The Meaning of Membership

a homily by the Rev. Dr. Tim W. Jensen
delivered at the First Religious Society in Carlisle, Massachusetts
Palm Sunday April 9th, 2006

The By-Laws of the First Religious Society state that: “Any person may become a member of the Society who is in sympathy with its purpose and program, and who has signed the Church Roll Book in the presence of the Minister, or in the Minister’s absence, in the presence of a member of the Parish Committee. Neither the covenant nor any other statement shall serve as a creedal test for membership.” That’s 62 words by my count, but there are really only three things you need to keep in mind.

WHAT are the requirements for becoming a member of this church? Sympathy. That’s it. Sympathy for the purpose and program of the Society. I’ll be coming to what that purpose and program are in just a moment, but for the time being all you need to remember is that it’s your Sympathy that truly matters.

HOW do you become a member of the Society? It’s easy. You sign up. Enroll. Subscribe. Enlist... However you want to think of it, it all means the same thing. You write your name in the book alongside the names of all the other people you see sitting all around you.

And then the final, most important thing: this is a Covenant that you are signing on to, and not a Creed. A Covenant is basically a promise of mutual accountability and support, rather than an agreement to all believe the same thing. To answer the question posed by the Prophet Amos, “Can two walk together lest they be agreed?” -- it is an agreement to walk together, rather than the refusal to walk at all unless we all agree.

Of course, folks can join this church any time they like, but once a year we like to set aside a small part of our service to recognize and honor the people who have become members of the Society in past twelve months, and also to invite anyone who would like to join today to come forward and be honored right along with them.

And if you are a little shy about being honored, don’t worry...you can always just stay in your pew and then discretely slip upstairs with me during the coffee hour and sign in private. Because the physical act of joining this church is (and ought to be) a simple thing -- as simple as signing your name. It’s the spiritual commitment which it represents that is truly important. And this is a very personal (and often a very private) commitment, which means different things to different people.

So what exactly IS the purpose of The First Religious Society? Once again, the by-laws tell us that “The purpose of the Society shall be to maintain services of worship in the Carlisle community and to upbuild in the hearts of its people the high ideals of a rational, progressive and exalting religion, in the laws of God and the service of humanity.”

And then the by-laws point to the language of our Covenant, and the three fundamental values we affirm every Sunday: Love, Truth, and Service. “To dwell together in peace, to seek knowledge in freedom, [and] to serve humanity in friendship, to the end that all souls shall grow into harmony with the Divine.” That’s what we’re here for, and this is the purpose for which we invite your sympathy when we welcome you as members of this Society.

And all of our programs here at FRS: not just our Worship, but also our Educational Programs, our Fellowship Events, our Community Outreach and our ministry of Pastoral Care, are all intended and designed to serve this more basic purpose.

I sometimes like to think of Membership as a combination of four other “ships.” The first of these is Discipleship: the commitment to becoming a Disciplined Religious Seeker, who makes “the free and responsible search for truth and meaning” a high priority in life. The second, of course, is Stewardship: accepting responsibility for the care and support of a religious institution which we have inherited as a legacy from our religious ancestors, and which we hold in trust for our own spiritual descendants.

The third “ship” is Leadership: setting a good example for our “Neighbors and Fellow Creatures,” and blazing a trail forward into a better and more fulfilling future for us all. And the final “ship” is the experience of Fellowship itself: the willingness to BE in a relationship of mutual accountability and support even when we DON’T always agree, even when we aren’t all exactly headed in the same direction, or even too certain that we want to be.

My friend Victoria Weinstein (who some of you may remember from my Installation three years ago -- she was the one who offered the Charge to the Congregation) typically tells the people who join her flock at the First Parish in Norwell: “I commend you for your courage in joining a church which will inevitably break your hearts, because like every other church, it is a human institution trying to live into divine values.“ I agree with Vickie wholeheartedly, and on that note, would now like to invite forward all of the courageous souls who have “signed the book” in the past twelve months, or who would like to sign today....