A future of great peril and great promise is a paradox, but life is filled with paradoxes. Often when writing a sermon, I face a paradox. I sit down and ponder the sermon focus that I had selected months before and I wonder what I was thinking when I choose that sermon and where do I begin.

This week I dealt with the following paradox. On the one hand, I know that there is a critical need for us to live more sustainable lives On the other hand, I know that most people feel overloaded, not only with other crucially important social justice concerns but just with the daily demands of life.

One powerful example for me this week, I have long been committed to working for legalizing same-sex marriage. There is a special hearing at the State House in Trenton this Tuesday, but I cannot attend because I made prior commitments, commitments that I do not feel I can change.

Should I be delivering a sermon on same sex marriage today instead of this one on sustainability? Then, I remind myself that we are part of an interdependent web of existence and everyone suffers if the web is destroyed. I remind myself that the right for same-sex couples to marry legally is interconnected with the sustainability concern I am talking about today, maybe not directly, but how long can our society deny civil rights to all its citizens and remain stable?

I face another paradox in preaching this sermon. I could remind you about the horrendous things we are doing that damage and undermine our environment. I could point out all the things that we have not been doing to prevent the great disruption in an effort to motivate us to do more. However, I know that you already understand, as well as I do, that we are in a downward spiral regarding living sustainably. To heap more environmental guilt on you, is about as motivating as the sign that says, “The beatings will stop when the office morale improves.”

Paradox abounds when it comes to talking about sustainability! Paul Gilding reminds us in his book The Great Disruption of a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” Gilding, Paul, The Great Disruption (p. 259)

That captures the situation we humans face today; how to be fully aware of how damaged our ecosystem is today and still feel hopeful about the future. We need to hold not only two opposed ideas in our mind, but also hold two opposing feelings in our hearts. It makes our heads want to explode and our hearts break when we contemplate the horrible challenges human behavior imposes on the earth.

I can easily come up with major changes that world leaders could and should implement to help slow down if not prevent climate change. All of us can think of things that should be done by government, by businesses and through scientific and technological innovations that could and should help us live more sustainably.

In fact, governments are slow to act when there is a conflict between the health of human society and the wealth of a few. This is also true of business. That is why usually it comes back to a more personal question; what will I, individually, do to live more sustainably?  Moreover, for us as a group, what will we, as a congregation, do to improve the sustainability of the human race?

One reaction to climate change is to conclude that the problem is just too big for an individual to have an impact. I can begin to feel that what I do or even my family does in the area of recycling, conserving in the area of heating and cooling, composting and other things is just a drop in the bucket. Besides, with all the day-to-day duties and responsibilities we shoulder, we may already feel over extended. Often, there just does not seem like enough hours in our days, energy in our bodies or commitment in our hearts to do one more thing.

Paul Gilding, in The Great Disruption, emphasizes the importance of holding this paradox in our heads and hearts, “Things are desperately dangerous and urgent,” he writes, “but we must act positively and full of hope—(it) is an enormous test for the mind and the soul to act together. “  Then he quotes the Paul Williams, a confidant of John Lennon and author of the underground classic Das Energi,

Common Sense:

On the edge of the dream we face our deepest doubts.
Now that it all is almost real, a terrible fear of success takes hold
And we grab desperately, uncontrollably, for failure.
One last chance to get off easy.
Who among us really wants to save the world,
to be born again into two thousand more years of struggle?
How much sweeter to be the doomed generation, floating gently on the errors and villainy of others, towards some glorious apocalypse now …
Hallelujah! It’s not my fault—
Bring on the end times!

Gilding, Paul (pp. 259-260)

Who among us wants the weight of saving the world placed upon us?  When we inculcate into our minds and souls the desperate situation that we humans face as our ecosystem becomes ever more polluted and ever more filled with poisonous toxins, we need reason to hope.

It is much easier to blame others. It is the fault of those big businesses, we say, who build obsolescence into everything. It is the fault of the oil companies, we cry, that have oil spills and are fracking the earth. Yet, if we surrender to blaming others and feeling that, “it’s just too big of a challenge for mere human beings to solve,” we would not turn our hearts and heads, to the challenge of working for change. Can you contemplate the future of society’s children and grandchildren in the face of the destruction that will inevitably face them if present day consumption continues or even increases?

The words by Ian McCallum ring true for me, as I hope they do for you. “The human animal can make choices that no other creature, as far as I am aware, can make. We can choose to drift into oblivion, to turn our heads, pretending we did not see, or we can refuse to be victims, as Oedipus did. Or, we can choose the hard path – the one that demands accountability: the one that demands that we give beauty and meaning, in our own way, to the earth and to the countless living things that share it with us.”

What we do does make a difference. Because of that, there is reason for hope. If we each increased what we do even a little, that would make a major difference. Think about it, we are in the midst of a world democratic process. The Arab spring has continued through the winter. Gilding points out “…we live in the ultimate global democracy and we vote every minute of every day. We all know what we need to do. Shop less, live more. Raise chickens, and children who think. Build more community, make our lives more connected. Make good companies grow stronger, make bad companies go broke. Elect good political leaders, throw out bad ones. Roll out technologies that work and phase out those that do not. Most of all, we need to stop waiting for someone else to fix it. There is no one else. We are the system; we have to change.” Gilding, Paul, The Great Disruption (p. 264)

We really must get on with the job at hand. With our backs up against the wall, facing possible demise, we should not underestimate the possibility of what together we can accomplish. What would happen if we really did commit ourselves to electing forward thinking political leaders and throwing out those who are not concerned about the human impact on climate change?  What if concerned progressive citizens organized to support truly green companies and helped those that harm the planet go out of business? It is not an easy challenge, but it is possible.

You might sincerely wonder what will happen to the economy if we shop less?  Would that not that cause more unemployment?  Maybe not, increasing productivity by the work force could result in higher wages and fewer working hours. That, in turn, would be a stronger incentive for workers to continue increasing productivity rather than just producing more stuff more cheaply.

Again, it will not be easy, but it is obvious that our current economic system is not improving the quality of life for most people. Consider California, where they built one new college over the past twenty years, while they built twenty-one new prisons. The average wealth in our country may be increasing, but the average quality of life is not.  Something is definitely wrong when that is happening.

I think Paul Gilding is correct when he writes that we need to be “clear, loud, and focused in our message,” and “the right strategy model for (doing) this is Nelson Mandela and the end of apartheid.” He was a leader who never once backed away from the rightness of his cause or compromised his goal, but still approached those who opposed him with humanity. This was even more remarkable remembering that his enemies kept him in jail for twenty-seven years and murdered his friends and colleagues. Yet he still worked hard to reach them as human beings. We must advance our cause with determination and strength, but also with the highest integrity.

