We, the People

Roger Fritts

November 3, 1996

Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church

Bethesda, Maryland

Given the rules of our society, Bob Dole and Bill Clinton cannot honestly tell us one of the obvious reasons they are running for president. They want to be President of the United States, because the president is the center of attention. The president gets his own airplane, his own staff of servants, he gets to live in the White House and to visit Camp David. The president is on television around the world every night. Serving as the leader of the United States is one of the great highs a person can have at the end of the 20^th century.

However, I am not cynical enough to believe that this is the only reason Dole and Clinton run for president. I think a sincere wish to make this world a better place also motivates our presidential candidates. President Clinton is motivated by an earnest desire to lead our country in ways that he believes will help us have richer, fuller, more meaningful lives. Bob Dole's ambition to serve as president is partly motivated by an aspiration to direct government policies in ways that he thinks are in the best interests of the American people.

I wonder what is at the root of these longings to make the world better. Is there something in the childhood of Bill Clinton that causes him today to want have a positive impact on our national life? Was there some inspiration that Bob Dole received growing up in a small town in Kansas that motivates him today? Was it a mother or a father who taught these two men the value of public service? Was it something they learned from an inspiring teacher or an inspiring minister? These are the questions I want to explore this morning. What is it that motivates us to improve the world in which we live?

I was at a conference this past week for Unitarian Universalist leaders from our largest churches. I asked a few of the people at the conference what they believed motivated people to become involved in community work and public life.

One man said that he believes all of us are born with a natural sense of compassion and fairness. As we grow into adulthood, we learn courage from parents or teachers or ministers. He quoted Albert Schweitzer, who said, "Those who are happy are those who have sought and found a way to serve."

Not everyone agreed that we humans have a natural sense of justice. A woman said that her motivation for involvement in social action and public life came directly from her parents. When she was a child, her parents taught that she should not just belong, not just be. Her parents taught her that we each had an obligation to become actively involved in the community. They taught her that she had an obligation to give back to the communities of which she was apart. Today, when she takes time to participate in a community meeting, or write a letter to the newspaper, or help in a political campaign, she hears in her head the approving voice of her mother and father.

Another person I talked with this past week was John Buehrens, the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association. John works hard and for nearly a year he has been planning to take a vacation during November and December. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the slowest time of the year for the President of the UUA. I asked John how he was going to spend his vacation and he said that it was going to be shorter than he had planned. He is going to Sarajevo. John explained that the World Conference of Religion and Peace, an international interfaith group of which our association is a part, is beginning a conflict resolution program in Sarajevo. To start the effort representatives from all the world's major religions, including Islamic leaders, archbishops from Rome and leaders of the Eastern Orthodox Christian church, will meet. I asked John what motivated him to go. He reminded me that the world conference of Religion and Peace was founded in the 1960s by Dana Greeley, the first President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and Homer Jack, the Director of the UUA Office of Social Action. Dana died in 1985 and Homer in 1993. John said, "Of course, I could send someone else to represent the UUA and not cut back on my vacation. However, I knew both Dana and Homer. My memory of them and of all the hard work they did to create what is now the world's only significant international interfaith organization, motivates me to be there." John paused and then he said, "Another personal reason also motivates me. My ancestors all came to the United States from Eastern Europe. I feel a responsibility to do what little I can to help the people in those countries."

As we talked about what it is that motivates people to engage in social action, John Buehrens told me the story of a couple who were active members of the Dallas, Texas Unitarian Universalist Church. In the 1980s the couple moved from Dallas to New York City, where the husband accepted a position as an editor at a major publishing house. A short time after the move, the husband was shot in the back by a 13-year-old carrying a hand gun. It looked at first as though he would survive, living out his life in a wheel chair. However, a blood clot formed, traveled to the brain and this Unitarian Universalist from Texas died, leaving a wife and two children. Since then, his wife has devoted herself to the cause of hand gun violence. She was responsible for organizing the placement of thousands of shoes around the Reflecting Pool, representing the thousands of persons whom hand guns have killed. Sometimes our motivation for social action arises our of our grief.

The story reminded me of a friend in Kentucky. I have known Alex for nearly twenty years and for the first ten years of our friendship, Alex showed no interest in birth defects. However, in the mid-1980s a son was born to Alex and his wife. The child suffered from spina bifida. In the next few years Alex joined the Kentucky chapter of the Spina Bifida Association and he became president. From there he moved on to serve on the board of the national Spina Bifida Association and eventually was elected the national association's president. Every year I write out a check to the Spina Bifida Association because of my friendship with Alex. The experiences of close friends and family members can be strong motivators that get us involved in social action.

Personal family experiences appear to be key in many people's involvement in social action. I remember a woman I know who has been deeply involved in working to insure that women retain the right to choose abortion. She said to me, "My mother had thirteen children and then died before she was forty-five. I love my brothers and sisters, but I also loved my mother. Because of what happened to her, I am deeply committed to a woman's right to choose."

I ask a man who supplied free food for a soup kitchen why he would arrive week after week, month after month with the food he donated. "I was a child in Japan in the 1940s," he said. "After the war we often went hungry. If it were not for the church groups that set up soup kitchens, we would have died. I am simply returning the favor."

