People Like You
Sermon Given at Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
February 22, 2015
By The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
“Why are you here?”
It seemed a strange question coming from someone who had invited me to come see her. That someone was the professor who taught the first course I took in seminary, who, toward the end of the semester and without further elaboration as to why, told me to make an appointment to see her. So you can imagine my bewilderment when she asked, “Why are you here?” as we sat across from one another in her office.
Now, I was already somewhat tense wondering why she wanted to see me in the first place, after all my grades and class participation were good. Yes there was the time I maybe pressed a theologically conservative classmate too hard on the topic of unconditional love, but that was early in the semester. Unsure how to respond, I answered, “You asked me to come see you.” She seemed somewhat amused by my cluelessness. “Yes, yes, I know.” she said. She continued, “What I mean is why are you here at the seminary?”
Her clarification still left me wondering why she was asking me this, but after a brief pause, I told her I thought I might have a call to ministry and that taking classes at seminary was part of my discernment process. I actually talked for quite some time. She listened patiently and generously and when my words finally ceased, she sat up, leaned in slightly across her desk and said, “I hope you see this through.”, pausing only briefly before adding, “The world needs people like you.” “Me?”, I replied internally. Again, unsure how to respond, an anxious smile appeared on my face. I don’t remember what I eventually said before I departed that afternoon, but I left with far more questions that I had arrived with.
Why would she say the world needs people like me? What does “people like you”, even mean? I’m not some great humanitarian of means able to fund life saving research or foundations to benefit millions of people. I’m not some celebrity able to rally droves of people around a cause or influence popular opinion on the critical issues of the day. I’m not a powerful political or business leader who can legislate or implement policies that can usher in systemic changes throughout society. I’m not even the smartest, kindest, wisest, most generous, most humble, hardest working person I know. As far as knew I was just an average guy trying to discern a calling, trying to listen to what my life was asking of me and figure out how best to respond.
Rebecca Parker, whose words I offered as our second reading this morning might describe someone like me as a person seeking to both discover or develop their gifts and use them in meaningful way, that is, to bless the world. It seems likely that my professor might say to any student she perceived as committed to discovering and using their gifts to bless the world as someone the world needs.
As a minister, I’m always curious as to why people come to church.
Why are you here?
Some of you have shared why with me and while the particulars of your individual stories differ, there is always present, an element of seeking and often, of discovery too. More often than not, the discovery is of some gift, though it isn’t usually stated as such...sometimes people discover a gift they didn’t know they had...emotional strength, courage, hope, endurance, faith, compassion...other times the discovery is really an affirmation of a gift they’re already, or at least somewhat, aware of but that is rarely appreciated in their daily life...musical ability, public speaking, writing, financial/budgeting skills, listening, planning, organizational or motivational skills, caregiving, technical and mechanical skills, painting, teaching, hosting and hospitality. And still other times the discovery is of gifts one would like to develop or grow further and sometimes the gift is the discovery and acceptance of one’s limitations...gifts we don’t have.
One of the great joys of my work is not only encouraging and empowering people to discover their gifts, but to witness that process of discovery or affirmation. I see it everyday.
What are your gifts...gifts you’ve discovered or have had affirmed here?
Of course, our gifts, whatever we discover them to be, aren’t of much use to anyone unless we find some way to use them, indeed, like a muscle in our body or a foreign language, if we don’t use our gifts at all, we risk loosing them altogether. Further, how we use our gifts is as important a choice as whether we use them or not. As Rebecca Parker notes, our gifts “can be used to curse or bless the world?”
What will you do with your gifts?
I can’t tell you what to do or how to use your gifts, but I can tell you that when I think of you, both as individuals and as this religious community known as the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church (BUUC), I see in you, as I believe my professor saw in me, people committed to discovering and developing their gifts. People who really want to use them in a meaningful way. I see you, by your presence and commitment to your own spiritual discovery and growth and the service and support you give to this faith community and the community beyond these walls, as people who choose to bless the world.
The world needs people like you.
The world needs people deeply aware that to bless the world is not, as Parker reminds us, merely an act of will or good intentions, but also an act of recognition...recognition of the “unspeakable beauty, grace and mystery that abides in the midst of this broken world.”
