In addition to the great news of a new minister coming this August, the exciting work of building a
new worship space is well under way.
Unitarian Universalists have many famous buildings. The oldest church in continuous use of any denomination in the United States is the Unitarian Universalist church in Hingham, Massachusetts, the Old Ship Meetinghouse. Built in 1681, it is the only remaining 17th century Puritan meetinghouse in America. Inside the plain, unadorned walls of the meetinghouse the ceiling, made of great oak beams, looks
like the inverted frame of a ship. It is a National Historic Landmark.
Less than a hundred years later Kings Chapel was built in what is now downtown Boston. The stone building, made of Quincy granite, was opened in 1754. A bell forged in England was hung in 1772. It cracked in 1814. Paul Revere recast and rehung it in 1816. Revere said it was “the sweetest bell I ever made.” It still rings every Sunday morning to summon parishioners to service. Kings Chapel became
Unitarian in 1785. They use the book of common prayer, with all the references to the Trinity removed. It is a National Historic Landmark, well worth visiting.
The most expensive Unitarian building is in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Working for Standard Oil Company, Henry Huttleston Rogers earned a personal wealth of over half a billion dollars. His mother was dedicated to her Unitarian church, so Henry used his enormous wealth to build a church to honor the memory of his mother. The church copies the style of a15th century English Gothic Cathedral. The outside is of granite and limestone. The interior woodwork consists of rare English bog oak, shipped from England and carved by wood carvers brought over from Germany. Beautiful stain glass windows cover the walls. In 1904 it cost forty million dollars to build. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The two most famous Unitarian Churches are both by Frank Lloyd Wright. Unity Temple is in Oak Park Illinois. Completed in 1908, it was Wright’s first public building. A square room, no one is more than forty-five feet from the pulpit and the congregation can see each other. Unity Temple is a National Historic Landmark and on the UNESCO World Heritage List. If you are in Chicago, I encourage you to visit it.
The second Frank Lloyd Wright Unitarian Universalist Church is the Unitarian Meeting House in Madison, Wisconsin. It was completed in 1951 and is also a National Historic Landmark.
I love grand buildings, but I also love simple religious buildings. We make a space sacred by saying this place, of all the places on earth, is where I will stand and say the vows when I join in union with another person. This is where I will stand and say for all the community to hear the name of my newborn child. This where I will come with a gathered community to remember and celebrate the lives of my friends and my relatives after they have died. Having been the space for these important events in our lives, each time we enter this sacred space it touches our emotions; it gives us a feeling of safety. It gives us inspiration; it lifts our spirits. You are creating such a space.
"How do you decide on a topic each week for your sermon?"
I try to vary the topics I pick. I look at newspapers to see what stories are popular. I looked at the calendar for holidays and anniversaries that fall on or near a Sunday. I look at the past sermons of colleagues for ideas.
About thirty years ago I was serving as a minister in Bethesda, Maryland and we invited the Rev. Dr. Patrick T. O'Neill, to speak at our annual Stewardship Sunday Service. "Treasured Dishes, Fragile Cups" was his title. Patrick’s words touched and moved me in a very profound way. I still think about the story in the sermon. With Patrick’s permission, and with some rewriting of my own, I will share his message on our Stewardship Sunday, March 2.
The next Saturday, March 8, is International Woman’s Day. I remembered attending a wonderful poetry reading a few years ago by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Also, I remember seeing two autograph copies of a poetry book by Atwood at Peregrine Book Company on North Cortez Street in Prescott. I got excited about the thought of preparing a biographical sermon about Atwood for March 9. (This is part of the way I decide on a topic each week. I look for something that excites me.)
A few years ago I spent a day with the minister of the Dublin Unitarian Church, learning about the story of that congregation. St. Patrick's Day is Monday, March 17. I think it is a very, very interesting story, but I wonder; are Prescott Unitarian Universalists interested in the history of a Unitarian Church that is 5,000 miles away? We will see on March 16. (Announcing sermon topics ahead of time is risky. Some of my colleagues refuse to do so.)
The next week we have a guest speaker, but there are five weeks in March. For March 30 I am thinking about Lent, which started Wednesday, March 5, and ends on Thursday, April 17. Lent is a 40-day period of self-improvement through self-denial. Talking about Lent offers opportunities for humor. But seriously, do liberal religious people practice self-denial? (This feels even riskier than talking about Irish Unitarians.)
Of course, events can make it necessary to change a sermon topic. Sunday morning August 31, 1997, all the parish clergy in the United Kingdom woke to the news about the death of Princess Diana. They had a few minutes to toss out what they had planned and prepare words to minister to their shocked congregations. I pray that nothing like that happens, but I know it can. Therefore, the topics above are just tentative plans. Life will unfold and I will respond as best I can.
My first year of seminary was 1974-75 and my first sermon was in February 1975, fifty years ago, at the UU church in Hayward, California. I was twenty-four. It was not a very good sermon. I still work each week to prepare for a Sunday service, knowing my limits. I think of T.S. Eliot who wrote in one of his poems,
Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still.
At the end of fifty years of writing sermons, I give thanks for being here in Arizona. As I visit places in Prescott that I visited as a child, I think of other words from Eliot.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
It is good to be with you.