Reflection: “Memories Made Possible”
Rev. Megan Lloyd Joiner
Unitarian Society of New Haven
November 11, 2018
One of my favorite things about being your minister is hearing your stories – especially your stories about how this congregation has made a difference in your life, transformed your understanding of being a parent or a member of a community, helped you through hard times, taught you something unexpected.
What a blessing to have the voices of our founders and some of our longest-term members in our pulpit today. These are stories to be witnessed, memories made possible by the dedicated leaders this congregation has known for decades.
If you are someone who has memories of USNH that go back 50 years or more, would you please rise or raise your hand? and remain standing or keep your hand up.
If you are someone who has memories of USNH that go back 30 years or more?
20 years or more?
A decade or more?
If your memories of USNH began just 5 or more years ago?
And if you have memories of USNH that began within the past five years?
What about in the past 30 minutes?
Take a moment to look around. Many familiar faces. Many new faces.
Thank you. Please be seated.
Whether you have been here five minutes or five years or five decades, you who are gathered here today are the people who carry the mantle, the legacy, of those who have gone before. You are the people who make future memories possible. You are the people who will lead us into a new era of liberal religion in the greater New Haven area.
“Whoa,” you might be saying, “me?”
Or you might be thinking: “You want me to do what? Lead us where? In addition to everything else I’m doing? That’s a lot to ask, Rev. Megan.”
It is.
The truth is, we have a growing congregation of over 350 adult members and nearly 90 children and youth that is buoyed, in many ways, by a small circle of deeply dedicated volunteers – maybe around 100 people. Most of these volunteers are long-time members. Most of you are 65 or older, and a lot of you are tired. You have told me so.
Another truth is this: It is not easy to join a congregation – whether you’ve been a part of another congregation before or not. It’s not easy to make new friends or decide where to put your energy or where you will “jump in.”
“Jump in” is the title of our final class in our membership series for a reason. But one class and the herculean efforts of the Membership Team alone are not enough. It is all of our responsibility
to meet and greet and welcome and get to know newcomers in our congregation.
Some people have no trouble jumping in, and before you know it, it feels like they’ve been here forever. Other folks have a more difficult time. A lot of people here at USNH know each other well and have strong, decades-long friendships. That’s not always easy to break into.
A lot of our social justice groups, and other groups as well, communicate on email, but it’s not always easy to know how to get on the right list.
The Social Hall after services can be a challenge even if you aren’t an introvert, and if you are, forget it.
Additionally, I’ve observed that when we have discussions about who we should engage to be on a committee or task force or the Board, we usually name the usual suspects. Now there’s nothing wrong with the usual suspects. You are amazing, wonderful, hard-working, deeply dedicated people. And we are in danger of burning you out.
We want to be a place where all members have the opportunity meet the needs of the community with their gifts, to step into leadership, to volunteer in ways that nourish their souls, to be supported in their work.
We want and need to engage the newest members of our community in the work of this congregation in addition to those who have been here for decades.
How do we do that?
Well, in an article on congregational leadership, consultant and blogger, Aaron Buer, offers four reasons why a congregation might not have enough volunteers.
His reasons are couched negatively. I’ve turned them around into four ways we might increase participation here at USNH:
- Make a personal ask.
“But we do ask,” you might say. “We post in the newsletter and make announcements from the pulpit and still no one volunteers.” “When you ask everyone,” Buer says, you ask no one.” What a difference it makes to seek someone out and say: “I think you should do this. I think you’d be great at it.”
- Have clear next steps.
Buer recommends offering an immediate “tour” of the need right after the worship service – walk people through what needs to be done. Or, he suggests, write up cards with descriptions of the need or – hold on to your 20th century hats, folks—texts. Offer for people to text a number immediately if they’d like to volunteer. Make the next steps super clear and people will take them.
- Have current volunteers recruit new volunteers.
The best person to recruit more people is someone who is passionate and engaged. We need those of you who are volunteering to recruit new folks by sharing why you love what you are doing at USNH.
- Make sure volunteering is a good experience.
It’s that simple. When folks feel encouraged and supported and that their work is aligned with the ways their spirit comes alive, they will come back. Congregational work should feed your soul. It should be fun. It should make you feel like you are contributing at the same time as you are getting something in return.
Four ways to increase participation and involvement.
We can do this! If our predecessors could carry their fellow member up the stairs each week and down so that he could come to worship, we can work to engage all of our members.
And if you are a relatively new member, if you’ve been around for a while, but haven’t yet found a way to jump in, you can do it too.
Ask questions, try something new, think about what gifts you have to offer and be in touch with Anna, our membership coordinator, or me, or a Board Member or members of the nominating committee (who will be in tabling in the Social Hall today), and let us know how you’d like to be involved.
Caring for our shared spiritual home is all of our work. Let us find ways to be connected and to nourish our souls. Let us leave room to be surprised, and to actively engage this community of care and hope.
Our memories of USNH are possible because of those who came before us.
We – all of us – are the ones who will make new memories possible.