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Odyssey/Milestones, Part II: Looking Forward May 28, 2006 Rev. Paul Beckel First Universalist Unitarian Church ~ www.uuwausau.org
Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago. Bernard Berenson
Be gentle and you can be bold; Be frugal and you can be liberal (generous); Be humble (avoid putting yourself before others) and you can become a leader. Lao Tzu
There was nothing left to do but begin. a fortune cookie
Meditation This memorial day we remember, among the thousands of soldiers, civilians, and contractors killed around the world, the soldiers from Wisconsin who have died in Iraq over the past 3 years. [We read their names, and sounded a chime for each of the 55 young men and women.]
Message In the Greek myth of Sisyphus, Sisyphus, a human, is punished for his mischievous disrespect for the powers which the gods have sought to reserve for themselves. The plot is similar to that old Hebrew story about humans eating from the tree of knowledge -- thereby getting cast out of paradise and into the world of daily toil. Sisyphus’s sentence is more vivid: he is condemned for eternity to roll an enormous stone up a mountain, and each time he reaches the summit, to let it roll back down again. And then repeat. And repeat.
If it were an ox who had to drag a heavy load up the mountain every day, we’d think, “so what?” What does an ox care? He doesn’t know any difference. But Sisyphus’s growing consciousness is what makes his story interesting, even heroic.
We may call this story a tragedy because Sisyphus knows what’s going on. He knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. But his consciousness could also be his salvation. Because there is something else he might discover. Every day when he gets to the top of the mountain, he’s going to get a momentary breather, and a view of the wide world all around. Just as surely as his toil will continue will be those moments when he turns to head back down, those moments during which he can reflect upon his experience, and thereby rise above it. In these moments he is stronger than fate, he is superior to the rock.
In these moments are opportunities both for gratitude, and for growth.
Albert Camus writes: “At that subtle moment when man glances backward over his life, Sisyphus returning toward his rock, in that slight pivoting he contemplates that series of unrelated actions which becomes his fate, created by him, combined under his memory’s eye and soon sealed by his death....”
== Last week I preached by far my longest sermon, looking back over 42 years of my life and 10 years of ordained ministry. I hope to enjoy that many years again, but today, as I speak about looking forward, rest assured that I’ll be more brief and more modest. I’ll be more modest about myself anyway. But for you it’s different -- I do not intend to be modest about your future.
I learned some things about myself by looking back, in that slight pivot at the top of the hill, just as I continue to learn about this congregation each time I peruse the archives (which I encourage you to do as well... fascinating collections of personalities and institutional efforts which have come together over the past 136 years... read all about it in the adult library....
Looking back can be a healthy and helpful process. But it’s important that we not imagine that our history is our destiny, nor that our best days are behind us. As individuals...as a congregation...as a nation, growth is impossible if we think our best days are behind us.
And what are we -- if not a people committed to learning and growth? I’ve had lovely conversations with church members, now gone, who while undergoing hospice care, were reading challenging books, facing challenging thoughts, and confronting challenging relationships. Discovering things about themselves, acknowledging misunderstandings, being surprised by their own lack of self-awareness. Learning and growing until the end of their lives. And laughing about it. And crying. And regretting, sometimes more than anything else, that the learning would come to an end.
What are we if not a people committed to learning and growth? Much of our growth undoubtedly serendipitous, unplanned, far beyond our control. And yet, much of it self-initiated... chosen...conscious.
== Milestones. Milestones are markers along our way to indicate where we are. They give us clues about whether we’re going in the direction we’ve chosen. They can indicate how far we’ve come.
A quick tangent on Iraq -- this is not the focus of what I want to say today, but it is a useful if sad illustration: There are arguments against immediate withdrawal from Iraq; there are arguments against setting a timetable for bringing the American soldiers home. Fine. But why not milestones? Hints about what we should be watching for... what we should expect along the way to indicate that things are turning out as they need to...that we are doing the right thing? Is it not appropriate to have markers to indicate rough progress toward a goal?
I think some things in life worth toiling after, fighting about, and dying for. But gallant sacrifice, by itself, is not progress. Gravestones are not milestones. They are not, by themselves, indicators of progress toward either freedom or security.
That’s my last overt political statement for today. Here’s a slightly more covert one, to guide us back toward the topic of goal-setting in general: I don’t pretend to know which paths will lead to success for us as a nation, or which paths will lead to success for you as individuals. And I don’t think we should be looking for THE right path to get us to THE correct destination. I’ll only say that when we choose our paths, we should make an effort to pick those that branch off, leading to more paths, to more choices, to wider networks. We should not choose dead ends. Nor should we choose those routes which allow only one option -- to stay the course.
== Goals. How can we set goals? Isn’t that contrary to “letting go and letting God?” Isn’t this contrary to surrendering to the will of Allah, or going with the flow of the universe? As individuals, as a congregation, in our workplaces and families and in our political bodies, how can we have goals when the future is unpredictable? When not all of the variables are under our control?
