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A church without a vision and mission cannot grow spiritually or
externally and a church without order will grow but it will lose
every bit of its momentum without some structure. So again, you need
both... But, whether you are a visionary or organizer, whether you
be prophecy or law, we all should want TO BE OF USE (as the
responsive reading reminds us). I don’t know about you, but “I want
to be with people who want to submerge in a task that builds on the
common good. I don’t want to be with the parlor generals and field
deserters but I want to be with people who move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out!” People who want
to stand up to the challenges of the day. I want to be with folk who
want to be a part of authentic ministry that has a mission & a
covenant which has impact socially, political and spiritually. I
want to be of use because I understand that my life and commitment
to this church is about more than just me; it is about being a voice
in the community for those who have been alienated by their religion
and bad relationships. It is about finding people who need what only
we can offer them!
I want you to know something today… As much as I love this church,
you are special people, I would leave here expeditiously if I knew
that we were not going forward, but rather fighting over crumbs. Our
namesake, A. Powell Davies, did not fight over crumbs. He baked
cakes! Davies Church, you are not just the hope of the denomination
but you are Americas hope. You see, our religion claims to be the
most open, liberal, compassionate, understanding faith that is open
to ALL people. We try but the truth is our faith as a whole does not
manifest its greatness, it is not a shining example of true diverse
religion. With all of our great minds and ideas and committees and
social justice groups, as a religion, we are not the place where, as
Paula Cole Jones said, “we can talk about race and it has no power!”
Race matters in the UUA still! And I’m sorely afraid the UUA will
be a joke to the world because it does not walk its walk and talk
the talk. As a religion we’ve got to stop talking so much and
start doing more. We’ve got to move beyond our “paralysis from
analysis.” Davies, you are my and many peoples hope as a model
congregation for this denomination. The UUA needs a diversity plan
and are hoping and praying ours is successful. WE ARE WALKING THE
WALK AND TALKING THE TALK and I know things can be stressful at
times but the thing we cannot do is we must never fight over crumbs.
We must bake cakes as A. Powell Davies did! What I mean is that the
organizing must be centered in and around the vision and not the
other way around. The two must work together but our dream, our
vision is what creates the growth and diversity and from that we
organize dynamic systems and programs to make what we have even
better. Remember that…
Langston Hughes was right. We must hold on to the dream the vision
the prophetic imagination… Hear his words again as I close:
Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
for when the dreams go
life is a barren field
frozen with snow.
-Langston Hughes
Amen.
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