Both Sides By Rev. Nina D. Grey March, 2002

My granddaughter, Hannah, is 7. She has reached the "age of reason" and I can tell that when I talk with her. I can hear her sort things out. She has ideas about what is fair and what is not. Hannah is at the beginning of a long journey to adulthood and aging. Someday, God willing and the creek don't rise, she'll get to my stage of life. Here I am, observing her at a distance and wondering what kind of path it will be.

What kind of world will she face? What will be her challenges, hopes and dreams? Then I get to thinking about all the children. And then I ask myself the ever-present questions. What parts am I supposed to be playing now, what decisions make, actions take, so that her world, their world, will be a little less daunting?

Maybe you have a grandchild, or a child, or a niece or nephew, or a small friend. Or someone young in your life who greets you with a smile or a question. Perhaps you, too, ask yourselves these kinds of questions, or from the perspective of youth, or young adulthood, perhaps you worry about your own future.

I know I can't do all, not even a large part, of the work it takes to make changes in our world. Yet I also know there are some things for me to do. One thing is learning more about the candidates in the March primaries and then making my choices and voting. That's important, yet just a tiny piece of my responsibility. Each day I confront choices about how to live. I keep in mind the reminder of Abraham Lincoln who said that for democracy to work, we each have to take some responsibility. I remember the words of Margaret Mead who suggested we should never doubt the ability of a "small group to make a difference; indeed it's the only thing that ever has." I keep in my heart the words of Paul Robeson who said that he would take his voice where it was needed. All these things encourage me.

Our UU faith points the way to a world of greater fairness, with our emphasis on the dignity and worth of all, justice, equity and compassion, and our participation in the interdependent web of life. If I want to create and sustain possibilities and hope for Hannah and the other children, I need to make little choices that build ever more toward that kind of world. I need to support my church which guides and encourages those kinds of decisions. I need to support my church, which cares for us and sustains us as we seek our ways.

My days are filled with many moments and many small acts. Sometimes it can be hard to relate some of those little acts to the big purposes of life. Yet they all fit. Nothing is isolated from the "why" of living. All the things we do to sustain the church relate to why this church is important. As we move toward our time of the Annual Canvass Sunday, which is April 7 this year, let me encourage all of us to think about what our church is for, why we worship, why we sustain each other, what our community life means. Ultimately we are intended to co-create, to be in partnership, with each other, with others, with life, to build a better brighter day, to bring more hope. For all the children.

For all of us.

In faith, with love,

Nina