"Lessons of Marley's Ghost"

 

Canvass is an awkward time of year. I always have a mix of feelings in this season when we are doing the work of raising the money that will run the church for the coming year. We are not an endowed church, but one that operates year by year by virtue of the gifts we receive from this church family. We are the church - we have inherited its living legacy and this building and a vision of the world that we hold dear.

What a precious legacy. It is up to us - the weight of it is both a privilege and a responsibility.

So I feel resolute - determined to make the best case for your giving that I can. The canvass is very important - the church simply will not run from year to year without your support. But I feel queasy, too, because making an appeal for money doesn't come naturally and isn't comfortable for me. Fundraising will always be one of my many growing edges.

Beyond the personal there is another discomfort. I feel awkward for newcomers who are just coming in - I feel the urge to exert damage control by saying "We don't do this all year round!"

And there's some stress, because I want the canvass to go well, but I know each year, that your fortunes change - some may be better off but, realistically some of you may be facing unexpected hardships. So I want to walk that fine line of asking you firmly to give absolutely as much as you are able, while at the same time, honoring your own fiscal situation. I want you to be the master of you gift. I want you to feel good giving it, proud, and satisfied. I want you to be an informed giver, knowing why, at the local level, your money cannot be put to better use.

And, finally, I feel something else. Perhaps you believe with me that it is our dreams, our capacity to reach for the sky that pulls us toward our greatest accomplishments. I am convinced that our capacity to hope is part of what goes into the creation of the healthy human being. And so I confess, unabashedly, that I get excited every year at canvass time, that, even against the odds, something extraordinary might happen. I see the numbers out there in our economy right now, and I know for many families your economic situation is tight. But I am also an idealist, I rule nothing out as impossible.

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Albert Schweitzer once said: "Just as the water of the streams is small in amount compared to that which flows underground, so the idealism which becomes visible is small in amount compared with what men and women bear locked in their hearts, unreleased or scarcely released."

Think of the ideals you carry in your heart. I am willing to bet that one of the reasons many of you attend this church is because certain ideals have a claim on you, and here you wrestle with and practice those ideals. If our ideals have no potential in reality then we are vulnerable to despair, not only for the world but for our ourselves, left to wonder whether our lives can be meaningful. And so here, at the local level, we are both selfishly and religiously motivated try to make a difference.

And yet it is ironic, there are many who cannot comprehend what calls us to Unitarian Universalism, who see no belief system here at all. Because we do not all have to have the same religious vocabulary in order to belong, some see a chaos here. Some UU's are theist - and a theist may sit in the pew beside someone who is an agnostic or a pagan, and, on the other side - someone who uses 12 step vocabulary and relates to their higher power. So, what are we practicing here?

Religion is about living our values. A book by Jeffrey Moses Oneness shows how fundamental precepts, such as the golden rule, are even expressed in strikingly similar fashion by all the major religions. Ideals such as "It is better to give than receive," "Look to our own faults before correcting others." "Blessed are the peacemakers," Other universal values are courage, honesty, compassion, responsibility, idealism, loyalty, adaptability, fairness, love and generosity.

There are some distinguishing features of Unitarian Universalism - in addition to classic religious principles, spiritual freedom and religious diversity are valued, as is right of conscience and respect for the individual. We believe that no one religion (our own included) is the light or owns the way and humanity needs to learn to deal with that fact.

Over the years our Statement of Principles and Purposes has served a useful tool which helps us balance many values in a healthy way. (I won't go into those here - next year I will put forward another sermon series on the principles.)

We are encouraged to judge others by the great fundamentals such as love, kindness, wisdom, generosity and honesty. And we are encouraged to let go of categories of judgment such as nationality, color, age, sexual orientation and, in all humility - and this is a radical message - one's vocabulary of faith.

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I am here today to ask you to be generous in the cause of Unitarian Universalism.

Every religious tradition teaches that generosity is practiced not solely for its benefits to the recipient but primarily for its benefit to the giver. Jesus taught that it is better to give than to receive. In Buddhism that benefit is called "dana." Thich Nhat Hanh writes, "We give in infinite variety, to show our love, our gratitude, our devotion, our joy and our liberation..