And yet, we set goals all the time. We boast to ourselves that we can change the course of our lives. Dieting is perhaps the most common example of goal setting, and the most persistently disappointing. But if you’ve set goals in the past and failed, if -- plodding down the hill -- you decide that the whole enterprise is an exercise in futility, then I’ll meet you at the bottom of the hill to help you make that pivot... to look up one more time.
To have meaningful goals, we have to leave our comfort zones. We have to face failures of the past and more failures still to come... without fear. How is this possible? It’s possible in part because we don’t have to toil alone. We can surround ourselves with others who are willing to grow. We can create an atmosphere of support for one another in our failures -- for laughing and crying with one another, and thrilling in each other’s learning and growth.
As we come to the end of another annual cycle in our congregation, and even a moment of some magnitude with the planned groundbreaking for new facilities... as we now look ahead, I’d like to suggest 3 general types of goals for us as a congregation -- 3 areas for growth. We recently completed a balanced and comprehensive vision and mission development process. My comments today are intended to support and to flesh out the statement which we have collectively created and affirmed. [It’s printed below.]
The 3 broad categories I’d like to talk about today are infrastructure, teaching, and social entrepreneurship. By infrastructure I mean the standard, essential, somewhat measurable things all successful organizations do like o fostering leadership development, long-range planning, and a process for review and renewal of the goals that we set for ourselves... o ensuring our financial security and growth... o increasing the numbers of people we serve, the variety of our programs, and the times of day and day of the week that we offer our diverse services... o developing modes for constructive conflict management... o being a place for district-wide events for youth and adults... o serving our broader community -- alert to its needs and opportunities, and providing an affirming atmosphere and the necessary resources to whomever would take the initiative to utilize them... o clarifying for newcomers both why and how to support our collective work... o being a place where we do what we love to do, a place to come alive, because what the world needs is people who have come alive....
In regard to teaching, I think that we learn best by teaching what we are attempting to learn. And I think we teach best by continuing to learn as we go. Last year we began flirting with the idea of becoming a teaching congregation for ministerial interns. It was a positive experience all around. The congregation responded both to Julie and to the opportunity with loving effort...and now with repeated cries that we should do it again.
If you take a look at back of the order of service you’ll see a statement from our archives from 1915, along with our current mission statement. Take a moment to read these.
1915 From the program for The Fourth Joint Convention of the Unitarian and Universalist Churches of Wisconsin to be held at WAUSAU November 2, 3 and 4, 1915:
WE BELIEVE IN
Let us highly resolve that we will teach our descendants carefully the doctrines we value; that we will maintain our churches as centers of toleration, freedom, and simplicity in religion; that we will take vigorous part in every public-spirited well-directed movement to promote co-operative good-will among men; and that we will set before inquirers of every land the Christian Gospel as we understand it.
2006 VisionThe First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau, Wisconsin is a diverse spiritual community that values each person, supports the quest for truth, and promotes social justice.
MissionThe First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau, Wisconsin aspires to: Offer opportunities for life-long spiritual and intellectual growth. Create an inclusive community that values and accepts differences. Provide an accessible environment for fellowship and comprehensive programming. Be a focal point for positive social change in the larger community. Enhance worship and congregational life through the arts and humanities.
I notice a shift in emphasis over the years: from “what,” to “how.” The earlier statement has a greater focus on “what” -- beliefs. Our current statement speaks more about “how” -- that is, methods for putting our values into practice. I think there are basically 3 HOWs -- 3 methods, of teaching. They are: telling, showing, and providing tools for others to teach themselves.
“Telling” is what I’m doing now. It’s potentially boring and probably the least effective method available. But telling can be effective in those rare instances where there is a willing audience. So, preaching to the choir is not a bad thing at all. Because it’s the choir who take the message to the streets. Which leads to showing. “Showing” is teaching through our actions, as role models, as mentors and friends who can reach one another because we have taken the time to develop trusting relationships. The third teaching method, “providing tools,” weaves us back to my earlier comments about infrastructure.
We seem to be developing our capacity to teach -- to teach ourselves and one another, to teach interns, and even to teach -- again using the methods of showing, telling, and providing tools -- even to teach other fledgling congregations in our region. Northern Wisconsin has several of these. The Stevens Point Fellowship in particular seems like a group with which to meld our strengths with their willingness and capacity to learn and grow.
So, my hope for us as a teaching congregation -- whatever form the teaching takes -- is that each one of us will become teachers of thoughtful ways in religion, ethical decision-making, and hospitality to strangers.
== The third general area I’d like to talk about today is social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is the integration of a social mission, such as ours -- with the marketplace. I do not imagine that social entrepreneurship is going to be a huge part of our future identity, but it is different enough from what we’re doing now that, in order for it to become a part of our future at all, we’ll need to have many clarifying conversations.
