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Understanding 9/11This great unitarian universalist church france church
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- Publication date
- 2022-06-08
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- france, church, know, this great unitarian universalist church, unitarian universalist, sermon
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This great unitarian universalist church france church: Pledge to the church it's something the church needs he said. can we thank you for choosing this great unitarian universalist church.
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- 2022-06-08 08:08:42
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- I'm so pleased. 2. Introduce our guest. Preacher. Rev dr. patrick o'neal. Dr. anil graduated with a. Dr. ministry degree in 1979. I know that date because i too graduated from meadville lombard theological school in 1979 with patrick. But the doctor of ministry degree. Arborist. Parishes we're right next door to each other. Patrick. Is an old. And cherished. Friend. He served churches in yakima and kirkland washington. Framingham massachusetts. And wilmington. Delaware he's a recipient of many honors. And awards. Including. Cuu a stewardship sermon of the year award. And the unitarian universalist. Service committee vision for justice. Sermon award. He currently serves as men. Ministerial fellowship committee. Or fred will be next week. And. He's a wonderful preacher. And a good friend. I brought a reading for you this morning written by. Our friend and colleague the reverend libby stoddard. Of our unitarian universalist church in lafayette indiana. Maybe right. What i wonder about a lot is. Why churches. Or temples or mosques. In the first place. Surely it was all done as well at stonehenge. Under the open sky. Surely there are other ways. To give away our money. To hear. Great ideas together. To work together. To worship together what i wonder about a lot is. That there are a great many people who don't come here. Or to any other temples or churches or. Mosques and they don't go to stonehenge either. And you know they seem to live. Okay. And they probably end up with more money in free time than we ever do. So this place. Can't be essential to life. Like food and water and sleep. And love. Injustice. What i wonder about a lot is. What we would do with all our questions. If we weren't here. Where else would we find. So many names. For god. For joy. For fun. For destiny. For the agony and. Hope of life to be express. If we were not here. With whom. Would we share. Help. Hope. Love. Aptitude ineptitude. Joys and sorrows mark the passages of life. If we were not. Here. Today. Together. I want to begin by thanking my. Friend arvid for the invitation to come and speak to you and your. Beautiful meeting house this morning. Believe me there is no. Greater act of trust. By any minister. Then to invite a colleague. Into one's pulpit. On canvas sunday. The pressure is on here folks. Barberton i have. Ben francis he said for. More than 30 years. Going back to when we were. Cindy classmates in theological school in. Chicago and later. Student ministers baby ministers together in the. Great pacific northwest. Orbit is. Quite simply. The best kind of friend and colleague to have in this life. And i hope you are privileged to have such a friend. In your own life. As i. Think about some of the moments. In my life when i have laughed the hardest and wept. The most deeply. My friend arvid was there to share that with me. It's. Great privilege to be with you today. Been great fun to be with him and sonia. This weekend and also i get to visit with tom and carolyn do until tonight. Also long time. Prince. And now i hear that marjorie bowen's wheatley is coming to your church. Play i'll say one thing for you guys you know how to pick ministers week. So you got up this morning and. You remember that it was canvas sunday. Can you vaguely recalled from the newsletter that some guests minister that you don't know. Was going to be in the pulpit. And you came to church anyway. Well good for you. Your presence here today is 1. Wonderful. Indication that this congregation is important to you. An important to people that you love. I want to reflect with you just a bit this morning on. What it is about these. Unique. Little communities called congregations. That we choose to affirm. In the first place and why these little institutions like this. Continue to be. Important in our lives and clamar. Loyalty over the years. For indeed as libby stoddard says. This place. Can't be essential to life. Not like. Food and water and sleep. And love. Injustice. Or can it. Can it be that important. To who we are because let's face it you probably drove past. Two or three or four different houses of worship. To get here. This morning. I often think we ministers what to give that. Same announcement that flight attendants give when you land at the airport we realize you had your choice of airlines incoming to san diego this morning. And we thank you for choosing southwest. Well we are to say we realize you had your choice of. Places to worship this morning. Can we thank you for choosing this great unitarian universalist church. As your place of worship. Today at your place of worship week in and week out. Month after month year after year this place becomes. Very very dear and important to you. It will probably not. Surprised many of you to know that as a minister. I have a great. Personal fondness for churches and. Temples of all kinds. I mean for houses of worship in general the buildings. Where religious groups congregate for whatever form of. Worship they practice. I love churches. Temples most monasteries. Schranz wayside chapel. Of all kinds. From the most grandiose an ornate. To the smallest and most humble i find them all to be. Fascinating places. I