A sermon by Rev. Fern Cowan Stanley
Preached at Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation
September 29, 2002
All of us, as individuals, are always in transition, in the midst of journeys. Always, we have left a place where we have been, but are not yet where we will be. When that journey is slow and even, we barely notice the movement in our lives. But, then, something happens, so that time seems to speed up, change quickens, losses may occur, and we recognize anew what we have always known-that life is change, that nothing in life is certain except change. And we may fear what the future will bring; may wish to hold on to what has been, what is familiar, even if it hasn't been as good as we might like; may wish to stop, to wait for just a moment, to hold back time and change. But, this of course, is neither possible nor advisable, for, even if deeply buried, the seeds of promise that are an innate part of change have begun to stir.
Institutions go through similar experiences. Transition has always been ongoing, and yet, not always easily recognized-until something happens and change comes more quickly, often bringing uncertainty and anxiety for the future. It is tempting during such a time, to minimize the changes that are occurring, to acknowledge only the most obvious, to pretend that nothing has really changed at all. It can be tempting, for instance, to believe that though Jay has gone, Unity Temple remains and will remain basically the same. And that is true, to some extent, for, though ministers may come and go, the congregation itself does remain and is its members. But, it is also untrue, to some extent. Jay's having left does mean that things will never be quite the same here. And this is as it should be, for people in our lives are not replaceable. Properly attending to any feelings engendered by Jay's leaving is an important task that needs to be accomplished during this interim year. I will be talking about some potential feelings next Sunday, about both individual and institutional grief, in an attempt to help this congregation in handling any leftover emotions that might exist due to Jay's having left.
But, while this particular loss may be the most obvious change that has occurred here, other changes have occurred, and will occur, both large and small. Paraphrasing from a piece written by Clarke Wells which I will read later in this sermon, these changes do not represent sinister developments, they flow naturally from the circumstances. But, some things will not be done this year in quite the same way as they have always been. We will be trying out new ideas, discarding those which don't work, keeping those that do. Whether the changes that have and will occur please or dismay you, they do have certain consequences.
Let me tell you about some of these in a rather roundabout way. Each year, the UUA holds a training session for ministers not in the Accredited Interim Ministry or AIM program but who will be doing an interim year. This session is known as the "Interim Orientation." Well, I have discovered a syndrome I call "Interim Dis-Orientation," which has little or nothing to do with our work. It has to do, instead, with the fact that for months in our new places of abode, we interim ministers will be reaching for light switches that are not there, and turning water faucets in the wrong directions. This is disorienting, it keeps us slightly off-balance for a time.
And, the naturally-occurring changes that take place in a congregation during an interim period, may cause a similar disorientation for its members. You may find yourselves reaching for a switch called, "the way we've always done it," only to discover that it's no longer there, it has been moved. And, you may suffer a similar feeling of being off-balance for a time. The remedy for us ministers and for you, is, I think, understanding and attention-is giving ourselves space and time to become accustomed to whatever changes have or will occur during this potentially confusing, anxiety-ridden, and yet, promise-filled time.
Loren Mead, in his book, A Critical Moment of Ministry: A Change of Pastors, tells a story of a phone call he received from a member of a non-UU congregation that had just begun this year of change. The call is filled with anxiety, blame, guilt, and many other emotions. It is clear that this is not a UU congregation because of references to the bishop, but it is also clear that the basic elements of what happened in this case are much the same in all denominations under whatever circumstances. There can be anxiety and fear, and this can lead to an increase in conflict.Fear as to whether or not a good settled minister will be found, anxiety about what will happen in the meantime. There can be a sense of floundering in unknown waters, with little or no sense of the directions a congregation needs to take. But, I don't believe such a scenario is inevitable. I believe a congregation can avoid many, if not all, of the potential pitfalls of such a transition time, and it is my job to assist you in doing this.
