The Rev. Dr. Patrick O'Neill and The Rev. WIlliam Sinkford

2124 Service of the Living Tradition

Speaker: Rev. Dr. Patrick O'Neill

Prepared for UUA.org by: Margy Levine Young, Reporter; Jone Johnson Lewis, Editor

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Sermon text: "Out From Walden"

At every General Assembly, Unitarian Universalists gather for the Service of the Living Tradition, the celebration of our professional ministers and credentialed religious educators. The Service of the Living Tradition this year celebrates the 12 recently deceased ministers, 96 new ministers, and 22 retiring ministers. Over 3,000 General Assembly attendees gathered in the Arena of the Fort Worth Convention Center to witness and celebrate the passages of these professional religious leaders into ministry, into retirement, and into our loving memory.

Elizabeth Norton, Director of Music at First Parish of Concord, Mass., began the service by leading the celebrants in three hymns and spirituals. The Singers of the Living Tradition, a 78-member choir made up entirely of UU ministers, accompanied by Barbara Wagner, Minister of Music at the UU Church of Buffalo, NY, provided harmony. A rousing chorus of "We Give Thanks," by Wendy Louella Perkins, was followed by an arrangement of the African-American spiritual "Come and Go with Me." Both hymns were from the new book, Singing the Journey, the new UUA music resource that was released just in time for GA. Finally, the celebrants sang the familiar hymn "Wake Now My Senses."

After an organ prelude, variations on "Now Thank We All Our God" by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, the Rev. David P. Hubner, Director of Ministry and Professional Leadership at the UUA, gave the Call to Worship. The congregation rose and sang the traditional hymn "Rank by Rank, Again We Stand" to honor the procession of participants, most formally robed, as they entered the arena. Hubner welcomed all to the 60th annual Service of the Living Tradition after noting that this is the 15th anniversary of the first recognition of Ministers of Religious Education in this service.

The Rev. Hubner invoked the Jewish tradition of lighting Sabbath candles each Friday night as an image of our recollection of those who have gone before us. "It takes time and hope and vision and energy to build and grow religious communities," said Hubner. We need this energy to serve our youth and to carry our work into the world, he said. He suggested that we offer a prayer of thanks to all religious leaders, past, present, and future, as well as for the blessing of the spiritual work that we do now. "We are thankful for all the saints who have helped to build our tradition," said Hubner.

After the Singers of the Living Tradition sang the quietly moving "To the Holy Spirit" by Malcolm Dalglish, with words by Wendell Berry, the Rev. Dr. Michelle W. Bentley, Ministerial Development Director at the UUA, led the celebrants in a Litany of Remembrance, a responsive reading adapted from David C. Pohl.

The first religious leaders to be recognized were those who were recently deceased. The Rev. Dr. William G. Sinkford, President of the UUA, read the roll call of ministers who have died in the year since the last Service of the Living Tradition, and led the celebrants in prayer. "Life for all of us is an act of faith, and love redeems us all," ended the Rev. Sinkford, while the Rev. Hubner lit the chalice.

Ysaye M. Barnwell's choral response "Breaths," sung by the Singers of the Living Tradition, affirmed the continuity of life, with words that spoke of our ancestors' prayers that we can "hear in the wind and the voice of the waters."

Next, the service honored the two religious educators who achieved the masters level in the Credentialed Religious Educators program this year. The Rev. Beth Williams, Religious Education Credentialing Director at the UUA, awarded certificates and extended the hand of fellowship, along with Rev. Sinkford, the Rev. Hubner, the Rev. Makanah Morriss, President of the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), and Phyllis Daniel, chair of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. Last year was the first year that the Service of the Living Tradition honored credentialed religious educators.