There are still other factors that motivate us to engage in social action. In looking for research on this issue, I found that a study was done of people who helped hide Jews in Europe during World War II. The study reported that most of the people who helped had two things in common: strong religious training and a general sense of their own self-worth.

The desire to preserve our dignity can be yet another motivating factor. For example, when Gandhi began his life of social action, his desire to assert his own dignity was his motivation. Gandhi's life of protest began when South African officials did not permit him to ride in the first class compartment of a train. And in 1955 Rosa Parks began the civil rights movement in the United States by asserting her dignity when she refused to give up her bus seat.

Parental teaching, grief, difficulties in our families, close friendships, personal experience of others helping us, a strong religious upbringing, a sense of our own self-worth, the need to assert our dignity: these are some of the factors that motivate us to become passionately involved in our community, in our world.

We gather to worship this Sunday on the eve of our national elections, when we, the people of the United States, select who will serve as our leaders. Today the Christian Coalition is passing out millions of voter guides in churches. I will not try to guide your vote today. I only urge you in all the races, to vote for the candidate who you believe is the most experienced, intelligent and compassionate.

However, I am including an insert in the order of service. Instead of trying to guide your vote, I invite you to guide this church toward social action issues that are important to you. Instead of projecting all our hope and frustrations on our presidential candidates, let us focus on our own ability to make the world a better place.

The form you have before you is the result of the thinking of the members of Cedar Lane's Board of Social Concerns. In October the Board of Social Concerns distributed this form in a mailing and on Sunday morning. So far we have received more than eighty responses. However, in a congregation of 900 members, I would like a large response, a large sample. Therefore, I invite all of you who have not yet filled out a survey, to do so at the end of this sermon. You need not be an official member of the church to fill out the form. We can learn from the perspective of non members and visitors to our service. Before you vote I want briefly to share with you some of the reasons why these issues are on this ballot.

Hunger is the first issue on the list. Our church is already involved in on-going projects to relieve hunger. For the past thirteen years, forty or fifty persons in the church have prepared meals twice a month for Zacchaeus Kitchen, a shelter in the District. For the past seven years, two Cedar Lane teams have each provided a dinner once a month at Bethesda House, a men's shelter in Bethesda. Members of the congregation also donate food for the hungry, by placing food in a blue box in the entrance way to the chapel.

Homelessness is the second issue on the ballot. Cedar Lane is already involved in several activities associated with the homeless. We have been the host to the congregational-based shelter for many years and we will continue to provide volunteer and financial support in its new permanent location. We work closely with several community organizations including Community Ministry, Coalition for the Homeless, Interfaith Housing Coalition and Bethesda Cares.

Affordable housing is third on the list. Cedar Lane has an excellent opportunity to promote affordable housing by working with the Unitarian Universalist Affordable Housing Corporation, which is dedicated to the rehabilitation and construction of affordable housing in the greater Washington area. One of our members is President of the Board of Directors of the Unitarian Universalist Affordable Housing Corporation.

Children are next on the ballot. Cedar Lane has been an active supporter of Beacon House, a center for children in the District. This past summer we had a successful Beacon House Camp here at the church. We can expand that involvement with an active mentoring program, increased tutoring help, and sponsorship of field trips. We also have a newly formed Children's Task Force that organized our participation in the Stand for Children March last June.

A response to the Religious Right is next on the list of issues. Cedar Lane members have expressed deep concern about the efforts of organizations such as the Christian Coalition to shape government policies. We can respond with a task force that will work with other groups, such as the Interfaith Alliance, providing an alternative voice to the religious groups representing extreme conservative positions.

Gay and lesbian rights are next on the ballot. Cedar Lane has had an active Welcoming Congregation Task Force for several years with the goal of increasing our awareness, understanding and acceptance of bisexuals, lesbians and gay men. We took a congregational vote in 1994 to officially become a "Welcoming Congregation." The Task Force continues to provide information on gay and lesbian issues and activities.

The environment is another issue the Board of Social Concerns included on the list. Cedar Lane could organize an environmental task force to coordinate our activities in this area. These could include hands-on projects to improve the environment right here in the greater Washington area.

Last on the list is lobbying for legislation on social justice issues. The Board of Social Concerns has recently formed a legislative task force. The goal is to take direct political action on issues of general interest to Cedar Laners, primarily in Maryland and Montgomery County, but occasionally on national issues as well.

Of course, all these issues are important. However, it is better that we try to do a few things well as a church, instead of trying to do many things not so well. Therefore, to help guide us, I invite you to mark the issues that you feel passionate about, based on your own experience. I am looking not so much for a rational response as an emotional response. I want to know what social issues you feel strongly about:

Did you experience hunger at some point in your life and therefore is that today a passionate issue for you? Have you had a personal experience with the destruction of the environment and as a result is that a deep concern for you today? Because you or your friends or your relatives are gay, is the on-going discrimination against gay people a deep concern for you?

I want to try to identify issues about which members of this church are passionate. I hope that this institution, this liberal church, can assist and help church members to act on your concerns. In this spirit I invite you to mark your ballot.

Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
9601 Cedar Lane, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-4099
Tel: 301-493-8300    Fax: 301-897-5713
e-mail: office@CedarLane.org
Sunday Services at 10 a.m.
© 1998-2008, Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
Webminister