Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing

Current research shows that “the more frequently you attend worship services, the lower the odds you will have of suffering from depression, mania, and panic disorders? (Marilyn Baetz, MD, of the University of Saskatchewan in Canada quoted in Going to Church May Improve Mental Health by Charlene Laino) Of course, we can still suffer from one of those illnesses, but the odds are lower and the impact is likely to be less intense.

Research measuring breathing actually shows that those who attend church regularly score better on tests that measure pulmonary flow rate. These differences cannot be explained just by smoking and physical activity. At Temple University in Philadelphia, they found that “religious activity is emerging as a potential health promoting factor.” (Joanna Maselko at Temple University quoted in Churchgoers Live Longer by Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Managing Editor)

So, “To Your Health!”

A benefit of regular attendance at worship services is that you are also provided a system for social support. In addition to social support, having spiritual values helps to impart greater meaning to your life and significance for you actions. Creating a close-knit community helps us decrease our stress levels and increases our ability to cope with stress. The greater meaning we find in life, the more positive and hopeful we will be in facing day-to-day challenges. That is good for ones health.

Daniel Hall, a medical resident involved in this sort of research is also an Episcopal priest. He looked at the cost of three approaches to improving health. He found the estimated cost of each year of additional life gained by each method was $4,000 for physical exercise, $10,000 for proven therapeutic regimens and $7,000 for regular religious attendance. I have no idea how he got those figures, but it did start me wondering if we could get our health insurance companies to help out with our annual budget, or at least we might want to use that information as a starting point when we talk about pledging to the church. (Findings are detailed in the March-April issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine) Going to church helps you live longer by Dr. John Morley, 04/30/2009 stltoday.com)

We will all get sick from time to time and in the end, we will all die. The bottom line for me in being active in the church is not the health benefits, as great as that is as a side affect. Being an active participant in our religious community provides deeply held meaning and purpose to my life. I do think I am healthier because of my involvement in our church, but better health and a longer life are the frosting on the cake.

Of course, I am the minister here, so it would be difficult for me not to be an active member. Yet, I know that I would be an active member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation even if I were not a minister. After I left the Lutheran Ministry and moved, one of the first things I did was start looking for a place to worship. That is how I found Unitarian Universalism. I know that I am happier and find so much more joy in life because of being active in a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

People ask what motivates someone to join one of our congregations, or why people are active Unitarian Universalists? They ask with a quizzical wonderment in their voices. They often start by saying, “You don’t have a specific doctrine of what to believe. You don’t believe in hell so you aren’t attending church to avoid going to hell. You don’t believe that by going to church or that by believing in some specific creed that you will be given the reward of eternal life in heaven, So WHY” they ask, “be a UU? Why attend a UU congregation?”

They are correct. We come here not out of a fear of going to hell, nor a desire to gain entrance into heaven. What I have heard from people who join our congregation is that they really didn’t realize a religious community like ours actually existed, one that encouraged people to question and think about what they believed or were not told what to believe. They say they immediately felt like they had found a home. They say the religious exploration of our children’s program drew them. They say that having the chance to sing in the choir and enjoy a wide variety of music attracted them. They answer that they gain significant personal worth by being part of our congregation and always leave feeling a lift from the experience. They find personal meaning in the relationships they form here. They say that our congregation has provided them with a chance to help others and work to make the world a better place.

We find that our ethical principles are evolving and deepening as they guide our actions in a tumultuously changing world. Together in a liberal religious community like ours, we find a unity with all that exists, from the tiniest flower to the expanding cosmos. We may call it God or the Holy, the Spirit of life, or the Spirit of Love or Truth or Beauty or the Ground of our Being. Nevertheless, we have the sense that whatever we call it, it is far beyond anyone’s grasp, understanding, creed or doctrine of belief.

Our Universalist spiritual ancestors wrestled deeply about the fate of people being condemned hell to endure a fiery punishment for all of eternity. Right here in New Jersey at Cranberry Inlet on Barnegat Bay in 1770 the Reverend John Murray preached a sermon that helped start the Universalist Church in the United States. He preached the Universalist gospel of hope and courage in the kindness of a loving God, not the hell and damnation of an angry God. Most people at the time saw such a belief as an extremely destructive and dangerous heresy. There were those who threw rocks at John Murray and at other Universalist ministers. There were times Universalists were condemned as evil and run out of towns. Even today there those who see our heresy, the affirmation of the inherent worth and dignity of all people and the preaching of hope rather than hell, as negative and dangerous. Go figure.

Early Universalists just could not believe in a judging and condemning God. They thought deeply about punishment and could not imagine that they could ever condemn their own children to eternal anguish no matter how badly their children might have behaved. They concluded that God was too good and loving to condemn any one to hell.

