Notes from a Sermon for The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

2nd May, 2004

“The Tie that binds… Importance of Community”

The Place of One

If I am not for myself, who will be?            Moses Maimonides

The Place of the Many

          No one can be a tsadik alone.  There must be at least nine others.  We are able to rise to the rung of Ts’daka only by binding ourselves with others who also could never make it alone.      Lawrence Kushner

For Christians

          The message of Jesus is not simply a word of personal salvation directed toward the interior lives of individual believers; it has social implications that require acting justly in the world.

          Archbishop Romero:  “When I fed the poor, they said I was a saint.  When I asked why the poor had nothing to eat, they said I was a communist.”

Even Jesus himself – the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness

Blessings of Community

          Where we hear and tell our story

          Where we are safe

                   Farm villages in France, where we can go wounded

          Where we are known

                   Archipelago singles fellowship – meaning of name

          Where we come closer to truth

                   Astronaut experiment

Hazards of Community

          Where we can lose heart

                   Follow crowd, lose faith in people, be rejected, have to leave

          Where we can lose our minds

                   Caught in doctrine, lose art of spiritual reflection

                   Mysticism is trusting your own experience of God

          Where we can surrender our courage

                   Go but not enter with our heart

                   Barbara Harris –

                             Sister, you don’t have to go along to get along.

          Where we can taste the danger of undifferentiated spirituality

                   All is pretty much the same, surfing spirit

                   Little bit of Christian, set in Buddhist frame

                             Spirituality that reflects my interests at present

Proverb and Four Tests

                   Community is where we celebrate

                             Major events in life of person and community

                                      Where do we sing?  Taize experience around fire

                             Major moments in spiritual tradition – Exodus

                   Community is where we grieve and forgive

                             Louttit – walk in the door, Memorial at IDG

                   Community is where values examination safely happens

                             Anti-discrimination hearings – proud of Bend

                   Community is where we energize for change

                             Preferential Option for the Poor

                                      When I vote, how will my choice affect the poor

Your input on these?

Proverb:        Healthy Community is rooted more in respect than in agreement.