The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough

Music by The Occasional Singers

We are one of only fifty Unitarian * Universalist congregations across Canada. Each of us is made stronger by sharing with and depending upon one another. We dedicate this service to increasing our awareness of our national organization.

A special offering will be taken to support the CUC’s Sharing Our Faith program, which gives grants to congregations for projects they may otherwise not afford to undertake, but which enhance ministry, growth and/or outreach.

Religious Exploration: Lean on Me

Opening Words

Gordon B. McKeeman                             

We summon ourselves from the demands and delights of the daily round

From the dirty dishes and unwaxed floors,

From [uncleared gutters and gardens yet to uncover,]

From all incompleteness and not-yet-startednesses,

From the unholy and the unresolved.

We summon ourselves to attend to our vision

Of peace and justice,

Of cleanliness and health,

Of delight and devotion,

Of the lovely and the holy,

Of who we are and what we can do.

We summon the power of tradition and the exhilaration of newness,

The wisdom of the ages and the knowing of the very young.

We summon beauty, eloquence, poetry, music to be the bearers of our dreams.

We would open our eyes,

Our ears,

Our minds,

Our hearts,

To the amplest dimensions of life.

We rejoice in manifold promises and possibilities.

Welcome to this place of promise and possibility.  

Story for all Ages

The Enormous Turnip     - Alexei Tolstoy

Reading

Toward a New Community of Autonomous Congregations
Interdependence: Renewing Congregational Polity

This reading is taken from a report by the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Commission on Appraisal — an influential “think tank” created by the association of member congregations to give independent advice on matters relating to our faith. The Unitarian Universalist Association is the much-larger US equivalent of the CUC, but it’s also large in our own history. At the time this report was written, in 1997, congregations in Canada were still members of the continental UUA — that only changed ten years ago.  

The report is called Interdependence: Renewing Congregational Polity.  A lot of ink is spent in it to describe congregational polity, which briefly stated means that each of our local congregations is a complete church with all the powers of a church, and that those powers come from our free and deliberate consent as the congregation’s individual members.  But of course absolute independence, congregation by congregation, isn’t really possible, since the principle of congregational polity is itself agreed on by an association of congregations.  So, the report examines the effectiveness and meaning of congregational polity.   In its conclusion, the Commission writes:

We reaffirm the historic centrality of congregational polity...  But congregational polity brings out both the best and the worst in Unitarian Universalism.  It brings out the best when it reminds us that power is ultimately in the hands of the membership, the people who are gathered in a local community.  They know and depend on one another in many ways; they rejoice in one another and bear one another’s burdens.  They also exercise creativity and moral courage in ways that, as they know, few would do alone.  … [The] focus of their commitment and their giving has a name and address in their own local community.   No wonder, then, that they take deep pride in the fact that they are self-governing and self-sustaining communities. 

But congregational polity as we have understood and practiced it also brings out the worst in us.  It does this when it invites us to look inward rather than outward, to go it alone rather than welcome the wisdom, aid or examples of other congregations.  Sometimes congregational polity seems to justify a suspicious or hostile attitude toward external authority or higher ups.  Even where attitudes toward denominational bodies or other congregations are highly positive, a parochial form of congregational polity often gives absolute priority to the local congregation’s needs; financial support of denominational bodies, theological education, or ecumenical or community social service agencies are not represented at the budget-negotiating table....

The Commission believes that a new awareness of congregational polity as a community of autonomous congregations will strengthen both local congregations as self-governing, self-responsible units and the associations through which our congregations come together and develop mutually beneficial relations.

Message

Did you understand that reading about congregational polity?  After I sent Ben the reading, he called and objected to its wordiness and density.  I was unwilling to give up the core content, and so we agreed to condense and simplify it.  You got the condensed and simplified version.  Did you understand it?  Or even care? 

My challenge today is to help you engage with the Canadian Unitarian Council.  Speaking on Sharing Our Faith Sunday comes in at a close second to Canvass Sunday as a difficult message to deliver.  In both cases, we are looking at things that matter deeply to the life and future of our religious communities, and yet the messages are to congregations who probably aren’t that interested, or don’t especially want to hear it.  I commend you for showing up today!

I wanted you to hear the content in Ben’s reading because, whether or not we are aware of it, our roots in congregational polity have played a huge role in who we are both as a an individual congregation and as a religious tradition.  Congregational polity is a shorthand way of saying that each local congregation governs itself as an independent entity, and that the power to do that governing lays in the hands of our individual members.  We’ve got the freedom and the power to do it our way. 

A couple of weeks ago I spoke about individualism and individuality, and here I go again.  We are one unique and individual congregation with inherent worth and dignity...one congregation that is empowered through our congregational polity to be on our own self-selected and self-governed search for truth and meaning.  

