Stand By This Faith

Part One © Rev. Barbara Hamilton-Holway

Please join in the responsive reading from the writings of Olympia Brown.

Leader: Stand by this faith. Work for it and sacrifice for it.

Congregation: There is nothing in all the world so important as to be loyal to this faith which has placed before us the loftiest ideals,

Leader: which has comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble duty and made the world beautiful.

Congregation: Do not demand immediate results but rejoice that we are worthy to be entrusted with this great message,

Leader: That you are strong enough to work for a great true principle without counting the cost.

Congregation: Go on finding ever new applications of these truths and new enjoyments in their contemplation, always trusting in life and in love.

— Olympia Brown, adapted

Our Unitarian Universalist Movement has from its beginnings
"placed before us the loftiest ideals,"

Unitarians and Universalists have always asked questions,
brought reason to understanding religious faith,
affirmed the dignity of all,
and proclaimed universal blessing.

Ours has always been a faith that proclaims deeds over creeds,
a faith that works for justice.

Our movement ordained Olympia Brown
and other first women ministers
as well as the first openly gay and lesbian and transgender ministers.

The death of one of our ministers in Selma, Alabama,
brought the attention of the nation to civil rights.
Our Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees adjourned
their meeting in Boston to march in Selma.

Our principles keep being held high,
beckoning us to lead lives we can recommend to others.
.

112 years ago, In 1891, 32 people signed as members
and established the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley.

In 1898, the church building the early members built
at Dana and Bancroft was dedicated.

In 1906 the church withstood fire and earthquake
and opened its doors to refugees who slept in the pews.
Twenty years later, it sheltered those whose homes
had burned in a Berkeley fire.

The hymn Forward through the Ages, two Easter hymns
and others in our hymnbook were written by Frederick Lucian Hosmer
who came out of retirement to serve as minister of the church from 1900 - 1904. We sang his words today as we lit our chalice. [O Light, from age to age the same, Here we have felt your kindling flame. Alleluia, Alleluia. Burn, holy fire, and shine more wide! Faith, hope, and charity abide. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia] Hosmer began the church's tradition of fine music.

Robert French Leavens who wrote today's opening words "Holy and beautiful the custom which brings us together," served the church in the 1920s.

The church and Starr King School for the Ministry have close ties. Earl Morse Wilbur, Unitarian historian, opened the school and headed it for its first 28 years. He was a pillar of this church.

Current member Elaine Clark's father, William Morgan
was appointed Professor of Systematic Theology at Starr King School,
then called Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry.
He was its President from 1931 to 1941.
He chaired our church board and was head of the Sunday School.

Through the years many student ministers from Starr King School
have done field education at the church.
In recent years, we have been ministered to by interns: Drew Johnston, Amy Freedman, Sean Parker Dennison, Sarah Moldenhauer-Salazar, Julie Kain, and Sofia Betancourt.

1954. during the McCarthy era, churches were told they had to sign a loyalty oath or lose the privilege of not paying taxes. Our church and three other California churches refused to sign and the case was taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where the loyalty oath was declared unconstitutional.

In 1960 when the church members united to build this new building,
Dr. Raymond Cope, then minister, wrote,

"…We are building on lasting foundations…
Let us hold in reverence the loving sacrifices,
the vision and wisdom of our members in the past
who have taught us to hold our destination high…
The building will entail sacrificial giving
beyond anything our church generation has been asked to make.
I think each of us wants to do his [or her] part,
and together we will carry our common task to completion."

The generosity of church member, Architect Bernard Maybeck, enabled the church to buy this property. Bill Ulp chaired the building committee and everyone's participation in giving built the church.

Generosity, love, community and care have made this place a church.
We who take in the breath taking view from the terrace,
who greet one another under the trees
around the fountain in the atrium,
who lift our voices, our spirits, and our hearts in worship
in this sanctuary continue to make this place sacred.

Guard we well the crown they won.
What they dreamed be ours to do, hope their hopes,
and seal them true.

We have benefited from the gifts of those who came before us.
This church most of us did not build they handed on to us.
A booklet, prepared in 1960 for their capital campaign states,
"The church means many things to the many of us.
To some, on Sunday mornings,
it means slowing down the pace to an hour of calm;
or a spiritual replenishing;
or a sermon that stimulates rethinking and re-evaluation.
To some, it means exploring the meaning of the religious life…
To all of us together our church means an opportunity:
to participate, to help, to belong, to grow, to give."

