{"id":554,"date":"2022-12-08T20:39:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T20:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=554"},"modified":"2022-12-08T20:39:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T20:39:25","slug":"start-with-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=554","title":{"rendered":"Start with Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"why\"
\nSermon #66 (4th December 2022 at Essex Church \/ Kensington Unitarians)<\/strong><\/p>\n

So: Why are we here? There are various ways in which you might choose to take this question. In the first reading, the one Brian gave for us earlier, the question was directed at the individual: \u2018Why do you come, John?\u2019 In the sense of: \u2018why do you faithfully show up here every week, and muck in to help, when your life is already full-to-bursting with other commitments, and there are plenty of other fun things you might choose to do instead on any given Sunday morning?\u2019<\/p>\n

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I wonder how each of us might answer that question. It might also be instructive to cast your mind back and think \u2018why did I come here in the first place?\u2019 Perhaps you came out of sheer need \u2013 out of loneliness and a need for connection \u2013 out of a desire to be in a community of shared values \u2013 or out of a spiritual hunger that couldn\u2019t be met in other churches where you were excluded. Perhaps you were going through a life crisis of some sort and it was a slightly random throw of the dice. All of those are \u2018whys\u2019 that I\u2019ve heard many times from people who\u2019ve ended up in various Unitarian congregations (and all of them are reasons I could put my hand up to, \u2018whys\u2019 that first brought me here, back when I was in my mid-20s and joining a Unitarian church wasn\u2019t an obvious life choice).<\/p>\n

And once you\u2019re through the front door (whether that\u2019s the physical door or the virtual door of a Zoom waiting room) there\u2019s a follow-up question: ask yourself \u2018why did I keep coming back?\u2019 The factors that bring you back \u2013 or put you off, never to be seen again \u2013 aren\u2019t necessarily going to be very noble or profound. Maybe the coffee was terrible (thumbs down) but the cake was great (thumbs up) so on balance you decided to give them another chance the next week. Maybe the sermon was only so-so (thumbs down) but you got talking to a few friendly souls after the service and had a deep and meaningful conversation (thumbs up) and those early connections you made brought you back again. Maybe someone was a bit standoffish (thumbs down) but the experience of having an hour of safe and sacred space left you feeling peaceful and uplifted (thumbs up) and you realised you could do with a regular dose of comfort and inspiration in your life. Perhaps, once you got into the habit of coming, the \u2018why\u2019 simply faded into the background, became unconscious. Coming to church is just The Thing You Do On Sundays now. Or you made friends in church, so of course you come, because it\u2019s where you\u2019ll see your friends. And \u2013 like \u2018John\u2019 in the story we heard earlier \u2013 maybe you realise we\u2019d miss you if you weren\u2019t here. And that by showing up, and helping out, you keep the church alive, and keep the doors open in welcome, for the next person in need who comes along. It makes me think of Rev. Cliff Reed\u2019s reflection, \u2018Being There\u2019, in which he says:<\/p>\n

\u2018It matters that we come here when we can, not just for what each may gain, but for what we each may contribute by our presence and participation. Remind us, in our heart of hearts, that if we want our church to be there for us, then we must be there for our church. And remind us that, if we want its members to be there for us in our need, then we must be there for them in theirs. In our strength, may we be strong for those who feel their weakness. In our weakness, may we be ready to take the proffered hand, for through it we may receive the strength that is divine.\u2019<\/p>\n

Wise words from Cliff Reed there. And I think in our heart of hearts most of us know this to be true. Church community, at its best, is a network of mutuality \u2013 of give and take \u2013 we\u2019re not consumers.<\/p>\n