People who choose to bless the world, true to our historical Unitarian theology, recognize the value of a healthy and vibrant spiritual life for themselves and the wider world. They live their lives, Parker notes, “as a gesture of thanks” committed to personal spiritual growth...a rich interior life...in search of “sources of power and grace; native wisdom, healing and liberation.” And in the spirit of our Universalist past and present, they also seek or form, sustain and grow communities dedicated to a common purpose, communities that provide companionship in life’s struggles, that honor the past, inhabits the present and creates hope for the future, communities like BUUC, charged, in part, with encouraging and helping people to, in the words of Olympia Brown, “stand by this faith”, a faith which has and continues to comfort people in sorrow, strengthen our resolve and make the world more beautiful.
Gathered in the distant past by our religious forbears and supported by members and friends ever since, BUUC is a place where people have joined their voices, one with another, across generations to build, sustain and grow a choir of hope, a faith community that dared and continues to dare sing to a hurting world, songs in celebration of life and the potential of humankind even in the midst of all that threatens to wear us down and thrust us into despair. This place has been and continues to be a place people gather and help one another discover and use their gifts to...“feed the hungry, bind up wounds, welcome the stranger, praise what is sacred, do the work of justice and love;” a place to gather and bless the world.
The world needs churches like ours.
For there are too many ways people are encouraged to instead use their gifts to...”hoard bread, abandon the poor, obscure what is holy, comply with injustice or withhold love.” Yet here, in the midst of a world largely concerned with me, myself and I, our Sunday worship, adult and children’s religious education serves not only to express the call, gifts, and efforts of the minister, program and worship leaders, music and religious education (RE) staff but also to encourage and empower the call, gifts, and efforts of the congregation.
In the midst of a world that models competition over cooperation, our church committees, outreach ministries, programs and events offer a model of collaboration across generations, socio-economic status, education level, ethnicities and sexual orientations.
And in the midst of an often inhospitable world, this community provides ample opportunities to experience and practice hospitality whether by engaging visitors, wearing the rainbow ribbons on your name tag, volunteering in our nursery or RE classrooms, playing an instrument or singing in the choir, checking in with a member or friend who is sick or you haven’t seen in a while, clearing the path and driveway of snow, trash and recycling removal, maintaining the church website, doing the books, and so much more.
In all of these ways BUUC provides ways to discover, develop, affirm and use our gifts in ways the world often doesn’t, or worse, mocks. For this reason and more, the world needs churches like ours.
From the time it was gathered and through each successive generation up to and including the present, the people who have made this church their spiritual home have affirmed the importance of BUUC’s presence in the world by giving of their time, talent, and treasure... something we call stewardship. Stewardship is a practice of care and commitment that has nurtured and grown this community and helped broaden and deepen the opportunities each of us has to bless the world. Absent the practice of stewardship, this community would cease to exist for Unitarian Universalist congregations, although part of a larger association known as the Unitarian Universalist Association, are self-funded and self-sustaining.
As with the passing of the gifts today, your membership here carries with it both the opportunity and responsibility to give as well as receive, an invitation we also extend to and gratefully accept from our friends and frequent visitors. This is how we care for this place, its people, and its vision and ensure it remains a place people can gather for generations to bless the world.
I believe we can and will continue to be such a place. To that end I will again pledge 5% of of my BUUC salary and housing in support of our annual canvass which begins March 1st.
The world needs churches like BUUC and BUUC and its ministries needs people like you, which is also to say, the world needs people like you. People not only committed to the discovery and development of your gifts, but willing to use and share them...to stand by this faith.... to bless the world.
As our annual canvas begins, I invite you to reflect on the gifts you have received, discovered, been able to develop, have had affirmed or deepened by being part of this faith community?
Then ask yourself, “What will I do with my gifts?”
I hope that you will choose to bless the world and live your life as a gesture of thanks, with a generous commitment of time, talent, and treasure toward your spiritual life and growth and the community that has helped encourage and empower you in that endeavor. A community that will, with your support, continue to be a place for people to gather, discover, learn and grow...people who, today as in future generations...will choose to bless the world, people the world needs, people like you. May it be so.
