Love is the spirit of this church...

remarks as prepared for First Unitarian Church of South Bend

by Don Wheeler

Love is the Spirit of this Church and Service is its Law.

Soon we will be saying these words together. Unlike some things we may say, I have confidence that we will mean it when we speak this.

As I thought about my politics and Unitarianism, I decided that I needed to take a bit of liberty with the topic and include you – my Unitarian Community as well.

I’m on the Interim Minister Search Committee, and recently one of the candidates asked us why we each come to this church. I was a bit surprised that I didn’t need to think about it. My response was, “Because these folks tend to bring out those things I like about myself, rather than those I don’t.”

This matters because, through that foundation and the amazing support of Paddy (my wife), I have the liberty and the determination to fight what I see as the good fight.

This last year and a half in my life has been pretty amazing. Like most people, my life has had many chapters. The one just prior to this one involved nest building around our very small child. But as Sarah approached her fourth birthday, and began to build her own life beyond the three of us, I started thinking more deeply about the world she was likely to inherent.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this, but I supported John Edwards for President. [pause for chuckles] His vision and highly detailed program for achieving One America seemed to embody the first principle of Unitarian Universalism: “To respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person”. He had spent well over a year visiting refugee camps and slums abroad, organized and led relief and rebuilding efforts for New Orleans, picketed with Union workers, chaired an acclaimed anti-poverty forum…you get the idea…all prior to his campaign. I’m pleased that he is now heading the organization Half in Ten - which is dedicated to reducing the poverty rate in the United States by half in ten years. An ambitious effort to be sure – and so like him.

There is little in my life I am prouder of than being very involved in The Campaign To Change America – John Edwards 2008. We didn't get him the nomination, but we certainly changed the conversation. And the experience of my involvement in the Iowa Caucuses is something I’ll always cherish.

I was struck how one can insinuate oneself into a serious Presidential campaign. One the advantages was that I got to make the strategic decisions. The campaign advocated local involvement and even had a social action component called One Corps. Our local chapter was One America for St. Joseph County. The idea was to hold food drives and perform service projects in the community with the Edwards name attached. I started studying the paper’s community events calendar as well and made a point of attending many of them. This led to my meeting many community leaders and making many new connections.

I had never read a blog a year and one half ago, but after a couple months I became a regular on the Edwards blog and a regular contributor. At the same time, I began to communicate regularly with The South Bend Tribune – submitting my own letters as well as complaining about some of their reporting and columns they carried. What became clear was that there was no media outlet or significant forum for those of us in the Progressive Community.

Emboldened by my experience – I made one: Progressives, South Bend - last July. The masthead states “a forum to promote and discuss social action issues, ideas and events in the Michiana area.” I, too, was never one to aim low. I also became a regular contributor of WVPE commentaries.

The blog started modestly – a few pro Edwards essays, social action observations and my initial “The Other America” series offerings concerning poverty housing and subsidized housing in our area. I invited my two favorite Edwards bloggers to join in, and they did.

Then our own Chuck Leone go me interested in probing the background of one Juan Manigault – a candidate for Mayor. Through a freedom of information request I obtained about 180 pages of documents and wrote about my examination of them contemporaneously. Traffic boomed on Progressives, South Bend, and I discovered that when I went to meetings about social action efforts, at least some people knew of the blog.

Since that point I’ve worked on getting other contributors involved. We have people from the Green Party, South Bend Equality and, most recently, long-time Michiana Chronicles contributor April Lidinsky all joining in the conversation. (I’m still tickled to death about that).

Who knows what will come of this, but ten months ago I never dreamed that my decision to endorse Jill Long Thompson for Governor would mean much of anything to anyone but Paddy, for example. But people have told me that it did. It’s both humbling and gratifying.

I worry that what I’ve said to you sounds like “Look at me! Look at me!” That’s not what I want.

What I want to say, in telling my somewhat improbable story, is that most people ache for decent leaders. Decent is the word I meant, by the way. And to challenge each of us to always consider the possibilities…And to really believe that there always are possibilities.

I believe UU doctrine is about building things, not tearing them down. This congregation has been very important in building me. And now I’m trying to pay it forward.

I will continue in my effort to help eradicate poverty housing and hopefully will succeed in our effort to amend the City of South Bend Human Rights Ordinance to include protections for citizens in the GLBT community. I’ll try to help get Jill elected Governor and my guess is I’ll wind up involved in projects I can’t possibly anticipate at this point in time. I actually have one or two in mind – to be truthful.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Think about what you care about and if you haven’t been working on it, think about getting started. Odds are, the person next to you is involved in something very important to our community. That’s who we are and what we believe.

I’ll close with a quote from my most recent WVPE commentary about the Rebuilding Together workday. I think it sums up my politics pretty well.

Negativity is a wastive thing. Pointing out problems, real and perceived and doing nothing else sucks energy out of people and communities. That approach feeds cynicism and fatalism. People get convinced what they think or do doesn’t matter, can’t make a difference.

Well, it’s a lie!

The Rebuilding Together staff certainly put in many hours in preparation for the work. The House Captains put in some hours ahead of the event so that things would run smoothly. But what really made things happen were the hundreds of volunteers putting in a few hours each. It was those people who were rebuilding together.

So when someone says to you, 'There’s nothing I can do" or "what I do won’t matter" – tell them this story – or better yet, one of your own. The important thing is not to let the lie stand unchallenged. Everyone makes a difference in what they do or choose not to do.”

Love is the spirit of this Church, and service is its law.

Service is its law.

Thank you.