As well as asking \u2018why are we here\u2019 I think it\u2019s important to take a moment to think about who\u2019s not here \u2013 and why they\u2019re not here \u2013 this is something that I think about a lot. Let\u2019s imagine asking \u2018why don\u2019t you come\u2019 to those people who very likely have many of those same needs and desires that brought us to church \u2013 needs for connection, community, and spiritual enrichment \u2013 but we are here this morning and they are not (and in most cases they\u2019re not involved in any other church or religious community either). This is an important thing to check in with ourselves about from time to time, I reckon, if we\u2019re to avoid becoming an inward-looking social club that only really caters for \u2018people like us\u2019. I\u2019m thinking about people who would be at least curious about giving church a try \u2013 I know many people are suspicious of religious institutions for a number of quite legitimate reasons \u2013 but there are people who do consciously yearn for connection, community, and spiritual enrichment \u2013 but their circumstances make it difficult for them to show up here on a regular basis. For many people there are practical obstacles which make it much less likely they will cross the threshold of a Unitarian church in the first place. I\u2019ve made a list: geographical isolation (it\u2019s not like there is a Unitarian church on every corner; we\u2019re thinly spread and only the most determined are going to travel a long way to check us out), ill-health, disability, irregular or unpredictable work patterns (or simply overwork and exhaustion), caring responsibilities, and perhaps a sort of peer pressure (with churchgoers being very much in the minority these days it doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be a hostile anti-religion kind of peer-pressure; it can just be that all your contemporaries are having brunch on Sundays, or possibly getting over a big night out on Saturday, and if you want to engage in any kind of \u2018normal\u2019 social life your Sundays may be accounted for). There are lots of reasons why people might not actually get here on a Sunday morning (even if they\u2019d love it if they did). Here at Essex Church, over the last couple of years, we\u2019ve begun to address some of these obstacles with our commitment to providing hybrid services and other activities which are accessible in new ways. But it\u2019s important to keep reminding ourselves that there are many people who could benefit from our spiritual community \u2013 and we could benefit from their presence \u2013 yet they face these various barriers to participation.<\/p>\n

And if we\u2019re thinking about who\u2019s not here we also have to acknowledge the flipside of the \u2018habit\u2019 of coming to church that I mentioned earlier. For many of us it\u2019s a positive thing that church is just The Thing We Do On Sundays by default. But it seems for quite a few people the pandemic broke that habit \u2013 they liked coming to church in-person well enough \u2013 but when we closed our doors, they didn\u2019t much like coming to church online \u2013 and by the time in-person church resumed the habit was broken. And, anecdotally, churches up and down the country have seen that happen. Numbers have dropped. In all the upheaval of the last few years, some people have moved away; some have died; much-loved ministers have retired or left the profession; some stalwart volunteers called it a day; those who came back found that their beloved church was not how they left it. A lot has changed. And if our primary reason for coming to church in the before-times was \u2018out of habit\u2019 then it\u2019s no wonder that, for some, the habit was broken under all this strain and upheaval. \u2018Habit\u2019 is a fairly weak reason for \u2018why we come to church\u2019. If we have some deeper sense of intentional commitment \u2013 to a common purpose and shared values \u2013 it is, perhaps, less likely we will drift away during times of challenge and change.<\/p>\n

Everything I\u2019ve talked about so far is very much focused on the individual \u2013 why are you here? And why are others not here? \u2013 but really this is just a preamble to a more significant question: Why are we here? As in, what\u2019s our collective purpose? What\u2019s the point of us \u2018doing church\u2019? You could take that on a local level, thinking about one congregation, or the whole shebang of Unitarianism. It\u2019s possibly an easier question to answer in more traditional, creedal, churches. But for us it\u2019s not so obvious. It\u2019s something that needs a bit of care and attention to discern.<\/p>\n

Our second reading, \u2018Religious Community is Not Enough\u2019 by Tom Schade, presented his sense of \u2018why we are here\u2019, and it\u2019s an approach that appeals to me, at least as a starting point for exploration. According to Schade, our purpose as a church is to change the world by encouraging people to see differently, think differently, live differently, and \u2013 little-by-little \u2013 shift the wider culture to the good. For him it\u2019s not about getting more bums-on-seats (or boxes-in-the-Zoom-gallery), not about coming to church for its own sake, but it\u2019s about coming to be transformed, and to help transform the world. And, who knows, if we were to articulate our purpose in that way, it might inspire others to join us\u2026<\/p>\n

