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We-Are-One-And-We-Are-Loved.m4a

Someone asked me recently. So we are one and we are loved. What does that mean exactly. These are the two statements which i and my benediction every sunday. Those of you who are children are not usually in the sanctuary when i do that but if you were here you would probably have the same question. What does that mean. We are warm and we are loved. I figure i owe you all an answer. There's a head answer. And there's a heart answer. I'll give you both. Start with the head answer. Unitarian universalism is like a two-headed monster. That was born out of two heresies. Heresy is a belief. That people have episode that people of a certain religion find shocking or terrible or raw. Unitarianism was the heresy that instead of there being a trinity of god there is just one god. At most. Universalism of the heresy that instead of center is going to hell everybody will be safe. Enjoying god in heaven. So the oneness of god. And universal salvation. I've taken some liberties with these ideas for our time the oneness of god is really the oneness of everything in the universe including god and all of us and fungi and any aliens that might exist on other planets we are one. And the universal salvation. It's not just about what happens after we die it just say that there is a loving force at the center of the universe that pulls us towards itself. We are love. I just might be a little too crazy for some of us. Some of us might be skeptical but we are 14 love when we sometimes feel so alone and unloved. Others might be skeptical for other reasons. Pictures not the way everybody thinks about stuff. Going to share with you a story from a world-class. Skeptic. His name is eben alexander. Evan is a neurosurgeon. Which means that he does surgery on people's brains. Which means that he has to know a lot about how the brain works. He's dancing fancy medical schools and he's a very well-respected doctor. He used to believe but a lot of scientists believe which is that the physical reality around us is the only reality that there is. He also believe that consciousness. From our brains. Consciousness. Is the part of each of us that says. I'm me and i know that i'm alive sitting here in this room listening to the sermon or in my case delivering this sermon. Iraq. Can't do that at least as far as we know. So evan alexander believe that consciousness comes from our brain. He believed this for his whole life. Until he had an experience. The chosen something very different. And here's where we got into the heart side of we are one and we are loved. In his book proof of heaven. Kevin describes how he came down with a terrible disease very suddenly. Within a few hours. He was in a coma. Which means. Kind of like being in a deep deep sleep that you can't get woken up from. He was in this houma for 7 days. And then he did wake up. But during those days he had an experience that he describes as more real. That anything that he had ever experienced in his whole life. I'm going to tell you the basic outline. This is the kind of story that kids might be more open to than grown ups. Do kids. If your grown-ups don't get it be nice to them it's not their fault and just please try to send it to them later okay. Evan went on a journey. Through three different kinds of reality. First she was in a sick dark world that fell start of like earth. He wrote that he felt like an earthworm. He was not aware of liking or not liking his environment it was like. That was all over there is. Then she saw a life. And got closer he realized. That he was no longer looking at the light he was looking through it. He got sucked in through the opening of that life and then he was in another realm. He was flying. On a butterfly wing. Adopt a gorgeous green rolling landscape. Which fruit trees. And people laughing and children playing and everything bass and vivid colors wonderful music. There were angelic diaz doing a loop de loops of joy and he had. Some kind of a spirit guy with him riding next to him on the butterfly wing. She taught him things without words just sending her thoughts directly into his mind. She helps him experience. Three basic truths. About the universe. 1. You are loved. And cherished. Dearly. Forever. 2. You have nothing to fear. 3. There is nothing that you can do wrong. I think i'm some level we all yearn to be embraced like this. To feel loved and to be free from fear. Haven't felt like he had just been handed the rules to a game haven playing his whole life. Without realizing it. And finally his spirit-guide led him into a third stage of reality. This is the hardest one to describe because it's not something that words do well but he called it the core. Because he felt like he was connecting with something that smells like the core of reality itself. There was something like a ball of life that he sometimes called the orb. Sometimes i called god and sometimes phone. It was joy it was love and he was not separate from it. She was not separate from anything in the universe. He was not even aware of himself. He had no ego he was just an eyeball experiencing everything. Madea questions the answers came along with the question like a flower spontaneously blooming up next to it. Sound is not separate from color touch was not separate from site. All the separations we normally base our lives on or just illusion. We are one. And the message he had gotten from his spirit-guide he got even more clearly here. Love is the foundation of the universe. We are loved. Eben alexander woke up from his coma. Which was quite remarkable in itself and he regained all of his medical knowledge. Now when people are very sick they're often hooked up to machines that can show doctors what's going on inside their bodies. So when evan was feeling up to it he went back to the hospital and began to look. Do all of the graphs of his brain waves all of the blood test all of the monitors that have been on while he was sick. And what he found was amazing. During his coma. The entire part of his brain. That produces consciousness. That allows us to have experiences to see and feel the part that makes us human. Was completely shut down. As a neuroscientist he could say without a doubt that would he had experience could not possibly have been generated by his brain. So i haven't felt that he had a special responsibility now to share what he had learned with the world. The reality is so much more vast. And spectacular than we usually think that's all of it and all of us are loved by an unending love. Not just in the abstract but each of us individually love. He didn't give up on science at all he's still absolutely committed to scientific knowledge. You just now knows that science describe only a tiny fraction. Of what's actually out there. And now he has a new understanding of the truth that religion has been trying to convey. For all this time. So he wrote proof of heaven and he gives speeches you can find them on youtube there's a wonderful surprise ending at the end of the book but i won't spoil it for you but it's worth reading just for that. It's important to notice that what i'm talking about here is not something that happens to us after we die. This larger reality. Is right here right now. We're living in the middle of so many more dimensions than we can imagine. The love of saturate everything. Richard. Usually not aware of it. The people who have near-death experiences like eben alexander often to become aware of it. They're able to go past the limits of their physical brain. And they come back with stories of their experiences that are allowed like hemp. Mystic from. Across the ages who gone deep into meditation and prayer and trance. Sedative sufis are hindus or kabbalists or catholics have also experienced these truths about the nature of reality. And they often return. Ecstatic at having encountered such a love. Sunday might be thinking well that's all very interesting but it has nothing to do with unitarian-universalism which is a rationalist face. He might even think of heresy. Oh contraire. Both unitarianism and universalism are rooted in mystical experiences. On the unitarian society think of emerson. Another transcendentalist who wrote about going into the woods and losing their ego their cells and merging with the divine oneness. Emerson wrote about the oversoul. The universal athens that are all apart of. Oversoul. God. Really doesn't matter what you call her. An emerson see ology there's no wall where we end and the internet's begins. He wrote about his own experience. Oneness. In the woods. Standing on the bare ground. My head bathed by the fly there and uplifted into infinite space. All mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. Miami dolphin. Ic. The currents of the universal being circulated through me. I am parked for particles of god. We are one. On the universalists side we have a fascinating character named george the bendigo. Humans 300 years ago. He was a highly educated doctor and the first preacher of universalism in the american colonies. Where did you get this idea of universal salvation that everybody goes to heaven. His own near-death experience. He was very sick. Perhaps in a coma. Who knows. He wrote about it afterwards how he felt himself died of separate from his body. Like eben alexander who wrote about how we saw wonders that are impossible to put into words. Like evan he came to a beautiful natural filled infinitely wide with fruit trees. And they are full of such fragrances like incense. And like evan had a spirit guide by his side. So he said who's boundless friendship and love seem to penetrate through all my inward parts. Then he had the revelation that became universalism. The spirit guide said to him. My dear soul take courage the most holy trinity will restore all his creatures. Without exception. To universal salvation. You shall preach to the lower world. But the most holy trinity has a pure universal love. Toward all the human race without exception. And towards each one. In particular. We are love. Some of those two might have holy moments in our lives. Experiences of deeper truth. Even if we haven't had a dramatic near-death experience many of us have had flashes of larger awareness. Maybe it happens in nature. An ocean a desert. Forest. Maybe it happens when we're alone in prayer and meditation on a retreat. Maybe it happens when making love for making music. Or art for dancing. I personally believe with the creative spark is always a breakthrough from the larger spiritual reality into our physical world. Always. And scientists are now beginning to discover the oneness that mystics have known about for thousands of years. When you get down to the level of subatomic particles the teeniest tiniest specs that our world is made up if you zoom the microscope closer and closer and closer we find that there is no line where i end and you begin. What does that mean for our lives here on earth. We yearn for the very things that we know and are so to be true. The reason why we're all here in this room is that we urine for connections others. An atom door isolation and separation. And we yearn to love. And beloved. This oneness and mislove are there for the taking. It's not somewhere else it's right here. Right now. Eben alexander along with many spiritual teachers say that we get closer to realizing that monday asked for loving kindness. Because in those actions we are aligning ourselves with the loving power of the universe. We play a part in bringing the world closer together. The material world and the world of radiant cosmic love. Sometimes better than grown ups at getting this. Kids feel this love in a hug and give it right back. The more than all of us can embrace our humans neighbors and all the animals and plants of the earth. As part of the same great big holy self. The more we can act with compassion. And caring protection for all the closer we will find ourselves to the joy of ohm. Orem. Oversoul. Allah. Batman. Emptiness. God. Latest summer friend you all abundant joy. Many adventures physical and spiritual and maybe even a little bit of heresy. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him number 407 we're going to sit at the welcome table.

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Witness-to-Miracles.m4a

In the book of genesis when abraham believes he's been told by god to sacrifice his son isaac he saddles a donkey. For the trip. To the mountain where they've been told to go. The donkey waits and watches while abraham and isaac climb the ominous mountain. And then miraculously returned together. Generations later after god appears to moses and the burning bush and tells him to lead his people to freedom from slavery. The text says that moses. Saddled the donkey. To bring his family to egypt. The medieval commentators have a field day with the fact that the text says. The donkey instead of a donkey. They say it's because it was the same donkey the same donkey bore witness to the terror of the binding of isaac and to the people's liberation from slavery in egypt. Two dramas two generations apart somehow falling underneath a single gays. Did you a fan thorpe notice when he wrote his poem what the donkey saw. It could have been what a donkey saw. But no it's be donkey. Maybe it's the same donkey again. This time witnessing the birth of the great prophet jesus. In the poem the donkey wants to make room for jesus his entourage wants to make them feel wanted as history unfold before their eyes. And the donkey renders his own prophecy. I could see. The baby and i would be going places together. He's projecting into the future the palm sunday moment when jesus will ride him into jerusalem and be hailed as a king. The same donkey. The witness. It's magical of course but such a beautiful image of a single creature bearing witness to all of the game-changing events in the judeo-christian narrative. Perhaps it's a metaphor for the all-seeing eye of cosmic consciousness. The birth story of jesus leans on its witnesses. Mary first and foremost. Joseph the magi the shepherds and in this case the donkey. These are not the kinds of witnesses that you need in a murder trial to establish the fact. The facts nobody would bother to dispute the baby was born in a manger because there was no room in the end for his parents who were traveling. No here you need witnesses to establish the meaning of the facts. Not just what's going on. But what's really going on. These were eyewitnesses of a special kind. Play song with specialized there i saw through the baby's fragility. The poverty of his family in desperate circumstances. Disheveled and downtrodden. These eyewitnesses saw through all of that and saw the miracle. That this baby was the divine incarnate. How beautiful. How wonderful. And how hard it would have been to believe that hadn't been for these witnesses who were somehow able to see with a special kind of site. And no with a special kind of knowing. The story of eric and the homeless man that meagen read is a poetic mirror of the nativity story this time it's the baby who's the witness who sees with a special kind of site and nose with a special kind of knowing. The baby sees what everyone else misses he adores the old man. He's delighted where everyone else is repulsed he sees through the old man's fragility his poverty his desperate circumstances disheveled and downtrodden. He sees through all of that. And sees the miracle. That this old man is the divine. Incarnate. Not a miracle b miracle. The same. Miracle. Jesus. And the homeless man and each and every one of us in this room and around the world are incarnations of the divine. It's the same miracle multiply 2 million fold. One miracle at once ordinary and extraordinary. One miracle that only awaits a witness. Christmas is the one time of year when we play the role of the donkey and intentionally witnessed this miracle together. We witnessed together the sacredness of life. The divine spark in one another we confirm the inherent dignity and worth of all people that all deserve to be loved. We declare that every night a child is born is a holy night. I'm a minute. Receive with a different kind of sight and we know with a different kind of knowing. We all yearn to be seen and known like this all year round. We are in to be recognized. Really deeply recognized. Not just for what we do what we accomplished but for what we are. At the birth story of jesus leans on its witnesses so we all lean on our witnesses. We all rely on one another. To be with us and to bear witness to what's really going on through the vagaries of our lives. We rely on one another to provide continuity through our history. Like the donkey. A single game. Unflinching in the face of our pain. Watching it. Holding it. Watching as we go up the mountain to make our sacrifices not knowing how we're going to come down. Watching as we struggle for liberation. Watching has parts of ourselves are born in the unlikeliest of places. Watching as we ride on a carpet of palm leaves into an uncertain future. Watching. I'm so we returned here to this community each year to bear witness to one another as the wheel of life spin. As some of us get married some of us become ill. Some of us start new careers and some of us lose our jobs. Somebody new home. And some become homeless. Babies are born loved ones die. Generations rise and fade. We returned to say to one another. Whatever has happened to you in the last year. I still see you. We can do this for one another. Let us do it lovingly compassionately helping each other to feel wanted even when it's crowded in the manger. And bear witness to the miracle that is each and everyone of us. Watch. While we change the world. Delete a baby in a diner or ribbit the attention of a very very old. Donkey. Please rise and body or spirit for our carol angels we have heard on high.

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Honor-Your-Mother-And-Father.m4a

Jamaica baby you need three ingredients according to the ancient near eastern understanding of the reproductive process you need the mother you need the father and you need god the mother and the father each make their contribution in the customary way and then god comes in and conjures the gestation by congealing the two human elements like you use rennet to make cheese the parents are literally seeing as co-creators. Co-creators with god. This is the context of the biblical commandment to love to honor your mother and father. The commandant appears on the first of the two tablets the ones pertaining to our relationship with god not where you would expect it to be on the other tablet that has to do with our relationship with people. Mother and father and their capacity as parents are in a trinity of partnership with the divine. They are god-like in this way. Honoring our mother and father is seen as an extension of honoring god. Rabbi by up and asher from the 13th century says. Speaking from the perspective of god. Just as i have commanded you with respect to honoring me. Likewise i command you today to honor your parents. Who are my collaborators. In your formation. Of course this all sounds a little heteronormative for our understanding of family these days we know today that biology and parenthood are often two very different things. Children are raised by same-sex couples single parents adoptive parents relatives friends. And this would also have been true in biblical days. There were orphaned children so-called illegitimate children and many other categories of children who would have been raised by people other than their biological parents. My guess is that if you were to ask a rabbi this commandment would have been equally binding to them. Honor the people who parented you regardless of whether they are the same people who contributed dna to the magical soup in the womb. Because after all the acts of the creation of a person doesn't end at birth. In many ways it has just begun. The real meat of parenting is what happens when you have a real live breathing squirming arguing person in your arms and it is this active daily parenting but i believe the fifth commandment is really about. And maybe mother's day with its cards and flowers and rose-colored renderings of our childhood memories it's an echo of an attempt to fulfill this commandment. For many of us the idea of honoring our parents mother on mother's day father's day or any other day is not a straightforward proposition. It's complicated. A conjurer's mixed feelings. Old resentments. Love. And guilt. And being commanded to honor them. Can be even more uncomfortable and strange somebody say in response. You obviously don't know my mother. And it's true our parents may have been abusive. Neglectful. Emotionally unavailable. Our parents might not have really seen us or had time for us. We may not trust them we may not even like them. Or they may not be alive anymore which makes the whole topic even more fraught. Journalist sara davidson has just published a book called with the december project. Both reflections and interviews with an 89 year old man named is almond shakhter shalomi. In it he talks extensively about what it means to be in the december. Of your life. Looking back on many decades here on earth. And contemplating death. At a panel discussion about the project someone asked is almond how do you work with regret. He seems to get very excited about the question this is clearly something that he had given a lot of thought to. His answer he talked about regret as a kind of disrespect to one's past. He assumed the voice at the past self talking to the current self saying don't diss me. The person you are now wouldn't exist. If it weren't for the person i had been then. The person. You are now wouldn't exist. If it weren't for the person i was then. It's so easy to look back on our lives and wish things could have been different. If only i had done xy&z instead of a b and c life would have been great if only my mother had done this or that differently i'd be so much better off. So much happier so much richer so much smarter i'd have a partner. I wouldn't be anxious i wouldn't have this addiction or that eating disorder. Speedometer saying that this line of thinking is debilitating. And it's unintelligible. We can't know what our lives would have been like if some factor had been different in our past. We can only know ourselves today. As a living product of a marbled history all the ways in which we were loved and all the ways in which we were abandoned. All of our successes and missteps. All our hard work and all our bad luck. All our pain and all our good luck. To say that our parents are only worth honoring to the extent that they were good parents is to say that we are only worth honoring to the extent that we are good. Honoring mother and father is a way of honoring the entirety. Of the life that has made us who we are. It's a way of honoring ourselves. Maybe to make a baby you just need three ingredients but to make an adult you need 1,000. Countless people countless moments have collaborated in our formation. We've been parented by the world. Nurtured and disciplined and at times failed by life itself. And so. Here we are. Deeply flawed and beautiful creations the results of that process. We could reinterpret the fifth commandment to say instead of just honor your mother and father. Honor all of what has made you you. All of it. To be able to honor that which is imperfect. Our parents. Our histories are world. It's an honor the truth of who we are. In the end it is to offer ourselves and unconditional embrace. And with that embrace. To know great peace. Please rise and body or spirit for our final him there is more love somewhere number 95 in your handle.

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Creation-The-Fourth-Day.m4a

Except for rainy days like today if you want to buy one of those knock-off coach handbags you can find one on pretty much any street corner in new york everyone knows they're not the real thing. I just the fact that they're sitting out there in the open air for 1299 or whatever they go for. Punishes the brand. But people buy them. Because. Truth be told the shimmering ideal represented by the coach brand isn't found on the shelves of saks fifth avenue either. No. Actual bag. No matter how expensive no matter how beautifully lit from above and below professionally displayed. Fully captures it. The brand lives on a plane all of its own. Forever unattainable. Kind of reminds me of plato's theory of forms. Plato's theory of forms says that everything in the real world has a corresponding ideal version in the world of ideas this ideal version is called the form so a handbag. With a lowercase h. Is a particular example of the general form of handbag with an uppercase h. Enter play do any actual thing is inferior to the forum. The forum is primary everything in our world is just a flawed derivative knock-off things in this world change. They come they go. The form is unchanging take love for another example. You have loved as we know it and experiences between people in this world. And then you have. Platonic love. That's where the term comes from. It's plato's pure ideal unsullied with real life. Biblical literalism get all into a tizzy about the creation of the sun and the moon and the stars on the fourth day. You can see why. On the first day we learned that god made the light and then separated the light from the darkness which made day and night and then on the fourth day for some bewildering reason. God makes life. Another kia the dome of heaven. To shed light upon the earth into separate day from night. Wasn't that already done. Headed there already been three whole days each with a sunrise and the sunset. If we already had. Light. Why did we need. White. So the litoralis twist themselves into pretzels and publish all kinds of explanation for how this is really not the problem but it seems to be. What they miss in my view is it even for the ancient people who wrote this story it wasn't meant to be a linear scientific narrative. It was about theology. It was about our relationship to god and the universe. And it was politics. This is a little bit of an aside but it is a part of a bigger conversation with the other civilizations of the ancient near east in factored with a diatribe against them. Many cultures back three thousand years ago believe that the sun and the moon and the stars and all of the natural elements were gods. They had to be worshiped and appeased they had mood swings they get angry and happy there were sea monsters. The ancient babylonian creation myth features a great sea monster. And you'll see next month in the biblical text. That. They have god specifically creating the sea monsters. By having the hebrew god create all of the forces of nature are basically saying our god is the one god and our god created your sea monsters and your son and your mood and your stars and all y'all it was teaology and it was politics. On the fourth day of creation museum huge shift in what god is up to. The first half of the story is basically about the creation of the elements. Fire on the first day. Water and air on the second day earth on the third day along with plants. So i'm the end of day 3 you have the world with the basic building blocks in place. It's almost as if the first half of the creation story is about the elements in their platonic. Farm. Texas in some rarefied pure state. Untarnished. But also unrealised. Now that's a different kind of project to get those elements their full-bodied real-life earthly particular expression if you take days 1 2 and 3. A the mop with days four five and six you'll see that there's actually a correspondence between the two. Day 1 misfire. Day for is sun moon and stars. Day two is water and air. Day 5 is birds and fish. Dae3 is earth. Day6 is the land animals including humans. The biblical authors needed to make some transition between the bear elements themselves and the lived world as we experience it. They probably thought of the. Four elements as physical. But they were kind of like primary season campaign speeches adderley lacking in real-world specificity and so on the fourth day primordial light as a diffuse source list luminescence. It had nothing to do with us. Got localized. Concentrated and distilled into the sun and the moon and the stars. Our son. That warms our faces and grows our flowers. Our moon. That we saw in the faintest most beautiful sliver last week. Our stars in the night sky of which we gaze in wonder. These luminaries were created for the benefit of the humans who would come later in the story. It says let them be for signs and four seasons and 4 days and years let them be lights in the dome of the sky to shed light on the earth. The forum light. Now became our light. It was a confirmation that the creative act of the first day. Did it really need to take four days to get here couldn't god have skipped a step and just created the luminaries from the get-go in other words does platos form have any use when you can just have the actual object. Think again of a bag any kind of bag a three-year-old could tell you that it's a bag even if she's never seen that particular bag before. Whether it's a coach bag plastic bag a backpack a wnyc tote bag any color any size any texture a three-year-old is going to look at it and say that's a bag because she has a pre-existing understanding of the essence or form of badness. Each bag somehow expresses that form or else it wouldn't be a bag. It would just be a crumpled object with no meaning at all. Deform the idea. Gives meaning to reality. On the other hand. If you only have the form and no actual bag. You've got nothing to put your stuff in. If you have only the light from day one not the lights from day for you've got no months and no years no winter no spring no summer no fall no light filtering through the leaves. No shadows. No sparkling on the ocean. The world would be a flat and static place. The difference between plato and what i think is the message contained in this biblical text is that to plato the form is the ideal and the real world is forever running to catch up in creation the diversity and depth. And imperfections that arise when ideas become real are the most beautiful things they are what make life worth living. Creation is never consummated until the idea comes to fruition and lived experience. For the world to be what it is today requires both the first three days and the second three days. We need both for me to creative work i'm thinking artistic creativity business creativity science public policy making child-rearing building and making things. We need both the platonic form that is the repository of meaning and vision and we need the real nitty-gritty expression of it the two will never be the same. And the ladder is messy it changes if aries grows falters once you leave the elemental world of pure thought vision and come crashing into our atmosphere all hell breaks loose things break you get hurt. And oboy the politics of doing stuff in the real world. The ancients knew all about this to apparently. According to rabbinic folklore even god got into some political hot water when starting the real real world on the 4th day the text says that god created two great luminaries the great luminary to rule the day and the lesser luminary to rule the night well in this folktale the moon did not like this one bit. It did not want to be a lesser luminary thank you very much and made its objections loud and clear after much wrangling and negotiating and fighting god try to appease the moon by making the stars as a kind of attendance to add to the moon's lobster. But it didn't work and the moon remained descanso. It's so much easier to stay in the nice safe world of ideas. So much easier to imagine a baby. Round and soft and cuddly and giggling then to actually have a baby. Brown and soft and cuddly and giggling and crying and pooping and throwing up on your clothes and maybe having health problems and staying up all night unable to tell you what's wrong. It's much easier to imagine getting a new job then doing what it takes to actually get one and then adjust to a new culture and a new boss and new kali some of whom are pains in the butt. How much easier to back seat drive then to front seat drive. To tell others what really ought to be done. Then to actually try to do it ourselves. To argue and debate endlessly. Rather than make an imperfect decision and go and get it done. There's an old joke about unitarian universalist that's when we die will arrive at a fork in the road with a sign pointing to heaven and another sign pointing to a discussion about heaven and of course we choose the discussion it's so much easier to talk about something where it stays pure then to really get into it where it gets messy. We can take. A message from this fourth day of creation that the real world. Is the one where we ought to be. So it's tempting to stay in the zone of great ideas and big thoughts for hang back and criticize what others are doing creation is never consummated. Until the idea comes to fruition and lived experience. Take the plunge. Take some chances. Have a blessed patience for your own excuses. You know those dreams about your life that have been percolating for decades try them out. Invite in the messiness and the complexity and the imperfections the ups and the downs the changes and the inconsistencies. Because that's what life on this planet under our son and our moon and our stars is all about. Play-doh with rom. The world is not some cheap street vendor knockoff of the ideal world this world is our home. And it's the realest world there is. And it's beautiful. The text teachers that after creating the luminaries god looked around at everything. And god saw that it was good and it was evening and it was morning a fourth day our final him is this little light of mine number 118 please rise and body or spirit.

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The-Sacred-Feminine-In-Hinduism.m4a

Namaste everyone i'm sunita vishnu not a co-founder of savannah coalition of progressive hindus and deeply honored to be with you all today this is the second time i'm with you the first time with the day after the first women's march and the love and the commitment to justice that i drank in from this congregation on that day is still keeping me going today and i'm so happy to be back this is women's history month i would like to focus today's talk on the sacred feminine in hinduism. The worship of davie. The mother goddess and the urgency of work to bring about the rights of women in our world. And not a priest but an activist for social justice. My talk is based on my own interpretations and understanding as a hindu layperson whose justice activism is deeply connected to hindu teachings. Today is the start of of 9 extremely holy and festive days for hindus. And 9 days of night of atlanta navratri or spring navratri leaving to ron love me the birthday of lord rama these are days when we worship the mother goddess lakshmi saraswati and durga three different manifestations of shakti or cosmic energy. Hindus spend these days praying and reflecting on our inner failings and the evil around us in the world and striving to conquer these demons and devote ourselves to dharma the path of right action the path of truth and justice. In hinduism there is no god without a goddess. No shiva without chef t. Chef pee pee is the female divine the sacred feminine for hindus the divine resides equally and identically in all beings indeed and every aspect of the universe. The divine in hinduism is neither male nor female. But utterly formless and genderless. Understanding of this truth. Equal presence of the divine in all beings is considered the highest wisdom. And it is a prerequisite for attaining that ultimate goal of life. Moksha or liberation. Patricia can be considered the eternal unchanging consciousness in the universe. Integrity can be considered all of creation all of nature ever-changing dynamic. Creative pervasive. Who is the male energy in the universe. The word putter literally means man and productivity. Captivity is a female energy the sacred divine. I see you are that things out open until. The individual soul in all beings. They're not just connected to but they are and that eternal unchanging formulas genderless divine energy or consciousness. Growing up in a hindu family i was not exposed to these lofty philosophical notions of the divine. But rather more intimate understanding. I mean with a child a girl child at that but that was not above me or outside me. God was a part of me inside me. What's more kindest most loving and most just part of me. And like most hindu children i read and heard countless stories of our gods and goddesses. In which of the goddesses were at least as powerful if not more powerful than the gods. As a girl knowing but god was inside me empowered native question injustice whenever i came across it in the home where i was raised untouchable leti with practiced. The woman who cleaned our toilets and the man who cut our hair with ellis solo in the caste system to be outcast. And any contact with that meant we had to bathe to puree to purify ourselves i could not change these practices as a child but i certainly felt empowered to speak up about them. And i certainly am devoting my life in whatever small way i can to making change today. I also spoke up about the practice of segregation of menstruating women i remember asking. Is god is in everyone then why is a woman who is having her. not allowed to go to a temple or even her home altar or even into the kitchen in some homes. And i remember in the temple my parents frequented in london. Watching as a little girl the priest. Pouring buckets of milk over the male deity and just tsp of milk on the goddess by his side and my heart screamed out give the goddess more milk i saw men abusing women in my family. In the movies and on tv ident society all around me. As i grew up i asked. How can a man who put the garland around the goddess and his altar. Then beat and abused the women in his life. How can we worship the mother goddess and except the violence that women suffer. How can we worship pratima mother earth and destroy the earth. How can we say that god is in all beings and then brutalized zealots. And our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. Hindu stories of gods and goddesses vary according to region and community they are discussed and debated told and retold interpreted and reinterpreted we read them as children especially in comics called amar chitra katha and we visit them in movies and tv serials in books and we hear them told and retold in temple discourses and theatrical renditions. My mother. Name for saraswathi the god of wisdom and learning raised me to ask questions about the treatment and agency of female characters in our hindu stories and epics. From the ramayana. What's the oppressed for being banished to the forest by her husband lord rama even though her purity was proven. Or was she empowering because she refused to succumb to her kidnapper robin advances and ultimately chose to return to her mother none other than mother earth. From the mahabharata was broke at the oppressed because she was gambled away by her husband and dragged by her hair and disrobes by those who won her or was she empowered because she spoke up in that brand hall of men and argued that she was nobody's property that they could gamble away festival earlier this month of the victory of good over evil but growing up my mother would ask me every diwali. Is rama all good if he was so unkind to his wife. Is robin. all evil even though he did not lay a finger on ceta because she did not give consent there is really no such thing as pure good and pure evil. The demons being displayed by gods and goddesses in our hindu stories are not monsters of other species but actually the cousins and relatives of the very gods. Our gods are seen in these stories that's falling short short of the ideals of justice and goodness. And our demons are demons to regularly act with compassion and devotion to god every one of us and every being has within us both good and evil and the most crucial battle is of course the one within each of us. Just as there are reform movements within other religious communities. Windsor gardener as small as we are see ourselves as a reform movement in hinduism. We yearn for hinduism that is true to the teaching at a time.. Oneness of us all. Nonviolence. And savor the commitment to selfless service inside the we feel empowered to interpret and sometimes reject stories and scripture to lift up these teachings of justice we are encouraging priests and religious scholars to reimagine traditional hindu practices rituals and ceremonies including wedding death-ray and the initiation or red ceremonies to be with regard to class and gender and two months ago we launched our side which happened right here at first you and thank you for having us here these are the egalitarian and earth honoring worship gatherings of our dreams are alter our monday includes ma durga or mother earth. Represented by a mound of earth. And behold, the goddess that is worshipped by india's lgbtq community. Essential daddy of our altar is a statue a beautiful statue of of the naughty shweta a form of the divine which is half shiva and half cheffy that is half male and half female. Any alter also had a rather krishna. The divine lovers and i should have lingam the lord shiva is most often worshipped as a lingam or male reproductive organ nestled inside a uni which is a female reproductive reproductive organ this is another representation of shiva shakti and all of divine creation we gather each month right at the chapel and create the worship gathering that we that we have been grieving grieving about traditional temple require priests to be mail and brahman our two systems so far have been led by women and the focus has been on the worship of devi or goddess. In the populist keta krishna das if one offers me. With love and devotion aleve. A flower fruit or water i will accept it. And in our system. Salon at the heart is filled with love and devotion. Our prayer in pageants meditations and discussions can be led by anyone regardless of gender sexual orientation past and race. I would like to end with a prayer. Beata means seed. A bija mantra is considered the shortest and perhaps most powerful form of prayer. Bija mantra are made up of one syllable seed found. That when said aloud cause us to resonate with the energy of our own puppy or devotion. Let us pray to moskaitis petty the hindu goddess of wisdom and learning to guide us in our faith rooted work for justice in the world. And give us the wisdom for good judgment and discernment. I'm going to sing the three times and you can join in the second two if you're able stream. Dream dream dream. Our next satin will be on april 10th and all are welcome please especially for the word to hindus you may know we believe that hindus who feel alienated from traditional temple because of age old practices of inequality will find home and community with us. Thank you.

