A church in the conference asked for a new minister every year. In this same conference, they had a minister who asked for a new church every year. The bishop decided to assign the minister who wanted another church each year to the church that wanted a new minister every year. To his surprise, for three years there was no request. “I don’t understand,” commented the Bishop to a member of the church. “You always wanted a new preacher every year until this preacher came—you have had him three years. How do you account for that?”
One of the members said, “Bishop, if you really want to know—our church didn’t want ‘no preacher’ to start with, and this man you sent us is the nearest thing to ‘no preacher’ we ever had. I hope that my effort today rises above that standard.
I have been the District Executive for the Joseph Priestley District for six years now and for most of those years I know this congregation has wanted to add space to accommodate a growing congregation. I have conversed with many of you over the numerous delays and bureaucratic issues that you have faced. I look forward to hearing about your progress after the second service.
This congregation was founded in 1970 and has provided a rich ministry to the Reston community for thirty-six years. You have a vision of what you may yet become and a mission to help you achieve it. Let me quote it to you to remind you of your guiding words.
The Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston has a rich heritage as a progressive, vibrant, and active congregation, serving the intellectual and spiritual needs of its community.
Our Vision
To be a religious community of unlimited opportunities for personal and collective growth, serving as a beacon of free and liberal faith in a changing world.
Our Mission
To inspire responsibility in achieving social justice. To care for each other, the larger community, our environment and the interdependent web of life. To serve the children, youth, and adults of our congregation through creative, stimulating programs and activities that reflect and promote the principles of our faith. To encourage laughter and joy.
Who We Are
We are the link. We are the provisional caretakers of our church and our faith. We are the ties that bind heritage and future; the bridge between our founders and our successors. We are the witness of change and we are the change.
We are paradox. We are fulfilled, yet hunger. We are sanctuary and fortress, vulnerable and strong. We are solemn and spirited. We are roots and wings.
These are noble words that are found on your web site. While I applaud you on their content, the proof is in the actions that are taken to live these out in daily life. What do you and I do that makes this vision live among us? How do we conduct ourselves that emphasizes our sense of community, our caring, and our covenant with and for others? It isn’t in the words we speak on Sunday but the deeds we do on Monday that matter.
Life is a great adventure. We are here on this earth for such a brief span of time. As I have aged I want to know that my life has had meaning for me. I want to be remembered by others after I am gone for something meaningful that I did with my life. I heard of an epitaph that read “She attended well and faithfully to a few worthy things.” We don’t have all the answers about our life and its purpose. But we can attend well and faithfully to a few worthy things.
I believe that attending well and faithfully in caring for our fellow human beings is one of the most worthy things we can do in this world. The epistle of James tells us that if we do not have works, faith is barren. We have opportunities every day presented to us among the individuals with whom we live to give of ourselves. We can aid a neighbor who is grieving by being there to listen. We can collect clothing for poor workers in our fields and stores who work at minimum wage. We can teach an immigrant to read and write freeing them to follow their true potential. All it takes on our part is to make the choice to do good works.
We make a choice in doing for others when they are in need. Why we do good works varies with our religious tradition. We may be motivated by love of God, humanity, Jesus, Buddha, or some other source for our inner strength that urges us to reach out to another. What matters is that we join together with others of good will in creating a more loving world and that we give unselfishly to total strangers in need.
A story I once heard lifts up the worthy things to attend to in our great adventure of life. Joe was driving home one evening, on a two-lane country road. Work, in this small southern community, was almost as slow as his beat-up Pontiac. But he never quit looking. Ever since the Levis factory closed and shipped his job overseas, he’d been unemployed, and with winter raging on, the chill had finally hit home. It was a lonely road. Not very many people had a reason to be on it, unless they were leaving. Most of his friends had already left. They had families to feed and dreams to fulfill. But he stayed on. After all, this was where he buried his mother and father. He was born here and knew the country. He could go down this road blind, and tell you what was on either side, and with his headlights not working, that came in handy. It was starting to get dark and light snow flurries were coming down. He’d better get a move on. You know, he almost didn’t see the old lady, stranded on the side of the road. But even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.
Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe, he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill that only fear can put in you. He said, “I’m here to help you ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm. By the way, my name is Joe.”
Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Joe crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down her window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from Washington and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid. Joe just smiled as he closed her trunk.
She asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She had already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Joe never thought twice about the money. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance that they needed, and Joe added “...and think of me.”
He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight. A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The cash register was like the telephone of an out of work actor, it didn’t ring much.
Her waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase. The lady noticed that the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Joe. After the lady finished her meal and the waitress went to get her change from a hundred dollar bill, the lady slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. She wondered where the lady could be, and then she noticed something written on a napkin. There were tears in her eyes, when she read what the lady wrote. It said, “You don’t owe me a thing, I’ve been there too. Someone once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here’s what you do. Don’t let the chain of love end with you.”
Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could she have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard. She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, “Everything’s gonna be all right, I love you Joe.”
There are so many little actions that you and I can do to make the world better. Spending time with a child, comforting another in pain, kind words spoken to total strangers, bring about the ways of peace, harmony, and more love in the world. When I observe someone making a difference in another’s life, I am warmed with an inner glow that the world can be made whole.
An anonymous reading reminds us of the choices we can make to do good. It is grounded in how we live our lives in relationship with others. It may sound familiar.
If I can throw a single ray of light across the darkened pathway of another; if I can aid some soul to clearer sight of life and duty, and thus bless my brother; if I can wipe from any human cheek a tear, I shall not have lived my life in vain while here. If I can guide some erring one to truth, inspire within her heart a sense of duty; if I can plant within my soul of rosy youth a sense of right, a love of truth and beauty; if I can teach one person that God and Heaven are near, I shall not then have lived in vain while here. If from my mind I banish doubt and fear, and keep my life attuned to love and kindness; if I can scatter light and hope and cheer, and help remove the curse of mental blindness; if I can make more joy, more hope, less pain, I shall not have lived and loved in vain. If by life’s roadside I can plant a tree, beneath whose shade some wearied head may rest, though I may never share its beauty, I shall yet be truly blest -- though no one knows my name, nor drops a flower upon my grave, I shall not have lived in vain while here.
On this great adventure of living may we be thankful for those hands that have touched ours in helping us, the love that has flowed from one to the other, and the opportunities that daily come for us to show kindness to strangers. For when each of these qualities of living are lifted up, we gain a renewed hope that tomorrow will dawn bright and clear. We each have talents which are meant to be shared with others. We are called to give of ourselves to those who need us. Just like the story of the man named Joe, we are to pass on our gifts to another. As the woman said, “Don’t let the chain of love end with you.” May your great adventure be inspiring to others and your chain of love be overflowing. Amen.