A Community of Memory and of Hope . . . and Energy
Guest Sermon by Julia Corbett-Hemeyer
Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie
October 19, 2008

[The text for this sermon is the "Principles and Purposes for All of Us," reading # 594 in Singing the Living Tradition.]

Introduction

When Lisa asked me some time ago if I would be able to speak today it was easy to say yes, for two reasons. First, and I know I say this every time, but I mean it every time, it's good, very good, to be here, and I'm thankful for the opportunities you all as a congregation keep giving me to share my experiences, feelings and reflections with you. Most of you have heard me say before that I'm a "Buddhist Unitarian Universalist humanist religious mutt." I can only do ministry with people who not only allow me to be who I am but affirm that. And you all have done so by asking me to minister occasionally here.

Second, I already had an idea in mind, although I did change my mind later. I had today's date in my mind as the date of my next sermon. And I had the date in mind as the date of our Fall congregational meeting. Apparently, though, the two dates were in different compartments of my mind, and the two compartments were not communicating until a couple of weeks ago, when it suddenly clicked for me that they were in fact the same Sunday! So I wanted to share something with you that I thought was apropos of the Sunday of our congregational meeting. It's also apropos in light of our approaching 150th anniversary of being this people in this place. There may be a little sense of déjà vu here for some of you. I had finished writing this sermon and pulling together the order of service a couple of weeks ago. As I listened to Thomas' sermon on October 5th, I heard echoes of what I had written, although from a different perspective and with a different end in mind. Plus, we're singing "As Tranquil Streams" again this morning. So I invite you to let what I say today about this beloved community play in your minds and hearts with what Thomas said two weeks ago about the importance of the church as the liberating and prophetic community.

Clarifying the Vision . . . . and Energizing It

Three weeks ago, September 28th, a small group of us met in the afternoon to begin the process of clarifying what our congregation's vision is, who we want to be and where we want to be going in the future. After some brief preliminaries, we brainstormed in two directions: First, how have we changed as a congregation in the past 20 years? Second, what are our dreams for the next 20 years? The community of memory and of hope made visible on a wonderful Fall afternoon in the woods behind Wal-Mart, right here in River City!

There was tremendous energy—good energy, positive energy—in the room. As I reflected on that later on in the day, I realized the energy I had sensed in that meeting was the same energy I had felt in the congregation during the time of Thomas' sabbatical. Only this time we had as well the additional benefit of Thomas' leadership. It was the energy of a group of people more than ready to fully claim our authentic life as a congregation. It was a group of people who drank deeply from the many wells of the past and at the same time reached out to embrace the future, to encourage a significant future to happen here and to facilitate its doing so.

Several things from that gathering especially stayed with me:

• The group that gathered was a diverse group—diverse in age, in education, in race, in sexual orientation, in theology and religion, in physical ability. Yet one of us voiced a dream for the next 20 years that our congregation would become even more diverse, more open, more welcoming, more representative of the whole human family.
• I was also impressed by the fact that sitting behind me were four of the younger members of the congregation—all of them probably young enough to be my grand kids, all of them busy with their own lives. There may well have been others whom I didn't see. How cool is it that four people that age took two hours on a beautiful Sunday afternoon to participate in that process?
• The range of dreams was impressive. Big dreams that would call for big action. Dreams about new and enhanced programs, about significant community/social justice/social action initiatives, and about staffing and a physical infrastructure that could support those dreams. We were truly a group of people who "revere the past" and at the same time have the confidence to "trust the dawning future more."
• This was a group of people who aren't "afraid of some change." People recognized the complexity of what was being discussed, to be sure, and didn't minimize what it would take to turn those dreams into reality. No one thought it would be easy. But the tendency was to ask "how can we?" rather than "can we?"
• When we were all together in one group and in the smaller break out groups, laughter rang out repeatedly as we talked and discussed, beginning to bring some order and structure to our dreams. We were having far too much fun for a planning meeting! The break out groups settled quickly into the rhythm of the work we were called on to do. Disagreements occasionally emerged, and my impression was that everyone felt heard and was heard, that we dealt with our differences with respect and gentleness.
• Finally, at least as far as this list is concerned, I noted how well these dreams reflect the larger vision of the Principles to which we give allegiance as members not only of this local church but of the larger UU Association. The Principles that we read and reflected on a few minutes ago have come to inform our lives at a deep level, both as individuals and as a congregation.

