1st Reading - The Mission Statement of our Community Action Committee: As the Community Action Committee of the First Parish Church in Taunton, we covenant to be guided by the mission of the church, in particular to reach out and provide service to others in our community, to work on behalf of those in need and to become a force for positive change in the world through acts of social conscience.
In applying spirituality to action, we covenant
- To practice love and compassion toward ourselves and other members of the congregation in overcoming fears and prejudices toward those who are different from us.
- To practice love and compassion toward members of the community of greater Taunton.
2nd reading - The prophet Isaiah said, "If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like noonday." (Isaiah 58:10) And as one of our UU seminarians has said, "Work for social justice is not charity. It transforms!"
This past year has been a time of many exciting changes in the church. One of these changes, one which is particularly meaningful to me, was the formation of the Community Action Committee. The congregation's charge to the committee, as voted last June, was broad: "To make recommendations to the Board concerning ways that the congregation can live the principles of Unitarian-Universalism in [a] manner that benefits the greater community."
This charge links our church to our UU commitment to justice, equity and compassion in human relations. It links us to the goals of strengthening the democratic process in society at large and to furthering liberty and peace around the world. I know this sounds pretty grand for our small congregation, but sometimes it's not size but heart and determination that makes the difference. And it is my dream that through our work in this community our light may rise in the darkness.
Back in September, at the beginning of the church year, a group of people from the church came together to form this new Community Action Committee. Committee members are Deanna King, Lynne Griffith-Greene, Moe Walters, John Tinker and Rev. Tom Cabezas... as well as myself as the ex officio member. The Committee has begun to meet the challenge of the congregation's charge in two separate project areas, first helping needy children in Taunton and second in planning to start the Welcoming Congregation program next fall.
Let's begin at the beginning. The first task of the committee last fall was to decide on a mission statement. Rev. Tom Cabezas urged us to ground the mission in the spirit and practice of love and compassion: love and compassion toward ourselves and love and compassion toward the community. We did so, as you heard in the reading this morning. And that spirit is reflected in the committee's projects this year and its plans for next year.
I'd like to speak for a moment about some of the history of social and community action in this church, at least the part I'm aware of. This congregation has displayed a compassionate and loving spirit toward the wider community, whether it is for Taunton or the country or the world. It displayed this spirit when a member long ago set up the Allen Fund to help needy children in Taunton. It displayed this spirit when, in past years, it gave presents at Christmastime to poor children. It has shown this spirit when it supported the peace rallies on the Taunton Green and the discussion groups in this chapel before the start of the Iraq War. And when it opened its doors to the Quaker sponsored Eyes Wide Open Exhibit in July of that year. It showed this spirit when it ran the Tsunami Relief Penny Drive last year. Maybe some of you who have been here for longer than me can tell us more of the light of good works in this church's history.
I certainly know the spirit of love and compassion lives in the hearts of many of you here in the charitable deeds and social justice work you do in the wider community through other organizations. Indeed, your lights have already risen in the darkness.
But I think, even as a small congregation, we can do more with the Community Action Committee to inspire and guide us. We can do more than react to emergency situations. We can become more pro-active and let the light of First Parish Church shine steadily and brightly as it fulfills its mission.
In this first year, the committee began slowly, but it has begun. One of its first actions was to use some of the Allen Fund monies in the budget for a Taunton family impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The story had been in the Taunton Gazette. A family was sheltering their teenage nieces and nephews who had come up from New Orleans. Not well off in the first place and with young children of their own, this local family was in a desperate situation. They had applied for relief funds, but red tape slowed the process. With the weather growing colder, they needed to buy home heating oil quickly. The committee reached out with an offer to help and the family gratefully accepted. The oil was delivered in a couple of days and the family stayed warm until their state aid came through.
The committee's next act was to aid a family referred to us by Barry Sanders in his role as a social worker with the Dept. of Social Services. A mother and her four children were recently abandoned by the father and desperately needed food. They had applied for state assistance, but this, too, took time to process. The committee helped with a generous gift certificate to Shaw's Supermarket. This gift fed the family until their first DSS check arrived.
