"Acting on Faith"

Our congregation has rarely called upon its membership

 to take a position on a social justice issue,

  but when we have,

   we have made history.

One decade after a divisive and painful decision

about whether to sign the loyalty oath,

  our congregation gathered to vote

    on the issue of housing discrimination.

Only those of you who were here

 can tell us how it felt

  to test the community’s capacity for taking sides once again.

 

But times had changed.

The church was flourishing with the Rev. Ernie Pipes as minister.

Vitality and growth energized a new generation of leadership.

 

The year - 1964 -

was a time when religious liberals everywhere

 were speaking out,

  sitting in,

   marching,

    and voting to end discrimination.

Martin Luther King, Jr., won the Nobel Peace Prize.

A year later, Ernie would be travelling to Alabama

 to take part in the historic march

  from Selma to Montgomery.

So it may have been easy for the community to address this issue.

By an overwhelming majority,

our membership voted against a California proposition

  that would have made it legal

    to refuse to sell or rent property

        solely on the basis of the applicant’s

         race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin.

And we called on California voters to join us

 in rejecting such unjust practices.

 

Our church is a small organization

 and our votes are not likely to make big news.

And yet, this stand -

 and others, as Ernie mentioned earlier -

  are a significant part of our history.

There are times

 when we are compelled to draw upon our collective power;

  when our sense of justice calls us together

   to speak as one.

 

Our congregation voted 121 to 4

 to oppose the California proposition on housing discrimination.

What about the four people

 who refused to stand with the majority -

We cannot know now

what they were thinking or feeling then.

Quite possibly their dissent

 had to do with some aspect of the democratic process,

  or wording of the resolution,

   or disapproval of the church taking any stand at all.

What we notice now is how few they were.

Still, we would want to hear

what they thought

  and how they felt.

Sensitivity to minority opinions

 is ingrained in our tradition.

As religious liberals,

    we know all too well how it feels to be marginalized.

 

Our Universalist theology has taught us

 that inclusiveness is a religious value.

This is an endearing quality.

We draw the circle wide,

 so that everyone can belong.

 

But including everyone does not mean

    speaking for everyone.

Only by the practice of democracy -

 in congregational meeting,

    by congregational vote -

       can we authorize our collective position.

Since there is bound to be dissent

 about almost any issue

    that could come before us,

       we proceed carefully before we act together.

 

Someone may be left out.

But that is not a reason to avoid taking a stand.

Rather, it calls on us to reach out to those who differ,

 who need community

    and deserve respect

       just as we all do.

A church such as ours

 acts on faith every time we make a collective decision.

We act on the faith

 that our community is strong enough to survive our differences.

We act on the faith

 that our effort to speak as one

  will make a difference.

We act on the faith

 that the practice of democracy

    will transform our conviction and sense of justice

     into good work we can do together.

 

The children’s story I read earlier,

 "Higgins: A Drop With a Dream,"

  was written by a Unitarian Universalist minister, Christopher Buice.

It’s a simple story,

 but it is steeped in the challenges of our tradition.

The story begins with one lone drop,

    named Higgins.

Where Higgins lives there is a terrible drought.

He wants to do something about it.

So he sets out to tell people his dream

 that their valley could be beautiful again.

 

But talking about the dream is not enough.

It doesn’t get people to change

 and it doesn’t bring water to the valley.

So there is only one thing to do.

 

Higgins jumps into the bucket.

All by himself.

And there he sits, as Christopher Buice writes,

 "just a drop in the bucket."

But not for long.

 

Other drops see what he has done

 and are inspired to join him.

And eventually, the bucket fills with water,

 and not only that bucket,

  but many buckets;

   enough buckets, in fact,

    to bring water to the valley

     so that the flowers bloom again.

Not just flowers and trees either,

 Buice adds:

  but justice rolling down like waters

   and righteousness like a mighty stream.

 

People coming together to solve a problem have power,

 far more than any of us could have alone.

Yes, that initial leap can be lonely

 and a bit of a risk.

But inspired only by a dream,

 Higgins acted on the faith

  that something good would come of others joining him.

 

That is the power we have in our hands,

 in this congregation,

  to use for good in the world.

With prudent leadership and responsible membership,

 we can transform our dreams

  into acts of faith.

Two years ago we embarked on a congregational project

 to give us a fresh approach

    to acting on our commitment

   to social justice.

We called this project "Faith in Action."

Our talented intern, Susan Conrad,

    guided us in its creation.

 

"Faith in Action" stands for our trust in the democratic process

 to empower ourselves to focus - and to act -

    on issues we choose together.

At last week’s issues election,

 an overwhelming majority selected peace

  as our major focus for the year.

We now add it to an agenda

 that includes an active task force on hunger.

 

To focus on peace at this time

    is not to say that we speak as one

      about a possible war with Iraq.

To speak as one requires a congregational meeting.

But to meet together,

 to learn,

  to find out what we think -

   this we will do,

    starting now.

It’s just a drop in the bucket,

 I know.

But where it may lead -

if others join us -

  will make a difference.

Our history has shown us

    that our church has suffered painful divisions

      over pressing social and political issues.

The loyalty oath controversy has left its imprint on us.

And this church was not spared

 in the conflict over the Vietnam war.

Although we have healed these old wounds,

 we do not want to incur any new ones.

 

But our history has also shown us

 that our congregation has come together with enthusiasm and conviction

    about social justice issues,

        even controversial ones.

We have voted to act on our commitment to civil rights,

    to create a peace site here within these four walls,

      and to provide sanctuary to political refugees

       from El Salvador and Guatemala.

Becoming a sanctuary church

    distinguished us among Unitarian Universalist congregations,

     most of which were slow to recognize this moral imperative.

 

Looking back at these important decisions

 should reassure us that there are times

  when we can speak and act as one.

How would we feel

if our history showed no evidence

  that the people of this church

   cared about civil rights,

    or peace,

     or victims of human rights abuses?

Who would we be today?

With careful attention to democratic process,

 education,

    and respect for one another,

       we too can bring our faith to the world.

Our faith, which is rooted in a tradition of social reform,

 forward vision

  and courageous action,

   asks us to do this work.

Our predecessors risked controversy and danger

 when they spoke out for abolition and for civil rights,

  for women’s suffrage and reproductive rights,

   for religious freedom and human rights.

Some even died.

Others carried on their work

 so that our faith would keep and cherish

  our historic connection to social witness.

 

How the coming days and years will call us

 to act on our faith

  we cannot yet know.

But we will meet the challenges of the times -

 and the times have brought us many -

  with open minds,

   loving hearts,

    and hands ready to join other hands,

     to do the good work that we can do.

We have already made a difference.

Reference for this sermon: The Past as Prologue, 70th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet, 1927-1997. Unitarian Universalist Community Church, Santa Monica, CA.