The Rev. David A. Pettee, Director of Ministerial Credentialing at the UUA, introduced those 60 ministers who are entering Preliminary Fellowship. He congratulated 48 new parish ministers, 11 community ministers, and one religious education minister as they received the hand of fellowship from the Rev. Sinkford, the Rev. Kenneth W. Sawyer, President of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, Ms. Daniel, and the Rev. Hubner. The entire arena rang with Texas-style whoops and hollers in celebration of this important milestone in the lives of these new ministers. Bentley introduced the recognition of 36 ministers who have attained final fellowship. Thirty parish, three community, and three religious education ministers received the hand of fellowship.

The Rev. Dr. Ralph Mero, Director of Church Staff Finances at the UUA, introduced the 24 ministers who have announced their retirement this year. Together, the group has given 604 years of service (an average of 29 years each), preached tens of thousands of sermons, and attended uncountable committee meetings. "More than they know, their calls to courage have made us rise up to action and compassion and generosity," said Mero. The hand of fellowship was extended by the Rev. Mero, the Rev. Sawyer, the Rev. Dr. Joyce H. Smith, President of the Unitarian Universalist Retired Ministers and Partners Association, and the Rev. Hubner. The congregation rose to an extended standing ovation to thank these retiring ministers for their tireless service.

By tradition, the offering at the Service of the Living Tradition always goes to the Living Tradition Fund, which provides Unitarian Universalist seminarians and ministers with scholarships, debt reduction grants, and financial assistance in times of need. The average UU minister starts his or her career with a $40,000 debt, pointed out the Rev. Dr. John H. Weston, Settlement Director at the UUA. During the offertory, Scott Ward, Honorary Minister of Music at the First Unitarian Society of Wilmington, Delaware, sang and played "We'll Rise Again," by Leon Dubinsky.

The Rev. Dr. Patrick T. O'Neill, the Senior Minister at First Unitarian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, stood to give the sermon, "Out From Walden." O'Neill dedicated his sermon to his own first minister, who died this year, and with whom he first shared his own secret longing to be a minister. He spoke of the role of tradition in our spiritual communities, providing the image of Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof," who struggles with the rules of tradition and his love for his daughters. O'Neill also invoked the beloved memory of Henry David Thoreau, and asked for a show of hands of those who have ever visited Walden Pond . Many, if not most, hands went up. Visiting Walden Pond, said O'Neill, is to Unitarian Universalists what a visit to Lourdes is to Catholics.

Thoreau never lost his love for nature and botany, but neither did he ever lose his passion for social causes, mainly working for the abolition of slavery during the years before the Civil War. O'Neill suggested that Unitarian Universalism itself, with the exception of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, has been in a Waldenesque retreat, like Thoreau's retreat into the woods. Our movement has moved increasingly into the white, safe suburbs and away from Thoreau's "mix and mess of the world."

"Liberal religion has gone all but mute in all too many places, on behalf of causes that we like to think would once have pulled our people out of the pews and put them to work," said O'Neill. UU ministers once burned with demands for equal rights of all kinds, and our congregations will look to the new ministers celebrated at this service for continuing leadership in social justice. "Your ministry has no moral right not to speak of these issues, no matter who you might make uncomfortable in our pews," railed O'Neill. Advocacy of justice is not a matter of denominational strategy, or working for growth – they are a matter of what is right. "What's a pulpit for?" asked O'Neill. He exhorted us to take back the phrase "No Child Left Behind" from those who misuse it, and give it back to Marion Wright Edelman, who knows how to use it.

"We welcome you, and we need you," he said to our new ministers. Calling them to action, he said, "Our beloved Walden Woods, our Eden, is ablaze, and it is time more UU pulpits caught fire, too." He urged our new ministers to keep the fire alive, to preach the covenant, and to serve the beloved community,

The choral response was "May Beauty Walk with Us," by Tom Benjamin and Daniel E. Budd and sung by the Singers. The Benediction was delivered by the Rev. Hubner, who said that "There is a new day coming, we believe." As the new and retiring ministers processed out of the Arena, the celebrants sang the traditional hymn, "For All the Saints," followed by rousing closing organ music played by Donald Krehbiel, Director of Music at the First Unitarian Church of Dallas, Texas.

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