Sermons

READING ~ Ancient Wisdom from the Hebrew Scripture. Micah 6:8
He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

READING Babies in the River (Tapestry of Faith: Heeding the Call)
Based on a story variously attributed, including to Saul Alinsky and to Irving Zola.

Once upon a time, there was a small village on the edge of a river. Life in the village was busy. There were people growing food and people teaching the children to make blankets and people making meals.
One day a villager took a break from harvesting food and noticed a baby floating down the river toward the village. She couldn’t believe her eyes! She heard crying in the distance and looked downstream to see that two babies had already floated by the village. She looked around at the other villagers working nearby. “Does anyone else see that baby?” she asked.
One villager heard the woman, but continued working. “Yes!” yelled a man who had been making soup.
“Oh, this is terrible!” A woman who had been building a campfire shouted, “Look, there are even more upstream!” Indeed, there were three more babies coming around the bend.
“How long have these babies been floating by?” asked another villager. No one knew for sure, but some people thought they might have seen something in the river earlier. They were busy at the time and did not have time to investigate.
They quickly organized themselves to rescue the babies. Watchtowers were built on both sides of the shore and swimmers were coordinated to maintain shifts of rescue teams that maintained 24-hour surveillance of the river. Ziplines with baskets attached were stretched across the river to get even more babies to safety quickly.
The number of babies floating down the river only seemed to increase. The villagers built orphanages and they taught even more children to make blankets and they increased the amount of food they grew to keep the babies housed, warm and fed. Life in the village carried on.
Then one day at a meeting of the Village Council, a villager asked, “But where are all these babies coming from?”
“No one knows,” said another villager. “But I say we organize a team to go upstream and find how who’s throwing these babies in the river.”
Not everyone was in agreement. “But we need people to help us pull the babies out of the river,” said one villager. “That’s right!” said another villager. “And who will be here to cook for them and look after them if a bunch of people go upstream?”

SERMON

“I do not believe that there is ever a wrong time to do the right thing. In the world in which we live there are lots of chances to take an ethical shortcut. The pressure to get ahead, to fit in, to take the party line: we are always tempted by the partisan plan for success. And being honest does not always mean being popular. Speaking up, taking a position, sharing hope usually costs us something. The spiritual path is a sacrificial path. But in the end, we are not servants of the present moment, but stewards of an ancient and ongoing dream: a world at peace with itself in a time that has no ending.”

Steven Charleston is a Native American elder, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, and a bishop in the Episcopal Church. He is the author of spiritual resources for persons of all faith traditions with a mission to offer inspiration and encouragement to all those who seek to walk a sacred path through daily life.
Words from Steven Charleston come into my Facebook feed each morning and most days I take the time to read and ponder his wisdom. These words are from his May 13th entry and when I read them, I was immediately struck by the truth and power of what he says.
There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.
The spiritual path is a sacrificial path. But in the end, we are not servants of the present moment.
We are stewards of an ancient and ongoing dream: a world at peace with itself in a time that has no ending.

Ours is a spiritual community. Yes, of course, we are pragmatic and we follow the science and we have been guided by the three virtues of reason, freedom and tolerance since the Reformation of the 16th century. And … we are a spiritual community encouraging each other to follow the spiritual path that resonates deeply within the heart and soul of each of us. Elder Steven Charleston reminds us that the spiritual path is not easy and we never really reach the end. Individually, we follow our own path toward spiritual fulfillment and meaning. As a congregation, we serve our broader community. This is our mission.

How do we live this mission?
We use our resources to promote the well-being of ourselves, each other and the broader community.
Resources include our personal inventory of time, talent, commitment and treasure. Each of us is a steward of our own resources.
Together, we are stewards of our congregational resources.
Congregational resources include all of our members and friends and all of our finances.

We use our resources to advance our mission.

We have seen the baby in the river. Each of has seen the baby in the river. Collectively, we’ve seen the congregation of babies in the river.
The question we must continuously ask ourselves is: What do we do about the babies in the river?

In the story, when that first villager sees a baby floating down the river, he runs to pluck the baby from the swiftly moving water and saves its life.
A good time to do the right thing.

As more babies – an endless stream of babies – come floating down the river, the whole community jumped into action.
Of course they did. Who would turn away from a baby floating down the river? Surely no villager and surely not us!

The baby here represents suffering and abandoned people whose lives are miserable and perhaps at risk of ending because of outside forces – like a strong current and 40 degree water.

You all know about people in our world who are floating down the river hoping someone will throw them a basket they can climb into and be saved.

