed my skin, earth soft under my boot. I walked around the land, looking for growth- more green spears on the sunny east side of the house and little buds on shrubs planted last summer. The very earliest signs of spring. Of new life. As happens on these walks, when I know I will be preparing a message for you- I see connections between what I am experiencing in nature and spiritual and practical wisdom.

Earlier that morning, I had asked my husband Paul about how much we should pledge to give our congregation for financial support. I wanted to be able to put our pledge card in the golden ark this morning. And it seemed fitting that the earth should be softening and warming and opening to new life, when we are making a decision on what to promise for stewardship to our beloved Unitarian Universalist community here in Milford. Our income was lower than expected last year and claims on those fewer dollars earned had been more than expected. I’m sure many of you can identify with how that seems to work out. So to make a promise of a significant pledge again this year takes a certain kind of softening and opening. And faith. The same kind of faith it took to plant those daffodil bulbs last fall.

Unfortunately, the subject of money makes most of us anxious. It is linked to ancient fears about our personal safety- linked to home, hearth, shelter, clothing and food- our very bodily well-being. In addition, it has become linked to things that money really can’t buy…like personal internal strength, feelings of self-worth and resiliency to the hard knocks of life. This has been true in cultures throughout the world and probably throughout history- people occupy rungs on the social ladder linked to their riches.

I think this is driven even further into our hearts by virtue of the psychologically sophisticated market economy in which we live. The atmosphere is toxic and dampens our spirits. The joy of a retail trip quickly fades and we just want more. Two days ago, when I started to think about our pledge amount, I also received an LL Bean catalogue and Macy’s advertising flyer, both with attractive stuff that I would like to have. I did my usual mantra question… but do you really need it? No is the answer and, once again, I steeled myself against the assault. So we all live in a milieu where we are enticed by some really nice stuff that we would like to have. Every day, we must steel ourselves- essentially close ourselves off from those desires in order to live a reasonably financially stable life. So I think it is a challenge, then, to soften our hearts and open our spirits to giving generously. We must reaffirm our strength to spend our financial resources in ways that truly express our values.

This is not easy… we have become such savvy consumers. And it is easy to start seeing our religious community as another commodity to be consumed in the spiritual market place. In an award winning sermon by my colleague in Burlington, Vermont; Gary Kowalski suggests that many people go to church with a mind set of the market place, as church shoppers or consumers, asking, “What is in it for me?” “They evaluate their experience by the same criteria they might judge the worth of other competing attractions. And what they give to support the congregation is based on what they might expect to pay for similar services from seemingly similar retailers. If a cup of coffee costs two bucks, then they figure it might be worth a couple of bucks to have coffee at the social hour following the service. If babysitting averages 5 dollars, they reason that a 10 dollar bill in the collection plate should cover the costs of bringing one child to church school with another in the nursery. … but people who come to Unitarian Universalism seeking spiritual goods are likely to be disappointed as long as they have the outlook of consumers, in search of material goods. If our connection to our liberal faith is to grow into something more rewarding, we have to give up our consumer mind set and begin to think of ourselves instead as co-creators of what happens in this community, just as parties to a good marriage see themselves as partners rather than competitors. Making this shift from consumer to co-creator involves an emotional shift, but also a financial one. At that point, what we pledge to support our religious community is likely to increase significantly, but the spiritual and emotional rewards also rise dramatically.”^ⁱ

I don’t think we really want a bargain church. While Building 19 works great for buying low cost stuff you need to run your house. I don’t think any of us wants a Building 19 church. We are mature enough not to suffer from the delusion that we can get something for nothing. While we may buy a lottery ticket or two for fun, generally, yearning to “get-rich-quick” tends to denigrate the value of struggle, commitment and sacrifice. Hard work gives life meaning… and helps us feel good about ourselves. Many years ago, Mohandas Gandhi made a list of seven sins of the modern world. High on the list was religion without sacrifice.^ⁱⁱ

I know that this talk of sacrifice sounds rather hard edged, but there is intrinsic joy in giving for the donor. Giving is a privilege, a way of expressing dignity, affirming self-respect and participating in something larger than ourselves. Giving feels so good that in the Jewish tradition of tzedakah, even the very poor are encouraged to give something to someone who is less fortunate than they are… even if their gift comes directly from the gifts they were given.

