Service is Our Prayer
Copyright © Revs. Bill and Barbara Hamilton-Holway
It’s a blessing you were born and it matters what you do.
* * * * * *
Love is an overused word. We get tired of it.
Love fails us, or we fail at love. Can we really believe in love?
A long time covenant of Unitarian Universalist congregations declares: love is the doctrine of this church.
Hearing that one person wrote,
“I feel like I have entered into an agreement with you, and by extension, with the rest of the church. And the agreement really boils down to one word: Love.
And love to me does not feel safe. It requires being open. Open. But really, what is this congregation about if not love and openness? Sharing each others joys and sorrows, sharing the offering, being engaged socially, sending Valentines, making meals, phone banking for marriage equality. It is all about love.
We’re challenged constantly to open our hearts, to stretch our compassion, to extend our caring.
Even when I look up to the sky, it requires of me that I be open, that I lift my head out of my defended position, bare my neck. It is so visceral.
To do so many things, I have to have love in my heart and believe in the congregation’s love to be able to do them.
The constant message is really one of love.”
Love is our doctrine.
Our quest is to be true to our minds, our hearts, our actions, to be true who we are, to have the words of our lips and the meditations of our hearts in accord with what we do.
Service is our prayer.
What motivates you to serve?
When we meet in community, we are inspired by one another. Several members who give of themselves responded to the question.
One replied, “I am not sure how to express it. It certainly comes from being committed to the church community, to my own personal feelings of wanting to do something meaningful with my life, of knowing that consumerism and entertainment do not satisfy or contribute much to my sense of well-being. I get approval from others for being this way, but that isn't what drives me. I feel a personal responsibility for doing 'good stuff.' It feeds my 'soul,' my sense of who I want to be in the world. I enjoy…using my talents as best I can, and the whole process is fed by… attending church with others who are contributing too. I know that my little drops in the bucket can make a difference, and I would certainly rather put them in, than not! I want to be of service because it feels a whole lot better than not doing it! I am not sure why I am near tears in writing this, but thoughts of my parents, my Mom, come up -- maybe it's like what George Bernard Shaw said: I’ve been handed ‘a splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.’’’
A regular volunteer at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program shelter writes, “I feel fortunate to have been born and reared in a loving middle class family in the United States (being a white male didn't hurt either), and it just feels good to help people who maybe didn't have the support and privileges that I have had. Another benefit of serving is simply that it gives me more of a connection to UUCB - I feel more a part of the congregation.”
Monthly a mother and her son prepare and serve the meal at the GRIP shelter. The mother writes,
“We started with GRIP when Dandy was about 7 or 8 years old, so 5-6 years ago… Serving is one of the highlights of our month. We both feel so good about being there and helping, and especially meeting the guests. We get more in appreciation and gratitude than we could ever possibly give.
Dandy’s met a single dad and his adorable 2-year-old daughter. Dandy senses that this dad is a wonderful, nurturing parent. The daughter hugs Dandy when she sees him, and Dandy feels she must receive lots of love from her father.
Serving dinner one Christmas, I watched a couple, obviously down on their luck.. The man graciously pulled out the chair for the woman, and waited for her to be seated before he seated himself. I thought, how beautiful to maintain one's dignity in the face of such hardship.
Every week, people whom I serve, look me in the eye, say thank you, and "God bless." It fills my heart nearly to bursting. I look at each and every guest, and I think, "Just like me." I am no better, no worse, but there but for the grace of God go I. Going to GRIP every month helps me remember to be grateful.”
Our programs of serving in the shelter, laying wreaths at the sites of violent deaths, of reading in the schools get us to places we might not go. We connect with people and know our common humanity.
Along with service is the need to change the causes of injustice. One church activist quotes Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, “…we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but…the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway.”
Experiencing our common humanity transforms the whole Jericho Road. You are changed and you want life’s blessings for all.