A first step in all this is an understanding of the search process. Because the Search Committee needs to keep confidentiality in much of its work, a congregation can feel that this group is working in secret and will, after several months, suddenly present a candidate with little to no information having been given about either the process or the candidate. Here, you are lucky, I think, in having a Committee which has already begun to share with you as much as is appropriate about the process they will be following, and their progress, and which plans to continue that sharing right up until the time they announce a candidate for your decision. You may already be familiar with the fact that they will pare a long list down to three or four pre-candidates who will preach at nearby neutral pulpits and be interviewed extensively in person.
Some UUs have wondered why the whole congregation cannot be a part of this step, cannot hear three or four pre-candidates. While I have never heard or read this expressed, here is my idea about that. That if the whole congregation heard three pre-candidates, then were actually able to choose one with the needed majority, there would forever be about two-thirds of the congregation who would feel that a somewhat better choice might have been made. So, I recommend that you do your part and trust the Committee to do theirs. If you have not attended the cottage meetings, today is your last day to fill out the surveys. Pick one up and fill it out. Read all the info the Search Committee will be making available, and in a few short months, you will have two Sundays and the week in between to get acquainted with and to hear the candidate who has been chosen by the Search Committee, before voting on the second Sunday. I believe this has usually proven to be a good process that really mostly works quite well.
Before you will be coming to that decision though, you will need to have decided on where you want to go, as a congregation. And to help you on that journey, there are five developmental tasks you will need to have accomplished as we go through this year. The first of these has to do with looking at the past, at your history. Every institution, like every individual, is both heir to and victim of its history, so looking at the past is important in planning the future. We can merely react to the past, attempting to avoid what has been destructive or to re-create that which has been constructive. Alternately, we can attempt to genuinely understand not only what has occurred, but how and why. Such understanding allows for growth and for entirely new ways of seeing and being. It allows us to meet new situations, not as slightly different replays of past events, but as new opportunities for authentic encounters.
The next three tasks are focused in the present. They are (1) rediscovering and illuminating the unique identity of this particular group; (2) clarifying the dimensions of leadership, both ordained and lay, and navigating those shifts in leadership that often accompany times of transition; and (3) renewing or enhancing connections with available resources within and beyond the district and the UUA. The final task whichwill follow quite naturally when the others have been done, is a commitment to a new vision, strengthening stewardship, and preparing for new professional leadership while engaging the future with anticipation and zest.
We recently took a kind of straw poll with the board and found that this final task along with the one on leadership are considered the most important by this group. So, we will be working on all of the tasks, but keeping an eye more closely on those two.
There are many tools which can be used in completing these tasks. The cottage meetings you have attended and the surveys you have completed for the Search Committee will say a lot about how your see yourselves now, your unique identity, and where you wish to be in the future. The calls that I have made to each household, actually speaking with 97 of you, tell me of your delights and concerns with the way things are at the moment, and by inference, where you wish to go in the future. Incidentally, if you and I have not yet spoken, do feel free to call with your ideas. A bit later, I will be making a report to the Board which will be available to all, and I'd like as much input as possible before I do that. I will share with you this morning very briefly just the major delights and concerns that you have expressed so far.
The most common delight has to do with the feelings of community, with the closeness of the people, and the quality of the people, and the feelings of acceptance as everyone explores their own path. The most common concern was for the financial status of this congregation. I will be doing a "sermon on the amount" later in the year, and there will be opportunities for all of you to become more familiar with the ins and outs of finances here, so I will not dwell on this particular topic this morning. But, I do want to give you just a bit of my thought on UUs and money. We are, as a group, among the best educated, and the most financially well-off groups in the religious world, and we are, as a group, among the lowest givers to our faith of all the groups in the religious world. I do not think we are, as a group, stingy or uncaring people. I think perhaps we tend to spread ourselves a bit thin, supporting a wide variety of very good causes which do need support. But, if this UU faith is important to us, and if we want to see it made available to all people who are in need of it, perhaps we need to reevaluate our priorities in our giving. Since we are, by no stretch of the imagination, poor as a group of people, then it seems to me, our churches need not be poor either. And, being financially responsible is certainly a part of a congregation getting to where it wants to go. And, that's all I'll say on this particular subject on this particular day.
