The Generous Spirit, Rev. Josh Pawelek, February 22, 2026

This sermon is about generosity. Just to be clear, this is not my Annual Appeal kick-off sermon. That sermon happens next Sunday when we launch our 2026 Annual Appeal. Of course, that sermon is also about generosity, specifically your generous financial giving to this congregation for the coming fiscal year. This morning I want to talk broadly about generosity as a religious value and practice. I also want to name some of the forms generosity takes here at UUSE. And I want to invite you to participate in two new efforts we’re rolling out to meet the needs of some longstanding neighbors, as well as some potentially new neighbors here in central-east Connecticut. I should also point out that Kate Kimmerle purchased a sermon at last year’s goods and services auction. For her auction sermon, Kate asked that I preach on generosity. This is that sermon.

            The Muslim holy month of Ramadan commenced this past week. Last Sunday, a few of us took some of our Affirmation youth to the Ramadan Bazaar at the Windsor Community Center. The Bazaar offers local Muslims an opportunity to come together in community in preparation for Ramadan, though anyone can attend. There’s shopping, food, family activities. The two youth who were stuck in the car with me on our drive to Windsor had to endure me lecturing on the five pillars of Islam: The confession of faith or shahada ("There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God"); prayer five times daily, salat; fasting during the daylight hours of Ramadan, sawm; the pilgrimage to Mecca, hajj; and the giving of alms, charity, zakat, which many Muslims engage in during Ramadan. In short, Islamic law dictates that Muslims donate a fixed portion of their income to community members in need.[1] [Check out this recent guide to zakat from Aljazeera.]The theme of charity is prominent in the Muslim holy book, the Quran. The divine call to generosity is prominent in the Quran. One of the more well-known passages appears in the second sura or chapter, known as The Cow, verse 267, often translated into English as “O believers! Give from the best of what you have earned and of what We have produced for you from the earth.”[2]

            This foundational call to generosity is certainly not unique to Islam. I asked UUSE’s resident expert on Buddhism, Nancy Thompson, to identify Buddhist teachings on generosity. She said, “In Buddhism, generosity is considered an essential part of a happy life. The Buddha placed generosity first on his list of 10 paramitas, qualities known as ‘perfections of the heart.’ He told his monks, ‘If people knew as I know the results of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given nor would the stain of stinginess overcome their minds. Even if it were their last bite, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared, if there was someone to share it with.’ He taught that there are three main types of giving: the gift of material things; the gift of fearlessness or protection, and the gift of wisdom, through sharing his teachings.”[3] Thank you Nancy. [For further reading on generosity in Buddhism, I recommend these articles here and here.]

Though I haven’t had a chance to explore this further, I understand generosity in Buddhism, as well as the Jain and Sikh traditions, has its roots in earlier Hindu teaching. The ancient Sanskrit word dāna, which appears in some of the earliest Vedic texts, refers to cultivating the virtue of generosity or practicing generosity, or the guilt one feels in not being generous to those in need.[4]

            Similarly, generosity figures prominently in both the Hebrew and Christians scriptures. Deuteronomy 15: “If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.”[5] And in the words of Jesus, Matthew 25: “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come … inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’”[6] 

            Strip away the institutional structures and histories of any of the world’s great religions. Strip away the centuries of compromise and collaboration with earthly rulers, with kings and queens, with imperialism, with colonialism; strip away all the religious justifications for violence and war-making: strip it all away: a spirit of generosity lies at the foundation. “I was hungry and you gave me food.”

            That spirit of generosity lies at the heart of Unitarian Universalism. The actual word ‘generosity’ (or something akin to it like charity or munificence) does not appear in the Unitarian Universalist principles. However, I’ve always felt that pursuing our second principle, ‘justice, equity and compassion in human relations,’ requires that we draw from deep wells of generosity in our engagement with the wider world; and that pursuing our third principle, ‘acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations,’ requires us to draw from those same wells in our engagement with each other. The new statement of Unitarian Universalism’s shared values (passed at the 2024 General Assembly) explicitly identifies generosity as a foundation of our faith. About generosity, the new statement says: “We cultivate a spirit of gratitude and hope. We covenant to freely and compassionately share our faith, presence, and resources. Our generosity connects us to one another in relationships of interdependence and mutuality.”[7] Earlier I read a passage on generosity from the Unitarian Universalist theologian, the Rev. Dr. Sheri Prud’homme. She writes: “In a theological framework which understands that this world is the locus of the holy, that struggle and salvation are present here and now, and that all life is sacred and interconnected, generosity, gratitude, and hope are ways we honor these truths and the blessings of our lives.”[8] That is, in our this-worldly, here-and-now Unitarian Universalist faith, our generosity enables us to carry out our mission, to keep our promises, to fulfill our vision.

            I’ve said it many times from this pulpit; I will say some version of it next week when we launch our Annual Appeal; and I will say it now: you are generous people. I know this about you. You are financially generous to this congregation. You are generous with your time and participation. Many of you take on leadership roles when asked—on the Policy Board, or the Program Council or as committee chairs, or on task forces—and there have been a lot of task forces in recent years! When we need volunteers for the holiday fair, you appear. When we need volunteers for the goods and services auction, you appear. When we need volunteers for Mayfair, you appear. When we need volunteers for the Buildings and Grounds committee work parties, you appear. When we need volunteers in the Children and Youth Ministry programs, you appear. When we need volunteers for the tutoring program at Verplanck Elementary School, or when we’re raising special funds for Verplanck’s gift drive or their book fair, you appear. In recent years, as we’ve been inviting people to show up at vigils and rallies, at the legislative office building to testify on important bills, or for various trainings on accompanying immigrants to court hearings, or mental health first aid, or bystander training, you appear.

