Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth 
The Great Leap Forward
Marty Sozansky
Sunday, February 29, 2004
You can't imagine how excited I was when I learned that we had the opportunity to kick off our financial canvass on Sunday, February 29. It's Leap Year Day. This date, of course, comes only once every four years, and we'll not have another February with five Sundays in it until 2032, 28 years from now.
Because of this, the idea of naming our canvass "The Great Leap Forward" was a no-brainer. It hasn't been used as a canvass theme in my tenure here, and by 2032, I figure everybody who's here today will have, at the very least, forgotten. I knew the phrase wasn't original with me, and I recalled that the late Chairman Mao of the People's Republic of China actually named his attempt to catapult China into economic prosperity in 1958 The Great Leap Forward.
After the theme had been published several places, I started to do some research. Perhaps you can imagine how I felt when I read one historian's assessment of Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward: "The Great Leap Forward was an economic failure."
Not only that, I started to encounter anti-Great-Leap-Forward intelligence in books that I read about fundraising in the church. This from Michael Durall, in Creating Congregations of Generous People: "The giving culture in your congregation and denomination may have been formulated over many decades, or perhaps centuries. If low- or same-level giving is the norm, this culture will not yield easily to change. Volunteers who lead pledge drives for a year or two in their congregations may not be able to put a substantial dent in the giving culture. Their work, however, may play an important role in beginning to change attitudes toward stewardship and the use of money among members of their congregations." It appears that if we are successful, we will be so over time, hardly a great leap forward.
But I'm not so sure I feel sad about that. I think perhaps anything worth reaching happens in tiny victories, most so small they're not even noticed at the time
One thing I'm thinking about today goes all the way back to 1935. That's the year my mother, who was 18 at the time, left her central Indiana farm and took the train to Indianapolis to find work. She took a room with her great Aunt May Van Skoyk.
Aunt May, probably born in about 1875, had lived in Indianapolis her entire adult life. She was a widow and worked six days a week in a small dress shop in downtown Indianapolis. She struggled to make ends meet, and in order to keep her small house after her husband's death, she rented its two bedrooms and use of the bathroom and kitchen to a newly-married couple, a phenomenon called in those days "light housekeeping."
When Mom arrived, she moved into the tiny third bedroom off a landing that led to the attic. For $5 a week, Mom had the room, bathroom privileges, the same bathroom, of course, and took her dinners with Aunt May. This arrangement displaced Aunt May from any bedroom, so she moved her bed to the attic, which was, of course, unheated and uncooled, except in the summer and winter, respectively.
Aunt May's life seems dreary and difficult to me: hard work in the dress shop six days a week, coming home to cook and clean for a small village of renters in her tiny house. But she had something in her life that, according to my mother, seemed to give her joy, and purpose, and deep and wonderful friendships. She was a member of a Universalist church, and many's the night when Mom would come home to a living room full of a committee or council of the church. "What kind of meetings were they?" I ask. "Oh, I don't know," Mom says. "Just doing church business, I suppose."
I have grilled my mother about this. Can she remember what they talked about? Was it Bible study, a covenant group, a Board of Trustees? What was the age of the group? How many men and how many women? Mind you, I'm badgering my mother, who only lived there a few months in 1935, during which she was falling in love with a young telegrapher for the Associated Press. What she does remember is that there were men and women, they were sometimes serious but there was often laughter, and everyone wore a hat. The men, of course, took theirs off at the door; the ladies left theirs on.
Doing church business. And it gave Aunt May joy, and purpose and wonderful friends. How is it any different for me? I come here with great joy because First Unitarian Church of Duluth thinks I and my singular beliefs are ok. I'm not here to interpret the already-known truth but to search for the truth that I may never know, and that gives me joy. This religious community gives me purpose: it exposes me to a hundred things I would never know about and it provides a jumping off place for me to try to live responsibly. First Unitarian Church of Duluth provides an avenue through which I can contribute a hundred times better than I could on my own. And my friends are here. That's not to say I don't have great friends outside the church and outside the community; it is to say that I haven't found anyone here yet whom I can't call a friend. In fact, until today, the only difference between Aunt May Van Skoyk and me was the wearing of hats to do church business. Joy, and purpose and friends.
This religious community, of course, does measure its success in those terms, and not in monetary terms. But it needs money to be successful. That is why, starting today and throughout March, we ask you to consider your pledge to the church's operating budget for the fiscal year 2005, which begins on June 1, 2004.
There are many reasons that I hope you will consider carefully your pledge. Here are six.
1. We are a liberal voice in our community. I can't tell you the number of people I've talked to who say one of the reasons they support the church is because they can't imagine a community without a Unitarian Universalist church. I canvassed the late Lucy Walbridge in her home on London Road while she was making apple cobbler. I didn't have the chance to get to know Lucy very well before she died, but every moment of that visit is memorable to me, and her statement about the importance of our just being here was riveting to me. Sometimes our voice brings into community consciousness important issues. Sometimes we contribute directly to others who do vital work we cannot do. Sometimes we are simply present, but our voice is heard. We can, of course, do so much more. Expanded programming on social issues, information campaigns, direct contributions, even the employment of a social justice coordinator-someday, someday, will help the vision grow.
