Partnerships Around the World

Opening Words: read by Christine Cahill (Vision Statement of the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council)

We envision a worldwide Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist community that promotes peace, justice, and liberty for all, supported by partnerships that are integral to congregational life.

Meditation: by John Daniel a poem entitled “A Prayer among Friends”

Among other wonders of our lives, we are alive

with one another, we walk here

in the light of this unlikely world

that isn't ours for long.

May we spend generously

the time we are given.

May we enact our responsibilities

as thoroughly as we enjoy

our pleasures. May we see with clarity,

may we seek a vision

that serves all beings, may we honor

the mystery surpassing our sight,

and may we hold in our hands

the gift of good work

and bear it forth whole, as we

were borne forth by a power we praise

to this one Earth, this homeland of all we love.

Images from our Partners

Romania: read by Libby Tyler (written by Peri Ceperley)

(Picture of minister, followed by slide show) 

Attila Molnar has been the minister of the Unitarian Church in Szekelykal for 10 years or more.  He is dedicated to preserving the Hungarian and Unitarian minority cultures in Romania and to leading a thriving, enthusiastic congregation.  To this end, he is involved in all aspects of church life,  and makes a point of walking through the village visiting his parishioners.  He is familiar with details of all the family members in most of the local Unitarian families.  He is also quite enthusiastic to see the church thrive and grow and is very involved in the current building projects financed primarily by our partner church program.

Attila is supported at home by his wife, Monika, and his two children.  Monika teaches in the local primary school, but she helps Attila organize and carry out church celebrations and festivals.  Their home is right across the road from the church, so they are never far from the activities.  

Currently, Attila is very involved in the remodeling of the chapel house of the church, an adjoining building they hope to heat and use in the winter for religious education, small services, and lodging for guests.  In all the photos Attila can be seen alongside all the other church members as they construct this building.  

Before Attila came to the Szekelykal church as a young man many years ago, the ministers had not stayed for more than a few years apiece.  The parishioners are grateful that Attila has come and made it is life work to see the church flourish.

India: read and written by Brigitte Pieke

(Picture of minister, followed by slide show)

This is Enial Lyngdoh. He is 60 years old, is married, and has a son named Mandy

who is in college at the moment.  He has always been dedicated to the Unitarians in NorthEast India. First he was a church worker, then  an assistant minister and now a minister of the of the church in Nongtalang and  their neighboring villages of Sohka and Padu.

  He wants to expand the church in Nongtalang.  I think, by building the church, he wants to do just that.

When he is talking about our partnership relations with Urbana he says literally:

It makes him feel near and dear, he has the feeling of brotherhood internationally, and that we are brothers and sisters  in our faith and that we are spreading the wings of sympathy. This means a lot to him, and he hopes that eventually this will grow his congregation.

He is also involved in the Unitarian School in Nongtalang. He does not teach there, but is very much involved in  the School Management Committee. 

Mission Statement: read responsively by Anne Sharpe

The mission of the Unitarian Universalist Partner Council is to foster and support partner relationships between UU congregations and individuals in the United States and Canada with Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist congregations, orphanages, schools and students in all other countries where partnering is sought and welcomed.  These will be mutually beneficial, responsibly sustained, and linked by joint and mutual covenants. We will:

BE a bridge that connects congregations around the world

REACH across boundaries to collaborate with old and new partners

CREATE transformational opportunities for pilgrimage and hospitality, for  learning and for service

CHALLENGE ourselves theologically and open ourselves to changed values and behaviors

ESTABLISH global community as a common commitment of liberal religion

INITIATE partnerships that promote global friendships, international awareness, human rights, and a better world; and

SUSTAIN this global vision, enlarging and renewing it as new occasions teach new duties.

Partnerships Around the World

A Sermon Delivered on December 7, 2014

By

The Rev. Axel H. Gehrmann

Be a bridge. Reach across boundaries. Sustain a global vision.

The mission of our Partner Church Council reminds me of the phrase “think globally, act locally.” It’s a motto that has been picked up by activists, educators, and environmentalists, and sometimes seems to have become a rather trite truism. But putting this simple idea into action is anything but easy. Yes, we know there is a big world out there, but more often than not, I think, we act locally and think locally.

I am reminded of an ancient story attributed to the Taoist philosopher Chuang-tzu, but which is also found in Hindu writings. It goes like this:

Once upon a time there was a frog who had lived all his life in a well. One day he was surprised to see another frog there.

“Where have you come from?” he asked.

“From the sea. That’s where I live,” said the other.

“What’s the sea like? Is it as big as my well?”

The sea frog laughed. “There is no comparison,” he said. “It’s bigger and much more beautiful.”

The well frog pretended to be interested in what his visitor had to say about the sea. But he thought, “Of all the liars I have know in my lifetime, this one is undoubtedly the greatest – and the most shameless!” 

