Home

Sermons

Now is the Time - Association Sunday
October 21, 2007
UUCO
Rev. Theresa Novak
 
I want to tell you something important today.  Please don’t be startled, but I have to tell you.  I have been saved.  Yes, I have been saved.  And guess what?  Although you might not know it, might not describe it quite that way, each and every one of you here today, has also been saved.   And guess what else?  Our task, our mission if you will, is to let every one else know that they are saved too!  Everyone is saved, there are no special privileges, no secret passages into heaven, everyone, no matter who they are or what they believe is saved.  Hallelujah!  Anyone want to say that with me?  Hallelujah!
 
Before those of you who are thinking rapidly and nervously, wondering if you need to call in the paramedics because your new minister has clearly lost her mind, let me try to explain what I mean.
 
Universalism’s great message to the world was the message of universal salvation.  A loving God would condemn no one to hell.  That message spread like wildfire because it was desperately needed by people who were suffering at the time, suffering from the idea of a vengeful God, an idea that had translated very quickly into punishing social policies.

This frightening theology glorified the rich as God’s chosen.  Universalism responded to this by the bold statement that there is no hell but that which we create on earth.  
If we are all worthy of God’s love then, to be religious, we must show compassion to all of our fellow humans as well.  Unitarianism’s response to those who stressed the sinful nature of humans was to proclaim loudly that there is divine capacity within each of us.  It is the responsibility of human society to nurture, to educate, and to develop, this divine spark.   It is possible to create heaven here on earth.
 
We have a glorious history because of these ideas, ideas which were considered as very radical for their time.  Our denomination, our two denominations, the Universalist and Unitarians, had an enormous influence and impact on the social policies of the day. Why? Partly because there were a lot of us.   The Universalist Church of America in 1888 was about the 6th largest denomination in the United States. The Unitarians were very popular as well.  One of the founding fathers of this country, Thomas Jefferson, in a letter written in 1822 said:

The pure and simple unity of the Creator of the universe is all but ascendant in the eastern states; it is dawning in the west, and advancing towards the south; and I confidently expect that the present generation will see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United States.

Jefferson’s prediction did not come true in his generation or in ours.  Unitarian Universalism is a very small denomination today.  We still have some influence and some impact, because we tend to be communities of social activists, but our actual numbers are very small.  
Way too small I say.  Now is the time to grow those numbers.
 
What happened?   Why are there not more Unitarian Universalists?  One thing that happened is that we weren’t very organized.  We so valued human reason and the individual right of conscience that we sometimes had difficulty coming together in a strong and unified fashion.  We also tended to focus on individuals more than on building strong communities.  Our activism in other causes, although tied to our religious values, was also not often identified as coming from our faith.
 
Also important was the fact that our ideas, our values, simply became more mainstream. The government adopted them, as did many of the mainline denominations; they were adopted by the everyday citizen, and in fact Unitarian Universalist values become much of what has been called the civil religion of the United States.  This is why, when new folks come to us, when they read our seven principles, most say quickly that they believe in those things too. Our values were at one time, not too long ago, America’s values.  Democracy, justice, caring. Folks with our values, folks that were in fact actual church going Unitarians and Universalists created settlement houses, the Red Cross, they fought against slavery, and they worked for women’s rights.  We helped create the free public school system.  All were based on the conviction, the faith stance that all are worthy; that all have potential, and that diversity of thought and of lifestyle is a good thing.
 
Fast forward to today, here and now, to 2007.
 
Our values are no longer those of much of mainstream America. Our prison system is based on punishment not rehabilitation.  The death penalty, even for juveniles, is increasingly popular.  The wealthy are rewarded with tax cuts; welfare is for the corporations but not for the poor.  Wars are waged not for freedom or for defense, but for profit and revenge.  Education is for the children of the privileged and our public schools are being undermined by schemes to divert tax dollars to private institutions.  There is a push to privatize social security.  Social security, how can something that is social, and for the benefit of society as a whole, be made private?

It is time for our values to be brought forward again.

We need to grow our churches because the world needs more Unitarian Universalists. The world needs us and those like us, and I include the visitors who are here for the first time today in the “us”.  The world needs people who are curious and people who care. We need to continue to provide a safe haven, a sanctuary for people who are searching for a religion that offers hope in this world, but we also need to change the world.  We can’t do this unless there are more of us.

Association Sunday is about taking Unitarian Universalism’s message to the world.  The money collected in churches across the country will be used for three major bold initiatives.  

50% will go to the UUA’s National Awareness Campaign: We’re in TIME Magazine’s October 15 issue, the ad is posted on the bulletin board.  There is a new DVD which you can see after the service today.

25% to create congregational growth grants: The grants will be distributed in proportion to the funds raised in each district.  This church exists today partly because of the help we received from the larger denomination early on.  If funds are available I would love to see us apply for and receive another grant.

25% to the Diversity of Ministry Team: These resources will help support ministers of color, Latino/a and Hispanic ministers, and the congregations that call them.  Unitarian Universalism has a positive message for everyone.

A major anonymous donor has contributed a $500,000 matching grant so that every dollar collected today will be doubled.  Just think what we could do with a million dollars!

The UUA is asking everyone who can to contribute at least $50.  Not all of us can do that, but some of us can do more.  I, myself, have written a check for $500.

