Those of you who're here for the first time may be rather puzzled about the references to our Canvass Campaign and to today's service as the "kick-off" to that campaign. You may also be thinking that you chose the wrong service to come to for the first time, with a theme that's directed at long-time members and friends and their giving to a congregation that you're just visiting or experimenting with. I'd like to ask for your patience, especially on the grounds that if you want to know what we're all about, this really is as good an opportunity as any! Today is not concerned with anything abstract and "out there", but with who we truly are, why we're grateful to be part of this beloved community, how we contribute our gifts to the life of the congregation, and what we mean by "It's Up to You."

One of the things I love being reminded of every time I discover a connection between congregations, or an interaction between individuals here, is our relatedness. In the twenty-three years I've been a Unitarian Universalist I've been enormously proud to claim kinship with some marvellous people in the local congregations and at the international level of the movement, past and present, and especially now with Waterloo First. By joining a free religious community, I've acquired relatives all over the world, connections I'd never have been lucky enough to have in any other way. And I can count on the fact that we're committed to respecting each other and caring about each other.

Our movement has come to mean that: respect for each other's worth and dignity and ideas. Each person in a congregation matters, no member is of no account, no child or adult is dispensible, because each one is our relative -- not only through being human but also by being a member of our congregational family and the free religious movement. I know two sisters who married two brothers. Their children are kind of double cousins, and I think that's what we are to each other in our congregations! Part of the human family; part of this free religious family; doubly related. I'm grateful for that, and I know it's up to me, up to us, to find ways of strengthening our family ties and our caring for each other's needs.

A related joy which comes from being part of this community is finding the freedom simply to be ourselves. To be cared for just as we are, knowing that we're accepted as agnostics or traditionalists or pagans or humanists or whatever, but always as seekers after truth, can be an amazingly liberating experience at the beginning, and one which we tend to take for granted after a while. I try to remind myself every now and then that this is not the way everybody lives -- that there are people whose deepest convictions, or whose sexual orientation, or whose doubts and fears and explorations are constantly under attack. I am very grateful indeed for the freedom to be myself here, and I hope that you, too, feel that freedom.. It's up to us to make sure that all kinds of people, all those who want to engage in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, can find a home here

I'm also grateful for a place in which I have an acknowledged role to play -- and that was just as true for me when I was a lay member in the Hamilton church as it is now I'm the Minister here. We have a congregation in which everyone can be empowered to be a leader through taking some kind of responsibility, and in which even the leaders with the most responsibility know that there's always someone to take their place and relieve them of the hard work. I try to remind myself every now and then of what a good colleague and friend told me: "Remember that the congregation was fine before you came and it will be fine when you go!" We're grateful to all the outgoing and incoming and continuing leaders, but it's all of us together who make the human equivalent of the V-formation of the Canada Geese. The arrangement is fluid and changing, but the formation keeps its shape, and I'm grateful to be part of that shape. I know it's up to us to help each person find the role that's most fulfilling for them and most helpful to the congregation's mutual ministry.

The music is fabulous here, thanks to our Music Director, Boyd McDonald and the other wonderful musicians who participate on a regular basis, including the choir members and their director, Erna Van Daele. There are others, too, I suspect, who are waiting shyly in the wings: I want to encourage you to come forward: we can use all the music we can find. Let's be thankful for the very fact of music in our lives and in this congregation -- and from me, a deep personal thank-you for accepting my musical deficiencies with such good grace, and for making up for them with your lovely collective voice. I know it's up to me, and to each one of us, to recognize our strengths and weaknesses - to capitalize on the strengths and to find ways of making up for the weaknesses.

As we think about this congregation today -- as we feel our gratitude to those who've worked so hard to make this a true spiritual home, and ponder what matters most to us about it -- I hope we can keep this in mind: what we receive here can only continue and blossom when our own participation provides the material and resources for the future. Our money alone won't do it, although giving money is a powerful testimony to our values. Attendance at meetings won't do it. The best intentions and most polished managerial skills in the world won't sustain this congregational home without the willingness of everyone to share in both the rewards and the responsibilities. It's the stuff of our lives that's needed, mutuality, sharing and caring, love. It's up to us.