Think for a moment of possible specific actions like participating in Freecycle. About eight years ago, Deron Beal sent an email to thirty or forty of his friends and a couple of nonprofits in Tucson, Arizona. Today there are over eight million users of Freecycle.org. I learned about it from members of our congregation several years ago. I have used it to give away many items that I no longer used, was not able to sell, but that someone from Freecycle was thrilled to come and pick up.

I remember some furniture that came from my mother. It was old, but it was in relatively good shape and I just could not throw it away. We put it on Freecycle and the family that came to pick it up was thrilled to get it. The mother was determined to fit it into their car. I honestly thought it was impossible to fit it in, along with their three little kids and I joked with her about it. However, she knew that it would fit in and I‘ll be darned if she did not make it happen. It was the same with the upright piano we gave away to another family, as well as three very old pieces of machinery, a rototiller, a snow blower and a lawn tractor – none of which worked.

What if instead of eight million people using the Freecycle Network, there were eight hundred million? A number of other wonderful rapidly growing profitable and not-for-profit companies base their mission on improving our sustainability. What if we actually drove our cars less and demanded higher mileage? What if we each committed ourselves to doing one or two more things on the list of suggestions on the handout that our Green Team will give you on the way out of the service?

What we need today is a rapidly increasing number of ordinary people choosing to do something to help make our society more sustainable. To be sure, none of us is a Mandela. We are flawed ordinary human beings, but we can make things change if and when we choose to act. We need to raise our voices, we need to rededicate ourselves and move ahead with the realization that there really is no one else who can help the system begin to change.

Sitting in a café across the canal from Ann Frank’s house, Paul Gilding sat wondering what if he had been a resident of Amsterdam in 1938. What he thought, if in 1938 he had sat in this same café with a friend who told him what was coming in a few years, what actually happened with the Nazi takeover of Europe. Could people have done something to prevent it?  If they knew what was going to happen would people have worked tirelessly to prevent the holocaust that swept through Europe?

Today there are millions of us who understand what will happen if we continue to borrow against our ecosystem without giving it the chance to regenerate. The science is clear and accepted by the vast majority of climate scientists. There will be a great and colossal disruption. We know that we have been exceeding the sustainable limits of growth. The laws of physics, chemistry and biology indicate that there will be consequences to our actions. If we continue to cut more trees than we plant, put more nitrogen into the water and put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere there will be negative and increasingly damaging changes to the quality of life. Millions of people know this, including ourselves.

Now is the time to start doing your part. You may not be able to do everything, but you can do something. It is time to start doing one more thing.

CLOSING WORDS: excerpt from Ian McCallum’s Ecological Intelligence

Let’s try to imagine ourselves as the living equivalents of an ark upon a great evolutionary sea.
Let’s become conscious of the animals that we have on board with us and of what they mean to us – that we need them as much and probably more than they need us. …
We have no right to drive any of them into extinction.
…Do the poets and those ancient admonitions of Apollo – to know thyself, to do nothing in excess, and to honor the gods-make sense?
Is an ecological intelligence possible? If so, then say yes, quickly. This could be the last watch, and there are things to do.

Why you might wonder was this so?  First, the Puritan leaders knew from reading their bibles, that there was no biblical justification for celebrating December 25 as the birth date of Jesus. They were also fully aware that the Christmas celebrations of the early church had early associations with pagan festivals. Like the Yule Celebration at this church.

During the early colonial years of our country Governor William Bradford harshly reprimanded those who observed Christmas in the Plymouth colony. To show further contempt for Christmas celebrations, those early Puritans spent their first Christmas day in the New World building homes.

Indeed Cotton Mather an influential minister in New England who is often remembered for his role in the Salem Witch Trials argued against observing Christmas saying that the date was an early Christian hijacking of a Roman festival. He believed that to celebrate December 25 as Christmas was to defile oneself by paying homage to a pagan custom. Thus, in Massachusetts those who observed Christmas could be fined five shillings.

As late as 1870 (only 140 years ago), classes were scheduled in Boston public schools on Christmas Day. Those children, who dared to stay home, were punished. One commentator hinted that the Puritans viewed Santa Clause as the Anti-Christ.

So, what is all the commotion about today, when people are campaigning to put Christ back in Christmas?  I drive by such a sign every day when I come to the church. When I see it, I wonder if they even know the history of Christmas. It is clear that the Christmas celebrations we love so much came from the much older pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. We have even kept many of the symbols of those early pagan celebrations and we see that as a good thing.

The singing of Christmas carols was labeled profane. Because, as I said earlier, the tunes originally came from caroling line dances. Eventually we separated the tunes and lyrics from the original dances but we still called them carols.

How then did Christmas survive?  For one thing, the Universalists of New England had always celebrated the holiday. You see, many Universalists lived in small communities or rural areas where they had a long-standing connection with the natural world. They loved the story of a holy child born in a stable. In the Puritan stronghold of Boston itself, a Universalist congregation took the lead in 1789 and held the first Christmas Day service within the city of Boston.

Unitarians were not as early as the Universalists in observing Christmas. Unitarians began joining in the promotion of Christmas, but not because they believed that Jesus was actually born on December 25. Neither did they believe that Jesus was God Incarnate.  Rather, the emphasis on tender intimate feelings within the family attracted them.

Indeed, Charles Follen, a Unitarian minister and professor of German at Harvard, is credited with bringing the custom of the decorated and lighted Christmas tree to New England in 1832. He remembered the magic and beauty of his German Christmases. Also, the birth of his first child was likely a factor in introducing the Christmas tree. The description of this event by his friend Harriet Martineau, a British Unitarian journalist who was visiting the United States, helped popularize the Christmas tree. Her glowing account of the Follen family Christmas tree was included in her book about her visit to America.

Martineau wrote of the unveiling of the tree at the Follen’s Christmas party, “It really looked beautiful; the room seemed in a blaze, and the ornaments were so well hung on that no accident happened, except that one doll’s petticoat caught fire. There was a sponge tied to the end of a stick to put out any supernumerary blaze, and no harm ensued. I mounted the steps behind the tree to see the effect of opening the doors. It was delightful. The (neighborhood) children poured in, but in a moment, every voice was hushed. Their faces were upturned to the blaze, all eyes wide open, all lips parted, all steps arrested.”

Of course the tradition came from earlier pagan times. Ancient Egyptians brought palm branches into their homes in late December to celebrate winter solstice. Romans put trinkets on evergreen trees and topped them off with an image of the Sun God, Apollo, on Saturnalia. Druid sorcerers celebrated winter solstice when they placed lit candles and golden apples on oak trees. Even in our area, German settlers and of course by Hessian soldiers fighting for the British during the American Revolution used decorated trees.

During the 1800’s people made simple gifts for their children, parents and siblings. You can see this in the first chapter of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Louisa May Alcott was raised as a Unitarian and in her writing, describes this progressive Unitarian philosophy of family life.