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Our-Least-Favorite-Commandment.m4a

Some reason that i can't quite figure out lynn westmoreland republican congressman from georgia agreed to go on the colbert report and be interviewed. Skip it actively working to get the ten commandments inscribed and all of the public buildings in this country. Kevin mccarthy interview he explained. The ten commandments is not a bad thing for people to understand and do respect. What better place could you have something like that than in a judicial building. Colbert replied. That's an excellent question can you think of any better building to put the ten commandments in that a public building westmoreland said no. Caldera. What are the ten commandments. Westmoreland looks like he'd been hit by a two-by-four. What are. All of them. You want me to name a mall. And you couldn't do it. I almost felt bad for the guy. Obviously for westmoreland the ten commandments is primarily a cultural icons and i think it is because that's the way that he said it's the ten commandments is not a bad thing for people to understand collectively they are one thing to him and the cultural meaning of bad thing far outweighs its content. He wants the ten commandments in public buildings because that would help legitimate the values of his culture which are not necessarily identical with those of the ten commandments. If the content were what mattered he would know what the content is. The poor poor ten commandments they are used and abused in so many ways for so many different agendas. Like the bible itself they are mainly a rorschach test at this point staying more about their viewers than about their own content. You have conservative christians like westmoreland who want to use them as a banner of so-called traditionalism to march under. You have orthodox jews who try to take them so literally that's through a long chain of legalistic reasoning you end up with elevators and hospitals that stopped on every single floor so that nobody has to push a button. On shabbat. And you have unitarian universalist and atheist to make jokes and riley demote them to the 10 suggestions. There are jokes galore about the ten commandments wonder freud's most famous observations is that. People joke about whatever is most important to them. To try to reduce the tension created by that important. There's a lot of tension. Around the ten commandments mainly not because of what they actually say but because of what they mean. We live not buy thing. But by the meaning. For many of us modern liberal type. Batman oppression. Misogyny. And tribalism. They smell. Musty and old. Frankie an inflexible. Some of them make sense to us. Some of them seem arbitrary. But to the extent that we engage with them at all. We evaluate them. From a supposedly objective vantage point. That some people call the sovereign cell. We reject the idea that their original contact with land of divine revelation. We reject their authority. And frankly we just like commandments in general. We especially disliked the first one. You shall have no other gods besides me. We dislike it because we think it represents let's many of us. Think of it as the worth of religion the tribal inciting about whose god is better than who's. The narrow-minded even bigoted notion that there's only one path truth and i know what it is. And anthropomorphize insecure god who needs constant reassurance of human loyalty many of us trade the direct line from that kind of thinking to all of the religious war throughout history and to terrorism today and there's some truth to this right for most of the people alive at the time this commandment was formulated it may have meant exactly what it seems to me. They had their tribal tribal god and that god was better than the other guys and so they were going to worship him and only him and i pay him on purpose. The first commandment is primitive. It's dangerous and it seems to have no place in the modern world. But in my studies in biblical interpretation i remember being. Blown away by a passage that i read from doctor eliezer diamond. I know that new york professor. He offers a beautiful alternative for how modern can engage with ancient scripture. Is it past that she specifically talking about how steminist can interact with tax that is so blatantly misogynist. But the same principle could apply to any modern liberal to attempted to write the bible off entirely. Here is doctor diamonds quote and he was heady language so i'm going to paraphrase it afterwards. The wholesale rejection. Of the corpus of biblical writings as irredeemably misogynist. Is it isn't over-simplification. The cut women off. From the transgenerational conversation. That has been created and sustained the thousands of years. I would argue that's for women. And for contemporary people in general. The study of the bible should include observing another biblical commandments. To redeem those held in captivity against their will. Indeed by redeeming those passages and teachings that are held captive by maranatha vision. And by understanding that narrowness to be a function of the time and place in which they were formulated. We can breathe new life into text that may seem dead to us. Three's basically saying that the the beautiful truly inspired spiritual wisdom in the bible is being held captive. By the constraints of the time and place of its author. It's buried underneath a pile of junk. And it's our job to redeem it to excavated to set it free and give it new life. Because it has wonderful thing. The teacher. I believe passionately in that project. I believe it adding our voices to that transgenerational conversation. Rather than completely rejecting the traditions that gave rise to our own we can work somewhere between surgery and channeling. Separating out what is truly inspired. From what is just a product of a painful historical moments. And we should be very careful with what we consigned to the trash bin of history. Because of core. We too are held captive by the constraints of our time and play. We are not omniscient. We know more than the ancients in some ways. But we have to remain open to the possibility. The bay no more than we do and other. So with this in mind. Come with me on this journey. This is the first of a monthly sermon series i'll be doing on the ten commandments. Trying to separate out with oppressive and free the captive beauty and power of their mess. Over the course of the year are lay worship leaders will also be offering homilies on the commandments that they choose. I invite you to join this conversation. Talk with each other talk with me. Email me write down your thoughts. Maybe we'll put a book together for a portion of our website with all our reflection. I think it could be a very powerful thing for religious liberals to engage with these ancient principles in a serious way. So today let's look at that first one. How can we. Set free what is being held captive in that first commandment our least favorite one. First let me read it i think they want to know who the speaker is. Who exactly is the me in the statement you shall have no other god besides me. This is actually answered in the sentence the comes right before it and it's kind of a preamble to the ten commandments it says. I am the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt. The house of bondage. You shall have no other god besides me the word lord and that sentence is really great because that's actually not what it says that all lord is just a placeholder for the name of god that's actually written they're spelled yhwh. This is considered the most sacred name of god. But it's not actually a name. It's a form of the verb to be. Like i am becoming. Or simply i am. It's a word that signifies the ground of being itself. You're never supposed to try to pronounce that word because pronouncing it would limited. Make a spy knife. It's the biggest word in the world. So when you plug that concept into the commandments. It's not a small tribal god at all. It's saying you shall have no other gods besides that which is. Existence itself. Is your god. And it gets even more interesting. Listen again how does god is described. It could have been described as the god who made the world or who judges humans or who made the sunrise. But no. Of all the way this could have been described it was described as. The god who brought you out of the land of egypt. The house of bondage. The one thing they want us to know about this god is that it's the god of liberation. The power of liberation itself. It's not just existed as a static fact but existence is something that expanding and pushing all of us to expand beyond our places of constriction. Get that which brings us. Slavery to freedom. Suffering joy from injustice 2 justice. You shall have no other gods besides that. Do mcdonald's like a unitarian universalist concept when you put it that way. We might have a lot of things that we value but if we worship anything in this world it's a power of liberation. Liberation from poverty. Liberation from addiction. Liberation from modern day slavery. Liberation from racism and homophobia. At all forms of oppression. Liberation from all that hold us back from realizing our highest cell. And yet we know that the temptation to have other gods. It's so easy to worship other things in this world or to lose hope. It's so easy to fear that the universe is indifferent to our struggles for justice. The people of the ancient world must have shared the sphere. Attack people in every era. It's so hard to say clear on exactly what one guiding principles are and to believe in their power. Like. Lynn westmoreland. We sometimes have trouble even remembering them. So what are take away from this first commandment. The universe is not static it's always evolving toward freedom and redemption. I want you to adjust your dial and clear away all of those staticky voices telling you that when you struggle for liberation your own or on behalf of others when you struggle for liberation that you're alone. See if you can tune into the awareness. Of a tailwind behind you rather than a headwind. If my take on the message of this first commandment is even partially true. When we do the work of liberation and justice-seeking we are bringing some serious backup. We are aligned with the essential energy of the universe. And if there are any other gods. Lurking around. They better get the hell out of our way. Our final ham is number 1046 and your keel hymnal shall we gather at the river.

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Reproductive-Justice-030214.m4a

I am a reproductive justice advocate because i am a deeply religious unitarian universalist. So frequently religiosity and abortion-rights are spoken of as incompatible. But for me religion and access to reproductive healthcare are intrinsically linked. My faith teaches me just drive to create community that honors the inherent worth and dignity of each of its members. My faith teaches me to recognize our mutual obligation to support each other as we develop and follow our conscience. And my faith teaches me to make the act of personal decision-making sacred. While honoring the individual truths and lived experiences of others. But above all my face peaches me to believe that divine love manifest in our pursuit of justice. Equity and compassion in human relations. I do not speak about reproductive rights but more specifically about the pursuit of reproductive justice. The right to have children not have children and a parent the children we have and safe and healthy environments. The reproductive rights movement of the 1960s and 70s thought to ensuring a woman's legal right to make decisions about her body. Reproductive justice honors the lessons learned from earlier struggles. And takes the next step to engage in a critical dialogue about how women's power is still constrained. Greatly by institutionalized systems of race. The economics and culture. So you can think about this movement as a shift. From sorry i didn't think about this movement shift in terms of fairness not just rights but the live experience of actually using those right. Reproductive justice advocates assert that our government has an obligation to support women to make real decisions about their rep reproductive lives by ensuring safe. Affordable and accessible healthcare. Coalitions of women of color are primarily responsible for developing this frame of reproductive justice. In the 1990s coalitions of women of color began to advocate for an intersection all approach to empowerment in the arena of reproductive health. An intersectional approach is one that does not define the individual by only one part of their identity. But accept the identity as molded at the juncture of one's race gender sexuality class. Etc. The entirety of one's lived experience. N2005 asian communities for reproductive justice defined reproductive justice as the complete physical mental spiritual political social and economic well-being of women and girls based on the full achievement and protection of women's human rights. Reproductive justice also honors the broad spectrum of decisions that women make on a regular basis. The priorities we set about our career and our home the ways we care for our physical and mental health. How we express our sexuality the partner or partners we choose to love. Are factors of mothering. However this intersectional approach is not only about the individual. It is about connecting abortion rights to the many other issues that are intrinsically linked to access the safe and affordable reproductive healthcare. Economic environmental and immigration justice to name but a few. Sistersong an integral coalition in this work explains that reproductive justice. Analyzes how the ability of any woman to determine her own reproductive destiny is linked directly the conditions in her community. Reproductive justice move beyond demand for privacy and respect for individual decision-making. Include the social support necessary for our individual decisions be optimally realized. The united states one in every three women will have an abortion in her lifetime. For some the decision is complex or sorrowful welfare others the choice is simple or even empowering. As unitarian universalist i believe that we can play a prophetic role in the fight against reproductive oppression by embracing women's decisions and promoting the idea that all people are community and communities have value. Unitarian universalism is a religion of pluralism liberation and love. The believe that each person is sacred. In particular universalism is a theology that promotes the idea that we are all blessed in fact save. Because we create salvation here on earth. I believe that when we pursue access to reproductive health care we are facilitating access to sacred space. When we advocate for reproductive justice as people of deep-space. We strive to create a world in which a woman can freely set the course of her own life. A world in which. Teammates are met with compassion and lift it up as holy. Today i'm going to tell you an astounding story. An amazing story. A liberating story a story. About justice. A story about someone who like yourselves. Was asked to give too much. Someone who like yourselves was weary. Someone who's back when someone whose mind world someone who felt. Forsaken. She is a woman a woman whose name we will never know. And the amazing thing that i'm going to tell you today is that she refused to be degraded and stood up for herself against the mighty tower. She is a widow out for the day doing her work. She is gathering sticks by the well on a boiling hot day. She is bending down and picking up a stick straightening it and placing it in her apron and bending down again. Hermes 8. Her ankles crunch. Connect poles. Her knuckles are raw and chapped cracked from the dryness of the deadliest desert sand. She can feel her heartbeat in her stomach. Can you see her. Can you see her face. She is a tired woman. Ben warren callis. Dirty she is at the end of her rope hanging on by a thread. Can you see her. Have you seen her. Does she ride the bus with you. Is she you. She is a widow who is making her way without a partner raising a child by herself eating what there is. Have you seen her. So she was out gathering sticks on what might be the last day of her life. Little does she know there is a man named elijah who was going to approach her on this day. Elijah has come from faraway commanded by god to leave his land and go to zarephath where this widow woman lives. Before he left on this god-ordained a journey elijah was told that there was a plan to keep him safe. And little bit higher widow-woman no plan as well. Oh yes god has told elijah there when you get there if a key will see a widow woman gathering sticks by the well and it has been decreed that when elijah asked her for water she will fetch him some water and when elijah asked her for food she will fetch him some food. Can you see her she is climbing her cracked and brittle fingertips around a small twig and she hears from across the square bring me some water. Can you see her realizing that this is a man she has never seen before calling her out of her work. But she is expected so she knows she's dropped her bundle she finds her. she walks to the well filled up the cup in before she can even get the water to him he says. Bring me some food. You see there is no food. You see there is no water. It is a drought that is killing her. It is this drought that has caused her husband to die. The drought that is causing her to starve the drought that is killing her and her only child. And can you imagine the hatred turning in her belly when she sees that this man is an israelite. Because it is the israelite god that has caused the drought to win a war against a god. The rain god make a point about who is most powerful. If we look back the words in the passage these other words she says. As early as your god lives i don't have any bread only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug i am gathering a few sticks to take home to make a meal for myself and my son that we may eat it. And i. If we stepped back and look at the first and last phrases in this passage we see that they are booking to her message. We see that she is essentially saying as your god lives. I am dying. You see the israelite god won the war against her god the rain god and is now in charge. But keeps this drought going. These gods were interested in being the god. Interested in having the most power. Regardless how they got it lives were ending. Do you know anything about that. Do you know anything about egret egotistical battles for power that are causing people's very lives again. Yes. Can you imagine a world where people in power they will never affect them. Do you know about the music for the vulnerable the people of color the women as pawns yes you do. I know you do. Because this is where we are because we live in a world away where texas is going to have only five women's healthcare clinics in it. We live in a world where some people are protected and some people wearing some people get healthcare in the sunday people don't. People get sex education world for two people. Haley female. Might have a baby in our world it is, that neither of them have the resources to raise the baby. I never happened. So what options do they have. Well the mail person. Just leave. That's biological privilege of someone whose body doesn't stand in the way of their emotional safety their financial safety for psychological safety. Looking for athletic & physical reality. Option to put myself first very different for male and female body and the fact that women are not supported in late is running. And what happens if the female person into account all the factors physical emotional spiritual social and decides to terminate her pregnancy. Biologically both male and female people are in this. But who is the one who is barred by mail center legislation for making a decision for their lives. Where can i buy turning away and who has to put himself in jail who had invasive medical procedures of adrenaline and echoing in their bodies as they move through people. Who has to take 2 days off work and being strange places and they wait out the 24 hours that the state insists they need to contemplate the decision they've already thought about it over and over again. The female alone may teri only option is to panda. When god told elijah that are widow would bring him water she brought him water. When god told elijah that she would she said over my dead body. Literally she said i would rather die than do the bidding of your unjust god on holy ground no matter what that god says. Because she knows that what she is saying is real. She said hold on pump the brakes because i am weary. I am riding the greyhound bus across the state before dawn on the way to one of the few women's healthcare clinic i am alone with strangers in the dark anxious about where i will stay tonight. I'm sure if i will still have a job. When i return. I am weary. I am. Unable to get healthcare at all perhaps resorting even more dangerous measure to put myself first. No. This is not happening it is our work as unitarian universalist and name the cycles of destruction that are happening around us and feeling to our world it is out of a need for the stacy about children. Of our neighbors and ourselves. But we are not going to let our rights be taken away. We can speak our troops to. We can stand up and say this way of living where the poor and the women are the first to go is killing us. We are all dying if we are not all safe and when they say this we will be standing on holy ground. He will say that we serious injustice in our streets. And in ourselves we will stand up. And when we do stand-up something beautiful will happen. When the widow stood up when she raised herself up and spoke defiance and refusal. God heard. God heard her say that she was dying because god system was killing her in god's mind was changed. The entire package hibbets. On her refusal. This passage. Is about a nameless dying woman changing the mind of god by saying her truth as raw and ugly as it was. This is about the lowest tourist most vulnerable of us all speaking the truth that brings out so clear across the sky but even god recognized. She was shifting fully ground. Let me tell you what you think you got something so real over there i have something so real so pure that our entire concept of holy will morph into something that cares for people rather than putting them down so let's stay in on our end. Let's name this ground as woolly and sand on it. Let's look at ourselves and see that we are who we are. If you feel the call to stand up today let's do it together. Will be in the frances-white room after the service. Abortion clinics where you could write about how you plan to do it together because when we do stand-up there will be something to celebrate. Not only that are widowed women stand up and change the mind of god. She was rewarded. Because she stood up her jar of meal did not run out for jug of oil did not run drive because she stood up. And when we stand up for justice. We will be rewarded. Do not be weary. Because when we stand for justice we will all benefit from the bounty of healthy women in armpit. Things will be good again can you taste it. When we do stand up we will be closer to the divine light. Closer to my trulicity earnings tasting the fruits of a more beautiful and bountiful world. And it is possible it is possible there is hope. That which is broken will not remain broken. If we stand up. That was his hurt will be healed. If we stand up. Mine can be changed. If we stand up. And we will once again. Be surrounded by people who want so badly band with us. To hold our hand and ride it together warm. And then we will know that we are standing on holy ground. And we will once again be on fire with the blaze of our closeness to that which is most.

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The-Permanence-Of-Injustice.m4a

I was furious. It was a friday night about a month ago i broke a date night rule and fiddled with my phone on the way to the restroom. And i scrolled through the news. And i was horrified by what i brought. Travelers. Refugees even green card holders. From seven predominantly muslim countries were immediately ban. From entering the country. It seems like our worst fears echoes of the turning away of holocaust refugees. Of japanese internment we're coming through. And so i stomped back to our table and tried to make nice conversation over romantic there i was a terrible date that night if waste that is what i have been told i felt angry and helpless. These were familiar feelings. I've been feeling them pretty much since election night when i told my wife that i thought i should quit my job now that me not sound like much of a big deal but for me it really was i had dreamed of being a civil rights lawyer since i was a teenager and that's what i am today i direct the aclu voting rights project which means i supervise our organization's work on voting rights around the country. We are not trying to help one party over another we just believe. That human dignity and our democracy. Are best served when everyone can participate. Between 2012 and 2016 elections we 115 cases in 12 states protecting the voting rights of more than 5 million people. But despite all of our work is down in 2016. We might have them done some of the worst voting restrictions in the country but it. Turns out that whether people actually turn out. It's not something that we can control. Taking off my acl you have for a minute and just speaking personally. I was angry. At people who didn't show up to vote at family members who voted for a candidate who normally normalize the demonization of people on the basis of their religion and national origin. And mostly at myself for not doing more of the day after the election i stepped into a packed elevator at work. Mostly full of paralegals and legal assistance. And a colleague from are lgbtq rights project put her arm around me and said thank you for everything that you did. And i broke down and started to cry. And i pulled myself together i said thank you and when i stepped off the elevator i turned around and i saw. Mother's 20-somethings wiping tears away from their eyes and i thought to myself i left them i failed and i thought maybe it was just time to hang it up. Blake civil rights lawyer and nyu law professor derek bell wrote provocatively 25 years ago. That racism is an integral permanent and indestructible component of this society. That's pretty radical i'm pretty pessimistic but. Oppression and systematic injustice along racial lines. Have always been a part of our history eve since even before we were a nation. It's always been one step forward one step back. The games of emancipation. And reconstruction were wiped away by redemption and a century of jim crow. Civil rights movement was followed by the error of mass incarceration. And why. Would we think we. Are any more enlightened. Then previous generations. That's all you all know. The day after the travel ban was announced something incredible happened protests erupted at airports around the country and i want to be clear that i had absolutely nothing to do with what i'm about to describe what my colleagues from the aclu immigrants rights project. Working with people from many other organization. Including the international refugee assistance project who shared our offer according last month they got together and they filed an emergency lawsuit to block the deportation of anyone subject to the band that was inspired but i still felt helpless. I'm not an immigrants rights lawyer i don't know anything about immigration i thought what can i do. And i was having not just a crisis of confidence in myself. But really a crisis of faith. The sixth principle of unitarian universalism is. The goal of world community with peace. Liberty and justice for all. And i wondered. Can i be much of a unitarian when i harbor serious doubts about whether or not. Such a world is even possible. In argument that racism is a permanent feature of american life. Derek bell himself did not despair. Instead. He argued that if we clearly apprehend the world as it is. We can experience a profound sense of freedom. And alicia about our purpose in life which is in his world. 2. Recognize evil. Insight. The after that lawsuit was filed i received an email alert that would there would be an emergency hearing at that night at the federal courthouse just a few blocks from here at kevin plaza and i rushed over there already hundreds of people there and there was only limited seating in the pork. And i ended up being one of the last people not to get him. So why sit outside with the crowd. And i was cold. But. I wasn't in the dark. Knowing this courthouse. Most people including members of the media have to surrender their phones when they go in but lawyers. Ourlads keep them. And so i was following updates from the legal team inside. And when i got the news.. Adjudge. Rule against the ban. For a few seconds i was one of the only people in the world. To know what just happened. I sort of didn't know what to do with that i turned around and looked at the crowd and i just raised a fist in the air and i shouted that the court had blocked all deportations not just in new york but around the country. And. A huge roar came up from the crowd and in that moment the anger and the despair that i was feeling fell away and gave way to afford it. And yet. Euphoria face the world that we live in is still the same world maybe just a little bit. Less unjust. But in some sense expecting a permanent end to injustice. Amounts to rejection of our world. With all of its imperfections and its fundamental in perfectibility. In something hopes of some sort of unobtainable utopia and that is really just i think. Prayer for a never-ending afterlife. If antithesis of embracing life which is continual. Constant change and not always in a positive direction the anger that i felt that night still with it bubbles up more frequently than i would like and in ways that i. Can't always control or channel positively franklin. And it'll be with me for a long time maybe four years maybe eight probably i'll be angry to some extent for my entire life. My colleagues in that courtroom that night didn't put an end to the travel.ban. That sounds like we're getting a new one tomorrow. But they did put a temporary pole. On deportations seneca falls did not end sexism selma. Did not end racism stonewall did not end homophobia or trans tobia. But the men and women of those resistance movements did not despair despite facing far worse. Odds than we do. They found meaning in their slide and if they did not give up then i know i have no excuse for. What i've been trying to tell myself. Is. We are not called merely to fight one on just executive order one law or what administration. We are called to play our small parts in a long. Relentless. Beautiful struggle. One that has been going on long since before our grandparents were born. And will go on. After we are children. And our grandchildren. 4:30.

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If-Climate-Change-Is-A-Hoax-And-We-Build-A-Better-World-For-Nothing.m4a

Joel a one-step skewer cartoonist. Score usa today became famous after one particular cartoon of his became a sensation. It was published right before the 2009 climate summit in copenhagen. And it shows a presentation taking place at the conference. The guy on stage 2 showing a powerpoint slide with a list of benefits of fighting climate change. Energy independence preserve rainforest sustainability green job livable cities renewables clean water and are healthy children etc all bullet pointed on the screen. Alamosa guy in the audience standing and asking a question. Border pacific hoax that we create a better world for nothing. What's cartoon fred like wildfire. The cartoonist has this to say about it. I've had requests from all corners of the globe for signed copies. Permission to reprint it and publications posted on blogs even brought blow it up on to protest sign. Not a week has gone by that i haven't had a request for some kind of reuse. Recently i heard from a canadian bloggers who remark but someone and his town had a replica get this painted on their garage. Somehow it seems like the highest compliment i've ever received. Humor with staying power like this is humor that points to a deep truth that we all recognize. In this case it's the truth that the things that we would need to do to stop global warming. But also the very things that we would need to do to transform our world into the kind of world we yearn for in so many ways. B berry nature. Climate change is not something that can be siloed or surgically separated from everything else. What causes what causes global warming is not just one policy. Or practice that needs a tweak. But a spiritual sickness. That provides every aspect of our lives together. And by the same token. To heal our. Would take a healing. So deep. And so wide that it would touch each and everyone of us. For decades if not centuries. Our movements progressive and religious movements have been working toward a world where we care for one another. Where everyone has enough to eat. Where everyone gets healthcare. For everyone has a safe place to call home. Where the air and water are clean and the soil is free of toxins. Where everyone is paid a living wage. Where people are no longer rent. Based on their gender race. Class or sexual orientation. Your cruelty to humans and other animals become an artifact of the past. Where violence and war are washed from the face of the earth. For the most part these struggles have been understood as. Issues. That while interconnected were basically separate battles. These battles are still ongoing and still have to happen and still have to succeed. Climate change doesn't diminish the necessity for us to do any of this work. But today we also need to think bigger. We have to change our culture. At its root. We have to create a world. In which we don't see. Other humans or the earth. As resources. For our use and disposal. What are reducible miracle. We were always going to have to make this fundamental change eventually. But in the words of author and activist naomi klein climate change puts us on a deadline. As la described so frightened emily and her homily. Time is running out. For us to be able to send a message of love. To the future. We're going to have to change. Everything. We're going to have to change not just our property laws but the things that we value. And by things i mean things. We're going to have to start valuing people and time. Over things and money. We're going to have to change not just our environmental regulations but are very relationship to the earth. From one of domination and extraction. Towanda.. And stewardship. We're going to have to change not just our economic policies. But our entire economy such the corporations are accountable to everyone impacted by their business. To their employees. Their customers. The people who live where they extract their nashville materials and dispose of their waste. We're going to have to get not just campaign finance reform but once and for all money out of politics. The same ethic that allows corporate oil and gas executives. To fill the halls of the epa. Also allows the nra to buy politicians and prevent any real action on gun control. Until we have for black and brown kids choking on air pollution oil drilling on indigenous lands and schools becoming sites. For bloodshed and terror. It's all the same. A calculation has been made. That certain people's lives with certain colored skin in certain places and certain kinds of countries are not worth much compared to corporate profits. We're going to have to change that calculation. We're going to have to buy. Not just. Difference. Breeder stuff. But a lot less stuff. Every single thing that we buy every piece of energy that we use was taken at some point from the land or the air or the ocean. The earth can't regenerate anywhere near as fast as we are taking from her. We're going to have to shift our work into caring professions. Teaching. Social worker. And servants of all time. Academic. A tart. We're going to have to imagine outlandish possibilities. Maybe the most. Faithful thing that we could do with this particular piece of land that we're sitting on right now. What do you disassemble this building. Turn it into a community garden for people who need food in the community. Or a tiny patch of woods with. Carbon capture and trees and a resting spot for migrating birds and butterflies. I don't say this to give anyone a heart attack as there are no plans to do this anytime soon as far as i know. But just to make the point that we are going to have to thank a really far out of the box and be prepared to make radical change in ways that we would have thought would be unthinkable. The idea. Have this kind of profound. Heart level. Values focus transformation is terrifying. To those in power right now. They do everything possible. Just a.. To label it as naive utopianism impossible unrealistic disastrous. The new york times columnist bret stephens complains that it's. Quasar religious. As if that's a bad thing. It's not because people like him fear that if it actually happened this scaling down to a simpler life would make us all miserable. It's because they fear we might like it. We might like it. A lot. The transformation is more than quasi-religious it is absolutely religious and entirely spiritual. It's about rethink realising our relationships. It's about decommodify on the other. It's about reclaiming humility. And admitting our other dependents on our mother the earth. Given a chance. We might just like this. We might find that we like unplugging from our screens a little bit and rediscovering our live friends and children and parents and strangers on the subway. We might like getting dirt under our nails and growing food and sharing food. We might actually like. Giving up some creature comforts and conveniences when we find that when we're not outsourcing our lives two screens and machines we're actually living then. We will definitely like having clean air and clean water. We would like knowing that our lifestyle. No longer come at the expense of the lives of poor people around the world. We don't like knowing that we are protecting wild animals and all of their diverse magnificence from extinction. We will like living in a country. Where racism and sexual violence aren't killing our children while our leaders stand around and do nothing. We will like reorienting around time with our families and building strong communities. We would like feeling healthier with our delectable plant-based diet. And we will like our carbon-neutral play. Walking. Talking. Running. Reading. Playing music. Making art. And making love. We may even like having less stuff. Manhattan glass. Means having more of what matters. And if it turns out long in the future. But the climate-change deniers were right. But all alone climate change was a big hoax. Perpetuated by china or just another stunt of the liberal fake news media and the polar ice caps were perfectly fine. Ben. Oh well. We build a better world. For nothing. Please rise in body or spirit.