I dangled a free gift in front of congregation members who attended today\u2019s service. Here it is: a little book titled \u2018Why Are We Here? Discerning Our Unitarian Mission in an Upturned World\u2019. If you\u2019re at the church in-person please pick up a copy to take away; if you\u2019re a congregation member or regular attender joining online please drop me an email with your address; if you\u2019re visiting us from another congregation or viewing on YouTube I don\u2019t think I can stretch the generosity of our committee to give the freebies away to you too but it\u2019s \u00a35 to buy from Essex Hall or all the usual online outlets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This little book contains the text of five short talks from last year\u2019s online Hucklow Summer School. Five different speakers each giving their own angle on the theme on this question of \u2018Why Are We Here?\u2019 (full disclosure: the first talk is by me). And, starting in January, we\u2019re going to have a once-a-month online gathering to reflect on these five perspectives in turn and share our own. The first one will be on Wednesday 11th January at 7pm, and it\u2019ll mostly be the second Wednesday of the month, except in March when we\u2019ve swerved to avoid a clash with another event. Do join us. (You don\u2019t even have to read the book as the talks are all on YouTube and available as a podcast).<\/p>\n

Today is just the start of a process \u2013 that\u2019s part of the reason why I chose the title \u2018Start with Why\u2019 \u2013 because discerning and embracing our collective sense of purpose takes time, and care, and we\u2019re not going to come to a conclusive answer today with me presenting my views in a 14-minute sermon. But it\u2019s a hugely important question for us to wrestle with for a whole bunch of reasons. Having a truly shared and collective sense of purpose, one that we all truly own, strengthens our community. And it enables us to be much more thoughtful and intentional about what it is we are doing here than if we just keep doing-what-we\u2019ve-always-done out of a sense of habit and institutional inertia. It also helps us to stay committed during times when the going gets tough (as it has these last few years).<\/p>\n

Having a clear sense of our \u2018why\u2019 can help us gain greater clarity about \u2018what\u2019 and \u2018how\u2019 (and possibly also \u2018when\u2019 and \u2018where\u2019). Sharpening our sense of purpose shapes what we do next and how we do it. We are, let\u2019s be honest, a small community \u2013 both as a congregation and as a denomination \u2013 and we need to make choices (sometimes quite difficult choices) about where we put our limited energy and resources as we go forward. Having a sense of our shared purpose can focus and sharpen our decision-making as we ask ourselves: does this or that activity fit our values and serve our mission?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting that the precise shape of the vision won\u2019t be the same for every congregation \u2013 there\u2019s not going to be a one-size-fits-all answer to the question \u2018why are we here?\u2019 \u2013 each group has its own particular context, resources, history, and quirky collection of humans to work with \u2013 and these variables will shape each congregation\u2019s self-concept and aspirations, though we\u2019re all part of one Unitarian movement pulling in broadly the same direction. Some congregations have thrown themselves into social action and campaigning, others are big on local community service, while we here at Essex Church have never really had a very locally-based congregation, so perhaps that\u2019s why we\u2019ve been unusually well-placed to focus on making our activities accessible online, in order to open up our Unitarian message to those who might have been accidentally excluded in the past. You might think of it as each congregation having its own unique and particular \u2018charism\u2019 or \u2018calling\u2019.<\/p>\n

As I said, we\u2019re just starting the conversation today, and I hope a good number of you will join me in our monthly explorations of the theme from January. But to close I\u2019ll share a few words from the book, written by my colleague, Rev. Dr. Rory Castle-Jones, minister with Gellionnen chapel in Wales. This is his answer to the question \u2018why are we here?\u2019 and it\u2019s one I can really get behind. He writes:<\/p>\n

\u2018Why are we here? Well, I think \u2013 at the risk of sounding a little dramatic \u2013 we are here to save the world\u2026 We need a church where we can work in unison to prepare to help those hit hardest. We need a church to change the way our entire civilisation functions, as it destroys our world and itself in its relentless pursuit of profit. We need a church which is both sanctuary and prophetic, both a safe haven and a voice of protest. We need a church which can draw on several hundred years of loving community, and radical action \u2013 to hold aloft God\u2019s flame in the face of a world gone mad \u2013 and offer hope, offer love, and offer a vision of a world fundamentally and radically different from the one in which we live today.\u2019<\/p>\n

Wise words from Rory Castle-Jones. May it be so, for the greater good of all. Amen.<\/p>\n

Sermon by Jane Blackall<\/strong><\/p>\n

An audio recording of this sermon is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nhttps:\/\/www.kensington-unitarians.org.uk\/pod2011\/KU_jane.blackall_hybrid_sermon_04.12.22.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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A video recording of this sermon is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n