Unitarian Church of Sharon
4 N. Main St.
Sharon, MA 02067

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Questions for the Interim Minister

Sermon by Rev. Tricia Brennan

September 21, 2008

Good morning!
I thank all of you were submitted questions to me
for this Sunday's sermon.
I was especially pleased that the senior youth group
gave me so many thoughtful questions.
All told some 20 people sent in the questions
you heard earlier in the service,
and a good and challenging bunch of questions they are.

I won't answer be able to answer all the questions today,
but I will get to most of them.
I plan to take a whack at the questions
about the upcoming presidential election
in my column in the October newsletter.
Other questions, like what would a UU Purpose Driven Life
look like? And are UU's overlooking
a fundamental aspect of spiritual life
by not including some type of fasting or self-denial
in their liturgical calendar-
are wonderful questions
that I'd love to delve into in depth-
they may find their way into later sermons,
services or an adult RE program.
Some of the interim questions
I will answer a little later in the year,
and some of the UU related questions I hope to return to
when we have our Association Sunday on October 12.
So, if not in this sermon,
one way or another I will respond to all the questions asked.

First an observation about what you didn't ask.
Despite the upheaval in store this year with AIM building project, and the huge change this will mean
in years to come for the congregation,
no one asked anything about it. Why, I wonder?

I suspect several reasons:
One, the congregation as a whole
is confident that the leaders in charge
know what they are doing. They trust their leaders. That's good.

Two, the congregation is not looking to me
for leadership in this area. That's good too.
I'd have a hard time building a birdhouse
much less a multi-level structure with an elevator.

And three, the congregation may not be thinking
much beyond this year of construction. That's not so good.
One thing you can expect to hear often from me
is to ask what does this lovely large new space
going to mean for the church,
and what can you do now to plan
to become the church you want to be?
How do you intend to live into your new church home?

Enough questions from me,
this sermon is about my responses to your questions,

Let's get to yours.
I'll intersperse some short replies
between the longer responses,
and I'll start with the most straightforward: Where do I live?

I live in the Boston's best neighborhood, Jamaica Plain,
18.9 miles from my door to #4 North Main street,
30 minutes give or take.
My husband Chuck and I
bought a two family home there 15 years ago.
Our good friend Kay has lived in the apartment downstairs
for a dozen years,
some of closest friends live in the houses that surround us.
Our daughter, Nora, who is 12-
is comfortable and welcome in a half-dozen homes
within 100 yards of our house-
as the children of those homes known, loved and welcome in ours. Perhaps you've heard of co-housing,
the intentional model of housing-
we like to say we have co-housing without all the meetings.
Of interest to you may be the fact
that there are two other UU ministers on the street,
as well as the denomination's executive VP Kay Montgomery
and Hillary Goodridge, director of the UU Funding program.
It is a swell place to live.

I love not just my street
but the diverse urban neighborhood that is Jamaica Plain
and I and my family feel very fortunate to own a home
where we do and have the friends and community we have.
We do not take that for granted.

The largest clump of questions
had to do with my faith life-
how I became a UU,
what was my faith background,
why did I become a minister,
where do I draw my inspiration,
how do I define God.
Let me address them now.

My full name is Patricia Mary Brennan-
that's your clue to my Irish Catholic heritage.
I am the oldest of 7 children born to Jim and Joyce Brennan.
We went to church every single Sunday.
I attended Catholic schools for 16 years, straight through college. From what we know of previous generations,
it was not until my generation
that anyone married anyone else
who wasn't both Irish and Catholic.
A very limited gene pool, is how my husband,
an Irish/German UU, loves to say.

So it was no small deal when I left the Catholic church
in my mid- twenties.
I left over the second-class status of women in the church.
At that time I wasn't really thinking about being a minister myself, I just couldn't abide being part of something
that denied my gender full equality.

I was strongly influenced by the Catholic church,
in some powerful and good ways
and some painful and harmful ways.
Over the years I chose to nurture the healthy
and let go of the harmful-
a gradual process aided by friends, ministers, therapists,
and what I feel to be God's grace.
Yet those childhood experiences of faith are so elemental
and there is something in my bones that remains Catholic,
even though I no longer am catholic at all really.

So what's a nice ex- catholic girl like me
doing in a denomination like ours? You might be wondering

Even as a child, I never thought Christianity
was the only path to God, or the only valid ethical way to live.
I just never bought that.
Once I made the decision to leave Catholicism,
I had a great time exploring other spiritual paths.
I was living in New York City at that time,
studying to be a social worker,
so there was no shortage of religious communities to visit.
I sort of did my own version
of the Neighboring Faiths' curriculum.