Serving in the Volunteer Read Aloud program turns lives around. The number one predictor of school and job success is not family income or cultural identities, it is being read to and hearing words, especially encouraging words.
Our prayer is for each person to know and be known for their worth and dignity, for a world where everyone knows we are all connected, our fates and well-being intertwined.
We serve to give legs, muscle, hands, minds and hearts to our prayer.
A member says she is beginning to pray, “I’m here. I’m available. Send me.”
Let me be of service.
Each act of compassion, of justice, of love matters and multiplies.
When members are in the hospital, supercards from you are taped on the walls. People say they feel supported by all those signatures, whether they know the people are not. So healing to be offered good wishes, maybe especially by people you don’t even know.
A woman says when she passes by people with whom the culture would have her be afraid, she looks into their eyes and smiles. So good to be offered greetings, maybe especially by people you don’t even know.
We serve when we are good to each other, when we raise our children right, when we relate to people in honest and life-giving ways.
What we tell ourselves matters.
You are changed by whether you say, “The world is a mess and nothing we do helps.”
Or “I’m here. I’m available. Let me be of service.”
Or “Treating people like how I want to be treated feeds my soul.”
Or “It’s a blessing we were born and it matters what we do.”
Or “In spite of everything, love is possible.”
When I talk about wanting you to attend Sunday services regularly and give 5 – 10% it is because I believe that’s how loving relationships get made. You show up; you give. The people who make these commitments are the ones who say they receive so much.
It’s like waking at 4 am to feed the baby or soothe your partner awake with a bad dream or answer your friend’s call for help. To make loving relationships, you extend yourself.
So many things worth doing take effort. It’s easier to sit on the couch, turn on the t.v., open the bag of chips. We energize each other to get up, write the letter, attend the rally, go to the shelter, build the universe.
A church activist says social justice and social service advocacy have nourished her through the most difficult periods of her life. She writes, “When everything else in my life fails to work, serving others always gives me hope and strength. Even though I didn’t always know what God was or if I would survive the challenges I faced, I could always connect to something greater than myself through service and experience joy while doing it.”
“The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous…says this again and again. It advises that when a person feels the need for a fix or a drink, they should immediately look to be of service to someone else because helping others puts them in touch with the higher power they need to stay sober.” She says, “People come back from the edge of death using the spiritual practice of service…to remain sober for years. When Jesus says that we should serve each other, I think he does so because it helps us as much as the people we are helping.”
One person says coming to church, greeting one another, singing together, supporting one another involves us in everybody’s individual efforts. Through you, she feels strengthened to do what she does and she feels connected to the good you do.
Each of us embodies the spirit of love.
Six year old Sophie when presented with a scarf knit by one of her moms, draped it around her shoulders and said, “I look like a minister.”
Sophie the minister. All of us the ministers. It matters what we do.
Another person puts it, “When someone asks, “What do you do?” They mean what do I do when I go to work. They don’t mean what do you do when you’re a den mother messing around with papier-mâché? They don’t mean when I write letters to the editor or have a religious experience singing with others. Now I say, ‘I’m a UU. Living up to Unitarian Universalist principles is my challenging, all encompassing, happiness-inducing occupation.”
A church activist’s motivation is articulated by lesbian, feminist Episcopal theologian Carter Heyward in her book Passion for Justice. “…loving involves commitment. We are not automatic lovers of self, others, world, or God. Love does not just happen...Love is a choice -- not simply, or necessarily, a rational choice, but rather a willingness to be present to others without pretense or guile. Love is a conversion to humanity -- a willingness to participate with others in the healing of a broken world and broken lives. Love is the choice to experience life as a member of the human family, a partner in the dance of life…”
It’s a blessing you were born. It matters what you do, and you don’t have to do it alone. You are a member of the human family, a partner in the dance of life! Such a blessing!
Such a blessing!
Service is Our Prayer from UU Church of Berkeley on Vimeo.
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