So let us not argue about Christmas. Whatever we put into Christmas or back into Christmas, let our Christmas be filled with compassion, goodwill and peace for all. Let us listen to and follow the advice of Hamilton Sears in “It Came upon a Midnight Clear.” “angels bending near the earth” singing of “peace on earth and goodwill to all,” let us envision an “age … when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling.”

I confess that my very first reaction was to feel frustrated and annoyed. What next, I thought.  We are already scheduled to get the shingles replaced on our roof this week and a new, larger septic tank will be installed within the next two weeks. But, not long after my initial frustration, I thought, about my sermon for today, “What If You Only Had a Few Months to Live?”  That is when I thought, my flooded basement really is not such a big thing in the larger picture. After all, what if I only had a few months to live?

Facing death has a way of putting things in perspective. Be it facing the death of someone close, or even facing our own deaths. Personally, being deeply involved in a caring community like ours has helped prepare me for facing many issues of living and even dying.

Only a week ago I conducted the memorial service for Peter Bateman’s father.  Over the forty years of my ministry, I have conducted hundreds of memorial services. I have come to agree fully with Carlos Castaneda’s character Don Juan in his book Journey to Ixtlan. In the story, Don Juan tutors Carlos. Carlos comments that he thinks it meaningless to dwell on death because it only brings discomfort and fear. To which Don Juan replies, “You’re full of crap. Death is the only wise advisor that we have.”

If I become depressed and discouraged because my sump pump is not working and my basement has five inches of water in it, death, as a wise advisor, would laugh in my face and challenge me to get real. Almost thirteen years ago, I learned that I had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Then, I gained a completely different perspective on life. Until then I had already confronted some major life disappointments; a divorce, the death of my father, my mother and Alison’s, my wife’s, mother. I had sat with hundreds maybe thousands of people facing their own death or that of a loved one. Still, there is nothing quite like being told that you have a serious potentially terminal illness. Suddenly, I knew that I very likely could die. I felt more aware, present and alive than ever before. Yes, I looked at things differently!

Usually, we go about our daily tasks, filling many different roles. We are busy doing more or less important things, growing up, getting an education, leaving home, earning a living, making and breaking friendships as well as more intimate relationships, creating a family, establishing a home and all the time dealing with numerous minor and major setbacks and disappointments.

Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun, writes, “All anxiety, all dissatisfaction, all the reasons for hoping that our experience could be different are rooted in our fear of death. Fear of death is always in the background.” (When Things Fall Apart, p. 45)  Never the less, we do work hard to keep our fear of death way in the back of our minds and we keep other emotions as far as possible back in our minds.

We desperately want a sense of control in our lives, right? Our culture encourages us to deny the reality of death. It even encourages us to deny the reality of aging. The fear of death is so strong that we have all sorts of euphemisms to avoid even saying that someone died. We say the person passed on or passed over. The person went to a better place or went to be with God or to live in heaven. Perhaps, we just say that they kicked the bucket. We not only fear death, we fear that in the face of death we will feel a sense of utter hopelessness.

Yet, hope and fear are really two sides of the same coin. The hope that we should abandon is the hope that insecurity and pain can be exterminated. Pain and insecurity along with death, are all part of life. The hope that we will find security from difficult challenges, discouragement and even death is a false hope. Zen master Shunryu Suzuki said, “Life is like getting into a boat that’s just about to sail out to sea and sink.”

The not so secret fact of life is that we need to live with insecurity. We need to live knowing that there will be the occasional basement full of water, the discovery of a leaky roof at home or in church, the reality that our jobs are not perfect, and that nothing will last forever. We need to live with the fact that part of life consisting of our most intimate relationships is impermanent. At times things just do not work out anywhere near as well as we hoped.

Dr. Jerry May was one of my mentors in spiritual direction when I was at Shalem Institute. Jerry was one of the founders of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Direction. He wrote a number of books, but he wrote his last book,  The Wisdom of Wilderness as he was dying. I was an adjunct staff member with him at Shalem. I remember seeing Jerry become less and less mobile as he came closer to death but he never lost his zest.

In the first paragraph of the preface of his last book, Jerry wrote, “I am sick now. The prospect of my death is continually before me. My body is frail, my energy always at the edge of exhaustion. At the same time, I am wilder than I’ve ever been before. My soul basks in the wilderness, and I am grateful.”  Parker Palmer said of his friend Jerry May, “Imagine: a sick, frail, exhausted, dying man who says he is wilder than ever before, which in Jerry’s case is saying something!”

“Wilderness,” Jerry wrote, “is not just a place it is also a state of being. If happiness means being happy and sadness means being sad, then wilderness means being wilder.”  The meaning of wild is natural. Being wild or natural means being close to one’s true and basic self, who we were born to really be.

There can be a great sense of relief when we realize that something we have often heard, but rarely take to heart seriously, is actually true. As the Hebrew Scripture (paraphrased) states, “We were brought from the dust; and to dust must we return.” When we think about it, a thousand years can seem like a day that has passed, as a watch in the night. We really are consigned to sleep. Like grass, we are fresh in the morning of our birth. In the morning of life, we sprout, blossom forth, but then in the evening we wither and fade. Our days decline and end as a sigh.

Therefore, it is essential for us to value our days and to hallow each with grace as a trust bestowed upon us. To do so, we will acquire a heart full of wisdom and love for the living of earth. Even though we might suffer for days, even though we might sorrow for years, still can rejoice and be glad always. And yes, let us give thanks for the precious gift of being alive. Let us respond by living for the good each day.

I believe we can live that way. We can rejoice and be glad always and give thanks for the precious gift of life. We can live for the good each day when we face death as a wise advisor and a good powerful motivator. True we remain fallible and limited. Thus, we can slip into being less aware, less alive and less grateful. That is when we need to ask ourselves, “What would I do if I only had a few months to live?”

The movie “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman was funny. The movie also gave many people the impulses to write their own lists of things that they want to do before they die. We do not all wish to sky dive or climb mountains, but I surmise that almost all of us have put off doing something we have wanted to do. Maybe it is something as difficult as trying to enter a new career, study another language, take singing lessons or reconnect with an estranged friend or family member. Our list might include something as simple as taking a daily walk, growing flowers, going to museums or plays more often or to writing a note to someone you have neglected for too long.
Recall the song:

And I won’t feel the flowing of the time when I’m gone
All the pleasures of love will not be mine when I’m gone
My pen won’t pour out a lyric line when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here.
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here.

We can start right now. My experience in facing my own death helped me start living more naturally, even a bit more wildly. Each of us will die. I am not saying we should relish the thought, but it is worse to deny the reality of death or avoid thinking of it by staying so busy that we not only do not contemplate our deaths, but we will not even live our lives the way we want to.

