DON'T BE SHY! Part 2

DON'T BE SHY! Part 2
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 4^th 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.

I first came here in November 2001 and joined January 2002. It's almost been 3 years. When I first came here, as you all know, my family gave me "living hell" about my move to what they thought was a very obscure, a very strange religion. But my conviction and belief has slowly won them over I do believe. I talk about our faith whenever I can. I share our principles. I don't let them get away with one-sided theological constructs. I try to always present the opposing viewpoint to give them a more objective understanding.

My mother said, after we first joined, that we were a cult. But now she said recently, "Perhaps on my off Sunday's I can come to your church to sing?" A big change isn't it! I guess I should work here into the musical rotation (smile). My brother-in-law calls himself a UU at heart. My best friend, a fundamentalist Christian, who was beaten up pretty badly on the Davies chat line and angry at me for months (I did set him up a little bit) has recently called and said, "If that is the religion you have chosen, John, I cannot criticize it because you are my best friend and I love you and I know you, and so that religion cannot be but so bad." Then my father-in-law, a major religious influence in my life, who has been the hardest to win over, bought me an interesting father's day gift. In June I opened his package in the mail and it was a book on tape. The book on tape was "Sacred Hoops" by Phil Jackson. Jackson is the coach of the L.A. Lakers, and before that led the Chicago Bulls to a bunch of NBA championships. Well, he's also a Zen Buddhist. Hello. And guess what? Dad bought one for himself. He said he really liked the book! Every so often, I send him a few sermons. Now he still doesn't agree with all we say and do but he knows now that we are legitimate and the fact that he gave me a gift of a Zen Buddhist philosopher coach tells me he is coming around! New levels of understanding are coming out of Sharon and my conviction and commitment to our beliefs and to our faith!

Friends, don't be shy! If you believe you have found your truth in this place; if you believe there is something meaningful here, something special for you; if you believe you have been impacted in some marvelous way here - share it. When the opportunity allows you, share your message. Share our message of hope for sake of humanity. And don't be afraid that you're being "like them", the other religions. We're all just humans, no better, no worse, no matter the religion, trying to find our space in the Universe. We are no better than "they" are, we're just on another path. It is the path that fits us. And we must seek to reach those who are like us religiously.

Believe it or not, there are several thousand people in this area who are like-minded or UU like. The JPD Growth Consultant, Bob Johnsen gave me sum stats on our area and of the 400,000 people in Southern Prince George's County, 7% fit our profile. That means there are over 28,000 people in our neighborhoods, and this doesn't even include Charles County, that would be at least curious about our brand of religion. This means that over 21,000,000 (21-million) would be willing to check us out nationally. And so, we've got work to do - don't we?

If you came to the leadership retreat you might have noticed that I was "snappy". The fact is, Don and I have both been a bit "crabby" at times. The good part is that when Don is "snappy" I'm not and when I'm "crabby" Don isn't so that's the good part. The bad part is if we're both "snappy" at the same time. You'd better watch out then (smile). You see, we are passionate and believe in the cause and understand the historical ramifications. And our personalities are quite the same. We are visionaries and see the best of a situation and see the best in people. We are convicted and held captive by the dream of the beloved community, and creating a multi-cultural church that can be an example to this community, this Association and even to the world. There is a fire in our bones to spread this faith and to tell somebody about what we believe because we believe this will be a model for future generations. And we need your help. We cannot do this alone. With that said, we are planning two more "Bring-A-Friend" Sunday's. And this time I would like you to be even more committed to bringing a friend to church with you that day. Someone who you think would enjoy what we have to offer.

You know, something interesting. If we all committed to reaching out to one person per year, in five years we would have shared our inclusive message, as a church, with over 4,000 people. In 8 years, we would have reached over 30,000 people and I'm sure those 28,000 potential UU's in So. Prince George's County would have been reached. Some of you may be thinking, "Where are we going to put those people?" I'm thinking on another line. I'm thinking about the vision of Joseph Priestly and Davies and King. And thinking, "Look how influential our message will be in the Washington Metropolitan area, and what other synergies and movements will we create as a result of our commitment to present the other side of religion to this community?" This is what I mean when I say we must be INTENTIONAL about sharing our faith. I ask you this morning to commit this new church year to just one person; just one friend who is a lot like you; just one associate; just one person. And if you need a few pointers, let me know.

Dawn Star's song spoke to me deeply and the words say it all. I want share them with you again as I close:

Could you be a window
In a darkened hall
To give a passing soul
A way of seeing through the wall
And people stop in front of you
And into you they peer
Uncertain what they see because
You're not exactly clear?

Could you be a lighthouse
Standing on a shore
Meant to send a light out
To the sailor in a storm.
But even though you show your light
Not a boat can tell
You didn't know you're not supposed to shine it on yourself?

Could you be a siren
Made to raise your voice
But sinking in the silence
Afraid of making noise
Even though the enemy is flying overhead
Even though the fire is continuing to spread?
Are you a spear afraid of flight?
A constellation afraid of night?
A principle unknown?
A pilgrim holding on to home?
Could you be?
A flare afraid to burn?
A wheel unfree to turn?
A compass shunning north - In a vessel straying way off course?
Could you be?
Could you be a lighthouse - Standing on a shore - That the lost are looking for?

COULD YOU BE?

DON'T BE SHY!