Beginning. Becoming. Belonging.

One of my few brushes with fame came several years ago. I was vacationing in England and around nine o’clock at night I was walking out of a pub. As I walked through the door, a man who was bald with a big long cigar was walking in. I recognized him immediately – at least I thought I did – and I said, “My goodness, aren’t you Telly Savalas?” He didn’t break stride, he just did one of those (in a growling voice), “Yeah.” Now why I didn’t run in there and get his autograph or go in and say the famous line from Kojac, “Who loves ya, baby?” I don’t know. I guess I was just in shock.

I was reminded of that this week when I read that Harry Morgan had died at the age of 96. Harry Morgan was from Muskegon. I did not know that. He was a longtime actor, of course. Probably his most famous role was on M.A.S.H., where he played Colonel Potter. As far as I know, his first name in that series was not Harry, so he was not Harry Potter. Colonel Potter’s right-hand man was Radar. Radar would bring Colonel Potter things before he even realized he needed them. I remember one episode where Radar was going to make a little extra money by selling shoes. He sold shoes for a company that had the slogan, “If your shoes aren’t becoming to you, you should be coming to us.” I thought that was cute. Obviously I remembered it after all these years. Maybe that should be our slogan, “If your church isn’t becoming to you, you should be coming to us!” Maybe not.

I want to talk with you about being a part of this congregation. My sermon is titled, “Beginning, Becoming, Belonging.” I think we all begin to come to a place like this and then eventually feel that we’ve become part of it and then eventually we feel like we belong here. Why do you come here? How do we fit into your spiritual journey?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says some statements that are statements of dichotomy. You have heard this, but I tell you that. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth , but I say to you, turn the other cheek. You see what Jesus is doing there? He is proving himself not to be a scriptural literalist. You have heard that it was said, in the scriptures, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you, turn the other cheek. This is the way it was hundreds of years ago, but now it’s a new way. There’s a new way of thinking. Jesus is demonstrating that, I think to all of us, that the scripture can be changed over time. I think maybe Christians would say, well of course Jesus can change the scriptures, he’s Jesus. But I think what Jesus is doing is demonstrating to all of us that we can do that, too. You have heard that it was said in the scriptures this homophobic passage, but now we should be loving of everyone. So Jesus was showing those people how to change the way things were. I think the people of this congregation can and do appreciate that.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, a great writer and Unitarian minister, says, “Be not a slave to your past.” In other words, just because your parents and your grandparents and your great-grandparents believed something, you don’t have to do that, you don’t have to believe that. Just because they believed in some dogma or some doctrine, or code or creed or rule or regulation, that doesn’t have to apply to your life today. I think the people of this congregation can and do appreciate that.

Michael Servetus was killed, martyred, murdered in John Calvin’s Geneva. He didn’t believe in the Holy Trinity. He said, “Do not be surprised if I see God in humanity.” I think some people’s heads would explode today if they heard that. Imagine what it was like for people several hundred years ago. He saw God in people. He was considered a heretic and they killed him. But he’s a hero to people in the Unitarian Universalist tradition. I think people here can and do appreciate that.

A man grew up feeling like he was an orphan in his family. He was an odd duck. He didn’t really fit in. His family took him to church, but he didn’t believe the things he heard there. He didn’t believe in the virgin birth or a resurrected human being or a Son of God. He was skeptical; he wouldn’t accept easy answers to complex questions. Today he feels like he’s all alone in the world. It’s too bad he doesn’t come to a congregation like this, where I think he’d feel right at home.

A woman, as a child, felt like she didn’t fit in with her family and friends. They seemed to all accept the theology that was handed down to them. She wouldn’t accept that. She didn’t believe in the authority of the Church. She didn’t believe in the authority of the minister. She didn’t believe in the authority of the Bible. She didn’t accept pat answers that everyone around her seemed to. She felt like she was alone. It’s a shame she doesn’t find a place like this. We can hope that she does, because then I think she’d feel at home.

A teenager is just beginning to be aware, to be aware of herself, of her surroundings, of how she thinks differently than her parents, her siblings, her friends. She too is skeptical. She doesn’t accept all that she was taught in Sunday School. She thinks that there must be other truths out there, but she feels like she is all alone. No one else in the world thinks the way she does, she thinks. If only she would find a place like this congregation, I think she’d finally feel at home.

