It is an understatement to say that ministry has taken me to places that I never would have imagined! This past week I found myself in the Big Texan Steak Ranch, Home of the free 72 oz. steak dinner if eaten in one hour! Deer, cattle, bear, and other large animal heads gazed down with their glassy eyes at the long wooden tables and a homegrown Opry show complete with country songs and two-stepping. No one in my group was up to eating the 72 oz. steak but I can highly recommend Texas caviar- a kind of salsa made with black beans!

The reason that I found myself in Amarillo, Texas this past week was that I was attending a seminar offered by the Alban Institute. The Alban Institute was developed as an educational program for clergy and lay leaders to gain skills and to discover resources that enrich congregational life. The Rev. Dan Hotchkiss who served as a consulting minister here from 1998 to '99 is a member of their faculty specializing in the area of "Faith and Money".

This was my first Alban Institute seminar. There were about forty of us enrolled, mostly clergy but also some lay leaders and denominational executives. The participants held a variety of faiths: Baptist, Episcopalian, Jewish, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and there were two other Unitarian Universalists. The seminar was held in a Catholic Retreat Center. We ate and slept in the same building where all the presentations and discussions were held. It was a good atmosphere for learning and reflection.

What drew such a diverse group of religious leaders to Amarillo, Texas for four days, was a seminar entitled: "Raising the Roof: The Pastoral to Program Size Transition". Our instructor, Alice Mann, wrote a book of the same title and is a Senior Alban Consultant. Here's a bit from the course description: "Congregations usually hit a 'glass ceiling' in attendance between 150 to 200. This workshop will help clergy understand the dynamics of this most difficult size plateau and engage their congregations in the learning they need to navigate this change."

If you include all ages who attend on Sundays, we are quickly approaching the size described. In committees, forums, and small groups, we have certainly become aware of some of the difficulties of this size transition. We are feeling scrunched in the Parish Hall. Our children are meeting in classrooms filled to capacity. In Fellowship Hour, we have to do a sideways shuffle in order to reach the coffee pot. During fellowship dinners, the tables have to be carefully arranged in a sort of maze in order to seat everyone. Our church calendar is becoming more complex with multiple groups meeting in various locations. It is no longer possible to attend all church activities. Not so long ago, the congregation was like the popular television show "Cheers" where everybody knew your name and you knew everyone. Now with many visitors and recent members, it is highly likely to encounter new faces each Sunday.

These are good problems to have! It is a sign of congregational vitality. However, change is not easy and if we would like to sustain or to foster this growth in membership, we will need to address some of the barriers that may hamper our health as a faith community.

Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people! I realize that it's impossible for me to preach about "Raising the Roof" without mentioning the steeple. We are currently examining ways to repair our steeple, which has major cracks that have undergone a temporary repair. There are a variety of opinions about the steeple. What does it symbolize? How should it be addressed? When? By what means? However, we are committed to an open and respectful process that will maintain our unity while at the same time addressing a sizeable challenge, an expensive, very tall and very weighty challenge. During meetings in homes last Spring and in forums at church, folks have emphasized that it is Unitarian Universalist values and personal relationships with folks in this congregation that hold the greatest meaning. Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people. . . It is the people of the church, those here this morning and others not present who are an integral part of our community of faith together who will be able to address this challenge. I know this because of the excellent process we've begun. The decisions that will need to be made, and the work that will need to be accomplished is beyond any one individual, they can only be reached through planning and teamwork. Of course, that is unless, some individual is able and willing to write a sizeable check this morning! Such generosity is always welcome.

Of course, "Raising the Roof" has nothing to do with steeples. Alice Mann's area of specialty is helping congregations build a strong foundation to "raise the roof" for a transition to the next size. This is not merely a matter of adding numbers of people to the existing congregation, like any organization, the structure and style changes as a faith community grows in size.

One of the questions that Alice Mann repeated many times during the seminar was the following: "What would it take for us to make room for the next fifty people God wants to send us?" For those who hold a different theological perspective, you could ask the same question, with your source of ultimate meaning: "What would it take for us to make room for the next fifty people who the Goddess/ Spirit of Life/ Universe/ wants to send us? Or whose karmic path crosses with ours?"

Although our door is open to first time visitors, there are some real barriers for newcomers to truly join this faith community.

Some of them are purely practical:

• The constraints of our physical space
• Whether folks can find a place to park their car or become so discouraged that they go back home.
• Issues of accessibility. Who are we excluding by not having accessible bathrooms and parking for those with disabilities?

