THE YEAR OF GENEROSITY

We’ve got a lot of work to do if we are going to honor our call as Unitarian Universalists in Evanston, Chicago, and the North Shore, in the year 2019.  It’s not like someone else is going to pick up the baton if we hang up our running shoes and take a break.  Our good news is unique, our timing is perfect, and our abundance is evident.  On your mark, get set, go!

The culture wars call for nothing less than radical hospitality in response to the intense polarization that seeks to eliminate non-conformists like us.  When we explain that our differences unite us, we speak treason.  When we put our faith in humankind, we blaspheme.  When we stand with the oppressed and refuse to back down, we beg for buckshot.  On your mark . . .

We now find our society in the midst of a new economic reality.  The so-called American Dream of two or more cars, home ownership, a steady job with a single employer, and out-of-state or overseas vacations is no longer a given for most middle-class Americans.  In fact, some are already mourning at the tombstone for this stratum of society as wealth trickles up to the rich.  When dreams are deferred or denied we can expect more religious seekers to cross UCE’s threshold than even our visionary founders ever dreamed.  Get set . . .

We can no longer expect to impact our world or welcome the wanderer on a shoestring budget.  I am not hesitant to ask for money.  Raise your pledge, make one if you haven’t, encourage others to so do if you cannot.  Talk is cheap but being a powerhouse of worship and transformation is not.  Now is the time, our pledge drive is in full force, and the future can be one of abundance or scarcity; it’s up to you.  Go!

My prayer is that we will amaze ourselves with the kind of generosity that sacrifices personal accumulation for a more equal distribution of wealth.  Too radical for you?  I think not, compared to the cost of moderation in matters religious.  No, there is no turning back.

The joy continues,

Greg