“And I won’t feel the flowing of the time when I’m gone
All the pleasures of love will not be mine when I’m gone
My pen won’t pour out a lyric line when I’m gone
So I guess I’ll have to do it while I’m here”

Like the character Emily Webb in Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town.”  Emily died, but returns after death and sees her life as a child within her family. She tries to talk to her mother, “I can’t bear it. They’re so young and beautiful. Why did they ever have to get old? Mama, I’m here. I’m grown up. I love you all, everything. – I can’t look at everything hard enough.” (talking to her mother who does not hear her. She speaks with mounting urgency)

Oh, Mama, just look at me one minute as though you really saw me. Mama, fourteen years have gone by. I’m dead. You’re a grandmother, Mama. I married George Gibbs, Mama. Wally’s dead, too. Mama, his appendix burst on a camping trip to North Conway. We felt just terrible about it – don’t you remember? But, just for a moment now we’re all together. Mama, just for a moment we’re happy. Let’s look at one another. (looking desperate because she has received no answer. She speaks in a loud voice, forcing herself to not look at her mother)

I can’t. I can’t go on. It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. (she breaks down sobbing, she looks around) I didn’t realize. All that was going on in life and we never noticed. Take me back – up the hill -  to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look. Good-by, Good-by, world. Good-by, Grover’s Corners? Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking? and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths? and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you. (abruptly through her tears)

Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? – every, every minute?” (she sighs)

Why, why do we live so timidly?  We ought to understand that we each have a limited number of days and years. Being timid keeps us from fully living the one life we have. Being timid keeps us from realizing life and relationships while we are alive. What possible good does timidity accomplish?  We certainly might feel safer  in one sense, but we will never explore nor live the lives that we have been given.

It really is later than we think. All of history flows up to this moment. We need to open our eyes, open our minds, and open our hearts to the beauty and wonder of everything.

Closing Words:

The Circle, by Wendell Berry

Within the circle of our lives
We dance the circle of the years,
The circles of the seasons
Within the circles of the years,
The cycles of the moon
Within the circles of the seasons,
The circles of our reasons
Within the cycles of the moon.

Again, again we come and go,
Changed, changing. Hands
Join, unjoin in love and fear,
Each giving into each, into all.
Only music keeps us here,
Each by all the others held.
In the hold of hands and eyes
We turn in pairs, that joining
Joining each to all again.

And then we turn aside, alone,
Out of the sunlight gone
Into the darker circles of return.

The story about Rama and Sita emphasizes what Joseph Campbell called “The Hero With a Thousand Faces.”  The hero in various stories and numerous cultures has to leave home and go on a difficult and dangerous quest. On the Quest, the hero faces many challenges and fends of all sorts of seemingly impossible tests. But, amazingly, the hero faces and beats all the challenges. Thus, the hero symbolizes the victory of good over evil, light over darkness.

Being a lunar festival, Diwali, fittingly, arrives when the moon does not rise and all is in darkness. Even today with all our electric lights, we notice how bright it is at night with a full moon. Imagine yourself back when there were no electric lights or even gas lamps and there was not even the light of the moon. During our vacations, we lived without electric lights at our log cabin. We realized that when the moon is not out at night, it gets very dark and it is not hard at all to imagine all sorts of things out there in the darkness that might be dangerous.

Light, of course, is a symbol of hope, goodness, security and positive energy. Light overcoming darkness is the universal symbolism for the victory of good over evil. Light spreading into every corner of the night symbolizes our effort to destroy the reign of darkness. So it is that on the night of Diwali, people decorate their premises with diyas, electric bulbs and other decorative electric lighting fixtures, to make their surroundings fill with colorful light that makes their homes bright and beautiful. If you go on your computer this afternoon and search for India Satellite Image on Diwali Night you will see a vision of how Diwali lights up the world.

It fascinates me that Diwali is celebrated differently by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. Diwali is celebrated as a national holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad, Tobago, Surinam, Malaysia, Singapore and Fiji. Plus, past and present immigration caused Diwali to spread around the world.

Sonia pointed out that Diwali is unique as a religious celebration in that it has been and continues to be celebrated by multiple religions and enjoyed by many more. To me this is because of its universal symbolism of the struggle between good and evil, light and dark as well as its rich festive quality.

Central to Diwali is that it is held in honor of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. There is an image of Lakshmi on the cover of our order of service. Hindus and others pray to Lakshmi to bring them good luck in the coming year because she is the goddess of wealth and prosperity and she provides divine energy or Shakti, for all.

The preparations for Diwali often begin months in advance. After all, if you are going to invite the Goddess Lakshmi into your house, you want it clean and spruced up so she feels welcome. The lights are kept on to symbolize the triumph of good over evil and that Lakshmi is welcome to your home.

For us today it is important to remember that Diwali the “festival of lights” has the deep and significant spiritual meaning of an awareness of the inner light. Hindu philosophy centrally asserts that there is something that is pure, infinite, and eternal beyond our physical bodies and minds that  they call the Atman. Atman means the self or more specifically the true self beyond identification with phenomena. Within this deeper spiritual symbolism, Diwali is a time to celebrate good conquering evil and the light of higher knowledge of self, dispelling the ignorance that masks one’s true nature. This awakening to true self reveals the oneness of all things. This awareness of oneness brings joy, peace and compassion for all things.

In our often hectic and mobile society, we seem to live in a rapidly flowing stream of one thing after another. Important things keep coming at us: school, careers, and relationships, family members arriving and leaving. Even our health and abilities seem to ebb and flow. And that doesn’t even take into account all the errands to and fro, the meetings and events that we attend and attend to, the many errands that pile up. Therefore, when we finally lay down on our beds it already seems like it is time to get up and I am just talking about you retired folks, who tell me that never in your lives have you been busier.

Seriously, we need to stop, pausing long enough to reflect on our place in the cycle life. Your life after all need not just be doing one thing after another. Rather your life deserves to be an aware experience of your place in the universe as each breath precedes another. The natural world valiantly tries to be a patient teacher about the cycle of life. We enjoyed the warmth of summer. After last weekend’s snow storm we are a bit confused, but today again we have a typical November day. The summer birds are flying southward. Our lawns, trees and the sky above is often filled with flocks of them.

We are part of the cycle of seasons and the cycle of life In this world, everything and everyone is in the process  of constantly changing, growing and evolving. One of my favorite poems comes from Elder Olson:

Nothing is lost: be still: the universe is honest.
Time, like the sea gives all back in the end,
But only in its own way, on its own conditions:
Empires as grains of sand, forests as coal,
Mountains as pebbles. Be still, be still, I say;
You were never the water, only a wave:
Not substance, but a form substance assumed.

The Gaelic pre-Christian Samhain which we celebrated as Halloween this past Monday evening predates and probably influenced the observance of the Catholic All Saints Day which was on Tuesday. These are times to reflect on and remember those who have died. People from Mexico to Ecuador hold remembrance celebrations, making alters with food, flowers and supplies on them for people in their lives who have died.

