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By John T. Crestwell, Jr.
August 28, 2004
Good morning. It's good to see you all today. I have been away
fulfilling requirements with the UUA, speaking at other UU churches
and learning how they put their services together, how they "do
worship". I've learned a lot and am thankful for the opportunity
those churches afforded me. I learned one valuable lesson... If
you've got a good sermon and no one has heard it, preach it again
and again until you're get sick of it. Yes, I have been telling the
same story of growing Unitarian Universalism. Like a "one trick
pony" I have been attempting to share with others why they should be
about the business of outreach in their respective religious
communities.
So, guess what I'm going to talk about this morning? Yep, you
guessed it, growing Unitarian Universalism. As you can see, I am not
quite sick of my favorite topic and can be quite a "one trick pony"
when I want to be. It is my soap box. But it is also my job as the
Director of Outreach to talk about outreach. But really it's bigger
than that for me. I take being a member of this church and a member
of the Unitarian Universalist Association very seriously. I have
been given much, in terms of what this faith has done for me, and
"To whom much is given much is required." Therefore, I must, for the
sake of humanity and my spirit, stand on my soap box and attempt to
speak my truth and the message that I feel called to share...
A few weeks ago, we had a Leaders Retreat led by Rev. Tom Chulak.
Tom took us through our church history. And as we listened to the
story unfold from the beginning to the end, it was clear, at least
to me, that we were a church on the move, mission-oriented, socially
conscious, but most importantly we were active in sharing our
message with others, and that's why we grew from a few folk to over
200 and two services at one time...The impetus, the thing that gave
us a spark, was the energy and belief and vision A. Powell Davies
had. You know, you don't go out and start churches in the suburbs if
you're not intentional about reaching out to other people. Our
founder was a UU evangelist, and as a result, the early members of
this church were too. This is how it works you see...People get
inspired. People get moved by an idea and next thing you know,
they're talking to folk about it and those people talk to other
people and all of a sudden you look up and something dramatic has
occurred.
Now, the other thing that came out of the Leaders Retreat is that it
was clear that when Davies died our movement slowed and after Dr.
King was assassinated in the late 60's, our church ceased growing at
its original consistent rate and really declined. Tom pointed out
that most of the churches in the UUA followed this pattern as well.
The focus of our church and the churches of the UUA, from 1970
onward, turned inward and basically we lost our revolutionary zeal
to become the true antithesis to fundamental Protestantism. So what
happened is we lost, as a church and association our identity, our
conviction, our impetus to speak truth to power. Now, this happens
in all churches that stop growing. They cease growing because the
vision and intention of the church comes to a halt. "Where there is
no vision the people perish." We haven't perished as a church in
terms of our love & generosity and fellowship, but as an association
we have failed socially to become the church we were supposed to be.
We went to sleep. The assassinations, the hatreds, the tumultuous
times took their toll on us and we went to sleep. Like a bear we
went into hibernation. We stopped growing. We stopped trying, in a
very intentional way, to bridge the gap between Black and White and
Brown and Red. We went inward and our momentum stopped. We became a
club and not a religion. Some of you might not like what I just
said... That's okay.
I just want you to know this morning that I don't want to be a part
of a club. Now, clubs are nice. You get to spend time with each
other. You get to eat together and enjoy life, to contemplate the
verities. There are aspects of a club that are wonderful. But I
could go join Kiwanis or the VFW if I wanted to eat a good lunch
every Thursday. But that's not what I'm looking for. When I signed
the membership book of this church and the Unitarian Universalist
Association, I signed because I learned that this faith had
principles that I must seek to follow. And although I fall short in
fulfilling our principles on a daily basis, I still must seek to
follow them. What our history told me was that I was joining a
religion, not a social club. And religions have set systems of
beliefs and those who follow the tenets and really believe them are
convicted enough to know that their religion moves them, at times,
to be on the cutting edge, to be a revolutionary, to be a
change-maker, but most importantly, to be a voice and to speak truth
to power. This is not to say that the church should not move us to
share with others and nurture one another as members... This is true
as well. I think we've done a good job of this for 50-years. But in
terms of reaching-out, growing Unitarian Universalism, in terms of
making a difference socially, we have not done this very well since
the death of Davies and King.
My first challenge today is that we recapture that revolutionary
spirit; that we bring the spirit of A. Powell Davies and Dr. King
back even more, and reenergize our movement right here in this
house!
Thursday night the ADORE (A Discussion on Race & Ethnicity) group
met and we began looking at the complex issue of race & culture. It
was a thought-provoking, respectful time and I invite you, who could
not make it, to the next one on the fourth Thursday of the month.