In addition to the joy of giving, I have personally found that the ancient practice of tithing frees me of anxiety. As you probably know tithing is the practice of giving 10% of your income away to your church, temple or charity. Prior to adopting this approach, I always wondered what I should give—what would be enough to assuage my guilt. I worried about whether or not I would have enough left to care for our family—after all, I was taught that responsibility for our family was our prime responsibility. But at a certain point, I realized that we could live just as well- if not better on the remaining 90%. Choosing to give at a tithing level softens my heart and gives me back such a great feeling of doing something significant. It is not so much a matter of giving until it hurts, but rather a matter of giving at a level that really helps. For Paul and me, we decided to make a pledge to this congregation of 5% of our joint earned income, which is about $60,000- so that’s a pledge of $3,000. Our goal is to give an additional 5% to other organizations so that we can have some influence in making the world a better place. Under this ancient wisdom of tithing- we give 10% away and our lives and the world is enriched ten-fold.

I also know that this flat percentage may not work at lower income levels at certain points in your life- perhaps when you are starting out, trying to buy your first house and having children. Working toward this percentage is also another meaningful way to use the ancient wisdom of the tithe. Maybe it is 1% this year, 2% for the next year…and so on. Or maybe you increase by a percent or two as children grow up and move on.

This way of figuring out how much to give is quite different from the way we usually pay for things. Usually, we first figure out what it will cost, establish a budget and then stick to it. But in a liberal religious community, basing the amount we give on a budget is fundamentally problematic, because we ask that each of us give on a voluntary basis. We don’t tell you what to give. You have to do the hard work of searching your conscience. If we are going to give according to a budget, the fair way to do it would be to decide on the budget and then divide the total amount by the number of members and friends and send you a bill for your share. Some religious communities do it that way- but in most Unitarian Universalist congregations when the subject of some kind of basic payment or fees comes up… congregations vote for a free and open opportunity to participate in our liberal faith. So where does that leave us? I think it leaves us each with an opportunity to give more significantly out of what we have and thereby live more meaningfully.

The practice of giving based on what each of us has to give rather than based on our congregation’s budget involves a shift from a consumer mentality of paying for material goods.

It moves us toward co-creating with our best democratic processes an amazing community, based on a theology of generosity and abundance.

This is not just a pie-in-the-sky theology – this is a practical theology. If everyone opens their hearts and gives generously as a growing percentage of their income, … I know we can do many of the things I hear mentioned in conversations around the church: create a reserve to take care of our beautiful old building, create resources to have more adequate pastoral care for the people of our growing religious community, improve the worship experience in Emerson hall, better administrative support to more creatively leverage our busy volunteers who work at demanding jobs in addition to volunteering for our community, bring our music budget up to a level that frees the minister from coordination- raises our pianists salary- and gives us flexibility to invite exciting outside musicians, invite alternative and exciting worship leaders, improve our youth programs, childcare for fun evening events like last night’s dinner- so we can accommodate our congregation which is growing with families with children, add young adult programs and worship, improve adult religious education, giving to the interfaith hospitality network to help homeless families, giving to our partner village in Romania, fixing up the fireside room for a more living room type setting for small group ministry and other small meetings, continuing pay our full dues to Unitarian Universalist Association and District to help support the growth of our liberal faith, building up our endowment so that we may buy adjacent properties to accommodate our growth. But of course the details of how we, together, will use our resources will be decided by all voting members using our democratic process. We get to decide- no bishop will tell us what to do.

Let us inspire one another to our highest aspirations with our generosity. Let us remember what inspires us about Unitarian Universalism and this community. When we make our pledge, we make a statement about how much we care about the ongoing existence of this movement- when we support Unitarian Universalism “we are part of something that has power, history, continuity, a sustaining beauty larger than what we can by ourselves create.”^ⁱⁱⁱ The process of considering your pledge and how it expresses meaning and purpose in your time here on earth is as important in your spiritual journey as any other practice. Let us be counter- cultural, breaking away from material consumerism that damages our spirits and the earth.

Just as the earth has softened and opened to free the latent life beneath its surface… let us free ourselves from fear and share our financial resources generously in faith that we together will create a community of caring and hope. Let us help each other grow from consumers to co-creators of a ministry that will transform our lives and our planet. May it be so. Amen.

i Quotes and paraphrase from the Annual Program Fund & Unitarian Universalist Minister’s Association 2000 Sermon Award: “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” by Rev. Gary Kowalski, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont. Gary used the words “shareholders, investors, co-owners” but I prefer to move away from words that also connote the Wall Street marketplace. I prefer the word “co-creator”. He used the words “profit, the payback, the dividends”, but I prefer the words “spiritual and emotional rewards.”

iii Annual Program Fund & Unitarian Universalist Minister’s Association 1998 Sermon Award: Learning to Fly by Rev. Amanda L. Aikman, Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Marysville, Washington.