We today have diverse and divergent views about what happens when we die. Whatever our beliefs about life and death,   there is something that we can all agree about. We are conscious of this moment of life. OK, maybe some of us are more conscious of it than others and there are some moments when we are more conscious than others. And we know that those who have been important in our lives and who have died are consciously remember by those of us who are still alive They may no longer live as they did, but clearly they live in our memory of them.

Or as the poet wrote,
Nothing is lost: be still: the universe is honest.
Time, like the sea gives all back in the end,
But only in its own way, on its own conditions:…”

We do not make or decide on the conditions. Call it the life spirit that moves through us and all that is alive or the laws of the universe, there are things which we may never fully comprehend. At such times, it is good for us to: “Be still, because we were never the water, only a wave: Not substance, but a form substance assumed.” Yet, we are part of the interconnected web of life, and those who we have known and loved, those who have known and loved us, though they are dead, they remain with us.

We are a mobile people, and you may be like me in that I cannot easily go to the cemetery in Wisconsin where my parents are buried. Their parents, my grandparents, are buried in North Dakota. Some of my great grandparents and their ancestors  are buried in the Czech Republic, others in Germany and I am not sure where the others are buried. Never the less, I can say that my family and those who have touched me deeply are here within me

It is good for us to take our memories of the dead and recognize and be mindful of the strength they have given us, the history they shared with us, the love they showed us and yes even the pain, the hurt and disappointment we experienced in relation to them

The important thing about doing this together here this morning is the comfort of knowing that we are not alone. We need not face questions of death alone. We gather in a community of warmth where our joys, fears, sorrows and griefs can be shared within a sacred community of faith, love, hope and action. Here among this community we can tell our stories and experience the intimacy of knowing and being known by others.

Let us be still for a moment individually and as a congregation knowing that “nothing is lost, the universe is honest.”
Closing words by Mary Oliver

To live in this world
You must be able to do three things:
To Love what is mortal;
To hold it against your bones knowing
Your own life depends on it;
And, when the time comes to let it go,
To let it go.

With gratitude, we celebrate the gifts shared by Caryl as our Director of Music Ministry. With wonder and delight, we receive these gifts. May the melodic offerings continue to touch our hearts and nurture our spirits.

If we did not have music on Sundays, many of us might not even come to services, at least not as regularly. If we had poor to mediocre music, my guess is that fewer of us would be here. The gift of music enhances the meaning and the depth of our Sunday morning experience. It starts with the prelude that draws us in and prepares us. The hymns allow us to participate in the rhythm of worship. We sing our children out to their Religious Education classes to “Go Now in Peace.”  The Crossing Chorale blesses us with poignant and inspiring songs. Special pieces of music and special musical groups as well as individuals selected by Caryl bring additional variety and inspiration. Music moves us right up to and including the closing hymn and the postlude. All this music is a ministry. When combined with the ministry of the spoken word and all the other elements of the service it creates a complete worship experience.

Music does hold a special place in the life and vitality of our congregation. The music ministry that Caryl Tipton has championed here for twenty years is a major part of the reason why this is so. This Sunday is a tribute to the gift of music that Caryl brings to our church.

With gratitude, we celebrate the gifts she has shared. With wonder and delight, we receive these gifts. May the melodic offerings continue to touch our hearts and nurture our spirits.

Music is an important art form that has been a part of humanity down through the eons, bringing emotional edification and spiritual depth to the human spirit. The gift of music helps our spirits soar. Think for a moment about times sitting here when a melody, a rhythm in song, a hymn or instrumental piece has brought peace to your spirit, or tears to your eyes or greater understanding to your mind or conviction to your heart and thus joy in being part of the universe.

Emily Dickinson wrote,

The fascinating chill that music leaves
Is Earth’s corroboration
Of ecstasy’s impediment –
‘Tis Rapture’s germination
In timid and tumultuous soil
A fine – estranging creature –
To something upper wooing us
But not to our Creator –

“There is a song in every heart,” as the choir sang during the prelude, “And every song is unique. Every melody has a message, every heart longs to speak. And all together we make harmony, for every one of us is part of the symphony of life …”

If, there is a song in every heart, and if for every song we hear out loud, there are a thousand more unsung.  It is because “Not every heart has the courage to sing its song loud and clear.”  It is true, too often people no longer sing because in their past they have sung out only to have someone question or criticize their ability. Still, if every heart has the courage to sing its song loud and strong, we will be able to make a sweeter harmony for everyone to hear the symphony of life. The gift of music ministry helps each one of us realize that there is a unique and beautiful song in every heart and only together can we make a true harmony of peace and wellbeing.

With gratitude, we celebrate the gifts shared. With wonder and delight, we receive. May the melodic offerings continue to touch our hearts and nurture our spirits.

Martin Luther, a strong proponent of the spoken word and leader of the Reformation, said, “I place music next to theology and give it the highest praise.” No less a figure than the “death of god” philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche pronounced, “Without music life would be a mistake.”

Beauty is found in all art forms. Music, especially, helps us gain a sense of being in harmony with the universe. Music can tune us by putting us in harmony with our own lives, the lives of others and the very life force of the universe.

This is what music has done and continues to do for us as we worship. The music of the piano, the hymns, the choir all directed by our talented and dedicated Caryl Tipton.

After Karen Armstrong was introduced and then after thunderous applause, she said, “Thank you. What a welcome. I’ve always been told that Unitarianism should be my spiritual home.”

I have read a number of books by Karen Armstrong. I have not yet read the one she talked about that evening, “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.”  After hearing Karen Armstrong speak, I knew that I would focus my sermon series this year on compassion.

I was familiar with the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talk series. What I did not know was that there is a TED prize given each year to an exceptional individual. They receive $100,000 and even more important, they are asked what their one wish is to change the world. The TED organization then tries to help the recipient make that wish happen.

Armstrong knew what her wish was immediately. It had, been a source of deep frustration for her that various world religions both eastern religions and the monotheistic religions had developed a wonderful ethics of compassion, but they are also seen as one of the major sources of conflict. All can see that it is true. The Sunni and Shiite battle one another. The Roman Catholics and Protestants fought and killed one another in Northern Ireland. Fear and hate exist between many Muslims, Christians and Jews. In India and Pakistan, fear and hate exist between many who are Hindu and Muslim. The list goes on and yet the major religions all talk about compassion.

Armstrong emphasizes that the major faiths all have at their core an ethic of compassion. Nina gathered these meanings of compassion for our Opening Words.  This ethic of compassion has been verbalized in some variation of what has been called the Golden Rule, not treating others in ways that you would not like to be treated yourself.

The test of true spirituality in these religions is to take us beyond our selfishness and greed into the presence of the divine, Nirvana or the Dao. Yet, too often religions and religious leaders focus more on creed than deed and more on some isolated sexual ethic than on deeper compassion between human beings.

There was great applause among us when Karen Armstrong said, “… it seems to me, quite clear, that unless we now learn to implement the Golden Rule globally so that we treat all peoples, all nations, as we would wish to be treated ourselves, we’re not going to have a viable world. This is the task of our time, to build a global community where people of all persuasions can live together in harmony and respect.”

