If the time and passion that we give is indicative of our love for something, then my family and I love this church tremendously. I’ve calculated that in the four years since we began attending UUCT we have been here an average of fifty Sunday mornings per year, spending about three to five hours at church on those days. This does not include, of course, committee meetings, board meetings, leadership trainings, social functions, classes, fundraisers, play groups, retreats, and all other kinds of events throughout the church year in which we participate. Last night I slept in a sleeping bag right there on the floor behind the piano bench, and that was not far from where my husband and I were married.
So what does this church mean to me? Some might even wonder what a Trinitarian Christian, like me, would be doing at a Unitarian Universalist church. Perhaps I made a wrong turn when we were driving down Meridian Road one day and I just decided to stay and set up camp here! What else would compel a pregnant woman to sleep on the floor, right? What would compel any person here to give countless hours of their time, as many of you have, and then after working those hours and being here on Sunday morning...and then, after doing all that for free, turn around and to give your hard-earned money to this place? In the present world of greed, this is crazy talk.
But why come to church at all? Why come to a place that demands so much of our precious time? Why come to a place that won’t make you rich, or sexy, or even popular? We are here because this is our family. We are here because the connections we have made here nurture and sustain us. We are here because this is the beloved community talked about by Josiah Royce and because it needs all of us as members as much as we need it. We are also here because my husband and I wanted our children to grow up surrounded by this big, loving family. Last week my two-year-old daughter was in tears because we told her that we were not going to church that morning, we were taking Daddy to work. And she was bawling, “I want to go to church!” Our children walk around here as if this were their second home, because it is, and you all are their extended family.
But like any family, we cannot live on love alone. It takes many hours of hard work, and it takes our money to make the vision happen. During the canvass we look to what the church means to each of us, how we contribute to it, and how we participate in it. What opportunities can we provide? What social justice outreach can we do? How will we compensate our dedicated, experienced, professional staff? Our pledges pay for everything from the markers in the classrooms to our mission in the world. I think Homer Simpson was right; the ‘offering basket is a place to make change.’
Ask yourselves, what does this church mean to you and your families? Church is the home of our collective family. When you walk through those doors, you are home. And we are not called to be extraordinary people to do this; but we are ordinary people called to do extraordinary things.
