The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, Oregon

TO GROW OR NOT TO GROW?

The Reverend Richard R. Davis  

            Bear with me for a moment while I indulge in a bit of fantasy. 

Now I’m not much into gambling – in fact the mere mention of the word usually spurs me to wax moralistic - but I will confess that over the past twenty or so years I have succumbed to temptation and bought two or three lottery tickets.  I did this when the jackpot reached astronomical heights, usually over $200 million.  This, of course, is precisely the time when the odds are greatest and a person is least likely to win.  But that’s gambling for you – it’s not a rational business. 

            Well guess what?  I bought a ticket, and as daunting as the odds were I have won the megabucks jackpot!  I’m the sole winner.  After taxes I’m going to be getting two million dollars a year for the next thirty years.  My life is forever changed.

            But so is this wonderful congregation’s.  I am not going to forget you and your needs.   In fact, I’m going to turn over one and half million a year – uh, wait a second, I just thought of some things I might like to get that are pretty spendy.  So let’s make that one million a year.  On third thought, there may be unexpected expenses I’m not anticipating right this moment, so let’s make it half a million a year.  That’s pretty generous, isn’t it?  A quarter of my annual take.   That’s almost double our annual budget here.  There’s an old Arab proverb that says that “the quickest generosity is the best, because the more you ponder upon all the possible eventualities of life the less generous you get.  But I’ve made my decision, and I’m sticking to it.  This congregation gets half a million a year for the next thirty years.

            Hallelujah, our problems are over. 

Now, here are my guidelines for how to spend this money.  First off, I’m just going to pay off the mortgage on the fellowship hall – that’s in addition to what I just promised.  We’re debt free.   Now we’ll spend four hundred thousand a year for our operating fund and set aside one hundred thousand for an endowment fund so that future generations for decades to come can benefit.   Life just got a lot easier for us here.

            For example, we will no longer need our annual stewardship campaign.  Thank you Diana Bodtker and all the other chairs of the stewardship campaign over all the years.  Thanks to all of you who have canvassed the members for their annual pledge and all of you who have pledged.  Now all of you can save your money, or spend it on something else – I’m sure you won’t have a hard time doing that. 

            In fact, the whole aim of this generous gift is to remove all hardship from congregational life.   I realize that it is a struggle for us to give – none of us is filthy rich.   And I realize what a bother it can be to volunteer, too.  Take, for one example, the folks who are making the coffee this morning.  You have to get here much sooner than anyone, bow out before the service ends, serve coffee while everyone else gets to socialize and then you have to stay late to clean up after everyone else has gone.   Not any more.  With the extra income, we’ll now be able to pay someone to do this.

            In fact, most volunteer jobs – especially the hardest ones - can now be done by paid staff.  Of course, we’ll still have a volunteer board to oversee things and maybe a couple of other committees required by our bylaws.   But mostly, you don’t need to worry about all the big and little things so many of you do to keep this place going, year after years.   Your role now is to rest, relax.  You don’t have to come in to fold newsletters anymore, or to edit the newsletter or fix broken gutters or anything.  It’s all taken care of.  No more stewardship moments, no more Sunday offerings will be necessary.   No need to bring in any food for the Marion Polk Food share – we’ll just cut them a check.  All those calls for your money and your service are in the past.  The days of giving are finally over.  Henceforth, we ask nothing of you – except that you come to enjoy the Sunday programs and other offerings for your edification and inspiration.  Now, simply relax and receive. 

            Now, what have I just done?  Well, let’s narrow the focus and use a personal example.  Imagine some wealthy parents who love their children so much that they want to spare them all hardship in life.  They set them up with a very generous annual income so they will never have to learn any productive skill or worry about earning a living.  They are financially set to enjoy a stress free life, like landed gentry of yore, waited upon hand and foot by hired servants. 

            Now this approach to child rearing has been done often enough for us to realize that it rarely, if ever, has good results.  Yet still, the dream of great wealth that frees one from all responsibility is a powerful and persistent fantasy – those who market the lotteries and run the casinos bank on it – this idea of winning a vast sum of money, telling your boss to shove it and then going on a permanent, stress free vacation on some tropical island holds a lot of appeal.  Yes indeed, it certainly does. 

            Now I am all for stress reduction – there are lots of good and healthy things you can do to reduce it.  Alas, there are also a host of unhealthy things a person can do to relieve stress which take you down some false paths to poor health, psychological immaturity and social alienation. 

            You and I wouldn’t wish suffering on anyone, but would you really wish for someone to have a stress free life, free of all adversity?  Think of how you have grown in your life.  If I was a gambling man – I’m not – I’d bet you vast sums of money that most of us grew when we had face and overcame some hardship or difficulty in our lives.  You rose to meet some daunting challenge that seemed more than you could handle, and then you discovered that you were stronger than you thought you were, and that you had talents and abilities and more spiritual and psychological depth that you had never before seen in yourself.  After successfully meeting this challenge you had to revise your self concept.  You were stronger than you thought you were, you faced something you didn’t think you could face, you solved a problem that seemed insoluble.  In other words, you grew. 