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Flow.m4a

Who here likes mosquitoes. Anybody. I don't either. If there's any mosquito within a mile and will find me and bite me. You do you like mosquitoes. Most people don't know anything about them. In fact right now in florida and sarkodie pro people really really want to get rid of mosquitoes because they're carrying a very dangerous disease. But nobody quite knows what to do about it. Put on a little island in maine called cranberry island. About 100 years ago. People there figured out how to get rid of their mosquitoes. Cranberry island is called cranberry island because it has a lot of cranberries on it. Cranberries grow in bogs. Cranberry bog. The bog is like a small. A mosquitoes love to lay their eggs in swamps. So it used to be the cranberry island had lots of cranberries and lots of mosquitoes. And people were getting really fed up with it. Mosquito part at least. Reporter in 1928 road they have become so prolific that to venture from one's house after dark was a sure means of returning covered with lumps. So one day along came and ex-army major named edwin and skinner. Who told them. For $12,000 i will solve your mosquito problem. The people said you're hired. So major skinner. Proceeded to empty all the water out of the cranberry bog. Now unfortunately cranberry bogs don't come with a built-in drain at the bottom like a bathtub where you can just. Flipper lever and let all the water out. Major skinner has a dig hundreds of ditches. Using a machine. But he had invented himself. But they say. Cut through roots and turf with the precision of a razor blade swiping through a sheet of paper. Once these dishes were jumping out of the water from the cranberry bog with run out to the sea. The reporter wrote that he once watched. Literally thousands of mosquito larvae and querida miniatures park. Ouch the broad sweep of the atlantic ocean. Had to work. No more mosquitoes. No more cranberry but no more mosquitoes. Meanwhile the fishing industry was booming. Generations of lobster madame grabbing and cheyenne trawlers catching todd and millions of kinds of fish every year. People made a lot of money over the last hundred years they're catching and selling all those fish and lobsters. My family and i not knowing any of this history rented a house on cranberry island for a week the summer. We took the ferry over and we noticed all of the buoys showing where the lobster traps were all over the water. We arrived at the dock and got into the car that the homes owners had left for us with the key in it because the island is so small but even if somebody had wanted to steal a car there be nowhere to hide it and nowhere to drive it. With beautiful there. Ocean. Sky. Free beaches. One with big waves crashing against the rocks. When the small waves and one with no waves at all. There was only one road on the island. One general store. One of the cafe that was open just a few hours a day. And best of all there was almost no cell reception on the island it was paradise. We went to bed that first night and it was a little chilly but we decided to open the windows. Expected that when we open the windows all of the night sounds would 4 m. But there was silence. Complete. Silence. No crickets. Do cicadas. No single. Violets. What kind of strange. We looked out the window and after watching for a few minutes. We saw a firefly. A single long. Firefly. I usually when there's one firefly there's a whole field sparkling with. Hundreds thousands of them. Little strange. We didn't think much about it we went to sleep. Next morning events the beach and my kids and i went off to look for tide pools. I've been telling them about all the amazing creatures that we might be able to see there. Starfish and sea anemones crabs and iridescent seaweed. But we look. And look. I love someone title after another. Occasionally a few small snail periwinkles. But not much else. And then we saw a seagull soaring overhead. I realized it was the first one. The first one that we have seen. Usually that means so many of them making a racket and diving physicians crabs. And then we started to hear story. About how hard it was to make a living as a lobsterman now. Not actually because there were too few lobsters. Because there were too many. Anna prices dropping. It's hardly worth it to go out in the lobster golden hall in the trap. Why the lobster baby boom. People thought it was because the fishing ships have caught too many cod fish. And the pod are the lobsters name predators. Now i know it seems weird to think about a fish eating a lobster but they eat them when they're really small before they're too crunchy. It was still beautiful. Are we still loved being there. But i started to feel kind of sad too. The cycles of life were all messed up. On this island. The beach with empty. Anna fields for empty. There's almost nothing alive there. There was still good. But very few animals and very few bog. And no ocean life that we could see. And of course no cranberries seether. It all had to do with water. Mother earth and her wisdom. Has created such. A beautiful delicate balance for all of nature. Where everyone plays a part. A cranberry bog is like a cradle. Purple system of life. Nachos for cranberries and mosquitoes but for everything that eats the mosquitoes and everything that eats the things that eats the mosquitoes. Anaplan. And the mud. The fireflies. And the fish in the sea. I know they good for us to eat. And it's their job to eat them. And if they can't do their job because we've caught too many of them but everything gets out of whack. And pretty soon they're just lobsters and not much else in the ocean. Mp juice. We find out that it really is a necklace. Every fish matter. Every drop of water. Matter. You can't ever. Just change one thing. Like get rid of mosquitoes. Without changing. Everything. Please rise in body or spirit for i next hymn number 21 for the beauty of the earth. You can't ever just change one thing. Without changing everything. And that goes for people to i can't do anything without it affecting you and you can't do anything without it affecting me. Everyaction ripples out. Clothes everywhere just like water. Just like in the story than meegan told it's all one big cycle. We like to talk about the atlantic ocean and the pacific ocean in the cranberry bog in the nile river and me. Icebergs in antarctica but it's really all ultimately the same water. Nh-1. Even though we might sometimes feel like we're just our own separate littleton. We are actually made up of little drops from every place and time. Think of. The millions of things that have come together into making you temporarily. Who you are today. Think of all the people who have loved you. At all the people who have been mean to you. Think of your teachers. Teachers in school. And the wisdom teachers from all parts of your life. Pick up the food that you eat from all different countries. Both the styles of food and also the actual fruits and vegetables and animal products from places far away that are shipped here to new york city. The lions of those farmers. Have something to do with your life. Think of all of the experiences you had. The joyful time sad times the boring times. The time for unfair things have happened to you. Sometimes when you've been unfair. Thanks and the language that you speak. It's grown out of languages from all over the world. Separating and coming together and changing for thousand thousands of years and then coming out of your mouth and your own way everyday. And think about time. When you've been able. Maybe just for a moment. Able to feel. All of it at once. Like your dissolved in the ocean of the universe itself. Some people call back is feeling the job. We come here today. All overflowing. Dreaming with all of these people and all of these places and all of these moments it's a miracle that any one person can hold so much stuff. But we do. The truth in the whole world with us when we walk through these doors. And when we come together like this and community. Ourworld. This bringing together of our separate worlds. Is the unitarian universalist. Something like a sacrament. Very beautiful ritual that we do here at first you every year to mark this coming together of our community. Women holy water. It's water that sparkles with the energy of a little bit of each of us. A little bit of each of our story. We have some water with us if you don't you can easily get one from and after. Each of these bottles. The water already has the whole world in it. Just like a. We're going to saturate water with our blessing. And then we're going to pour some of it into one of the two. Faces and r2 side aisle chapel or they're stopped in small font right down here. This is an original one from 1853. The water the results. Heart saltwater park freshwater some chlorine lots of little microorganisms. Molecules from new york and molecules from far away. Adams from the age of the dinosaurs. This water. Protect the diversity of all of us. Combines it will be something new. And this water we will call holy. What are we going to do with this holy water. Loafers for going to boil it. It won't be any less holy just a little more sanitary. I bet no use this water to blast people. Baby dedication ceremonies here at first view. Memory touch that water to a baby's head it will transmit the blessing from each of us in this room. Animal bird gathering is ill or dying if they would like they can also be touched with this water and receive our blessing. Buddhist holy water each of us will be able to lovingly give a little bit of ourselves. Will be able to stay here here's a little bit of me that can become a little bit of you. Here's a little bit of my love but i am sharing. With you. Here's the coolest part to see that picture of water that. Next to the flowers. That's a holy water from last year. And at the end of this year. We're going to save a little bit of today is holy water and we're going to pour all of that into the mix together. So each year when food molecules from each of the previous years. I never do this for the next hundred years or so. Molecules from your water. However diluted will still be there. Taking part in making the blessing. Babies born to people not yet born go to receive your blessing. Elderly people in the final days of life on this earth. Will receive your blessing. You may even receive your own black man someday. So now i invite you lift up your containers of water. And if you just want a family you can always just touch it together lift up your water and plastic. Fill it with your best friend and your best vision for our world fill it with your units and everything that has come together to make you view. And then when you're ready you can stand up and come up to the front and let it go.

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And-I-Will-Dwell-Among-Them.m4a

They call brooklyn the city of churches. From certain higher places you can look at and see people stretching to the horizon first unitarian has been part of that landscape for 175 years now. For 175 years this building has been a landmark. 4 people. Who walked by millions of people. Flying under solid presence. On the corner of these particular two streets. For 175 years people have passed in and out of these. Doris coming to pray to sing. To cry. To attend meeting. To argue. To fall in love to get married to thank god to yell at god to not believe in god. 175 years at least in this country is a really long time. None of us and none of our parents. And none of our grandparents. And none of our great-grandparents were alive when this building was felt and yet by virtue of being part of this congregation and worshiping in this space. We have a thread of connection to those who built it. And they in turn had a connection to all those before who had built. Sacred spaces. Stretching all the way back to the time of the israelites building a tabernacle in the desert. In the book of exodus the instructions to build tabernacle came after an epic fail on the part of the israelites. The golden calf incident. God had just introduced god's help to the people in the most abstract mystical unfathomable way possible. As pure being itself. And have been given ten commandments or concepts for how to hold onto that expansive sense of god and not try to nail it down or limited or control it. Don't use the name of god for small minded purposes. Don't put other smaller gods before god. Don't stop an image and then bow down to it and worship it. But no sooner did moses go up the mountain to receive the hard copy of these instructions then the people did exactly that they melt it down there gold jewelry made a golden calf. And worship dead. Moses was so pissed off he smashed the original two tablets. But god had compassion. For these limited human creatures who couldn't seem to grasp a limitless god. Like babies we humans sometimes need a transitional object. And so god said to moses okay here's what we're going to do. Tell the people to build a house for me. Sure with fabulous gold and royal draperies go ahead tell them it's got to have blue and purple and scarlet and linen and goats hair and rams skin dive red and dolphin skins how the israelites in the desert we're supposed to get dolphin skins i don't know make it complex inside with concentric layers and inner chambers. Now you know what i know. But i don't really need a house. But they seem to really need a place to go. To connect with me. And tell them to perform the sacrifices and burn incense and say specific prayers. You know what i know but i don't really need the stuff but they seem to really need something to do. To connect with me. Enemy innermost chamber where the tablets of the ten commandments should be kept tell them to place to cherubim like angels facing each other. Tell them that i will be in the space between these two cherubim. You know that i know that i'm everywhere but at least this way if i'm in the negative space between two things. They might not be so tempted to reduce me. To a thing. God says vishal make me a holy place and i will dwell among them. They shall make me a holy place and i will dwell among them. And so the focal point of spiritual life became not a thing. But it's space. And here we are today as sacred. Space. Place to worship. That is not meant to be an object of worship. All the real religion that happens here doesn't happen in the walls or the windows put in the energy and the relationships and the connection that take place between them. And yet. The beauty of this sanctuary just as the god of the story intended gives us and assist. It helps us open our hearts to connect with the holy. It's a human echo of ancient spiritual truths. All these ornate designs and fancy materials gesture. Towards something larger than ourselves. The first blueprint by the architect menard lefevre would have cost $18,000 and it would have had brick walls but the members decided that that would result in just a plain church. So they opted for the deluxe $28,000 version that we have today which was considerably more than they felt quote justified in expanding i know all of this because it's written in the detailed history of first unitarian by one of our deacons olive hogan bomb she recounts how great effort was made to assemble all of the materials for the sanctuary of the architect. We may not have gold and silver and dolphin skins from far-flung oceans but we do have brownstone from new jersey. We have touchstones from connecticut we have goat milk plaster and black walnut wood. Altogether the materials and the soaring artistry of their design help to lift us out of our ordinary consciousness and conjure other world. The neuroscientist eben alexander wrote a fascinating book called proof of heaven which i highly recommend to everybody that describe how he came down with a devastating disease and spent a week in a coma. During this time she had an out-of-body experience that he later came to see as evidence of dimensions of reality beyond the physical plane. After recovering from his illness he eventually went back to church. It was preston and he describes it as wonderfully reminiscent. Of his near-death experience. He said the first time i entered a church after my coma i saw everything with fresh eyes. The colors of the stained-glass windows recalled the luminous beauty of the landscape side scene. In the world. Above. The deep bass notes of the oregon reminded me of how socks and emotions in that world are like waves that move through you. And most important of painting of jesus breaking bread with his disciples evoked the message that lay at the very heart of my journey. That we are loved and accepted unconditionally. The heavy solidity. Of this building with its 2 ft thick walls and stained-glass windows and its pipe organ suggests that it is a very different world from the one that we inhabit now. It suggests permanence. Rather than transient. Stability rather than mobility. Reverence. Rather than irony. Slow rather than fast cool rather than ha it's an antidote to the attention scattered rush of the modern world it's a physical place not a virtual place and as such a ground us in local community it's a place that lift up the arts not just for how much money they can make before the inherent value of beauty in our lives. It all suggests something beyond the mundane. We feel different when we are in a space like this and that difference is priceless. The old-world mess of this building also means that it's freighted. With exactly the kind of cultural baggage that you would expect. It was funded by the wealthy elite of nineteenth-century brooklyn. All white men except for a few widows of white men women were not even permitted to attend congregational meetings in the early years. The stained-glass windows depicts angels who all look white. And the clerestory windows way up high depict. Men white men who were called unitarian sing these are all worthy people. But they represent only one slice of humanity. We still struggle today to extend and expand beyond the limits of this legacy. I'm the first woman senior minister this congregation has ever had. And while this is a much more diverse congregation that it was in 1844 we still don't come even close to reflecting the cultural and racial and economic diversity of brooklyn. We have a long way to go. As we look toward the next 175 years i hope that we can continue to grow as a sanctuary for human well. Rich's in the form of people from all different walks of life with all different experiences and gifts. Today we even have people with us virtually on the livestream. I hope we can continue to grow as a true sanctuary for those in need spiritually and materially. We can be proud that we're already providing sanctuary to refugees and asylum-seekers through the work of our immigrant solidarity team. Some gas to say briefly here in our building and others are staying in the private homes of members and friends. At first you. I hope we can continue to grow as a green sanctuary and be a space that model ecological health and reverence for the web of life. There are so many ways for our solid grounded. Historic sanctuary to grow. This building that was built in 1844. Planted a seed of possibility among those who built it. The intention to build it the commitment to build it the process and sacrifice required to build it change the people themselves. And as we care for it and grow it we are changed. If you remember the promise that god gives in exodus about the tabernacle its racial make me a holy place and i will dwell among them. A very specifically does not say make me a holy place and i shall dwell in it. God doesn't need us to build a container but build a sacred space go to great lengths to make it happen go to the end of the earth to get whatever we need even dolphin skins from dolphins that work you know already dead of old age make a real effort to orient ourselves around a sacred gravitational center and the holy will dwell among us. And that is exactly what we do as we continue to build this sanctuary week after week year after year. We had layer upon layer through our singing through our praying through our sharing of the flames of joys and sorrows. Through our financial gift through our justice work. We are compounding the holiness of this face. Passing it on to future generations. And so on this anniversary of the birth of this sanctuary. Together we re consecrated in the name of love. Not as an idol or an object of worship. But as an inspiration for all of us to live our highest aspirations as a root system in a quickly changing world and as a window into realities beyond our wildest dreams. Please rise and body or spirit for our final him number 114 forward through the ages.

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Enough-Heaven-To-Go-Around.m4a

So this thursday is thanksgiving case anyone hasn't been paying attention the holiday defined by eating and gratitude usually in that order. The holiday that shows us how much we have and when we don't have a lot it shows us that too. First of all it's a holiday about sharing what we have with others. This is not as easy as it looks. When were kids it's really hard to share toys that we feel our hours when we're grown-ups it's hard to share money that we feel is ours when we're country or community it's hard to share space and resources that we feel our hours i think we worry that if we share we won't have enough left for ourselves. There's some logic to this of course except that it doesn't really seem to work out that way. Religions from around the world including our own teacher said actually sharing somehow does not create a scarcity. Sharing creates abundance for everyone. And conversely hoarding or stealing will never actually land you a better life. Emerson put it simply. Never in rich. Alms never impoverish. In the biblical story of the loaves and the fish's jesus got into a boat and rowed out onto the sea of galilee he wanted to be by himself for a little while. He was far from everything. In the wilderness of what is now tabgha israel. But the crowds found him there and they were clamoring for him to come back and so he rode back to the shore and he started teaching and healing people and talking to them. When was getting toward dusk his disciples said to him. You know it's getting late and we're in the middle of nowhere you should really send the people back into the villages so that they can buy their dinner. Jesus said. When did not go away. You get them something to eat. They said yeah right are we supposed to just go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and bring it back here and feed everybody. The disciples are always the foil in these stories a denarii was a whole day's worth of wages so two hundred denarii was an astronomical sum they continued we have nothing here but five loaves and two fish. Jesus said bring them here to me. They took them and bless them and the disciples passed them out among the people and miraculously. Everybody received. The text says. As much as they wanted. Over 5,000 people were there and everyone got enough to eat and there were twelve baskets left over. That's the story. It's the only miracle aside from the resurrection that appears in all four of the gospels. But what exactly was the miracle. At some people envision at the miracle was with jesus actually somehow made. The more bread and fish appear out of thin air. And well that certainly would have been amazing. It would not have been anywhere near as miraculous as what i think actually happened. When the disciples came to jesus with this conundrum about feeding the people. They were stuck in a conventional secular worldview that money is what makes the world go round they said the people are going to have to go buy their food and when jesus said they could feed the people. The disciples essentially said that they can't afford to buy that much food money is what makes the world go round and we don't have enough of it. It's as if they were saying, let's get real here spiritual stuff that jesus is teaching is all well and good man does not live on bread alone yada yada yada but when it really comes down to real life we all know it's not quite like that. We can have all this feel-good stuff by the sea and that's all fine. But at the end of the day. Which it literally was. We're going to have to go and buy yourself some food. The spatial landscape of the story says it all. You have the seaside wilderness and you have the villages. The wilderness of birds the kind of pop-up spiritual community where people are engaged in healing and learning. The epic is relational. The villages how's the secular world of buying and selling. The epic is transactional. The disciples representing the people argue that jesus is ultimately going to have to break up this spiritual community and send them back to the secular world to get their nourishment. Jesus says. The nourishment is right here. Oliphant. What makes the world really go round is god. And love. And this is elective inherited by our faith. The oneness promise by unitarianism and the love promise by universalism is not only real and a nice poetic fantasy but is really real. The heaven promised by our profit is not joel's out in miserly little portions to some and not to others that's if it's going to run out. At the end of the day we all wind up there. Weekend relax. There's enough heaven to go around. It's no accident that the loaves and fishes story is full of numbers five loaves two fish has two hundred denarii 5,000 people twelve baskets left over. It's full of numbers because the people all the people. Are stuck in the transactional world. Quantifying and scraping and hoarding but they have so afraid that if they give some away. The math won't work out for them. The miracle. The real miracle is the jesus changes the equation. He inspired these scared people. To share. Inspire people to take a leap of faith that this is not a world of scarcity it's a world of abundance. If we. But chair. And the people shared. All they had. And everyone had enough. That scarcity mentality has deep deep roots. Becky talked about. How people who have been really hungry are terrified that they're not going to have enough to eat. But even those of us who've never been seriously hungry. Have a primitive instinct to cling to what we have. We like the disciples in the story. We compartmentalize the spiritual world from the material world in our heads. Do email theoretically believe all the teachings about the abundance of grace that's around us. We figure that at the end of the day we're still going to have to go back out into the world and protect our piece of the pumpkin pie. You see this everywhere in our society. You can especially see. How much our society is willing to share by looking at its social safety nets. How do we treat the poorest among us. Does our relational consciousness or our transactional consciousness win the day. As for us here in the us we just cut food stamp benefits on november 1st so now instead of getting 154 meal people get 144 meal. Can you imagine. How much food can you really buy for $1.40. A new york. And there's a proposal in congress to cut food stamp benefits even more as part of the current farm bill. While increasing assistance to even the wealthiest factory farmers. The voice of scarcity. Is loud in our ears. The fact is that there's no good reason for anybody to be hungry in this country or even in this world. We have untapped abundance. Will have to do things differently. We'll have to eat differently will have to think differently. But there is enough food to go around if we learn how to really share. In fact the perennial miracle of our faith is that. There's enough of everything to go around. The blessings of heaven or not just reserved for the few who managed to protect their piece of the pie in the sky. They are for everyone. Everyone can be included in the abundance of the earth. Everyone can be included in the blessings of community. Everyone can have enough to eat. Clean water to drink. Everyone can have a friend. Everyone can love. And beloved. We can relax. There's enough heaven. For all of us.

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Women-in-Hebrew-Christian-Scriptures-Mary-Magdalene.m4a

Here is what we know of mary magdalene from the christian scriptures. She was a jewish woman from the town of magdala on the sea of galilee who became a disciple of jesus after he cast out seven demons from her she provided for him out of her resources or means in other words she financially supported his ministry. And when jesus was crucified she stayed by his side when others left she prepared oils and she went to the tomb after the sabbath to anoint his body she was the first to see that the tomb was empty. And the first to see jesus and resurrected form the first to preach of his resurrection to others and the first to be dismissed as spouting nonsense. Here by contrast is what we know of mary magdalene filtered through the traditions of the catholic and orthodox churches and others through the middle ages. She was a prostitute promiscuous a fallen woman with long red hair which everyone knows is a sign of harley tri she was a temptress extraordinarily beautiful and dangerous to men. She was the foyle to mary the mother of jesus who was pure and unsullied by sexual desire. The virgin versus the horror. To the extent that mary magdalene had repented of her evil ways she was at best. A symbol of penance and chastise womanhood. Not surprising but these two stories diverge so dramatically. It's not surprising that men in power in the middle ages wouldn't have been able to handle the notion of mary magdalene as a powerful and spiritually awake woman financially independent not linked to any man not defined by her sexuality and a strong ally to jesus. A little surprising that man today still don't seem to be able to handle a woman like that but we'll get that back then she was just a woman and was not accorded much respect even when she announced the resurrection. Who is she a woman to proclaim that jesus is alive. They dismissed her as foolish and more than one of the gospel says that they simply didn't believe her. Women couldn't even serve as legal witnesses in those days much less witnesses to a cosmos shattering miracle. Back in the day mary magdalene would have been a real anomaly. Or maybe not. Maybe there were plenty of women like mary magdalene back in the time of jesus as they are now but they didn't get written about. Mary magdalene somehow managed to slip through the scriptural sensors so we've heard of her a little bit there isn't much about her just a few verses here and there. We're left to try to fill in the blanks. Hit away this last sermon in the series of this year on women of the hebrew and christian scriptures should be dedicated to all of the women who are not in the scriptures. Do women who are missing from the biblical stories just as women are missing from any of the epic stories of our more recent history. It's called his story for a reason. Because even when women do remarkable things defining themselves or defining their era they're often not credited and not remembered. Their lives don't make it into the official canon whatever that official can in my be. The new york times recently recognized this. Since 19 essence 1851 the canon of important people which has been their obituaries page has featured mostly white men and editorial decision was made to try to rectify this and so the times has been running obituaries every week. Of women hoover overlook incredible thing. Ida b wells influential investigative reporter who wrote about racism and lynching in the deep south in the 1920s. Emily warren roebling who oversaw the construction of the brooklyn bridge after her engineer husband fell ill. Julia de burgos a poet who helped shape puerto rico's identity these people are amazing. Ruth wakefield who invented the chocolate chip cookie come on so she didn't have an obituary and now she does can we write an obituary for mary magdalene. Innovative hers would by necessity be mostly fiction because we have so little to go on it's all just layers upon layers of stories and myths. Did jen disaster powerful in the agendas of the powerless. Which seeing how the later church and modern-day pop-culture turned her into a sinful woman at a prostitute even though it says absolutely nothing about her being a prostitute in the gospels. The early church. On the other hand seems to have received her more positively and they actually used to name the churches after her later authorities thought better of this and renamed those churches after mary the mother of jesus. Some have speculated over the years that mary magdalene was actually one of the apostles. Others have insisted that there were no female apostles and let's keep it that way or else we will end up with female priests for these people it's a little bit inconvenience that the apostle paul in his letter to the romans refers to a woman as an apostle julia. But they deal with that in the published scriptures the name change from judea to junius. Even though junii was a common woman's woman's name at the time and junius wasn't even a name. No matter. Such was the urgency of squelching the notion of female apostles and keeping the patriarchal fortress intact. There are all kinds of ways of erasing the story of female power even when that power was real. Demonizing a woman is one. Stripping her of titles and honors is another sexualizing her retroactively is another some have imagined that jesus could not possibly have seen mary magdalene as a serious spiritual disciple and so is he paid that much attention to her she must have been his lover or his wife. The davinci code traffics in this idea they were married and they had children jesus christ superstar cast mary magdalene as a prostitute who falls in love with jesus. So with all this cacophony of voices we can see what the legacy of mary magdalene is up against. It seems like literally. Just anybody can tell her story with very few facts to work with and mountains of fiction to stand on. So i figured i might as well too. Fwiw here is my obituary. For mary magdalene. Overdue by about 2,000 years. Mary was born in the year for bc in the fishing town of mobzilla on the western shore of the sea of galilee most of mobzilla was poor and they changed under roman occupation the mary's family was wealthy. Her father owned for fishing boats and hired other fishermen at somewhat exploited a race to haul in the catch everyday and bring the fish to market. He was not the most honest of businessman but because of his dealings mary and her brothers and sisters and her mother lived a life of leisure. Her mother managed the crew of servants who did all the household chores but all of the other girls in magdala toiled at everyday. Mary was bored. She became listless. Andre me and started 2nd for friends who had to use for work to do for their families. She felt like she had no purpose. She was like a precious plant. Being tended by others but for what. Puberty came and went but she had no interest in marriage she couldn't stand the idea of just drifting into adult life like her childhood where a husband would take the place of her father taking care of her while she did nothing. Mary had money but no meaning in her life. Until she got sick. Her family paid for all the best doctors from all over the land to come and visit but they couldn't figure out what was wrong. Her father made special sacrifices at the temple in jerusalem offering up unblemished animals that her sickness has only multiplied until she had seven illnesses of body and spirit. Sometimes they felt like demons. In desperation mary realize that she would never be able to heal in the same place with the same people with the same consciousness in which she had fallen ill. The physical cures and medicines had all fail. So she set out. On an urgent spiritual quest. She went out alone unheard-of for a woman of her day. Not knowing whether she would have the strength to go very far not knowing what would happen to her but knowing that before she died she had to find her calling. She went on foot from town to town and began to hear rumors of a young rabbi named jesus who is teaching in radical ways and performing miracles. She was intrigued. Nothing so exciting that ever happened in magdala maybe if you really could work miracles maybe he could cure her of her demons. She followed the trail of where people told her jesus was and finally caught up with him in a small town away is north of jerusalem. She stood in the back of the crowd while he taught she was thrilled by what she heard. Chip and raised with the torah story that she had never heard the spirit of them lifted up. In these ways she's never heard anyone say that money is not the path to happiness. She'd never heard anyone say the salvation lay in our connection to god and our love for our neighbor. She's never met anyone who trusted god. The way that jesus did. These words these teachings and his presents were like a cool rain in the desert heat to her everybody in the world she thought to herself needs to hear this message. She went up to jesus after he finished speaking and found that far from any aloof messianic character he seems like a person who was openly and genuinely happy to see her. Ship land where should come from and have moved she was by his message he responded to her not as a woman but as a person. And a child of god. I meant mary magdalene said words she didn't know where they come came from but she had never in her life said them before. I'm here to be of service. Mary had completely forgotten. To ask jesus to cure her of the seven demons and yet over the next years as she joined his group of disciples and travels with them from town to town she looks back on these words as the turning point in her life. The illnesses had fallen away. The boredom and the listlessness was gone she fell energy surging and strength returning to her body she felt a joy and a connection to god like she had never experienced before. Mary magdalene became the business manager of jesus's ministry. She was practically minded much more so than the men she had learned business skills from watching her father's fishing operations and management skills from her mother's household. She planned the groups travel schedule negotiated and paid for accommodations and food for jesus and all the disciples. Carefully orchestrated public relations to make sure that his words and miracles had maximum impact and reach across the land. And when it came time for jesus to be arrested and crucified he had shared his plans with her. And ever practical. While the men were weeping and deserting him she got to work preparing the linens for the shroud and the oil and spices for anointing the body. Later mary would describe it to others as jesus having cast out her seven demons. But you knew it wasn't exactly like that. Maybe she said just the right thing. An insight that made everything fall into place. Or maybe she just loved her. Maybe because jesus was an enlightened being and he exuded unconditional love and that experience of being loved opened the floodgates of mary's soul. Maybe. And maybe it was her own words. Her own readiness to serve. But jesus has presents had called forth and she had to be ready to say those words and to commit her life to something great her heart had to be open to a new way of seeing she had to have left her home and embarked on that dangerous journey. She had earned her clarity of vision. And so although mary magdalene 3d plated steve her teacher crucified it was not at all surprising that she was the first to see him resurrected into new life. Because she knew in her heart. But it was never a jesus's the person. Who is the provider of that spiritual nutrition. It was available to all of us. His promise was of a continued presence a well of spirit that we could all draw from. And that well was still there. Mary magdalene knew that once her demons were gone they were never coming back and now that she had a broadband connection to god nobody could take it away. Chicken now preach with faith and with confidence even to a world that this believed her and called her foolish and maligned her and sexualized her and ignored her she could preach a gospel of love because she had experienced it love irrigating our souls always renewing always flowing a love that could never ever. Permanently dye please rise and body or spirit our final hymn number 1007 there's a river flowing in my soul.

