Chalice Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Promoting Religious Freedom, Spiritual Growth, and Ethical Action
 
Home / Sermons / Sermon on the Amount /  

Sermon on the Amount

The Rev. Dr. Morris W. Hudgins
Northwest UU Congregation
March 27, 2011
Introduction
Last fall I did a series on the Beatitudes.  You will remember I spoke about these ethical principles being the central message of the followers of Jesus.  They were basically the principles of Judaism.  Thomas Jefferson took these principles as the heart of Jesus’s message and edited his Bible based on this belief.  It was the Vision Statement for early Christianity.
Today, as we are completing the Northwest Stewardship Campaign, I want to say to you today that Unitarian Universalism has its own vision.  I would like to express what that vision might be.
I am often asked how I have been successful at increasing the giving in the churches I have served.  My answer is actually very simple:  “You give people the opportunity to be generous and you encourage them to live their values in the community.”  This will be the heart of my message this morning.
I first want to thank the Stewardship Committee for their hard work.  They have been working for months getting ready for this day.  I applaud Neal and his committee for their work, including the dinner a couple of weeks ago, and for the increase in pledges from the leadership.  A 20% increase is impressive.
I want to say something about your Board.  It is forward looking.  It is committed to Religious Education and wants to improve the Gardens and Spaces at yor “Home in the Woods.”  They also want you to look beyond these woods to the world at large.  I will observe that the Board as a whole is cautious, some might say, thrifty.  They want a church that is sound fiscally.  Individually, they want to be bold.  Some want to see a new social hall and others a larger sanctuary.  I have emphasized the need for sprucing up the place, and focusing on your mission and vision.
My sermon today makes an important assumption.  When you pledge to this church you are also saying something about your values.  When experts have studied our religion, they have always concluded that we are a religion of similar values.  These values are important to our lives.  This is the rock on which we stand.
Every religion has a vision statement, a manifesto, a public declaration of its intentions. Judaism has the Ten Commandments. The Humanist Movement of the early 30's had its manifesto, Humanist Manifesto 1, which was altered in the 1970's and became Humanist Manifesto II.  For the Unitarians we had the Baltimore Sermon given in 1819 by William Ellery Channing which was our "Coming Out" to the world. The Transcendentalists had the Divinity School Address given by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1838.  The Universalists had many statements of belief which summarized their approach to religion and declared that salvation applies to all people and not merely the elect.
A UU Sermon on the Mount
As we make our commitment to this church I would like to remind you that our religion is rooted in a theology which goes back to the Judeo‑Christian religion but which goes beyond it. Ours is truly a Unitarian and Universal religion. We are rooted in a belief in the unity of all existence and we believe there are ethical principles that should apply to all people.
I believe we need a new Sermon on the Mount that incorporates the universals of the World Religions. The Golden Rule, “Loving your neighbor as yourself,” and “Do onto others as you would have them do unto you,” should be part of this sermon. Our Purposes and Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association and our Mission Statement at Northwest should be a part of this sermon. 
This new Sermon on the Mount for Unitarian Universalists has many elements. This sermon should include the pillars of our past, as well as the new developments that make us who we are today and into the future. Our new sermon should be both Unitarian and Universalist, a balanced and mature religion, that addresses issues of the head and the heart,  that is positive and forward looking while honoring he past.. These are the elements of this new vision.  I would like to present principles that should be a part of our daily lives.  What are these guiding principles?
1. Like the Unitarians of Transylvania of the 16th century, we should continue to preach tolerance of different views, and freedom and justice for all people.
2. We should continue to preach the unity of all existence and the worth and dignity of all individuals.
3. We should be a religion which is ecumenical in spirit. We are not an anti‑religious movement but a pro‑religious movement. We look for positive religious forces in our community that we can join.
4. We should be a religion that believes in peacemaking, nonviolent action to oppose the forces of evil in our world.  We should encourage caution when it comes to the use of force in foreign countries.
5. This new Sermon on the Mount for Unitarian Universalists should also include the commandments of Jesus, but we can also look to other religions for our sources of comfort, happiness and joy. This place should be a place where individuals can find spiritual nourishment, whether that spirituality is in the women's movement, social action, a belief in racial harmony or humanistic philosophy, or biblical studies. We can be a broad spiritual movement all working together for common goals, a congregation which is an interdependent web. Let us bring:
Joy to the peacemakers. Comfort to those who mourn.. Joy to those who seek to do right. Happiness to those who love their neighbor as themselves. Joy to those who love their enemies.
6. Our Sermon on the Mount, like the original, views all individuals as beacons of light for all the world to see. It says in Mt.5,14‑15:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand and it give light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works. . .
The early church changed the emphasis of this passage. Here the light is in all people. Later the church emphasized Jesus as the light. John Murray, the Universalist preacher of the 18th century returned to all people as the light. He said:
Go out into the highways and by‑ways, Give the people something of your new vision. You may possess a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not hell, but hope and courage; preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.
Dana Greeley
An individual who was an inspiration to me when I joined this movement in the early 70's was Dana Greeley, the first President of the UUA after we merged in 1961. Some people have criticized Dana for the way he spent our money.  He may have made some bad economic decisions.  Prophets often do.  Greeley was a prophet, a forward looking President who recognized our changing movement. He wrote in 1970:
There is no standing still in life.
Either we move forward,
Or we slip backward,
Either we grow, or we die.
The end of life is to go toward the best,
Toward something great.
We may be sailors
Or we may be mountaineers,
Either the sea or the summit can beckon us,
And we respond because there is that within us
Which will not be restrained
And which seeks the open space and the ultimate ideal.
Greeley saw our religion of the future as a conscience of the state, an institution which preached tolerance when others preached bigotry. When Billy Graham was calling for retreat from the horrors of racism, Greeley was calling for us to stand up for justice for all people. Like the Universalists and the Unitarians of the 19th century, Greeley believed social action and reform are central to any religion. He wrote:
Social action is the fruit of religion
And the vehicle for the realization of a new world.
I like Greeley's writings because as he retired and continued to work in our
denomination his encouragement was for a religion that looked to the future. The title of his book published after his death in 1986 was, Forward Through Ages, after the popular hymn in our hymnbook we sang this morning. I see his words as a call to action for contemporary UU's. In a poem titled "Forward" Greeley has written a new Sermon on the Mount. These are words that could be given by a religious leader, like Moses, or Jesus or Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi, after they had been to the Mountain Top.  It is a call to action and commitment. Our Purposes and Principles calls this our "Right of Conscience." We say to our children: "You should be the best that you can be," Greeley wrote these words in 1974 but they could just as well be written today:
Let each of us make our life, even in its details,
Worthy of the contemplation of our most elevated and critical hour.
Pour out the spirit of love,
Harness the most powerful energy for science and progress,
And not for destruction.
Beat all the swords into plowshares;
Defuse the bomb that obliterate cities.
Build trust and cleanliness and goodwill,
More beautiful than marble and gold, to adorn every metropolis.
Educate the children; feed the hungry; care for the aged.
Create character as strong as mountains that rise about plains.
Sing from the temples, and share among nations,
That justice and peace can will prevail.
Let us go forward from coast to coast
And in all parts of the world.
There is not a week nor a day nor an hour to lose.
As you think about your principles and your commitment to this church and to our religious association, please consider your pledge of time and financial resources. I hope you will increase your commitment.
Yes, we need your time and your financial resources so that this church can be the best that we can be; so that we can be a force for liberal religion in this community; so that others will look at us and say, “These people are serious about their commitment, they put their faith into action.”  
If we ask you to become a member, or ask you for a pledge, we don’t promise any special place in heaven.  What we do promise is a church that is open, and honest, encouraging you to find some meaning and purpose, some happiness, some solace, and some people whom we hope you will call friends.  We want to give you the opportunity to grow and learn, and reach out beyond yourselves to a world that desperately needs our religion. 
How much should we give to our church?  Some might say:  “Give ‘til it hurts.”  I say:  “Give ‘til it feels good.”  May we all be generous with our giving.  What each of us gives will make a difference.
  Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation
1025 Mt. Vernon Highway, N.W., Sandy Springs Atlanta, GA 30327
770-955-1408 - officenwuuc.org – fax: 770-955-4246		  
  A Member Congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association e