Around that time, I got a letter from two good friends
from JP saying you must come with us to our new church.
It is a wonderful place.
Personal invitation being the single best way to get new members, the next time I was in town I went with them
to the First Church UU, Jamaica Plain, and I loved it.
When I moved back to Boston,
I began attending, later joined and became a lay leader.
I was married there and ordained there.
It remains my family's church,
in fact as I speak Chuck is teaching Nora's RE class-
they happen to be using Neighboring faiths curriculum

Once the minister, Terry Burke,
left a message on my answering machine,
Tricia, have you ever thought of becoming a minister?
The question hung in the air for a number of years,
and finally at age 39,
I entered Andover Newton Theological school,
pregnant with my daughter and very excited
about the possibilities that lay ahead.

I became a minister primarily
because there is nothing more interesting or more important to me that people's spiritual lives-
and by spiritual I mean whatever they say
offers them guidance, solace and inspiration in life and death.
I work as a parish minister
because I believe in the power of institutions
to make a positive difference in people's lives.
It is a generative thing-
together people can bring out the best in each other
and can accomplish remarkable things.
It isn't always that way, I know, but it can be-
and I want to work to make that possibility real.

As to where do I get my inspiration-
well I find most of my inspiration
in the ordinary heroes of everyday life.
Faithfulness in relationships-
I think of Mary and Nancy,
both single parents hanging in there
through the thick and thin
of their adoptive children difficult adolescence.
Most single parents are walking miracles, if you ask me.
I think of Betsy, who taught me about enduring love in marriage
as I watched her care for her husband
as he lost first speech, then memory from Alzheimers disease.
Brave people inspire me,
especially those who work for justice joyfully.

On Friday I met Janet Penn,
who is doing amazing interfaith work with youth in Sharon.
She inspires me, as does the work of Interfaith Action.

Over the years the life and writing
of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Thich Nat Hahn
have influenced me a great deal.
I can't read their books without getting charged up.
Jesus has meant different things to me at different times in my life; these days it is his radical hospitality that challenges me.
This past year I have been influenced by Eckhart Tolle,
especially his book The Power of Now.

I'd love, by the way, to hear where you get your inspiration.
We so need inspiration to keep going.

Well, with all I just said about
my religious upbringing and current faith life,
I really want to turn to the question
from the person who spoke of the presence
of secular humanists and atheists in the congregation
and asked what ideas I might have to celebrate their religion. He/she mentioned wanting to hear
some sermons dedicated to science and reason.

Can this UU Christian minister well to atheists
is perhaps a part of the question. I think so.
My experience at the First Parish Arlington,
a church similar to the Unitarian Church of Sharon
in its range of theological beliefs, tells me yes.
My time with them as an interim
was mutually satisfying and beneficial.
It comes down to authenticity and respect,
being real about who each of us is,
curious about the other,
being willing to listen and learn and be changed.
This is true not just between minister and congregation,
obviously, but among the members too.
But I have a particular responsibility as minister
to support all spiritual paths present here.
I love that and I continue to learn how to do that better
and I learn from everyone in the church.

As to a sermon, one that I've been interested in giving
has to do with Margaret Wheatley's work on self-organizing systems, which draws on chaos theory.
Her work has been applied in to congregational systems.
I thought hmm, chaos/UCS/ self-organizing/creativity-
there might be something there that would have merit for us all. That's one topic I strongly suspect I will take up-
and I will be keeping my ears, eyes and heart open to others,
and welcome suggestions and pointers.

But a sermon is just one part of the worship service
and worship is just one part of ministry.
Even in the short time I have been here,
I've heard from some of you
about what you've liked about the two services
we've had together,
and some of you have been brave enough to let me know
what hasn't sat well with you.
I really appreciate the feedback.
It helps me know you better and minister more skillfully.
I don't know that I can have every worship service
be just what each one you desired,
but I can promise you that I will always listen to what you say,
and take it seriously and welcome your influence and suggestions. I am delighted to work with such an excellent worship committee, by the way, that is a real boon to the congregation.
Together we've agree to read Worship that Works,
by UU ministers Kathleen Rolenz and Wayne Aronson,
and we'll share with you ideas from that process.