As someone who has been an active member of this congregation for only part of the past 20 years, it was very interesting to me to hear people name some of the significant changes that we have already made. These caught my attention; there were many, many others as well.

• We formally became a welcoming congregation.
• We changed to a program council form of church structure rather than a pastoral structure.
• We inaugurated the Worship Associates program and the lay Pastoral Associates group. The Caring Committee was formalized.
• We began monthly alternative Wednesday night services.
• Dining for dollars started and grew.
• Air conditioning, which then enabled us to meet together for services in the summer as well as in cooler weather. What's this? Can God no longer trust the UUs to be on our own in the summer?
• There were other significant improvements to the physical plant as well—to the parking lot, new AV and computer equipment, the new sign in front. These things, too, are congruent with our larger vision.

Moreover, I believe this congregation changed fundamentally during Thomas' sabbatical and our planning for it. These changes were in part, and perhaps in large part, the result of the kinds of changes that had already come about. We have grown out of our adolescence as a congregation. We have become a mature congregation fully ready to be with each other and in the larger communities of which we're a part with energy and commitment, vision and determination. We have become a community in which ministry is defined broadly and located within in the congregation. We have become a community in which the Principles live and breathe, take on arms and legs to be of service in the world, in this place.

Historically, congregational polity has been central in Unitarian Universalism. Our congregational polity "reminds us that power is ultimately in the hands of the membership, the people who are gathered in a local community. [We] know and depend on one another in many ways; [we] rejoice in one another and bear one another's burdens. [We] also exercise creativity and moral courage in ways that, as [we] know, few would do alone. [We] think of [ourselves] as devoted Unitarian Universalists and the focus of [our] commitment and [our] giving has a name and address in [our] own local community.¹ It's in this spirit that we look forward to the next 20 years.

The Sangha: Community

In cultures which aren't traditionally Buddhist, upon becoming Buddhist a person usually "takes refuge in" three things: The Buddha, the Dharma or teaching, and the Sangha. "Taking refuge in" connotes placing ones confidence in, trusting in, committing to. For right now, I want to focus on Sangha. Traditionally, when Buddhism was very new, the Sangha was the community of monks only. Very quickly, a movement sprang up which among other things included Buddhist lay women and lay men, and children too, as part of the sangha. Sangha can mean congregation, although that isn't the traditional Buddhist usage. Sangha, congregation, is kindred spirits, fellow travelers. Its importance to our religious and spiritual life can hardly be over stated. We're relational beings, and that applies in spiritual and religious life as well as in other things. Lama Surya Das is an American who is a dharma teacher and lama ordained in one of the Tibetan Buddhist lineages. He writes:

The Sangha signifies cooperation, collaboration, inclusiveness, and interbeing—being connected with others. This includes the entire community of all beings, seen and unseen, human and otherwise—the entire boundless circle. Taking refuge in the Sangha represents our commitment to living harmoniously with others and working to bring all sentient beings along the path to enlightenment.²

As UUs, we might rephrase that last part in terms of our commitment to "secure for ourselves, our posterity, and our fellow human beings a communion and faith, a tradition and heritage of ever greater freedom, justice, love and mercy . . . " as stated in the Bylaws of this beloved community.

In another book, Surya Das lists a series of suggestions for how to be and become such a community. There are a lot of these, but taken together they provide a portrait of the characteristics we will need as we move into the next 20 years of being this congregation in this place:

Accept others as they are—warts and all. 
Let go of closed and judgmental points of view.
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Develop an authentically generous spirit—share money and gifts, give the gift of time and energy, be kind, give energy and courage, share what you know, be supportive, become a generous receiver.
Empathize with others.
Stay open and challenge your assumptions.
Be present for others.³

Sangha, being in congregation, in other words, is about being in a community of significant relationships which supports us and encourages us to grow, to risk being more than we have been, to reach farther than we have reached, to dream bigger than any of us could dare dream alone, and to turn those dreams into reality. It's a community of cherished memories and lively hope, of vision and of hard work. And by the way, thanks for being my sangha!

Notes

1. "Toward a New Community of Autonomous Congregations," UUA web site, http://www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/congregationalpolity/47016.shtml
2. Lama Surya Das, [i]Awakening the Buddha Within (Broadway Books, 1997), p. 68.
3. Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddhist Heart (Broadway Books, 2000), pp. 110-127, some paraphrased.