always have. I have never in fact meta professional clergyperson yet. Minister priest rabbi or imam. Who did not have a similar. Feeling of appreciation. Four houses of worship. I imagine we're a bit like. Artist. Who enjoy. Being in other artists studios. Just to see what it feels like. As my family can tell you i cannot go by. A new church or temple without stopping. And trying the front door to see if i can get just a peek inside. And if perchance the door is open. And i have the opportunity. To look around i will prowl all over the place. I will know everything about it in about 20 minutes. I read all the plaques and. Dedication plates i look at all the windows i. Well. Crawl around up in the choir loft if i get the chance i will sit at the organ. Even though i don't play the oregon just to get a feel for it. I will sit in the pews so i will kneel on the kneeler if there are any. And if there are candles to be lit i will. Light a candle in memory of my grandmother. And i will say a prayer that she taught me when i was. A little boy and she used to drag me into such places. You can tell a lot. About a church or a temple. Just by sitting there. Quietly by yourself for a few minutes. You can tell a lot just by experiencing. The light. In the room. Or the acoustics. Of place. The but the visual aesthetics the balancing. Symmetry. Of the place i always try to imagine. What kind of people worship there. And what kind of god. Might be honored there. I do check out the view from the choir loft. And if i get a chance to i also. Climb up and stand in the pulpit. Just for a minute. I don't touch anything you know. Test to see how. How it handles in on the curves you know. See what this baby can do up here. Ministers say i often wonder what i would say if anyone caught me doing that. Clergy of course understand this about each other. But church custodian. They frown upon people trespassing. In their pulpits to this point in my life i've been. Privilege to visit o a seven or eight countries not as many as. Some of you world travelers in our midst i know but. I have been privileged to visit. Some of the most famous and most beautiful places of worship in the world. In america. Visited the cathedral saint john the divine and of course saint patrick's in. New york city in. The great white marble national cathedral in washington. In california and redwood forests north of. San francisco perhaps you've been there too i. Once worshipped in its end monastery building. That was. Octagonal in shape. And made completely by hand. Of polished rosewood. Biogen master who also happened to be. A master carpenter. That building has not one nail. In it. In canada. Vintage notre dame. Church in montreal. With its ornate. Hand carved wood. Cancel that beautiful church of. Perfect acoustics where. Pavarotti. Once recorded his christmas concert. In spain. Studying the great cathedral of sevilla. Where christopher columbus is buried. I visited the great mosque in cordoba. With its 1,000. Marble pillars know two of them. Carved. Exactly the same indesign. And i've worshipped in christopher wren's magnificent. Cathedral of saint paul's and. In westminster in london net. Great. Chapel where it seems every notable in british history is buried. And of course i've been to magnificent notre dame in paris. Tucson chappelle and sacre-coeur. Also in the city of life i've been to san marcos. In venice. To the duomo in florence. And st peter's in vatican city. I love all these places. Knifehead religious experiences literally in all of them. But the one who loves churches love. Holy places history and. Classical architecture. To me the most beautiful and impressive of them all. Is the 800 year old cathedral. In shark. In france. Nothing i had. Read or study prepared me for the sheer beauty. Of shark cathedral it sits in the midst of an agrarian. Countryside with no high-rise buildings around it or. Anywhere near as we approached it one. Spring day. Driving from the south it rose up from. 10 miles away. And we saw it as i imagined pilgrims. Of the 13th century sauce. As they walked from all over europe to visit shark. It was an aesthetic. Experience in every way just to be inside. That building to walk the labyrinth. On the floor. But above all. It was the light. The softness and texture of the light. As it filtered through gorgeous. Glass windows. Red and green and blue and gold. More than 800 years ago all still. Vibrant with color. It was the light above all. That i. Remember from shot the light from 160. 7 windows imagine. Two stories of them around the entire. Cathedral all shapes roses. Oculi lancets. Each one of those windows. A masterpiece. Of beauty and workmanship leaded together. Transcending time. Transcending. Space some of those windows. Had stated ever-so-slightly. With the sunlight of eight centuries. Of summer. Imagine 8th century. Of sunrises. And sunsets. It was the light. That i remember in shark. But those windows did to it. What they created. With it they wrapped you in color. They turned. The cold hardiness of granite stone flooring into a kind of. Colored liquid. Carpet. Those windows were each impossibly beautiful. And intricate piece together. To form and illustrate epic stories from. Scripture stories from the old testament stories. From the lives of the saints stories from the life of christ. Stories from the prophets. Stories. From the whole history. Of christendom. And judaism. Each window. In a medieval cathedral is a kind of story book. An artistic rendering for worshippers. And pilgrims of a far-off. Preliterate culture. In a time before printing presses. When faith. And the essence of spirituality was. Passed along through oral teaching. Or true stories. And terrible. Through music yes and. True visual art to architecture itself. Not far inside the cathedral i. Found myself standing at the foot of one soaring magnificent. Window with hundreds of