This sermon was preached by Rev. Dan Harper at First Unitarian Church in New Bedford. As usual, the sermon below is a reading text. The actual sermon as preached contained ad libs, interjections, and other improvisation. Sermon copyright (c) 2007 Daniel Harper.
Readings
The first reading this morning is from a modernized version of the Cambridge Platform. The Cambridge Platform was drawn up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1649, and is the fundamental founding document of all those New England congregations that, like ours, trace their origins back to the Puritans. I will read from a modernized version published by the First Congregational Society of Millers Fall, Massachusetts, in 1998 for the Cambridge Platform’s 350th birthday.
“It is a covenant that makes church out of the various gatherings of Gentile believers in these days.
“The more detailed and clear this covenant (or consent, or voluntary agreement) is, the more fully it puts us in mind of our mutual duty, and encourages us in it. Such a covenant also helps establish the legitimacy of a local church and makes clear who are its true members. Yet we conceived the essence of a covenant is the agreement and consent of a group of faithful people to meet regularly together as a congregation for worship and mutual edification, and the primary evidence of this agreement is the actual practice of doing so…. In the Scriptures, people make covenants in a variety of ways, such as by word of mouth, sacrifice, written agreement and seal, and even at times by silent consent without any writing of words at all.”
The second reading this morning if from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Friendship.”
“We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken. Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether. How many persons we meet in houses, whom we scarcely speak to, whom yet we honor, and who honor us! How many we see in the street, or sit with in church, whom, though silently, we warmly rejoice to be with! Read the language of these wandering eye-beams. The heart knoweth.
“The effect of the indulgence of this human affection is a certain cordial exhilaration. In poetry, and in common speech, the emotions of benevolence and complacency which are felt towards others are likened to the material effects of fire; so swift, or much more swift, more active, more cheering, are these fine inward irradiations. From the highest degree of passionate love, to the lowest degree of good-will, they make the sweetness of life.”
Sermon
I am not going to preach on the topic that was publicized for this morning. Instead, I am going to tell you about the greatness and the goodness of this congregation; and about the voluntary principle of our congregation.
As a newcomer to New Bedford and to this south coastal region of Massachusetts — I have lived here less than two years — I have found a remarkable cultural characteristic that seems peculiar to this region; at least, it is a cultural characteristic which I never encountered in four decades of living elsewhere in Massachusetts. That remarkable cultural characteristic is the strong tendency to talk about everything that is inadequate about New Bedford and the South Coast area, while only apologetically saying what is good and beautiful and wonderful about this part of the world.
Over and over again, I hear residents of this city emphasizing the problems we face: underperforming schools, drugs and unemployment, pollution in the harbor, corruption in town governments and inefficiencies in city government, a decaying infrastructure, lack of commuter rail service to Boston. All those problems are very real; but it seems to me that our problems are more than outweighed by the very real advantages we can claim. The great strengths of this region include its illustrious past, its cultural treasures, its artistic community, the great and wonderful diversity of its inhabitants, its proximity to the ocean, its spectacular natural beauty, and its kind and polite people. Yet all too often, these are not the first things we mention.
As you would imagine, this cultural tendency has infiltrated this congregation. I see it at work among members and friends of this church, and indeed I find myself easily slipping into this habit myself:– we can all tell each other about everything that is wrong with our church, and we do so readily. So members of the Board can readily tell you that our basement leaks and we recently had a foot of water down there; I find myself apologizing when people walk into this room because there is some peeling paint and water damage evident; when you come to this church accompanied by children, someone is liable to warn you that we don’t have many children here. We are quite adept at telling the world, and telling each other, that we aren’t as good as we could be.
This morning I would like to tell you how good this church is, and how much it has to offer. Emerson tells us, “We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken.” All humanity, he tells us, is bathed in love as in a fine ether — that is, as if in an insubstantial element that we cannot see and which it is all too easy to ignore. This congregation has a great deal more kindness and love and strength than we ordinarily talk about; it is time, I think, to start talking about it.
I am going to tell you what the five greatest strengths of this congregation are, in my view. If you wish to argue with me, and tell me that I should have named this or that strength — that is the response I hope to provoke. I want you to start telling the rest of our church, and start telling the wider community, what it is that we do well.
