Ingathering Service – Who Shall We Be?
Anne Bancroft
September 10, 2006

Story #1 – Holding Up the Sky (a tale from China)
One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air. “What are you doing?” asked the elephant.

The hummingbird replied, “I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall.”

The elephant laughed cruelly. “Do you really think,” he said, “that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?”

The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, “Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do.”

Story #2 – The Crow and the Pitcher – an Aesop fable
One hot summer day, a crow was thirsty, so thirsty, in fact, that he felt he would die if he didn’t have a cool drink of water. He came upon a tall pitcher; but his beak was not long enough to reach the water. The crow was thirstier than ever now, with cool water so close and yet just out of reach. The crow thought for a moment and sprang into action.

Beneath the windowsill where the pitcher stood was a pile of pebbles. The crow flew down and picked up as many as he could carry. He dropped the pebbles into the pitcher. He repeated this several times, and every time he did, the level of water rose just a little bit. After many trips, the water nearly reached the top. The crow was then able to drink his fill.

When there’s a will, there’s a way.

Story #3 – the Waves
Once there were a big wave and a little wave in the middle of the ocean. The big wave was crying, and the little wave asked why. "If you could see what I can see," the big wave said, "You'd know that ahead of us are rocks. We're going to crash on the rocks and die!"

The little wave offered to teach the big wave something that would remove his fear, and first the big wave asked if it would cost anything, or if he would be required to chant a bunch of mantras and stand on his head, but the little wave said no, and that in fact it was only six words.

So the big wave said, "Sure, teach me."

And the little wave said: "You're not a wave, you're water."

Good morning – and welcome back.

What a summer it has been – for some, perhaps, great changes – as for our sanctuary! Your contributions, lovingly solicited way back when by Capital Campaign chairs Patsy Liebensperger, Tom Bean, and friends, have found their way into our walls and windows and lighting and sound. Can we ever be grateful enough for Laurel Farnsworth’s leadership? Or Tref LaFleche’s expertise? I doubt it. But we can say thank you - and we do – to them and to all the volunteers who have accomplished this task – too many to name. Our spirits are refreshed by the love and care that has gone into the artistry of this space.

For some of us, perhaps, this summer has brought fewer changes but hopefully some respite and rejuvenation. Our senior minister, James Fords’ sabbatical time is certainly a change for him and for us as we experience a different kind of fall together. The beauty of early September is that it provides the moments to begin again our segue into a new year – and moments to pause and consider as we breath in and exhale: Who shall we be?

In the midst of my thinking about this over the last few weeks, I learned that long-time FUSN member, Carol Corbett, had died. I will miss her presence here very much, as among other things I could always count on her for honest and direct feedback. If you were here for her service, you are aware of the consensus that one never felt the need to ask, “No, come on Carol, tell me what you REALLY think!” I was reminded of a morning last spring, when she approached me after the third in a series of Children’s messages that were related and increasingly complicated, and said “Listen honey. You should go back to keeping things simple. It’s what you do best.”

So, with Carol very much in mind, I approach the question of Who Shall We Be? I considered covering three angles: Who shall we be as Unitarian Universalists? Who shall we be as a community of people? And who shall we be as individuals? I could feel Carol’s eyes rolling, and her body leaning towards the person next to her in the pew. “Oh my God, we’ll be here ‘til next Wednesday!” she might have said.

I’ve chosen to stick primarily with one perspective instead - which you may have guessed from this morning’s short stories, geared towards individual choice – recognizing, of course, that who we choose to be as individuals largely dictates who we can be as a community, and who we will be as Unitarian Universalists.

