Looking Back to Look Forward
READINGS: from Missions and Meeting Houses, Chapels and Churches” by Lynn Hudson Parsons and from Rachael Freed as quoted by Pam Blevins Hinkle
In their book, Sacred Stories, Anne and Charles Simpkinson wrote,
“Life will go on
As long as there is someone
To sing, to dance, to tell stories and to listen.”
During my years of ministry, I have come to appreciate that people love stories. We love hearing stories that draw us in emotionally. We especially like listening to stories about people like us who are living lives in which they wrestle with some of the very same issues with which we are wrestling.
“Stories, sacred and secular, make up the fabric of every congregation,” writes Jim Wind, President of the Alban Institute, the preeminent organization that researches and writes about congregational life and governance. He goes on to say about these stories, “They include the story of the community: How it came to be, who its leaders were; times of crisis and courage; times of loss and healing, conversion and transformation. And individual stories of the people who make up the community: How and when and why they came; what and who has shaped them; personal times of crisis and courage, of loss, healing, and faithfulness.”
This is why I am asking you to focus today on the stories of UUCC as you know them. Reflecting on the story of UUCC as you have experienced it is something that is so very important for you to do during this time of transition between settled ministries.
We are so fortunate that our own, Lynn Parsons, authored the book “Missions and Meeting Houses, Chapels and Churches.” The Castine Historical Society had it published and has it as their summer focus. They have a fantastic exhibit about the Castine Congregations that should not be missed. It amplifies the importance of telling the stories of all the Castine congregations.
Rachael Freed, Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, posits that “…, we tell our stories for ourselves and as a gift to future generations.” She asks, “How does telling our stories benefit us? We need to know and express our own stories. Difficulties arise not because we have a story, perhaps a very sad or painful story, but because we become attached to our stories and make them an essential part of our very selves.
Telling our stories should not be seen as an end in itself. As an example, I can tell the story of my going to a tiny school, with questionable academic strengths over and over. But unless it is done in a way that attempts to release me from that story, to evolve and grow beyond that story, I will never move beyond my feelings and the story can imprison me in self pity, pride or some other dangerous dead end.
The importance of telling our stories is that in the telling, we can transform ourselves. In the telling of our stories, we learn about our history and tell our experiences and possibly transcend our stories and their meaning. We can also use our stories to make a difference in our world. Telling our stories can broaden our personal and communal perspective and help us see further than we normally can. To tell our stories in these ways is to act beyond a story that may have imprisoned or enslaved us. Telling our stories can enable us to move toward our spiritual and earthly potential.
Isn’t that what you want for yourself, and for your congregation?
Today is the beginning of our process in doing this. I am asking you to help construct a story of your congregation. This is an exercise that can help you better know the stories of your congregation. And each one of you has the opportunity to express your personal perspective of your communal story.
We need to remember that difficulties arise not because one of our stories may be a sad or painful story. The difficulties arise because we can become too attached to our stories and make them an essential part of our self and an essential part of our congregation even if they needn’t be.
The telling of your stories is not an empty exercise. Rather it is a way in which you are able to gain a better perspective, learn your history and be able to release yourself from some of the unwanted expectations of your story. While you may want to transcend some of your stories, there are other stories that you may want to celebrate and emulate.
Lynn Parsons points out a fantastic story in his book that has had a major impact on our congregation and on Castine. In the 1790’s this congregation called its very first minister and became part of a brewing controversy within Congregationalism. This controversy had been going on since the American Revolution but was becoming more prominent in the 1790’s and early 1800’s.
Some of the neighboring Congregational Ministers and some dissidents from Parson Mason’s own congregation viewed him, their minister as less than a Gospel Minister. They claimed that since Parson Mason failed to emphasize human depravity, predestination and other orthodox doctrines especially the Deity of Christ that he was unfit to serve as their minister.
This is one of your stories. In 1821, Rev. Mason was informed that a group from his congregation had withdrawn and formed “the Religious Society called the Trinitarian Society of Maine.”
It is very important for you to hear and retell this and other stories. This congregation and its minister were speaking theological truth as they saw it to traditional theological power. We are encouraged by this story to remain open and non-judgmental as we hear and retell the stories that hold up the many highs as well as the stories that describe the lows experienced by members of the congregation and of course the many stories that lie in between.
Listening to and telling the stories of UUCC will help you gain important insights about what has worked here and what has not worked for your congregation. Plus you will gain insights about those things that worked well for a while, but then stopped working so well, often one of the hardest things to overcome.
Sometimes in congregations, we leaders, both ministerial and lay leaders, can be unaware of something holding the congregation back, preventing it from moving ahead and reaching its potential. The fact is that in the telling and listening to your stories, you can often get a much clearer perspective about what the problems, the values and the goals of your congregation might actually be.
Susan Beaumont, a church consultant for Alban Institute, uses storytelling to help leaders see and understand congregational blocks and also help congregations “surface and articulate (their) core values.”
These are some of her questions that I invite you to jot down and think about. Your answers may help you remember and tell stories that enable you to better share your experiences at UUCC.
