2017.10.1 Draw the Circle Wide: My Love Letter
Rev.
Laura Bogle Foothills UU Fellowship
Time for
All Ages: “Swimmy” by Leo Lionni
You can listen here: https://youtu.be/IQlepfKYtUU
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This isn’t a sermon. This is my love letter to you.
Dear Foothills UU Fellowship,
Five years ago this morning was my very first
morning sharing worship with you. 5
years! Some of you were there that
morning. Some of you had no idea that
over at the Everett Senior Center on Sunday mornings there was a bunch of UU’s
gathering to sing and tell stories and worship and share food with one another.
And a little later this month – on October
19—this congregation will mark 9 years as a chartered congregation of the
Unitarian Universalist Association. Plus
a couple more years as a satellite ministry of the Tennessee Valley UU
Church. Next year I want us to celebrate
10 years in a big way!
None of us, including me, has the full story of
who we are and how we came to be. Each
one of us has our own experience intersecting with the collective story.
Last Sunday afternoon I gathered with 15
leaders of this congregation, representing our Board, our Stewardship and
Finance teams, our Congregational Growth Team, our Leadership Development Team,
our Community Outreach Project Team, our worship coordinators and youth
advisors.
We spent some time recalling the story of this
congregation by building a timeline, individual stories creating the collective
story. Just like today, we had people in
the room who were founders of this congregation, and who worked from the very
beginning to build a Blount County congregation. And we had people in the room whose journey
has just intersected with us in the last year.
And lots of folks in-between.
Here’s one thing that was apparent to me:
We are a congregation that is not afraid of
vulnerability.
Any group of people who sets out to start
something new has to take some risks, has to confront the possibility that it
will fail, has to wade through times of uncertainty, times when there is debate
about the way forward, has to live through the pain of times when some people
decide this is not for them and part ways.
You all have done that.
This congregation was chartered just three months after the horrific and tragic act
of violence that targeted TN Valley UU Church, precisely because of its open
and progressive religious values. A
reminder of vulnerability if there ever was one. You were birthed
in the midst of vulnerability.
And yet, this congregation moved forward in
courage to found a congregation for liberal religion here in Blount County.
This congregation has been willing to move and
adapt to new places as we grow and change – this is our 4th worship
location, if you don’t count meeting in people’s homes!
This congregation took a risk to hire me as
your part-time minister in 2012, even though it meant having a deficit budget
for a couple of years. And then you have
been willing to collaborate with other congregations, and make hard decisions,
in order to meet our needs in creative ways—so that by 2015 we were back to a
balanced budget.
A leap of faith! We are not afraid to do things differently,
trusting that when we simply say YES the way forward will open.
This congregation boldly and publicly
proclaimed itself as welcoming to the LGBT community in 2013, and invited community partners in when we
held a special ceremony of re-naming for a transgender member in 2016.
We are willing to be who we are, joyfully,
trusting others to join us in that.
You approved your first Congregational Covenant
in 2014 – the fundamental agreement about how we aspire to be with one another,
treat one another, even in times of disagreement or conflict. And in that process we were vulnerable with
one another and expect ongoing vulnerability as we seek to stay in respectful right
relationship with one another.
You began your first Community Outreach Project
in 2016—setting aside a significant amount of funds to do something new and
creative, and empowering a team of members to go and use it to do good. And the Talking with Kids and Teens about
Race project has been doing just that, impacting lives way beyond our
congregation.
Just last year we welcomed over 20 new
members. Plus lots of new friends journeying
with us. Every time we welcome new
members, as a congregation you say to them in our new member ceremony “We are
ready to expand our love and to be changed by your presence among us.” Again, I see a willingness to be vulnerable,
not stuck in a particular way, but flexible and open to an unfolding future.
I know this practice of vulnerability can at
times lead to feelings of anxiety.
Anxiety is a pretty normal response when you care deeply about something
and aren’t sure what will happen. Sometimes
leaders have felt tired, trying to hold it all together when things were a
little too fragile. Sometimes people,
newcomers and old-timers alike, have expressed a need for more safety, and the
security of knowing exactly what’s what.
But here is what I think, my friends: I think this congregation is not
fundamentally about safety and security.
It is fundamentally about courage and bravery. Being a place for creativity, compassion and
courage—all in the service of LOVE.
What will help us live through the inevitable
anxiety that comes when we are vulnerable and practice openness of heart? Two things:
Staying rooted in our
values.
Remembering we are not
alone.
These are the common core values that arose
through our timeline exercise last Sunday, as we reflected on the actual lived
experience of our common story:
acceptance, welcoming, progressive, caring,
truth-telling, courage, resilience, perseverance, independence, sacredness,
respect, awe, healing, hope.
What would you add to this list?
One of you used the phrase, “We Live Our Love”
to simply describe who we are and what we are about.
As we stay rooted in our core values, we will
be able to live our love, no matter what.
I noticed this person didn’t say “I Live My
Love.” But “We Live Our Love.”
So the second part is that we don’t do this
alone. We share the work, we support one
other, we learn from one another, we deepen our relationships with one another. There is joy and excitement alongside the
vulnerability.
When I said YES to coming to be with you in
2012, I had no idea what would happen. I
moved my family across the country. I
had a one year, half-time contract. I
just knew I wanted to try it out with you, and see what would happen. I wanted to serve this life-saving religion,
here in the South that so needs it, in the place of my birth.
When I came, I already had this small tattoo on
my wrist: a simple line circle. I got
this at a time when my partner and I were waiting and hoping to expand our
family. I got it as a reminder that I
and we were already whole and complete—and that there’s always room for
more. A circle can always expand.
When I stop to review my own story of the last
5 years, I see how incredibly grateful I am to this congregation for helping me to be more vulnerable, more myself as
your minister, more able to grow and push us all to grow.
I see even more risky, vulnerable, courageous
actions in our future.
After all, if we stay hidden out of sight in a
place of safety, we miss out on so much.
In our story this morning, Swimmy the little fish says “Let’s go swim and play and SEE
things!” But his friends don’t want
to—they want to stay hidden in the rocks, they are too afraid of being eaten
up. Until Swimmy helps them get
organized.
If we are swimming together, in more or less the
same direction, towards our vision of what could be, an expression of the
Beloved Community right here in Blount County– the more of us there are, the
more powerful we can be. Unlike a real
school of fish, we don’t all have to be the same. It takes each of us in our wild diversity to
make us whole. Alone we may be
vulnerable, together we can be strong.
Last Sunday our timeline exercise ended with an
opportunity to think creatively, no censoring! – about a vision for what we
could be in 10 years. All I will say now is that I can’t wait to see what will
happen!
This year there will be lots of different
opportunities for everyone in the congregation to engage in that kind of
conversation. What do you envision for
us?
Let’s say YES to the next stage of our vision,
and I feel confident that with all of us working and worshipping alongside each
other, the way forward will open.
May we continue widening our hearts, widening
our welcome,
being a vulnerable and strong kind of congregation,
caring deeply, journeying together, singing and
laughing and playing and learning, telling our stories, seeking understanding,
making mistakes, asking for forgiveness, loving ourselves, each other and the
world.
With all my love,
Laura
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