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My name is Jay Kiskel. I have been a UU since 1987 when I first came to Northwest.
I would like to share three related readings this morning that speak to the universal and seemingly timeless recognition that we are all beneficiaries of the labor and generosity of those who have walked before us. These readings span generations…thousands of years…yet these readings carry a shared theme that beg us to consider how the benefits that fill our lives today are but the ripened fruit of those who labored earlier in barren fields.
As the words from the selected text are spoken, I hope you can imagine yourselves in two opposing roles.
The first role is that as the beneficiary….the one receiving a bounty. You will undoubtedly have expressions of earnest gratitude of the harvest bestowed upon you…a natural extension of our seventh principle…”respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” For you will have received so much for so little personal effort.
The second role is a tad more difficult to perform and frequently goes unfulfilled…it is that of the provider. Here your labor is real…your work unfinished…and the voices of thanks…the voices of well wishing from your future, grateful community are not even a whisper in your thoughts. Yet… nonetheless…. you labor on.
The first reading is from the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy is a collection of sermons delivered by Moses to the Israelites as they are about to end their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and will soon enter the Promised Land. It is spoken to those who will soon to be beneficiaries of an early harvest rendered by the labor of others.
As I speak the words of this text in the marvelous comfort of our wonderful sanctuary in the woods…consider how much we share in common with those wandering Hebrews…for we have inherited so much from UUs who have come before us.
Deuteronomy Chapter 6, verses 10 – 12.
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant….”
The second reading…. inspired by this passage from Deuteronomy….was written by a Unitarian Universalist minister….the Rev. Peter Raible. The Reverend Doctor Peter Raible, who served our wider UU community for many years, died in 2004.
This reading from Rev. Raible speaks directly to our UU traditions.
We build on foundations we did not lay.
We warm ourselves at fires we did not light.
We sit in the shade of trees we did not plant.
We drink from wells we did not dig.
We profit from persons we did not know.
We are ever bound in community.
These two readings span a vast amount of time…yet their theme of gratitude is undiminished for the debt that a generation in the “here and now” owes to those who have walked before them.
We, who sit here today in our home in the woods are the “here and now” generation. Our thanks is offered to the spirit and vision of those who raised Northwest from the concept of a third service in the late 1960’s at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta to a vibrant reality.
My third and final reading speaks to this nearby generation to whom we owe such an enormous debt of thanks and gratitude.
This reading is taken from the Book of Northwest…well actually from meeting minutes from a Northwest Congregational Meeting held on June 26, 1971…a mere 37 years in the past…..those meeting minutes read….
And “a motion was made to approve the purchase contract for the property on Mt. Vernon highway as outlined in the provisional package described by Dr. Well for $55,000…..A thorough discussion followed.”
As we know that motion was seconded, passed and we now sit in this beautiful sanctuary we did not build….among tall trees we did not plant.
Someday we will become the “past generation” on whom some future “here and now” generation will offer…to us…their silent thanks and gratitude. Today we have the role of the provider.
What shade will the “trees” we plant bestow upon future Northwest UUs?
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Helene Johnson Reflection – NWUUC – April 13, 2008
Northwest has been my community family for 27 years. You, here today, ARE my extended family.
I think of my relationship with Northwest much as I do my relationship with my blood relatives. Sometimes family members go against the grain: they disagree, get mad, occasionally disappoint – but our commitment to each other does not waver. That’s what family means. We stick together!
Looking back, it is amazing that we are sitting here today at Northwest….
Our Northwest history has included occasional crises coupled with sinking feelings. There might have been a few times that we thought we would have to sell the property. But it has also included determination to go forward with renewed optimism. We sometimes have been worried or scared that our hopes would be dashed – but always we moved forward, thanks to those who had vision AND ENDURANCE.
Some of you who have started coming to Northwest more recently may not have known my husband Perry. He was not known for expressing sentiment; his tough prairie upbringing would have precluded “mushiness”. But when he was stricken with terminal cancer, the depth of his sentiment began to find expression. On his last Sunday, he asked us to pack up his wheelchair and oxygen and bring him to church, on, of all things “Dia de los Muertos”, with Reverend Don in the pulpit costumed as the Devil. Perry asked to say a few words to the congregation after the service. For those of you who were there, you will remember the clarity and passion he spoke with to his Northwest family.
