Good morning. It is a great joy to spend this morning with you in fellowship and I am honored to be your invited speaker to talk about our Unitarian Universalist call to justice and the work of UUSJ here in our region. Before I begin, I must express my gratitude to Ron Brandt for his invitation today and for his leadership within UUSJ and to Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson and Julie Carvalho for their representation of this congregation on the UUSJ Board.

I stand before you today as someone who believes that the Unitarian Universalist denomination has the potential to be one of the most powerful religious agents of social transformation in our country. As Unitarian Universalists, we have created a covenant with each other and the world that commits our hearts, minds and hands to the causes of freedom, justice, diversity, compassion, and equity. In fact – five out of our seven guiding principles speak directly to this commitment. Ours is a faith dedicated to the necessity of justice, equity and compassion in human relations; the inherent worth and dignity of every human being; the right of individual conscience and choice; our interdependence with all of life; and the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. Wow. These words are so familiar to us that I wonder how often we really reflect upon the enormity of what they call us to and the incredible possibilities for life that they evoke.

I love this statement of our Unitarian Universalist principles. They make me very proud to say I am a UU and, for me, they are the reason I choose this faith out of all the other possibilities. However, I must confess to one problem I have with them. I think there is a bit of a "cop out" built in. My problem is with the two small words that appear in the leading statement of our principles: affirm and promote. The statement reads: "We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote…" and then it goes on to list these wonderful values. What does it mean to affirm something? The dictionary says that to affirm is "to declare positively or firmly; to maintain to be true". OK….well that’s good, but isn’t it a bit passive? And what about to promote – surely that is more active. Again, the dictionary states that to promote is "to contribute to the progress or growth of; to further; to urge the adoption of; to advocate". More active, yes. But both of these things seem the safe route to me. One can affirm and promote without really stepping out. One can say, "yes, I firmly declare these things to be true and I contribute to their progress by declaring myself an advocate" and be pretty certain that people will still consider you a safe person to hang out with. If I had my druthers, our covenant would also be to actualize our principles. To actualize means simply "to realize in action". To actualize justice, equity and compassion in human relations is not always so safe. Ask Martin Luther King, Jr. To actualize a commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every person can lose you friends and land you in prison. Ask Dietrich Bonhoffer. To actualize respect for the interdependent web of all existence can get you labeled as an extremist. Ask the activists of Green Peace. If Unitarian Universalists lived out a covenant to actualize these principles, I think we would be challenging ourselves in new and difficult ways. I also believe our potential as an agent for social transformation would take a giant leap forward. Look at the current example being set by our UUA President, Bill Sinkford, in the battle for marriage rights for all loving couples. He is affirming and promoting, yes. But most importantly, he is actualizing his religious commitment to equity, acceptance, and justice. Whether you agree with him or not, there is not doubt that he has put his faith into powerful action.

As Executive Director of UUSJ, I have the great privilege to engage with UUs committed to social justice all across the region. I see tremendous examples of our faith in action. Whether it be the countless hours of devoted volunteers at programs such as Beacon House in DC, Banner Neighborhood Center in Baltimore, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters, or the passionate work of UUs who demonstrated against the war in Iraq, or the focused advocacy for universal health coverage in Maryland, or the terrific support of the Bell Center here at this congregation – there is a lot of great work being done. I honor those who are committing their time and talents to these endeavors and I acknowledge the difference that they are making in the lives of many people.

I am also in a position to witness a significant amount of indecision and inaction in our area congregations. I have heard silence from UUs on issues of importance where other faith leaders are strongly speaking out. I have seen discouragement on the faces of congregational leaders who cannot muster participation in even simple social justice programs. I have sat through committee meetings that rehashed old problems without creating a clear path to action, despite the good efforts of the group. I have seen many Unitarian Universalists acting upon their commitment to justice outside of their congregations partly because they don’t feel they can be effective within the congregational body. And often, they are stealth UUs – never publicly connecting their work with their faith. Have you ever met someone doing justice work that impressed you immediately – only to find out later, by accident, that they are Unitarian Universalist? It has happened to me many times.

What is going on here? With our powerful guiding principles why aren’t we more consistently having an impact? Why do we experience this much stagnancy in our social action ministry? Of course, there is no single answer to this. Each congregation has its own unique dynamic and each person within that dynamic has his or her own story. However, in my time with UUSJ I have observed a few common themes and I would like to share them with you.

First, our numbers tend to be small. Even though our area enjoys a wealth of UU congregations compared to most areas of the country, we still do not have enough hands in many congregations to fully realize all of our aspirations. Frequently, members of small to mid-size congregations in particular are so consumed simply keeping the congregation alive that social action ministry is carried by a dedicated and overworked small group of individuals. Some would say, "let’s focus on growth and then we’ll have more people for doing this work" – I would argue, "do more of this work, and more people will be attracted to our churches". We probably need to do both.