One of the most famous stories from our culture teaching this lesson is Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Here are the opening paragraphs of that story:

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner..... Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail."

The irony of that story, the Christmas Carol, is that Scrooge was pretty much dead, too. just not dead as a doornail. Pardon me while the English teacher in me comes out. The phrase dead as a doornail comes from carpentry from the time back before screws were developed. If you hammer a nail through a piece of timber and flatten the end over on the inside so it can't be used again (this is called clinching), the nail was said to be dead, because you can't use it again.

If you remember A Christmas Carol, you know that it is Marley's ghost who first returns to tells Scrooge, "I am here to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate." (Which is, of course, that he is dead as a doornail.)

Scrooge then learns, as a result of Marley and other ghostly visitors, to care about others. We watch and enjoy watching as Scrooge learns to becomes generous and kindhearted and finds that he can make a difference in people's lives. Generosity empowers Scrooge and brings him back to life. We love watching as he escape's Marley's fate of being dead as a doornail as he is pulled back into the heart of life by his giving. And we enjoy watching the greening of the world around him as his good works take effect.

By sharing this story it doesn't mean I think you are a bunch of Scrooges. I'm just wanting to point out how good and empowering and life-giving it can be to give. Giving is good for us and for our world. Liberal religion teaches this and asks you to practice it. Some of you are already very generous givers.

Generosity is not about giving more than you can afford. Don't burn out, go into debt, or give yourself away. Do give until it hurts just a bit. Like new muscles that are being used, you will know you are being stretched and in the long run it will make you feel better. Giving is a discipline that will help you own the work of the church and give you a realistic feeling and the knowledge that you are making a positive difference. The well-known Unitarian PT Barnum once noted that money is a terrible master, but an excellent servant. It is up to each of us to decide which way we will have it.

There are some hard statistics that I'd like to share with you: Mormons give 7.2% of their adjusted gross income to charitable purposes (the highest of any denomination) while Unitarian Universalists give .8%? It’s not that we’re giving the rest to the Audubon Society, the ACLU, or to our alma mater, either. We are not a poor denomination. And yet, eight tenths of one percent covers all our charitable giving, on average. Statistics show that those who actually have less tend to give at rates that, percentage-wise, are higher. Another way of saying that is that people with less often give more.

I have heard of a minister who said to his congregation at canvass time: "I have some bad news, some good news, and some bad news. The bad news is that we need to raise $80,000 in pledges to keep this ship sailing. The good news is that the money is there. But the bad news is, the money is still in your pockets!

Overall, that's good news. I am here today to ask you to give to the church and to give generously.

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I said earlier that giving at the local level can make a profound difference. With a healthy canvass we can support our Coming-of Age Program and bring our OWL Program of comprehensive sexuality education to the next level. We can better support the many things that are happening in our religious education program that make a huge difference in some children's lives. We can provide more opportunities for parishioners of all ages to participate in effective programs of social service and social action, hands-on and face-to-face.

In the event of a dream canvass we could support our denomnation's aspiring ministers by bringing in a part-time student intern who might supplement pastoral care and support our volunteer staff. Some year I would love to see that happen. We could fully our Director of Music and our Director of Education to attend conferences that would show them how valued they are and and allow them to exchange new ideas and enthusiasm with their colleagues. Habitat for Humanity is trying to raise $30,000 for the house that we hope Middleboro citizens will be building on Oak Street this summer. Nobody has asked or may agree with my opinion, but it would be empowering to be able to gift them with $500 or $1000. With a dream canvass we could bring back our organ which is in a state of disrepair. If we are significantly more generous than usual, we could accomplish all these goals and more.

Last week I participated in the Interfaith worship service of the Middleboro/Lakeville Clergy Association. In a town where it is new for clergy to work together beyond a purely Christian context, we are a significant presence.

I cherish this place now more than ever. I have not taken it for granted, but since 9/11 I'm more conscious of the contribution that this institution makes to the religious community, as well as to members and families. More often than you know, we succeed in doing the right things. And finally, I'm more aware of the sacred ingredient here- the freedom we've inherited, and the responsibility to preserve that freedom.

I ask you to give generously.

Go in peace!