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GMT20200322-161229_Sunday-Wor.m4a

Encourage. Gear our wedding voices. Starship. People in our congregation. Call rhonda. Dealing with tremendous uncertainty. Struggling. Working from home. Looking after their children. No longer go to work. And even those of us who are economically secure. Still beset by spiritual and psychological. Loneliness. Anxiety. All those touched by this pandemic. You my whole damn quotes. Give us. Syringe. Reach out. The wisdom to know the third so much. Elasticity invisible strings by which people are balanced together. Your love. Selfless. Seasons. We are just seeing the passing of the spring equinox. Night and day equal length. We ask that you bless our spirits with that same balance. May we find voice. Get these trucks. All of your children feeling lonely or lost. Home. To the solitary. Rosario castellanos. Define company. My friend it's not possible. Good friendship work. The appearance of punishment. Are. Could you be alone. Every week we. Look up the names. Hardship. Also for all those. Our community and outside of it by this covid-19 pandemic. Name spoken in our prayer. Please reach out to anyone on staff. He noted many of us came today. Join. This community. You looked up in prayer. Additionally the name of jennifer choi. Do you like to kendal at home you are invited to do so. Let us move now. Education at stanley ministries. If you have a candle nearby now that you would like the light i invite you. Highway want to honor all of those. In our hearts. And outside. As we have been blessed. So we bless one another. We have a special guest musician joining us this morning for worship. This is first unitarian member anna aggie who manual recognized from the congregation but also from. Leading music with us on a couple of occasions we've. That we have the pleasure of working with her on the choir to do a couple of collaborations. I'm so i'll tell you what song she's going to play but i'm also going to paste into the comments here the url for a really nice video version of. Anna with our choir in our beautiful sanctuary so that after this zoom meeting is all done when you want to watch an even bigger lusher. Also beautiful version of this song and you have the opportunity to do so. Taken away anna. I'm going to share song called we are one. Nicholson. Solar eclipse. Gather together for that cosmic event all across the world. Even though we weren't in the same room together. Now we're gathered together watching this. In this moment. Attention. Okay. Directions. Walkthrough. Is amplified manifold. Reliance were already whitebeard. Months ago before we were all talking about covid-19. Many of us were already living. In a stormy psychic atmosphere. The world's already offered much about which to be dismal and steel chaotic ideas. All of us bombarded by nude. What is oceans of data. Pouring in from more sources than our humble human brains and process. 2022 feel like listening to a radio station. Playing stations. Covid-19 it feels more like listening to twenty station for once. Distresses of the past week. Jessie the quick response to this community to support one another. From delivering food to offering online counseling. Ironically. We can find new heights objection. In the midst of our physical separation. Each other to miss time is a privilege. There is no faster way to replenish join and feeling of safety. First unitarian. 19 is still a major struggle. If you had told me when i was 12. State home in a room filled with snacks and video games. But this is not that. Struggling to aldi. Anxious thoughts that so many of us are dealing with right. Best remedy on sound for this anxieties focus. Focus on anything. Calling a friend to baking stones to writing a sermon. Be my asthma is swept away. The sermon i was preparing. Is minor interruption to our scheduled programming. Was about. Generosity. I mean the quality is not having sound. Many great religions such as christianity. Speaker kickers are talked of course we got a stone. And we must shoulder its responsibilities. Yet many other traditions such as buddhism. Michelle is an illusion. Define transcendence. We must overcome this.. And it's deception. This has everything to do with this. Believe about yourself. Let us recognize two intersecting truths. On one hand. Also cannot face the challenge this massive as individuals. On the shelf. Is to forget connectedness. This time of adversity. It must be guided and uplifted. Stocks that we are bound together. What's going on there. Makes a good catch. Anthony. Georgiou. There's a strong intuitive feel. Unitarian universalism. Our soonest ideals emphasize our capacity to think freely. Make our own way. One of the premier poets of the shelf. Is our own ralph waldo. Perhaps his most famous essay self-reliance. In which he advocates just that. Individuals who believe in their power and their worthy. World. Tell dustin society is a joint stock company. To surrender. Liberty culture of the eater. In defiance of soul numbing conformity and tells us. Every heart vibrates to that iron string. Divine providence. These are stirring words. It's thrilling to be told that we are powerful. I'm in control. But there is an oldest self ignited brilliance. An aftertaste of solipsism. Is little mention of community in emerson's essay. He spends many lions glorifying alone nail genius. Utsa we see the stark contrast. Between quickening appeal of stealth. A troubling side effects. Putting ourselves first. Another brilliant writers retreats the transcendence. Everyone's favorite mustachioed malcontent. Friedrich nietzsche. Nothing but gleeful score. He described the show as a mighty lord an unknown sage. He says we should listen to the eagle above all else. Creating willing to do. Value of old things. There is something here. There is any idea that we are reshaping our world. Encourage. Alliance. There is a worrying. On the shelf. It always seems to backfire it somewhere. Compassion humility. On the shelf reigns these things are just priority. There is something inescapably gender gear. Elevation of the cell do job like proportions. Oldest conquering in overcoming makes me think of a six-year-old. Stomping around the house and roaring at family doc. Self. Has much to recommend it. Ask your doctor if you. I really like emerson and pizza. I like them to a frankly embarrassing degree. Is a powerful in champion force. But if you go too far. Testosterone desire. In the midst of a viral and that is exactly the opposite of what we need. What's more on the shelf as it is. We blame ourselves too much things don't go our way. Take too much credit when they do. Money and career focus world tells us to put the stealth at the center of our spiritual universe. But when our starting point is i. On the choice to come to realizing our smallest. Our connection to all of creation. I guess the challenge like coronavirus. You're all individually small. Connect to the group. There are few problems. Teachings of selflessness. Annihilation of self-delusion the great vale that keeps us from seeing of the divine. Long has spoken in your soul. Whirlpool. Our lives are wrecked. He's very much the wrong thing georgia. There are so many greater things that deserve our devotion. What is the highest. What is nothing. Like is like. God alone is truly an opening through real. Writing we are we an hour. Nonexistent. But you. Absolute existence. During ovulation. Keep in mind this is more than just doing a few good teeth. Become something we humblebrag.. Just another batch. And onto our shining stash of virtues. True selflessness rejection. Tried personal achievements. It's about whether our little one person island. Much bigger. Emerson for all deer. They were supported. No matter how freestanding be steel ourselves to be. We are always bound by string. Connection we share with others across all boundaries of space and time. Horny trying to see office.. Ultrastar great things. The ladder. American culture has longer excellent excel rising stealth. A conquering lone ranger. Romanticizing. It is. And that's exactly what we need right now. It might be tempting while we are in quarantine. Was trying to do the opposite. Open 19. That is a frightening thing. Anyways. Potential anita true revelation. Ideally we would all care for each other all the time. Not just more facing a virus. Coronavirus can lead us to a better way in all times of struggle. Calling your friend staying home. There are so many actions we can take. Spiritual care of our loved ones. Is on all of us. In this moment we must all of us be ministers. Literally. I'd like to close by. Overwhelmed by his destiny. I wish it need not have happened in my time. Which candle supplies. And show you all live to see such times. All we have to decide. Is what to do with time that is given to us. First unitarian there is so much we can do with the time we have together. Will always prove stronger than our fears. No matter how you might feel in the days to come. Know that you are not. Play that knowledge thunder in your chest. We are going to close i am managing like. 10 apple devices right now we're going to close with. The ham love will guide us the lyrics are on. One of your screens i hope at this point. And once again. Play sing-along if you can from home. Join me now in our benediction. Find us visible and invisible. Seabrook. At love. In these times and all challenging times will guidance. Knowing that we are and we are locked.

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Hell-Hath-No-Fury.m4a

I don't know about you but i'm feeling overwhelmed and scared and heartsick about everything going on in the world right now the hatred around the globe seems to be spiraling and building on itself in a way that it's hard to imagine how it could ever be reversed. Every time a palestinian stabs and israeli cidf bulldozes another palestinian home. Everytime hostage-takers in mali. Let out only muslims. An american politician demands that we let in only christians. It feels like nothing but madness in every direction. How are we as religious people supposed to respond to this. There are a lot of prayers flying around the airwaves these days are we supposed to pray. The dalai lama says no. In talking about the paris attacks he said. We cannot solve this problem only through prayers i am a buddhist and i believe in praying but humans have created this problem and now we are asking god to solve it it is a logical god would say because you created it in the first place great thanks spoiler alert i do not have a solution at the end of this sermon. I'm not building up to the big reveal of my 18-point plan to fix all of the world's problems i don't have one and the scary thing is nobody else does either. I think i'll always remember a conversation i had with one of our members here when we were talking about the original concept of universalism. But everybody universally is saved no one goes to hell. Knowing is finally excluded from the big love. The idea made her uncomfortable and she was honest enough to say so. She didn't necessarily want everybody to be safe hitler she asked. Hitler is going to be in my heaven. And what a great question. Hitler is going to be in my heaven. Is that really what universalism means. At the end of the day there's no justice. Abdul hameed haroon who planned the paris attacks is in heaven up there right now alongside mother teresa. When we die we're all going to have to just. Put down our grudges and live side-by-side with the people who hurt us. Surely the early teachers of universalism george de benneville and olympia brown and hosea ballou surely they couldn't have meant it so absolutely and so simplistically. In fact we know that many of them were troubled by the idea just like we are. Some of them came up with elaborate caviar in which really evil people would spend some time and he'll first and then go to heaven or they go to purgatory or there would be some kind of reconciliation process where the evil part of the person would simply cease to exist and then they're they're pure soul would be returned to them and then there were some. Like hosea ballou. Who recalled ultra universalist. Who said nope. No caviar. No exceptions. No hell. Everyone is absolved. Everyone is forgiven everyone is saved. Brother was a nineteenth-century minister who's considered one of the fathers of universalism. I didn't preaching he trash talk other ministers of his day who were preaching fire and brimstone. And here's the really interesting thing for our purposes he opposed that kind of punishment and retribution preaching not just because he thought it was factually incorrect. But because of the effect of such preaching on the people. When you hear how he talks about it which i'll read to you it's actually more about psychology than theology. He writes. It is well-known that the human heart is capable of becoming soft or hard. Kind or unkind. Merciful or unmerciful by education and habit. On this principle we contend that the infernal torments that's hell. Which false religion has placed in the future world. Edwards ministers have with an overflowing zeal so constantly held up to the people. Have tended to hardened the hearts. Other proponents of this religion that they have exercised toward their fellow-creatures a spirit of enmity which but too well corresponds with the relentless cruelty of their doctrine. By having such an example constantly before their eyes they have become so transformed into its image. That whenever they have had the power they have actually executed of vengeance upon men and women which events that the cruelty of their doctrine had overcome the native kindness and compassion of the human heart. So basically he was contending that people who are taught over and over again that god tortures and punishes sinners for eternity. Become mean people. The cruelty of their doctrine had overcome the native kindness and compassion of the human heart. Adoption of love and forgiveness by contrast with support the native compassion and kindness of the human heart. Instead of hardening us. It would soften us. And this. Tuvalu was what universalism was all about. Less about what happens after we die. And more about what's our spiritual orientation and tone toward one another in this life. Are we imitating a god of welcome and forgiveness. Ferrari imitating a god of judgement and rejection. Of all of the battles going on in the world right now one of them is a battle for tone for who gets to determine our emotional staff toward the other. What's the appropriate psychic orientation. Of our community. There's a lot at stake in this battle because i believe that ultimately communal and motion is what drives all of our decisions at the policy level i don't see politicians on either side changing their minds based on reasoning that they here at congressional debates or hearing that's clearly not what it's about i found myself a captive audience to fox news while i was working out at the gym last week attacks. That he was calm and thoughtful and measured no drama obama really angered them. Where is the fire. And the brimstone we might add. Where is the george w bush after september 11th saying will smoke them out of their holes. And those same politicians who were craving that fiery wrathful emotional leadership. Are saying now that we should reject syrian refugees even children. In case there are terrorists among them. I think this is appalling. These people are pleading for our help in protecting their own children from the very same violence that we fear for hours. Yes of course there is a chance that there is some people among the refugees who will come with the intention of harming americans. But it's impossible to predict how many new terrorists would be created around the world by the us earning a reputation as xenophobic anti-muslim and miserly with our well and we live in a porous world you can't keep people out you can't keep ideas out you can't keep drugs out you can't keep information out you can't keep anything out of that really wants to get in and despite that porousness if you're an american you're statistically far more likely to die from heart disease a car accident or even suicide then by a terrorist attack. But those deaths happen one by one. Overtime. They happen in private. The sudden public deaths of a terrorist attack or a whole different thing they successfully terrorize us. They trigger our fight or flight response. They trigger our fear of the other. Are fear of difference. And may trigger our worst theologies. The warrior god the god of judgment if you open the gates to syrian refugees a terrorist might get in if you open heaven to just anyone hitler might get in the universe through this lens is not loving and compassionate we separate the wheat from the chaff and the chaff gets burned in the bible language and an unquenchable fire it's not only as baloo suggested that cruel theologies make people cruel it's the other way around to our life experience shapes our theologies. And a to become a mutually reinforcing cycle. You're something we know of the muslims who become jihadists with theologies of violent and x and a glorious afterlife. They tend to be people who have experienced hatred and discrimination either themselves or against their communities they feel politically powerless. Who are low wage earners. Who immigrated alone with no family. Or whoever experienced some kind of personal trauma. It's no wonder given their own bitter experience of life that they embrace a grandiose theological counterpoint. An interesting lee they tend to come from families that are not very religious. Being raised in a religious family is actually found to be a protective factor against becoming radicalized. No one is born a terrorist. Terrorists is not an ontological status it's a label. Aaron's by desperate people when they commit desperate appalling violence. Seeking meaning in the world that feels meaningless and power in a world where they feel powerless. And those people like all of us are drawn to a theology. That matches their experience. And so what can we as religious people do. We can attend to both sides of that feedback loop. Theology. And experience. We can teach a theology that supports the native kindness and compassion of the human heart we can teach of a loving god and universe one that welcomes all and forgives all. And then at the same time. We can try to build a world in which such a god and universe are actually plausible. When we break bread together. We can make sure that there is enough for everyone in the room and a bit more for people who are not yet in the room. When we work for justice we can make sure that it's justice for everyone. No matter what they look like what language they speak. What god they worship or where they come from. And when people in need knock on our door so we can find the compassion to welcome them. What. Technically literally happens after we die we have no idea. Whether hitler will be in heaven with us. We don't know but the spirit of universalism the tenor the tone the orientation toward the world can inform how we live our lives. And that's the important thing. Because as the dalai lama said we shouldn't be bothering god with our problems are looking to god to solve them the universe is going to do with the universe is going to do what happens here in this world in our lifetime. Is our work it's here and now that we can make universalism a reality here and now. Bit by bed we can make heaven on earth a heaven to which everyone is invited please rise and body or spirit for our final him number 407 we're going to sit at the welcome table.

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Women-Of-Hebrew-Christian-Scriptures-Esther.m4a

Story of esther is the story of a hero. I'd like so many heroes in the hebrew bible she is a reluctant. Kira. She doesn't seem particularly interested in being queen to the persian king akash barros. The contestants in the royal beauty pageant spend a whole year beautifying themselves. Six months applying myrrh and another 6 months applying something else. This is all part of an official beautification program on the palace grounds. Esther decline these treatments at least for the purposes of the actual contest and she goes oh natural. When the kings select esther despite her best efforts she tells her uncle mordecai. That she's scared. And he says he'll be all right just don't tell anyone you're jewish that's all. As jewish refugees in persia they already know that there are people in power who would like them to go back to where they came from. But she becomes queen and the text says that she was much beloved by the king and by her people. The position of queen is bacon. Because the previous queen vashti said no to the king. She refused his command to dance. For him and all his friends wearing her crown and only her crown. The king consulted with his advisers and they told him to dethrone and exiled her. For the queen's conduct will go out to all the women. Making their husbands contemptible in their eyes by saying. King of hospitals commander queen vashti to be brought in beforehand but she would not come. The women who have heard of the matter concerning the clean will respond similarly and there will be no end to the contempt. And the anger. Enso king oshkosh dethrones and exiled to clean. This is all recorded in the book of esther otherwise known as the megillah. The magilla inspired the jewish holiday of purim which is coming up in a couple weeks. Purim traditions include getting dressed up in costumes the start of like the jewish halloween. Having a wild fee. Getting gifts of food. Giving gifts of money so it's a really great time to pledge. And of course reading aloud the whole megillah which as you can imagine islam. There's also often aquarium play or just feel like the one our own thespians perform so beautifully earlier. We saw in that play. The critical moment that causes the backlash against the jews in persia. Mortify refusing to bow to him on. This cracks open all of the underlying fault lines between the immigrant culture and the dominant culture. In the words of a text it still come on with wrath. In the words of today it is emasculate sand insults him. It highlights where the difference. Of the immigrant other becomes real. It exposes an absolute incompatibility between the two cultures and two religions a place where compromise is not possible. One is governed by a hierarchy of humans with the king at the top. The other is organized around a concept of the soul sovereignty of god. They have no other. .. Soham on recognizing the threat that this poses both to his authority and that of the king. Knowing that people with an allegiance to a higher power can be politically dangerous. And remembering the chill. Queen vashti act of resistance. Goes to the king. And says these famous line. There is a certain people. Scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm whose customs are different. From those of any other people and who do not obey the king's laws. It is not in your majesty's interests. To tolerate them. Akash barrows readily agreed not to deport them as we saw in the purim play but to exterminate them. He doesn't seem to care one way or another. He has no ideals or ideologies of his own no particular hatred for the jews. He just likes having power. And watching beautiful women compete in beauty pageants. And danced for him and his friends. He likes to throw big parties. And parades. He takes the advice of his advisers so that those things can continue to happen. His advisors do have political agendas and ideologies. Butterscotch coronavirus. Just dance whatever is expeditious for akash kurosh. If you think i'm twisting this story to make it match current-day politics. Read the megillah sometime. It's uncanny. Safariland come-ons advise the king right the decree that is sent out to every corner of the land specifying the daytime which all jews will be killed. Mortified gets worried that this is going to happen and he pleased with esther to do something he's now begging her to tell the king that she's jewish and to save her people. Esther finds herself in a singular position. Being both jewish and the queen of persia. She is a member of the underclass and a member of the dominant class. She has access to both ways of thinking and knowing. She can see through the lens in which the king is sovereign. And through the lens in which god is sovereign. In this way she's in the position that moses was an if you remember from my description last month moses ends up growing up in the. Barros. Castle with because his daughter the pharaoh's daughter adopt moses. So moses grows up there. Like moses after has access to tower. She's culturally bilingual. And has a kind of privileged that's completely out of reach for the other jews and the land. But then. She's a woman. Like moses after attained this position of power passively. Moses was completely passive as a baby getting picked up from a floating basket in the river but esther is passive as an adult. Hertz hebrew name. Is actually hadassah. But she goes by after 2. highlight the fact that she is a jew. She doesn't really want to be queen but she doesn't really resist going to the beauty contest. But she just doesn't make an effort either. I meant you selected she goes quietly along with it and agrees to hide her jewish identity. She comes across as somebody who is scared. And trying to keep her head down and stay out of trouble. So many women even today are forced to live. Tentative. Partial lives like this. Knowing how dangerous the world can be for them. Never really consenting. But never really having the power to say no. Until when mordecai comes to esther distraught about the decree against their people and says do something. Her very understandable first reaction is are you freaking kidding me. She explains it for a person especially for a woman to be assertive and anyway even in as mild a way as coming before the king without being invited. Is punishable by death. At that moment she is living. Cocoon entirely within the mindset of the human hierarchy in which the king has absolute and unlimited power. She is subject to that power and she is terrified. But then her uncle mordecai helps her see through that. Otherlands. The lens of her people in which god is sovereign. He speaks what becomes another famous set of lines in the megillah. Do not think that just because you're in the king's palace you will escape any more than the other jews. For if you keep silence. At a time such as this. Relief and deliverance will rise for the jews from another source. But you and your father's family will perish. Who knows. Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this. Another words perhaps your whole life comes down to this moment. Perhaps everything that you have done and learned at all the unlikely chain of events that landed you strangely in the king's bed. Perhaps all of that has been just. Setting up the sir. And this is where you are called to choose. You claim who you are and you speak boldly on behalf of your people or. You play it safe. And stay silent. This is the fulcrum point of your life. Everything else. Has been prologue. To right now. Sensor. Hadassah. Chooses. She chooses to take the risk. I'm showing her true colors. To the king. And fighting for her people. She chooses as much out of a sense of her own spiritual power. As out of a knowledge of her powerlessness. That's your uncle had said she would not i'll definitely escape the fate of her people. And as her uncle had implied. But she made the leap of faith. Deliverance which come. This is a human story. With human villains and human heroes. And while there is some sense of divine puppeteering placing esther and just the right time at the right place. The word of god is not mentioned in the entire megillah. Esther is called a hero because her act of bravery does turn the tide and save her people. But more important. Superhero because her act of resistance. Is a spiritual breakthrough. She breaks through all of her social conditioning. All of her fear all of the rules of the dominant culture about what you can and can't do. After a lifetime of playing it safe. And hiding her real self. Hadassah finally come into her power. Who will we be. At the next. Fulcrum point in our lives. Sometimes we will be after and we will play the game that we must to navigate a perilous path through the world. Because we have 24 hour survival. And sometimes. If we keep growing. We will be hadassah. Connect to our true self. And our values and the real source of power. Sometimes our souls will require us to do something bold and extraordinary. Can overturn all expectations. At this time may we have the courage. To do it. Knowing that the way it's been live. By hadassah and all who have followed in her footsteps. Is rise in body or spirit for our final him turn the world around.

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Kevin-Jagoe-Homily.m4a

Unitarian universalism. Does not have one secret apps. It does not have one origin story or one moment that it all began. Unitarian and universalist thought has been rediscovered time. And time again. We are not a people of a single path to truth. We unitarian universalist. Are in fact a people of interconnectedness. Our history is also one of many threads and connections across face. And time. Many threads. Many stories. Many places. One religion. We have the lutherans to think for a moment that a beginning occurred. Just over five hundred years ago in 1517. Martin luther nailed 95.5 contention with the catholic church to a chapel door door in wittenberg germany. This began the reformation. We unitarian-universalist are among many of the heirs to that moment that began an intellectual and religious debate. That is still unfolding today. Radical communities have sprung up over and over again. As new thoughts were spread from town to town and city to city. New forms of religious community came to be. New ideals became the center of religious life. Such as god is one. Love is unconditional. And that all are welcome here. These communities did not gather without risk though. And many were persecuted and those who dared speak of love. Or change. Or the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Could lose their lives to that cause. One such place was in poland just 37 years after the edict of torta in 1605. At this point another community began around began to gather around the unitarian ideas of an italian theologian. Foxdale susini. Sophina jones with the polish brethren which published the recovery in catechism. As well as many other radical religious tracts. Wachovia became the center of what we what would become known as the singing ism. Athenian could be another word for unitarian but for the chance of history. Athenian told that jesus was human. His life was an important exam flower. And they rejected the idea of original sin. They believe that revelation is not sealed. And many have connections for a transylvanian siblings as well. So we have german and italian and polish and transylvanian friends. They're also british and other european stories were unitarian thought that has where unitarian thought has bubbled up over time. And continues to the present day. Each of these are part of our heritage. Even though we may not know it. American unitarianism. Universalism. And unitarian universalism. Came to be among many other threats. And we continue to be in relationship with the places we may not even realize right now. Across this planet. Our relationships matter. Our ideas matter. And most importantly our ability to create community together matters. Each of these threads were small groups of people saying incredible things in the face of powerful institution. These communities are in fact a movement. These communities are not solely of the past. But very much of the presents to. Many threads. Mini story. Many places. One religion. There is another part of the world i would like to tell you about that another time that unitarian thought emerged. In the kazi hills of northeastern india. A man by the name of his jean kisser sing. Became a self-created unitarian. Like many of us sing had a path from the religion of his birth. To the reform welsh faith of missionaries. To becoming questioning methodist. Sing shot a true religion. One that removed the many pieces he disagreed with from his birth religion. And those he encountered from europe. He thought a non-sectarian non credo path to god. At the age of 25. In the year 1890. Thing heard from a liberal hindu friend. That there might be a tradition that held many of his beliefs. He began exchanging letters with charles henry appleton doll. Who was an american unitarian minister. Then in kolkata. After this connection and relationship began. Sing had a name for the religion he sought to create in the kazi hills. Call neon unitarian. The unitarian religion. Today there are more than 9,000 unitarians in the kazi hills. And the international council of unitarian universalist is gathering next month. In kathmandu nepal. Which is the closest place to the cozy hills then international travelers could easily get visas. We have visited 17th century poland. 19th century india as well as the many places they connect to. Attends the other places and times. That come on through to the present moment with us here today. The values we lift up here each week and that unitarian universalist congregation bring into the world are more universal universal and timer then we know. Many threads. Many stories. Many places. One religion. Now we go back just a few years. 2 2001. When a dominican brother in the midst of theological wonderings and crisis. Within the catholic tradition. Came to discover unitarianism and boucher paruni. A small country on the eastern side of africa. Reverend indigo shimano fulgence. Did not need to start a press as those if working wachovia did. Nor did he exchanged letters with unitarians he heard about through happenstance. Call john smith able to do what many of us might do when we wonder about something. He turned to google and began to surf the web. Holeshots describes his pat's unitarianism from catholicism not as one of conversion but of discovering the tradition he already was but did not know the name of. His path is crap similar to many sitting in this sanctuary or listening online at this very moment. In 2011 the unitarian church abu shaburo burundi was founded. They are the partners church of peoples church of kalamazoo michigan iuu congregation. Do unitarians of burundi help those orphaned by the aids crisis. Created microlending opportunities. And we're also a home to the humanists and non-theist in a country where catholicism is practiced by more than 80% of people. Just four years after their founding of the unitarian church a kookaburra. Members and reverend buljan swear vocal in the political struggles against their president seeking an unconstitutional third term in office. Jean stapleton prisoners and describes his eventual released in these words. They told me there was too much hearing from unitarian universalist. This keyring from unitarian universalist was the result of an international call for pressure and media attention on the authorities of room of burundi that unitarian universalist around-the-world responded to. Today most of the unitarians and burundi are political refugees in rwanda and elsewhere. Or underground in their own country. The global unitarian universalist community has continued to support our burundi siblings. Reverend paul jones has made a new home in canada. And is continuing the credentialing process to become a unitarian universalist minister in north america. The power of modernity is that we have the ability to be interconnected globally. We can support one another and places we may never visit ourselves. Our stories and travel the world in mere seconds. Many threads. Many stories. Many places. One religion. It is through community that each of us gross and through discovery that many of us find ourselves unitarian universalist today. Our relationships matter. They are the source of resiliency in a world that are pulled us apart. In the 17th century printing presses allowed new ideas. To be spread across europe. In the 19th century. Letters creative connections across cultures and help plant new seeds in the kazi hills of india. In the 21st century. Among with a motive was able to discover he was not alone in questioning the the catholics of the ruby. We have been reformed hers and revolutionaries. We have been heretics and humanists. We have been builders of community and breakers of conventionality. We have been. We are today. All of these things. And more. Remember these stories. Not because they are history. But because they are sources of strength. For right now. And they are just a handful. I'm almost here this morning there are countless more. We are in fact creating new stories. Each moment. We are better together. Our relationships matter. Unitarian universalism has been and continues to be. A global religion. A movement that has been discovered and shared many times. Many threads. Many stories. Many places. 1.