In my opinion, our greatest strength is something that we so take for granted, that it is all but invisible to us; and that is our covenant. Every historically Unitarian congregation traces its religious roots back to the Puritans. And every congregation that traces its roots back to the Puritans traces its roots back to the Cambridge Platform, the foundational document that outlines an ideal for congregational organization.
In our first reading this morning, we heard a short passage from the Cambridge Platform that talked about covenant. All congregations in the Puritan tradition are founded on the idea of covenant; also known as consent, or voluntary agreement. That is to say, no bishop or pope nor any ecclesiastical authority can force you to enter into membership in one of our congregations. Nor do you automatically become a member of this congregation simply by virtue of being born into it. You must willfully consent to become a member of this congregation; you must enter into the agreement of membership voluntarily; and that is what is meant by covenant.
This principle of covenant is our greatest strength. We do not force anyone to join us. We do not proselytize, for we understand that proselytizing is a form of coercion. We say: here we are, here is what we stand for; and should someone express interest (by, for example, walking into church on Sunday morning), we extend an open invitation to spend time with us, learn who we are, and then decide if that person willingly consents to join us.
For the first century and a half of its existence, our congregation had written covenants. Over the past fifty years, we have covenanted together “by silent consent without any writing of words at all,” as the Cambridge Platform puts it. In an effort to articulate our unwritten covenant, I have attempted to put it into spoken word, and I say those words at the beginning of each worship service. Every few months, one of you approaches me, and suggest changes in the way I articulate our unwritten covenant. So, for example, recently Bob Boynton gently reminded me that love should be a part of any covenant, and now I say: “We come together in love to seek after truth and goodness, to find spiritual transformation in our lives; and in the spirit of love we care for one another and promote practical goodness in the world.” In other words, I’m not making this up on my own — I’m trying to articulate our voluntary agreement, the covenant that already exists in this congregation.
However it is articulated, our covenant remains our greatest strength. It is through our covenant that we refuse coercion, and affirm voluntary agreement in matters of religion. This is our greatest strength.
Our second greatest strength seems to me to be related to the first. Our second greatest strength is that we offer a liberal religious witness in a world that desperately needs it. The dominant religious attitudes in the United States today often take one of two basic forms. On the one hand, there are those religious groups which assert that they have sole access to truth and righteousness, and that they shall bring their religion to the rest of the world by guile, by force, or even by the sword if need be. On the other hand, there are those religious groups which assert that if you do not follow their teachings, you shall be condemned — condemned either to hell, or to guilt, or to sin, or to some other form of utter misery. Both of these dominant forms of religion have proven to be extremely intolerant of differences and diversity. They not only want to make over the rest of us in their religious image, they typically want to demonize gays and lesbians, denigrate women (although many of them deny this), and so on. In short, these religious groups are coercive.
As religious liberals, we offer a public witness that religion need not be coercive, that religion need not rely on force or guile. We promote a religious attitude that does not require hell, guilt, sin, or misery. Instead, we represent a religious attitude of acceptance, love, and kindness. This is our second great strength.
And this brings me to our third great strength, which is our focus on the community. When I say that one of our strengths is our focus on the community, I have some very specific criteria in mind. My criteria come from the book “Beyond the Ordinary: Ten Strengths of United States Congregations,” which is based on the largest research study on U. S. congregations ever done. These researchers give seven criteria for congregations which focus on the community; the percentage of worshippers who:– voted in the last presidential election; contribute to charitable organizations other than their congregation; are involved in social service or advocacy groups in their community; are involved in social service or advocacy groups in their congregation; have worked with others in the last year to solve a community problem; say that social justice is one of the three most valued aspects of their congregation; and report openness to social diversity as one of the three most valued aspects of their congregation. Based on these criteria, I believe we would easily score in the top twenty percent of all U. S. congregations.
I believe we have yet another strength in community focus that is probably impossible to measure, and that is our building. We have an absolute treasure of a building. You already know that our building has excellent acoustics, that it is remarkably well cared-for, that it has dignity and beauty. What you may not know is that our building is perceived by many in the wider community as a kind of sanctuary, even for those who are not religious or who belong to other congregations. Not long ago, I was contacted by one community group, a group composed of people from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, who wanted to meet here because this was the only building in the city in which they would all feel reasonably comfortable. Another example: gay and lesbian citizens have told me that they know they can come into this building and feel relatively safe and accepted. So it is that our religious liberal witness of tolerance and acceptance takes on physical form in our building; and the wider community knows this building as a relatively safe and accepting place.