Well, I got over the hardest part -- first mention of the word money! I'm nervous talking about money, as I know some of you are nervous hearing it talked about, because in a religious setting, more than in most secular places, the subject still has a sense of taboo about it. That doesn't mean that money can't be mentioned, or even discussed quite freely in certain situations -- Board meetings, for instance, where much time can be spent on financial matters. But the sense of "Taboo" remains, especially in one-to-one conversations about our own money , partly because of our justifiable reluctance to seem to suggest, even for a moment, that what people give to the congregation affects the way we value them. I suggest to you, though, that while money is no measure of how valuable we are, it says something about what we value. It's the way we express what matters to us. The topic is imbued with deep personal significance for each one of us as well as for the congregation collectively, and has to be approached recognizing that significance and meaning.

There may also be some feeling that the Minister should stay somewhat removed from matters of money and how we spend it. There might even be a concern that the Minister will try to tell you how much you should give. Some of you have already seen (and the rest of you will soon see, my Canvass letter, in which I acknowledge the inescapable tension when I'm encouraging you to give to a budget in which the largest item by far is my salary! But I'm certainly going to discuss my convictions about giving, and the only reason I can be bold enough to do that is that I sincerely hope you and I both know that I can't tell you what to do! It's up to you! I honour and respect your convictions, and my only hope for my talks is that they will stimulate your thinking and action in whatever way seems right to you. On the subject of money, some of you, particularly some relative newcomers, have actually expressed a desire for help in thinking things through.

Embarrassment about the level of our giving may be at the root of much of our reluctance to open up about money. There are those of us who aren't satisfied with what we're giving, and it's also true that some people are naturally modest and would rather not have it publicly known how deeply they dig into their pockets to keep their religious community solvent. In this congregation we have nothing to be ashamed of, and much to be proud of, in the way we collectively support the work of our religious community: we've moved from half-time to three-quarter-time to full-time ministry within a very few years, and we have a paid Religious Education Director; this is more than almost any other congregation our size without endowment money is able to do.

There are all kinds of well-functioning committees and activities, and wonderful energy and enthusiasm. But we want to do so much more -- to reach out into the community in yet more ways, because we have active social consciences -- to extend our membership, because we believe that many people would benefit from knowing about us -- to increase our professional leadership eventually to full-time -- to become what some people refer to as a "full-service" congregation, if only that didn't sound so much like a gas-station! Can we do these things? It's up to you! They certainly are possible, but they depend to a large extent on our willingness to talk about money and commit ourselves to giving.

I believe that the amount of their disposable income that informed people choose to give to the congregation says something significant about two things: how the members' and friends' needs are being met, and the level of commitment which flows from that. Notice I said "informed people". I think we've probably underestimated one basic need of the people who come here -- the need for information about how this congregation operates financially. Not all of you know that the cost of keeping the First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo going as it is now comes in a little over $90,000 a year. That includes the costs associated with the building, the staff, our dues to the denomination, and all our activities. Today, for the first time in our history, we have just over 100 official adult members (that is, people who've signed the membership book) so that works out to more than $900 per individual member, just to survive! Thank goodness we have contributing friends, as well! Remember that the average giving required is doubled for every family with two adults!

It's a very high cost, isn't it? This is why I think we need to overcome our sense of taboo enough to really address the matter of our financial health. If we believe that this is a congregational family, we'd best pay a lot more attention to where the money's coming from and where it's going. Can you imagine in your nuclear family refraining from discussing the fact that one adult son or daughter doesn't contribute to the food and rent costs even though they're employed full-time and living at home? Refraining because that's their private concern?! I don't think so! In a family, we know that it's up to each person to do their fair share, and it's the same here: it's up to each one of us!

What does happen in our families is that we recognize the absolute uniqueness of each person's situation. If your grown son or aged grandfather has a disabling condition which means he must depend on you for support indefinitely, or if your daughter earns minimum wage and has to pay support to her former husband, there's good reason not to expect a substantial contribution to the family finances from them. If the main wage-earner loses their job, it's obvious that everyone in the family will have to tighten their belt. But there's no reason not to talk about it! And it's the same here. We know that each person's situation is absolutely unique. We know that everyone has calls on their money which leave them with differing amounts of disposable income, even though they may be paid exactly the same as someone else. There may be good reasons why someone can give very little to the church right now. But it needs to be discussed if we're going to plan our expenditures sensibly. So here goes. How should you decide on your contribution to your spiritual home this year? Well, you won't be surprised at this point to hear me say that, just as it always has been, in 2002 it's up to you!