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The%20Promise%20of%20Acceptance%20and%20Spiritual%20Growth%201.mp3

When i first moved to brooklyn last summer i was pretty excited to be so close to prospect park. I remembered it being just as pretty essential park the way less crowded. I'm an avid walker you see the time in nature is really good for me. Be able to be there without the jocelyn's thousands of other folks. All the better. On my first trip into the park after i moved here i came across the map on one of its little boards. Mention there was a dog beach. I thought wow. I didn't think the waterline came this close to the park. Turn up in jersey i imagine just shoreline with dogs frolicking as far as the eye can see. Owners alternating between feelings for the playfulness of their pups. And stressing over the more powerful waves around their little new york city apartment canines. I knew of some beaches that allow dogs but i didn't think it'd be possible in a city. Assistance league. 12. Apparently wasn't possible. Vacation optimally with prospect park it's roughly about 9 avenues from the river. I'm not much of a gullible person but i hadn't really been to this part of brooklyn much. And to be completely honest i have a ramp and imagination that sometimes gets the best of me. Reality the dog beaches one fenced-off stretch of water connecting. For larger in land lake. The early mornings when the leash laws wave dozens of dogs do frolicon it. The only waves that occur what they generate chasing balls ducks and each others. And afternoons it's usually only two or three dogs at a time who are tethered to their owners. Find it fascinating how all these dogs i encounter a completely different personalities. Summer very standoffish distance from other dogs while maintaining a. Just try it look on their faces. That may or may not just happen. To resonate with their human on the other end of the leash. Others come across as playfully stupid. Eager to please. Grab attention. Are the ones that run up to each new dog to say hey. Where you been. Even though they've never. Likely net. It started to notice my own reactions these different doggy attitudes have. I pay way more attention to the cute friendly lovable dogs and i do to the ones that maintain their distance. It'd make me feel better. And i imagine they're probably a bit happier than their counterparts. I used to think. You said just think of them is slightly dumb creatures who showed interest in care for anyone around them. Lacking discernment they gave their acceptance and love freely. Starting to think they're the smart ones that i'm the one that needs to catch up. They're happier i'm happier. The mind at the end of the leash might be a bit concerned that their pet is overly social. And willing to run away with anyone to the circus. Like my upstairs neighbor who recently mentioned to me is. One of her concerns when her two hot dogs wanted to go for a walk with me. I apologize for the nickname but i can never call that breeds actual name. Animes report that even the local area duck population shows no concern or fear from the friendly dog types. It might be convinced to slowly wait away from their intensity. There's no flapping away to safety from the gregarious ones. The only flea the stone cold one. I wonder what it would be like a coffee hour. We were all a bit more like the carefree floppy-eared mutts. In the strong but distant barker's a. Might be tough on the introverts among us from time to time. But i understand that we'll ever and always be the case for any of us that need time to ourselves but choose to try to do that in public settings. Imagine over although it feel. Pretty good. I tested this theory out of summer at coffee shops. Beaches and the occasional bar and hanging out with friends. I've learned something amazing. Generally speaking. When i show others i'm interested in getting to know them. But i'm out really friendly and that i accept them for who they are. They mimic. My behavior. A channel in the wisdom of floppy eared dogs everywhere. I found friendly people in places where only unfriendly people once dwelled. I wonder where they all came from. I reading this morning. Talks about how we don't notice people or dogs or even days. Breeds. We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say no this one. This isn't one i've been looking for. And wait and aboard sort of way for the next when we are convinced. Our lives will start for real. I believe we do the same sort of waiting with people. Possibly dogs. Waiting we give away our lives in the hope that one will someday show up. And the truth is. It's already here. And it's pretty wonderful. Even when it's pretty awful. Never always be those days. He also wants. So long as we have breath to breathe. We have a precious gift to unwrap. Experience. Went on to say for some reasons we like to see days past even though most of us claim we don't want to reach our last one for a long time. The same is true for each person we encounter even when they're pretty awful. We can choose interact with abandon or reserve. Do not be surprised when we receive only what we give. We cannot control how others act. Often heard it said. Cetirizine attorney universalist we accept all people. Not all the haters. We can control how open we are. Now committed to engage we will be. What's the religious discipline. Inherent to our third principal. Becoming it to affirm and promote acceptance of one another and encourage spiritual growth in our congregations. Has pointed out in our previous two installations of this preaching series on our principles. Phrase is another action statement monocryl belief. We aren't saying we believe in acceptance and growth although many of us in fact. Uso. We're saying that we will commit. To promote acceptance and spiritual growth with each other and in our religious homes. I say it's a religious discipline because it's hard work and something our religion asks of us. He also happens to be something we ask of each other as congregants. Thomas of this discipline. Is saving. Don't mean to say that it's saving in the sense of some afterlife. That will happen at some indeterminate point in the future. I mean to say that it's saving right here. Right now. Without the conviction of this discipline we are only promised a life of isolation and stagnation. With it. We enjoy the promise of a deeper connection with a life around us. The main demands to channel a little bit. That care fremont in each of us. Let go of the clutch and grab of judgment. You so often employ against ourselves and against others. Move through tolerance of others who we may or may not resonate with. And to learn to accept them for who they are. Let go of that clutch and grab. Requires a discipline for most of us. 1/3 principle. Offers the promise of connection. Commands. We allow ourselves to allow others in. The recent walk through prospect park i came across a story that matches just discipline. Time it's about little kids not dogs. I saw gathering of yellow shirt in summer camp first and second graders. The camp advisor is doing a call and response of the kids as they were marching adelines at their next destination. One day i heard a girl singing. It had a great thing to say to me. Hiccup punctuated by the advisor calling out after one girl who was lagging behind. Anna. Come on over stay with us. This went back. Forest for about 30 long seconds before the counselor invoked. The terrifying. Count to five. I remember. The horror that teacher threat back in grade school. 1. 3. And then anna came running. She got back to the group. And all was forgiven. They continued their march in the warmth on summer sun. We accept all people here. Not all behavior. Try not to dwell in your mind's too long on the metaphor of a single line marching anywhere. That will likely never be a true descriptor for any. Unitarian universalist anywhere. Think more about how that that counselor let the annoyance of the last. 30 seconds go. She accepted the situation within clearly defined boundaries and then allowed herself and anna. To reconnect to move on. Sometimes the offense in our daily lives will see more severe. But i'm convinced that the vast majority of those friends are simply the dress-up equivalent of anna's lingering a bit too long. The rest of the group. Need to move on. The clutch and grab we force ourselves to tolerate bad behavior but never loosen our grip on the offense or the frustration. If the counselor has held on. To the bad behavior of the little girl she would have had a much worse afternoon and probably ruined it for the kids as well. Dad she let herself in the children present be free to hear. Thomas of what great thing that bird singing in the tree. I just say to them that day. The realm of the spirituals. Accepting and appreciating the lies and world around us. How then can we do this in our congregations. I've already mentioned how to do acceptance 101 i call it coffee hour. Got to coming up against early right next to her. Practice practice practice. And accept how your neighbor's succeeds or trips up along the way. For those ready to move on to 201. Let me invite you to join one of our small group ministries this fall. You're looking to get to know more people in our congregation or if you want the opportunity to explore more deeply some of our ministers sermons. You are looking for spiritual space midweek. Small group ministries maybe for you. Whether you are a newcomer or long-standing member of our congregation. They're generally lead groups that each commit to me once a month for about 90 minutes and they have all the chalice lighting some poetry. Or short writing. A few questions that are intended to start dialogue in reflections around. Set topic. Houston design did he places for the heart. For the spirit rather than educational forums. I write the sessions. Facilitators are cuban minds third principle in doing so. Essentially a monthly structured exercise and acceptance. Then spiritual growth. Check out the sign-up sheets in the back by the welcome table or asking it up. What about them during coffee hour. H words. For all children of all ages this morning weaves are great unease of days and people together. Start and finish of the tale talks about the forward russia or alive. Is this man in fisherman are both seeking to enjoy the lights and days around them. Fisherman seems i've already found it while the businessman puts it off for the future. Well then you can spend the rest of your life just doing whatever you wanted to do. Sitting in the song relaxing and enjoying yourself with no worries. This is an aspect of acceptance that leads toward the second half of our third principal. Marker spiritual growth to be able to appreciate what you have. Where you are when. Your. They're rather than forever holding off to. Some point in the future or clinging onto some past experience. Shut off with the caveat that not all business people delay their life for some future date. And not all fishermen are so moderate and steady with their fishing habits. Imagine a tale that offers the same message with the roles reversed. Evolve an entrepreneur who may or may not enjoy what she's doing but fully appreciates how it allows or just your time. With some support her family or friends. The story there be a fisherman that overfished the seas and criticize the entrepreneur. We're keeping her company so small. Not expanding to consume more resources. Neither case one of the people in the story suffers discontent and disconnection. But their own lives and feels the need to protect that out onto the life of another. Learning to accept one another. Inevitably will encounter the / truth. Much of what makes us unsatisfied. With others is merely a projection of what we mistakenly believe. Is lacking in our own lives. The spiritual dimension of growth. Calls us to a life where we recognize the abundance. You may not have abundant well. Or abundant health or love. More abundant allen. Or maybe in a place where we have all or some of these. Wheelock the abundance of clarity to be able to see what we do have. Neither case. She hearing me now or reading this later. You have enough of an abundance of life. To be extremely grateful. This is a tough discipline for all. Especially for me. The one that has life-saving potential. One way to repay that gift is to help others to recognize this truth. Rather than the sick to teach it. Modlily. By living into acceptance. Every chance we get. It just so happens to be. Right now.

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Wondrous-Love.m4a

Any death is a startling reminder of the preciousness of life. The death of someone like myra addington who gave her whole heart and receive so much love from this congregation. Is also a startling reminder of the preciousness of community. Community is something that like life itself we tend to take for granted if we have it. But the absence of it is nothing short of terrifying. It's an existential terror to be isolated. Soul-crushing and bleak. First human being there is nothing worse. And everyone knows it. Our prison system knows it when it inflicts solitary confinement. As the ultimate punishment on inmates. Ancient people knew it when they wrote the judeo-christian creation myth. In which god makes an earthling out of earth. And then consider this for a moment and makes another one. Saying. It is not good for the earthlings to be alone. We know it's not good. And yet so many of us are alone and we're lonely. 40% of americans describe ourselves as lonely. And this loneliness does violin. To our bodies. And our souls. People who feel socially isolated. Actually get sick more. Get more depressed. Sleep lasswell. And die younger. We got lost in ourselves when we're isolated. Isolation is the great almond of our day. Most of us don't have anywhere what myra had here. Today at the kickoff to our stewardship campaign and. The minister's role in this particular game is to preach a barnburner sermon that makes people feel. Generous. Now i don't have any problem talking about money i don't think it's crafts or evil. I'm proud of what we're doing here at first do and i think it's a privilege to be stewards of that. I have no problem talking about the fact that we're growing by leaps and bounds there is electricity in the air here this year. And we need money actual money to keep the actual electricity and this building on and get all get all of our engines humming at a higher rpm. I have no problem with any of that. But that is so not what i want to talk about today. And it's so not what i feel i shouldn't talk about is your pastor old minister. I want to talk about myra. And this community. And the magic that i've seen happened here over the last few weeks. I didn't know about suzanne staff until this morning so i'm talking about myra in this sermon but i think much of what i stay here cuz equally apply to suzanne. Tell me a fuse for a newer interior may not have known myra. For those of us who did knew her as a person of great death. And dignity and kindness. We'll have a chance to talk more and celebrate her at her memorial service in 2 weeks. Encourage you all to come. Throughout her illness. With how this community rallies around its members. In this case myra and dale in their time of need. The outpouring of support has been stunning to watch. You brought homemade meals. You wove a prayer shawls and gave it to her. You took dale out for evenings with the guys. You sat with myra and listen. I let her talk without having to sugarcoat the truth. At the prayer circle we held a few days ago. You sang songs and lit candles. Shared memories and prayers. He wrote messages of love i'm frightened to color pieces of paper and garnet strong them together into a tibetan prayer flag. And when myra saw them her eyes grew wide. And her mouth opened in amazement. We hung them in her hospice room and even though she couldn't speak at that point. It was clear that the love had reached her. It feels like a strange time to say this. But myra adamson was lucky. Most people don't have anywhere. What myra had here. It's almost a cliche to talk about how communities have gotten eroded in this country over the last 50 to 100 years. Independence is prized above all else an american dream is to live in a single-family home and to own your own car that you drive individually to your office where you have a corner office all by yourself. Over half of new yorkers live alone. The structures that used to tether us together by necessity. Have dissolve. African welfare as a nation things have changed. People no longer stay working at the same company for 40 years. Both because employers and employees trade up when they can. People no longer stay rooted in their hometown for their whole lives we pick up and leave our families and our childhood friends as a matter of course. If we're lucky we end up with friends scattered across the country and try to stay in touch by social media. Our relative well. Has created the illusion that what communities used to provide we can now by. Delusion about we used to do for each other. We cannot do for ourselves. With mira's illness and death we've just come through a shining messy example of a different model. A spiritual model. A model of real community in which we know that no one can do it all for ourselves. We need each other. Shining and that it brought out the best of our intentions to be there for others. Messi and that we were falling all over each other to make the right gesture give the right amount of space. Find the right words at the right time. It's hard. It's always hard. And from what i have seen this community does not shy away from engaging with that hard spiritual work. After that second earthling was created in the garden of eden it wasn't all happily ever after from there. Reverend david thumbaa retells the story in this way. The fall from grace. The great destruction of primordial order. The original sin had nothing to do with apples or talking snakes. The instrument of our fall. What's a wooden back scratcher. That piece of wood fence at the end so we can reach that unreachable spot. For the most persistent itch always takes up residence. Before the back scratcher before that simple infernal device. We like all our primate kim depended on others. To do for us but we could not do for ourselves. You scratch my back. I'll scratch yours. Before the back scratcher before that simple infernal tools we needed each other to scratch that unreachable itch. The wooden back scratcher dissolve the bonds of reciprocity unloose the ties of community and tempted us to believe in our own godlike self-sufficiency. And god walked in the cool of the garden and saw a primate standing alone. What have you done god asks that you stand alone. I have found a back scratcher said the beast. And now i need no one. Poor beast. Said god you must now leave this garden. And eaten no one stands alone. We all depend on others. And that's began our wandering are pacing up and down the earth scratching our own itches. Pretending self-sufficiency. Trying to ignore the percents persistence sense of loss. The vague yearning for a primordial order. A world where. You scratched my back and i scratch yours. I wouldn't back scratchers poor compensation for the gentle touch of a living hand. David bumbas right. I think it's fair to say that american culture has become a wooden back scratcher culture. All too often when we want to do something nice for someone instead of offering them that gentle touch of the living hand. We offer them a higher-performance back scratcher. Of course the problem. The problem that everyone knows and that few of us talked about is that back-scratchers don't work. The deepest h is on reachable. It's the itch for connection. It's the desire to be loved. It's a need to feel like we're not alone in this world like we mean something to others like we have a purpose here and we're connected to something larger than ourselves. We're not just alone spinning in outer space. The back scratcher doesn't work. Having well doesn't work. Having stuff doesn't work. Having influence or fame. Doesn't work. The we here in this room. We know what does work. We know that real live flesh-and-blood people talking together making music together worshiping together. Work. We know that a religious community connected by our love and by our desire to make the world a better place. Works. We know that is supporting each other in our spiritual journey. Works. We know that listening works and that hugs. Work. And we know that we needed. We know that life is hard and that we all struggle. There are other members of this congregation with cancer. They're members of his congregation with alzheimer's and with aids. They're members of this congregation with mental illnesses and members with physical disabilities are members of this congregation who have lost a spouse members who have lost a child. They're members of this congregation who are unemployed and who don't know how they're going to pay the rent next month. Their members going through a divorce. Members whose children are sick. This is the real raw stuff of life and for many of the people in this room there is nowhere else in the world. Where you can really talk about it. Really get into it. And give and receive the kinds of. Hands-on loving-kindness that we all crave. Displace. Is a vital irreplaceable resource for the people here. For the people who have been here. And for the people who are not yet here. Our community is growing more than it has in many years. There are people here with us in this sanctuary for the very first time this morning. How many of them will feel welcomed enough to come back. To become members to grow with us. How many will eventually move into the warm part of this community. To give to it at themselves. And in their times of life's greatest travail. Also received but my received through her long affiliation with us. Yes we need to keep the lights on. We need to pay staff and grow our programs to meet the needs of our growing congregation we need to establish more ministries to take our love out into the world and he'll but it's broken in our society. And that's reason enough for you to be generous during the stewardship campaign. But this morning as we face our losses and continue our work to comfort the bereaved. But we should be most mindful of is the we offer each other against. Beyond measure. A community of love and support. To inoculate ourselves against the disease of loneliness. It is not good for the earthling to be alone. We are earthlings were made in the plural. We were made to depend on each other and to take our greatest joy from scratching each other's back. We got this here. We got it deeply in our bones. And that is so rare. Our very existence here can test the notion that people have outgrown the need for each other. And can now scratch our own itches. We are a little pocket of living protest against the world of isolation. Let's keep building this garden of eden together. With wonderous love. In the midst of this big and lonely city please rise and body or spirit for our final him we're going to sit at the welcome table number 407 in your emerald.

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The-Truth-About-Lies-%E2%80%94-The-9th-Commandment.m4a

Give me the outfit makes me look fat this is a timeless question do which husbands and boyfriends if they know what is good for them it's supposed to answer no course not regardless of what they actually may think this is the classic lie that we tend to think of is not only excusable but virtuous. In fact some would say that it's a. Wrong it can be wrong not to lie in this situation culture in which lying is accepted. And forgiving and at times even encouraged. Our politicians sometimes lie to us and we've come to accept it is par for the course. Think of president clinton's infamous. I did not have sexual relations with that woman. This lie got him into trouble temporarily but then you see bumper stickers that say when clinton lied no one died. This is forgiving clinton's lie by contrasting it with the more egregious lies if the bush administration to lies about weapons of mass destruction in iraq that led us to war. The philosophical underpinnings of this bumper sticker is that ally is not a moral wrong and absolute sense but only insofar as it hurts people. Then even bushes lies that had such dire consequences seem to have been quickly forgotten. The american people re-elected him after all. Dj telling the truth i got you into a lot more trouble than lying just ask edward snowden. There seems to be a general cultural consensus that lying itself. Is not evil and truth-telling itself is not good. It's contextual. It depends. Even the biblical commandment to not bear false witness against one's neighbor doesn't outlaw lying generally but specifically when lying incriminates and innocent person. Most of the major medieval jewish commentators. Don't even comment on this commandment. Because its meaning is thought to be narrow and obvious. It's about preserving a court system that's reliable and just. One commentator it benezra notes that the verb can be read as causative to cause to testify falsely. So it's prohibiting hiring a false witness as well as doing it yourself. But they don't extrapolate to lying in general. The fact that it specifies against your neighbor makes an error still. The commandment to not kill. Simply says don't kill. It doesn't say don't kill your neighbor. The commandment against stealing simply says don't steal. It doesn't say don't steal from your neighbor. These are absolutely wrong regardless of whether the victim is your neighbor or not but the ninth commandment says do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Which suggests that this is specifically about relationships within a community. The message seems to be that lying is not an absolute wrong like killing and stealing but it is wrong with in a community because of the damage it does to relationships. Honesty is part of the glue that holds the fabric of a community together. When is congregation road our regulations covenant be clearly thought so too. It says among other things speak the truth as you experience it with kindness care and respect. You can find those regulations having it on our website or down at the welcome table after the service. This is a challenging idea because of course when we lie it's most often to preserve our relationships. It's to make things nice. We figured that sometime it's far more destructive to tell the truth. Take that proverbial case of the wife asking her husband if she looks fat in this dress and i'm intentionally using the gender stereotypes here although it could work just as well with either any combination of genders fat in this dress and let's say that the truth is that she thinks she does. There are two possibilities for why she's asking. Hey it's an honest question she honestly wants to know his opinion cuz she wants help in deciding whether she should wear the dress or not 4b the question is code for a different question. Like do you love me or are you attracted to me. If it's an option she truly wants his opinion then surely he owes it to her to give it to her. She is explicitly asked for help and making a decision she values his input and if he cares about her he should mislead her. If it's option b and when she's really asking is do you love me or are you attracted to me. Then it's a lot more complicated because in fact she is being dishonest with her question. She's not asking what she wants to know. So what to do. He could play along with the game. She's asking do i look fat meaning do you love me and he could say no you don't look fat man and yes i love you. So he'll be answering and code the question that was asked in code. But what a mess. What a sad state of affairs if we can't ask what we really mean and say what we really mean. I think a much healthier and bolder approach would be for the husband to say yes that dress is not flattering on you and i love you very much. Let's look at one more scenario if sticking with option b she speaking in code and wants to know if her husband loves her. And in fact. He doesn't. Then it's even more essential that he tell the truth. That would be the hardest truth of all but above all she would have a right to know that. We have a right to know the truth even if we don't always want to hear it. There's no worst kind of lie but a lie that's a private somebody of the information that they need to make good choices in their lives. Of course real relationships are rarely so simple as binaries of loving or not loving. Thinking somebody looks good or bad it's not so clear. It's usually shades of grey and the truth is blurry and the small lies that we tell or just rolled into the general fuzzy ambivalence is of daily life. And so it's easy to tell ourselves that we're not really lying. For being kind. We're choosing one truth from many possible truths that we could offer. But anyway we're a postmodern people and he's stark notions of truth and falsehood are so passe. But here as barbara warren in her homily we run the risk of lying to ourselves. Because telling the truth. As best as we can discern it. Is really really hard. You don't get to wallow in pleasant fantasies about who you are. You have to own up to your own failings and shortcomings. First to yourself. And then two others. You don't get to manage your image. You don't have recourse to the little fibs that protect us all from responsibilities and judgment. You also don't get to indulge in social niceties but you have to instead get real with the people in your life. You have to endure the consequences of people having information before you are ready for them to have it. This could be awkward. It can be painful. What can cause conflict. It can set you apart from others and society. It's a way of refusing to play the games and speaks in the code that everyone else speaks on. And so what if we all did this. If the language of the ninth commandment suggest. The telling lies tears the fabric of relationship in community. Would truth-telling actually keep that fabric intact. Clearly not. At least not in the short-term if we all started telling the truth as we saw it about ourselves and others a lot of things would come unraveled. But maybe they would be the very thing that should come unraveled. And the things that survived to be the things that should survive. It would be a spiritually daring way of approaching life it would require the courage to let go of everything that wasn't grounded in reality. And the face. To trust that it would turn out okay. I'm reminded of the aphorism if you love something set it free. If it's yours and will come back to you. If it doesn't. It was never meant to be. The spiritual intensity of truth-telling has not been lost on religions over the ages. In many religious traditions truth-telling itself is a central spiritual practice. Telling the truth even when it's an inconvenient truth or a painful truth. Is seen as an essential part of being in sync with the universe. Sasha truthfulness is one of the eight pillars of hindu practice and one of the upanishads the sacred scriptures that is written. No virtue is greater than truthfulness. No sin greater than promoting untruth. It suggests that all other spiritual practices are meaningless. Unless they're grounded first. And truth-telling. What categorizes a practice of truth-telling as a kind of asceticism. In the christian tradition. The monks st. augustine also taught absolute honesty and he developed a whole taxonomy of kinds of lies. From least bad to worst. The worst kind of lie with spreading a false religious teaching. The least bad kind of lie with lying to save somebody's life. But in his view even this kind of a lie cuz we send. They're prohibitions against lying in both the hebrew bible and the new testament in the book of john jesus described lying as the devil's tongue. In the book of numbers balaam speaks as an oracle and says god is not a human being. Better chun-li. God is envisioned that the being who does not lie truthfulness is considered an ascetic spiritual practice and a tradition and lying is a sinful indulgence. Is a fascinating concept that truth-telling is an aesthetic practice. Asceticism eating a kind of extreme austerity foregoing of comfort stripping down to the bare essentials for the purpose of spiritual growth. And truth-telling is like this. In place of the comforts of our social games and codes by refusing to lie you're constantly reminding yourself and others that life is serious and short and we don't have time to be saying things that we don't mean. Hard enough. To say what you mean when you mean to say what do you mean. It's hard enough to really know somebody. And really be known by them when you are trying to be honest about who you are. Much less when you're spinning lies. By refusing to lie you stayed that we have a sacred connection to one another. Lion does soul damage to the liar. The lively. And the relationship between them. By refusing to lie you refuse to participate in that kind of soul damaged. It's definitely a no-frills way of living. So i challenge all of us to give it a try for one week. One week absolute truthfulness no lies. No misrepresentation. If you decide to conduct this experiment i would love to hear your experiences with it. It doesn't mean you should say everything that crosses your mind right we should heed the old warning always tell the truth but don't always be telling it. In other words don't go out of your way to say hurtful things. But if you want to do this experiment you can't mislead people either by your silence or by your words or by your actions with all of these great spiritual teachers are right it will truly be a spiritual practice. And i bet it will teach us a lot about ourselves i guarantee it will be hard to do even for a week. Because that's gloria steinem put it so beautifully the truth. Will set you free. The first. It will piss you off. Please rise and friday or spirit for our final him in the teal hymnal number 1017 we are building a new way.

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Youth-Service-Homilies.m4a

Hello my name is vivian wildey and i will be sharing my homily today with you guys to feel change is to grow within yourself and that's how i felt going to romania with my youth group when the idea was first brought up about our youth group pilgrimage being a trip to transylvania in romania. I took it all these emotions at once it would be my first time going overseas and to have an opportunity to learn about a different culture different beliefs and social issues it would be a different atmosphere with a different perspective on your tarianism. Thinking ahead to the trip. I also had several fears. Will we be able to communicate what if they don't like my personality what if they are not as diverse as we are here. These are real questions i had because as excited as i was i was also scared thinking that way maybe feel uncertain about the trip the doubts that came over me more than a boundary which most common people abused as an excuse to keep themselves in their comfort zones but on this trip i didn't just break my comfort wall i became more aware of personal experiences. To try new things and allowing myself to change in the sense of making something unfamiliar familiar when you can feel uncomfortable close up for yourself and embraced a new place you're in. It could be as simple as befriending someone trying a new food that you rejected in the past or sorry for letting someone teach you something new this all happened to me on this trip and it made me more accepting of change our first full day in septic tank st.george we loaded a bus to a small nearby village with the hungarian high-schoolers place over the coals and the other one was helping was helping us rotated over the cold we loaded onto a horse-drawn carriage for an hour-long ride through the treeside we tried to befriend the hungarian high scores throughout the day while we are tired hungry and overheated. But if you don't take the chance it's just a passing opportunity cusano thank you we decided to go swimming in a volcanic lake an hour away from the church that had been her home as the thunder got louder and closer the sky became almost permanently illuminated with the weather worsening we knew it was time to get out of the water we grabbed our belongings and ran to a nearby outdoor cafe with umbrellas still wearing our cold bathing suits the few knitted blankets we had covering ourselves were not enough to keep us warm. We joked that the bus probably left us and we have to stay there forever well admiring the rain fogging the mountains behind it the wind pierce their faces as our body shivered we sat at the cafe for a long time but the rain did not stop we settled on a plan to run up the hill to the bus which would take us back to the subsea saint-georges unitarian church it was cold and scary as we thought the hill sledding right back down with every stride dirt covered our legs towels and even faces are flip flops flopped off and soak blankets flipped off our backs as we conned into safety and the bus was immediately filled with excited voices and cheese chatters ugly recollected are experienced by the time the bus started to move everyone was cuddled up in spare clothing kindly lent to us by the bus driver we talked sr2 group had grown close we had worked together and cared for one another throughout the highs and lows of our trip the thought of going back to america was dad after the year of planning and fundraising and a week of pure happiness with our new hungarian friends however while we were gone in america we were in the dark about current events at home as the latest incidents of racial profiling and police brutality dominated the news we were unplugged lost in our fantasy of peace and tolerance liberty and justice for all. Inspired by the words of hope and compassion for each other and throw in for the world that we here in sermon. Hymns and stories. The silent prayer and meditation is an especially awesome moment of quiet in the busy of the week. It's amazing to reflect among so many other people i find myself considering the words of the sermon on sunday afternoons. But throughout the week. It feels as if i forgotten the words. Iceberg being more active you you. Acting with love inside the space and ouch. The latter can be difficult sometimes here we are reminded by the messages and themes of the day service to be great people. Outside school work in the business of life brings aiden. That makes it hard to feel compassion. Most sundays i'm worried free within this building i don't to worry about that paper when i'm coming down cuz i'm calmed by the beautiful words yet i do it i do feel a vast range of emotions. Saturn by tragedies around the world and filled with joy at all the good it falls on the speakers here straight something meaningful each week. Inspire change. But the responsibility also falls on the congregation. Toonami feel the words of the service to translate them into action. Create a better world around us. We may not remember the exact words in on a sermon about black lives matter a few weeks ago. I can i conceptually understood the meaning in the moment but what's important is the message that carries through. One of the things that makes our church so great as a community of activists who fight here who fight for justice. I look up to them and see them as role models. Texas iran amount of self-reflection. Encouraged to take these words be on the church steps. During our trip to transylvania. I thought in a word enlightened. Have excited to be in a new country. I've never been to europe before so the plane right over it was very fun. But what's most important with the people we met and became good friends with at the church at subsea saint george and transylvania the warrants and acceptance they showed us exemplified the spirit of unitarianism. Across oceans we are alike. The minister of the church eastbound quoted the universalists writer. Hosea during worship you don't have to think alike to love alike. Throughout the trip moments like this one made me feel very happy to the unitarian at the church i met a three-year-old and cap-toe and quickly became best friends with her. We barely spoke a word to each other occasionally i'd say thank you or hello but in spite of this we start we found a connection. I was in a very joyous bubble away from the heated political climate and american struggles of early july. When we were in transylvania. I saw the greater connection to the world and especially to you use. At the end of our trip i didn't feel it as much. I looked at the news for the first time in more than a week and saw the stories of alton sterling and philando castile's murders. Much of the country was protesting and outraged. Be more connected to the world and unitarian universalism. Obsessed me more loving for the world. I was quite upset about the violence cuz i felt that my view of the world had changed on this trip. I felt so loving for the people around me the world and wanted to spread this love through action. Sing horrible news. Let me forget this vision. When we see tragedies visions of equality and peace the world seemed more and more like imagination john lennon's vision mlk's dream seemed distant like we'll never get there i was away from news and awareness of a heart horrors of the world by leaving the country i went into a bubble of love and happiness this trip changed my perspective but the news pop that bubble and i was upset about that so upset about how my loving view of the world. It doesn't always come naturally. So we have to consciously look for ways to be compassionate. I'm a treasured moment of enlightenment on the trip. Was the last name only came into our sacred space. Ended group worship. I was very happy to be with the youth group and felt as though all was right in the world and that circle someone said the sun has risen and all is right with the world this is a beautiful quote but it feels as if it ignores the suffering of people around the world and the horrors of racism it's unfair to say it because in reality there's a lot wrong with the world but we can't live life always unhappy because people are suffering but we we can't live life fully content either because that enjoys that ignores injustice we must reconcile reality. I don't yet have an answer how to take our feelings of hope and love for the world and make them inder drink tragedy injustice that's why i show up on sunday mornings if there's anywhere to search the answer that truth it's here. It took me 1000 mile journey to appreciate the people right next to me and what we have here thank you.

