This sermon was presented at Stevens Chapel on September 12, 2004 by Rev. Judith Campbell

Stepping up to the plate…..

 

I began writing my message the day before I came back to the Island after almost three weeks of vacation time in our Plymouth home.  As I sat writing, a heavy murky misty fog kept moving on and off shore.  It was so dense at times that I couldn’t see across the little pond at the foot of the hill; and then in just minutes, it would roll back and I could see where a pale sun was glittering on the ocean beyond the trees.  It was very beautiful and peaceful. But as I began to write, I realized just how ready I was to be back here, to be home and to be doing the work I love among the people I love. 

 

My subject this morning is about stepping up to the plate: standing up, speaking up and stepping up. In other words, getting off our collective butts and walking the walk.  Doing what we said we believed in when we decided we were Unitarian Universalists, or Unitarian Universalist friends and sympathizers. And for those of you who might be first time visitors to this wonderful and historic church, this is a short peek into what we are about, or what we’re say we are about, and what it takes to actually get up and do it. 

 

We are a do-it-yourself Church.  Some would question whether we even have the right to call ourselves a church or a religious denomination because so many of us question the nature of the divine, and for many folks, to be a church you need to have some sort of a defined deity and rules and regulations on how to address and please and honor that deity or you are in big trouble.

 

We do not fit that description. Nope, not us.

 

We are, in the company of like minded people, searching and questioning and defining the nature of the sacred for ourselves in our own live.  And as part of that search, we are working together to make the world a better place for our being here today, and having been here when we leave.

 

While we were on vacation, we had dinner with a neighbor.  He was clear about asking if he could “pick my brain” about matters of religion and religious practice.  “Pick away” I said, “It is one of my favorite subjects.”  He told me that he was searching and felt he was missing something:that there were people he knew, his late wife was one, that were so totally secure in their faith and their religion, that it gave them such comfort, and he wondered about that confidence and wondered whether he himself might ever experience it.

 

“So what is religion? he said…”You’re a minister….what is religion?…and who invented it?”

 

 He didn’t mess around.

 

I suggested that this could take more than a single dinner. In response, I told him , I believed that religion was invented by human beings to address and define those mysteries of life, or the “big questions” with which all of us struggle. Questions of “What is life”, “Why was I born”, “What am I doing here” and “What happens after I die”. And “Does anything I do here on earth affect the quality of my experience after I die?”  “What is the meaning of this life as we know it, and “How do I give my own life meaning?”

 

Most people ask these questions at some point or other in the course of their living.  And a good number of us want clearly defined answers.  There are any number of religions which do just that: give answers rather than questions.   And for a great number of people it is a deeply secure and satisfying experience, and I am not disparaging it.  The nature of religion is to try to define the indefinable and if you think you have, and it works for you, far be if from me to try and dissuade you.

 

If, on the other hand, you would like to do some of that defining for yourself, and you are more comfortable living with the questions than you are with someone else’s answers, then you have come to the right place.  It might not always be the most comfortable place, but it is certainly the right place for me for now.

 

But what does this little theological meander have to do with the stated subject: Stepping up to the plate?

 

If you think about it, the very core of Unitarian Universalism is about stepping up to the plate.  If you buy into our seven principles as guidelines for living your life, then every single day we are called to serve a higher purpose and the greater good.  We are called to think and to act in a way that honors the worth and dignity of living things, to work for justice and equity for all peoples, to respect and nurture our spiritual selves and the religious and spiritual journey of others, and to live responsibly and sustainably on a planet that could run out on us if we don’t care for and protect her.  It’s a tall order. But if you are here, then you are up to it. 

 

We step up to the plate by speaking up for injustice, by writing letters and joining in peaceful demonstrations to awaken the conscience of those who wish we would just go away.  We step up to the plate by helping people to remember not to litter, by recycling, by voting, by refusing to hear or spread gossip, by speaking out against discrimination and speaking up for equality - even when it’s scary as hell to do so.

 

 

Stepping up to the plate is also about how we run this little church right here.  Stepping up to the work of what we are and what we are trying to do with ourselves.  Think about this. It is doing the committee work of governing ourselves.  It is listening respectfully even if we have heard the argument before, and it is going on too long, or gently and respectfully, setting boundaries and time limits as part of the process of stopping up to self governance.

 

I want to ask you to think about something.  Ask yourself what would we lose if this church were not here - besides the company of like minded intelligent people, and that’s worth plenty, But think what would be missing from your life and what would be missing from the larger community if we were to shut our doors. And then in a very few words write down those two things on your little stickie, What would you miss???  And what would be missing from this island and beyond if we didn’t have UUSMV and the UUA, the larger denomination.

 

Who would like to read those FEW words? There’s no room for a paragraph on that stickie!  Who would care to read what they wrote that would be missing from our lives if we closed our doors? Please just read the words you wrote.

 

 

This is good stuff. 

 

But on a quiet Sunday morning, or at the end of a long committee meeting, It’s hard to get excited about ourselves.  Intellectuals and religious liberals are God’s quiet, chosen people. We don’t sing and shout here. As much as I try to get you to, we are a reserved lot. Some might say, “god’s frozen people’. But we have a message and we have a mission and it is worth getting fired up about, because we don’t require conversion or tithing or sworn allegiance to a named invisible (Male) deity to be a member of the club.  We just need to be able to think freely, to ask questions and to experience the transcending wonder in our own way, in the company of like minded people.   But believe me folks: there are people out there who see us as the Anti-Christ, and would ban our books and control the content of the books that our children read in schools and a dangerous lot more. We are an insistent and commanding voice for the right of free thought and speech which must, if we are true to our ideals, include a place for traditional CHRISTIAN AND CONSERVATIVE POINTS OF VIEW to be heard as well.  We need to stand tall for equity and justice for all peoples. I ask you, who would be that voice if it is not us.

 

That, my dear church, is very worth getting fired up about!

 

The very core of Unitarian Universalism is stepping up to the plate. But we all can do a better job.  Today, there are visitors who will sign our book and become members and new members who will become more involved and more involved members who eventually become members of the committees that govern and guide this church in fulfilling our mission and shaping our vision for the future starting in just a few minutes at our annual meeting.

 

This is a do it yourself church…………and you’re it!

 

Blessed be.