Gather in Hope

I love the beginning of the church year. Once again we gather as a community of memory and hope. We gather as part of a living tradition of religious seekers, people with a long history of spiritual and intellectual openness, of commitment to compassion and truth. We gather with hopes for the future—hopes for our selves, our loved ones, our congregation, our world.

A year ago we gathered for opening Sunday in the midst of construction. We had no chapel. We had no religious education wing. The Mills building was still all torn up. Our offices were in a trailer. And, of course, we had no running water. We had portable toilets on the edge of the parking lot. Mostly what we had was a huge mess! Yet, for all the hassle, we could see our shared dream of an expanded religious home taking shape around us. I remember how excited I was to be back in this pulpit after my two year absence working for our Association. Yes, we had a mess a year ago, but we were full of hope for the future.

As I think about beginning a new church year I remember my first opening Sunday here six years ago. I recall the excitement of coming to Colorado to begin a new ministry. I remember feeling a powerful sense that this was a congregation with dedicated people and breathtaking potential. That first year we spent a lot of time discussing on our hopes for JUC. Those conversations were gathered in a report that consolidated our shared hopes into a plan for the future. Most reports like that gather dust, but this one kicked up a lot of dust. When we shared our hopes we laid the foundation for profound changes. When we share our hopes amazing things happen.

And look at us now. We are in our newly remodeled and expanded home. Hundreds have joined our community. It’s pretty wonderful.
But the hopes we shared then were not about square footage. Our hopes were for a religious home that would help us raise our children in the path of understanding, compassion and strength. Our hopes were for worship, activities and programs that would help us deepen our spiritual lives and deepen our relationships with each other. We shared our hopes for being a congregation that opens its arms and welcomes other seekers like ourselves. We believed there were hundreds of others who would love to become part of a community that affirmed human worth, compassion, peace, and the wisdom of all of humanity’s great religious traditions. We hoped to do more to live out our values in our community by public witness, by service, by sharing.

Last year a small task force took on the job of reviewing and updating our mission statement, to make it reflect more closely our hopes and aspirations. Bill Mangham spoke of his work on that project in our chalice lighting this morning. In those conversations it became clear that our hopes continue to cluster in three major areas:

First, we want to nurture our spiritual community. We want to grow spiritually. We want to deepen our lives. We want to be there for each other when times are rough. We want to raise our children to be caring and thoughtful. We want to know each other more deeply.

Second, we want to make our community available to others. We believe people become fully human in relationship. And we know that there are many people who are looking for a community of people who share our desire to live in harmony with others, in harmony with their deepest sense of what is holy and sacred in life. We know that people want to be part of community that strives to make a difference in the world. I see such people come through our doors every week. We don’t need to proselytize, and we have no desire to grow for the sake of growth. We do, however, have a responsibility to offer a home to the religiously homeless and to feed the spiritually hungry.

Third, we see the religious life as a life engaged with the world outside of church. Religion is not an escape. Religion is not denial. We live in a world that is torn by hatred, violence, injustice, fear and prejudice. We know that this congregation alone cannot transform the world. We also understand that we must do our part to create a world that is kinder, fairer, more tolerant, and less violent. We must offer help where we can be effective. We must speak forcefully when we see others seeking to impose a narrow, ignorant, and too often mean spirited vision into public life.

Our mission, as you have stated it, is to nurture our spiritual community, to grow our faith, and to serve the world outside our walls. This is who we are. This is why we gather together.

The question before us today is this: what do we dare to hope for now? We have been so blessed. We have seen so many of our hopes become reality. Our new physical home is just a small part of it. In the last six years we have become one of the half dozen fastest growing churches in our movement. We have expanded our programming to the point that you could spend most evenings here taking classes, making music, volunteering to help in some activity you care about passionately (and some of you are here a lot of evenings). We are so blessed. What, indeed, dare we to hope for now?

I have a little confession to make. (This may be a little awkward; confessing is not something I have a lot of practice doing.) I came here six years ago with high hopes. I was pretty ambitious. That isn’t my confession. Here is my confession: my hopes were not high enough. I underestimated us. I think I need to raise my hopes to a new level. I think we all do.

I believe we need to raise our hopes individually and together.
We say we want to nurture our spiritual community. What do you and I need to do to nurture you own spiritual lives and relationships? Perhaps you should think about joining a chalice circle. These small groups are a great way to explore important life issues and a way to get to know some terrific people in a deeper way. You can sign up this morning in the commons; I urge you to do it. Maybe you need to start attending a meditation group. Maybe you need to volunteer to help with our fellowship activities or volunteer to help those who need special assistance.

Collectively, we all need to pay special attention to strengthening our community. Our rapid growth is wonderful. One out of every six members joined last year. Your ministers and your lay leadership are focussing much of our effort this year on making sure we create lots of ways for people to deepen their connection to this congregation.
We have done a lot to nurture our spiritual community. I hope we can do more. I know we can.

We say we way we want to help grow our movement. This comes from a deep desire to share what we love about JUC. It comes from a profound belief that human beings need a community that helps them transcend the limits of isolation and meaninglessness.
Each one of us has a role in making this a reality. We have grown rapidly because our members are open hearted and welcoming. Hospitality, powerful religious hospitality, comes from the heart. Every time you greet a newcomer, every time you engage in genuine conversation with someone you do not know, you help to grow this faith. Your ministers can’t do that. Your board of trustees can’t do that. Only the love in your heart can do that.

If we are to continue to help grow our congregation and this movement, there are some things we need to do together. We can help train ministers for our movement. We will form an intern ministry committee this fall, select an intern this winter and have an intern minister a year from now. We are on the verge of outgrowing our newly expanded home. What a wonderful problem to have! We’ll be forming a task force to explore a number of options.

I hope we can continue to be a church that welcomes new people with open arms. I even dare to hope we can be even more welcoming to newcomers. I am raising my hopes, for I have seen what we can do.

We say we want to serve the world. At the core of our being, we know we are not whole unless we give of ourselves. Serving connects with other human beings; it makes us full members of the human family. We have a good record here of serving in a variety of ways—from helping provide shelter for the homeless to supporting the international efforts of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Today we will host a forum on a ballot measure that will shape Colorado’s future. I hope you come.
I want each of us to ask what we can do to participate in healing our troubled world. There is untapped energy, untapped love here. How do you hope to serve?

Collectively, we are exploring ways to take our social action to a new level. Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, our part time minister for social responsibility, is continuing his work with our Social Responsibility Council this year. I hope we can become a more powerful and effective force for good in the world. I believe we are well on our way.

It is so good, so very, very good to gather once more.
As we continue our journey, let us go forward with new hope in our hearts. We have come a long way. Yet we have just begun. We have just begun to nurture our spiritual community. We have just begun to grow our faith. We have just begun to serve the world.

My prayer today is that together we raise our hopes to a new level. Our hopes guide and empower us. When we let our highest hopes guide us, our lives are transformed into lives of joy, lives of service, lives that are spiritually deep, lives that are rich and whole and wonderful.
May our hopes fill our hearts to overflowing. May our hopes guide our journey together. May our hopes make us strong and bold.

Come, let us be on our way.

Amen.