Hands and ideals instill in these spaces the spirit of life.

In 1973 Richard Boeke became minister of the church and in 1990 Johanna Boeke was called as Associate Minister. During the twenty-some years of Richard and Johanna Boeke's ministry with the church, international relations and interfaith work were strong. Musical theater flourished.

Holly Horn served in the 1980s as part of the ministry team bringing both her intellect and her poetry to the services.

In a sermon at the 100 year anniversary of the church, Richard Boeke said, "I am trying to live a life that I can recommend to others."
He quoted Karl Menninger on money giving as good for your health.
Generosity is healthy.

Our church is life-giving.

People say, "I come on Sunday and I sit in the pew and cry. I feel like I can take a deep breath. The world seems crazy, my job is crazy, but here I am reminded of what is most important, what I hold most dear. I feel like I have come home."

Our church has "comforted us in sorrow, strengthened us for noble duty, made the world beautiful."

Together we learn that suffering is part of life,
not punishment for a way of living.

We are inspired to live our lives more fully,
giving our gifts to bless the world.

We are reminded to see the beauty of the world and to create beauty.

We encourage one another to follow our loftiest ideals,
empower ourselves for noble duty.

Many people asked us to walk for them in last Sunday's Peace March.
You write letters, sign petitions, thoughtfully examine the situation, work for, pray for, sing for peace.
Each of you follows your own conscience.
Many of you walked for peace.
Will you please rise if you participated in last Sunday's march?

We stand by this faith.

We are worthy to be entrusted with the great message of our religious ancestors; we are strong enough to work for this faith, to go on finding ever new applications of these truths.

May Lucas Paul grow up in this church. In his childhood and youth through his old age, may his wonder and belief be nurtured and cherished. May he know here creativity, service, friendship, worship. May a strain of violin music linger in his heart as an association with community, beauty and love. This church is a memorial to the lives that have gone before us
that all they gave may continue and thrive.

This church is a home for us who hold its health now in our hands
that we may grow and share, live and love.

This church is a beacon for tomorrow's children
who will continue to come long after we are gone.
May they sing songs here, make peace signs, enact stories, dance, speak their heart's longings, learn and grow.
May they know love here and may they shine brightly.

Stand by this faith that the message of liberal religion
may be handed on to generations yet to come.

In the midst of war mongering and fear fostering, stand by this faith.
In a world that needs our message of exploration, acceptance, love and action, stand by this faith.

In a world longing for peace, stand by, work for, give to this faith!

Church archivist Erda Labuhn, wrote in 1981 when she served as President of the Board of Trustees, "Our yesterdays…have shaped our living church. Today we accept our responsibilities for buildings, programs, dreams. Together we move toward tomorrow for ourselves, for our church, our denomination and our world."

Trusting in life and in love, stand by this faith! Amen.

With great delight we receive and sing a new hymn
created for this day.
Church member Kay Fairwell,
inspired by the words of Olympia Brown, wrote the words
and church member Elinor Armer composed the music.
The choir will sing the song and then we will all sing!
Stand By This Faith

Part two ©Rev. Bill Hamilton-Holway

A few days after women first voted in the United States in 1920, eighty-five year old Olympia Brown, an original suffragist, was invited to speak in the Universalist Church in Racine, Wisconsin, where she had served as parish minister thirty years before. She was a trailblazer. We've heard the story of her entrance to theological school. A few years later, she was the first woman to be ordained by full denominational authority. Her sermon, in 1920, was titled "The Opening Doors," and she spoke of the twenty-seven million women in the United States for whom those doors were beginning to offer entrance. She said, "The future opens before them, fraught with great possibilities of noble achievement. It is worth a lifetime to behold the victory."

Her sermon was more than a celebration of past accomplishment; it was a call to integrity and perseverance. It was a plea to the congregation to carry forth into this new world of liberation their Universalist faith that affirmed the sacred essence of each person. It is from this sermon that our responsive reading, and the theme for our canvass were taken.