But there are some guidelines, some factors to be considered that may help you decide. First of all, it depends what part the congregation plays in your life. If you attend services occasionally, and hardly ever participate in other congregational activities, and your friends and social life are mostly unconnected with Unitarian House, and membership here would come low on a list of things which describe who you are, you're going to contribute in a small way, no matter what your income is -- unless you choose this as your charity for tax purposes, of course, and I don't want to discourage that! We can give you a tax receipt for your identified givings, and that's a big help to most of us. But if you're on the periphery of the congregation, a nominal member or friend without much attachment to us and giving only a little: welcome! We love to have you here whenever you want to come, and thanks to the generosity of others we can carry your costs. We think it's worthwhile, because making your life more meaningful, in however small a way, is what we're about, and you make our place more meaningful by your presence when you come. In a sense far deeper than finances, the life of this congregation is up to you.

If you're at the other extreme, as I am, and the church is a major part of your life, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and socially, you'll want to give to it in the way you give to your family life -- a big chunk of your income, probably somewhere between two percent and 10 percent. (And in case you're curious, my pledge this year will be $1,000, just a little over two percent of my gross income, at the low end of what's suggested, so I'm in no position at all to be self-righteous.) Every bit that's given over the average will go to welcome newcomers, and those on the edges, and those who can't contribute so much. I don't think you'll find much extravagance or careless use of your money in our budget for expenditures, but please study it and suggest where we might be more efficient or where you think our priorities should be different. If you're a voting member of the congregation, you'll be asked to ratify the budget at our Annual Meeting on February 3, 2002, so it really will be up to you!

Wherever you are on the continuum, the deciding factor, I believe, is how much the congregation means to you. Is it appropriate for your giving to be about on a level with what you spend on entertainment, or is it more comparable to your food costs? Ponder that question, please -- is your participation in the First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo more like nutrition (food for your soul), without which your spiritual health would suffer, or is it more like an occasional ticket to a movie theatre, or even less -- a video which you rent and return next day?

How do we rate in comparison to cable T.V. or to new living-room furniture, or your next vacation abroad? And I think it would be good to keep in mind that we could be doing many marvellous things if we had more resources. We could be getting out to more people (on billboards and radio and T.V. and in print media) our message of religious freedom, faith in human potential, trust that this world can be good. We could enter a partnership with a Unitarian church in Transylvania which doesn't receive help from any other source that our members might already be contributing to. We could be providing a scholarship for someone in our congregation entering theological studies. We could pay for someone to teach a course in liberal religion at one of our universities or community colleges. We could revamp our Children's Religious Education programme so that it became more than a quarter-time concern and so that we would all be proud to show parents where and how we take care of their little ones. We could be in a new building with space to house an "Out of the Cold" programme for homeless people. We could rent a large public hall at an election time and have candidates speak to a well-advertised meeting about how to be both a politician and someone of moral integrity.

Those are just the first things which occur to me which we could probably find worthwhile and to which none of us is already contributing on an individual basis. (It's up to you to think of others!) And that's why our feelings about this congregation need to translate into giving, I believe. Because money is the way we express what we find truly important and valuable. The amount is not nearly as important as the proportion. What it costs us personally is far more significant than how many dollars we put in the plate. I have a strong conviction that if we were all giving till it hurt -- no, not till it hurt, exactly, but till it made a noticeable dent in our personal budget, so that we were giving up something else, even if the only thing left to give up were a video, or a lunch out -- if we were giving like that, we'd have the money to do all the things I've mentioned and more besides. Are we going to do at least some of them? It's up to you!

Where our treasure is, there will our heart be also, as a wise teacher said. If our treasure is in our congregation, if it's here that our deepest values find expression and here that we find a deep sense of being cared for, the giving and receiving will begin to blend as in the dance in which we learn to follow, learn to lead -- as in a circle. The words can be true for all of us which I often say at weddings as the rings are exchanged:

The circle . . . speaks of love freely given and received; it has no beginning and no end. You are each the giver and each the receiver.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one." We are, at best, a circle of friends, with no beginning, no end, no-one above or below, in which we are all givers and all receivers, sometimes taking turns to give and to receive, sometimes doing both at once. Which it is at any one time is up to the circumstances, yes, but even more than being up to chance, it's up to each one of us, it's up to you. Please keep this in mind as you attend one of the potluck dinners and discuss your personal priorities for the congregation, or as you speak with one of the canvassers about your dream for the First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo. Whether it's what you want us to be and to do, or what you give, in 2002, it's up to you.