Our three stories this morning included Holding Up the Sky, the Crow and the Pitcher, and the Story of the Wave, each offering a particular slant on our question. Recall in the opening story the humming bird with his legs stiffly upward to do his part in holding up the falling sky. What’s kind of interesting is that the story begs the question of whether the sky is actually falling. The hummingbird had simply heard that it might be, and was prepared to do his part to avoid the catastrophe. While the moral is clearly geared towards encouraging responsible participation in the world around us, it made me wonder if – when we ask Who Shall We Be - we are supposed to consider the degrees of risk at hand. Is the moral contingent on the catastrophe? Who shall we be if the sky is falling? Or is it, who shall we be in our everyday? I wonder: does it make a difference? Should it? Are you less prepared to do your part if the end of the world is not at hand? Because – you know - if the sky is not falling today or tomorrow, there are a lot of other things one could attend to instead of hanging around with your feet in the air! A relevant way to consider this might be to think about global warming. Geralyn Horton sent an article out on our list-serv this summer that suggests we have one decade, perhaps two, ten or twenty years before the earth adapts its temperatures upwards such that the only survivors will be living in Antartica. Whether we accept that end of the warming extreme, or a more tempered one, since we’re pretty sure global warming exists, the question remains how are you responding to the reality of our changing environment? How is it you have changed or are planning to change your habits in order to make your contribution to saving the world? Who will you be? There is at least general consensus that warming is in progress. In effect, somebody has suggested that something is happening akin to the sky falling, though nobody can really say just when it will fall. Wouldn’t that mean that each detail of our individual behavior matters? Each choice, and each decision we make changes the grand scheme, though we can hardly know how much. With respect to Global Warming, wouldn’t that mean we should be prepared to do all we can? So, yes, for every one of us who’s ever asked if it matters that we’ve done something as ecologically quiet as switching to energy efficient lightbulbs, it matters. It’s an indication of intent to connect the dots from action to consequence, and it is at least something we can do, a new way we can be, though one needn’t stop at lightbulbs! Gandhi said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” It occurred to me recently that he probably didn’t mean (and I think this applies particularly well to Unitarian Universalists) talk about being it, or think about being it, or find out first how much of a difference it will really make – all things we are all very good at considering before we actually leap to change. He said, be it. Be engaged agents for change towards the good. We must start where we can, of course, and then grow from there whether the challenge we are meeting is imminent or not.

What I want – and what I think would be powerful for us as a community of people, is for each of us to up the ante on our individual participation. Using the metaphor from our second story, imagine how many more pitchers of water we could fill together if we each decided to be more involved, to take on a bigger part of holding up the proverbial sky. Pick your passion and commit to addressing it. One pitcher could be global warming, and one pitcher could be peacemaking, and one pitcher could be - whatever issue we choose to address.

As much as this place – this community, this spiritual home of like-minded individuals, seekers, rebels, non-dogmatic non-traditionalists - should be one of emotional rest and safety, of sanctuary for our often weary and sometimes battered souls, it should be a place to bring our questions, our agitation, and our sense of urgency about what is out there confronting our lives. The sense of sky falling is, after all, a spiritual issue that speaks to each one of us. Every sensate reaction we have as human beings – everything tasted, or touched, seen, heard or smelled – comfort, hunger, cold, beauty, is filtered through our souls, moving us to react and to respond. Wonder and awe confront us as tangibly as fear and discouragement. And, even if we –as Unitarian Universalists - don’t name those extremes God or evil, or even if we do, our bodies know the realities of either being attuned (inside to out) or in a state of disrepair. In this respect we know that every one of our actions, every choice we make, is of the spirit within each of us. Imagine our ability to harness that power and make it a force for good!

We have gathered our waters today to bring ourselves back together, back into this potent community of individual energies. We have enormous potential. Is there fear here? Of course! Remember our third story? The big wave is afraid of its own power; but, listen to the small voice within you that reminds you not to be afraid of the power you hold to make a difference. You – and we - needn’t be the fearful wave of destruction but the positive, vibrant and significant waters of change, the change we want to see in the world.

No act is too small, and every act that is filled with the intent of goodness is holy. Let us be learners and do-ers together.

“Each must do what he can. And this is what I can do.”

Amen