A spirit of generosity underlies your engagement both here among ourselves, and as part of our witness and activism in the wider world. Years ago, when we voted as a congregation on a resolution to support the Black Lives Matter movement, that spirit of generosity was alive and well and still moves through these halls.  Later, when we voted in support of a resolution to become a sanctuary congregation, that spirit of generosity was alive and well and still moves through these halls. You are generous people. It means the world to me as your minister. I hope and trust it means the world to you.

Finally, I said earlier that I want to invite you to participate in two new efforts we’re rolling out to meet the needs of some longstanding neighbors, as well as some potentially new neighbors here in central-east Connecticut. Both efforts originate with our Social Justice / Anti-Oppression Committee in dialogue with me. I’ve been hinting at both for a while. First, in response to the slowly increasing number of immigrant neighbors who are being detained and deported, we’re proposing to create what we call Good Neighbor Teams. Imagine that 150 of you decide to participate. We divide you into fifteen teams—ten people per team. Then, one of our partners organizations in the immigrants rights movement contacts us to say there’s a family in East Hartford or Manchester who has had their primary breadwinner detained. They need financial support for the next two weeks. Can we raise $500? We activate Team 1. Some people can give $100, some can give $50, some can give $10. But in a few days Team 1 has raised the money. Or it may be that Team 1 goes grocery shopping for a family that is fearful of leaving their home. Or it may be that the family’s primary need is diapers, so Team 1 does a diaper drive. There are any number of ways this could work. These are short-term commitments. The team meets the goal, and then they are done. If the need is longer-term, maybe another group at another church raises money for the next two weeks, and so on. Next month, we get a call from a different partner. Can we contribute $300 for legal fees? We activate Team 2. They raise $300 and they are done. A week later, another call, we activate Team 3. A month later, another call. We activate Team 4. If you’re on a team, you’d likely be activated twice a year at most. The UUSE Policy Board supports this project, and the chair of our Stewardship Committee gave it her blessing.

We also recognize that next year, when the Medicaid and Snap cuts specified in last summer’s HR1 go through, the financial need in our larger community will likely go through the roof. It will be good to have this kind of infrastructure in place at that time. “I was hungry and you gave me food.”

Second, there is an increasing movement of transgender people, or families with transgender children, leaving states with anti-trans laws and relocating to more friendly states. While governmental attacks on trans people have been less visible in recent months due to the focus on immigration enforcement, those attacks are ongoing. People are fleeing, and many of them need support. In partnership with Unitarian Universalist congregations and others across Connecticut, we are proposing to develop the infrastructure to receive what are essentially internally displaced refugees. We would not be the first to do this. There are models from other parts of the country for us to follow. We will be looking for people who have space in their homes to host these “travellers” for up to six months as they look for work and housing. We know that helping a person resettle in this way requires fundraising. We know that we will eventually put teams together to help people with housing and job searches, perhaps with helping place children in schools, find doctors, etc. As I said, we’re engaging in partnership with other congregations across the state, and will share more information as it becomes available.

Members of our Social Justice / Anti-Oppression Committee will be at a table in the lobby following the service. If you would like to participate on a Good Neighbor Team or with our trans relocation efforts, or both, please visit them, get more information, sign up. If you’re joining us online and want to add your name, please do so in the chat and we’ll add you to the list. These are two new opportunities, designed to be as accessible as possible, so that as many of you as possible have avenues for putting generosity into action, for living out the promise of our Unitarian Universalist faith.

Amen and blessed be.

[1] Ali, Marium, “A simple illustrated guide to zakat, answers to 7 common questions,”

Aljazeera, 23 Mar 2025. See: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/23/a-simple-illustrated-guide-to-zakat-answers-to-7-common-questions.

[2] The Quran, 2: 267. In addition to “give,” I also see English translations that use the word “donate” or “expend.”

[3] I also found these two articles very helpful in understanding generosity from the Buddhist perspective. Fronsdal, Gil, “The Practice of Generosity” at the Insight Meditation Center. See: https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/the-practice-of-generosity/#:~:text=The%20Buddha%20emphasized%20the%20joy,without%20expecting%20anything%20in%20return; and Ambrosia, Gloria Taraniya, “There’s More to Giving Than We Think” at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, winter 2006. See: https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/theres-more-to-giving-than-we-think/.

[4] Acharya, Kaushik, “Impact of Vedic Culture on Society,” Wisdom Library, 2020. See:

https://www.wisdomlib.org/history/essay/impact-of-vedic-culture-on-society/d/doc1121346.html.

[5] Deuteronomy 15: 7-8 (New Revised Standard Version).

[6] Matthew 25: 34-37 (New Revised Standard Version).

[7] See the bylaws of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Article 2, lines 54-57. https://www.uua.org/files/2025-07/uua_bylaws_12082025.pdf

[8] Prud’homme, Rev. Dr., Sheri, excerpt from section on “Generosity” in “Theological Reflection on the Proposed Revision to Article II,” (2024), p. 8. See: https://www.uua.org/files/2024-01/articleII_theo_reflection.pdf.