Amen and Blessed Be
Sermon Given at Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church
February 22, 2015
By The Rev. Craig M. Nowak
“Why are you here?”
It seemed a strange question coming from someone who had invited me to come see her. That someone was the professor who taught the first course I took in seminary, who, toward the end of the semester and without further elaboration as to why, told me to make an appointment to see her. So you can imagine my bewilderment when she asked, “Why are you here?” as we sat across from one another in her office.
Now, I was already somewhat tense wondering why she wanted to see me in the first place, after all my grades and class participation were good. Yes there was the time I maybe pressed a theologically conservative classmate too hard on the topic of unconditional love, but that was early in the semester. Unsure how to respond, I answered, “You asked me to come see you.” She seemed somewhat amused by my cluelessness. “Yes, yes, I know.” she said. She continued, “What I mean is why are you here at the seminary?”
Her clarification still left me wondering why she was asking me this, but after a brief pause, I told her I thought I might have a call to ministry and that taking classes at seminary was part of my discernment process. I actually talked for quite some time. She listened patiently and generously and when my words finally ceased, she sat up, leaned in slightly across her desk and said, “I hope you see this through.”, pausing only briefly before adding, “The world needs people like you.” “Me?”, I replied internally. Again, unsure how to respond, an anxious smile appeared on my face. I don’t remember what I eventually said before I departed that afternoon, but I left with far more questions that I had arrived with.
Why would she say the world needs people like me? What does “people like you”, even mean? I’m not some great humanitarian of means able to fund life saving research or foundations to benefit millions of people. I’m not some celebrity able to rally droves of people around a cause or influence popular opinion on the critical issues of the day. I’m not a powerful political or business leader who can legislate or implement policies that can usher in systemic changes throughout society. I’m not even the smartest, kindest, wisest, most generous, most humble, hardest working person I know. As far as knew I was just an average guy trying to discern a calling, trying to listen to what my life was asking of me and figure out how best to respond.
Rebecca Parker, whose words I offered as our second reading this morning might describe someone like me as a person seeking to both discover or develop their gifts and use them in meaningful way, that is, to bless the world. It seems likely that my professor might say to any student she perceived as committed to discovering and using their gifts to bless the world as someone the world needs.
As a minister, I’m always curious as to why people come to church.
Why are you here?
Some of you have shared why with me and while the particulars of your individual stories differ, there is always present, an element of seeking and often, of discovery too. More often than not, the discovery is of some gift, though it isn’t usually stated as such...sometimes people discover a gift they didn’t know they had...emotional strength, courage, hope, endurance, faith, compassion...other times the discovery is really an affirmation of a gift they’re already, or at least somewhat, aware of but that is rarely appreciated in their daily life...musical ability, public speaking, writing, financial/budgeting skills, listening, planning, organizational or motivational skills, caregiving, technical and mechanical skills, painting, teaching, hosting and hospitality. And still other times the discovery is of gifts one would like to develop or grow further and sometimes the gift is the discovery and acceptance of one’s limitations...gifts we don’t have.
One of the great joys of my work is not only encouraging and empowering people to discover their gifts, but to witness that process of discovery or affirmation. I see it everyday.
What are your gifts...gifts you’ve discovered or have had affirmed here?
Of course, our gifts, whatever we discover them to be, aren’t of much use to anyone unless we find some way to use them, indeed, like a muscle in our body or a foreign language, if we don’t use our gifts at all, we risk loosing them altogether. Further, how we use our gifts is as important a choice as whether we use them or not. As Rebecca Parker notes, our gifts “can be used to curse or bless the world?”
What will you do with your gifts?
I can’t tell you what to do or how to use your gifts, but I can tell you that when I think of you, both as individuals and as this religious community known as the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church (BUUC), I see in you, as I believe my professor saw in me, people committed to discovering and developing their gifts. People who really want to use them in a meaningful way. I see you, by your presence and commitment to your own spiritual discovery and growth and the service and support you give to this faith community and the community beyond these walls, as people who choose to bless the world.
The world needs people like you.
The world needs people deeply aware that to bless the world is not, as Parker reminds us, merely an act of will or good intentions, but also an act of recognition...recognition of the “unspeakable beauty, grace and mystery that abides in the midst of this broken world.”
