"Spirit and Sparks"

A Sermon by
The Reverend Bill Clark

Last spring I had to get new glasses. It was towards the end of the church year. Some of you noticed, and made comments, "Hey are those new glasses?" Others just noticed that something was different.  My favorite comment was, "You lose weight or something?" It is amazing what new glasses can do for you!

It was quite an ordeal to get new glasses. Let me tell you. You see, I did not only have to get new frames, but I had to get a new prescription as well. These are bi-focals, the gradual descending kind so we had to test for near and far sidedness. When I went to pick them up and tried them on, everything seemed off. When I looked down, everything was blurry. When I looked up I felt dizzy. I tried walking with them on out in Harvard Sq. and had to put my hand out along the buildings to steady myself.

The doctor, bless his heart, said it will take time to get used to them -- take them home and use them for short periods of time. I tried my best. I really did. Yet while at the church office whenever I was speaking to someone, I had to take them off because they were too strong. I could see every pore, wrinkle and blemish on everyone's face. It was very disconcerting indeed.

I went back a few days later and said these are just too strong for me and the doctor, bless his heart, after much convincing adjusted them by reducing the strength of the lens. It was quite a process with a very valuable lesson.

My vision does not have to be magnified to the extent that I see so far and more than is adequately necessary; blemishes, pores and wrinkles -- oh my!!. My vision must be what best suits me now at this time and stage in my life. As the doctor said, bless his heart, you will probably have to come back in a year or so to adjust the lens once again, but I would rather do that, than see too far and too much and be dizzy all the time. People's eyes and visions need adjustments and changes all the time.

And so it is with churches as well. The vision of church are its eyes. And as Anne Heller reminds us it is hard to disguise a church without a vision. The vision of any church answers the questions who are we and what are our dreams? It asks us to examine our identity and what we hope to do in this world. A vision of a church, like our own vision, changes over time and needs to be re-examined and re-evaluated to see if it matches the congregation's hopes and dreams. A vision makes real plans from these hopes and dreams -- for the future of the congregation.

With that in mind the Parish Board affirmed the formation of a visioning task force; now called the spirit and sparks team, to examine this idea of congregational visioning. You were introduced to the team this morning. We have been working together since last late last winter. One of the purposes of this team is to inspire and facilitate a congregational wide conversation about who we are and who we are called to be -- as  individuals, as a faith community, and as an active institution in our world -- and to work towards ensuring that this holy conversation produces a shared vision of First Parish's next chapter. And like the story of my new glasses, we do not want to have our sights on a vision that is too strong and too far into the future that it becomes blurry and makes us dizzy. We are talking here of a minimum of three goals for the next three years -- the next chapter.

Why so short? Why are we not looking ahead ten years or more?  Good questions. The reasoning is that you have just come out of three years of transition -- the change over of the entire professional ministry staff -- the seeds of my ministry are just beginning to take root. We are still learning from and about one another. Now is the time to examine short term goals, reachable and attainable, that will help us to solidify our church identity and what we are called to do in this world.

And truth be told none of this work is new to the congregation. In 1997-98 this congregation did a wonderful job in their 20/20 visioning,  that produced a long term plan to guide constructive growth and spiritual development of First Parish. The spirit and sparks team looked closely at the results of the 20/20 visioning. Much was accomplished and should be celebrated and will be shared with you in our town hall meeting after church today and throughout the entire Spirit and Sparks process.

Now all this was eight years ago! There have been many important and significant changes in First Parish since then -- entirely new professional ministry staff, a large number of deaths in the congregation as well as a significant number of new members. It is a different church community than it was in 1997-98. Now is the perfect time to continue with this work. I say continue because that is exactly what the Spirit and Sparks team hopes to do with all of you -- to continue the conversations about who we are now and what are we called to do -- now at this time in our history. This kind of work, visioning and planning in the life of a church is a continuous process. And when I say continuous, I mean not on any linear timetable. But rather as a continuous spiral that keeps us moving forward and bringing us to new places as well as some familiar places but with a different perspective and different insights.

I must tell that I love this kind of work with churches. I love working with the people and listening to them as they tell of their hopes and dreams for their church community. As Marge Piercy reminded me, "I love people who submerge themselves in the task, who do what has to be done again and again and again."

As your minister this is some of the most exciting and energizing work we can do together. I love listening to friends and members tell of what they want their church community to be and to do and to stand for. I love that we call these holy conversations -- holy, in the sense that not everyone will have the same visions, hopes and dreams. And what happens if and when these dreams may be in conflict with one another.

