“Are We Who We Say We Are”
by Reverend Charles Blustein Ortman
May 21, 2006
READINGS :
Our first reading is taken from Chapter 28 of the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu and translated by Stan Rosenthal:
RETAINING INTEGRITY
While developing creativity,
also cultivate receptivity…
When considering any thing,
do not lose its opposite.
When thinking of the finite,
do not forget infinity;
Act with honor, but retain humility.
By retaining the integrity
of the inner and external worlds,
true selfhood is maintained,
and the inner world made fertile.
Our second reading is from the book, "The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters," written by Justin Kaplan:
Muslims have 99 names, or mantras, for God; Hindus, over a hundred for the holy river, Ganges. The Hebrew Bible condemns witches and sorcerers to death and forbids divination as well as swearing false oaths, but it also acknowledges the force of magic in names…
Naming touches psychic substrates associated with superstition, ritual, irrational belief, and primitive behavior patterns. Onomancy, the ancient practice of divining by names, could tell you, for example, that [the Greek warrior] Achilles was destined to vanquish Hector because his name had a higher alphanumeric value, or that it was important for the Roman soldier first in the enlistment line to have a name that argued well for his cohort…
Like personal names, collective (or nonpersonal) names have an instrumental role. They reflect and shape social values, group self regard, and historical understandings.
SERMON:
As we come together this morning, first for worship and then to participate in our congregation’s Annual Meeting, it’s a good time to ask ourselves, “Are We Who We Say We Are?” I suppose that the first step in this exploration might well be to determine just who it is that we say we are? We have some credentials that we’ve created, and they say that we are the Unitarian Church of Montclair, a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association. In our mission statement we claim to be a, “… liberal religious community seeking transformation in our hearts, our homes, our community and our world.”
Who do we say we are? So far, we’ve said that we are these three things: First is our name – the Unitarian Church of Montclair. I would like to save this piece for last. Second, we are part of a larger, liberal religious affiliation of congregations, the Unitarian Universalist Association, which does not name or define a deity as the object of our adoration, nor does it demand a creed as a prerequisite to membership. Instead, we have chosen to be a part of an association which sets out a covenant of aspiration, based on high principles that includes affirming and promoting the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and affirming and promoting the interdependent Web of existence of which we are all a part. Third, we have agreed upon a purpose for our existence, which is articulated in our mission statement. It can be abbreviated to say that we are here for purposes of transformation.
To answer the question are we who we say we are? I guess you’d have to say the answer is both yes and no. Today is as good as any to celebrate our yeses, and to recognize our nos, to determine if we want to change what it is that we say about ourselves, or if we need to work even harder at being what we have claimed to be. Let’s begin with our association.
This congregation voted in 1961, in a congregational meeting much like the one that will occur here during the next hour, to become part of the newly formed Unitarian Universalist Association. Through that vote, we said to ourselves and to the world – we are not in this alone but part of an association of congregations that share the history of two religious movements that embrace reason, tolerance and freedom of conscience, and an undying hope in the capacity for humanity to save itself and this planet, as well as a respect for the individual within the context of the interdependence of all things. I think we can say that we continue to grow into this identity and into our relationships with that larger Association.
It is probably through our mission statement, our self-created definition of purpose, that we define most intentionally who we are. Indeed, one of the reasons I was so attracted to this congregation 12 years ago was one of the comments made at that time by Search Committee member, Betsy Templeton. Betsy, who has since moved on to Vermont, said, “I love this church because it is a congregation that always does something about it.” The “it” she was referring to was the world. And the “something” was the congregation’s efforts toward making this world a more just and loving place, which she saw as the natural outcome of cherishing the rich spiritual experience which is this community.
I came here all those years ago because I knew that this congregation was very serious about fulfilling its potential as a religious home for its members, and fulfilling its potential as a religious agency for good in the community and in the world. I knew that my best work would be expected on a daily basis, and I couldn’t think of any place I’d more rather be. Several years later the essence of Betsy’s thought became the foundation for our mission statement: the transformation of our hearts, our homes, our community and our world.
What is transformation? It is accepting what exists in such a loving and nurturing way – that it becomes even more than what it was. Transformation is about growth and evolution, sometimes even about revolution. Transformation is about accepting the brokenness in lives and then reaching out beyond our own pain toward healing and wholeness. Transformation is the grace that comes to us through that process of reaching. It is about the journey from self-centeredness to a centered self, capable of love and compassion, and the promotion of justice in our relationships, near and far.