Although we had spent about half of our budget, we still didn't have a clear policy as to how to spend the money allocated from the Allen Fund. So we wrote one in December and the Board of Trustees approved it in January. The policy repeated the terms of the trust: that the money be spent on needy children in Taunton. It stated that because the funds are very limited, they would be used as a safety net or last resort for families who had exhausted other options or who were waiting for other funds to come through.
We decided that for the balance of this fiscal year that it would go to DSS families as requested by the local office through Barry. The rationale behind this is that the DSS has as its clients some of the neediest children and families in Taunton. This would eliminate the need for us to do outreach to the community. It also eliminated the need to make decisions about who would be most worthy to receive the funds, something we felt unqualified to do. This process would also preserve the confidentiality and the dignity of the recipients. In addition, DSS families already receive social work services. Thus the Allen fund grants would be part of a coordinated effort to help the families.
At this time, the committee is considering other ways to use the money after July 1st. We think it should be targeted more to programs than to individual families. In this way, the reputation of First Parish Church will become itself a shining light. But nothing is decided yet and the options are still open. Your suggestions are welcome, so talk to anyone on the committee.
The committee is also about to embark on another new project, one about which we're quite excited. This is the Welcoming Congregation program of the Unitarian Universalist Association. The program is a volunteer effort by congregations that want to become more inclusive toward bisexual, gay, lesbian and/or transgender people. It consists of a series of workshop developed by the UUA and other activities, like worship. The goal of the workshops is to reduce prejudice by increasing understanding and acceptance among people of different sexual orientations.
Why single out bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people? The Rev. Douglas Morgan Strong probably states it best in the Welcoming Congregation manual: "For centuries, the church has been a leading force against sexual minorities. It is not surprising that gay people are reluctant to reach out to the very institution that oppresses them. Yet, gay, lesbian, [transgender], and bisexual people have no less need for warmth, caring, and affirmation than anyone else who calls the liberal church their religious home. In fact, as a subculture in society gay, lesbian, [transgender], and bisexual people may need our support more than the general population."
Congregations who publicly and successfully welcome bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender people have a number of qualities. These include not only welcoming their presence, but welcoming the gifts and particularities of their lives as well. It means having a non-discrimination clause in the bylaws and other official documents. It means engaging in outreach to the b/g/l/t community in its advertising and actively supporting groups like MassEquality and gay-straight alliances.
In many ways, First Parish Church is already a welcoming congregation. Our church by-laws already have a non-discrimination clause relating to membership. Our membership already includes one gay couple who are active in the church and who are willing to share their experiences with us. They will do so in a minute. However, official recognition as a Welcoming Congregation allows us to do more: to open our church as safe space for b/g/l/t persons; to take positions on oppression in our larger community and to accomplish outreach. You may be thinking, "How will being a Welcoming Congregation benefit me?" Confronting our prejudices in a non-judgmental, non-threatening group allows us to explore their origins and offers an opportunity to replace those prejudices with knowledge. Understanding our prejudices leads to individual spiritual growth and congregational unity. And I would hope and fully expect that being a Welcoming Congregation we will help us grow in numbers well as in spirit. I'd like at this time to welcome to the pulpit D. and M., who will describe a little of their religious journeys, particularly their experience of looking for a safe and welcoming church in the Taunton area.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and thoughts with us. I know your words will have much more of an impact than anything I've said.
So what happens next? In September we will begin a series of monthly workshops on Saturday evenings. Depending on what the committee decides, they can be as few as 8 or as many as 14 workshops. I am very pleased that the Membership Committee has agreed to support this effort by offering to organize a potluck supper before the first workshop ... and maybe before others if that's successful. I urge as many members of the congregation as possible to attend these workshops. As we go through this process of transformation, our light will grow ever brighter in the darkness so that even our gloom will be like noonday. Amen and blessed be.