Sermons

What a glorious day we enjoyed yesterday- such beautiful weather- foliage firecracker colors. Comforting sun and cool gentle breezes. My day was made all the more beautiful because I led a Unitarian Universalist history tour of Boston for our fabulous Coming of Age youth and their adult leaders. You may already know that our Coming of Age program is for our 9^th and 10^th grade youth- it is time of discerning where they are on their path of belief- where they are in their search for truth and meaning. Next May, we will all participate in a Sunday morning service when they will share their journey with us- what they believe… what they are still wondering about…. And what they hope for. This is an intentional discernment of their inner and outer spiritual resources as they move from childhood to adulthood.

We started our morning here at church, with bagels. We lit our chalice- as we do on Sunday mornings and as we start most of our meetings and small group gatherings. I invited the youth to share their joys and sorrows and light candles. And each one of them had something to share. And then I invited them to create a covenant on how they would be with one another. The first thing on their list was- We will treat each other with respect. And then they worked on specifically defining what they meant by respect. That included putting their cell phones aside so that they could be truly present with each other.

After sharing a very brief overview of Unitarian Universalist history and tradition. I passed a basket and they each picked several quotes to read. There were dozens of quotes by Unitarians and Universalists like Louisa May Alcott, Edward Everett Hale, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Daniel Webster, Julia Ward Howe, William Ellery Channing, Hosea Ballou, Robert Shaw and others. Then we climbed into vans and left for Boston.

Many of you know that the Unitarian Universalist national headquarters are located right next door to the Massachusetts State house on Beacon Hill in Boston. That area is rich with history relating to our American Unitarian and Universalist roots. As we visited each place on our tour, the youth dug into their pockets and pulled out the quotes that I gave them in the morning- each reading them out loud and strong from the steps of each place we visited. Here are just a few…

In front of the Universalist Charles Street Meeting house, Elizabeth read John Murray’s words….Go out into the highways and by-ways. Give the people something of your new vision…Give them not hell, but hope and courage; preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.

On the doorstep of Julia Ward Howe’s house, Sasha read part of Howe’s Mother’s Day proclamation… We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure others.

I am only one. But still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot to everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

As we walked from site to site… the youth talked and joked with one another. We stopped often so they could pose together- insisting that every one of them be in the picture. After all, part of their covenant that morning had been to have fun together. I returned home last night, but the group stayed at the Unitarian Universalist Eliot and Pickett house last night. They will attend Arlington Street church for worship this morning. They will clime that church’s tower and ring the chimes out over Boston garden. They will continue to explore their Unitarian Universalist roots… And of course continue their camaraderie on this part of their life’s journey. For all I hope they learned about and were inspired by our Unitarian Universalist story- I could see that the really important work of building relationships was happening. Which gets to a fundamental reason that we gather together in this religious community and why we are needed more than ever.

The American Sociological Review published a study designed to measure changes in close relationships Americans have. A key question asked subjects how many people they feel close enough to that they feel they can confide personal information. In 1985, the response given most often was having 3 people in whom to confide. In 2004, the response given most often was zero. The number of people who said they had no one to confide in went from 10% to 25% in those 20 years. The level of human isolation is unprecedented in American life- maybe in human history. One in four Americans has no close personal relationship at all. Zero.

Ironic…that this is true when connecting with each other electronically has never been easier with cell phones, the internet, instant messaging and call waiting. [i]

We are relational creatures… we become fully human in a network of relationships. We need community in the way we need food and shelter. We need our congregations when we are spiritually hungry and religiously homeless.[ii]

Now is the time to grow our faith so that the people who need us, but don’t know about us will be able to find us. By joining with other congregations in our Association, we have the strength to get the word out through national magazines and other media. Now is the time to broaden and deepen our Faith so that when friends and members leave our congregation to move to another community, they will find a vital Unitarian Universalist congregation to sustain, enrich and challenge the next chapter of their lives. Now is the time to strengthen our Unitarian Universalism, because we care about our children. They grow up and leave us fully committed to our faith, and need to find a place to continue their journey as Unitarian Universalists. Now is the time to grow our faith… because with our greater influence we will – in the words of Unitarian minister, Theodore Parker – words made famous by Martin Luther King… we will participate in bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice. The root word for the word religion is “religare” meaning bringing together for greater strength. Together we can grow our capacity to nurture our spirits and heal the world.

Please join me in watching a DVD describing our faith. This is made possible because of our Unitarian Universalist Association. We are better together!

[i] Ideas, quotes and paraphrase from Peter Morales’ sermon Feed the Spiritually Hungry,House the Religiously Homeless. http://www.uua.org/documents/stew-dev/assnsunday/0709_final_worship_resources_packet.pdf.

[ii] Ideas, quotes and paraphrase from Peter Morales’ sermon Feed the Spiritually Hungry,House the Religiously Homeless. http://www.uua.org/documents/stew-dev/assnsunday/0709_final_worship_resources_packet.pdf.