Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

The Guide

Reverend Alicia McNary Forsey, PhD
May 27, 2007
Palo Alto, CA

The story that is at the center of the sermon this morning is about a pilgrimage — a pilgrimage described in a book by Hermann Hesse called Journey to the East. In this book, there are immense numbers of pilgrims, divided into groups, each following their own guide in temporal (meaning they might visit the Middle Ages, the Renaissance or some other period) and geographically diverse locations. Occasionally thousands of disciples would come together, as if by some magical force — an army of pilgrims moving like a giant wave, joining the stream of the eternal striving of the human spirit — moving toward the East, toward Home. ¹

All of the pilgrims belonged to the Mother organization known as The League, which required faithfulness in living as a pilgrim, with no reliance on “use of contrivances.” ² Members visited places related to the ancient history of the League and offered homage — commemoration with prayers, music, flowers and contemplation.

While all members shared the same commitment to the League, no one could become a pilgrim unless they had discerned their own private goal, so in this regard the pilgrimage did not have one central focus for all participants.

We, as Unitarian Universalists, are responsible for building our own theology, so there are as many theologies as there are members of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Still, we share a common covenant to Unitarian Universalist Principles and Purposes. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto is a community of pilgrims who are discerning for yourselves your own paths, while sharing a common bond of belonging to a larger organization dedicated to serving a larger group of seekers.

The central theme of the book, and our focus this morning, is just one of the groups. The guide for this group is named Leo. Everyone in the group contributes to the effort according to what they are most gifted in doing. The artists paint, the musicians play, the poet writes, the archivist goes about archiving and so on. Leo helped to carry the luggage and happily tended to other chores in an unaffected, unobtrusive manner. He sang and whistled as he worked, and was thought to be the ideal servant. Even stray dogs that joined the group took immediately to Leo. There was a sense of joy and contentment among the members.

Then one day Leo went missing. The group searched for him, and thought of reasons why he might have disappeared. The more certain his loss became, the more indispensable he seemed. The pilgrimage began to lose its meaning, and then the members of the group began arguing among themselves. What had been a remarkable experience started to fall apart. The exalted spiritual life they had lived together, the communion of minds they had shared was going to be lost.

H. H. thought of himself as the last member of the group. He decided that he must write about the experience so that it would not disappear when he died. For years he tried to write what he wished to convey, but underneath the whole endeavor he felt a dreadful doubt. Not only was he unsure about the story being told, he was not sure that what he experienced was really what happened.

Leo had once told him that only those who serve live fully. H. H. realized that his futile attempts to record his experiences served only himself in his effort to save his live by giving it meaning again. His life was miserable. Ten years had passed. He began making pilgrimages to the place where he was first accepted as a brother of the League, each time telling himself it would be the last. After twenty or more pilgrimages to the same place, he heard the sound of whistling coming from an open window. It was “wonderfully sweet … unusually pure, as happy and as natural as the songs of birds.” ³ It was Leo.

The story concludes with H.H. discovering that the League is still in full force and that Leo is the President. It is the President who makes the decision to allow H.H. readmittance to the League, but only after passing a test which consisted of reading about his own actions and failures, held in the archives of the League. Reading about his own failure — how he did not keep to his faith or his vows — how his perceptions were of his own making and did not reflect the truth of the League — this was the most difficult thing he could have been asked to do. After completing this task, he was required to take a position as an official in the League.

Journey to the East inspired a high-level corporate executive — a Quaker by the name of Robert Greenleaf, to design a remarkable leadership model. Greenleaf saw organizations originally created to serve people in need being turned into self-serving, self-preserving bureaucratic institutions. He wanted to create a model of leadership that had the potential of repairing some of the harm caused by individuals who were not taught their responsibility to help others — to serve those who are not successful within the social system. The concept of taking responsibility for maintaining a fair, balanced, civil society was simply missing in the minds of too many members of the generations that followed Greenleaf’s. He died in 1990 or 1991 at the age of 90.

The Lilly Foundation took on the challenge of introducing the Greenleaf model of leading by serving — thinking it would be best suited to seminaries accredited by The Association of Theological Schools. There are approximately 260 seminaries accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada.

