Reach Out

Rev. Peter A. Friedrichs

September 30, 2007

We should not be doing this. We should not be doing this because we don't have the proper facilities. We don't have enough bathrooms. We don't have any showers. We don't have a kitchen where we can prepare meals and wash the dishes. We should not be doing this because we don't have enough space for all the things that are already going on at the church. Every night of the week our rooms are full with meetings and rehearsals and religious education programs. Space is at a premium and we can't afford to fill it up for weeks at a time. We should not be doing this because our members are already overcommitted and overextended. With teaching Sunday school. With serving on committees. With political campaigns. With commitments at work and at home. We should not be doing this because it's not going to make any difference. We should be forming task forces, offering forums, lobbying our legislators, examining the root causes of homelessness and working to fix them on the systemic level.

We should not be doing this because, because, because. There are a whole host of reasons why we should not be doing this, why we should not be opening our doors to four or five homeless families for a week at a time, up to five times a year. And yet, I am here to tell you today, my friends, that although we should not be doing this, we absolutely must.

You don't hear that word too often in a Unitarian Universalist church: "Must." Because we are a faith that cherishes diversity and individual expression, we are known more for our permissiveness. You may explore your own beliefs here. You may come to church on Sunday if you feel like it. You may volunteer your time to work with youth. You may pledge whatever amount feels comfortable to you. The imperative "must" was largely discarded from our vocabulary centuries ago, and you can trace its demise all the way back to 1568. That was when King John Sigismund of Transylvania signed the Edict of Toleration, which made expression of religious freedom the law of the land. At that time, Unitarian minister Frances David is famously quoted as saying, "We need not all believe alike to love alike." Here, we are allowed - no, encouraged - to explore the broad spectrum of religious and spiritual beliefs and understandings, in search of a path that is right for us. We welcome your Buddhist beliefs, your Pagan practices, your Humanist hungerings, your Atheist attitudes, your Christian cravings. Our faith has, I think aptly, been equated with an all-you-can-eat theological buffet, where you can sample from a vast array of traditions, gorging on those that please you and passing up the ones that don't. It sometimes makes for a messy plate, but you'll never go home hungry! I cherish this bedrock foundation of our faith, and it is what led me to become a Unitarian Universalist more than twenty years ago.

But let's get back to this idea of the imperative, the "must" beyond the "may." Because I believe that, even within the broad permissiveness of our religion, there are certain imperatives, certain "musts" that guide our thinking and our actions. Today, I'll name three, although there may well be more. The first imperative of our faith is what I'll call "the imperative of active engagement." There are two aspects to this imperative, one of which relates to us individually and the other which applies to us collectively. The imperative of active engagement requires each of us to be vigorous and dynamic participants in our own faith life. Ours is not a passive religion, one that allows us to merely absorb and accept the doctrine and dogma that are handed to us by others. Many of us arrived at the doors of Unitarian Universalism wounded or broken, longing to be held and healed by a safe and comfortable community. And for a time we're entitled to convalesce, to simply allow the power of our nurturing community to alleviate our pain and make us whole once again. But our faith requires something more from us. It requires us to take responsibility for our own spiritual health and growth. It requires us to be spiritual seekers. We must fill our packs, pull on our boots, and venture forth into the unknown, in search of the answers to questions of deep meaning. Why am I here? What do I believe? What sustains me in my darkest hour? What am I called to do with my life? The church is here to help supply us for our journey, to hand us the tools we may need. But it is up to each of us to find our own particular answers. That is the individual aspect of the imperative of active engagement.

The collective aspect of this imperative is the requirement that we be active participants in community with others. While our search for fulfillment is our own personal undertaking, we embark on that venture within the context of the multiple relationships that exist within this church. And thus we must actively engage with and support our fellow members, as well as the institution itself. This means that we must strive at all times to be in right relation with each other. To act out of love. To respect each other. To seek understanding. To listen. To expect the best from each other. To deal with conflict directly. And to do all those other things that make a community healthy and vibrant. It also means that we must pull our weight. It isn't up to someone else to run the Fund Drive or the Auction. It isn't just up to parents to teach Sunday School. It isn't up to someone else to work on one committee or another. We have no "mother church" that we can count on for our financial support. It is our responsibility, as members of this collection of individual souls, to do these things and more. To do whatever we can, to the best of our ability, to ensure the health, growth and vitality of our church. To ensure that it survives and thrives, offering to future generations the same gifts that it has given us. The collective aspect of the imperative of active engagement.

