In It Together
The Rev. Matthew Johnson-Doyle
March 20, 2011


Story: Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann

Note: The sermon is an oral event. This manuscript may not reflect the exact spoken words. If you want to hear what was actually said, you can listen to the sermon on our website at www.uurockford.org. © Matthew Johnson-Doyle, 2011.

Partnership, Part the First

Sometimes, I feel like officer Buckle.
You ever feel like that?
I’m trying to communicate an important message –
something like, it’s important to be nice to people.
But it’s not getting through.
Sure, dad.

I bet every parent has felt like Officer Buckle.
Am I right?

And what we need is a Gloria.
Someone to make the message real,
to be our buddy.

And this is a role that the church can fill.
How many of you kids remember the lesson about “filling the bucket?”
I know my daughter remembers.
The idea is simple,
that we each have a bucket,
and when people do kind things for us,
it fills our bucket with kindness.
The church taught this, and I know lots of you kids remember it.

Parents, by themselves, we’re boring.
Ho-hum.
Heard it all before, mom.
We need Gloria, we need community, we need other adults and peers,
to partner with us in raising up children of kindness, mercy,
awe, wonder, and commitment to justice.

But, of course, the church cannot do this by itself, either.
With no adults to volunteer, with no money to fund the program,
we’d be like Gloria, moping on stage.

It’s partnership.

At the partnership dinner on April 2nd,
or in the mail if you can’t come to the dinner,
each family who is part of our church will be asked to make a commitment –
a pledge –
for the coming church year, which starts in July.
A pledge of money.

This is partnership.
It’s us in it together.

One of the big things we want to raise more money for
in next year’s budget
is to strengthen and expand our program for children and youth
and new members –

Most of you know that Kelly Riney, our Director of Religious Education,
is getting married (yeah!) and moving to St. Louis.
We’re going to miss her, and we wish her much luck and happiness.
And we decided that we could hire someone to direct our ministry
to children and youth
and also to be in charge of membership integration and welcome –
a program director.

We’ve made our hire.
Her name is Kimberlee Carlson,
she’ll start July 1st with us.
She’s been an elementary art teacher for the last 13 years,
and she’s been the coordinator for youth and young adult programs
for all the congregations in our region for the last 6 years.
She’s fun and creative and she’s going to be a great addition to our team.

But without partnership, she’ll be like Gloria by herself –
just moping on stage.
She, we, need your help.

We need your energy, your time, and your money,
so that we can be buddies,
and raise up people who make the world better,
who live with open hearts and minds,
who live our values and pass them along
to their children, and theirs, and onward forever.

We need buddies.
We need partners.
We need someone to lean on.

Partnership, Part the Second

We need one another.

For comfort, for celebration, for company, for encouragement. We come together here in this space, in this community, to be together. To share our lives and our spiritual journeys.

I came as an outsider just seven months ago, and immediately observed a community that was deeply committed to each other and to the mission of this church. It was evident to me that this was a very special place that fostered connection and valued hospitality. And I quickly became part of this community.

There is a covenant between us. It’s more than the words printed on your order of service. We do dwell together in peace, together we encourage each other to seek truth in freedom, and as we reach out to our neighbors here and throughout the Rockford community, we serve human need.

We also covenant between us to create the space and programs that support and sustain this church community. This only happens with the dedication of your time, talent, and treasure.

We provide the physical space to learn and explore together. We warm the library in the winter and people sit around on comfortable chairs and share their lives in chalice circles and covenant groups. We cool Deale Hall in the summer and provide coffee and snacks for great conversation. We maintain classrooms with the materials the children and youth need for their faith development. We care for the grounds, the prairie, the creek, the woods, and we walk and rest and connect with the natural world that surrounds this building. This is a safe and restful place – clean, comfortable, and well-stocked because of your generosity.

As much as the physical space is important, it is community inside that truly makes this church. Much of the community is built by dedicated volunteers, and all of it is supported by the ministers and staff. It’s here in worship on Sunday mornings that we come together as a faith community. You join the ministers and worship associates on a journey each week, in services planned with care and attention, ones that sometimes challenges you and often times comforts you. We enjoy the music, the choir, the guest musicians – each piece carefully selected and practiced and then offered to this gathering. We bring our children downstairs for learning and laughter, knowing their curricula has been thoughtfully chosen and planned, and that their teachers have been trained to facilitate the profound growth that happens in religious education.

We get the Kairos, filled with news, happenings, and reflections of this unique group of people. We have social events, affinity groups, small ministry groups – so much going on, all supported by the staff and the ministers – all because of your generosity.

We need one another to create the space to be together. We need one another to support the community, to support the staff who facilitate the programs and work of the church, and the worship and spiritual lives of each of us.

All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us. This is what our community is, this is what we truly covenant between us.