There are so many ways in which we fulfill these mandates of our mission. When we say that we aspire to transformation in our hearts, we’re talking about growing and nurturing and healing our own hearts, not as an endpoint, but as a vital and essential step along the path of our lives. Transformation of our hearts is about spiritual discipline, taking the time we need in order to know who we are in a complex and fast-moving world. And when we learn that kind of differentiation, knowing who we are, the windows of our souls are cleared and the doors are opened, and we see that we are a part of something much larger than ourselves. We see that we are part of a family, a community, a common humanity, an entire planet, even the universe. And we see that we are called to be in relationship with all that we find.
As we begin to hold more than our own concerns, our worlds are enlarged and our hearts are transformed. And so at the center of our community is the worship experience. It is where we come to be filled and healed, as individuals, to share in the creation of sacred community, and to become more aware of the connections that hold us in unity with all that is.
Transformation in our homes is that very next step, and it’s not such a simple matter. Home is where we typically let our guard down. Exhausted by our workaday worlds, many of us need a lot of encouragement to remember that we are an integral part of the transformative experiences of those persons we are closest to.
I’m so often reminded, in conversations that I have with some of you, and by my own life experiences, of lines from the 1960’s rock opera, Hair. “How can people be so heartless? Especially people who care about strangers, who care about evil and social injustice, do you only care about the needing crowd? How about a needy friend? We all need a friend.”
We especially have needs from those we are closest to in this world, just as they have special needs of us. In this crazy, fast, frightening and wonderful world we really need to have the others in our homes in our corner. The way that we can best promote that kind of transformation in our homes is for each of us to be sure that our family members know – every day – that we are in their corners as well.
And so to promote the transformation in our homes we have our intergenerational worship services several times each year, so that families can come together, to be families among families, learning and growing together. We have our religious education programs which bring families together in various ways for the same purposes. I’m struck by a story told to us here in worship recently by Peter Arian, who overheard his daughter telling a friend in conversation about their respective religions, “We go to our church to learn how to love one another.”
While we do promote transformation of our homes, I’d like to think this is an area where we might be able to do even better. As our facilities are improved through our current capital campaign, I love to think they might become of greater use in creating far more opportunities for families to come together, as families, certainly to enjoy one another, but even more, to learn how to have the experience of family become more gratifying.
The next step in fulfilling our identity as we’ve defined it in our mission statement is seeking transformation in our community. For me this is a two-stage step because I think we have to be talking about two communities. The first is our congregation; the second is the larger community of Montclair and the greater Montclair area.
When we talk about the transformation of our church community, and this is where I want to pay some particular attention this morning, we are not really talking so much about the past of our congregation because that’s already happened. We’re not even talking so much about the present because present transformation is much more about the individuals and the families who are already here and a part of this congregation. When we are really talking about the transformation of our church community, we must consider the transformation of the community that we are becoming.
Here is an area where I think we do okay, but where we really could do so much better. David Hanley, Tonya Wong and the weekly greeters do a great job at welcoming those who arrive on our doorstep each week, those who have – to a considerable extent – found us on their own. A huge exception to that are those who have found us through our excellent web site and the increasing number of PR pieces published in the local papers.
Here’s the point though, we live in one of the most divisive times in our country’s history. Enormous chasms continue to widen in regard to class, race, ethnicity, homophobia, ageism and able-ism, to name a few of the most predominant dividing lines. If the church community we are becoming is going to be transformed, we can’t just talk here about those things going on out there. We can’t even accomplish that particular transformation by going out there and making a difference – that’s about transforming the larger community, not this community.
If the church community we are becoming is going to be transformed, we need to work much harder, and as Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” To accomplish that we need to employ a radical hospitality, not just one that welcomes those who show up at our doorstep, but one where each of us, as ambassadors of this religious congregation, goes out on a personal limb – not to proselytize – but to invite people, people we know and people we meet, to come and be a part, not of what was, but of who we still are becoming.