Hmmm! Conflict!  "I want First Parish to be out in the forefront in speaking out for justice and oppression." "I want First Parish to be quiet and gentle place where I feel safe and secure." I want our church to stay out of politics and take care of its members. I hope our church can begin to help change the world!  HMMM! Conflicting yes,  but conflict is the perfect opportunity, opportunity to find out what kind of community we are creating together!

So let me ask you, what are your hopes and dreams for First Parish in Lexington? What do you yearn for in the life of First Parish?

These are important, powerful and imperative questions to ask as we move forward into our next chapter -- the next turn on the spiral. And these were the questions the Spirit and Sparks team asked one another as we gathered for a retreat in late August. We decided that since we were planning a process to ask these important questions to the congregation as a whole, perhaps it would be helpful to hear from one another of our hopes, dreams and visions for First Parish. We ended our first evening together with sharing of these visions.

I can truly tell you the energy in the room when we were done was nothing short of electrifying. People became animated; excited as they shared their deepest hopes, dreams and visions for the church home they love.

And the one word that stuck out for me in all of our sharing was relevant! All wanted First Parish to be relevant in our lives, in our community and in our world.

Another thing I learned this summer, this was at our General Assembly in Fort Worth, that if a congregation is visioning together, it is important that  they know what the vision of the minister is as well. Now this took me a bit by surprise as I was always taught the church belongs to the congregation it, is your church, and not the ministers. The facilitator agreed but, he stated a good spiritual leader will share with his or her congregation their hopes and dreams for what they would like to see their church be and do together. 

So what are my visions, hopes and dreams for First Parish Lexington?

I would start with what I heard from the team members.

Relevance! I want this church to be so relevant to you and your family that staying home on a Sunday morning would be out of the question -- that to begin your week without being surrounded by your church community and family would leave you feeling empty and out of sorts.

Relevance! That the decision to come to church was not based on the sermon topic or who was preaching or singing -- but on the feeling of how utterly important, imperative and relevant this community felt to you.

Relevant! That when you said you attended First Parish, people immediately said, oh that is the church that welcomes all people and is the conscience of Lexington. Oh that is the church with its lights on seven days a week, that offers all those interesting courses for adults on theology, ethics, poetry and literature. Oh that is the church that is bursting with children and youth and has that rockin' second service with kids dancing and clappin in the aisles?

Relevant! I want the covenants we create together to be real, honest and truthful and when they get difficult to hold up that we don't walk away frightened and frustrated, but stay and stay and work through them always, always speaking our truth, yet speaking it with love.

I want our cries for justice and equality to be loud, clear and concise, uniting us in our values and not dividing us with our politics.

Relevant! I want us to be financially sound and secure. That people give to this church community because of its place of relevance and importance in their lives. That people give of their time and energy as well so there are always more than enough volunteers to do what needs to be done -- and that the volunteers feel supported, nurtured and valued for the gifts they bring to this, their church home.

I want us to walk our talk in doing the hard and difficult work of dismantling racism, sexism, classism and homophobia and feel proud -- proud that a rainbow flag flies outside of our church on Sundays welcoming sexual and cultural minorities, when so many local churches are slamming the doors in their faces!

Relevant! I want our Unitarian Universalist values to be active, living breathing, clearly articulated ones, so when people ask you what is a UU, there is not a moments hesitation as with energy and enthusiasm you explain your faith and why it soooooooooo important and relevant in your lives.

The potential and possibilities of who we are what we can offer one another and the world is limitless and boundless. We certainly cannot do everything, but we can certainly do some very important some things.

"The work of the world is common as mud," we heard this morning. Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. But the thing worth doing well. Has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident."

We are asking your participation in Spirit and Sparks as a thing worth doing well. It will be satisfying and evident, as we, together, through holy and hallowed conversations begin to evaluate and articulate the next chapter in the life of First Parish.

Now there will be many exciting ways to participate. The process, plan and time line will be laid out in a town hall meeting this afternoon at 12:15. Next Sunday, following our service we will have our consultant, from the Alban Institute, Alice Mann with us to lead us through a history grid exercise where we can examine together the important historical roots of this church community so we can re-claim the words of one of my favorite hymns, "roots hold me close, wings set me free..." It is important for all of us to remember and reflect on our roots, yet never to be stuck and stifled by them as we loose our ability to stretch our wings to reach new heights.

I know I can speak for the Spirit and Sparks team and tell you that we are excited about this process. Our name reflects this excitement. It comes from our opening hymn; gather the spirit. We want to gather the spirits, the energy, the hopes, dreams and visions from all of you so we can, ignite the sparks that will illuminate us into our next chapter; "our separate fires will kindle one flame..."

And may this flame, this light help to guide us in creating a church community that is important, significant and relevant to your lives and to our bruised and hurting world -- Let us gather the spirit & ignite the sparks!!!

Blessed Be.