pieces of. Mosaic glass leaded together a bowl. Different colors. It seemed to me to recount the entire old testament it was so. Elaborate and exquisite. At the very bottom of the window. In one. Spring that was in the corner of the window. Showed. A cobbler. A shoemaker. Huddle's over his workbench. It didn't seem to go with the rest of the. Story being told in the window. And one guide saw me studying this. Image. This is the shoemaker's window. He explained to me. It was installed in the year 1201. And it is considered one of the most beautiful windows in the cathedral. In fact it was the gift. Village shoemakers. From every village in france. Who each contributed. Whatever they could even the smallest coins. The smallest. Tents. To commission this work of art. For god's house. The royalty and the. Wealthiest. Noble szafranski continue gave. Some of the windows in this church. But this particular window is the gift of the shoemaker's. Another window was given by the. Village water carriers. Of every village in france. The butchers. Of the villages gave another. When do the fishmongers. Gabe one. The vine growers in. Tanners. Gave windows in the same. Men. As did the masons. And furriers and draper's and weaver. Cooper's send. Carpenters in cartwright. The blacksmiths of every village in france. Gable window. Hat makers gave one. The apothecary scape one. These windows many of them. Said my guide were given one mosaic. At a time. Piece by piece. Coin by coin. By people who wanted nothing more than to contribute something beautiful. To laugh. The ages. How i wish i could. Transport everyone of you. Too short cathedral this morning. To see what those. Working people from all the little towns and villages of all over france were able to give. Today at grace national church. And hence to all the pilgrims of. 8 centuries. Like me. Who have visited. There and stood in that light. The irony is that these. Majestic windows which are the very symbol of medieval greatness in art and architecture beyond value today. The great irony is that these were mostly the gif. Common people. Not the provenance of the wealthy or nobility. My guide explained. As i pondered. What i might say to you this morning to get across tonight. Concrete image what your support of. This church. On celebration sunday means. What your individual place. In the life of this great mosaic. Congregational life is it's that shoemakers window. That kept coming back. To my mind. Can we talk about supporting our. Churches in this we are all the same. Any congregation. From the largest cathedral to the smallest thing. Salinas chapel. Is always the gift. Of the common people. Who supported. It's the gift of. People who love. That congregation love that place. To work for and supported. As they are able. Each of us at our own level of ability. To be generous. And to support. It's the love. Of its congregation. That ultimately makes any of these buildings. A church. Aurora temple. Or meetinghouse takes an ordinary. Building an ordinary structure and makes a b. At sanctuary. A holy place. A place where amazing things happen. Every week. When people gathered there. A community that transcends time. Am i nearly 30 years as a minister time and again i have been. Humble. By the loving loyalty in this stunning generosity. Of spirit. Which people hold for their churches. Two little stories i'd like. In particular to share with you this morning the first story i tell with the. Permission of one of my church members in delaware. Couple of years ago she called me one morning while i was on vacation. Oh. No greater love. While i was on vacation. And she said. That it was really important that she talked to me that day could we. Meet for coffee. Over a cup of coffee my friend told me an amazing story of. Good fortune that has happened to her. And her family it turns out that her grandfather. On the farm. In the middle of the state of delaware. Where recently. Two new interstate highways. Have met. And that particular form was bought by the bank of america. To put their new world headquarters on. So suddenly her grandfather's farm. Was a source of rather significant wealth for. Her and her sisters. They lived modestly their grown children wear. All provided for and she wanted to give the church a gift. I suppose it could wait till i die to do this. She said. It might be more economically advantageous to my family to do so. But i would like to see the church. Do something good. While i'm around to see it. And with that she handed me a check. 42 million-dollar. Just another day at the office. Don't ask me what the second largest gift is i ever got. A check for $2000000 it's an unrestricted capital gift. She said which i hope. The church will use to build its new sanctuary. She was crying as she announced this to me. And i asked her why she was crying. And phyllis said because. This feels. Even better. Tonight. Tell the two of us sat there crying and. Laughing into our coffee for the afternoon. It was that gift that enabled our church to purchase in fact and adjacent. Piece of property in. Where in the next few years we hope to see a new sanctuary built. I want to tell you another kind of story altogether a flipside of. Generosity and resources if you will. As you might guess from my name patrick thomas aquinas o'neill. I am not a born-and-raised unitarian universalist. Might as well know that up front what the heck. I grew up in an irish catholic family and a lot of what i know about. Church community i first learned by watching. The folks who were part of the working-class catholic parish. Where i grew up in new jersey. This particular story is about a man in our church. Whose name was still. Bill with an immigrant labor. Who worked as a longshoreman on the docks in new york city. When i was a little boy i would see him. Walking home from. Work after getting off the bus and he had one of those. Hooks