If we are going to talk seriously about transforming the larger community and this world, this is where we need to be willing to increase our investment – in the transformation of this religious community. There are religions out there only too willing to tell people what is right and wrong. Mostly what is right, according to them, is what they think is right. And mostly what is wrong according to them, is what they don’t think. It’s very appealing if you want to be right, you just have to sign up. Of course you have to abandon much of your humanity and adopt someone else’s idea of what it means to be human. And in the process the world’s resources become further depleted, our planet is made more fragile, whole segments of humanity are put at risk and our most prized human characteristic – love – is regulated.
If the church community we are becoming is indeed transformed, we can and will create here, within this sacred community, bridges, no not even bridges but foundations of unity that include and embrace a diversity of class, race, ethnicity, gender identity and orientation, various levels of ability, and all of the other traditionally marginalized groups. If we want to transform this congregation as it moves into the future, we can do it. We have to decide we want to do it and then follow through with our convictions. But we can surely do it.
In a conversation this past week, with someone who recently visited our congregation, I suggested that this is a place where we hold one another in very high expectation. I trust that this, too, is a part of who we are, a part of who we are becoming. And I want you to know that I do expect each of you to engage in the kind of radical hospitality that will allow this congregation to more fully transform, more fully become the congregation we are capable of becoming. And I hope that you all hold that expectation of one another.
I would be remiss in my remarks, in relation to our efforts at transforming the larger community and the world around us, if I failed to mention and to celebrate the many efforts that make so much difference in the world around us. Our After School Program creates both opportunities for the children it serves and hope for our community’s brighter future. Our efforts at undoing the ravages of racism touch many lives through the programs of our Undoing Racism Committee and individuals in our congregation who work locally and nationally at putting an end to this national disgrace. Our efforts to promote justice for members of the GLBT community have helped to move Montclair and continue to help in moving the state of New Jersey in the direction of justice without regard to sexual identity or orientation. Our efforts with the Salvation Army, the Human Needs Food Pantry, Newton Street School, the Blood Bank, and so many others are such a clear indication that, in so many ways, we are indeed who we say we are in our efforts to help transform our broader community and the world.
The final piece of our identity that I want to address with you this morning is our name – the Unitarian Church of Montclair. The issue of our name is one that I hope will be discussed thoroughly through the course of this next year. I know that several of our church members will work with the rest of you to bring the choice forward at our Annual Meeting a year from now. I will not be timid in sharing my views about this with you at the onset.
I believe that our name as it is has much more to do with who this congregation once was, rather than who it is becoming. We were Unitarian from the start and that is a very proud heritage, a very proud tradition, indeed. But we added a big piece to that identity 45 years ago when this congregation voted to become part of the Unitarian Universalist Association. And we have not added that new part of our identity to the name by which we call ourselves. We are Universalists, too, and that proud heritage of hope for all humanity is, I believe, one that would be well recognized as a part of who we say we are. It’s a long name, I know, and somewhat cumbersome, but it represents such a rich part of who we – Unitarian, the unity of all things; Universalist, the inherent worth of all things and all people – are that it warrants our claiming it in total so that we can more fully embrace it.
That we continue to call ourselves a church is a vestige of an age when the congregation was more closely tied to its Christian Protestant roots. The word church is a clear signal to those of a Christian background that this is a religious community. It is unfortunately also a signal to many from other backgrounds that this may not be a religious community where they can feel at home, or will necessarily be accepted. We know they’ll be accepted here. But from our name how can they know that? The number of seekers who have not or would not show up at our doorstep as a result of who we say we are can never be determined. I know from my conversations out in the community that the numbers are substantial. This is another opportunity calling us to radical hospitality.
We claim to be Unitarian Universalist, and yet we are hesitant at providing a more universal name that would allow others to know better who we are. I suspect it would also allow us to know ourselves even better. This is not about forsaking who we once were; this, too, is much more about embracing who we are becoming
How do we reach those who would be well served by our Unitarian Universalism? Again I think it is through a radical hospitality, where we grow our identity to include the comfort of others. I think we do that by calling ourselves by a name that is inclusive of all spiritual seekers, and not by one that is partial to a disposition of our past.
The question before you this morning is, are we who we say we are? The answer to that question is to some very considerable extent, indeed we are. Is there room for growth? Of course there is. “This is a congregation that does something about it.” It is one thing to say though, “This is who we say we are.” It’s quite another, but perhaps more hopeful, and I pray more transformative to say, “This… this is who we are becoming.” |