But as that Commission on Appraisal wrote, congregational polity brings out both the best and worst in us.  In no small part, it invites us to look inward rather than outward, and to choose to go it alone rather than to welcome the wisdom, aid, or examples of other congregations. 

The Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough, this one mostly self-sufficient and independent congregation, exists within a web of interconnected and interdependent congregations.  The Canadian Unitarian Council acts to enhance, nurture and promote Unitarian religion in Canada.  It is an organization made up member congregations who are challenged by our sparse smattering across the vast Canadian geography.  On a practical level, this means that web of connection between and among us is sometimes barely visible to the average church member (not than any one of you is average, by any means!)  But how are we to share in this Canadian Unitarian ministry?

Let me start by talking about shared ministry on the local level.   Simply put, shared ministry is the notion that we are each called to share our gifts with one another.  Shared ministry is a natural within Unitarian Universalism because we assume that each person has the capacity to care, to lead, or to serve.  Not only that, we believe that caring, leading and serving are the food of the soul...part of our mission is to encourage people to ‘eat up.’ 

Shared ministry within the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough is something we aspire to; the Committee on Ministry is beginning to look at their role in promoting shared ministry, and I personally am becoming increasingly attuned to the ways in which how I practice my professional ministry can foster greater shared ministry.  It is my hope that when we hire our new Congregational Engagement Coordinator, our ‘shared ministry’ index will rise, dare I say, off the charts!

You might see our shared ministry by taking note of what happens on a Sunday morning, and by imagining all that happens behind the scenes.  The Occasionals aren’t just singing here; they met several times to rehearse, and I know each of them would say that they do it because they enjoy sharing their music with us.  Lauren and the RE Committee aren’t just here supporting programming today; they have met and planned and emailed countless times in preparation, and I believe each of them would say that they do it because they enjoy working together to a provide a meaningful experience for each child who comes in our door.  Our Board not only convenes monthly; they also liaise with each committee and work to communicate what’s happening to all of you; they sweat over details, and engage in visioning together...not because they love being at late-night meetings, but because this congregation is important to them.  We each have gifts to offer, and ours is a shared ministry.  The opportunities (from teaching to greeting, from committee work to baking, from listening to speaking, from serving community meals to smiling at another in greeting, from gardening to pledges of money)...the opportunities to be part of our shared ministry are available to every person who ‘enters in friendship.’   (Pause)

Sharing our faith...which is the name of the support fund for which we are taking a special collection today...’sharing our faith’ goes a step beyond ‘shared ministry.’   Where the term shared ministry has been used to describe what we do together here in our local congregation, to ‘share our faith’ calls us to look outward, to choose to travel our journey with other congregations who can offer us wisdom, and aid and good example.  To share our faith means that we would offer our gifts, in turn, to them.

To think of this as a journey that we travel together reminds me of the movie Little Miss Sunshine.  Have you seen it?  This 2006 release tells the story of a very unique family...a father who is desperately, and unsuccessfully, trying to sell his motivational success program, a foul-mouthed grandfather who has recently been evicted from his retirement home, a Neitzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence and communicates with notes, a depressed uncle who has been jilted by his lover, a seven-year-old would-be beauty queen, and a mother who believes that ‘honesty’ will help hold them all together.  When the seven-year-old is invited to compete in a pageant in far-off California, the whole family piles into their decrepit VW bus to get her there.

Along the way, all manner of things happen...the van breaks down, the grandfather dies; the father misses a big opportunity to sell his program, the would-be beauty queen bombs at the pageant ...and what becomes abundantly clear is that it is not the bond of blood, but rather the commitment to take this journey of purpose together, that unites them as a family.

It’s ‘just like’ our association of Unitarian congregations!  Yes, we have a bond of faith...a common liberal religious perspective...but what promises to unite us is our commitment to one another in shared purpose.   Yes we have our individual congregational quirks and missions, but what leads to our spiritual growth is the synergy generated by journeying and working together.

An important point made by the Commission on Appraisal’s work on Interdependence is that the idea of absolute independence is impossible; it is an oxymoron.  In order to be independent, there need to exist those from whom we are independent.  In order for the principle of self-governance to have any meaning, the principle must itself be agreed on by those outside of that local governance.  In its early form, congregational polity was created by the Cambridge Platform of 1648, which imagined a community of autonomous congregations.  They knew that community and autonomy are not mutually exclusive any more than a healthy congregation and the individuality of its members are mutually exclusive.