Some of these barriers are more institutional

• Developing a process of new member integration so that people quickly have a connection and sense of belonging

I want to acknowledge that there can be a sense of apprehension as any congregation experiences a size transition. Alice Mann has discovered in her research that this collective anxiety about change is so common that many churches remain in a plateau in size. She said that this is the most difficult transition to navigate because people are often afraid that they will lose a sense of belonging and comfort that a more family size can have.

I have been involved in Unitarian Universalist churches of many different sizes. The largest church that I served was the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, CA where I had a yearlong ministerial internship. That church has 580 members with an average Sunday attendance of 300. It was not possible for everyone to know one another. Even toward the end of my year there, I was asking for people's names. However, the number and variety of programs, support groups, social justice projects, classes, and activities allowed members to make meaningful connections with other like-minded people and to discover rich resources to nourish their spiritual life.

William Ellery Channing, the founder of Unitarianism in America, for whom our church is dedicated, wrote: "There are seasons in human affairs when new depths seem to be broken up in the soul, when new wants are unfolded in multitudes, and a new good is thirsted for." Like the Unitarian Universalist Commission of Appraisal, I believe that "that such a season is upon us. . . How we cultivate hearts, in safe spaces, and in community with one another, is at the center of the theologies informing the Unitarian Universalist theology of membership." We come together as a community of faith to be reminded of the presence of the sacred all around us, among us and inside of us. Through our connection with our source of ultimate meaning and one another, we are empowered to act with love in the world.

Not only do I believe that this is a season "in human affairs when new good is thirsted for", I can see evidence of this new good unfolding. On November 1st, for the first time in history, members of Unitarian Universalist congregations in Rhode Island gathered at the First Unitarian Church in Providence to begin to organize a Social Justice Council. Ten members of Channing attended and two joined the Steering Committee. The inspiration for this gathering was the idea that Unitarian Universalists could have a voice in public policy. Through discussion and voting, "Affordable Housing" was the issue selected to focus our efforts on in this legislative year. Of course, this is just a beginning, but I am encouraged that we are building networks in order to better transform our Unitarian Universalist values into action. If you would like to learn more about the Rhode Island UU Social Justice Council or to get involved, do not hesitate to contact me. We also have a Social Justice Committee taking shape in our church! You are invited to a meeting on Friday listed in your insert. If you are unable to attend but interested, please let Jerry Martin, our new Social Justice chairperson, know of your interest. His email and phone number are listed in the order of service.

As we grow in size, we are also seeking ways to deepen our relationships here at Channing Memorial Church. We are beginning to explore having a Small Group Ministry program. This means that adults would meet in small groups perhaps twice a month to discuss a variety of topics. Many Unitarian Universalist churches have begun such programs and people have shared with me how valuable it has been for individual spiritual development beyond Sunday mornings and an opportunity for people to get to know one another in meaningful ways. If you are interested in learning more about Small Group Ministry, you are invited to a gathering on Thursday evening also listed in the insert or contact Bill Peresta or myself anytime.

So, I return from Texas inspired by all the new information that I've learned, with tools for us to use, and some questions to consider. But mostly, I am really glad to be home. Home in this beautiful town by the sea. Home with you in this congregation as we discern together our next steps in our spiritual journey. In conversation with other clergy, I was really pleased to share what a vital time it is for us here. Many clergy were considering what this congregation has been living for the past five years, that ministry is a shared adventure. Care giving-offering care and assistance to one another is not the job of the minister alone but is what members of the church offer to one another. I believe that is in part what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. meant by creating the "Beloved Community." Through our deep intention and careful planning, we will be able to expand and strengthen that vision to include all those people who may resonate with our Unitarian Universalist values of freedom, tolerance, inquiry and the direct experience of the sacred.

I will close with the words that we read responsively by Unitarian Universalist, Philip Hewett.

From the fragmented world of our everyday lives
we gather together in search of wholeness
By many cares and preoccupations, by diverse and selfish aims
are we separated from one another and divided within ourselves.
Yet we know that no branch is utterly severed from
the Tree of Life that sustains us all.
We cherish our oneness with those around us
and the countless generations that have gone before us.
We would hold fast to the good we inherit
even as we would leave behind the outworn and the false.
We would escape from bondage to the ideas of our own day
and from the delusions of our own fancy.
Let us labor in the hope of the dawning of a new day
without hatred, violence, and injustice.
Let us nurture the growth in our own lives
of the love that has shone in the lives of the greatest men and women,
the rays whose lamps still illumine our way.
In this spirit we gather.
In this spirit we pray.

In the spirit of all those shining lights that illumine our way even through the darkest of days, let us sing our closing hymn, #118, This Little Light of Mine.