            Afterwards, you reflect upon this.  Certainly, your experience was a hard one, but if you had to choose, would you eliminate it?  Perhaps yes, in some extreme cases.  There are some heartbreaks and hardships we could all do without.  But if you tried to weed out all of the trials and tribulations you’ve faced in your life who would you be?   In truth, much of our psychological and spiritual growth comes as a result of meeting the challenges that confront us.  

            This is a place where we come to grow in a variety of ways – morally, ethically, spiritually, socially, psychologically, intellectually, artistically and practically.   But should we therefore aim to think of this the congregational school of hard knocks where you learn through trials and tribulations?   Imagine how we could promote ourselves:  “Come suffer and grow with us.  Join us as we make our lives harder for one another so we can become stronger people.”  

            Nope.  I don’t recommend turning this place into a spiritual boot camp.  There is enough unplanned and unpredictable adversity in our lives that we don’t need to go looking for trouble.   There is another way to grow – by intentional, meaningful stretching.  That’s when you engage in some activity or endeavor that is appropriately challenging but not absolutely overwhelming.  The truth is that if you don’t commit to a certain amount of stretching in the service of growth, you shrink.  The UU minister Forrester Church said it well:  “If we conspire to do only those things that please us, over time less and less will please us.  Things that may challenge or inconvenience will eventually become too much for us to respond to, even if they were once the wellspring of our creativity.  Over the years, as fewer things please us and more things disappoint us, we will find ourselves living in ever diminished circles, with only ourselves or people like us for company, and poor, bickering, querulous company at that.”)  

            This is a good place to avoid such spiritual shrinkage, a good place to stretch a bit beyond your comfort zone and grow – you can choose your challenging opportunity and then stretch into it.  Stretching is good – generally, it feels good, but it does take some effort, too.  In truth, the human spirit is infinitely expandable – there is no end to how much we can grow.

            Neither is there any end to our every member canvass.  Sometimes there are complaints that congregations are always asking us to give.  Well, yes, this is true.   Yet imagine what would happen if you weren’t asked to give.  First of all - practically speaking - we’d be dead in the water – we’re a covenantal religious cooperative and if a critical mass of members doesn’t contribute, we will surely perish.  (In fact, this is why the first Unitarian church here disbanded in 1938).  The settled minister and paid staff are only a modest fraction of our entire ministry – and that’s as it should be.  We bless the community with our giving. 

            Even if we had a fortune in our bank account it would be spiritually disastrous if there was no call for us to give, if we only received.  We grow by giving.  Those who are not asked to give, or who choose not to do so, are cheated.   It’s true. Consider how congregations that live off of their endowments or are governmentally subsidized – like churches in Europe - fare.  They are virtually moribund, shells of their former selves, heading toward extinction.  What little life there is, is ebbing away over the years.  There is no vital future for them.  The give and take of community life has ceased – there is only taking, and hence, there is no sense of ownership, little involvement and thus, there is no growth. 

            So, what am I going to do with my lottery earnings?  I’ve changed my mind.  I’m not going to fund the operation of this congregation.  Mind you, I’m still giving the same amount to the congregation – as I hope you would should you have the opportunity.  But I am stipulating that this money go into an endowment fund and that the interest income be used to promote social justice and social service ministries that promote our values in the world and call for volunteer participation.  There will still need to be an every member canvass – every year.  There will always be a call for you to give.   I love this congregation far too much to take this opportunity away from you.   It would be the death of us.

At this time of year our focus is on your financial giving.  It is a time to hear and heed this call to enrich and expand our shared ministry and also to enhance your own growth.  Giving can be a real stretch.  When I first entered the ministry I gave at a level that felt like an honest stretch but not a painful sacrifice.  In succeeding years I have discovered that I could stretch a little more and a little more.  Now my family and I tithe – that is, ten percent of my income – which comes entirely from you, by the way – is given back.  Through this process and this practice I have grown.  It has helped me become a more generous and yes, courageous person.  I have ended up giving more than I thought I could.  In this I have been inspired and encouraged by generous members here who give even more, both of their time and their resources.  In truth, giving is a countercultural practice that helps to counteract the dominant, spiritually diminishing mindsets of fear and greed. 

So, on behalf of the hardworking members of the canvass committee I invite you consider stretching and giving.    No one will tell you how much to give – each of us must decide what is an honest stretch.  This much is certain.  If we individually commit to stretching and growing we will grow as a congregation so that the compassionate and blessings of our liberal faith can meet the rising need in our community, both today and tomorrow.   This way we all win.