Social entrepreneurship has to do with both purpose and finances. I’ve spoken about our evolving sense of purpose. But do we have the financial wherewithal to turn our purposes, our goals, into reality? Right now we have a healthy financial situation. Our primary financial base is pledging. Intermittent fundraising is a nice plus but not a desperate or burdensome distraction. We have a healthy endowment and we do not withdraw from it, not even the interest, for our basic operations. So our pledging, fundraising, and endowment are reasonably healthy. But another growing financial facet for successful non-profit organizations is earned income. Currently, for example, we earn a few thousand dollars per year by renting our parking lot on a daily and monthly basis.
The idea of earned income for a church may be unsettling. It involves some risk. It conjures images of money tainting our principles. As if we are so pure. But money is one of the essential tools which enables an institution to complete its mission. Leveraging our assets to accomplish our goals -- this is entirely in keeping with our principles. It’s what we’ve been doing for 136 years.
We’ve heard a great deal over the past few years about being wary about which non-profit groups to contribute to. We know we need to check them out first to see if our money will really be put to good use. I recently heard that 1 in 3 Americans think non-profits should be eliminated all together. Why? Because they can be inefficient to the point where their lack of productivity is unethical. Because too often, non-profits are not making a difference in the world.
Goodwill Industries in Appleton is a glaring exception -- a remarkable success at accomplishing its mission through social entrepreneurship. From the obvious (running a thrift store) to being a landlord and partner with social service agencies...to running an alternative coffeehouse where gay and lesbian youth are welcome....
A particularly ingenious example: They have collaborated with a local credit union. Both institutions were troubled by what they saw happening to people at payday loan companies. Usurious interest rates being paid by poor people who were trapped into an endless cycle of debt. At first they wanted to legislate these guys out of business, but that proved impossible. So, they decided to beat them at their own game. They went into the payday loan business for themselves... and now, using financial incentives, they guide clients to credit counselors. Goodwill, which had the assets to get this started, has found still one more way to fulfill their mission of helping people to gain self-sufficiency. And the credit union benefits by developing new credit-worthy customers.
Goodwill is not unique. Minnesota Public Radio’s first earned income venture began in the mid 1970s. By 1998, its for-profit subsidiary was generating more than $200 million in annual gross revenue from a variety of mail-order catalogues and premium products. The subsidiary was sold in 1999 to a major corporation, with the profits going into a permanent endowment for MPR.
Minnesota Diversified Industries provides real jobs, competitive wages, career tracks, and even ownership opportunities for people who are developmentally disabled. The organizations started with a circular saw, a sewing machine and seven clients. Today it has annual revenue of more than $60 million and employs more than 1,000 people, 600 of who are disabled.
Do I think we’re going to be a multimillion dollar entity some day? No, not any more than I think we are going to be -- or wish to be -- a mega-church. But I believe there will be entrepreneurial opportunities in our future as a congregation, and I hope we will be prepared to jump on those opportunities which can further our mission and/or raise money that can be used to further our mission... even doing things that have nothing more to do with “church” than our recent, very successful soup-sale and plant-sale fundraisers.
I have no idea whether we would make money or lose money by renting our renovated building for weddings, a childcare center, a bookstore, a coffee shop, a community theater venue, or an animal hospital. I had to throw that last one in here to make it clear that I’m brainstorming. I don’t know if we could make money on an internet enterprise or as an E-bay auction site. But I hope we’ll be alert to the possibilities.
The recent publication by United Way called “Life in Marathon county” points out the challenges for our community in the years to come. One of the most pressing realities is that our population will be aging, and our social institutions will be pressed to find ways to assist seniors with both basic needs and with ways to stay engaged in the community. Over the last 136 years this congregation has been supportive of social enterprises that went beyond the scope of conventional “religion.” Food co-ops, the first public child care center, recycling. Programs which grew and took off on their own in the wider community, after being first nurtured here.
Unitarian Universalism doesn’t have a large public identity as a movement. But there are countless institutions which were initiated by UUs and UU congregations which are no longer identified as “ours.” Institutions which have been crucial to our well-being as a society: for-profit and non-profit, public and private, religious and educational, cultural, artistic, medical, environmental, political, and humanitarian.
In 9 years, (2015) we’ll be celebrating 100 years in our current building. In 14 years (2020) we’ll be celebrating 150 years as a congregation. Can we imagine the myriad ways we will be fulfilling our mission by then? Can we plan for those days to come? If all this seems too hard, too optimistic, too unlikely...know that we don’t have to do it all by ourselves. There are others out there who would like to work with us, who are connected to our ideals, if we would only let them know we exist.
In the introduction to The Autobiography of Malcolm X, M.S. Handler writes: The forces in a developing social struggle are frequently buried beneath the visible surface and make themselves felt in many ways long before they burst out into the open. These generative forces make themselves felt through the power of an idea long before their organizational forms can openly challenge the establishment.
So, what do we have to look forward to? Endless toil? Yes, and endless opportunities to share and to give meaning to our evolving stories of consciousness. Next week the graduating high school seniors will make statements about how they have been challenged to live, and how the religious education we have given here will be carried into their future, and ours.
SENDING SONG Not in Vain the Distance Beacons #143 |