Our congregation has used our resources to rescue all kinds of babies in all kinds of rivers.

We are among those who are rushing about building orphanages and growing more food and constructing ever more elaborate systems of baskets and ropes and pullies as the number of babies keeps increasing. We save a great number of babies. We do not save them all.

We are also among those who step back from the river’s edge and ask – Hey! What’s going on upstream and who’s chucking babies into the river?

The temptation to address the immediate situation is strong in all of us.
I don’t want to stop pulling babies out of the river. I don’t want to lose a single one that I could have helped rescue. Perfectly understandable. Doing the right thing day after day after day.
But … what IS going upstream? We MUST also address that question. That question seeks to answer the questions of how and why and who.

Our congregation has used our resources to help find out what’s going on upstream and fix it so no more, or at least many fewer, babies will get chucked into the river.
Getting to the root causes of the suffering and dysfunction that result in babies being tossed into the river is also the right thing to do.

Can I review for you briefly some of the work our congregation has been doing to serve our broader community? Gil Tenney has produced a wonderful report of our 2021 work. It is available in hard copy in the Parish House today or by request to the church office. It is also available as a downloadable pdf file for those of you who want the report in that format. Either way, I encourage you to take some time to read through the report and familiarize yourself – again or for the first time – with what we do together.

Much of our ministry of service and philanthropy is renewed annually through our support of programs and organizations who are are either intervening in direct services or who are part of a longer term strategic initiative to keep those babies out of the river.

So, here is a list some of our investments – both financial and personal time and talent. In 2021, about one third of our budget was devoted to serving our broader community. Two thirds was used to support the ongoing life of congregation and the upkeep of our buildings.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Unitarian Universalist Office at the United Nations
Unitarian Universalist Women’s Heritage and History

Maine Unitarian Universalist Statewide Advocacy Network

Beyond our UU support, more locally, we participate in the Castine area Fuel Assistance Fund, the Castine Area Relief Fund, the Castine area Wood Bank and the Blue Hill Peninsula and beyond No Neighbor Left Behind Meal Program. All of these efforts require both significant volunteer time and regular financial support.

We support post secondary education & training through the Randall Hilton Scholarship program. Last year, we awarded $5000 in scholarships. This year we were able to award $11,000. These scholarships tend to be $1000 or $500 each. The funds are unrestricted and as such do not become part of an off-set to the school’s financial aid package.

The Deborah Pulliam Grant Program is an annual grant making effort in the areas of social justice that align with our UU principles and values.
In 2021, we funded seven grants at a total distribution of $40,000.

Our most recent engagement with philanthropy and social change is the Opportunity Fund. Unlike most other initiatives, the Opportunity Fund does not entertain requests for funding. The goal of the Opportunity Fund is to make a substantial unrestricted investment in a local organization whose mission we support. The Opportunity Fund Task Force chooses which organizations to fund and how to support them. The distribution of funds is a gift with no strings attached. The organization will know how to put the funds to their best use. Building long-lasting relationships with organizations whose mission we support is part of the goal of the Opportunity Fund.

I am not going into great detail about our congregation’s ministry of philanthropy and restorative justice today. Perhaps you will ask questions. I hope you will read the report. I also hope you will want to get personally involved where your spirit leads you. Some of us will work at the river’s edge and some of us will make our way upstream to halt the forces that allow babies in the river. A few of us can manage both. Both efforts are the right thing to do and there is never a wrong time to do the right thing.

Our congregation’s work is engaged at the level of immediate direct services (pulling babies out of the river) and at the level of systemic change (upstream interventions) to help create the world at peace with itself without end.

Our congregation has been blessed with substantial gifts that make up our endowment portfolio. Our resources are both volunteer time and effort and relatively deep pockets for a congregation of our size.
You are all part of our efforts to use our resources in service to our world.
It is important that you know what we do and why we do it.
Ask questions. Get involved. You won’t regret it.
For every dollar you contribute to the life and ministry of our congregation, we seek to give away 33 cents in service to our community.

On Sunday mornings, when we say together the Mission of our congregation we put our voices behind our heart’s and mind’s desires.
We seek our own well-being and we seek the well-being of our broader community.

My Dear Spiritual Companions, let us be among those who work for justice and peace.
Let us be among those who use whatever resources we have to improve the lives of those who struggle.
Let us be among those who recognize that our faith commitment to justice and equity for all guides our ministry of restorative philanthropy.

We are the ones the world needs so desperately.
Let us meet and fulfill our call.
Let our work in the world continue and expand – because you care.

Blessed Be. I Love You. Amen.