The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica

"Just Imagine "

An exhilarating, though very simple truth keeps speaking to me in all the messages I’ve heard leading up to this Commitment Sunday. I heard it from Jacki Weber first, and I’ve been hearing it in different ways, from different people, ever since. We are the ones who make this community what it is. We are the ones – no one else can do it.

Look who we are. People of all ages, some who have been coming to this sanctuary for forty, fifty years, others new this very morning. All connected, even if only for this one brief hour, in ways that are both palpable and symbolic. We meet. We create together this irreproducible mix of humanity, with all its history and charm, hopes and fears, challenges and joys. Children grow up in the shelter of its acceptance and learn a life expressing its ideals.

We make this shelter and this life together. This space – and the spaces we are building – and all the programs and activities that go on inside, are the outcome of our deliberations, our desires, and our determination. Everything you see is a reflection of who we are and what we value, and that includes each other. We have the final say about what we do and where we are going together. This meeting – for worship, for community, for hope – is something only we can make happen.

We belong to a tradition of self-sufficiency. Unitarian Universalism evolved out of churches that sought to be free of a controlling hierarchy and a punitive God. Beginning with a courageous rejection of Calvinism, which scorned humanity in this world, and dangled fear of damnation in the next one, both Unitarians and Universalists learned how to make something out of nothing. They transformed their dissent into a positive vision: of humanity, of God, of community that trusted its members, and of a future that was in their own hands. It was an imaginative leap, but it gave us the faith we have today.

Raymond Baughan, a Universalist minister from an earlier generation, expressed this imaginative leap when he wrote, “We become like that to which our heart goes out. … We give ourselves to what we know is right and good and beautiful, and we are strengthened … and slowly, surely we are transformed into the likeness of the thing we love.” This is the power of our faith and its role in changing lives in positive and healing ways.

Today, Commitment Sunday, we give thanks for our community and the tradition that has given us our faith. We remember that we are the ones who make this church what it is; its future depends on us. Each one of us has something precious to add. With our generosity and collective imagination, the possibilities are limitless.

The Japanese fable “Mr. Lucky Straw” I told earlier depicts how the simple act of giving is positive, eventful, and unlimited. Shobei’s gift of a dragonfly tied to a straw leads to a series of transactions of increasing value. Generosity has power and momentum; it lifts everyone to a higher place.

We have that power and momentum here. We’ve learned a lot about what it means to give to our church over the past few years. We’ve had a capital campaign and embarked on a building program. The experience has shown us that we are ready and willing to give – and to give generously – to accomplish something big together.

The building program has been a major focus over the past few years. No doubt it will occupy us for a while longer. But we’re on our way – this time for certain. And it feels very good. Just imagine what we can do next.

Our church has a relatively small program budget for churches our size. We manage by prioritizing carefully. Our Religious Exploration for children and youth, Faith in Action, and Small Group Ministry programs have excellent leadership and committed volunteers. Our Generous Congregation offerings allow us to do modest outreach to the larger community without tapping into church funds. Our music staff and church musicians are inventive at making a big church sound out of a small church music budget. But these programs, as well as others that are waiting to happen, would blossom – really blossom – with more funding. If we can just continue to keep that good momentum going – some very exciting developments can take place.

In the past few months, we have seen several new initiatives, and there are more on the way. A group of teens and adults in our church is getting involved in the Unitarian Universalist movement for anti-racism and anti-oppression. A green living group is gaining members, changing habits, and raising consciousness. Religious exploration is growing into Lifespan religious exploration, with a new adult program under way right now.

There is a great need for more adult programs, not only for religious education, but for social support and cultural events. A while back, someone suggested to me that we needed a group for singles. All good ideas, needing just a little more funding for staff or training.

Every Sunday, students from USC or UCLA attend our morning services. There are fledgling Unitarian Universalist groups on both campuses, started by students who grew up in congregations elsewhere and are trying to keep their UU connection alive at college. They don’t ask a lot from us – a warm welcome, a place to worship. But just imagine what could happen if we had more to give. What if we decided to start a campus ministry, with a chaplain from our congregation, working with these students to enrich their spiritual lives?

And what about the young adults in our congregation? Our 21 to 35 year olds meet on line and at regular events. There are more of them than we see on Sunday mornings. I’ve often thought that a worship service, perhaps on Friday or Sunday night, would give them a spiritual home here in our sanctuary. Quite likely others would join them. Just imagine how lively that would be.

The older members of our congregation need attention too. I’d like to organize a lay pastoral ministry to help church members minister to each other. With training and supervision and good organization, we could respond more effectively to people who are living with chronic illness or loneliness or bereavement.

None of these ideas is expensive. They just require a little more than we have right now: staff time, start-up funds, administrative support. Our Long Range Planning committee has been gathering ideas from our staff and lay leaders and is beginning to get an idea of what the next steps might be. We’ve talked about adding a staff person for community-building and membership and leadership development; about assessing the need for support staff; about growing our opportunities for ministry, religious education, and faith in action. We’ll be sharing our thoughts with the entire congregation and soliciting your ideas as well. Together we’ll create a vision and a plan. Just imagine what we could do.

When I was in graduate school, I lived – as most graduate students do – very frugally. I had a grant and a small loan and generous parents, whose help I occasionally required. I learned to manage as well as I could, to defer plans, and to live without some things I needed. Even after I graduated and started working, my cautious habits stayed with me. It took a while to realize that I no longer needed to live day to day, but could begin making plans for the future.

Our church has come through a similar phase: prioritizing our goals and living frugally. We have a something to show for those lean years: there’s a lot going on behind that construction fence next door. We’ll have more to show when it’s done. And we have learned to ask ourselves to give. We know how generous we can be, and what generosity can set into motion.

Now is the time to imagine the future: to make plans, to come into the fullness of all we can do. We are the ones who make this community what it is. Now we are also the ones who can make this community what it will be. Just imagine – what our generosity can do.