Sermon/Homily: Thanksgiving for Marquette's UU Congregation by Rev. Mark Engle

Thanksgiving for Marquette’s UU Congregation (November 12, 2006 by Rev. Mark Engle)

It has been about a year now, that Sharon and I began to lay plans to retire and to return to our roots. We will be moving back to Barry County, from whence we came and where family and friends await our arrival. Of course, such a decision sets in motion a parade of “Goodbyes,” difficult words who hold the hidden gift of gratitude.

“It matters what you call things,” the Sufi poet, Rumi, wrote long ago. So, Barb and I read to you from two lists of names, one the list you are forming about what you are to call yourselves another from the Gospel of Luke, naming Jesus’ ancestry. We talk a lot, these days, about authority, the authority of faith. To most, that means “who is right.” But the root of authority is author, the name one places on one’s work. So, what you do now, to try to name this volume of the life of this congregation is not inconsequential work. What we call ourselves tells where we come from, what is utmost.

Our life together, the UU’s and the St. Paulers has a rich name, partner. I think about the early days of public meetings of a Unitarian congregation gathering in the Morgan Chapel amid all that Trinitarian stained glass! Then the era at the Village Inn, on Brickyard Road and now here in this place. We have partnered. You have been integral to the Outreach work of St. Paul’s providing leadership in the Alternative Gifts Fair. We partnered in the Sweet-water Café’s parking lot, to voice our concerns about Proposition 2. We have worked together to give Voice to an inclusive and affirming vision of faith in the Mining Journal’s Voices column. In a hundred informal ways, we have walked together as friends in faith.

Together, we work to resist the flood of religious intolerance and one upsman-ship that so mars the landscape of our time. In a funny way, the name Yearning for united Understanding Unitarian Universalist in the Unenlightened Upper Peninsula speaks a truth about the mission we share. But it is more than that.

Visioning is like Jake and Elwood’s mission from God. Jesus proclaims Jubilee.

Our authority grows not only from the road we have trod and our partners along the way. It also grows from Vision. We hear another vision co-opted from the words of the Prophet Isaiah as Jesus read them in his home synagogue in Nazareth. It was a dazzling event that all remember. “Today, this scripture is fulfilled within your hearing.”

I have always loved Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers, because they, too came home. With over-weaning joy expressed in Rhythm and Blues, (with James Brown, no less) they set the context of their life as “a Mission from God.” It was such a Nazareth moment in which a bright light was shone on the way forward.

The mission announced that day in Nazareth was the ancient Jubilee, a year out of each 50 years when every day was Sabbath, when everyone came back to square one, all property was distributed to its original owners, all gaffes and missteps put behind, a new beginning was affirmed.

You can tell a lot about a congregation’s faith by what we do. You can tell very little by what we say. Of such is the Jubilee. I know that Jubilee vision to be alive here, the root of the rich partnership we have shared over the past 12 years.

So, authority of the mission we share has grown from what we call ourselves and from our vision of the way forward. We have managed to enfold all of the vast differences and contrasts into that passion to serve. For that I am grateful.

In the end, it is all about coming home, isn’t it? Knowing where you come from, seeing where you are going. There is one more thing. In all things, Give Thanks.

One more thing. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you.” This the punch line of St. Paul’s advice in his very first letter to a congregation. They are the hallmark of the partnership we have shared over the years. It has been one of deep joy, authentic spirit and most of all of Gratitude. It is a vital thing to understand where you came from. It is equally vital to vision a path ahead. But, in the end, the quality of life in a partnership grows out of giving thanks. (Those of you with long term relationships know that all too well.) My hope for the continuing partnership our congregations share to have not only a long friendship and a clear vision, but, finally, a deep sense of gratitude.