(As retold by Anthony de Mello in Taking Flight, adapted.)

The first time I heard this story, I identified with the sea frog. After all, I have traveled the world a fair amount. I was born in Germany, raised in America, and years ago traveled all around Western Europe. I have always thought of myself as internationally enlightened. 

But at this stage of my life, I am not so sure. Despite the fact that I have been privileged to travel a fair amount, and despite the fact that I look at the World News section of the New York Times every day, I have come to realize that the Western Europe and North America I know are in many ways very similar. Economically, politically, and culturally, we share very much in common. 

Ten years have now passed since I visited our partner congregations and met Attila Molnar and Enial Lyngdoh. Traveling to rural Transylvania and the lush green hills of eastern India was a striking experience. It was striking how different their village life was from my own experience. 

Most obvious were the economic differences. A few dollars that we casually spend here can go a very long way there. This morning you have seen some of the building projects they have been able to carry out, thanks to what we were able to send their way from our Sunday collection.

But much more surprising than that, was to realize how little I knew about life in Eastern Europe in the wake of Communism, and how little I knew about life in Eastern Asia in the wake of colonialism. I was struck by how little I knew their respective cultures and traditions, and their unique challenges and perspectives.

And it was humbling to realize that even though I had considered myself some kind of cosmopolitan world citizen, I was in fact an amazingly clumsy, bumbling tourist in unfamiliar lands. I realized I was not the frog from the sea, but rather I was the one who had lived in a small well all his life, unable to imagine the world beyond. 

* * *

The Unitarian Universalism we practice in this church is a very North American phenomenon. Our version of our faith is shaped by this country’s history, the story of European settlers inspired by dreams of religious freedom and individualism. It is one way to understand liberal religion, but not the only way.

For over twenty years now the UU Partner Church Council has reached out to congregations across the world, trying to strengthen the bonds between us and our religious cousins. The effort began in the early 1990s, after the Ceausescu regime had crumbled in Romania, and the Iron Curtain came down. After decades of international isolation under Communist rule, we were able to reach out and connect with some of the 60,000 Unitarians who lived in western Romania, ethnic Hungarians whose congregations had existed there since the birth of Unitarianism in the 16^th century.

In the early 1990’s members of our church first visited Hungary and Romania, and initiated a partnership with the congregation in Szekylykal. Later we began to build a partnership with the Unitarians in Nongtalang, who recently celebrated the 125^th  anniversary of their church.

But our larger UU partnerships are not limited to India and Transylvania. For instance, we have several partners in Africa. There have been Unitarians in Nigeria for over a century. In 1919 the Unitarian Brotherhood church was founded by people disenchanted with the churches of their upbringing, searching for a more liberal religious community. In Kenya today several Unitarian Universalist groups are growing, and have recently formed the Kenya Unitarian Universalist Council, the KUUC. In the Republic of Burundi a Unitarian church was founded, that today works closely with other emerging groups in the French speaking countries of Africa. And in Uganda a Unitarian church is focusing its efforts on building a school in Kampala.

In the Southeast Asia, the Universalist Church of the Philippines was founded in 1955, which became the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines in the 1980s. We have seven partner congregations there. And recently a UU group has been formed in Hong Kong. 

In the Czech Republic there is also a Unitarian presence, going back to the church founded by Norbert Capek, the author and inventor of the Flower Communion we celebrate every year on the first Sunday of June. 

* * *

What made my visits to Szekylykal and Nongtalang such a powerful and positive experience was the kind hospitality I received in the homes of fellow Unitarians, and the far-ranging conversations we were able to carry on, despite the barriers of language and culture and customs. Despite our obvious differences, we were able to discover many similarities of perspective, and similarities of concern. Our shared religious outlook made all the difference. Our shared openness of mind and heart, our shared fondness for critical inquiry and for questioning authority, our shared desire to build a better world, starting with our own lives, and our own respective communities.  

By being granted insight into the life of their congregations and communities, I was able to see our lives in a new way. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of our friends in Szekylykal and Nongtalang, I was able to gain a much better understanding of the well within which I have lived most of my life. 

I am very familiar with this small part of the world I know. All my dreams and worries, all my assumptions and ambitions fit snugly within its walls. Thanks to our partner congregations, I am able to get a glimpse of how small my world looks from the outside. I am able to get an inkling of a much bigger and more beautiful world I seldom see. 

We don’t need to travel across the globe to see the world from outside our well. Maybe all we need to do is drive to a place like Ferguson, MO, or go for a walk on the north side of town. 

In this day and age, we are called to think globally and act locally, because we know all our lives inseparable. The same spirit of life moves all of us.

May we build bridges and reach across boundaries 

And may our global vision of justice

Begin right here, today.

Amen.