Armstrong’s wish for the world was to establish a “Charter for Compassion,” written by leading thinkers from six different faiths, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.   The Charter already had more than one-hundred-fifty partners around the world when Armstrong wrote her book “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.”  I will post that “Charter for Compassion,” on my UUCWC blog so you can read it.

The title of Armstrong’s book intentionally draws on the tradition of the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Her view is that we human beings are addicted to feelings of dislike and hate toward things and people. The evolutionary struggle of the fittest to survive is the basis for this human tendency. Unfortunately, we all harbor that reptilian brain that can be triggered to dislike or hate those who seem to threaten us, our family or our tribe.

Armstrong points out how we become dependent upon little or big hates and prejudices. We need them because they have helped form our sense of self. We know what she means. The other can be an annoying colleague, even a sibling, parent or child, maybe an ex or past partner. Our anger can be projected to the other as a group, a religion or a country. Armstrong says, “When we utter these uncompassionate, dismissive, or unkind or just remarks about one another, we often get a kind of buzz, rather like the first drink of the evening—a sort of glow.”

We can be addicted to mood-altering drugs, but we can also become addicted to mood-altering behavior or activities such as gambling, sex, high-risk behaviors or even surfing the internet. Armstrong makes a strong case that we humans have become addicted to the process of uncompassionate, dismissive, unkind and downright hateful behavior.

An addiction to alcohol, tobacco or other drugs can slowly poison us from the inside. Yet we do not seem to give up such behavior easily. Similarly, an addiction to behavior like being uncompassionate and downright hateful can slowly poison us from within.   We do not seem willing or able to give up such behavior any easier that we can give up drugs.

Our world is based on one country opposing other countries for resources, taking advantage of other countries. In our country, one state or city opposes others competing for federal grants, business and tax ratables. Even sports fans have turned from good natured competition to being verbally threatening and even physical violent to those who dare support another team. Political parties are no longer willing to work together to make compromises for the common good of the nation. How long can the winner take all mentality last?

I agree with Armstrong that we need to”…wean ourselves step by step away from this addiction by integrating habits of mind and action and thought into our daily practice.”  She points out that we need to start by learning about compassion. We do not hear much about compassion from our political leaders, business leaders, news sources or even many of the most powerful preachers in our country.

We need to start leading from below. We need to learn more about compassion and we need to talk openly about its importance. Then we need to look at our personal worlds of family, congregation, school, neighborhood and work place to see what we can do. Then we need to look around our state and nation to see what needs to be done to increase compassion and decrease fear inequity and hate. We can make a difference if we join with others in an organized way to increase compassionate behavior.

Compassion has to be a major factor when we are dealing with things like healthcare, public education, job training, poverty relief, the justice system, affordable housing, immigration, and yes even illegal immigration, and our national tax system.

I don’t think we the people in our families, in our congregations, in our communities, in our country and in the world can any longer afford our addiction to the me first, others last mentality.

It was after all during difficult and violent times 500 years before the story of Jesus that Confucius introduced the Golden Rule. He said to his followers, “Look into your own heart, discover what gives you pain, and then refuse, under any circumstances whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else. Never treat others, as you would not like to be treated yourself.”

It was also during difficult and violent times that a pagan told the elder contemporary of Jesus of Nazareth the respected Pharisee, Hillel that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could recite the whole of Jewish teaching while he stood on one leg. The story goes that Hillel stood on one leg and said that which is hateful to you do not to your fellow man. That is the Torah, and everything else is only commentary. Go and study it.

It was during those same difficult and violent times that Jesus advised his followers, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Again, during difficult and violent times the Prophet Muhammad advised his followers, “None of you have faith until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself.”

Why this consistency down through the ages?  People found that it worked and it still can.

On the Sunday I initiated this, one of the very young children looking down from the balcony, turned to his mother and said, “Mommy, there are two Jesus’ today.”  OK, that story also gives you a sense of the high status Lutheran ministers had and how children and adults can make dangerous transferences in regard to what we perceive and believe.

When I entered the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 1981, shared ministry was new in congregations with full time ministers. There was, however, a strong tradition of lay led ministry in small Fellowships with a tinge of anti-minister sentiment. On the other hand, some Unitarian Universalist ministers felt that the worship service was their realm totally and worked hard to keep it that way.

What we are doing today is sharing the ministry. Beth Brasor, as our First Sunday Speaker, is sharing the ministry. The participation of Worship Associates is sharing the ministry. Our Director of Music Ministry, accompanist, choir, Director of Religious Education, the religious education teachers, the sound person, the ushers, the greeters and others are sharing ministry. The many participants in this service is shared ministry to the nth degree. we even included Jessica Scheick, from Maine electronically.

Though my sermon is shorter today, Shared ministry is actually harder for a minister and other staff. The service is more complex with many moving parts. Just ask Susan Irgang, our Office Manager, after this week. The Order of Service involves many more emails going back and forth with numerous suggestions, requests and changes. If I were the only one involved, it would be more efficient and easier, but it would not be as rich or as diverse with the many interesting voices and perspectives, even if doing it this way takes more time and more disciplined effort.

It is sort of like the difference between the food I ate growing up and the food I am used to today. The major spices I knew as a child was salt and pepper. Today I am not always sure what Alison has put into the new and tasty dishes she invents. 

Shared ministry is not just sharing it with the members of our congregation. When our congregation started in 1916, as the First Unitarian Church of Trenton, it did not do it alone. The first public Unitarian gathering in Trenton, of 600 people, was addressed by the Reverend Edmund Henry Reeman, from the Unitarian Church in Lancaster, PA, joined by other Unitarian clergy. The gathering was a response to Evangelical Preacher Billy Sunday who condemned Unitarians by name and other religious liberals in general.

Reverend Reeman told a Trenton Evening Times reporter, “The object is not to fight Mr. Sunday. He has a lot to say about us and we come to let the people know there is another side to the argument.”  Our side of the argument then and now is not to condemn those who hold religious beliefs different from our own. Rather, our purpose, then and now, is to promote a progressive theological approach, echoing what the Father of Universalism, the Reverend John Murray, said, 150 years earlier, “Give them not hell, but hope and courage.”

The First Unitarian Church in Trenton experienced lean times and needed the support of the American Unitarian Association. When the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing decided to build this beautiful sanctuary, we were assisted by the UUA with a low interest Loan.

When a congregation or minister needs support, coaching, guidance and even corrective intervention, the Unitarian Universalist Association is ready and willing to assist. It, as an institution, staffs an office of Ministries and Faith Development complete with scholarships and guidance.

Today’s reading is from the Reverend Eugene Picket, President of the UUA when I entered the Unitarian Universalist ministry. His leadership inspired me when, in 1981, I met and heard him speak at my 1st General Assembly in Philadelphia.