that longshoreman used to have. Out of his back pocket. Used grapple bale. And whatnot. He lived across the street from the church with his wife in. Seven children he was a devout churchman. When year. My mother says i was probably about 10 years old at the time. Bill in fact was laid off of work. Due to a strike on the dock. He was unable. To pay his financial pledge to the church. Now. This was a serious blow. Two bills pride. He knew it was a poor parish that needed all the. Contributions it could get. So as my mother years later told me the story. Bill went to the pastor. Any volunteer to contribute his services. As the unpaid. Night custodian. For the church school. Attached to the church. Until he was able to. A ford again to resume his financial. Pledge to the church it's something the church needs he said. And instead of paying for this service. The church can use its money. To do good work. Sweet evening bill worked for. Several hours. For no pay. Sweeping and mopping funny school classrooms. And double hallways and long staircases. Every night. On snowy days and those years before snow blowers. Still got up early to shovel the church. School sidewalks. Before the children arrive for classes. Unable. To contribute financially to his church. He found a working man's way. To contribute. His fair share to the church that he loved. The dock strike ended. Some months later and fill with able once again. To resume his. Full-time day job and resume his financial pledge. To the church. But he decided. That in addition to his financial pledge. He would continue working. As the unpaid knights custodian of the church. Which he did. For the next. 30 years. I know this story is true because bill was my dad. And i remember going. With him to help him. Do that work and complaining the whole time. My dad never complained. Here is. What i know. About. These communities of faith these precious. Rare life-changing institutions that we call. Churches they touch people. And they are meaningful to people in ways that most of us. Cannot even begin to guess at. Even those of us who have been longtime experienced leaders. Of the church. For many years a church is finally nothing more than its people. And what they bring to it. Their face. Their love their collective hopes and dreams. Their memories and their customs. Their history their prayers. Their good work their children. Their values. It's where they come to name their babies. To marry their children. To bury their parents and their grandparents. There is no more profound work. In the world. And what community we are able to create here. For ourselves. It's like that great stained glass. Window piece together. Painstakingly let it together. With love. With enduring patience. With experience together each one of us shoemakers. Cobblers. Candlestick maker. Lawyers. Built business people. Nurses teachers. Social workers. Homemakers. Each one of us bringing. One more mosaic. To the whole. That's all we have to give. It's all we're ever asked for. John wolf the minister emeritus of our church in tulsa. Once bro you know there is only one reason. Joining a unitarian universalist church. That's to support it. You want to support it. Because. You find hear a church that stands against. Superstition and fear in a time and a world where superstition and fear. Divider. So dangerous. So precipitously. You want to support it because this church. Represent what is novelist and theft. In our human desire. Define community because it's open. Women and men of every stripe. No matter where they come from no matter their race. Creed color place of origin. Is sexual orientation. No matter whom they love. Why they come. On sunday morning. What are rare institution that is. Think about it. So you came to church this morning and. You knew you were going to be asked to think about your pledge for the next year. And you probably talked it over with your household and you decided on some kind of an amount based on what you would giving last year. Cancel all i ask you to do in the. Few minutes when we're playing music to pledge by. Think about that figure that you came thinking you were going to give to your church. And ed. A little bit to it. Give a little more. To make the good things. At this church. Stan's would make those things. Let me give you a little closing. Light story. It's the story about the church of scotland minister. In the highlands of scotland who won. He was a teetotaler himself and he gave escaping if totally ineffective sermon. About the evils of drinking to his. Congregation. And the following week he and all his neighbors were. Invited to a harvest feast. At the manor. Of the of the area's richest farmer lord macgregor. What's his name. No. Lord mcgregor's farm was fame not only for the fine barley and oats. That grew there but also for the fine cherry brandy that lord macgregor himself bottles every year. And after this magnificent feast in fact each guest. Was offered just a wee dram. Of the fine. Cherry brandy. And the parson. Not wishing to offend his host. Did indy taste. The cherry brandy and found it to be. Quite delicious. In fact afterwards he asked the lord privately if you might have a case of the fine brandy delivered to the parsonage. And lord macgregor said he was delighted to do so on one condition. That's a parson write a public thank you. On the front page of the church newsletter. So the parson thought about it for a moment and indeed. He agreed to do so the next morning not one but. Two cases. Of the fine brandy where delivered to the parsonage. And true to his word the parson wrote the following thank you on the front page of the newsletter. The person wishes to thank laird macgregor. For his wonderful gift. A fruit. To the parsonage this week. But even more. We thank the lord for the fine spirit in which it was given.
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