2. Unitarian Universalists as a denomination are among the most educated of all church-goers in this country. We insist on and benefit from educated, professional leadership. We have enormously qualified professionals and staff, and we've made a commitment to compensate them fairly according to the Unitarian Universalist guidelines.
3. We're at a critical juncture in our church in several ways. To make a great leap forward in programming and in welcoming people in the community looking for a church home, we are working hard on many fronts. Because we want to offer the broadest possible programming, and because we want to be as welcoming as humanly possible to new people, we are discussing moving to two Sunday services in the fall. There may be enormous benefits, but certainly there are costs attached: for everything from additional staff time to additional printing.
4. Another vision has to do with our being at the point of changing our model of behavior, from that of a pastoral church to that of a program church. Some of us have a vision of a building in which we offer programming on a hundred different levels, and we have a vision of our having the resources to do it, whether those resources are more paid staff, or curriculum that is available but must be purchased, or a retreat center, or what ever we can envision. But vision, as Bill and I heard former U of M President Udolf say once, vision without resources is hallucination.
5. Our membership in the Unitarian Universalist Association provides us an incredible array of resources, including training and mentoring, curriculum, advice, programming on both a national and regional level, and much more. Ask anyone who's been to leadership school, or our general assembly about the rich personal growth that comes from those opportunities. Some churches have stopped paying their fair share because they can't raise enough money, and they're the poorer for it. We pay our fair share out of our operating budget.
6. We have a place to hang our hats. This building is our spiritual house. Our operating budget must maintain the house, and the last few years we've had to adjust the line item downward to match the operating budget.
Here, in 7 sentences, is the story of our canvass this year:
Today is the first day of 32 consecutive days, ending March 31, during which we hope that every member and friend of First Unitarian Church of Duluth will make a pledge to the operating budget for the coming year.
We are providing as much communication about our vision as we possibly can, through our insert in the church newsletter, through this discussion, and through a stewardship publication that will come to you the week of March 8.
We ask you to consider increasing your pledge to the church by 10%.
If you did not pledge last year but made a recorded gift, we ask you to consider making a pledge for next year because of the enormous value that provides in planning.
Many of you have asked for an opportunity to discuss your pledge as comfortably and conveniently as possible, and you have also asked us to do our best to get it all at once, and not come back to you for additional monies later to support the operating budget.
That's why, most importantly, this year ten members are acting as Canvass Consultants.
Every Sunday throughout March, after this service, several of us will be standing by in the Community Room, ready to talk with you "no appointment necessary" about the vision, the need, and your pledge.
Among these 10 people are a couple of hundred years of commitment to this religious community. After the service you can get a cup of coffee, examine the documents on the canvass canvas, and then talk to these terrific people. They are, in alphabetical order
Dodie Bertilson Dodie is interested in everything and can talk about anything and knows how to have fun. But she'll talk turkey about your pledge.
Vickery French As a true native Minnesotan, Vickery Anderson French understands if you don't want to talk about money or if you don't want to talk about much of anything. She'll engage you, though, and answer your questions with more than a yep or nope.
Mara Hart Mara's one of the best listeners I know. She's focused on every word I say and she really listens with empathy. If you want to be heard, talk to Mara.
Bunter Knowles Bunter absolutely believes in teamwork. He's not going to talk "I" or "you" as much as he's going to talk about "we," and what we can do together. He's friendly, and he's fun.
John Langdon Among our consultants, John is our longest-settled Unitarian Universalist. He's loved this congregation since 1966. He's grounded, and not looking for anyplace else. He'll talk to you about anything.
Tom Morgan says he's not good at small talk, but if you want to get right to the heart of an issue in 4 seconds, talk to Tom.
Bill Payne Passion. He's passionate about the cause, but laid back when he asks for a pledge. He'll talk substance with you.
Ted Pollard. You can start by asking Ted about his and Lorraine's recent trip to Austrailia and New Zealand. I always learn something when I talk to Ted, and you can end up having a good conversation about your commitment to the church.
Pat Stoddard Another one of our long-settled members, Pat says she's loyal and true, and no one disagrees. Others say she sparkles, and no one has disagreed with that yet, either.
You can also talk to me. Maybe you know by now why I'm here.
This group of consultants along with their partners and spouses, and each member of the Board of Trustees along with their partners and spouses, and Karen and John Gustafson have already made their pledges. I hope in the coming four weeks you will seek us out, talk to us about your vision, and make your generous pledge to First Unitarian Church. I can't think of any better way to start our canvass than with the singing of all four verses of "Spirit of Life," printed on the insert in your order of service.