People who choose to bless the world, true to our historical Unitarian theology, recognize the value of a healthy and vibrant spiritual life for themselves and the wider world. They live their lives, Parker notes, “as a gesture of thanks” committed to personal spiritual growth...a rich interior life...in search of “sources of power and grace; native wisdom, healing and liberation.” And in the spirit of our Universalist past and present, they also seek or form, sustain and grow communities dedicated to a common purpose, communities that provide companionship in life’s struggles, that honor the past, inhabits the present and creates hope for the future, communities like BUUC, charged, in part, with encouraging and helping people to, in the words of Olympia Brown, “stand by this faith”, a faith which has and continues to comfort people in sorrow, strengthen our resolve and make the world more beautiful.
Gathered in the distant past by our religious forbears and supported by members and friends ever since, BUUC is a place where people have joined their voices, one with another, across generations to build, sustain and grow a choir of hope, a faith community that dared and continues to dare sing to a hurting world, songs in celebration of life and the potential of humankind even in the midst of all that threatens to wear us down and thrust us into despair. This place has been and continues to be a place people gather and help one another discover and use their gifts to...“feed the hungry, bind up wounds, welcome the stranger, praise what is sacred, do the work of justice and love;” a place to gather and bless the world.
The world needs churches like ours.
For there are too many ways people are encouraged to instead use their gifts to...”hoard bread, abandon the poor, obscure what is holy, comply with injustice or withhold love.” Yet here, in the midst of a world largely concerned with me, myself and I, our Sunday worship, adult and children’s religious education serves not only to express the call, gifts, and efforts of the minister, program and worship leaders, music and religious education (RE) staff but also to encourage and empower the call, gifts, and efforts of the congregation.
In the midst of a world that models competition over cooperation, our church committees, outreach ministries, programs and events offer a model of collaboration across generations, socio-economic status, education level, ethnicities and sexual orientations.
And in the midst of an often inhospitable world, this community provides ample opportunities to experience and practice hospitality whether by engaging visitors, wearing the rainbow ribbons on your name tag, volunteering in our nursery or RE classrooms, playing an instrument or singing in the choir, checking in with a member or friend who is sick or you haven’t seen in a while, clearing the path and driveway of snow, trash and recycling removal, maintaining the church website, doing the books, and so much more.
In all of these ways BUUC provides ways to discover, develop, affirm and use our gifts in ways the world often doesn’t, or worse, mocks. For this reason and more, the world needs churches like ours.
From the time it was gathered and through each successive generation up to and including the present, the people who have made this church their spiritual home have affirmed the importance of BUUC’s presence in the world by giving of their time, talent, and treasure... something we call stewardship. Stewardship is a practice of care and commitment that has nurtured and grown this community and helped broaden and deepen the opportunities each of us has to bless the world. Absent the practice of stewardship, this community would cease to exist for Unitarian Universalist congregations, although part of a larger association known as the Unitarian Universalist Association, are self-funded and self-sustaining.
As with the passing of the gifts today, your membership here carries with it both the opportunity and responsibility to give as well as receive, an invitation we also extend to and gratefully accept from our friends and frequent visitors. This is how we care for this place, its people, and its vision and ensure it remains a place people can gather for generations to bless the world.
I believe we can and will continue to be such a place. To that end I will again pledge 5% of of my BUUC salary and housing in support of our annual canvass which begins March 1st.
The world needs churches like BUUC and BUUC and its ministries needs people like you, which is also to say, the world needs people like you. People not only committed to the discovery and development of your gifts, but willing to use and share them...to stand by this faith.... to bless the world.
As our annual canvas begins, I invite you to reflect on the gifts you have received, discovered, been able to develop, have had affirmed or deepened by being part of this faith community?
Then ask yourself, “What will I do with my gifts?”
I hope that you will choose to bless the world and live your life as a gesture of thanks, with a generous commitment of time, talent, and treasure toward your spiritual life and growth and the community that has helped encourage and empower you in that endeavor. A community that will, with your support, continue to be a place for people to gather, discover, learn and grow...people who, today as in future generations...will choose to bless the world, people the world needs, people like you. May it be so.
Amen and Blessed Be