There’s a scene I just love in “Little Miss Sunshine.”  By chance, the teenager learns that his life dream is impossible.  He demands they stop the van and huffs off to sit alone in the desert.  In frustration, he breaks his vow of silence with an angry tirade rejecting his family, while they stand by in silent wait.  Ultimately, it is the simple embrace of his little sister that draws him back, and from there, things begin to change them from a band of individual wing nuts into to a family that deeply cares for one another.

Standing by one another through thick and thin is pretty important work.  I think part of the reason that Sharing Our Faith sermons are so challenging is that the assumed paradigm is just plain wrong.  The usual paradigm is to try to justify the role of the Canadian Unitarian Council, to defend its existence, to make a case for supporting it.  And most often this is done by trying to answer the question “What does the Canadian Unitarian Council do for me...for us?”  That question can certainly be answered.  I mean, just try to imagine being a Unitarian congregation without that wider circle of support and resources...there’d be no trained Unitarian ministers, no Unicamp, no Religious Education curricula, no lay chaplaincy training, no larger voice for social justice...but again, this is the wrong paradigm.

I don’t want to answer this question, what can the CUC do for us?  Not anymore than I want to answer the question, what does this congregation do for me?  These questions come out of an individualistic and consumerist ideology.  If we are to be about becoming more courageous and honest and generous and loving as individuals, and more just and compassionate and socially engaged places of healing as congregations, the questions must become, “In what ways can I participate in this congregation that will support us in our quest to do all that?”, and “In what ways can we as a congregation participate in the work of the CUC that helps to grow more vital religious communities in Canada?” 

If we are to truly live our theology of interdependence, we must BE interdependent. 

Admittedly, since we live a distance from other Unitarian congregations, this takes some special effort.   But as a start, here are some ideas:

• Be sure you’re on the email list to receive updates and news from the CUC.  Talk to Ben if you want to be on this list. 
• Attend the CUC Annual Conference and Meeting, which happens each May.  We’re blessed that it is in Toronto this year, making it really accessible.  There’s more information in our newsletter. 
• Become a “Northern Lights Chalice Lighter.”  This new program was announced last year and promises to offer large grants to congregations for meaningful projects.  Northern Lights had a slow start due to some administrative issues.  But things are back on track and there’ll be more news and updates soon.  For those of you who signed up last year, I appreciate your generosity and your patience.
• Use our local resources!  We are one of maybe only two congregations in Canada to have two members who are CUC staff.  Ben Wolfe is the CUC Director of Communications, and Kelly McDowell is the Congregational Services Programmer for the Eastern Region. 
• When traveling, attend other Unitarian congregations.  Look for great ideas that you can bring back to us, and share our ideas with them.
• This past week, our Board voted to host this year’s Central Regional Fall Gathering, which will likely be in November.  Look for ways to help make that a success. 
• And, give today to the Sharing Our Faith fund.

The possibilities to Share Our Faith are as limitless as the ways to participate in the Shared Ministry of this congregation.   We cannot do alone what the CUC can do with our participation.  We can affirm and live by a strong sense of community among our congregations across Canada, but it does take a larger vision, a bigger perspective.

There’s a story told of a traveller who came a place where a great deal of building work was going on.  He began talking with the workers and asking them about their work.  He approached a stone cutter and asked, “What are you doing?” 

The man, obviously toiling under his labours, replied, “I am cutting these huge boulders with the simplest of tools into stone blocks.”

The traveller moved on to ask another worker what he was doing.  “I’m hewing a timber.  It’s repetitive work, but it feeds my family.” 

Then the traveller noticed a woman sweeping up debris in a small corner of the building site.  He paused to ask what she was doing, and she replied, “I’m helping to build a cathedral.”

Truly sharing our faith as part of an association of Canadian congregations is to see that larger picture of the cathedral that we are building together.  It’s about realizing that we have gifts to share, and that there are those who would share with us, as together we call forth all the possibilities of this great liberal faith. 

May we share our faith with joy and passion.

Amen. 

Closing Words

-from Interdependence

To what extent is it possible for us to affirm and live by a strong sense of community among our autonomous congregations?   To great extent, this is possible only when we give up our individualism in favour of mutual accountability. 

Let us affirm congregational polity as a covenant, a mutual agreement and a commitment to walk together and support one another. 

The future integrity and vitality of the Unitarian Universalist movement depends upon us living into the reality that community and autonomy do not exclude one another, for the essential function of the congregation is to link the individual to a religious community, and by extension, the individual congregation to the larger religious community.

And so, standing here together today,

We summon ourselves to attend to our vision of a shared faith...

We summon the power of tradition and the exhilaration of new connections, and

We rejoice in the manifold promises and possibilities of our shared ministry.

Amen.