1st, write down when you first came to this congregation. What motivated or brought you here? Did anyone help get you here?
2nd Reflecting on your entire experience at UUCC, tell about a time when you felt the most engaged, alive, and motivated. Who was involved in that story? What did you do? How did it feel?
3rd Tell about a time when you were most proud of your association with this congregation.
4th Now, tell about a time when you felt badly about something this congregation did or didn’t do.
5th In everything that has led up to this present moment in the life of this congregation, what is at the heart of the matter for you?
Let me start with my own earliest connection with UUCC. It came about in the 1982, 30 years ago, just before your congregation withdrew from the Interchurch Parish of Castine. As you will see, this story has great significance for me.
Lynn Parsons in his book about the Castine congregations points out that in 1965, the Unitarian congregation of Castine as well as the other congregations of Castine had fallen on hard times. The Rev. Raymond Johnson, a retired U Min, who had moved to Castine, outlined 3 stark options that he saw for the Castine U. Ch.
- Merge with the Ellsworth Church.
- Rely on Bangor Theo Sem. students rather than a settled minister to supply the pulpit or
- Seek BTS faculty to come on Sundays and in addition rely on vacationing U ministers.
It was a difficult time for all the Castine congregations. Neither the Federated church, now the Maine Street Church, nor the Episcopal Church had resident ministers. The Federated Church hadn’t had one since 1943.
So leaders of the congregations started talking about ways they might get at least one resident minister, one that could serve all the congregations. A crucial factor in favor of this happening was the fact that the Rev Mervin Deems, a Congregationalist, and a respected professor of BTS had just been hired to preach for the Unitarians. Rev. Deems seemed acceptable to the other congregations and was selected as the first minister of the IPC. When he retired, he was followed by Rev. Marshal Eck who in turn was followed by the Rev., Dennis Noonan III. Significantly, all three of these IPC ministers were Congregationalists. Early on the Episcopalian Church withdrew from the IPC.
As the story goes, by the1980’s, the Unitarians realized they were not only losing their identity but were also rapidly losing members. In 1961 there were over 100 members. In just 20 years they were down in numbers to the mid 20’s.
I can remember sitting in the Parish House with this small group of Unitarian Universalists, listening to them tell their stories about when they first came here, what motivated them to come and then about how they were uncomfortable withdrawing from the IPC because it had worked for a time and many of them remembered having supported and worked for its creation.
They talked about their situation and as they told their stories and listened to one another, they soon began to clarify their thinking and identify their goals that aligned with their values. The result was personal. You see, I was already ministering to the Ellsworth UU Congregation so they hired me ¼ time at the expense of the small Unitarian portion of the IPC. You know the story, I preach once a month within the IPC system. It didn’t take much longer than the first year before the members of this Unitarian cong. became clear about their desire to withdraw from IPC.
It was significant and reassuring for me that one of the remaining Unitarians who felt this was the right decision was Katherine Johnson, the widow of one of the original leaders who helped create the IPC, the Rev. Raymond Johnson.
That is a UUCC story from over 30 years ago. It is about how telling your stories and listening to others tell their stories helped the members of this congregation get a clear enough perspective to figure out what they needed to do to better achieve their full potential as a liberal congregation in the tradition of Parson Mason and William Ellery Channing.
Each of you has your own stories to tell about when you first arrived here, what brought you here and how you felt about some of the events and activities that happened here. There are the high moments that give you great joy. And of course there are some less than positive moments that may cause you to feel sad. Every congregation has some of these stories. Remember, the various stories you tell reflect the many facets of your congregation’s history.
Concerning the stories that one might feel badly about, Joan Borysenko, co-founder of the Mind/Body clinic with Dr. Benson said, "We cannot wish old feelings away nor do spiritual exercises for overcoming them until we have woven a healing story that transforms our previous life's experience and gives meaning to whatever pain we have endured."
In order for you and your congregation to follow your passion as a UU cong. you need to be clear about
your hopes and dreams. Telling your stories and listening to others tell theirs will help lead you to grow and extend your congregational reach far beyond yourself toward your goals and the vision for UUCC.
As you respond to some of the questions I asked, with your stories and then your stories combine with the stories of the rest of the community they will reveal ways to make meaning out of your congregational experience. Collectively, your stories will contain rich references to the values you as a congregation hold dear and the heroes and heroines you admire. Together your stories will contain the seeds of what you long for in your current experience and in the next chapter of your congregation’s story.
Remember you need to tell your stories for yourself and as a gift to future UUists of Castine and beyond.
From a legacy perspective, we tell our stories for ourselves and as a gift to future generations. How does telling our stories benefit us? We need to know and express our own stories. Difficulties arise not because we have a story, perhaps a very sad or painful story, but because we become attached to our stories and make them an essential part of our very selves.
Telling our stories is not an end in itself, but an attempt to release ourselves from them, to evolve and grow beyond them. We tell our stories to transform ourselves; to learn about our history and tell our experiences to transcend them; to use our stories to make a difference in our world; to broaden our perspective to see further than normal; to act beyond a story that may have imprisoned or enslaved us; to live more of our spiritual and earthly potential.
