What a wonderful service this is, coming together to honor each other's lives. And, this year is a personal milestone for my ministry with you. It was exactly ten years ago that I received a packet about your church and your search for a minister of religious education. In a letter dated December 22, 1989, Roger Coakley invited me to send your search committee a packet of materials about me and my ministry. The uncomfortable part of the situation was that (and some of you know this story) I had been away from home when the church packet arrived and the dogs in my neighborhood had been playing catch with the papers for an entire week. So, a vital part of Roger's message was missing. I could only read "Please;" then there was a gaping hole in the paper; then the words, "will save time." Imagine how impressed the office was when I had to call to report that "the dogs ate the packet?" Ah, such an impressive beginning!!
Over the years, this congregation has been outstanding in its many endeavors; but if, for now, we look only at the last ten years, we have certainly kept up our pace. It seems that our Mission Statement, written at a Council Retreat in 1991 is a guiding force. That group wrote: we want "to be a caring, religious community that:
If we consider some of our group accomplishments, we'll remember the Committee on One, which worked to change our Lobby sign from "Here let no man be a stranger" to "Here let no one be a stranger". And, to honor our history, the older plaque remains under the new one. We'll remember our work to become a Welcoming Congregation. Our congregational affirmative vote meant that the Unitarian Universalist Association sent us an official certificate, on the wall to the right of these Sanctuary main doors, which states that "We are a Welcoming Congregation. This Unitarian Universalist community welcomes and celebrates the presence and participation of gay, lesbian and bisexual persons."
Presently, we would add transgendered persons, as does our Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns Task Force, which just donated the new Rainbow Flag for our lobby. We will remember the work of many, with the Accessibility Task Force so that now we have an accessible bathroom, front doors which can easily be opened with the mere touch of a button, and, mainly, the Marion Ashley Bickford Memorial Elevator, dedicated in March, 1996. This means that all of us can reach all three floors of our church building. We still have the issue of making this Sanctuary stage accessible. During a 10:30 Family Service, I was asking our children if they thought having some kind of ramp to the stage would be a good idea. Yes, they felt that people in wheelchairs should be able to come up here. Then one little boy added "Yes, for wheelchairs and also for the motorcycles." Absolutely, motorcycles, too!
We'll remember, too, that the way we use our space here is very different - we've gotten used to many church events being held in Gilbert Hall -- even all the summer services, with air conditioning, are likely to remain there in the future. And, we can't forget the change in how we do things because of all our computers...fifteen years ago, most church staffs were still using typewriters!
Without doubt, we will remember the fund raising and the weekend building of the School 20 playground. An all age service project like that, definitely met our need "to live our values through social outreach."
There are certainly other major and important ways we've made progress...we've honored Dick Gilbert's distinguished ministry by naming our second largest space after him. (He jokes that if I stay here long enough, we'll establish the Chapin Memorial Religious Education Supply Closet.) We've honored Ed Schell's leadership of our marvelous music program by naming him our Minister of Music, and there is no question we will continue to move ahead in the spirit of our Mission Statement.
But, the question is "What will be?" or, "How" will it be? In the December 24 "Democrat and Chronicle, a member, Tina Simson wrote an article entitled: "Are Children Learning that Work Comes before Family?" Tina had asked her teenage son, Michael, "What do you think our family stands for? What are our values?" He had answered: "We believe in work" and then had added, "We stand for family and I think we believe in family first." Tina states: "The pace of life has quickened beyond what is healthy for the family and the soul. Work demands too many hours in the week; families are rushed and too tired to play. What my son sees and knows are my actions. What he needs to see and know is my heart. To make that happen, I must slow down. I must be brave to push back against society's demand for urgency at all costs and productivity above all else."
I agree with Tina, this is one of our future challenges. And this is connected, of course, with how we will use or be used by technology. Evidently, in his 1982 book, Megatrends, John Naisbitt introduced briefly the idea of High Tech - High Touch, which is the title of his just published 1999 book - (with the sub-title "Technology and Our Search for Meaning.") Naisbitt defines "high tech - high touch" as "recognizing that at its best, technology supports and improves human life; at its worse, it alienates, isolates, distorts and destroys. It is questioning what place technology should have in our lives and what place it should have in society. It is knowing when simulated experiences add value to human life. It is recognizing when to avoid the layers of distractions and distance technology affords us. It is knowing when to unplug and when to plug in. "High tech - high touch" is enjoying the fruits of technological advancements and having it truly sit well with our god, our church or our spiritual beliefs. It is understanding technology through the human lens of play, time, religion and art."
I won't pretend to do this book justice this morning. There will be an opportunity to read it and discuss it with others in my Adult Program Class, which will start with other classes later this month. The winter class offerings brochure will be included in next week's newsletter. One of Naisbitt's observations is that there are Americans who are now simplifying their lives - are interested in being more responsible consumers. We will be looking at our consumption of resources in the class.
As many of you know, I have deep concerns about the effects of technology upon us, upon our children and grandchildren. We have much to anticipate and much to protect in terms of our humanness. Our gatherings, our staying connected, on Sundays and otherwise, are life sustaining for many of us. Our life styles, our involvement with technology is varied, and obviously, here to stay. As evidenced by our Service of Living Tradition, we matter to one another in a face-to face kind of way.
What I find so upsetting, so often, is the lack of human contact encouraged by technology. Even in the smallest ways, such as: I never talk with the nice young man at the Mobil station anymore because I can swipe my credit card at the gas pump.
The message is that we need to pay attention, we need to keep what is important to us, we need to be in charge of our machines, of our lives. We need to stay in connection with one another, as we have done so wonderfully this morning, in this service.
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