Some of you may know that I co-host a radio show with Fred Wooden, senior minister at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids. It’s called “Faith and Reason.” It airs on Friday mornings from 10 to noon. We talk about religious issues, current event issues, anything. We’ve been doing it for about two and a half years. Shortly after we began, we invited a couple of atheists to be on the show, to have a dialog with us. I think that they thought we were kind of fundamentalist Christians or something because they would say things like…

“Well you all believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.”
“No, not really. We believe the Bible is poetical in places. We believe it contains some truth, but we don’t believe it dropped out of heaven.”
“Oh. Well you believe in the resurrection of Jesus.”
“No, not really. We think Jesus lived on in the hearts and minds of his followers as he does today,”
“Oh. Well you believe in miracles, that he turned water into wine, walked on water.”
“No, not really. We think that those stories were made up and told about Jesus so people would think he was the Son of God and certainly somebody special.”
“Oh.”

I’m Facebook friends with one of the atheists that we had on and he wrote on his Facebook page that “trying to pin down liberal ministers is like trying to nail Jello to the wall.” I like that. I don’t like to be pinned down theologically because I sometimes change week to week. I don’t like to be nailed to the wall. I wouldn’t like to be nailed to the cross either. I think that’s what this congregation is like, too. We don’t like to be nailed down.

[Loud] The people of this congregation believe in JESUS! [Soft] Or Buddha.
[Loud] The people of this congregation believe in GOD! [Soft] Or Goddess.
[Loud] The people of this congregation believe in EVERTHING! [Soft] Or nothing.

It’s up to each person to use their reason, their rationality, their mind, their heart, their spirit to decide what to believe. We don’t have doctrines and dogmas or creeds and codes or rules and regulations that you have to submit to. If you want to believe in Jesus because he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” go right ahead. If you want to believe in Gandhi because he said, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” go right ahead. If you want to believe in the Dalai Lama because he said, “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness,” go right ahead. You can believe what you want to believe here. That’s the beauty of this place.

When I was a kid we lived in the Detroit area for a couple of years. There was a TV weatherman on a Detroit
station that I really liked. Sonny Eliot. What a great name for a weatherman, isn’t it? Sonny Eliot. Like Storm Field. Sonny Eliot’s schtick or technique or the way he did things was to take two words describing what the weather was going to be and then combining them into one. He would say, “Tomorrow it’s going to be sunny and warm, or SWARM,” or “In the morning it’ll be foggy and cold, or FOLD.” Or “tomorrow we’re going to have freezing drizzle, or FRIZZLE.” I would like to do something similar to describe this congregation. This is a congregation that has common unity or community around the idea of freedom. People here have freedom, the common unity of freedom to think what they want to think, to believe what they want to believe, to forge their own theology. It’s up to each one of us to do that.

The other day I saw an old tape of a “Nightline” program from around ten years ago. It featured Christian high school students – just boys, not girls – because they were preaching and of course we all know only boys can preach [said sarcastically]. But anyway, they had a national contest for the best high school preacher. The contest was held at Bob Jones University, so you know where they were theologically, evangelical and fundamentalist. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. These kids, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years old, preached about sin and salvation, heaven and hell. They all preached about it. Each of their sermons was about how, if you don’t accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you’ll face eternal damnation. But the good news is, if you do accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you’re good to go for all eternity. You’ll spend eternity in heaven with God. The even better news is that’s all you have to do – accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You don’t have to feed the hungry or house the homeless or clothe the naked or help the hurting. You just have to believe in Jesus. Now even many Christians would call that “cheap grace.” They believe and I believe and I think most of you believe there’s more to it than that.

But I think that idea isn’t just restricted to Christianity. I think there are people in other faith traditions who believe all they have to do is go climb to the top of a mountain and contemplate their navel. They’re spiritual people. All they have to do is meditate for a couple of hours a day and they’re good to go. I call it “cheap spirituality.” I think everybody here knows it’s more than just that. It’s more than just cheap spirituality. We do need to work for justice and act compassionately and seek peace in our lives and in the world.

Olive Garden, the “authentic” Italian restaurant chain, had an ad campaign a couple of years ago that said, “When you’re here, you’re family.” Maybe that should be our slogan. “When you’re here, you’re family.” Maybe not. But if you’re just beginning to come to this congregation, welcome home – you’re family. If you’ve been becoming part of this congregation for weeks and months, welcome home – you’re family. If you feel like you belong to this congregation because you’ve come here for months and years, you have that sense of belonging, welcome home – you’re family. If you want to have a deeper commitment than you already have at this congregation, see me after the service.

This congregation cares about people’s spirit, about nurturing people in body, mind and spirit, about helping people along their spiritual journey. Maybe a slogan we ought to adopt, is one that is well-known because it’s associated with the United Negro College Fund. But we need to change it just slightly. We care about helping people’s spirit along because: a spirit is a terrible thing to waste.