Some of you who have started coming to Northwest more recently may not have known my husband Perry. He was not known for expressing sentiment; his tough prairie upbringing would have precluded “mushiness”. But when he was stricken with terminal cancer, the depth of his sentiment began to find expression. On his last Sunday, he asked us to pack up his wheelchair and oxygen and bring him to church, on, of all things “Dia de los Muertos”, with Reverend Don in the pulpit costumed as the Devil. Perry asked to say a few words to the congregation after the service. For those of you who were there, you will remember the clarity and passion he spoke with to his Northwest family.
His message was about how much the congregation had meant to him. “These have been the best days of my life”, he said.
I was profoundly affected by the depth of his affection for this community which he expressed. But his expression was given in more than words that day – he moved beyond the feelings and the words - he also expressed his affection tangibly, with a generous bequest to Northwest.
Northwest is also in my will. This is important to me because it’s about nurturing the future welfare of my church family, here today, and then doing something tangible to ensure Northwest’s future. Perry and I felt strongly that we wanted others in the future to benefit from association with this church and this denomination … it is so exciting to think that people we don’t yet know will have their lives enriched.
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Kevin Doyle Reflection – NWUUC – April 13, 2008
William Faulkner is the greatest writer the South has produced, and he said this: “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
When I first read those words in college, I was taken with their cleverness. Now, an older, wiser, and sometimes sadder man, I am mostly taken with their truth. “The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
What I mean is that on mild, sunny, spring days, it is hard to walk from the parking lot to the sanctuary and not see, as if she were there – Reba Gray on her hands and knees gently tending some patch of the wonderful landscape she created here on the grounds of our sacred space.
When Demi and I enter the sanctuary, it’s hard not to look for and want to take our once-accustomed seats behind Frank and Janice Erichsen, a gentle, almost courtly couple whose presence is for us as much a part of this place as the stained glass windows. When first we started attending Northwest, we almost always sat behind them, and I see them now.
When the annual Christmas pageant happens, or when I enter the Chalice House, it is hard for me not see my daughter Annie, now a college student who teaches RE here, as she was when she was she attended RE classes as a young girl of five or eight or 11 or 13.
It was just yesterday, wasn’t it, that Jerry Hoskins, gentle friend and staunch advocate of this congregation, sat here with us? He was adamant about the need to remember and honor those whom we have loved. I feel his presence today.
It’s hard also not to see others, too; ministers who have preached for a day or most of a decade; music directors who have made us rise, rain or shine, day or dark, to sing the words that bind us; they are all here. The names that I have called and remember may not be the ones that come to your mind, but you have names, too – other names – of your own.
When he won the Nobel Prize, Faulkner said this in his acceptance speech:
“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.”
Soul and spirit, compassion, sacrifice and endurance, and the inexhaustible voices we struggle so hard to bring to this place, this time, this sanctuary – those are things we celebrate here, too.
We cherish those qualities. We honor the people who have embodied them for us here and who are no longer with us; the people who embody those qualities still and who are in this room with us now; the people – our children – who we fervently hope will one day embody those qualities.
That is our honored legacy from them. What we are talking about today – this congregation’s endowment - is a way to honor those we have loved by writing their names in a book that can last as least as long as this congregation does, so that we carry their names and spirits can be carried forward as the endowment, with its long roster of honored names, can carry forward the spirit and the work of this congregation.
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REFLECTION: PAYING IT FORWARD – BUILDING OUR NORTHWEST LEGACY
My thanks to Helene and Kevin and Jay for their reflections. And to Michael Dierickx for his remembrance of Stan. My thanks to our Barbershop Quartet – David and Kevin and Steve and Ben. My thanks to Karen for her children’s story. And to Sarah Dan and Tom for their music.
This is our community. These people today and these stories and this music are becoming parts of our Northwest legacy. Let’s make certain we remember and honor them by paying it forward.
Remember the Story of the Turtle we began, with the earth floating on the back of a turtle? This poem is still evolving, so let’s continue it.
One time, it was at Northwest I think,
A man asked about the turtle and the earth:
"If the earth was on the back of a turtle,
What was below the turtle?"
"Another turtle," I told him.
"And below that turtle?"
"Another turtle."
"And below that?"
"Another turtle."
Being a Unitarian, the man began to chuckle.
He thought he had me.
"So how many turtles are there?" he wanted to know.
I said: "Nobody knows for sure,"
And I told him, "but its turtles all the way down."
And each turtle has a story.
One turtle told the story about a Northwest Unitarian
Who worked at her church for many years
And she loved her church and the people she met there.
This community fed her spirit and she fed it back.