I am grateful that the UUA took a chance on sharing the ministry with me, an ex-Lutheran minister. I went through the feared vetting process for ministers, I benefitted from a UUA grant given to the small congregation I served. I thrived under the mentoring of Unitarian Universalist ministers like Harry Meserve, Arthur Foote, Ralph Halverson, Glenn Turner and many others during my early years. In turn, over the years I have mentored younger Unitarian Universalist ministers, served on our national Ministers Association Executive Committee as well as in other district and national capacities.

The bottom line is, the UUA needs to be a strong and flexible institution if liberal religion is to survive and grow. Ours are demanding times for congregations and their religious professionals. To do excellent ministry we need to share the ministry.

Our congregation and its ministers have been on the receiving end of ministry provided by our larger UUA movement, by the Metro New York District, by neighboring Unitarian Universalist congregations and their ministers. Also, we as a congregation, its members and its ministers have been on the giving end of shared ministry.

Today, we are called, as we are able and willing to participate, to be on the giving side. I encourage you to do all that you can.

Blessing of Gratitude
Kathleen McTigue

We give thanks for the guidance of those who came before us.
We give thanks for the faith of those who walk beside us.
We give thanks for the hope in those who follow behind us.
We give thanks for the love that sustains us each day.
May we find within ourselves a deep well of gratitude.
May we find within our gratitude our own most profound generosity,
And may we bring it forth.
Go in peace, believe in peace, create peace. Amen.

Paul Gilding is steady and relentless in stating the reality of our human story during the last 50-60 years. He points out, “If you cut down more trees than you grow, you run out of trees. If you put additional nitrogen into a water system, you change the type and quantity of life that water can support. If you thicken the earth’s carbon dioxide blanket the earth gets warmer. If you do all these and many more things at once, you change the way the whole system of planet Earth behaves, with social, economic, and life support impacts. This is not speculation, this is high school science.” Gilding, Paul (2011-03-29). The Great Disruption (p. 2). Bloomsbury Press. Kindle Edition.

Oh sure, we can deny it. We can argue about it. Like it or not, it is an obvious reality. Gilding states as fact, “You cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet. Not ‘should not’, nor ‘better not’, but cannot.”

In our hearts, we know this! We have been able to increase our consumption for years, BUT it has been based on using natural resources from someone else’s country, and borrowing against future generations. An analogy comes to mind, many of us have homes, and some of you, like me, have used you home for home equity loans to put children through college or for any number of other expenses. Now, when some of us want to sell our homes, the market tells us their value has decreased. Still, the home equity loan still has to be paid.

Paul Gilding gives us a startling assessment of the situation we face. His is a stark and sobering assessment. I could not find any way to dispute honestly the great disruption he points out. What I did find surprising is that Gilding is very hopeful. He views the great disruption as the only wakeup call we seem willing to accept. For him it is what gives us the chance to build something better and sustainable.

We have an inkling that the great disruption has started. We look at the financial crisis in Europe. We see regime change after regime change in the Middle East; even Israel has to see the need to change. Nuclear power will never be the same after what happened in Japan. Places like China and Brazil are rapidly rising not only in their economic growth and power but also in their consumption level. Also, we know that with floods, droughts and population growth, there will be food shortages.

The denial by some politicians and the people they are trying to coddle cannot change the fact that climate change is here. Contrary to some claims, 97% of scientific experts agree that climate change is “very likely” caused mainly by human activity. The study found that the 3% who disagree have an average expertise that is far below that of their colleagues. (Doyle Rice, USA TODAY Updated 2010-06-22)

“You have been telling the people  (Thomas Banycya)
That this is the eleventh hour.
Now you must go and tell the people
That this is the hour
And there are things to be considered.”

This Wednesday is the start of Rosh Hashanah the beginning of the Jewish New year. The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the “shofar,” the ram’s horn. The cry of the “shofar” is a call to repentance. Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of the first sin and the need for repentance.  It serves as the first of the “Ten Days of Repentance” which will culminate in Yom Kippur.

This is the hour and,
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift
That there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold onto the shore.
They will feel they are being pulled apart
And will suffer greatly.

There is a great deal of fear in the American political deadlock. Some are trying not only to hold onto the shore but even trying to return to some mythical time. Most of us admit that we feel like we are being pulled apart by the divisiveness. It is hard to imagine that we Americans will ever get to a point of working together in a cooperative fashion when faced with the great disruption. Can Republicans, Democrats, Independents and others find common ground upon which to work together?  Can those who are unemployed, losing their homes and increasingly living below the poverty line find common ground with those who are daily increasing their wealth?

Something that should be obvious to all is the planet will go on. It is magnificently resilient. Life will continue evolving here on planet earth. However, there will be special demands placed on various species, especially on human beings. What will be our collective response?  Will human civilization crumble and fall into a violent struggle to survive eliminating billions? Numerous movies and books portray the future destruction of civilization, leaving humans to struggle amidst violent suppression at the hands of other humans or even apes or robots. While others predict a divinely induced end times filled with death and destruction.

Gilding sees humans learning to once again cooperate and work together for the common good. Remember hurricane Irene and our various power outages. There was more visiting, talking and sharing during the three days we were without power on our street than I remember during the past fourteen plus years we have lived there. Cooperative behavior will predominate over the breakdown of our social order.

We find hope for this in our responses to major disasters around the world. They have motivated people of all nations to reach out and help others. People helped others who they did not even know and about whom they normally did not care. Folks responded to people in our own country after Katrina, in Haiti after the earthquake, to the miners trapped in South America and to the individuals affected by the tsunami and the nuclear accident in Japan.

We humans do care about each other. There are times we will sacrifice for each other. Think about the First Responders helping the people in the Twin Towers. Think about the nuclear technicians volunteering to work at great risk in a high radiation areas in an effort to prevent a further nuclear disaster.

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in the right relationship?
Where is your water?
Know your garden

Indeed, know your garden. Gilding talks of oil shortages, but food he points out “…will come to define our entry into this period. Food prices, after hovering around long-term highs for several years, are now passing the extreme peaks of 2008 as climate chaos takes hold.” The world population continues to grow. Diets around the world are calling for more grain-intensive meat production. Recall the record heat wave and drought that hit Russia the summer before last. Their wheat harvest collapsed and they banned exports and the global price of wheat rose rapidly.

Did you know that in 2005, Brazil experienced a “one in one hundred-year” drought in the Amazon. Guess what? They had a second “one in one hundred-year” drought in 2010.

It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community,
Be good to each other.
Do not look outside yourself for a leader.

Change is coming. Change in our climate; change in our economy, and change in our way of responding to the great disruption — coming our way. These changes and challenges are coming faster and faster like a raging river.

Understand that the river knows its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
Push off into the middle of the river,
Keep our eyes open and our heads above water.

And I say: see who is in there with you.
Hold fast to them and celebrate!