There was one word used in the dialog that I have used a few times
today and it tells the message very well - INTENTION. That is,
people intentionally do things to keep the world separate and
unequal. And that in order to change this, something else
intentional must be done to counteract the foolishness. We cannot
always sit back and watch. Sometimes we have to take action to
change a situation. A few examples.
At the 2003 General Assembly in Boston, Don and I had met up with
Carl and Connie Bronner and we headed for the Convention Center for
the Ware Lecture. Julian Bond spoke and it was packed, as this is
the high-event of all GA's. We were late getting there and the
downstairs area was full. We headed for the balcony and there were
MANY following our lead. There was a mad dash for seats. Well, Don,
puts it into fourth-gear and is walking so fast that I can't keep up
with him. Now, Carl & Connie and I were way behind. Don is racing
ahead, weaving like a sports-car in and out of the people traffic
making his way like he's late for a Duke game. We look up and Don is
gone out of our sight. Well, we get in the door, I have no idea
where Don is and then I hear a voice, "John, over here!" I look up
and see that Don has raced his way to some of the best seats in the
balcony and was reserving four seats for all of us. Although he made
me uncomfortable with his forthrightness, in the end I was thankful
to him for doing what I was not willing to do. But without his lead,
we would have probably been sitting on the floor as many others
were!
Another quick story, Sharon and I decided to try school for the kids
and we have put JT and Kennedy in the local public school in
Cheverly. On the first day, it was crazy. At least 30 kids had not
been fully registered and it was a mess in the lobby of the school.
We got directed to the "new kids who've registered" line. Then we
got sent to another room where we were told to wait. I sat there for
1-minute, became impatient and said, "Sharon, I'll be back in a
second." I walked to a second-grade teacher and asked if my daughter
was in her class. She looked on her list and sure enough Kennedy was
in her class. In fact, the teacher had her name-tag written up on
her desk. I went back to the room where the kids and Sharon were and
said, "Let's go." We dropped Kennedy off then went upstairs to the
4th grade teachers. It took two shots but the second teacher I spoke
with was JT's teacher and off he went. Sharon was looking at me with
that look like, "How'd you figure that out." I smiled at her and
said, "You cannot wait all the time. Sometimes you have to take the
initiative. Sometimes you have to take the lead." I felt good saying
those words to her (smile).
My message this morning is about not being shy and "shy" implies
that we sort of shrink from the notice of others or have a certain
apprehension and reticence when it's time for us to do some talking
about our faith. It is about being a little more aggressive in a non
confrontational way; about not being so passive. And the two stories
make the point. It might be out of our character as individuals and
a church to begin talking about our faith and inviting people here
in a very forthright and INTENTIONAL manner. But it is the end goal
that we seek. It's those good seats; it's getting the kids in their
classroom, if you know what I mean. It's growing our UU voice
locally, regionally, and nationally; it's speaking truth to power;
it's reaching-out to people who think there is no religion that can
adequately speak to their place & circumstance; it's sharing our
belief in "hope not hell" and that all humanity has worth and value.
In substance, it is the end goal that is important. But, I have an
addendum here. This "means to an end" formulation is not the premise
for what some use in justifying all kinds of atrocities and inhumane
policies.
This is a bit different. I'm talking in regards to sharing
our faith with family and friends and being actively engaged in what
it means to be a Unitarian Universalist; or when we meet someone and
they sound like a UU at heart, giving them information or directing
them to our church website, or passing out a church newspaper. I
think the idea of "means to an end" works well here. And as I said,
it is necessary for us to be INTENTIONAL about spreading our faith
so that we can recapture our revolutionary spirit and become the
antithesis to a religious system that says, "There's only one way,
one truth, one reality."
My sort of evangelical sermon is not the norm for us today but for
those of you who were here from the beginning or early on, or those
of you who have read the readings of A. Powell Davies, correct me if
I am wrong, but there was a Jeremiah like fire that permeated in his
bones to share our message and it was guided by the society that was
being heavily influenced by McCarthy's dogma in the 50's. And Davies
felt the liberal voice was not being heard and so he hit the
airwaves on the radio and other places to attempt to match
McCarthy's rhetoric. Think about it. Are we not in similar times?
Don't you think somebody needs to hear about what we believe today?
That flame within Davies ignited your hearts if you were around
then, and moved you to be spiritually and socially conscious. We
must work hard to keep the fire lit and to never let that fire die!
Speaking out and sharing, not being shy is our legacy; it is who we
are! Without the sharing, we lose touch with our heritage and we
lose sight of our vision and mission; we lose our identity as a
church.
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