This campaign is critically important. And now is the time to respond with energy and enthusiasm.

In the words of WEB DuBois

Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season.
It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year.
It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow.
Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the play time.

Now is the Time because people are looking for us. They are lost, they are afraid, and they want to find a welcoming religious home.

Now is the time because our society is divided, divided between the haves and the have-nots, the native born and the immigrant, the red states and the blue states.  It is divided along religious lines, with most religions maintaining that theirs is the only way, that God speaks to them alone.  The world needs our example of the value that can be found in diversity that in the words of Francis David, who said it in 1568, “we need not think alike to love alike.”    
 
Now is the time because we cannot wait.  Too many again believe in the end times and want to hasten them.  They cheer violence in the middle-east because of their bizarre interpretations of ancient writings that were nothing if not allegorical.  

Now is the time because the forces that call themselves Christian are doing everything they can to make theirs the only choice.

Now is the time because society’s safety nets are being dismantled one by one.  I remember a time when there were almost no homeless on the streets and today whole families are seeking shelter.

There is no hell but the one we create.  John Murray preached it in the 1700’s

“Go out into the highways and byways,” he said
“Give the people something of your new vision.  You may possess a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it to bring more light and understanding to the hearts of men and women.  Give them not hell, but hope and courage.”

Olympia Brown, the first woman ever ordained by a national denomination in the United States, preached it too.  She said:

“Stand by this faith.  Work for it and sacrifice for it.  There is nothing in the world so important as to be loyal to this faith which has placed before us the loftiest ideals.  Which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble duty, and made the world beautiful.  Do not demand immediate results but rejoice that we are worthy to be entrusted with this great message.”

How many of you think that your individual life, and the life of your family, is better because you have found this church?
 
Now is the time to share that with others.  Too many people don’t even know such a thing as Unitarian Universalism exists.  I am not out to convert anyone who already has a religious home, although we do need to dialog with those folks, to call them to be faithful to the best and not to the worst of their own traditions.  But there are many other people who do not have a religion or who are unhappy where they are.  They are looking for meaning, for purpose in their lives.  Chasing material success, the latest consumer fads doesn’t do it.  People are turning to and abusing drugs and alcohol, they are turning to gangs and violence; they are seeking escape from a world that doesn’t care about them. There is too much selfishness in the world because the popular theology of the day is a selfish theology, one that doesn’t seem to care at all about the poor, the dispossessed, one that thinks diversity of any kind is bad.  

We need to share our good news.  We too have been somewhat selfish as a movement, hiding our light under a bushel, refusing to try and spread the seeds of this faith further.  Unitarian Universalists don’t evangelize, it has been said. We don’t want to be too pushy.  

We need to wake up and be a little pushy, I think.  
We need to stand together and say that it is not just about individual success or failure.  We need to show that community matters, and that it matters how we treat each other and how we treat the earth.  We are one family and our larger family needs us to speak up, to be strong in our faith.

Last weekend and the earlier part of this week, I was in Billings, Montana, meeting with Unitarian Universalists from all over the Mountain Desert District, from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, and from the other churches in Utah. There are good things happening in other churches just like there have been good things happening here.  We are not alone in our distress with the political and social atmosphere in this country and in this region.  There are many others who want to make caring and justice part of the wider culture again.  We have only to work with them. I wrote the following poem a couple of years ago when I was feeling discouraged, when yet another mean-spirited social policy was just passed. It hurts because there have been so many, I can’t remember which one it was.
 
Wheel of Justice
The wheel is rolling backward.
Listen to the voices shouting,
In anger and in rage.
The soft sobs at the end of the day
Echo through the valley of despair.
The city streets are baking,
The countryside is gray with dust.
 
There is a heartbeat
Somewhere.
Feel it pulsing.
 
A small sprout of green
rises up through the cracked pavement
A sparrow drops a seed.
 
If we cannot stand it
Then we have to stand.
If we cannot stand
Then we have to crawl.
 
Don’t wipe the tears.
Let them run
Through the fields,
Water for the crops
That we must grow.
 
The wheel is rolling backwards
But that doesn’t have to be.
 
First one
Then another
Yet another
And again
We will feel the good ache
Of holy muscles
Working with us,
As we place
Our shoulders to the wheel


We have our shoulders to that wheel of justice already here in this church in Ogden, building a loving community, trying to make a difference in the world around us.  Today we have the opportunity to join with others who want to do the same thing.  Now is the Time.

When is the time to issue a hearty welcome to all the souls that need a healing balm?
Now is the time.
When is the time to repair a planet suffering from lack of care?
Now is the time.
When is the time to truly celebrate diversity, inclusion and not exclusion?
Now is the time.
When is the time to call loudly for justice and compassion for all?
Now is the time.
When is the time to move forward in confidence and in hope?
Now is the time.

May it be so.

    

 

Copyright: The intellectual property contained in all UU sermons belongs exclusively to the people who created them. If you wish, you may quote from this sermon, but please do so with the appropriate attribution.

  
 

HOME

© Copyright, UUCO, 2003-2007

If you have any questions, comments, or additions
  you'd like to make to the website
  please contact Arthur Queen at
Webmaster@UUCO.org