I'll go on to other ways we can work on these developmental tasks. And an important way we do this is to recognize those seeds of promise that have already begun to stir here. To think about what these are and nurture them within and among ourselves. Some ways of doing this are: being even more involved in activities here than you have been before. Go to Board and committee meetings occasionally, or at least read the minutes, read the Beacon and any mail you receive - keep up with what is going on. Take part in as many activities as you can and share your input. Everyone's input on where Unity Temple will be in the future is needed. I realize that surveys and committee meetings and other small-group meetings may not be many peoples' idea of exciting times, but in this year, they are especially important. They will affect the future of this congregation, and, believe it or not, they really can be fun and energizing when a lot of people get excited by them.
ĘParaphrasing Loren Mead, this is an excellent time to consider deeply what is valued here. It is an excellent time for each to measure themselves against their basic commitments and their religious heritage and to choose once again whether these things are to be taken seriously or not.
I'll close with a reading by the Rev. Clarke Dewey Welles written during an interim ministry of his. I have changed a few of the words, so that the particulars of Clark's experience become the general interim experience.
"Some UU ministers wear robes, some don't. Some pray, others meditate; some preach sermons, others give addresses; some do closing words, others offer benedictions.
Some have spouses [or partners] who are active in the local society, others have spouses [or partners] who are busy elsewhere, [some are single].
Some ministers love the rich traditions of Christianity and Judaism, others honor the traditions of iconoclasm and choose even a vacant altar over the idolatry and tribalism that often shadow the old symbols. Some love the Buddha or Lao Tze or Jesus, and there are others who will take Lincoln and Shakespeare or Marx and Isaiah over any of them.
Some ministers are great as listeners and lousy as administrators; some are good organizers and some are good scholars - a few rare ones are both.
Some are terrific at small talk, others quite awkward. Some ministers on Sunday mornings before service are friendly and gregarious. Others lock themselves in their study with the "ontological shakes." (That's the syndrome of dread that occasionally impels some preachers to see with abysmal clarity that they have no business speaking to anyone about anything. I invented it.)
Whatever type a minister is, she or he is bound to please some people and eventually, if the minister is smart, most of the people. Those who are not pleased make their adjustments, settle in, pull back or put up with, or, in some extreme cases, withdraw. There's nothing sinister about this process; it just happens.
Over a period of years a certain homogeneity sets in among new church members and old ones and it is slowly, gradually agreed upon that the incumbent minister's style is standard and normative for the local church in particular and the Unitarian Universalist movement in general.
All that is fine until one day the standard normative UU minister leaves the church for more money in another town-usually referred to as being "called to fields of larger service." Then it's danger time if the church goes right out and calls another permanent minister. He or she will be constantly compared with the other minister-the standard normative one-who has just gone on to greener pastures. The new minister gets ground to hamburger in no time for not doing the standard, normative things the standard, normative minister did. The new minister is sub-standard and abnormal, or at least not as standard and normal as he/she ought to be.
The odds of having a successful ministry are lessened at the start, for who wants a non-standard, non-normative minister? And that's the reason for interim ministry. There will be a different style of minister around for the church year, the likes of which you haven't seen for several years-and several very good years, too. A minister who'll be doing a lot of things differently from what you are used to, which you may like or dislike or which you may adjust to or not adjust to. That's fine. At the end of the church year, the interim minister will be gone and - if we all do our jobs right-the decks will be cleared. There will be fewer preconceptions and pre-suppositions cluttering our perceptions about a new, permanent minister. The new minister will come in clean. Because an interim has been here, the new minister won't be compared with the former minister or with the interim, but as a third minister who will be different from both and not to be compared with either. And that will increase the odds of people seeing each other freshly, without old habits and old responses interfering with open and authentic encounter. New ministers cannot fill old minister' shoes. They have their own shoes. If interim ministers and congregations do their jobs right, new ministers will fill their own shoes very well.