Reading: From Our Covenant by Alice Blair Wesley

Partnership, Part the Third

In case of need, one church should furnish another with officers,
and sometimes money.
This is the ancient understanding of our covenant,
the covenant between free churches gathered together.

We are not part of a denomination.
There’s no such thing as the Unitarian Universalist denomination.
We are a free association of free congregations.

There are no bishops who tell our congregations how to spend their money,
or who may be their minister, or what they must believe.

We are the free church –
free to set our own course.
But the free church, as they say, isn’t free.

We live together in covenant –
that covenant is within the church,
between it’s members, and Morgan talked about,
but also between churches.
So we help each other out.
We learn from each other.

We share what we’ve learned with other churches,
and I’ve learned so much from some of our strongest churches,
which I’ve brought back here to you.
This church has often been a host to programs –
for lay leader trainings, for youth conferences, and so on.

And we work together to build our faith –
we share our wealth that we might
have good curricula and resources,
a national and international social justice office,
that we might support interns, like Morgan,
and provide trainings and publications for leaders and members.

All this takes money,
and most of that money comes from our churches.
The association asks for $77 per member to support their work.
You don’t have to pay it, but they ask for it.
This year, we’re contributing 11 dollars and 71 cents per member.
Not so hot.
We can do better – maybe not all the way, but better.

This idea – that we are in covenant together,
that we walk together as churches in partnership,
was really made clear to me last summer.
My friend and colleague Susan Frederick-Grey,
the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix,
she summoned us.
This is Susan.
She’s fierce.

The Arizona legislature had passed a bill, SB 1070,
which would make it a state crime to be an undocumented immigrant –
it is a federal misdemeanor,
but Arizona wanted to make it a state felony,
wanted police officers to be required to enforce immigration laws,
which would have the effect, of course,
of making undocumented residents distrustful of law enforcement,
and thus more vulnerable to crime and exploitation.

These are complicated questions,
and there is no doubt that our immigration system is broken,
but this wasn’t the answer.

And in the context of Arizona,
it was clear that this effort wasn’t really about immigration,
it was about power,
it was about using immigrants to divide and conquer.

So Susan asked us to come,
and protest with her.
I went.
And so did dozens of other Unitarian Universalists,
lay people and ministers.
And we marched and stood on the side of love together,
and we made a difference.
We changed the conversation.
I was proud to be in covenant with my sisters and brothers in faith,
to walk together,
even if it was 101 degrees in the Arizona sun.

Since then, the same divide-and-destroy politicians
introduced new legislation –
one would have told emergency room personnel to deny care to undocumented residents.
another would have kicked undocumented kids out of school.
another would have instructed hospitals to not issue a real birth certificate to the children of undocumented residents.
It’s a new American apartheid.
It seeks to punish children for the sins of their parent’s employers.

Who shall fight for justice?
Who shall stand up and be counted?
Who shall bring the witness of faith, of human dignity, to these questions?

We shall.
Oh, there are Latino and Latina organizations, and the ACLU does its thing,
but the usual voices of religion on this question:
the Catholics, the Methodists – are too divided in Arizona.
But not the Unitarian Universalists.
We are ready to lead.

Who is the go-to religious leader on this issue on the ground in Arizona?
Susan is.
Our sister in faith.
The person in the yellow shirt standing behind her,
that’s Peter Morales,
the president of our association.
He stands behind her.
Our local congregation leads.

I’m proud to be Susan’s friend,
and I’m proud to be her colleague,
and I’m proud that this congregation
can support the work of her congregation.

This is what it means to be in covenant together.
The UU Congregation of Phoenix is fighting these most recent proposals,
they are also getting ready to welcome thousands of Unitarian Universalists
to Phoenix in 2012 to join the struggle.

Many of you know Gary and Linda Lawrence,
who were members here until them moved to Arizona –
they joined this congregation,
and Linda serves as their membership coordinator.

I asked Susan to describe her work for us,
she wrote:
The UUCP Immigration ministry is organizing UU's within its congregation and throughout the state to work for human rights for migrants, undocumented immigrants, and people of color, particularly Latino American's in Arizona. The anti-immigration laws being passed in Arizona not only threaten the basic human rights of undocumented people, but the civil and human rights of legal immigrants and Latino American citizens.
Combating politics of fear, UUCP is organizing people around the values of love and the inherent worth and dignity of all people. They are creating networks for UU's around Arizona and nationally to make calls, faxes and communicate with state and federal legislators to support Human Rights and humane immigration reform. In addition, the UUCP Immigration ministry works on the ground in direct service participating in free mobile health clinics, food banks, and citizenship fairs. Currently, the UUCP is partnering with the UUA to create an Arizona Immigration Ministry to provide national attention and opportunities for UU's nationally to get involved and support this work for comprehensive and humane immigration reform.