One day her time was up and she died
And left behind all her works and all her caring
For those who followed. Her community honored her.
When you hear this story many times, you'll notice it changes.
Sometimes the change is simply in the voice of the story teller.
Sometimes it changes in the details.
Sometimes it's the order of events,
Or the response of the listeners.
The truth about stories is that that is all we are.
Some stories take an hour to tell.
There are stories that take seven days to tell,
And there are stories that take all your life.
Native Americans had their ancient stories and their legacy and a rich oral tradition. But they had no buildings in which to make their stories permanent. We at Northwest have our 37 years of stories, and we also have a building and the means to build a legacy and make them permanent. Is it important to know about Stan Lebow and his building of our pulpit? Is it important to know about Reba Gray and how she gardened our grounds into the beauty they are today? Is it important to remember that Clarence Rosa has run our Saturday night Hungry Ear Coffee Shop for over 20 years? That Joyce Buis is one of the founding members who are still with us, and that she was our first Director of Religious Education? That Northwest published a book of poetry in 2003 called “Rooted in Verse” with over 200 poems from 29 members of this congregation?
How about the ministers who have served Northwest in our 37 years? Should we honor them? Should we care about our founding in the late 1960s and the congregational meeting in 1971 which approved the $55,000 purchase of this property? Seems to me we have lots of turtles at Northwest too.
Unless we want to impoverish our children and the newer members of our congregation with a blank past, we need to make our legacy visible. We need to name the names and tell the stories. We need the turtles, “all the way down.” We need to honor these things because we, as a result, are honored by being here, under a roof we did not build. With Jay Kiskel’s help – his newly launched NW Endowment website and his donation of a 19“ flat panel screen and laptop for our ePicture project displaying NW photos – we will begin to do so.
But legacies are two-way streets with a traffic cop: besides a visible past, they need a visible future, and they need a conscious ethic for acting.
Our conscious ethic, listed in your brochure, is about capital improvements for our home in the woods; about scholarships for members to attend UU leadership training; and about outreach. Do these activities support the legacy you want to build?
So let me tell you about the Northwest Endowment Fund. We currently have about $35,000. Our bylaws prevent us from using these funds until we reach $100,000. So our first goal is to get it there.
In the past 6 months the Endowment Fund has grown by about $1,200 from 20 donors. All of these are heartfelt gifts celebrating loved ones. All of these are based on a conscious ethic, and they range from $10 to $500. Who are these donors? Why are they giving? With Kevin Doyle’s help – he is reorganizing the processes for receiving, following up on and reporting on all gifts and bequests – we will make this visible to all.
Should we recognize those who give? Honor them even? Of course we should. With Helene’s help – she is designing ways to recognize and honor donors with letters and announcements and plaques – we will do so.
And what else can we all do? Think about others whom you want to remember, celebrate and honor. Think about the rites of passage in your family that you want to keep visible. Think about the legacy you personally want to leave when your day comes to leave. Think about how you want to be remembered. Will there be any turtles to comment on your legacy?
One thing all of us can do to create a legacy is simply to update our wills to include Northwest. This is simple to do and significant. A bequest to Northwest has been in Susan’s and my will for years. It’s in Helene Johnson’s will, just as it was in Perry’s. It’s in Jay Kiskel’s and Helen Borland’s will. And in the wills of many others. It doesn’t matter how much is bequeathed as much as whether or not anything is bequeathed. Each time a bequest is made, a turtle is born.
If you want to know more about how simple bequests can be, or about creating or updating your will, please attend our free seminar after the Sunday service in 3 weeks, on May 4. You have information inserted in your order of service.
Another thing all of us can do is to make it a habit, based on our conscious ethic, to honor birthdays, graduations, weddings, promotions at work, and deaths of loved ones – all our major milestones, all our rites of passage – with a gift to the endowment fund honoring these events. All gifts, small and large, are important. And we have gifting forms ready for you now. The recent passing of Jerry Hoskins has occasioned numerous gifts to the endowment fund in his honor. Helene Johnson’s 75th birthday last fall occasioned several gifts. We will record all such gifts and make them visible for all. See how turtles are born with each gift?
There is a difference between obituaries and bequests: it is the difference between simply remembering the past and remembering the past by Paying it Forward to those in the future. Both are honorable, but one helps others.
May it be so.
Sermons by Rev. Dr. James Macomber are copyright © 2007 by Rev. Dr. James H. Macomber. All other sermons are copyright by the respective author(s)