The premise of the Greenleaf model is that it is not workable in the long haul to place a President or a CEO at the top of a hierarchal pyramid and expect him or her to stay there. It is inevitable that the person on top will be the one expected to know everything, make all important final decisions, and never falter for any reason. The others who make up the foundation of the pyramid are there to support the image of the President or CEO and the organization. They may have a hundred times more expertise in their area than the person standing on top, but they are paid money to do their jobs, after all, and that ought to be enough reward. It is not enough reward. As the poet Marge Piercy tells us, people long for work that is real. Trading one’s time and talent — one’s life — for money alone is not enough. Of course the pyramid with one lone figurehead on top invites factions, resentments and discontent. Eventually, the person at the top will begin engaging only with those who agree — the “yes” sayers. Doing this, the President or CEO is out of touch with the entire, real picture. Losing touch with what is really going on, the “yes” sayers feed their superior information that will serve themselves. The CEO becomes a “Talking Head” or an “Empty Suit” and falls from their exalted position.

Greenleaf flattened the pyramid of hierarchy. He made trust, respect, appreciation and collaboration an expectation of the workplace, and with that expectation, a leader who knows that they are serving, who is the spokesperson for the organization, the primus inter pares, or First Among Equals who takes responsibility for things that go awry and credits those who make their contributions to the good of the whole. This is very different from what we normally see in an organization. If something goes wrong, the person who takes the rap is usually the one considered the most vulnerable — the one who is viewed as a replaceable commodity. For example, when I worked as a Director of Development I attended conferences designed for people who held this position, now usually referred to as Vice President for Institutional Advancement. It was clear to me and to my colleagues that the practice of non-profits experiencing financial crisis was to fire the Director of Development. The cause of the crisis glossed over, even if the problem was due to blatant disregard by the President in observing ethical and reasonable budget expectations set by the Board.

The buck has to stop somewhere. In an environment where everyone participates in the endeavor because their work has meaning — because they care deeply about the mission of the organization, the overarching concern is not how one individual is going to protect her or his position, it is how everyone can pull together and reach for a good that is higher than what any one individual could achieve.

Here at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto you are adept at finding the talents of your members and helping them to flower. The singers sing, the artists can display their work, the webmaster weaves a web, the teachers teach, the librarians watch over your fine little library, the booklovers read and discuss books, the bookstore is waiting for you every Sunday with many temptations and more.

When Leo disappeared, the pilgrims he left behind stopped singing, painting, archiving — even began thinking that the pilgrimage had collapsed. H.H. thought he was the last one. He lost faith, broke his vow — or covenant as you would call it here in your congregation.

Suddenly, I notice a controversy here, then another one over there. I notice decisions being made without enough reflection, without enough time for good communication. And I notice more. … (it is my job to do so) but the question remains the same regardless of how many controversies arise, and that question is: Is the church experiencing a chaotic period because the covenant, to extend compassion and kindness, to act from courage rather than fear; to treat each other with respect, address disagreements, embrace diversity, forgiveness, accept responsibility — for the good of this community — has this covenant been remembered through difficult times?

Like H.H., I know many of you have done some serious soul-searching about your relationship to the church and you have done the hard task of traveling to the archives of your inner selves in order to read the account of your actions and non-actions. I know this for a fact because I have heard it from some of you.

You may not think you have experienced a Leo as your leader, but then the members of the League in Leo’s group thought he was a servant. Leo would have agreed that he was a servant, even as he revealed to H.H. that he was actually the President of the League. His knowing that leadership was about serving is what made him a true leader. And, leadership, pilgrimage, serving and joining with others in a vow or covenant are inextricably bound together.

I know that we are surrounded by Leo’s here today, members who have always kept faith in the vision and mission of this church. And I know that for every member there is a different pilgrimage underway on the path of life. Then there is the League — or, in our case, Unitarianism and Universalism, where justice, peace and respect for the interdependent web of existence are values that extend far beyond us and bind us to serve something bigger than ourselves.

Always believe that the church is still here. Always know that you are served by leaders, and when you fully recognize this you will have no choice but to discern how it is that your gifts can serve this community. Each one of you who makes this step takes this group of pilgrims — this congregation — a step closer to Home.

Peace be with you.

 

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