Olympia Brown said, "Dear Friends, stand by this faith." More than eighty years later, we look back on the evolution of our Unitarian Universalist faith. We recognize the heart of Olympia Brown's affirmation, and we know our principles include more. When I look out among you I know that in this room we have people who practice Buddhist, Hindu and Sufi meditation, people who affirm their Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant roots, people who are Earth-centered in their spirituality, people who are atheists, theists, and agnostics. We are religious humanists, deists, mystics, and naturalistic theists. Some of us speak the language of the divine in poetry, some in philosophy and science, some with the insights of process theology. Olympia Brown would be amazed.

And she would see how, at our core, we continue to affirm the worth and dignity of all people, to reverence life, to call ourselves to living fully. She would see us offer the world what we have found here: respect, meaning, connection. She would see us heeding the call to bless the world with our gifts. She would call us, again, to stand by this faith.

In recent weeks and months you have participated in creating a vision for the future of this congregation. You have filled out questionnaires, talked in small groups, and you, and the children of this church have written on these multi-colored, rainbow, dancing, flying hands dreams with which you shape the future. Our work is only beginning, and our dreams are both hopeful and possible. In the weeks and months to come your hands will refine the shapes of this church. We have worship to create, caring to express, growth and learning to embody, new people to welcome, values to strengthen, justice to make, community to celebrate.

What we do today lays a foundation for tomorrow. By pledging our financial resources we express our commitment to working together to realize our dreams. Please join Barbara and me, and leaders of this church, if at all possible, in raising your financial support of this church. Your generosity will be matched.

Several people have noted how the portraits of Olympia Brown in the brochure and hanging in the Atrium picture her with a serious, almost dour look. We have decided that our goal in this canvass is to have so many people standing by this faith that Olympia Brown will smile! Together we can make it happen. Stand by this Faith. Make Olympia smile!

After Receiving the Pledges

We give thanks for our many blessings,
For one another's presence,
For generous gifts,
For the opportunity to stand by this faith,
For what, together, we can make possible.

To the work of the church
Which is weaving a tapestry of love
We call community
We dedicate our lives and these, our offerings.
Amen.

Part 3 © John Cahoon, President of the Board of Trustees

Preparing to Make Our Pledges

This year as we make our pledges to this church, we really know how our giving grows in community. Four households have offered matching grants. Each dollar increase in your pledge means five dollars more to the church for the first $5,000 of increases, and four dollars for the next $5,000. Generosity multiplies.

Do you know that it cost over $2,000 a day to operate this church?

Do you know that if member contributions were our only source of income, we would need an average pledge of $1500 per member to support our growth budget? Other fund-raising, investment, and rental income produce 40% of our budget, so we still need to average more than $900 per member to support our growth budget.

My wife, Lynne, and I like to go out and get a cup of coffee, often with a muffin or roll. We probably do this at least once a week. This means that we spend over $250 a year on coffee and crumpets. I know that there are many here that do the same.

The next time that you go out for coffee, or lunch, or go to a movie or play, take your church along. It is not that we have to give up anything. Lynne and I will still go out for treats, and I certainly look forward to those morning buns.

As we now prepare to make our pledges, I hope you will carefully and generously consider how much you can give. If everyone here could increase their pledge, just by the amount that is spent on treats, we would be well on our way to making our ministry as a church much stronger.

Lynne and I are increasing our pledge 22% over our last year's pledge. We are doing this because we support this community, we support its message, and we want to see this church grow.

We need any of you who can, to make increases.

It is good for the community to share in Giving to sustain and grow this church.

Giving empowers you, and giving empowers our mission and vision.

Each and every gift is appreciated and strengthens this community. Each and everyone of you is appreciated; you strengthen this community. You are this community, and its wealth is what we share.

Please rise and join me in the responsive reading printed in your order of service, after which our Chrysalis Youth Group ushers will invite you row by row to bring forward your pledges. Please come forward using the center aisle and return using the side aisles.

At the end of the service, please join us in the Social Hall. A light lunch is being provided, and as soon as possible we will announce the total amount pledged today.

Making a Commitment

President: Our pledges are an embodiment of our longing, our blessings, our gratitude.

Congregation: Our pledges give a sense of who we are and what we value.

President : Our pledges are our commitment to make a better world, a better church, a better self.

Congregation: We bring forward our pledges to share our gifts, to steward our resources, to respond to our blessings.

President: We bring forward our pledges to become now the people we long to be. Congregation: We bring forward our pledges as a way of saying "I stand by this faith."