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Why-Should-The-Devil-Get-All-The-Good-Tunes.m4a

Helen spoke so clearly and insightfully about the problem of religious language. It's really a problem for everyone. Or at least everyone who thinks about such things which is probably not everyone it's been a problem ever since the story of moses at the burning bush when he asks the voice coming out of the bush or what are you. And the voice responded with a completely unsatisfying non-answer. I will be what i will be. And ever since then we have struggled with what to call this thing that is not a thing at all. When people have tried to nail it down and call it god and giving names to all of the associated concepts worship church sin blessing prayer there always been people who resisted. Who said you can't do that you can't put words on something putting words on something like that tim finds it it makes. The infinite. It became part of jewish tradition to not even try to speak the most sacred name of god. And buddhist don't use any names at all to describe ultimate reality. Anything's that would narrow it would turn it into an illusion. Words are powerful. Our concept of reality shape the words that we choose but then our words also shape our concept. So that's one problem with religious language. The second problem has to do with how it's been used over the centuries. As religions develop with the aid of these words that we attached to it the words began to enshrine some truly oppressive understandings of how the universe works. God became. A word for a male powerful figure that judges and punishes and smyth's the unfaithful. Worship became the word for supplication to this patriarchal figure. Send became the word use as a weapon against people who were just loving who they loved and being who they were and not harming anybody. Blessing became a word for preferential treatment for those with wealth and power and privilege already. Religion became the pretext for all of this violence. And church became the room where it happened. And so people with good reason fled from these words. Unitarian and universalist churches across the country became congregations or societies or in our case a congregational society. Congregants had originally called this the church of the savior which is the name of the building that is still outside on a plaque outside. The front door. The word god got dropped. From the liturgy across the country and replace with words like love and hope and spirit of life. The word sinugod wiped from the lexicon entirely and some people even bristled at calling unitarian universalism a religion. Religious language feliway. This worked fine for a time roughly the second half of the twentieth century people enjoyed the freedom from these words that have carried so much painful baggage. But then the pendulum started to swing back. Even in the time that i've been in ministry which is about 11 years i've noticed. A palpable shift. People have been craving. That religious language. Helen mentioned former ua president bill sing for to preach a controversial sermon in 2003 calling for a language of reverence. Spiritual seekers were finding met while language had its limitations it could also serve as a vehicle for connection. This is what helen was talking about in her homily have religious language played a role for her and bringing her closer to the holy. I believe that we as religious liberals should reclaim and redeploy religious language. That means that we don't surrender these words. These sparkly powerful meaning packed heritage which word we don't surrender them. To those who misuse them. To say that religious conservatives. Get your own god. And worship and sin is to say that they wins the linguistic monopoly game and they get to walk away with park place and boardwalk and pennsylvania avenue and we're just left with a couple of boring utility words conservative religion is not the real religion. We're just as real and we have just as much claim to those sparkly words. As they do. And we have the right to use them for different purposes. We can expand their meeting so that they become resources and tools. For us. How we treat the various religious words should be taken on a case-by-case basis. I can think of three approaches that we could consider for each word. Embrace and expand. Repeal-and-replace and delete. God to my way of thinking is it where that we should embrace. And expand. God becomes an hour telling not just a masculine forest but a feminine power and a power beyond any possible conception of gender. Diamond hands in earth forest a water for us a skyforce. A principle of beauty. And wisdom. Creative energy. Compassionate. Destructive. Friends and queen. Brother and jokester. The infinite eternal. We can also still use words like love and hope and spirit of life. But she's god and the mix. God is precious real estate. Don't feed that ground to conservative rather use this word to seed a zeder own ground. Embrace and expand. A word like church to me falls into the repeal-and-replace category. We should see this word to christian because it is a term for a christian congregation. This building is a church building but this congregation is a congregation. This is a good way to be inclusive of people here who are not abba christian heritage. I've had some members approached me and explain that this is very important to them. And that's a hear people call this congregational church actually feels very distancing to them. So. Repeal and replace. Finally does a small category of words that we should just. Delete. Excommunication. You're probably aware that we will never have any use for i don't foresee a time in the future when we will ever be excommunicating people from unitarian-universalism so i think we can safely delete that word. We need to be aware that when we leave the l word. Often the concept behind it. Goes out the window to. The meaning itself. Can be lost. With excommunication we don't care. But there might be other cases were losing the meaning might actually impoverish us. Sim is an example of this. Unitarian universalist have deleted the word sin. The word has so much baggage and has been weaponized against our people over and over again and we have rejected it completely. But we haven't replaced it with anything. Until the concept itself has lost traction. A common critique of unitarian universalist by people of other faiths. Is it we don't have a spiritually mature language. For human wrongdoing. We have to rosie of view of human nature. And we don't take seriously enough our capacity for evil. Evil is another one of those were. We need a concept of sin. Even if we repeal and replace it with another word. We need a real word. For when someone commits violence against the earth. We need a word for when someone commits violence against a child. We need a word for when someone in a position of power sexually violates somebody with less power. We need a word for systemic violence that create poverty and denies people healthcare and education. We saw some of this systemic violence over the weekend. We need a word for this. Whether it's in or whether it's a different word we need a word. We don't have time today to go through every one of the religious words and decide which ones should be embracing expand which should be repeal-and-replace and which should be delete. But i'm guessing that this topic pushing some buttons or has juicy resonance for you. So. Talk about it. Talk about it at coffee hour journal about it take it seriously. Farm your own lexicon of religious words that work for you. Words matter. Language matters. We should neither embrace words unthinkingly or reject them too lightly. From the opening words of the hebrew bible when god literally speak. The world into existence let there be light. Religion and language have been intertwined in a complex relationship. The words we speak. Big back to us. They can guide us into rich mystical places of meaning. And they can also cause pain. Let's redeem them from all the way they've been abused and been abusive. But let's also fill our lexicon with words that are spiritually nutritious. Let's make. Religious language work. Not against us. Sephora. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him number 295 sing out crazy for the journey.

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Technology-Religion-God-As-Consumer.m4a

The gazelle project this is what amazon called a new initiative to work out contracts with smaller publishers the gazelle project this was his name was client after jeff bizos instructed his team to approach these small publisher is the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle amazon's approach to the large publishers was not much difference amazon sells 40% of all print books and 65% of all ebooks. So even giant powerhouse publishers like macmillan or my publisher has shed when they are negotiating with amazon about book prices they have virtually no power. When amazon didn't like how the negotiating was going with mcmillan they simply removed the spy button from all of mcmillan's books on the amazon website until an agreement was reached with us yet amazon delayed shipping to customers agree with amazon's terms they will tweak their algorithms so that your books or backpacks or toasters or toy trains or electric toothbrushes will disappear and ideal. What's the consumer. And what does the consumer want. Cheap. We want to buy stuff a lot of stuff and pay as a little for it as possible. Amazon gets us there. The strong-arm tactics that they use allow us to buy stuff on amazon. For sometimes a half as much as we would pay in the store exact same book lower price. Same backpack blower price same toaster lower price. And buying it as quick it's easy and it gets delivered to our door. What's not to like well let's look at what's happening on the other end of all this will take books as an example but it's basically happening in every industry when amazon squeezes a publisher they have to cut costs in order to survive they're not laying off the marketing at the sales people they're laying off the editors. The intellectual and creative partners of the author's the people who understand the literary landscape and work for months shaping each book into something that is uniquely valuable and high-quality for its genre. Authors advances and royalties are shrinking and authors are now acquired less on the merit of their book spend on their fame and social media platform in other words their likelihood of selling. Publishers are less able to take risks on first-time authors are authors with some. Weird offbeat idea they've just can no longer afford to do it. I know for a fact that if i had pitched my book to my publisher even one year later than i did they would not have bought it. That's how quickly things are changing. And two others are finding it harder and harder to make a living. Now some people including authors say we didn't want publishers to begin with publishers were just old-school dead white male gatekeepers preventing us from getting our book published. Now with the blindingly bright technology of our time anyone can publish their own. And amazon is not going to demand any revisions checkyourfact bother you with long conversations about your ideas none of them. What's more anybody can have a blog now a facebook presents a twitter feed for free and speak directly to the world the tech world has marketed this as the great democratization of creativity. Instead of a cabal of white men smoking cigars and some backroom determining what's good writing and what's worth dissemination the people the consumers will decide anyone can be an author and the best will rise to the top naturally in franklin for the book on this topic world without myint which i absolutely love and i encourage you to go to a bookstore and buy it and read it he describes jeff bezos's mindset he right as a matter of principle. Preventing it from communicating its wishes. He believes in letting consumers. The customers around whom the world spins have the final word. And the final word we are having. Indeed. The world is now spinning around what we consumers click on and pay for. And that leans toward the cheaper the faster the flashier the easier to digest the simpler the more sensational the gourrier and even the more disturbing journalism is getting more and more rushed as stories gravitate toward clickbait rather than in-depth reporting who has time to read along a news story not to mention a whole book we click on stories and ads that are violent and fake more often than we click on those that are non-violent and true and so we pay for a world where fake news and violence are ascendant. You might be thinking what i don't do that but we collectively. The world spins around what the consumer wants and apparently. This is it. We are all becoming amazon gazelles. In the world of jeff bezos which is our world. The consumer is god. We pray to that. and we sacrifice to that god technology put capitalism on overdrive. But exponentially more granular and the nimble responsiveness to the desires of the market. You could say that this is really about making money and it is about making money but just drive to make money. Is supported by a spiritual ideology. The ideal of consumers getting what they want. It's gotten mixed up in our minds with the idea of democracy. It's gotten mixed up with darwinian natural selection. It's gotten mixed up with the idea of freedom today technologies have brought to life a quintessentially american misdiagnosed shania of the people finally having our voice. It's anti expert and its populace in exactly the way that right-wing politics is today. It's free-market ideology on steroids. If you give consumers what they want and i mean exactly what they want the best products ideas and outcomes will prevail in the world will be a better place that's the idea. But there is. A tragedy embedded in this theology of our time. With a consumer as god we humans. Living breathing loving relating people. Gady spiritualize. We got defined as consumers. We get reduced to the part of us that consumes. That takes from the world. Are outraged at the injustice is of this world getting redirected into outrage against the injustice is against us as consumers. Services that they're too slow or products that are somehow subpar. That's what we get angry about. As consumers we express our glorious freedom and individuality through our cliff and our dollars. But we are so much more than cliques and dollars. The identity of consumer. Doesn't even begin to encompass the fullness of our being at our yearnings and our complexity at our giving at our loving on this earth. If all we are is consumerism that's not much. And the things that we want as consumers. I'm not always the things that we will want to have received when we reach the end of our lives and look back they're not necessarily what we want as people as spiritual beings having a human experience on this earth. As consumers we want to buy books and music as cheaply as possible. But as humans what we may really want is for writers and musicians to be able to make a living. As consumers we may want to get our news for free and fast with sexy headlines and click sound by. But as humans what we may really want. Is for journalists to write deep and thoughtful pieces to have impact in this world. As consumers we want plastic straws. But as humans what we may really want is for fish and sea turtles 2. Drive and to move away from petroleum products for the health of all of us. Despite these larger and fuller and more real expressions of our selfhood it is mostly what the consumer wants that counts in our society. Because the consumer is god. And freedom of choice is everything. But here's the irony as humans in our being as humans we have free will but as consumers today we are far from free our consumer desires are manipulated and even manufactured from scratch by corporations. This is always happened to some extent but today's technologies allow that manipulation to get deep inside us using data about our habits and preferences to craft unique campaign tailored to evoke our particular longing for these product. Virtual assistants like amazon's alexa and smart appliances entire smarthomes anticipate and suggesting even order for you the things that you're going to want next when it comes to online use of products and platforms that subtle coercion is even more powerful one of our members here who works in the tech industry describe to me how millions of person hours from the labor of thousands of people at the cost of billions of dollars have gone into designing the addictive qualities of these products in the digital gaming industry it's called addiction mechanics. And the media products is called engagement stickiness session duration business is optimized toward maximum revenue revenue comes from more users users using their product for more time. Weaver place spiritual yearning with consumer urinating. And the fire of that urinating is constantly tended and stoked by these sophisticated technologies. What we want. What we want is murky and manipulable bill mckibben's opinion piece in the new york times this week detailed how the ballot initiatives and states out west to have a carbon tax. Or to prohibit fracking we're at first pretty popular with voters that is until the last few weeks when the fossil fuel industry poured millions and millions of dollars into online and tv advertising saturating people's consciousness with fears and both ballot initiatives fail brazil's new far-right president and has threatened to kill 30,000 leftist same story. Just months ago almost nobody wanted to vote for him that was what people wanted. But multinational corporations flooded facebook whatsapp messaging platform with fake news and hate speech and presto he was elected is this really what we want it's clear now the getting what we want as consumers and getting what we have been manipulated into wanting is devastating our world it's destroying human culture writing and the arth it's tearing the political and social fabric of our societies. And the demand for constant extraction from the earth to fulfill these wants is bringing our ecosystems to the brink of collapse the most dangerous threat humanity has ever faced. Sitting right here now with our phones safely in the vestibule or leave turned off. Singing and listening to great music and spending an hour together we know. That we are much more than consumers. We are life givers and lovers and thinkers and feelers. We are humans with histories and with futures. We have aspirations for ourselves and for one another that go far beyond the immediate gratification of our desires. We yearn for a different kind of world than the one we're all creating right now. And if we do yearn for a different world we are going to have to make that happen. We are going to have to bring this consciousness outside of these doors. We are going to have to embrace higher values than what we ourselves want. Because what we want is killing us. We have to be the ones to do it amazon is not going to do it for us corporations are not going to do it for us technology is not going to do it for us the government is definitely not going to do it for us. We have to do it ourselves. And we have to do it. Together. And if we do this. We can prevail. This week amazon issued a rare apology. It was to a collective of antiquarian booksellers amazon had decided to just drop several of them off of its website with no explanation other than something vague and cavalier about payment processing rather than the other members of this collective just praying that amazon wouldn't cut them off to 600 antiquarian booksellers from around the world banded together and went on strike removing 4 million books from amazon within 2 days amazon amazon gazelle. We too need to lift out of our identity as consumers and expand into our full presence as human beings. We are not individual competing monads we are members of a community that is collectively creating our reality. Our desires don't have to rule us. But we have to know that powerful forces have a vested interest in our desire is ruling us. The consumer is not god but we need to use all of the spiritual resources we have to reclaim our time and space and our sense of ourselves as people of a larger vision. Next week we have our annual hunger communion at our fast day where we can focus on that larger vision beyond our immediate desires. From sunrise to sundown we will contemplate the question what are you hungry for what are we really hungry for what do we really want what will it take to feed our souls and refuse to be amazon's gazelle and instead build a human culture of beauty and saw spirit and health wonder and touch. If it will take giving up some of what we want with a lowercase w. To live in service to what we want with an uppercase w i suspect it will find its well worth it. And life-giving to all the creatures up here please join me in our final him i'm going to live so and that is imprinted in your order of service.

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Commencement-For-Caterpillars.m4a

An hour before my husband jeff's high school graduation he was nowhere to be found he had left the house that morning telling his parents that he's not going to his graduation you just got in the news that a friend of his had gotten into a terrible accident i've been very badly hurt. Jeff had no interest in sitting through some endless ceremony listening to modlin speeches and feeling sad. So he went out and found a nice tree to sit under with his girlfriend at the time instead. Meanwhile two friends of his dad by his house to pick him up they learned from jeff's mother that he was planning to skip the graduation and but you didn't know where he was but they knew him pretty well they knew where his. Special favorite tree was and they decided to drive over there and look for him there sure enough there he was. Just looked over and saw his two friends approaching. I thought i bet they're going to try to talk me into going. Fat chance. But they didn't. They simply picked him up. One of them took his arm the other took his ankles and they carried him to the car they said idiot you're not going to miss your high school graduation and your mother is in tears by the way and so it was that jeff attended his graduation after all. I can certainly relate to what jeff was feeling at the time some of the most boring hours of my life have been the hours that i spent at the three graduations that i've been apart of i remember the sinking feeling every time i realized that yes every one of these millions of people is going to actually walk across the stage and get that piece of paper. Am i going to get these hours back at the end of my life i bet some of you feel the same way about these things and some of you love these things either way. We do them. Meteorism. Internally when we look back we're glad that we did graduations bridging ceremonies new member ceremonies wedding memorial services they mark a moment of transition changing in some way from one thing to another they say to us. You're something new. You're no longer youth. You're now a young adults boom. You're no longer a visitor the first you you're now a member we don't become something new all at once in one moment. One day usually even one year. Almost everything is a gradual process. Those of you who joined the congregation today. Diana daniel sophia mad. Frank. Christina. Jason robert chelsea. Claire matt kermit and lindsay your process of becoming part of this community started long before today. And will continue long after today. Those of you who are bitching ethan and ben your process is growing from a youth to young adult started long before today and will continue long after today. When it's your birthday you know you're not suddenly a year older. It's so annoying it's always used to be to me at least when people would say. So how does it feel to be 9 i don't want to say you know it feels basically the same way it felt to be eight. But think about a life without any ceremonies. Without any way to celebrate growing up. Unchanging. Think about how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly it's a process. It takes over a week which for a caterpillar is a long time. It happens to gradually. I wonder if the caterpillar is aware. Of the change. As it's happening. I wonder if it senses some kind of magical moment inside the chrysalis when it suddenly gets its butterfly soul. And by the time it's a butterfly i wonder if it even remembers having been a caterpillar. I'm kind of sad to think that it would go through this incredible beautiful change. Without even realizing it. It's kind of sad that the transition was never marked or celebrated. No balloons no streamers no new butterfly song. The caterpillar is just literally hanging under the tree with its girlfriend not knowing what it's missing there's a reason why jeff's mother was crying when she thought that he wouldn't be at his graduation. He would have still graduated either way just like the caterpillar would become a butterfly the eight-year-old will become a nine-year-old even without a party the youth would become a young adult. The visitor the first you would become a member of the community. But for us humans it's important that we pick a day and celebrate the transition. Even though we know it's arbitrary even though we know that the piece of paper doesn't mean anything something would be lost if we didn't market. When you mark the change you know that it's really happening you get to look around and say to yourself and your friends and your family. Wow. Look where i am right now. I'm changing i'm growing i'm doing all right for myself. And you can look. Later in your life and say it was sometime around then. Then i became the next version of myself. Ceremonies give us away to plant a stake in the ground even when the ground is swirling all around us. Are those stakes lineup. Across the expanse of time. But our lives are almost like suspension bridges that go from one. To the next. Our ceremonies don't make the change happen but they show us that it's happening. They make us feel like the change is real. Can we do walk away afterwards often feeling a little different a little older a little wiser. A little more connected to the communities of our future. And so to those of you who are joining first you today. I offer blessings of that connection with this community of the future. Made us become a home for you. May you feel supported. And loved. And challenged and changed a little bit by your time here. And to those of you who are bridging today entering young adulthood may you know that our hearts are with you everywhere you go. May the ceremony today celebrate your drone not begin or ended and made it fill you up with the loving energy of this community today just looks back and is glad that his friends made him go to his high school graduation. The method would have been to miss something real. This feature turned out not to be modeling but actually meaningful the event as a whole was meaningful. And it was not about getting the diploma in fact when he walked across the stage that day and received the folder that was supposed to contain his diploma diploma wasn't there. There was a note instead that said that he owed $10 of library fines and he just needs his diploma once he had paid them and yet he graduated he grew he changed as we all do over the years in our each and our little chrysalis whether we like it. Or not. Or not. Please rise and body or spirit for our final him that our final him our next him number 191 now i recalled my childhood.

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Humans-Earth-The-Wolves-Comeback.m4a

It was a strange and historic moment one morning in 1995 when a large white truck pulled up into yellowstone national park carrying a canadian wolves this shipment of wolves had for years been the focal point of explosive political debates and the stuff of dreams for wildlife biologist and after many false hope the day had finally arrived. Nobody knew exactly what would happen this had never been tried before. One of the biologists fears was realized right away the alpha couple a male and a pregnant female immediately headed north out of the park trying to get back to their home in canada the male got shot by a rancher illegally but the ranchers are rangers were actually able to find the female in the pups and bring them back to the safety of yellowstone park and that couple in those popsicle the ancestors of almost all of the wolves who are in yellowstone today wolves are the heroes of this story that megan told earlier and it's a true story and the trees and bushes around the waterways the lakes in the rivers have gotten bunch down to. The beavers didn't have anything to build their dams with so they weren't doing so well in the number of fish and animals that live in and near the water also dropped birds of all kinds were struggling. Really it was only the elf who were good with the situation when the wolves came back just described one-by-one all of the plants and the animals began to bounce back as well. Even the elk increased they just had to hide more in the forests and not hang out snacking by the water so often and the rivers themselves change shape they became deeper and faster flowing with more estuaries that support wildlife and more sharply defined banks because the soil was better because it was eroding less the wolves brought back life to the earth. The story has another hero to the scientist. The biologist who dreamed this up had the courage and the vision and the strength of their convictions. To create the possibility for this extraordinary string of event they tipped the first domino and nature took care of the rest. Today's story is part of this year's sermon series called six stories of humans and the earth exploring the relationship between humans and the earth each of our sixth unitarian universalist sources and the results of science and warned us against idolatries of the mind and spirit. This rebirth of yellowstone. Through the predation of the wolves has above all been a triumph of science over the ideologies of mind and spirit idolatries in this case meaning superstitions and fears from the food chain they had analyzed. The wolves were clearly the missing puzzle piece from so this was a rational plan. Based in science world has been an important part of the ecosystem and the northern millennia northern hemisphere for millennia have a bad reputation they have a larger-than-life mythic association for people as dangerous big bad even evil. Take a little red riding hood where the villain is a wolf and the victims are the fairy archetype of innocent helplessness a little old grandmother and a little girl and the wolf a male wolf of course eats them both and take the story of the three little pigs and take the story of peter and the wolf for coffee as musical setting has a melody for the wolf that sounds like this. Scary right these myths have persisted. Because although wolf attacks on humans are exceedingly rare wolves are fierce and sophisticated predators for the animals that they do attack. It's really hard to fathom that the modern toy poodle is somehow related. And so because of all this when scientists revealed plans to reintroduce wolves to yellowstone public opposition was intense. Ranchers in the surrounding areas fear that the wolves would kill their livestock which of all the objections was actually the the one reasonable one some people feared for their lives. And some people feared for the elk elk unlike wolves were an animal that people actually like again based on the solid g and sentimentalism maybe because elkhart innocent vegetarians and they have cool adler's like rudolph the battles about this became so heated that it one point the governor threatened and the results have been spectacular. There are now 13 wolfpack living in yellowstone no wolf has attacked a human in the 22 years since they have been back they have killed some livestock in the surrounding area cows and sheep. Femoral livestock are killed by other predators. And environmental groups actually now compensate ranchers for any livestock lost to wolves. So what we saw was a battle between on one hand reason. Paired with hope and ambition for the future and on the other hand largely irrational fears. Rooted in meth. And legend. How often. We had that same battle going on in our own part. We have part of us that has a pretty solid fiery about what we need to do to bring our ecosystems into balance what just might make a world of positive difference in our own lives or someone else's us that holds back. Because of fears rooted in our internal legends and myths stories about who we are who someone else is or memories of how we've been hurt in the past. We may have a message that says if i get married by spouse will huff and puff and blow my house down i'll lose myself as an individual. Or one that says i'm just a little old grandmother i'm too old to change careers without getting eaten alive. For one that says if i raise my kids be to independence and walk in the woods alone she'll be weird and she'll have no friends and she'll hate me and it'll be all my fault. These are all fear-based myths that are often not true and not serving us but they can be so powerful that sometimes we want to call up the national guard and have them stop the shipment of whatever it is at the border and then there's the aspirational boldness that voice of reason and hope to the myths about marriage this voice says but i love this person that i want to share my life with them. The myth about career the savoy says many people have changed their careers late in life and i can too. The myth about the child divorce says as a parent i am in the unique position of being able to help my child become her own person. Like the wildlife biologist we don't know for sure if a new wild idea will work. We know things could go wrong. When we let our own internal wolf out of its cage and might just head north and try to get home and it might just get hurt. But we also know that if we take that leap. And take that risk and it does work. It could succeed beyond our wildest imagination. Cascading down to every dimension of our lives and relationships. We have these two voices battling inside us. Which one will win. This question is answered and another legends it also happens to be about wolves. This is from the cherokee nation. An old cherokee at teaching his grandson about life. A fight is going on inside me he says to the boy. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil he has anger envy sorrow regret greed arrogance self-pity. Guilt resentment. Inferiority live false pride superiority and ego. He continued. The other is good. He is joy peace love. Hope. Serenity. Humility. Kindness benevolence empathy generosity. Truth. Compassion and faith that same fight is going on inside you. And inside every other person to the grandson thought about it for a moment and then he asked his grandfather which wolf will win. The old cherokee simply replied. The one you feed. At the beginning of this new year some of us are making resolutions and dreaming about how to make big changes in our lives. How can we get the delicate ecosystems of our own world into health and balance it can be daunting and scary even overwhelming. It's hard to know where to start and how to do it. Some of us make a new year's resolutions but they always seem a little grandiose and hard to keep and most of them fail. None of us not all of us are prepared to order the equivalent of a fresh shipment of live wolves every single year. Tumi. When i feel daunted. By the scale of a change or projects or year ahead of me. I find the story of the reintroduction of wolves to the yellowstone tremendously comforting. Because it tells me that just like. I know the emails that we got about year-end giving. That when we give when you make a donation however small. donation will be matched that if i do one small thing. The right kind of thing life itself will give me an extra push the story shows how nature can do so much with so little. It was just eight wolves in yellowstone initially who changed everything. It teaches that we two in our own lives can do so much with so little if we are working in and with the flow of nature sometimes all we have to do is take one small step in the right direction and nature will take it from there. And even know this is supposed to be a story drawn from our source about reason and science i can't help but notice that there is something mystical about this. I can't help it feel all. At the power. And wisdom of the workings of the universe. And so i invited you into this new year yes with reason and science but also with a bit of faith. That if we feed the wolf of hope. Instead of the wolf of fear. If we feed the wolf of compassion. Instead of the wolf of resentment. If we feed the wolf of generosity instead of the wolves agreed. If we feed the wolf at roof instead of the wolf of deception. If we feed the wolves of kindness instead of the wolf of ego if we are true to ourselves instead of to our own self-limiting myths and set our attention toward health and balance it will trigger a cascade of goodness. Federal pour into our lives and out into our families our communities and the ecosystem of this world that needs it so badly and so as we head into this strange and somewhat daunting new year i invited you to take some time and ask ourselves which wolf are we going to feed. This year.

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Moderation-in-Moderation.m4a

Back in the good old days people used to pay for the privilege of sitting in particular pews here. The better fuse front-and-center went for more money and the ones way in the back maybe kind of in the balcony under the corner there where the cheap seats. Of course to some of us those back corners are eminently desirable and we would pay the big bucks to be allowed to sit there unperturbed. 50 that isn't made that was the system in those days and the church relied on wealthy members to rent the expensive fuse for their families. During these times the 1850s reverend samuel longfellow was a minister here he was a radical abolitionist are more liberal than their congregations and this was no exception much of this congregation was content to let the self solve their own problems and leave well enough alone some of them may have had financial interest in the cotton plantations. We know that this was the case with some new england congregations. Longfellows radical stances on slavery and his insistence on preaching about that from the pulpit offended some of the members. A pamphlet from the air estates. Some of us went around and let all the benches meaning rented the pews out and then mr longfellow preach the john brown sermon and drove them all away. John brown was a fiery abolitionist to believe that violence would be necessary to end slavery. So i guess longfellow preached in that extremists vein and people left this church. Apparently not everybody apparently many people saw him as a saint. But enough that the church ended up divided and struggling financially. It's amazing how much times have changed in the unitarian world and in the country generally nobody today would think that it's extreme to declare slavery and abomination that must end nobody would think that it's an inappropriate topic for a sermon. And most people would not wish that the civil war hadn't happened and that's the south hadn't seceded but the south had succeeded despite the violence and staggering loss of life but it until. Most of us would agree that what was considered the radical extremist politics of abolitionism. In the early 1800s is just self-evident basic human rights. Today. This is true for so many things. Take the suffrage movement people like elizabeth cady stanton were lambasted by the moderate media for her views and even her husband who supported many of her feminist activities. Thought that demanding women's right to vote. Was taking it way too far. 2xtreme. Take same-sex marriage. Not too long ago same-sex marriage was widely seen as extreme. A radical redefinition of marriage the fringe minority agenda that was irrelevant or offensively to the vast majority of americans. Today is more and more states legalized gay marriage and the supreme court is giving implicit support the tide is dramatically turning. Marriage equality is now seen by most americans more than half as a basic principle of fairness nothing extreme about it each generation specially each generation of liberals recoil from what it seems as extremism. And laws what it thinks of as moderation. Mute generation claims to know what the moderate reasonable middle ground is even though that middle shifts constantly. In the case of the arguments about slavery the moderate position was to ship the slaves most of them were born in this country back to africa just drop them off there and of course compensate the slave-owners appropriately. What's considered extreme and what's considered moderate is completely relative to one time and place and the 20/20 hindsight of history we know this and yet the idea refuses to die. There's something comfortable about a partridge three little bears style that's not too hot not too cold just right. There's something appealing about the idea of truth always lying somewhere in the middle between two opposing viewpoints. It can't be that one is completely right and the other one is completely wrong because that you would lead to the ever dreaded. Conflict. We like to think of ourselves as the reasonable ones who can see both sides and adjudicate a reasonable solution. But sometimes one side is completely right and the other side is completely wrong. As in the case of slavery or marriage equality or women's suffrage. We think that there's a safety and staying away from the edges of things. And there probably is. But that safety can also be a retreat. But we really need to do. As a religious community. I take exception to the term religious extremists to describe groups like isis and al-qaeda what's horrific about these groups is not that they're extreme as if other muslims or just a less intense version of the same thing but that their politics and theology are inherently violent and oppressive religious extremism depending on the content of your religion can be a beautiful thing and a powerful force for good reverend martin luther king jr talks about this issue of extremism in his famous letter from a birmingham jail. The montgomery bus boycott several years earlier had seen tens of thousands of people walking miles and miles to work and back for over a year rather than sit in a bus where they were relegated to the back in during intimidation threats and attacks all the while that extreme and itself. So that it happened the nonviolent resistance was continuing and the clergy the liberal clergy of the area had been saying to king hey slow down. Slow down let's be moderate here. You're too extreme and your views and your tatik these things take time. Be patient. Be patient. Soaking writes a letter to them. He writes so i was initially disappointed is being categorized as an extremist. As i continue to think about it. I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not jesus an extremist for love. Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Was not amos an extremist for justice let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. And john bunyan. I will stay in jail to the end of my days before i make a butchery of my conscience. At abraham lincoln. This nation cannot survive half-slave and half-free. So the question is not whether we will be extremists but what kind of extremists will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or the extension of justice. In a traumatic scene on calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime. The crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality. The other jesus christ was an extremist for love truth and goodness. Perhaps the south. The nation in the world are in dire need of creative extremists. If we had a crystal ball and could look into the future and see what future generations will look back and say our creative extremism should be. Course it's always hard to know because we're in the middle of it right but if we could imagine our equivalent of abolitionism suffrage civil rights marriage equality i would say that it's environmentalism with the survival of the planet as we know it on the line greenpeace activists blocking oil sands operations shutting down power stations disrupting whaling ships scaling oil rigs to try to stop offshore drilling they're not going to seem so crazy 50 years from now they're not going to seem so extreme. I'm not going to read preach my sermon from a few weeks ago here but to make changes. Better today not considered moderate but extreme. Maybe we'll need to stop all driving and airline travel except in cases of emergency maybe we'll need a huge carbon tax for corporations. Maybe we'll need to stop manufacturing clothes who knows we have enough clothes already in circulation in this world i think we could get by for at least 20 years by just kind of passing them around you don't need to make new ones we repair them when they rip. Right. Do we really need to cut down trees to print an order of service here every week. Maybe family is still need to only have one biological child at most. Will changes like this be bad for the economy. Absolutely. An ending slavery was devastating for the economy of the south. I don't know what the specific policy answers are. But i do know that any plan that insist on keeping the basics of our society and economy in place. While we make incremental moderate changes is just not going to get the job done. The liberal ideal of encouraging a free marketplace if ideas. A pluralism even within our rent is a noble one. Are traditional values the voice thing of opinions from across the spectrum. We resist the hubris of any of us pretending to know the truth. We always want to consider that our political and social opponents. May in fact have appointment. This is a beautiful impulse and it's hard one stemming from our own historical experiences of being the outsider with minority views. The beaufort sample that there is only one god or that all are saved. This tradition of reasoned moderation and tolerance. Never taking to absolute a position is a source of great strength and dignity for us. But it is also i would argue our greatest weakness. Interfere thing to extreme in any direction. We muzzle ourselves as a community. We allow the long the strongest loudest voices in our culture to be those whose views are opposite ours social and religious conservatives never make this mistake. They're absolutely unapologetic and proclaiming the most outrageously extreme views and refusing to compromise. It's obnoxious. It's infuriating and it works. Think of the success. The tea party has had an influence in politics in this country. Through their extremism they have amassed a political power way beyond their size. Politicians are terrified of them. We can't even get a surgeon-general approved because he's there to classify gun violence as a public health hazard. When a person or group pushes the extreme one end of the continuum. Even if they fail to get those extreme goals matt. They often succeed in moving the middle. What is considered moderate changes from generation to generation and from year to year depending on what is compared to. Even a small group of people can push that river. There's a magic. Panda power and being extreme sometime. When justice is on the line when love is on the line when the health of our earth is on the line. Am i advocating extremism in all things know as emerson wants said moderation in all things especially moderation. There are times and places and situations when we are called to be moderate. And then there are those where we are called precisely to not be moderate. I really want it comes down to the important things in life. Who really wants to be moderate. Who wants to love moderately our beloved moderately who wants to make love moderately when we're lying on our deathbeds will say i'm so glad i let a moderate life a careful life where i never went out on a limb never went too far in any direction my challenge do you need sundays of sitting in these pews whether it's the front fuse or the back to their the middle tooth is after self what do i care about enough. To be extreme. My hope is that what samuel longfellow was to this congregation. And what martin luther king was to his fellow clergy. We can all be to the world. Pushing the edges of propriety on matters of conscience sometimes proudly bearing the label of extremist. Knowing that we are part of a long and distinguished tradition that people of faith. Serving as extremists for love. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him i wish i knew how number 151.