The second in my list of "musts" is what I call the imperative to be prophetic. Lest you think that we are all required to carry around a crystal ball so that we can foresee the future, let me clarify. I don't mean that we're all required to be able to pick next week's lottery numbers, or to predict when the next earthquake is going to shake San Francisco. What I mean is that our faith requires us to engage the world in a meaningful way, with a long-term view of the impact of our actions on the future of our society and our planet. James Luther Adams, the great 20th century Unitarian theologian, referred to this as "epochal thinking," and it was he who coined the phrase "the prophethood of all believers." Listen to what Adams said about the need of the liberal church, and its members, to be prophetic:

Our faith requires us to look beyond our doors, to take a global view, and to respond to what we see. We are the ones who must seek to end gun violence. We are the ones who must face the reality of global warming and make choices that reduce greenhouse gases. It is up to us, as members of a liberal faith, to act to bring the genocide in Darfur to an end. Our faith requires us to speak up and to speak out, and it requires us to step up and to step out. This is the prophetic imperative of Unitarian Universalism.

The third "must" that I want to address today is what I refer to as the great theological imperative, or the imperative of ultimate meaning. We may not agree on who or what God is, or whether she exists. We may have differing opinions on whether there is life after death, or if we simply live on in the memories of those who loved us. Some of us may believe that God came to earth two thousand years ago in the form of a man named Jesus, while others may simply appreciate his teachings. Some of us find sacred space in nature, while others seek the comfort of cathedrals. Yet despite all these differences, there is a single truth upon which we all collectively agree. It is stated in many ways, couched in different terms, but it is a universal truth held by every religious tradition humankind has ever known. We restate it in the second of our seven principles, our commitment to affirm and promote justice, equity and compassion in human relations. This third imperative is simply stated as the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

As Unitarian Universalists, as human beings, we are called upon to exercise our compassionate hearts. If we are called to do nothing else in this world, we are called to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick, and yes, to provide shelter to the homeless. For some, this is the key to gaining heaven. For others, it is its own reward here on earth. But for all of us, no matter our ulterior motive, it is our sacred obligation. As it is stated in the Tao: "Regard your neighbor's gain as your gain and your neighbor's loss as your loss." As it is stated in Islam: "No man is a true believer unless he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself." As it is stated in Judaism: "What is hateful to yourself do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole of the Torah." As it is stated in Christianity: "As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them." The theological imperative that we as faithful people are required to fulfill is nothing less than the call to serve as agents working to heal the brokenness in the world, where we find it, in any way we can. As the song says, to reach out and touch somebody's hand, and make this world a better place, if we can. And I'll point out that there is a side benefit to pursuing this theological imperative as well. In exercising our compassionate hearts we do not just help others. We help ourselves. In reaching out we discover and we uncover the connections that we have with others. And in so doing we make meaning in our own lives. By standing in solidarity with and suffering beside our fellow human beings we become more fully human ourselves.

You have heard today from several people deeply committed to the Interfaith Hospitality Network. They are called to this work for their own reasons, many similar but some different. They know as well as you that this program is not going to eradicate homelessness. It is not going to root out and cure the causes of poverty, unemployment, crime, or racism in our community. You might say it is a "band-aid" approach to the problem. But as my colleague Rob Hardies has said, "when people are bleeding, you give them a band-aid." In your order of service you'll find a description of what we need to make this program a success, what you can contribute. I challenge each and every one of you to fill out the form and to commit to supporting to the program. Today. Before you leave the Sanctuary. We will have baskets at the exits so that you can deposit your form as you leave.

Perhaps we should not be doing this. Perhaps we're too small a group of people to undertake such a significant project. Perhaps we don't have the space or the person-power or the resources to make this commitment. Perhaps we should be attacking the systemic causes of injustice in our community instead of worrying about the fate of fifteen or twenty individuals. But regardless of what we should do, this we must do. And with your help, this we will do.

Blessed Be and Amen.

Footnotes:

^[1] The Essential James Luther Adams (George Kimmel Beach, ed.) p. 112.

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