On to our fourth great strength. And when I tell you what our fourth strength is, I know that some of you will tell me I’m wrong. I believe that our ability to care for our children and youth is one of the great strengths of this congregation. But, some of you will say, we have been unable to hire a Director of Religious Education this year. But, others of you will say, we don’t have all that many children.
It is true that we have not been able to hire a Director of Religious Education. But we have dedicated and caring Sunday school teachers who have cared for our Sunday school children this year; and we have dedicated and caring youth advisors who minister with our teenagers. Yes, it would be easier for us if we had a Director of Religious Education; but even without one, I see our children and youth growing as human beings, and growing into a deep sense of liberal religion. This is especially true with our teenagers, where I can say without exaggerating that we have saved lives.
It is true that we don’t have that many children and youth. At the moment, we are averaging about four children a week, and three teenagers a week, with other children and youth who don’t come as regularly. Yes, that’s a small number, but remember that we are a small congregation, and we only average forty adults on any given Sunday. We may not have many children and teenagers, but we are extremely good at caring for those children and teenagers who are a part of our congregation. So I believe caring for children and youth is our fourth strength.
Now let me tell you the fifth and final great strength of our congregation, which goes hand in hand with the fourth one. Our fifth great strength is that we look to the future. Our congregation has existed since 1708; we are almost three hundred years old; and we know we are going to be here for centuries to come. We are going to be here and we are going to be a liberal and leavening influence in this community, beyond our own personal lives.
I have a short list of criteria that help define what I mean when I say we look to the future. We are now ready to try new things; we have a strong sense of who we are, and we are strongly committed to maintaining our liberal religious presence in this region; we have a growing sense of excitement about our immediate future; and we have begun to see that this congregation is moving in a new direction although we may not sure quite yet what direction that might be. [Criteria taken from “Beyond the Ordinary”]
This fifth and final strength of ours encompasses and amplifies all the other strengths. By looking to the future, we ensure that our covenant, our voluntary agreement together, the very principle of voluntary religion, will continue into the future. By looking to the future, we ensure that we will adapt our liberal religious witness to the changing religious and social landscape around us; and that we will not be cowed or discouraged by religious extremists and conservatives. By looking to the future, we ensure that we will continue to focus on the community, changing and adapting to the changes in the community around us. By looking to the future, we ensure that this congregation will be here for those who are now children.
You may argue with me about which of our strengths are greater than others. I’m sure some of you will buttonhole me after the worship service, or call me up in the week to come, and say reproachfully, “How could you have forgotten such-and-such a strength?” At least, I hope you will tell me about the strengths I have forgotten to mention; and I admit that my list of our church’s strengths is probably a little idiosyncratic.
But my real point is this:– I believe in what this church does. I believe that we do at least five things extremely well. I believe the surrounding community needs our liberal religious witness now and for all the years to come. I believe that we are a redemptive force in the surrounding community. I believe that what we do is so important that it must continue; and I cannot see that anyone else is doing quite what we do.
Personally, I try to show what I believe by participating in this congregation as best I can. Yes, I am paid to be the minister here, but I also volunteer my time by, for example, coming in on my Sundays off to teach Sunday school; I give five percent of my annual income to this church; and in the past year I gave a thousand dollars in honoraria I received to the minister’s discretionary fund.
I do not ask you to do the same. You may choose to give less than you are able, either financially or in terms of volunteer hours — everyone has to find their own level of commitment. On the other hand, I know that some of you give more of your time than I do; and I know that some of you make greater financial sacrifices in your financial giving than I do — and to you I say, you serve as an inspiration to me, and I’m working on getting to where you are now. Emerson says, “The emotions of benevolence and complacency which are felt towards others are likened to the material effects of fire; so swift, or much more swift, more active, more cheering, are these fine inward irradiations.” And that’s really the whole point of participating in a church like this one — to warm your soul by participating in a voluntary community of benevolence and warmth.
I know this is a great congregation;– I know that the community needs us, and even values us;– I know that our children need liberal religion’s saving influence in their lives;– I know that I need liberal religion’s saving influence in my own life. So it is that many of us are honored to participate in making this congregation stronger, by giving of our money and time, and so extending its influence even farther into a community that desperately needs our redeeming influence.