When I received this assignment, the April 1st service to precede our congregation’s Spring Activities Fair, I thought it was an April Fools joke dropped on me early. But then, my mind journeyed to San Francisco, the land of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I discovered the “Faithful Fools.” The “Faithful Fools” were founded by two women, Rev. Kay Jorgensen, a UU minister of the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco and Sister Carmen Barsody, a Franciscan nun, no doubt a foolish alliance. These “Faithful Fools” were caught foolishly extolling the worth of all people; they combined advocacy, child care and work and arts programs for the poor in San Francisco. They have “Street Retreats,” in which they involve their congregation in meeting the needs of the poor in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco.

The many heroes of this congregation may also be caught doing such foolish things. For others, there may be something within us that prevents us from saying YES to an invitation. For me, I need to overcome the fear that what I do for this community might make me look foolish.

Reading: The great fool, Albert Einstein, wondered about the obvious and stood in awe of the ordinary. Innocence is the trademark of great fools. It allowed Einstein to take a radical idea to its root and discover the essence of our universal family that matter and light are one and time and space are relatives of the speed of light, all in the field of reality. The great fool lives outside the blinding circle of routine, remaining open to the surprise of each moment. We may take for granted the miraculous dance of existence, but the great fool sees it as if for the first time. The revelations of the great wise fools, Sir Isaac Newton, James Maxwell as well as Einstein simplify the “wonder” of our existence.

Reading: Today is Palm Sunday in the Christian Liturgical calendar. My mother was born on Palm Sunday, and would have been 87 years old today. She as other Christians believed in Jesus, the Christ, the “Holy Fool” who died for the sins of the world. Thomas Jefferson said of Jesus that he conceived “the most sublime code of morals which has ever been offered to [humanity].” Jesus was known to foolishly attend to the plight of the poor, the sick, the dying, and the powerless. He also foolishly advocated, loving one’s enemy and to accept blows of physical violence without response, but invite additional blows with discipline, eschewing a violent response. What a foolish idea! How can we have a decent war without violent responses? Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in this foolish idea, and that they could achieve freedom, human dignity, and civil rights through this non-violent foolishness. This became the basis of their non-violent civil disobedience movements, and British colonialism and American racism crumbled at the feet of these generals of non-violence and peace.

Reading: Returning to the” Faithful Fools,” Rev. Kay Jorgensen remembers being told by a stranger to pick up a dollar bill on the sidewalk. She did, and later was in a grocery store where she encountered a street person in need of money to buy food. The Reverend gave the man the dollar, like the “Faithful Fool” she was, and thought, “We have what is needed before it is asked of us.” What a foolish thought; what foolish HOPE??? This is sooo foooolish!!!!

Sermon: “The Accidental Volunteer”

Some say we are foolish to invite new people into our community, or are we? A fool may not be just “some fool.” He or she may be the “great fool,” the “holy fool,” or the “faithful fool.” Some fools are wise. A wise fool lives in the moment, the AHA moment. A wise fool is free, observing, conscious of life’s phenomena, and, participates in the miraculous dance of existence.

In William Shakespeare’s plays, the wise fool was off-stage of the theatre, acting as conduit between the proponents of the play and with its common-folk, but, most of all, the fool is with you, the audience. The Shakespearean fool is wise, at times, humorously skeptical with a ridiculous laugh, a hideous smile, and a funny hat. Wise? Yes, but, most often, the fool’s wisdom went unrecognized by the drama kings and queens of the play. The words and the wisdom of the wise fool speak to an inner truth; the truth of what lies beneath the visible world. How we see or should see this world around us. There are truths of this community. They are everywhere in this congregation!!! On Sunday, the truths of this community are within us and all around us.

THEY come at you as you open the door of this church.

• WE GREET YOU. Some of us are “Greeters” and are here every Sunday to say: HELLO!!! HOW ARE YOU, TODAY????

• Sometimes “Greeters” must turn into “Ushers” when there is an usher no-show. This is magic!

• If you are a new face, members will welcome you, orient you, and invite you to do all the things that we do, except you don’t have to wear a funny hat, unless of course you want to.

• Flowers grow all month, bloom, and appear in our Sanctuary on Sunday. It’s magic!

• Paintings, photographs, beautiful quilts and other art appear on our walls here and there and then disappear, and sometime later, new art appears.

• Banners have recently unfurled themselves from the rafters; they magically change with the seasons, disappear and then suddenly turn into butterflies. It’s magic.

• Our sounds system works properly only because of our love and attention; when that fails, we speak up.

• Someone always checks the Sanctuary’s heat in the winter and A/C in the summer- and then rechecks it, readjusts it and then checks it again.

Nevertheless, some of us freeze; others swelter. But, it will be better, much better, as we build our dream east of this Wall.

• Music, choir, classical vignettes, musicians, and our tribUUte band, all practiced and organized, appear each Sunday to enhance our service and worship.

• We have a tireless Board, Officers, and Board committees who seamlessly manage the financial, operations, and structure of this community for the present and into the future.

Another truth, here…

• The children you brought today are learning as we speak. It’s magic!! It’s true!!

• When you or a loved-one is ill, we come to your aid and to the aid of your loved one.

• When someone dies, we are there.

• We join covenant groups, and we laugh, cry, commiserate among ourselves, [We ask of ourselves what we can make of this day.]. If you are new, you might want to join a covenant group. It is only an agreement that you will attend regularly to discuss, laugh, cry, and commiserate with group members and also, at times, help we help one another. It has nothing to do with covens.

