Peggy Fallon
Sermon at UU Church of Loudoun
Feb 4, 2007
What does belonging to this UUCL-Church Community
mean to me?
Originally, when we started working on this service
as the Membership Committee, we were envisioning it as a discussion about what
it is that we do on the Membership Committee, and what our goals are, what we
want to be doing.
That led us to try to define what membership in this
community means. What it means to have
shared spiritual values, and commit to them.
What does it mean to be a “member”, meaning someone who has signed our
membership book and made a commitment of their Time, Talent &
Treasure. The issue of ‘Membership”
becomes a small part of a much bigger question. This community is SO much more than just those who are formal
“Members”. We all have different ways
of belonging. For me, part of
belonging here is to feel that this is my spiritual home.
What does belonging to this Church Community mean to
me? What does it mean to you?
This Community is made up of a constantly changing
flux of people, some long term members, some new members, some longtime friends
who are not members, some newcomers. It
includes some people who are very active, who are here most Sundays, who have
kids who come, some people who don’t come often. This community is made up of
some people who aren’t here, who’ve left us, temporarily or permanently, who
may come back, whom we hope come back.
Our community includes some people who are on vacation in a sunny place
right now (I am a bit jealous)…
Today I want to speak of our whole community, our
whole extended family.
What does this UUCL Church Community mean to
me? What does it mean to you?
I have to ask myself, why am I here? I mean, specifically, in this room, standing
up here, talking to you all. Why do I
keep committing myself to stand up here and try to say something that feels
important to me? I could be home in my
snug bed on a cold Sunday morning. You
could, too. Why do we do this? Why do we do the work that makes this
happen, the meetings, the organizing.
We bring food, we clean up, we maintain the building. Why?
Our good friend Glenda is a very wise woman, and she
says that we all bring our spiritual wounds here. We each have different wounds, but we bring them here – that’s
what brought us in here the first time we came. We’re looking for different
things: we have different passions, but
we look to find some solace here, some hope, we’re looking to fill some
spiritual void, longings, whatever.
Whether we find that we can fill them, that may make the difference
between whether we come back here another Sunday, or not…
What does this UUCL Church Community mean to
me? What does it mean to you?
This faith community is not right for everyone: if it were, our whole Unitarian Universalist
faith would be growing rapidly, because, from where I stand, it looks like
there are a lot of people seeking, a lot of people looking for a spiritual
home. People are seeking some place to
belong, and interact, on level of faith and spirituality. Our values, our Seven Principles, our belief
and allegiance to the inherent worth and dignity of every person: these values require us, and challenge us to
help everyone, even those who are just passing through. Maybe our challenge is to help everyone with
his or her own spiritual quest.
.
People come, people leave, sometimes they move away,
sometimes they don’t fit, or we don’t fit, or it’s too far, or we’re just too
weird in some way.
Some people stay.
I find it continuously amazing, that, on any given Sunday, wonderful new
friends that I haven’t met yet could just walk in the door.
Eight and a half years ago I moved to my little
house in Loudoun County, the first time I lived alone, without kids or
ex-husband, since, well, ever. I was
lonely. I knew exactly one person, one
friend in this county, and she was busy as a working, single mom. Where can I go to meet people, I
wondered. Where are the liberals? Ah, I know, I’ll find the Unitarian Church.
I first walked into this church building 8 years ago, I tried to look
inconspicuous in the back – in fact, when I drove up, my first thought was, Oh,
it looks pretty small, I dunno, and I drove past it. Turned around and drove
past it again, til I got up my nerve.
But, I walked in the door, Chris King led us in the covenant, we sang
the doxology --Dave Frease played the piano, and I was hooked.
I came seeking community. Friends. People with
shared values. I found that. But I found something else: I found a re-awakening of a spiritual
quest. A few years into that spiritual
quest, I figured out that the community and the spiritual quest were actually
two halves of the same thing.
I took a sermon-writing class with Rev. John
Morehouse, and wrote my first sermon. I
realized that the process of writing and speaking about spiritual stuff actually
stimulated me to figure out what I believe.
So, I wrote another sermon.
After a couple of sermons, I realized that, despite whatever it is that
I think I’m going to write about,
I keep writing and talking about healing.
The truth is, my spiritual wound is that I want to
be healed, and I am convinced, on a deep intuitive level, that the way to do
that is to reach out and help other people heal. I can cast this as spiritual quest, or emotional quest, a medical
quest, … or, as a selfish rationalization
of a way to feel better about myself.
It doesn’t matter: this is what
keeps me here.
Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne sang, “You’ve got
to bring your own redemption, when you come, to the barricades of heaven,”
I feel that I am contributing to something
worthwhile here. We all have different
passions, different ways to fill our spiritual wounds. Part of what we do here
that feels important is teaching the kids, teaching each other modeling
behavior that seeks to be guided by our 7 principles (listed on the back of
your order of service, by the way).
Part of what feels important, hopeful and healing of the wider community
is the social justice work we do, the outreach. Part of it is about friendship, and relationships, and how we
help each other, and accept each other’s help, and love.
So, I stay.
Some people leave. People are
prickly – I confess, I have quite a bit of inner prickliness, which I try hard
to hide. We misunderstand each
other. We take umbrage. (Umbrage! Isn’t that a great word?) We click on the ‘send button’ on an angry
email – I’ve done that, more than once, and I now believe that it is always a
mistake, and I won’t do it again—until I do.
It’s hard – it’s hard to work together, and worship together, and to be
friends to people who can be prickly.
Sometimes it’s painful. Yet, I
think this is what we’re here for.
To work It out together:
Whatever It turns out to be.
We need to grow as a community, because we need to
be changing. We need to have new people
coming through the door, new ideas, new energy, – new wounds to be healed…
People come, and some people go – we may mourn them, or we may not, but
I want to feel that I’ve helped at least a few of them. I want to feel that, at
the very least, we noticed them!
This community is right for me, and I hope it is
right for you, even as I know it won’t be right for everyone, not forever. I may have to leave, to move away at some
point. There’s this man I love, who lives 13 hours away, on the far side of
Kentucky.
But this church community, this thing that we’re
here for: it’s not a destination, it’s
a process.
What does belonging to UUCL mean to you?
Amen, blessed be, so be it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~