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Biblical-Migrations-Jonah-and-the-Big-Fish-Part-3.m4a

So jonah is so reluctant to go to nineveh but when he goes there a powerful ministry must happen. Let the people turn around they realize the evil of their ways. We never learn what they've been doing that's so evil but it must be pretty bad. They grieve their alienation from god just like jonah did in the belly of the big fish they fast they pray they realign with what's most important. And i promise to do better and god forgives them. welcomes them back. Jonah is pissed off he rails at god shouted i knew this was going to happen i told you he would never planning to destroy that city you're too compassionate and he spits out the word compassionate. Jonah obviously has not learned his lesson. He still can't stand grayzone he still yearns for a world with clear rules. He wants the cold calculus of crime and punishment. Not the spiritual cycle of fall. And forgiveness. How hard it can be to accept the messiness of life and be compassionate. So much easier to simplify the world and to right and wrong. Justice is a lot easier to take than mercy sometimes. In today's political culture we to just want to see the other side go up and smoke weed be just as angry as jonah if the sinners get forgiven and not destroyed. They don't get to just say sorry and get their record cleared. We just we don't just want them to stop we want them to pay and so the message of this story can be a little hard for us as well. Because as it turns right as it turns out jonah is right god was never planning to destroy the city. As jonah is arguing with god about forgiving the sinners god says and this is the very last line of the book of jonah god says should i really not be concerned about nineveh where there are more than 120,000 people who don't know their right hand from their left and lots of cattle to. That's how the story of that's how the book ends with this dangling question. God is basically saying these people are just not that bright. Shu-shu we just want me to kill all of them and along with the cattle we have nothing to do with it and that's it. Jonah never answers. A story about ambiguity has an ambiguous ending. Unsatisfying for those of us who like a tidy rap-up. So. Does jonah deserve a place and this worship series about migrations. Does he actually wind up in a different place then where he started will never know. He definitely goes on a journey and it's probably a journey like most of our journeys. Two steps forward one step back. Sometimes one step forward two steps back. One thing we can take away is that life is. Complex. Dylan always has been moral ambiguity has always played us. Are very human yearning for order and simplicity is stymied over and over again and that's really hard to stomach. And maybe we can draw some comfort from the idea of compassion for nineveh. Compassion for those of us who are doing our best in a complicated world. Compassion for ourselves. We all need comfort. And these times as we dwell in the belly of the beast in the midst of the storm trying our best to survive. And write a new story. Hope hope. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him number 1002 in the teal have no comfort me.

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Women-Of-Hebrew-And-Christian-Scriptures-Mary-Mother-Of-Jesus.m4a

When it comes to mary's attention that she is supposed to. Get pregnant by the holy spirit and that her son is going to retake the throne on behalf of the hebrew people. She has a number of options. What option. Given that shoes a jewish peasant. Living in a dirt-poor tiny town i'm in occupied territory. And she has never had sex. Is this a to the angel gabriel whatever needs are scrooge said to the ghost of jacob marley. You may be a bit of undigested beef a blob of mustard, cheese there's more gravy than of grave about you. Another option. Is to just be terrified. So terrified that maybe she would even try to end this pregnancy that's unplanned at least by her. And will seem very suspicious to her fiance. Yet another option would be to say. What up. Accepted passively but shrug off the prophecy about who her son would be. This is the third and a sermon series this year that i'm doing women in the hebrew and christian scriptures. And here we see a key moment. In the christian tradition where the world hangs in the balance. Mary has a vision or a visitation. She could have not believed it she could have believed it but not accepted it she could have believed it and accepted it but not let in the significance of gabriel's message. But none of these reactions is hers. Instead. She owns it. At the end of the exchange with gabriel she says. Here am i. Servant of god. Let it be with me according to your word. Seabreeze. Right away. And this way of saying it here am i. Echoes the language of the major biblical protagonist like abraham when god called them by name they answer. Panini. Here am i meaning yes i am showing up i'm all in. I'm ready for whatever you're calling me to do. How often do we when life. Hold as to do something important. When something unexpected shows up at our door. An opportunity to serve in a big way that's going to mean a big change in our lives how often do we immediately say yes. I'm in. I'm ready. Mary's reaction provides a model for a kind of. Faith in the flow of life. That leads to. Decisiveness. Not only is she all in but mary seems exhilarated. She's full of radical forever she goes to her friend elizabeth house and tells her the news. Not like. Omg i'm having a baby and guess who the father is but she gives a long prophetic interpretation. Of what's going on. I won't read the whole thing here but here's a piece of what she says from the book of luke. The mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name. He has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lift it up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and he has sent the rich away. He has helped his servant israel according to the promise he made to our ancestors. To abraham. Enter his descendants forever. This is prophetic. Language. The mary is not labeled as a prophet in the scripture. But all the clues are there in the text indicate that this was exactly how she was understood. When the angel gabriel first approaches her. She says reading. Favored one. God is with you. And then the text says she was much perplexed. By these words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The reason she perplexed physicist. Sort of breeding is the sort of reading that god gives to the big protagonist in the process. It's always some version of. You found favor with god and god is with you. And now god is relaying this message to mary. A woman. So as a jew who is obviously familiar with this tradition. Mary has. A template in her head. For what this means when an angel greets you like that. She recognizes. This kind of mystical encounter and she paints herself into the narrative. This itself is a powerful move it requires belief. And herself because women are not usually the favored ones. Of the story. But mary takes it even a step further. She take this encounter with gabriel does imprimatur from god. Has a license to proclaim her own prophecy. Mary is sure. But the fact that god tapped her and her son. Poor villagers nobody. From the middle of nowhere. Means. The god is going to overturn the entire social and political order. And she speaks. As if that future had already arrived. She speaks in past tense of the miracles that god will perform as if those miracles had already happened. She is. Willing into being. The time but her people will rise up against the oppression of the roman empire and prevail she speaks as a prophet who is birthing the revolution. All gabriel says to her. About what's going to happen with her future son is. He will be great. And he will be called the son of the most high and god will give to him the throne of his ancestor david. The mary takes that piece of information and goes on this whole interpretive adventure with it. She sees in his words. Class warfare. The overthrow of the proud and the aragon. The victory at the little guy and the abolition of. Poverty and the writing of social wrong. She says he has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. I did she get all this stuff. Is this. Divine inspiration. Maybe. But again from her tradition. In the book of samuel which is part of the hebrew bible there's a story of a woman named hannah. Who is baron. And praise to god for a child. You probably noticed that fertility and infertility is a recurring theme in these door is. When god answers our prayers. And give her a son. She gets her son over to the service of god. And she speaks shona. A long interpretive poem. Here's a part of it. It may sound familiar. There is no holy one like the lord. Talk no more so very proudly let not arrogance come from your mouth. The bows of the mighty are broken. But the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full. Have hired themselves out for bread. But those who are hungry. Are fat with spoil. So again here mary's faith is grounded in the template of prophecy from her tradition. And she interprets the workings of god politically. That is the force of a revolution. In both of these poems. God invert the social and economic order. The powerful are brought down the powerless rise up the rich become working-class and hire themselves out for food. The poor are well-fed. Samaire is drawing from the deep well of her tradition entering herself into the stream of jewish prophecies specifically jewish women's prophecy. With this consciousness not only does she envisioned the through her child her people will overthrow their roman oppressors but that the entire economic structure will be overturned. It would not be. To gratefully. In my opinion. To imagine that mary passes all of this on to her son. The class consciousness. The radical politics. The faith that god will work through the powerless to perform miracles. It would not be too ready to leave to imagine that she helps him find his own prophetic voice. And raise him to be exactly the kind of revolutionary that he turned out to be. Jesus was the original red diaper baby. Do later in his life when jesus says things like the meek shall inherit the earth. And. You cannot serve both god and money. And it is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. The people are asking. Who is this guy where did she get all this stuff. But you know what. She got it from his mother. Now conservative christianity and the secular. Christmas industry. Have literally whitewashed all of us. Mary and jesus were tourists semitic people resisting their wealthy european occupiers but in the received tradition mary is so awesome painted as mild and pale and docile and gentle maternal and the feminine. We celebrate her the christmas story through sakran nativity scenes that she barely makes a cameo in the major christmas carols. She painted as being utterly devoted to her son in the way of that women tend to be devoted to their children but not as she probably was like the cornerman in a boxing match. Mary's words are ignored. And she is told like so many women today are told. You're just a womb. You're just a fedex delivery system for a very important. Package. Women are still fighting today to be seen as more than just a womb. From the battlegrounds over reproductive rights. To the me-too movement. Define for greater representation in politics and business women are fighting to be seen as leaders and prophets in our traditions. Mature women of color it's exponentially harder. And ironically those who are the greatest proponents of national merry christmas and national christmas trees are often the ones most invested in keeping women like the mother of jesus down. So we need mary's story. We need the full story of her catching the prophetic spark speaking for truth and passing it to future generations. If you celebrate christmas. And even if you don't. I invite you to spend some time this year contemplating but the birth of jesus might actually have met to his mother and to his community. I guarantee you it was not a white christmas in any sense of the word. There was no santa claus and no reindeer at any gift-giving was purely symbolic not material. But one truth read that has been passed down through all the other asians of this story. Is the thread of hope. The faith that god. Or the mysterious forces of the universe working through human beings like us. Can overcome injustice. Feed the hungry and transform the systems of our world. This is where the political gets really personal. There are times in each of our lives sometimes many times. When. Show me farm. Of the angel gabriel shows up. And propositions off. And when that happens. The future of the world in some small way hangs in the balance. So many of us are told over and over again that we cannot be processed. Better it's because we're a woman or because we're a person of color. Or because we have a disability or because we're poor or just because we were raised to think that we don't have much to contribute to this world. The story of mary teaches us that this is not. True. The story of mary teaches us that however unspecial we may feel. How to make the world of telling us that we have no voice. However much we feel like a nobody living in the middle of nowhere we are called to be prophets. I want to invite each of us to take that leap of faith that mary took and say. Yes. We see the way that our world is broken. We can envision the world that ought to be. So when we feel our own gabriel tapping us on the shoulder calling us to speak. Calling us to teach our children to speak. May we be. Unafraid. To answer. Yes. Here am i. I'm ready to serve. I'm all in. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him number 348 guide my feet.

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Bridge-Over-Troubled-Water.m4a

Like a bridge over troubled water. I will lay me down the older i get the more this song makes sense i realize that sometimes i'm the bridge. Sometimes i need the pillars that supports the bridge and sometimes i am deep in the troubled water. I am a daughter a sister a wife. A co-worker friend and a mother. I cannot tell you which one of these relationships is the easiest northern most difficult because with each. There are trials. And tribulations. I have watched the people around me shine. And i have witnessed them struggle. When i was a senior in high school my thought we found ourselves in the troubled waters when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given just six months to live. He was a willful son-of-a-gun and live for 2 years. During which every time anyone had a feeling my mother handed out of valium. No one discussed the feelings that we were all avoiding. After my father's death my mother added alcohol to the mix a few months later we discussed her plans for the future to which she had none so i asked what have you always wanted to do. She said. Be a nurse. And within 20 minutes i had talked my mother into going back to college with me. It'll be great i said you'll get to do what you've always wanted to do and i knew i could keep an eye on her so this now sophomore in college became roommates with her mama the water was fine for a while we did some laundry and we made some yummy dishes together until one night instead of me the college kid it was my mother who stayed out all night with some fellows at a gay bar and i stayed up all night worrying about her and the next day i slept through an exam now lucky for me it was a psychology class and i proceeded to the professor's office he offered me a seat and ask what happened having not processed my father's illness much less his and i basically emotionally vomited on this poor man after listening he leaned forward in his chair and a box of tissues and simply said you have three choices one you can't answer them and scream at your mother. To which i shook my head no to you can never speak to her again. To which i started balling. And or 3 you can accept that she is an adult and get to work on taking care of yourself. I chose three. Mom left school shortly after she dated and married a much younger man joined a nudist camp yep can't make it up and she continued to drink through her midlife crisis. And as hard as it was i realized i had to hang onto my own life preserver. I knew i wasn't strong enough to help her and keep my head above the water. Do i set boundaries and i worked on accepting that she was on her path. And that i needed to find mine that don't get me wrong i continue communicating often with my mother but if i was ever going to get across my bridge i would need some pillars to support it so i started looking for my supports and i begin a lot of soul-searching i was willing to try anything i ask friends how they dealt with struggle and received tons of bumper sticker advice like stop decorating your rut. And move a muscle change of thought. A lot of books were also suggested. I spent hours in the self-help section of bookstores before there was such a thing as self-help i read a lot of books one in particular comes to mind now please remember i was willing to try anything it was louise hays you can heal your life. We're one of the exercises in the book was to look at yourself in a mirror really look. And say. I love you. Try it. Not as easy as it sounds it's horrifying i got choked up the first few times i tried it. But slowly. I began to me nut. And self-love and acceptance. Became. Pillars. I also tried a myriad of churches lectures and bars oh yeah. The bars i began to repeat my mom's patterns i was now abusing alcohol i used it to relieve anxiety and know my feelings. Wait i'd already been down this road valium alcohol different substances same results. Don't feel don't deal don't heal. I knew i had to clean up my act if i was ever going to really connect with the good in my life. Which i choose to call god. Some even say that god means good orderly direction. Sounds good to me at that time i had no direction so when i turn 30 i opted to change everything. I ended a very destructive relationship. Started honoring my temple by eating better and working out. I hit my knees and i asked for humility i worked on forgiving my father for dying and leaving me with a broken pieces of my mother. And i prayed for peace. I started doing a gratitude list every day. The process was difficult and painful but so worth it. And you know i knew it was working out when one day as i was walking down the street i realized i was filled to the brim with gratitude. My prayers were being answered i had the pillars of love. And acceptance and forgiveness. I had good orderly direction. And at that point i was strong enough to help my mother begin her journey across her bridge she got sober. Unfettered by substances we were finally able to really connect. And i was help was able to help her. We shared everything with each other. The more we talk. The more we healed. And by the time she died we left nothing unsaid. We both made it through the troubled water. Which leads me to a when i started coming here about a year ago. Despite my commitment to my pillars i found myself barely treading water again as i was floundering in the political see i knew i couldn't spend another sunday morning watching the week's bleak review of the news. And i happened upon this congregation as soon as i sat down i heard reverend honest egg whoever you are. Whomever you love. Wherever you are on your life journey. Whatever the colour of your skin or the country of your origin whatever your gender or source of your face. You are welcome here. Community another pillar. I realize now that sometimes i'm still the bridge sometimes i need to rely heavily on my pillars that support the bridge. And sometimes i am still the troubled water. I find the most comfort in knowing that no matter where i am in my life's journey i have god i loving family and friends and a safe harbor of like-minded folks here at first you. Thank you for being a pillar. Thank you for being a bridge. Please join us by singing number 1023 in this hills him with hymnal building bridges 10:23.

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Walking-Into-The-Storm.m4a

If each of us gets 15 minutes of fame jesus got his on palm sunday you could say that he's actually had two thousand years of fame and that despite what john lennon said he's actually bigger than the beatles. The really as far as his own experience. It's the day that she rides a donkey into jerusalem that he actually gets the beatles caliber welcome to jerusalem adoring fans crowding around him trying to catch a glimpse trying to maybe possibly touch the edge of his garment they lay their cloaks down on the road in front of him and wave palm fronds. As they would for a king he must have been pretty pumped right actually i'm thinking no i'm thinking that he knows that things are not going to go so well for him. In jerusalem. Days earlier in the story the matthew text says. Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to jerusalem and undergrowth great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. So when he is riding his donkey toward jerusalem. He is knowingly walking directly into suffering. And toward his own death. And the crowds around him although they might not know that he's going to die at least they know that he's not well positioned to take on the roman army. He's the leader of a poorly armed jewish interaction. And the crowd has seen what romans do two liters of interactions and it's not pretty. And despite this or maybe because of it they lay their cloaks down on the road in front of him and way of their palm from for victory. As with most scripture this is meth we don't know how much of it is historically true. The triumphant entry into jerusalem probably happened in some form because it shows up in all four of the gospels. But we certainly don't know what jesus may have said in private to his disciples days earlier. Whether he really predicted that he would be tortured and died at the hands of the romans whether he really told them that he would rise from the dead three days later we'll never know. But the fact that this is the palm sunday story that we have received that's been passed down to the generations suggest that this pension. Between jesus knowingly walking into suffering. And doing it anyway is the point. There is a truth there that has resonated with people through the generations. There are times in each of our lives when we know that we are walking into suffering. There are times when we can see as crystal clearly as jesus did when we look down the road ahead but this is not going to go well. This is not going to be fun this is going to hurt. And sometimes as jesus did in the story. We have a choice in the matter. We don't have to do this painful thing. And the question were faced with and those moments is should we do it anyway. Should we continue down that road. Or should we turn our donkey around and go home. Maybe you're in a relationship or a marriage with someone you love deeply. But you're miserable together. You fight all the time you want different things from life you feel like they're always trying to change you. You don't feel good with them you know that if you stay with them you are never going to be able to become fully yourself and you also know that because of the very real love that you share leaving will blow a huge hole in your heart. It will be the most painful thing you've ever done. Should you walk into that storm. Or say you got too comfortable job as a nurse it's comfortable but it bores you and you don't feel like you're serving the communities that needed most. You have a dream of working as a doctor in haiti where your family is from. You want to set up clinics in the poorest villages and help train others to provide medical care there. But first you're going to have to go to medical school sleepless nights of studying more sleepless nights as a resident somewhere relentless testing then if you're successful at that you'll leave all your friends leave your netflix and your favorite takeout places and go to a place with virtually none of that for low pay with insufficient tools and resources to do your job. It's going to be very very hard. Should you walk into that storm. Or maybe in a third scenario you like drinking. You really like drinking. Artifact recently it's the only thing that's been keeping you going because of a year ago someone died. Someone you needed and loved and every time you're sober the pain comes rushing in like it's going to drown you. But now the drinking has gotten so bad that you're starting to show up drunk. For work. You're not doing your laundry. Your friends are fed up with you. You know you need to stop. You know about aaa and other programs to help. But you also know that the process is going to be brutal. Should you walk into that storm. We can see a thousand examples of how we're faced with choices to do something painful or hard the decision to adopt a child knowing all the heartbreak of attempts that fall through and loving a child with a past that you can't change the decision to have a biological child knowing the pain of childbirth the pain of letting go as a child grows up and leaves you even the decision to run a marathon or half-marathon like today is new york city half marathon sports and test your body's limits. The decision to go on a silent meditation retreat. Orthofast. Or do any kind of ascetic practice. And then there are the life-and-death decisions undertaken by people like syrian refugees. Who risk a journey of enormous suffering and even death in hopes of rebuilding lives free from oppression and violence. Some of our ancestors made such a journey coming to this country. We humans have the capacity to do a hard thing for a good reason and it is this capacity that we lift up on palm sunday no i want to be clear that i don't believe that we should do something that's hard just because it's hard. I don't believe that suffering is redemptive i don't believe that whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. Sometimes suffering can be destructive. They can change you and bad ways it can weaken you like the carrot and meghan story. Or make you hard and cold like the egg i've heard it said that suffering is like salt a little bit can add flavor to a meal but too much salt can ruin a dish like too much suffering can ruin a life emotional pain like physical pain often indicates that there's a problem that we ought to be doing something differently. In these cases pain is a good teacher and it's wise to back off. But when pain doesn't indicate a larger problem. But rather is itself the only problem and it otherwise positive and transformative course of action then we are challenged to move through it. We're challenged to face it head-on and walk into the storm. In the jesus narrative right after he tells his disciples about his impending suffering and death they tried to talk him out of going the text says and peter took jesus aside and began to rebuke him saying god forbid it lord this must never happen to you. But jesus turned and said to peter and this is a little harsh if you ask me. Get behind me satan you are a stumbling block to me. For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things. Jesus was angry with peter even though peter was just trying to be supportive and helpful jesus was angry at him for thinking small. I'm trying to stop him from doing this thing that he needed to do. Jesus called him a stumbling block. It's hard enough to get yourself into the right headspace and to work up the guts to do something really hard without your friends trying to be helpful and concerned and talk you out of it. And yet i think we've all been that helpful friend sometimes not wanting to see someone suffer certainly not wanting to be responsible for encouraging them to suffer we sometimes try to tone down other people's ambitions because they can be threatening to us. We don't necessarily want to see what our peers are capable of when they're willing to go through pain. It sets the bar too high for us so we say no take a load off don't strain yourself here have another cookie. We might say to the friend in the bad marriage. I don't know your spouse seems pretty cool and it's pretty hard out there being single. We might say to the nurse who wants to go to haiti. Are you crazy you've got a really good job. We might say to our buddy who's lost his loved one come over have a beer will watch the game it'll be okay. Parents are especially guilty of this with our kids we want to protect our kids from bad things happening so we hold them back. Unwittingly we become a stumbling block for them. So when the crowds gather around jesus. Hailing him as a king laying their cloaks down on his path way waving palm fronds for victory they are doing the opposite effect. They are honoring him. Encouraging him trying to clear his path as he's in the shoe. Toward doing this really hard painful thing. They are the friend who says to the person in the unhappy relationship or to the nurse or to the grieving alcoholic you can do better. Go do it i'll be here supporting you and loving you. They are the parent who says to the child go. Make your mistakes take your risks i am behind you all the way. They are saying yes as much as we don't want to see you get hurt. As much as we don't want to lose you this is your one life. We want you to think big not small. We are in awe of you for what you are about to do. When you leave today you'll be handed. Alief. From a palm frond. The kind of plant that people use to honor jesus on his journey. Lexus lease represent the honoring of our capacity to do a hard thing for a good reason. If you feel like you're searching for the courage to go and do the hard thing that you really need to do. Or if you want the courage to support a friend or a child and doing the hard thing that they need to do. Take this palm-leaf. Bring it home. Wrap it around your wrist make it into a bracelet put it on your fridge put it under dresser keep it in a pocket put it in your drawer. Put it somewhere to remind you and inspire you. Sometimes we need to walk into suffering. Walk into adversity. Walk into pain. Sometimes we need to think big and walk directly into the storm. To break free and become everything that we are meant. To become.

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Humans-And-Earth-Karna-Takes-Milk-From-Mother-Earth.m4a

This year we've been exploring a series of stories about our relationship with the earth humans relationship with the earth one drawn from each of our six unitarian universalist sources to those of you who are new here today these are you can find them in your order of service on the back and these are the sources from which we draw all of our songs our teachings are readings our prayers here's the ground that we have covered so to speak from jewish and christian traditions we started with the biblical story of the flood. From the source of direct experience we told our own stories. Fittingly of our relationship with the earth from our own experience. From thesaurus prophetic people we told the inspiring story of the environmentalist him to christopher who illegally bid and won an auction for drilling on public land from the source of reason and science we explored the story of the reintroduction of wolves to yellowstone and most recently from the source of earth's center tradition we told the lakota story of the white buffalo calf woman. Today is the 6th and last of the series drawn from the source world religions this is a hindu story from the 8th or 9th century bce found in the epic poem the mahabharata to tell because although unit tradition. And in fact i can't i wasn't raised in a hindu religious culture absorbing the deep symbolism and meaning of these stories as an adult. I don't know the language. Neither the actual language sanskrit nor the way that meaning is formed through language in that tradition. I know this may seem like a really long disclaimer but i think it's really important to know that the story is not like the other ones i told in this series it's not like telling a biblical story or a story from biology where i'm from the culture from which those stories emerged. So this hindu story filtered through me it's going to mean something very different than advised mean to a hindu interpreter. I'm not going to be telling you what the story really means because if there is anybody out there if we could do that it's certainly not me. I'm going to be ripping on this story from my own cultural and political references. So the story begins with the birth of karna one of the central figures in the mahabharata. In a conception story that strangely similar to that of jesus cardenas mother had been given a special power to be impregnated by a god which she tested out and became pregnant with karna as a virgin before she was married. Chewed her pride at having this baby out of wedlock. And so in a story strangely similar to that of moses. She puts the baby karna in a basket and send him down the river and he's raised by other parents a charioteer and his wife. If you're curious this story is about contemporaneous with. The origin of the hebrew scriptures and it predates the christian scriptures by several hundred years. The mahabharata tells this birth story of karna and then goes on to describe his adventures growing up and becoming a man but they're also oral traditions that feed into the main body of the story they're not written down in any definitive text but everybody knows them between the lines. Kind of background consciousness of the story this is true in jewish tradition and it's true in hindu tradition as well. There's one such oral story about karna from a part of india called andhra pradesh that i want to share with you. Try to find the child. Crying over a pot of spilt milk. She says she's afraid that her stepmother will be angry over her carelessness he kindly offered her some of his milk. But she declines and says no it has to be the same milk. So he gathers up some soil. And she squeezes it with all his might. So that the milk drips back into the pot. While he's doing it karna here's this agonized and enraged female voice. He realizes that it's the voice of bumi devi the earth goddess. And she chastises him. For inflicting enormous pain on mother earth to get this milk back. She curses him. That at a crucial moment in his life. She will squeeze him as he squeeze the milk out of her and he will die that day. I want to pause in the story for a moment to reflect on what we've heard so far it's so rich first of all that the image of squeezing mother earth to extract melt i don't think it's coincidence that it's milk the earth and many traditions is imagined as a mother the primal source of food and nurturing love. Anime hindu morning prayer that's printed at the top of your order of service there's this poetic imagery of the earth andreas with oceans and with mountains as breast to the earth is cast as a female body sensual and life-giving overflowing with abundance. This idea of mother earth the earth as female this sometimes critique from a feminist perspective because it suggests that women are solely identified with our bodies and emotions and not good reason an intellect which is left to the male domain but there's another strain within feminism called ecofeminism that lives up the connection between the earth and the female body. And also how to control and violation of women. Is directly connected with the control and violation of the earth. In both cases it's patriarchal culture exploiting and violently taking from the depths of one's inner abundance through this lens the rape of the earth is not just a metaphor it's the image guess at the primal essence of what violence is. The anger of mother earth in the story highlights the difference between the voluntary compassionate giving of milk or life energy. And the violence seft of it. A nursing baby does sometimes squeeze the mother's breast to help the milk flow better though it's described in the story is not that. In the story the life energy is not given out of love it's extracted through violence. It's hard to hear the story today without thinking about all of the ways that we violently extract energy from the earth. Fracking is one particularly phallic way in fracking we drill a mile down into the earth and then spew a mixture of water sand and chemicals into the shale rock at such high pressure that it fractures the rock and releases the natural gas. And coal mining where we tear up miles of earth and even remove entire mountaintops the breasts of the earth to extract coal. And of course drilling for oil and sensitive ecosystems and oceans. In the sense we are all kinda. In fact as i was looking into different versions of this story in one version of it you cannot make this stuff up it's not milk that the child bills and that's harness wheezes from the earth its oil. Was kinda a bad person was he trying to hurt mother earth no absolutely not in fact of the story what he did was a sweet thing for a child who is upset and scared. But he acted for the benefits of one individual without considering the impact on the whole. The interdependent web of life on which all life depends. This web of life is personified in the story as gloomy debbie the earth mother and she strikes back at this violation with the curse that had she was squeezed and captured and constrained so will he be sure enough years later while engaged in an epic battle carnage chariot wheel gets stuck in the mud the earth itself grip sit tight and will not let go his no choice but to get down out of the chariot on the ground with his back. From behind and died his violence against the earth comes back and claims him. Here to there's a parallel with him hebrew scripture and its wisdom around agriculture. The torah teaches that humans are to give the land arrests once every seven days and one year every seven years and there's a warning in the book of leviticus that if we don't if we keep relentlessly extracting from the land and never giving the land a sabbath there will be massive devastation it says then the land will cease and accept its status all the days of the devastation it will see the amount that it did not cease on your sabbath when you lived on it. Forcing it to produce food for us like karna squeezing milk out of it. With modern industrial agriculture that's exactly what we do. We forced the soil to produce constantly. Industrial farms can't afford to let the land lie fallow and regenerate naturally and sabbath time and so instead we pump it full of fertilizers and pesticides and forces to produce year after year and season after season relentlessly. Farmworkers families are exposed to these toxic chemicals day-in-and-day-out we create dead zones in the oceans and mass die-offs of bees. The many ways we know more than the ancient peoples. But we have to remain open to the possibility that in some ways they might have known more than we. And if they're right and if we keep this up eventually the land will cease. The story of karna is a cautionary tale it teaches us to relate to bloomy devi mother earth with love and respect to treat her as a living breathing being to cultivate for her as the source of life that she is. It teaches us to literally tread lightly on her if you noticing that hindu morning prayer their practitioner express his sorrow at even having to step on her by walking but you don't have to believe in a conscious earth goddess. Who may take revenge on us for this story to have meaning in a larger sense the story teaches us to cultivate compassion and sensitivity to the world around us. That violence and forth just begets more violence and force and whatever love or violence we put out into the world will come back to us through those mysterious cyclical pathways of life violence against carta but she squeezes him interrupt the flow of his energy at this crucial dangerous moment forces him into a position of vulnerability and then he is killed by a spear and implement of human violence through his heart. The ultimate victory is that of human violence over the compassion of the heart. We live in a time that called us to examine our relationship with our earth with our ecosystems with our climate. List all makeup not just the technical thing we academically named the environment but the actual environment or setting in which the entire story of our time on this planet plays out we can continue to act with willful dominance extracting whatever our economic models demand of us or we can hear the stories of these ancient traditions as cautionary tales true wisdom stories. Guidebooks to live in right relationship with the body of the earth. The relationship of respect gratitude love mutual caring and feeding. And by so doing we will enjoy and abundance that will live beyond our years and become the birthright of future generations please rise and body or spirit for our final him number 162 going to lay down my sword and shield.