And this time in history
We are to take nothing personally,
Least of all, ourselves!
For the moment we do,
Our spiritual growth and journey comes to an end.
The time of the Lone Wolf is over!

Can all this change, as challenging as it is, ultimately lead us to a better place?

Michael Dowd (in Earth Spirit) provides a helpful analogy for what we are facing. “…there was a gifted artist who was also a compassionate and highly resourceful woman. She was involved in a train accident in which she suffered a concussion and severe amnesia. For several months, she had no sense of who she was, where she came from, where she was going, or of even whether her actions were appropriate or self-destructive. During this time, she became fearful, distrusting, self-centered, and vulnerable to all sorts of illusions about who she was and what the meaning and direction of her life was. Ignorance of her past ruined her present and left her in despair about the future. Only when she recovered the memory of her true identity did she regain access to the resources she possessed, become reconciled to her family and friends, and regain a sense of her role in the community and a vision of her larger destiny.”

We are like that woman; our human community has been suffering from amnesia. We have lived unaware of our true identities as a human family for far too long. We humans have been cut off from our larger and deeper self. Our hope during the great disruption lies in our ability to recover our memories of who we are and who we are called to be.

We need to heed the call to:
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word “struggle” from
Your attitude and vocabulary,
All that we do now must be done
In sacred manner and in celebration

We are all about to go on a journey,
The Great Disruption.

It is time we, throughout the world enter into this discussion. Like it or not, we are the ones we have been waiting for. We may be extremely slow, as Gilding contends, but let us be sure that we are not stupid!

So, why are there so many questions left at the end of an answer?  My sermon this morning had its spark in that question asked during the question the minister sermon last year. We never really come to an end to our questions. I have certainly never offered a “Question the Minister Service” when people ran out of great questions. It is probably correct that you can tell whether a person is clever by his answers. But, you can tell whether a person is wise by his questions. If that is correct, our congregation is full of wise people.

To be sure, people like to tell jokes about our propensity to ask questions. Like the one about a Unitarian Universalist who died, and to his surprise discovered that there was indeed an afterlife. The angel in charge of these things told him, “Because you were an unbeliever and a doubter and a skeptic, you will be sent to Hell for all eternity — which, in your case, consists of a place where no one will disagree with you ever again!”

On the opposite side of the continuum, are the religious, philosophical and political orientations where people are put down for asking difficult questions or disagreeing with the given authority on moral, ethical, political or social issues. There will always be those who insist that there is one and only one correct answer. There can be only one way of thinking; be it the inerrancy of some scripture; the validity of some theological doctrine. Some believe this about the right way to think about social issues from establishing a safety net for those who are poor to the value of the death penalty or the need for regulations that deal with the safety of products or the manufacturing of products.

I have heard many stories from people who found their way into our movement. Some describe how when they were young, often as a child, and they asked a religious leader a probing question they were told that their question was inappropriate and that they should just believe what they were taught and keep quiet.

Certainly not all religious leaders behave or have behaved that way. Jesuit political activist Father John Dear, wrote a book, The Questions of Jesus.  In it, he pointed out that Jesus asked many questions, some inconvenient for religious authorities. Father Dear went through the gospels and made a list of all the questions Jesus supposedly asked. He found three hundred seven instances of Jesus asking questions.

Last year, in my sermon series on the Questions of Socrates, I pointed out that asking questions is what the Socratic Method is all about. So we Unitarian Universalists, find ourselves in pretty good company. It can be said, that questioning and questing is really about delving into life to find meaning, purpose and direction. Asking probing questions is a way of coming to terms with our shadowy interior or as naturalist, Loren Eiseley, called it “the ghost continent” within.

Unlike those who teach that there is one and only one right answer to most questions, we as religious liberals posit that the world we live in is alive and evolving. That is why we advise that it is good for people to be open to asking questions and finding new answers and then more new questions. Ours is a religious perspective that encourages us to be alive and actively involved with all the questions of life. Life is a never-ending and often meandering quest. We must keep moving over, around and through both our inner borders and our expanding exterior boarders.

Our Life Span Religious Exploration program is based on the idea that our children and we need to learn that it is not only OK, but also good to ask questions. As our children grow, we need to remind them that it is good to keep questioning and learning about our expanded knowledge base. Remember, our Life Span Religious Exploration program does not end with our youth. Life Span Religious Exploration is best when it continues throughout our lives. Check out all the Religious Education classes for adults.

Doubtless, on our spiritual journeys we occasionally will fall on our faces. This does not mean that our approaches are wrong or that we are destined for damnation. It may mean that we have thought, said or even believed something that was or is wrong. Nevertheless, we are encouraged to not give up the search for truth, but rather called to get up, brush ourselves off, look even deeper into the immense wonder of reality, then take another step, and ask another question, knowing that we need to learn and grow from our mistakes.  Thus we live and remain actively involved with our life quests and its many questions. We do not stand still, but keep moving. We keep crossing our inner and our outer borders. We keep asking for more answers.

Of course, we should learn to accept some things like the law of gravity as a reality. There are some sound theories, like evolution that we can accept as sound scientific assumptions about how things work. However, there is much in nature, in culture, in politics and especially in religion that we, Unitarian Universalists, approach with the advice of the bumper sticker: “Honk If You’re Not Sure.”

Physician and author, Rachel Naomi Remen,  in My Grandfather’s Blessings, wrote about a woman with cancer telling her how the woman discovered a basic truth about life, through an experience with her illness. She said, “There are only two kinds of people in this world – those who are alive and those who are afraid.”  She then smiled when she said “…that many of the people she had met who were afraid were doctors.”

“Perhaps,” writes Remen, “such fear is a natural outcome of the wish to be in control.”  She went on to tell of a patient whose physician told him several years before that he had three months to live. The patient said that the doctor “…seemed sorry to be telling me this, but he seemed pleased that he had the information to give me, almost as pleased as if he had told me that he had the right drug to eradicate my cancer.”

The patient then said, “I was angry for a long time, but I now think he was as out of control and vulnerable as I was. Too bad we could not have talked man to man on that level instead of reaching for a false certainty.”

Remen posits, “…the most basic skill of the physician is the ability to have comfort with uncertainty, to recognize with humility the uncertainty inherent in all situations, to be open to the ever-present possibility of the surprising, the mysterious, and even the holy to meet people there.”  Good advice for all of us, not just physicians. There is a desire for control and for uncertain knowledge on the part of most or all of us. “But,” Remen writes, “mastery is always limited. Sooner or later we will come to the edge of all that we can control and find life, waiting there for us.” That which is so very important in life, is not so much the answers we come up with, as it is the understanding that we never need to stop pursuing the questions.

Our Religious Education program intends to plant the seeds, seeds of questing for truth that is alive, not only in our young people but in all of us throughout our lives. If we are able to do that, we will truly have done our jobs. We really are more alive when we are actively involved in the important questions of life.