An Evangelical and a UU on a Plane

Seven years ago I preached a sermon for the ordination of Rev. Samaya Oakley. It was recorded and put on YouTube. And it took off. Sometimes at UU gatherings people will look at me as if they're trying to place my face and then light up, "oh, you're the one on the plane." Yes. I'm the one from plane.

This sermon is a teaching story about what Unitarian Universalism is. My people so often leap to an explanation of what we are not. We are so against proselytizing that we swing hard the other way and don't even talk about our religion let alone invite people to worship. I'm a bit unusual that way. I love talking about what people believe in. I want people to find the community that lights them up and connects them to the Divine.

The story in the sermon is a miraculous interaction that came after years of being incredibly awkward and not quite getting it right. To be awkward is one of our time’s spiritual disciplines. It takes courage and vulnerability. For every 100 conversations that didn’t take, didn’t go anywhere, or simply were awkward I have a conversation like this one. Maybe it’s more than 1000. What is required is that I let the outcome go. I didn’t need to be right or make the other person believe like I believe. I stayed open to my own transformation.

That is my prayer for each of you, as well. Show up and be unapologetically awkward. Choose relationship over being right. And stay open to your own transformation.

click here to be taken to the sermon.