Certain truths are also our dreams.

• We have dreams of equality, justice, and peace. Of feeding and housing those who have not. Of seeking a green and healthy environment and even finding good homes for a dog or cat, or two.

This, we do, perform our tasks, actualize our dreams, we do these truths, at times, with ministerial leadership, as individuals within the community of this congregation. What would UU’s do if we did not have the democracy of the committee or the covenant group? If UU’s are ever commemorated with a statue in the secular world, it will not be of the likeness of William Ellery Channing or Hosea Ballou – but it will be a bronze of the Greatest Committee in UU’s history, organized in a circle, a candle in its center, and focused on the topic of that day. But the Greatest UU Committee of this congregation will be the one that thrives on efforts and works of you, the people, old and new.

It is the individual that does great things with these committees. It is the genius of their efforts that lie behind all our truths. The heroes of our committees are our building blocks; they are as necessary as the buttresses holding up this roof. It is with these people that we form our UU community.

We are inviting new people to invest their time and efforts in the committees of this community. The new people are the YOU who are gracing our doorway for the first time, or the YOU who have, managed to escape our net, or the YOU who have been involved in this community at sometime past and have just needed a breather. We need you all. We see the genius in new faces, the old faces, and in the faces on the rebound.

We are asking you to look at your skills and these committees and see yourself with the people who:

• Greet new faces and tend to their needs in Membership, Hospitality and in other ways.

• Participate in Arts & Exhibitions, the beautification of the Sanctuary, the knitting and quilting groups of our congregation. AND don’t forget the one’s who do movies here the first Friday of each month.

• In Building and Grounds, WE need you to care for our building, inside and out, to care for our garden, landscaping, our wooded areas and trails. This group is putting in a new amphitheatre in our woods outside this building. Enjoy the outdoors? Join up with B&G!!

• And yes I must not forget Worship Service Committee otherwise known as “WSC.” The Board decreed [as Boards do] that WSC must present worship services which touch the essence of our UU being because such services are essential for the growth of this UU community. It’s a TALL order for a standing Worship Service Committee with 3 people and professional staff. Would you like to join us? We need your skills. Work with a team, plan a service with the ministers. Holiday services? Intergenerational services? You can START as an usher; do readings, chalice lightings, stories. We need your genius. Join us before you are asked…before the woman with bright red hair taps you on the shoulder. Remember, it is very un-Unitarian-Universalist to say NO, especially to our WSC chairwoman.

You may also put your talents in as a Religious Education teacher for our children or with those who teach in our adult education programs. Or how about nurturing, face-to-face work? These are the ones who reach out to those who are in need. It, often times, happens when those among us feel safe enough to tell others of their vulnerability and we, reminded of our own vulnerability, ACT….

• For those in this community who are sick, are homeless, in of need meals, transportation, or care for their children.

• Or those of you who visit the sick or come to the aid of one who has lost a family member.

Look everywhere in this congregation and you will see those committed, through their social action efforts, to the dignity and worth of all people. For people within our local community, IN far away lands, For people whom we’ll never meet or know. Many of us, WHO reach out to others, to help others in desperate circumstances through our projects and our fund raisers, such as:

• Hosting the Alternative Gift Market and Craft Fair with its myriad opportunities to support worthy efforts around the world [a WATER well in the Sudan] and, of course, here at home.

• Helping Reston Interfaith fulfill its mission in so many ways … the hypothermia program for the homeless, walks for the homeless, adopt-a-family gifts, back-to-school equipment, healthy family projects, food contributions, even baby showers for client mothers.

• Supporting The Closet as it helps our disadvantaged neighbors.

• Teaching English as a second language, without breaking an arm, or a leg.

• Mentoring families as they move from homelessness to self-sufficiency.

• Raising contributions for our Scholarship Fund, for the Herndon-Reston FISH, for medical care insurance for children of our county’s working poor, for physically and psychologically impaired mothers and for children in Bangladesh.

• AND Helping on Work Sunday projects like Gabriel House repairs.

So many ways to help, to make a difference. So many ways. And there are those among us who share the dream of justice in all aspects of our life, our community, our state, our country. We are the ones who participate in lobbying efforts, marches, and vigils….Want to join a group, the social justice committee, advocating:

• for economic justice in affordable housing;

• the living wage campaign;

• abolition of the death penalty;

• and human rights for all, especially for gays, lesbians, transgenders, and transvestites.

There are those among us who are concerned with global warming, pollution of the air, water, and lands of this community, this state, this country and this planet Earth. Join us in Green sanctuary environmental matters. Do the participants and members of these committees recognize your efforts and services? You should and be proud of your accomplishments, but we need new people to help in these activities.

As new faces, old faces and faces on the rebound, we welcome you. We need you to help in sustaining our community. It is with these people that we form our UU community. Use this Fair to make your connections into the group of your choosing. But as you visit with committee representatives, first ask of the committee, What do you do? How can I help? What am I willing to do? Then question yourself: What is my dream? How can I fulfill this dream here?

Remember, don’t sell yourself short. The greatest UUCR committee will also include you, the Accidental Volunteer, who had no intention of joining a committee today or doing the work in this community. This service is for you, the volunteer who accidentally gets involved. [I am appealing to your better Angels!] Your genius and your gifts your time and efforts are raw materials to us that will benefit us all. Come, join our gang, join our band. We are waiting anxiously for your participation in our community.