Second, choosing a focus is often difficult. We have all heard the joke about UUs and herding cats. If you put 5 committed UUs in the room, you will probably get 5 different ideas about how to prioritize your efforts. And even after a fair vote, you might find that those with the minority opinions have a hard time setting their ideas aside to focus on the chosen priority. Intelligent and passionate people can sometimes have a hard time letting go.

Third, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the enormity of issues in our modern culture. Our expectations of ourselves are high – we want to make a real difference – a lasting difference – and we want to "do it right". It seems like such a big effort is required – and we feel like a small drop of water in the face of that vast desert out there. This is exacerbated when we do not have viable mechanisms for connecting with others who wish to work on the same issues.

Fourth, we must admit that we have a tendency at times to over analyze the problems. Many UUs that I have met feel more comfortable behind the scenes in the role of researcher and analyst, than they do on the front lines of social action. While we need analysis and research, there can be too much of a good thing. It can overcomplicate the issues. A quote I came across recently states, "It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult". It sang out to me as a true reflection of what I sometimes see in my own work.

And last, and perhaps most difficult to acknowledge, I have also observed a reluctance to make the sacrifice of time and money or to abandon the safety of a neutral point of view. I have felt it myself. Life for most of us is filled to the brim already with our jobs and families. Getting involved in one more thing can seem simply too difficult – it can feel like drudgery. As Richard Gilbert illuminates in his poem at the opening of "The Prophetic Imperative" most of us are in the privileged position of choosing whether we want to join the struggle or not – and the choice is not always easy ("The Prophetic Imperative, Unitarian Universalist Foundations for a New Social Gospel"). He writes,

In the end, he returns to the truth that in order to savor the world, one must be involved in saving it. One does not occur without the other. But the struggle can easily stop us in our tracks.

Well, that’s the bad news. These are some of the ways that we UUs demonstrate our imperfections – lest anyone had any doubt why we do not proclaim ourselves to be the chosen and righteous people.

The good news is that none of these barriers is insurmountable. There isn’t a single barrier I have mentioned that hasn’t been overcome by a creative group somewhere. We can learn from each other. We can strengthen each other’s resolve and provide the support and inspiration that calls us all into our highest level of being. But in order to do so, we need a place where we can gather our best energies. A place where we can turn when we encounter difficulty. A place where we can join with others in joyful pursuit of justice. A place through which we can actualize our faith.

Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice was created to be such a place. UUSJ is a partnership among 19 congregations and 6 UU-based or supported organizations that have joined forces to create a vibrant and united regional community of Unitarian Universalists working for social justice. Our mission is to provide leadership and coordination for effective social action that reflects UU values in the region. Our goals are to advance the social justice work of congregations, organizations, and individuals and to increase the frequency, impact, and visibility of UU collaborative social justice efforts in the region. Said another way, we want to strengthen the work happening within our congregations and also to increase the amount of work happening between and among us.

UUSJ has conducted a number of regional workshops that created opportunity for social justice leaders to convene around issues of importance and to create new relationships that led to new activities. We worked with members of First Unitarian Church Baltimore to create a relationship with an innovative urban organization – Banner Neighborhoods Community – and now there are three UU congregations involved, tripling the number of volunteers for their reading program. We have, with the very capable leadership of Bill Alsmeyer-Johnsen, a terrific website that includes excellent networking tools such as a regional social justice calendar and a brand new set of discussion forums. UUSJ.ORG – visit it often! We have served as a distribution channel for information on several key issues, most recently for legislation on universal health coverage in Maryland.

Coming up in the next few months we have several significant events. On March 20^th, we will be presenting a workshop entitled "Social Justice Interrupted: Overcoming Barriers to Social Justice Work" as part of the JPD Spring Conference in Delaware. On April 8^th, we will sponsor a Social Action Celebration together with Beacon House Community Ministry and UU Affordable Housing. Bill Sinkford will be our keynote speaker. On May 8^th we will host a gathering of social justice leaders to follow up on our highly successful meeting in October of this year. And we are currently in conversation with our members to determine a platform of issues around which we can provide regional leadership for social action. Through UUSJ activities, individuals come together to re-energize, to gather ideas from each other, and to create new possibilities for what we might accomplish together. This is the beginning of a new movement to realize our UU principles in action. I hope you will want to join us and that you will ask Ron, Bill, Julie or me to tell you more after the service.

I’m sure you have heard or have participated in one of those conversations about how to describe Unitarian Universalism – what is the elevator speech? Well, the next time someone asks you, "what does it mean to be a Unitarian Universalist?" I have a suggestion. Don’t tell them – show them.

I’d like to leave you this morning with these beautiful words from Carter Heyward. She is a feminist Episcopal priest and professor of Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Massachusetts.

Thank you so much for your time and presence today – and for the love that you extend to make this world a more joyful place to inhabit. Blessed be.