The affirmation of a loving and forgiving God and the inherent worth and dignity of every person eventually had a major transformative influence on much of North American Christianity. Ever so slowly, ministers in other denominations started preaching more and more about love and forgiveness than about hellfire and damnation. My mother was a longtime Lutheran. She served in any number of leadership roles from superintendent of the Sunday School and Vacation Bible School to serving on the church board. I remember her saying, “I don’t know if there is a heaven or a hell after death, I think we make our own heaven and hell right here in our life.

When it comes to my personal spirituality, I tend toward being a mystic. I do not think we can ever totally know ultimate truth, beauty, love, or that which is holy. Yet, I know that I have at times experienced something close to it. Such experiences are fleeting. Afterwards we are not sure what it was that we experienced. However, I want to spend my life with people who are open to exploring what those moments mean and what living a meaningful live can do – for me, for us for the world.

When it comes to ethics and morality, I am an activist. I think it matters how we live our lives in relation to other human beings, how we live our lives in relation to all living beings, and even how we live our lives in relation to what we call inanimate objects. Unitarian Universalism affirms and promotes the importance of understanding that the principles by which we live have evolved and changed over the centuries. I know that I want to spend my life with people who are open to not only exploring what it might mean to live a life that affirms justice, equity and compassion for all, but who then work together to try to make ours a better world.

I often feel the way Greg sang:

Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I’ve got a wonderful feeling,
Everything’s going my way.

When my life is going that beautifully, it is dampened for me if I do not have people around me to share my good fortune. “We need one another in the hour of success, when we look for someone to share our triumphs.” Remember how excited we were as children when we learned to ride a bike or to swim, or something else exciting? We wanted someone to see us doing it. “Look at me, No Hands.” Hundreds of small things happen daily that become more meaningful when we can share them others who care.

Last Sunday during our Celebration of the life of John Sears, I used the George E. Odell’s reading “We Need One Another”. In the ten years John was a member here at UUCWC, he understood the importance of having a community with which to share. At times, he stood up during our Joys and Sorrows to share something with us. John was an accomplished artist and teacher. Twenty-four years ago he had a near fatal accident while riding a bicycle. He was not expected to ever walk or talk again, let alone paint and teach art again. John never accepted that verdict. He did, however, accept the fact that he needed others. John taught an art class again for the very first time after his accident, right here at UUCWC. As Odell wrote, “We need one another when we would accomplish some great purpose and cannot do it alone.”

People came together to celebrate John’s life, because “We need one another when we mourn and would be comforted…We need one another when we come to die, and would have gentle hands prepare us for the journey. All our lives we are in need, and others are in need of us.”

There is an important secret in getting the most out of your membership in our congregation. The secret is to realize deep within your heart that you need others during all the various times of our life and others need you.

It will not always be a beautiful day, nor will we always feel like everything’s going our way. There will be days when dreadful things happen, like the economy falling apart, or family or health problems. At those times it is important to remember that you need others and they need you. Yes, we can get by with a little help from our friends,

So it is that we sing, “Break Not the Circle of enabling love but rather let us make it ever wider still, till it includes, embraces all the living.”

Closing words: Forget the gym if you want a good, meaningful and long life, go to church instead!

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow,
There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow,
The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye,
And it looks like its climbin’ clear up to the sky.

Chorus:Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I’ve got a wonderful feeling,
Everything’s going my way.

All the cattle are standing like statues,
All the cattle are standing like statues,
They don’t turn their heads as they see me ride by.
But a little brown maverick is winking his eye.
Repeat chorus
All the sounds of the earth are like music,
All the sounds of the earth are like music,
The bees are so busy they don’t miss a tree,
And an old Weeping Willow is laughing at me

A Little Help from my Friends
What would you Think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song,
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
I get high with a little help from my friends,
Oh I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends.

What do I do when my love is away.
(Does it worry you to be alone)
How do I feel by the end of the day
(Are you sad because you’re on your own)
No, I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I’m gonna to try with a little help from my friends

Do you need anybody?
I need somebody to love.
Could it be anybody?
I want somebody to love.

Would you believe in a love at first sight?
Yes I’m certain that it happens all the time.
What do you see when you turn out the light?
I can’t tell you, but I know it’s mine.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm I get high with a little help from my friends,
Oh I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends

Do you need anybody?
I just need someone to love.
Could it be anybody?
I want somebody to love
Oh…
I get by with a little help from my friends,
I’m gonna try with a little help from my friends
I get high with a little help from my friends
Yes I get by with a little help from my friends,
with a little help from my friends.