One of the great things about an interim ministers
is that they stir things up,
at times intentionally, at times inadvertently.
And that can be great for you as you aim to get clearer
on where your flashpoints as a congregation may be-
in worship or otherwise.
So as the year goes on it is useful to notice individually
and as a congregation,
what I do or say or how I am
that seems to strike a cord positively or negatively-
that may be good information for you
as you seek a settled minister,
but also as you grow in
deeper understanding of your own community.

Now here's an easy one: Did I ever get that bike tour of Sharon? The question refers to my request,
in my first newsletter column,
for a long-time resident who would tour the town with me.
It was a rainy August day
when I met up with George Bailey for my tour,
so we traveled by car not bike, but oh, what a great time we had.
I saw the lake, the community center,
some of the other houses of worship, the farm,
the trustees of reservation land, some of the newer housing stock and some of the older homes-
including stories of who lives or lived there,
and a running commentary on topography, history, political change, and what difference a new road makes.
It was a dream tour, exactly what I hoped for-
and then we went back to Bailey house
and had a delicious summer meal with Lucy.
Later that evening I went to a meeting at the church
and told someone of my wonderful time.
Is everyone here like the Baileys'? I asked.
Well, actually, no, I was told.
The Baileys are pretty much in a category all their own.
If the church ever has a service auction,
George and Lucy might want to consider offering their tour and dinner package- it is a winner.

Let's turn to questions about this church,
and its interim time- especially the one
that asked about interim ministers cleaning house.

There are lots of ways to clean house.
One way is to come in, fire everyone,
rehire those the interim minister thinks should stay,
let the others go and then take a similar approach
with lay leaders in the form of urging some leaders to move on. That's one way.

Another way is to recognize
that there is a natural ebb and flow to all things,
including the tenure of paid and unpaid church leaders.
The interim minister can help those who might be tired
to step down or out, if they want to,
with grace and appreciation for their service.
This natural ebb and flow applies not just to people
but to ways of doing things and customs-
what traditions still have meaning and vitality
and should be continued,
which feel stale and should be allowed to die a natural death?
What governance structures make sense and should be retained, which should be let go?
The interim minister asks these sorts of questions
and reflects back to the congregation
what her or his fresh eyes observe.

And a third way of cleaning house
is more along the lines of going into your attic
and finding some treasures that you'd maybe forgotten you had, and bringing them back into circulation.
Here the interim minister helps the congregation
to see what it has always had and cherishes.
This work is about the church reclaiming a part of its identity
that is dormant but still has energy and meaning,
and restoring it, literally mending its tears and cleaning it up,
and re-injecting it into the life of the congregation.

It is always important in life to let go
of what does not serve us any longer
so that what calls us with urgency and passion
can claim our attention.
I've described three ways interim ministers clean house,
and an interim minister can do it other ways too,
or more than just one way.
My preferred style incorporates the 2nd and 3rd ways.

A few more quick responses.
To the person who asked if I'd be willing to meet
with other clergy and town official- yes, by all means,
and yes too to the idea of an article in the Sharon advocate
about my arrival here at your church.
Let's seize any opportunity to get positive news of church
in the local mmedia. I'm glad to help with that.

Do I have any thoughts as to what I expect to learn with you that will help you move into our future (even beyond my tenure)?
I think I would say that especially as I begin
I try to not have a lot of expectations,
but to let those thoughts and expectations
emerge in our work together.
They will come, they are coming,
but at first I want listen and absorb who you are,
what you are doing and your sense of who you dream to be.

Finally, I was asked How does one keep hope?
With all the tests of health, life, family, work and news of the day?
I want to end with this question because it matters to us all,
and is in fact a big reason why we come to church, I think.

For me, hope is bound up with both power and community.
There is so much, as the person mentioned,
that can make us hopeless-
our lives have great challenges
and we don't have to look far in our world
to see that which makes us despair.
But we always have some power in a situation,
and the more we find, harness and use the power we have,
the less hopeless we will feel.
And people are infinitely more powerful when they work together. Not all situations can be changed or improved,
however, many can, but aging, illness, death and loss
come to us all,
and sometimes our only power
is how we will respond to hardship.
I don't say that lightly or loosely.
When no other remedy exists,
there still is the power inherent
in the choice we have in our response.
And here too, a community can remind us of that,
even as a community can make the hardship easier by sharing it.

I am hopeful about this church, and about our work together. Thank you again for your thought-provoking questions
and your willingness to engage with me this way.

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