One of the most exciting aspects of this work is the way it is brings UU congregations across the state and nationally into collaboration to have a national impact on this key justice issue for our time.

On Thursday night, I was following Susan’s postings on facebook,
as she was sitting in the hearing room of the Senate committee
that was considering this newest round of divisive and troublesome legislation.
And, in a stunning defeat for the anti-immigrant faction,
the committee voted all the new bills down.
The business community and the human rights community stood together,
and won the day.
The day, but not the fight. Not yet.
We walk together in covenant.
This immigration ministry is the recipient of our share the plate today,
and I hope you will be generous.
I hope you will be generous, too, when we ask you to partner together
to support our free association of congregations,
that we might do better in answering the call
of our sisters and brothers in faith,
to work together,
to build the common good.

Readings

Mark 41:44

He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’

Phillip’s Birthday by Mary Oliver

I gave,
To a friend that I care for deeply,
Something that I loved.
It was only a small

Extremely shapely bone
That come from the ear
Of a whale.
It hurt a little

To give it away.
The next morning
I went out, as usual,
At sunrise

And there, in the harbor,
Was a swan.
I don’t know
What he or she was doing there,

But the beauty of it
Was gift.
Do you see what I mean?
You give, and you are given.

Partnership, Part the Fourth

You give, and you are given.
Do you see what I mean?

This is about partnership, about covenant.
We do not do life by ourselves.
We are always already with others,
embedded with them into learning, loving, serving, living.

You give and you are given.
Partnership is about generosity.
The widow gives all,
for she knows she depends on a grace,
on a power, which she does not control.

The rich putting in large sums out of their abundance –
they have not yet accepted the truth:
that even all their abundance, all their power,
depends on grace, on a power which they do not,
despite all their illusions, control.

Jesus asks his followers to take all they own and give it away,
and some of his followers do that, to this day.
But I am not, today, asking you to do that.
Though you may.

Many of Jesus’ followers’ followers ask of their people a tithe –
10% of their income, given to the church, or given to the cause of love
in some other fashion.
I encourage such generosity,
and I know that some of you in this room practice it,
and that you find, as Mary Oliver says,
you give, and you are given.
I encourage it, but I do not ask it of you.

Instead, this is what I ask:
that when you think about what you might give,
you think of yourself as a partner in the work of this community.
You are one of many,
like a ship that bears us all,
this church carries us all –
whether we have much, or little,
whether we are comfortable or struggle,
whoever we are.

It’s natural to think of your individual relationship to the church –
how committed am I, what can I do,
even – though you know you aren’t supposed to think this way –
what do I get out of this investment.

It’s natural, but I want to discourage you from thinking this way.
Think of this is a partnership – a covenant – between the members.
Some are able to give much right now,
some only a little right now.
But together, in covenant, we make it work.

Some need much from the church right now,
some don’t right now – though you might later, or did once.
Together, in covenant, we are there for each other,
giving and given to each other.

People want to know:
how much such I give?
Sometimes we pastors talk about the “sermon on the amount.”
But I want you to know it isn’t about an amount.

It’s about giving something precious,
because when you give, you are given,
because this is precious
this church I mean, is precious, not just to you, but to another, too.

I’ve heard folks say, recently,
I don’t think I can give very much,
so I shouldn’t be a member.
And the truth is, for all the talk of a recovery in our economy,
in Rockford, for a lot of folks,
this economy is lousy. It sucks. Bad.
Some of you are without jobs,
and some of you have been without a job for a long time.
Some of you are really hurting.
The rich, in their abundance, are back to profits,
but many still struggle.

And I understand –
not wanting to make a promise you don’t know you can keep,
feeling bad about not having enough to give.

But please, let me tell you –
this is a partnership.
There isn’t an amount.
We are in it together.

Generosity is what matters.
If your gift is generous to you,
then it’s enough for the church to do its work.

Let me say that again, as clearly as I can:
there is no amount you must give to feel like you’ve done enough.
If your gift is generous for you,
it is generous to the church,
and it is enough.

What’s generous to you?
For some of you, $5 a month would be too much.
For others of you, $500 a month will be too little.

This is a partnership, and we’re in it together.
If everyone is generous,
then we’ll have enough.

We’ll have enough to raise up our children,
enough to sustain our community,
enough to be good partners in our association,
enough to make this church thrive in the year,
and in the years, to come.

We are one people,
and we sail together,
partners together in a journey of possibility.
Whoever you are,
whatever blesses your life,
whatever gifts you bring to share,
whatever token conveys the wonder of this hour,
of this beloved community,
whoever you are,
you are welcome here,
just as you are.

You are welcomed here,
and invited,
invited into the life of hope, the life of meaning,
the life of generous living,
the life worthy of our love and devotion.