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Running-Down-the-Clock.m4a

I want had the good fortune of sitting down in the subway next to a guy who is playing a driving game on his iphone at the sound turned way up to everybody in the subway car could hear every time his tires screeching his car went crashing into the side rail and flipped over another car this happened about every 30 seconds and he would curse loudly and gesticulating and then just hunker down and start the game all over again. He seemed oblivious to the fact that he was both annoying and entertaining everybody and the subway car. At one point after one of his outburst i laughed and he looked at me and he laughed to thinking i was laughing with him rather than at him and yes his phone i said sure. I realized quickly this is the kind of game that rewards people who play it a lot. And it's very stressful. Mike are bound up in multi-car pile-ups over and over again and within seconds i became that guy hunched over the phone making a scene in the subway. I have been laughing but it's so easy for a game to feel real. We got sucked in all the time. Not just literal computer games but games of all kinds all the games you play in the world all this driving we do all the spinning our wheels we do for things that ultimately amounted to little or nothing. We get so invested. Trivia alitiz. And yet ultimately. We're just running down the clock on our lives. My subway ride that day was a trip home from barnes & noble where i had just bought the communist manifesto. There are so many delicious irony is here including the fact that i was sitting there playing this play with the phone probably produced by exactly the kind of meaningless factory labor that marks is so reviled. It's also ironic that the communist manifesto is on the shelf at barnes & noble at all. The text about the revolution of the working class is now lining the pockets of multinational corporations. I need to know karl marx's economics has been debunked by most economist and some would say by history itself. We're still reading his books. Not only academics. But apparently the public-at-large. I think it's because like scripture we recognize ourselves in the poetry of the text. One thing that mark definitely got right isn't inside that i've talked about here before. The inside bedtime is the ultimate form of human wealth on this earth. Without time all other forms of wealth are meaningless. This way of thinking it's the labor time embedded in a commodity that gives it its value. Regardless of whether this is literally true or not it's clear that our human life hours on this planet are all the we have and all that we have to give. Even the money that we have is just a congealed form of the time it took to earn it. Is this insight about time that makes the stakes so high and how we spend it. We typically spend our time in a flurry of activity. As good capitalist when we're not producing were usually consuming and when were not consuming we're usually producing and sometimes we do both at the same time. It's bad for business if two people are just happy sitting on a park bench without a. Starbucks latte in one hand and an iphone in the other. It's bad for business if people feel like they have enough or are enough. So we spend our lives running ourselves and our children ragged striving to scratch that itch that the back scratcher can't reach. Maybe trying to cure an incurable dissatisfaction with who we are. More more more. Stopping is not an option. And if we do happen upon any free time when we're not racing from point a to point b. Apparently we spend it on her iphone pretending to race from point a to point b. How strange is that how strange that we play these games but in our free time we replace our real dizziness with or vicarious busyness. We play driving games are. We watched competitive sports are violent tv shows like the news or we make we make an obsessive science is choosing what clothes or shoes to buy. Are we spy on rx on facebook. We shop for things that we don't need workout endlessly on the stairmaster. Watch youtube videos of a cat falling off a tv set and then forward it to all of our virtual friends. Running down the clock. All these things seem to do is to kill time and it's strange that were so eager to kill time when we always feel like we have so little of it. Weird that we're willing to run down the clock we're so concerned with our own mortality. Especially because the forest we don't actually kill time time kills us. It marches on inexorably regardless of what we do indifferent to how we spend our lives. We become in marx's words. At best. Times argus. Maybe we're in denial about this. Maybe we're in denial because we're addicted to the games we play. We get strung along looking for the next fix it feels good to get those new shoes it feels good when your team win superbowl it feels good when 15 20 30 people like your facebook post. And these ephemeral things sometimes substitute for real meaning in our lives think about her after september 11th we were told that the most meaningful response the most american response we could offer would be to go out. Gun shop. That's denial. I believe that our best work as a religious community happens when we break through that denial. When we can look at our lives from 40000 feet the god's-eye view the view from the end of our days. And ask ourselves how will we really want to have spent them. Our best work as a religious community happens when we can separate out what's dame from what's real get inspired to demand the real and accept no imitations. To paraphrase marks. It's our task to pluck the imaginary flowers from the chain. Not so that we have to bear the chain without comfort. But sir the weekend cast off the chain and pluck the living flower. At our best. This is what we do here. Of course marks didn't think that religion could accomplish this. Keep religion in the same category as he would have put the empty busyness of an iphone driving game. Opiates. That anesthetize us and feed our denial. Vapid pleasure that compensate us for the tragic meaninglessness and alienation of our lives. Is marcus wright is religion a drug that anesthetizes us and keeps us dreaming of an afterlife so that we don't rock the boat in this one. I'd like to think that while some religions certainly function that way. Real religion has the exact opposite effect. I'd like to think that unitarian-universalism and other traditions at their best actually sensitize us rather than desensitizer. Erratic eliza. They paid a vision of how life could be that different from how it is. They call us back to wisdom and how we spend our time. Think of you please yes he's reading we shared earlier it suggests the raw is sensual things that we actually have time for a time to plant. And a time to pluck up what is planted a time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down at the time to build up a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing the list goes on but nowhere may i point out does it say a time to play a game on your iphone and a time to post a selfie. Time to take it down because it looks stupid and a time supposed to another one it doesn't say that. My prayer. For those of you who have joined the congregation today. John adam. Desiree. Ashley. Me. Emily. Kristen ethan. Lisa. Mitchell jamie liz loads and katie. My prayer for you is it you can allow this community and this religion. To kick your butt to cast off whatever chains maybe holding you back. Just stop playing whatever games you might be playing and live your real-life in the time you have left on this earth. That doesn't mean you can't relax and have fun but have fun in ways that genuinely connect you to others to god to yourself have fun in ways that you will be glad you did at the end of your life. This is your one life as far as we know your one and only life. This is the moment not tomorrow or the next day but this is the moment to take care of business. And what that means is something different for each one of us this is the moment to deal with what you need to deal with and your family. With your friends your partner. This is the moment to start a prayer or meditation practice. This is the moment to end a relationship that's not feeding you. For quit a job that leaves you cold. This is the moment to go visit your friend in alaska or hong kong. This is the moment to start painting or writing. Applying the sitter. Whatever it is for you this is the moment to take a risk. Author cynthia hymel says. When in doubt make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative. And acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth so what the hell. Leak. Through all of this is not at all for us to carry copies of the communist manifesto although i have one if you want it and it's not a call to delete the game apps on our iphone although that wouldn't be a bad idea either it is a call for us to notice the apps that our consumers society has downloaded into us without our full knowledge. Take control back of our most precious resource our time. Do use whatever practice makes sense and has meaning to step back step out of the regular routines of your day and your work. And demand the real in our lives. To live life vicariously and more vividly to escape the world last and affirm the world more. To respond to the ticking clock in our lives. By plucking the living flower. Our final him today is in the teal have no number 1024 when the spirit says do.

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Simple-Song.m4a

Jesus was a relatively young rabbi when he rode into jerusalem to such a claim the tradition says he was just 33 years old. Old enough and special enough to have accomplished quite a lot healing teaching working the miracles starting a movement. But not old enough apparently to be craving the peace and simplicity that many of us crave as we get older. In fact he was hungry jesus's entry into jerusalem showed a bit of the aggressive risk-taking that we associate with testosterone-fueled young men he had persuaded ordinary people mostly also young men to leave their families and follow him and he told them if you don't have a sword sell your cloak and buy one. He went in expecting a fight and he predicted on three separate occasions that he would not make it out alive. Jesus had grown up simple as a peasant. In a dusty little agrarian village where life was simple. He was he was teaching sitting under a tree or on a little hill using metaphors of seeds and plants and flowers and birds. He was idealistic and pious. Now jesus entered the big city the complex social and political territory of jerusalem with dueling roman gods and the hebrew gods jewish priest colluding with their occupiers. Cross-cultural current buffeting everyone money gumming up the gears of religion. Well alongside poverty. He voluntarily intentionally inserted himself into the middle of that complexity. And as of this day that we commemorate is palm sunday jesus was not in kansas anymore the leonard bernstein song we heard at the beginning of today's service says. Sing god a simple song. Make it up as you go along. Sing like you like to sing. God loves all simple things. For god is the simplest. Of all. This clear almost zen-like image of spirituality feels light years away from that embattled city of jerusalem. But it's a vibe that resonates for me and i think for many of us. It's one where our connection to the holy is childlike and effortless nothing fancy no rituals no elaborate prayers just seem like you like to sing. Express how you naturally express. And whatever comes out. It will be embraced by the universe. Is the impulse behind the prayer may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you god. May my simple song be enough. It's a longing that we all have may i be. Enough. Jesus also invited this spirituality of simplicity. Kim and teaching it all along. He taught his followers to stop stressing about everything so much and making everything so complicated and just have faith. He said do not worry about your life what you will eat or about your body what you will wear look at the birds of the air they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than day. And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to the span of your life. A mighty worried about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin yet i tell you even solomon in all his glory. Was not closed. Like one of these. He taught his followers to pray spontaneously and directly from the heart. When he spoke the prayer now known as the lord's prayer he wasn't saying necessarily but we should use those exact words he was giving an example of praying in his own words talking directly to god he prayed with familiarity. Sing like you like to sing pray like you like to pray. God loves all simple things for god is the simplest of all. So jesus at the moment of entering jerusalem embodied a paradox. A guru of simplicity. Hailed as king. In the laird broke complexity of a high-stress city. The country jesus meets the city jesus. That very paradox was his secret sauce. He didn't retreat from the social and political world and stay in his pastoral comfort zone he rode his donkey straight into the messy complexity but he also didn't leave his simple spirituality behind she carried it with him inside him as the bedrock of his connection to god it was that in her place that he taught from it was that clear he could hold on to the truth of that quiet place inside as things got worse and worse for him outside. Most of us have a country self and a city self. And i don't mean literally rural versus urban i may we have a place inside us that remembers. However faintly. Our innocence. That takes delight in the taste of a freshly picked. Tomato. But knows that we don't have to worry about anything because life takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and shirley will take care of us. That can still sing a simple song. And find faith. That's the country itself. Then there's the part of us that's more sophisticated and intellectual we're engrossed in the business of life the social world the in justices of our time the fight the failures and the victories that buys groceries and invest in mutual funds watches rachel maddow referring to her in casual conversation is just rachel that's the city self. One of the great challenges of life i believe is to marry the two. A life spent dwelling in just the country self can be escapist. And navel-gazing and impoverished for lack of engagement with the world. We can never know how real our spirituality is until it's tested against the pains and the troubles of real life. But a life spent in just the city cell. Can be empty of meaning. Striving and spinning around a hollow-core with no spiritual or moral grounding. We got the full human experience. When we can keep a car of connection with the holy. The expansive dinner place where everything is completely fine. Where we are one and we are loved. And when we can fully engage with our lives. With our messy families and our work trying to make social change that we know probably will not succeed. Each exists within the other. Like the yin-yang symbol and that is the central image of palm sunday jesus at the threshold between. The country self and the city self between the simple song and the justice seeking complexity. Between the lilies of the field and overturning the tables of the money-changers. He models a way to integrate the two into one powerful life force. In the spring season i want to invite all of us. To make some space to reflect and even pray on how we are doing with balancing these two elements in our lives. Do you need the strength to dive outward into the complex world more fully. Or do you need the face. To step back a bit go inward and find your simple song. Next week we'll have our annual easter fire ritual. Those of you who haven't been here for this week basically explode little pieces of paper in this dry wooden 175 year old sanctuary it's really awesome so between now and then i want you to do a little preparation. And ask yourself which direction do you need to ride your donkey. Toward jerusalem. Or away from jerusalem. And what's holding you back from doing it right now. See if you can ready yourself to imbue your piece of flash paper with whatever is holding you back. And then let it go. Together maybe we'll find that our simple song is not so simple. Like a drop of water it's reflects the entire world within it. Each one of us contains multitudes. We'll never be able to grasp all of it at once. So in the meantime. Just sing like we like to sing make it up as we go along. And hope to arrive at that which is the simplest of all.

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The-Promise-of-Acceptance-and-Spiritual-Growth-1.mp3

When i first moved to brooklyn last summer i was pretty excited to be so close to prospect park. I remembered it being just as pretty essential park the way less crowded. I'm an avid walker you see the time in nature is really good for me. Be able to be there without the jocelyn's thousands of other folks. All the better. On my first trip into the park after i moved here i came across the map on one of its little boards. Mention there was a dog beach. I thought wow. I didn't think the waterline came this close to the park. Turn up in jersey i imagine just shoreline with dogs frolicking as far as the eye can see. Owners alternating between feelings for the playfulness of their pups. And stressing over the more powerful waves around their little new york city apartment canines. I knew of some beaches that allow dogs but i didn't think it'd be possible in a city. Assistance league. 12. Apparently wasn't possible. Vacation optimally with prospect park it's roughly about 9 avenues from the river. I'm not much of a gullible person but i hadn't really been to this part of brooklyn much. And to be completely honest i have a ramp and imagination that sometimes gets the best of me. Reality the dog beaches one fenced-off stretch of water connecting. For larger in land lake. The early mornings when the leash laws wave dozens of dogs do frolicon it. The only waves that occur what they generate chasing balls ducks and each others. And afternoons it's usually only two or three dogs at a time who are tethered to their owners. Find it fascinating how all these dogs i encounter a completely different personalities. Summer very standoffish distance from other dogs while maintaining a. Just try it look on their faces. That may or may not just happen. To resonate with their human on the other end of the leash. Others come across as playfully stupid. Eager to please. Grab attention. Are the ones that run up to each new dog to say hey. Where you been. Even though they've never. Likely net. It started to notice my own reactions these different doggy attitudes have. I pay way more attention to the cute friendly lovable dogs and i do to the ones that maintain their distance. It'd make me feel better. And i imagine they're probably a bit happier than their counterparts. I used to think. You said just think of them is slightly dumb creatures who showed interest in care for anyone around them. Lacking discernment they gave their acceptance and love freely. Starting to think they're the smart ones that i'm the one that needs to catch up. They're happier i'm happier. The mind at the end of the leash might be a bit concerned that their pet is overly social. And willing to run away with anyone to the circus. Like my upstairs neighbor who recently mentioned to me is. One of her concerns when her two hot dogs wanted to go for a walk with me. I apologize for the nickname but i can never call that breeds actual name. Animes report that even the local area duck population shows no concern or fear from the friendly dog types. It might be convinced to slowly wait away from their intensity. There's no flapping away to safety from the gregarious ones. The only flea the stone cold one. I wonder what it would be like a coffee hour. We were all a bit more like the carefree floppy-eared mutts. In the strong but distant barker's a. Might be tough on the introverts among us from time to time. But i understand that we'll ever and always be the case for any of us that need time to ourselves but choose to try to do that in public settings. Imagine over although it feel. Pretty good. I tested this theory out of summer at coffee shops. Beaches and the occasional bar and hanging out with friends. I've learned something amazing. Generally speaking. When i show others i'm interested in getting to know them. But i'm out really friendly and that i accept them for who they are. They mimic. My behavior. A channel in the wisdom of floppy eared dogs everywhere. I found friendly people in places where only unfriendly people once dwelled. I wonder where they all came from. I reading this morning. Talks about how we don't notice people or dogs or even days. Breeds. We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say no this one. This isn't one i've been looking for. And wait and aboard sort of way for the next when we are convinced. Our lives will start for real. I believe we do the same sort of waiting with people. Possibly dogs. Waiting we give away our lives in the hope that one will someday show up. And the truth is. It's already here. And it's pretty wonderful. Even when it's pretty awful. Never always be those days. He also wants. So long as we have breath to breathe. We have a precious gift to unwrap. Experience. Went on to say for some reasons we like to see days past even though most of us claim we don't want to reach our last one for a long time. The same is true for each person we encounter even when they're pretty awful. We can choose interact with abandon or reserve. Do not be surprised when we receive only what we give. We cannot control how others act. Often heard it said. Cetirizine attorney universalist we accept all people. Not all the haters. We can control how open we are. Now committed to engage we will be. What's the religious discipline. Inherent to our third principal. Becoming it to affirm and promote acceptance of one another and encourage spiritual growth in our congregations. Has pointed out in our previous two installations of this preaching series on our principles. Phrase is another action statement monocryl belief. We aren't saying we believe in acceptance and growth although many of us in fact. Uso. We're saying that we will commit. To promote acceptance and spiritual growth with each other and in our religious homes. I say it's a religious discipline because it's hard work and something our religion asks of us. He also happens to be something we ask of each other as congregants. Thomas of this discipline. Is saving. Don't mean to say that it's saving in the sense of some afterlife. That will happen at some indeterminate point in the future. I mean to say that it's saving right here. Right now. Without the conviction of this discipline we are only promised a life of isolation and stagnation. With it. We enjoy the promise of a deeper connection with a life around us. The main demands to channel a little bit. That care fremont in each of us. Let go of the clutch and grab of judgment. You so often employ against ourselves and against others. Move through tolerance of others who we may or may not resonate with. And to learn to accept them for who they are. Let go of that clutch and grab. Requires a discipline for most of us. 1/3 principle. Offers the promise of connection. Commands. We allow ourselves to allow others in. The recent walk through prospect park i came across a story that matches just discipline. Time it's about little kids not dogs. I saw gathering of yellow shirt in summer camp first and second graders. The camp advisor is doing a call and response of the kids as they were marching adelines at their next destination. One day i heard a girl singing. It had a great thing to say to me. Hiccup punctuated by the advisor calling out after one girl who was lagging behind. Anna. Come on over stay with us. This went back. Forest for about 30 long seconds before the counselor invoked. The terrifying. Count to five. I remember. The horror that teacher threat back in grade school. 1. 3. And then anna came running. She got back to the group. And all was forgiven. They continued their march in the warmth on summer sun. We accept all people here. Not all behavior. Try not to dwell in your mind's too long on the metaphor of a single line marching anywhere. That will likely never be a true descriptor for any. Unitarian universalist anywhere. Think more about how that that counselor let the annoyance of the last. 30 seconds go. She accepted the situation within clearly defined boundaries and then allowed herself and anna. To reconnect to move on. Sometimes the offense in our daily lives will see more severe. But i'm convinced that the vast majority of those friends are simply the dress-up equivalent of anna's lingering a bit too long. The rest of the group. Need to move on. The clutch and grab we force ourselves to tolerate bad behavior but never loosen our grip on the offense or the frustration. If the counselor has held on. To the bad behavior of the little girl she would have had a much worse afternoon and probably ruined it for the kids as well. Dad she let herself in the children present be free to hear. Thomas of what great thing that bird singing in the tree. I just say to them that day. The realm of the spirituals. Accepting and appreciating the lies and world around us. How then can we do this in our congregations. I've already mentioned how to do acceptance 101 i call it coffee hour. Got to coming up against early right next to her. Practice practice practice. And accept how your neighbor's succeeds or trips up along the way. For those ready to move on to 201. Let me invite you to join one of our small group ministries this fall. You're looking to get to know more people in our congregation or if you want the opportunity to explore more deeply some of our ministers sermons. You are looking for spiritual space midweek. Small group ministries maybe for you. Whether you are a newcomer or long-standing member of our congregation. They're generally lead groups that each commit to me once a month for about 90 minutes and they have all the chalice lighting some poetry. Or short writing. A few questions that are intended to start dialogue in reflections around. Set topic. Houston design did he places for the heart. For the spirit rather than educational forums. I write the sessions. Facilitators are cuban minds third principle in doing so. Essentially a monthly structured exercise and acceptance. Then spiritual growth. Check out the sign-up sheets in the back by the welcome table or asking it up. What about them during coffee hour. H words. For all children of all ages this morning weaves are great unease of days and people together. Start and finish of the tale talks about the forward russia or alive. Is this man in fisherman are both seeking to enjoy the lights and days around them. Fisherman seems i've already found it while the businessman puts it off for the future. Well then you can spend the rest of your life just doing whatever you wanted to do. Sitting in the song relaxing and enjoying yourself with no worries. This is an aspect of acceptance that leads toward the second half of our third principal. Marker spiritual growth to be able to appreciate what you have. Where you are when. Your. They're rather than forever holding off to. Some point in the future or clinging onto some past experience. Shut off with the caveat that not all business people delay their life for some future date. And not all fishermen are so moderate and steady with their fishing habits. Imagine a tale that offers the same message with the roles reversed. Evolve an entrepreneur who may or may not enjoy what she's doing but fully appreciates how it allows or just your time. With some support her family or friends. The story there be a fisherman that overfished the seas and criticize the entrepreneur. We're keeping her company so small. Not expanding to consume more resources. Neither case one of the people in the story suffers discontent and disconnection. But their own lives and feels the need to protect that out onto the life of another. Learning to accept one another. Inevitably will encounter the / truth. Much of what makes us unsatisfied. With others is merely a projection of what we mistakenly believe. Is lacking in our own lives. The spiritual dimension of growth. Calls us to a life where we recognize the abundance. You may not have abundant well. Or abundant health or love. More abundant allen. Or maybe in a place where we have all or some of these. Wheelock the abundance of clarity to be able to see what we do have. Neither case. She hearing me now or reading this later. You have enough of an abundance of life. To be extremely grateful. This is a tough discipline for all. Especially for me. The one that has life-saving potential. One way to repay that gift is to help others to recognize this truth. Rather than the sick to teach it. Modlily. By living into acceptance. Every chance we get. It just so happens to be. Right now.

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The-Best-Of-All-Possible-Worlds.m4a

Astrophysicist these days like to say that there is not just one universe but many that's if by universe you mean everything that you could possibly see reach know about get to or they could possibly affect you in the slightest way anything outside of this area. Is beyond what they call our cosmic horizon. It's so far away the light from there. Has not had time to travel here. Since the big bang. So even in principle we can't see it. And she's nothing travels faster than life. Lights at the cosmic speed limit. If light hasn't had time to reach us then nothing else has. Either. Nothing. From any other universe has been able to have any impact on us. Whatsoever. And yet there is almost certainly more stuff out there. Right i mean why wouldn't there be why would the limits of our cosmic horizon to find the limits of reality. In fact many scientists today believe. That there are actually infinite number of universes out there each with its own cosmic horizon so far apart from each other but they have absolutely nothing to do with each other it's the infinite multiverse. I was trying to explain all this to my six-year-old kids this summer and they eventually wandered off to go play in their room but i guess my daughter somehow try to keep the conversation going because a few minutes later. I heard my son saying to her you please stop talking about what's going on in outer space. Any other point really i mean why should we care about what's going on in outer space. Beyond our cosmic horizon. If it couldn't possibly affect us. Well here's where it gets pretty theological pretty quickly. Because the question of what's going on in outer space. Has everything to do with whether we humans. Are just matter and energy just a temporary flock of quarks. Or whether as we tend to feel. We are something more. Read everything to do with whether we have free will. It has everything to do with whether we actually make choices or whether we just fall like dominoes and a meaningless chain of cause-and-effect. Imagine you're in a spin class. For those of you who've never done a spin class where you at a bunch of other people ride stationary bikes in a dark room with pounding music and amaka instructor yelling at you to pedal faster. To imagine that you're in a spin class and you just done innumerable 30-second sprints where you go as hard and fast as you can you are exhausted you're out of breath you're sweating your heart is pounding and all your muscles hurt. An instructor yells at you you're going to do just one more just 30 seconds more come on instructor shall show me what you're made of you know you'll feel really good afterwards if you do it. Right now. You just don't have it. You just want to curl up in a fetal position and or order a large pizza. What determines whether or not you go for that extra 30 seconds push. Is it just a combination of what you ate today how well you slept. But your upbringing was like and all the little bits and pieces of nature and nurture that have conspired to make you who you are or is there something more if you ask a physicist like brian greene there is nothing more what determines what you do is the arrangement of your particles he right tell me how the particles making up the earth the sun the galaxy are rain and you've fully articulated reality one's physical and mental characteristics are nothing but a manifestation of how the parts are arranged. Specify the particle arrangement. And you specified everything. So. If you could feed all the information about your particles into a really big computer it could predict with 100% accuracy whether you'll go for that extra 30 seconds all out. Or whether you'll bail. This is a trivial matter when you're talking about a spin class but it quickly becomes non-trivial when you apply it to the greatest of human challenges. What determined whether rosa parks would stay seated at the front of that bus. What determines whether a protester at the standing rock reservation will keep advancing toward the bulldozers when security unleashes their guard dogs on the crowd or whether he will retreat to safety. What determines whether the victim of domestic violence will find the courage to leave her abuser. What determines whether the abuser will be able to stop abusing. What determines whether a grand jury will indict the police officer who shot an unarmed black man. What determines whether the bright hardworking teenager will become the first in her family to go to college. Unitarian universalist tend to feel that what determines it is the person themself that we have freedom. And we have the inherent worth and dignity promised by our first principle. Then we are animated by something like a divine spark. And the we are each as unique as a snowflake. But brian greene and other serious not on drugs scientists claim but actually we're not unique at all. If we live in an infinite multiverse and our whole world is nothing but one big arrangement of particles. Then we. And our world and everything in it. Exist as it is right now. Not just here but in an infinite number of other places as well. Parallel universes. And brian green book he gives an awesome description of how they come to this conclusion. And if anybody would like to geek out with me after the service i can actually explain it to it is semi comprehensible. Three important thing to know is that in this vision of reality our world repeat. An infinite number of other times and places. An infinite number of exact copies of you. Exist in other places just as fully as you do here. They're all sitting there listening to this same sermon and having all the same feelings that you're having right now they're all identical configurations of particles. And there's no one of them that's the real you. Any sense of being real that we might feel is just a function of how those particles have produced the feeling of realness. I need one of you is fated to remain in lockstep with all the others. Forever. To me this concept is. Fascinating. And utterly deflating. It means that we are nothing more than robots. But at the end of the day. Although we work. So hard to make good choices for ourselves and our loved ones in our world really we're just all part of a big computer program running infinite loops in this sterile operating system of the cosmos. At the end of the day there's just no one home. And to be truthful. Sometimes it feels like this. I think many of us know this feeling when we just can't seem to make the changes that we want to make. In our lives and in our world. We find ourselves repeating the same self-destructive patterns that we've been trying to change for decades. We hear our parents words coming out of our mouths when we reprimand our kids. One young black man after another is killed by police. 1 mass shooter after another has easily bought his ar-15 assault rifle. 1 wildlife species after another goes extinct because we clear-cut their forests or pollute their water. It sometimes feels like we are just. Running our program and being run by our programming and we have no real choice at all. When we feel like this. Demoralized and hopeless. The only thing that can save us. Is faith. When the whole world seems to argue. For the inevitability of violence. And the impossibility of change. Face shows another way. Because although we can never prove it. Certainly not to the likes of brian greene. We have experienced time. When we have left off of the trajectory of our faith we have experienced times when we have finally been able to change an old childhood pattern. We've experienced of time. Melissa able to end a family cycle of abuse. We've experienced massive social changes liberation that they said could never ever happen. We have crashed the computer program time and again. We can testify to our spectacular human ability. To change. Unitarian universalists with our 7 principles and our actions in the world have great respect for the insides of science. But we also embody the face that we are more than the sum of our particles. This more is what i call god. The force in the universe that makes transformation pasta. When you're in that spin class. Being yelled at the first for another 30 second you can make a decision. You can say maybe in that other parallel universes the me and that spin class will go get a pizza. But this is going to be the universe where i give it all i've got. And at that moment. You can almost hear the rending of the fabric of the cosmos as our universe. Killed off and separate from its claws. And everything from that moment forward is different. We can make a decision. Maybe in some other universe i'm going to keep repeating childhood patterns but this will be the universe for i become the person that i always wanted to be. Maybe in some other universe will continue burning fossil fuels until our ecosystems collapse and humans go extinct but this will be the universe where we come together and heal our maybe in some other universe violence against people of color and muslims and jews and queer people will go on and on and on but this will be the universe where we learn to cherish our differences and love one another. And if this means that infinite parallel worlds will do the same thing and love will provide the cosmos. So. the whole multiverse is welcome to thank us. The unitarian voice of our faith teaches that we are all one. But there is no cosmic horizon where one sphere ends and another begins. Everything touches everything. And the universalist voice of our faith teaches that the universe is not a static in different operating system. It's a gravitational force pulling us toward love and reconciliation those of us who are working to heal the earth and lift up all its creatures have the explosive power of the cosmos on our side reality benz and even tears when we engage that power. We may not know and some of those may not care what's going on in outer space. Parallel universes and black holes and light-years and quarks and strings can do what they will. But here. We can make a decision. Two-face. Andrew action. We can make this the best of all possible worlds. Please rise and body are spirits are finally have final him turn the world around this is in the insert in your order of service.

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The-Smallest-Act-Of-Faith.m4a

Many babies born today under normal circumstances might still be alive in the year 2100 like this one for example that's only 82 years from now. And they're all of the crazy sci-fi medicine that's coming out of research labs these days 82 years might come to be a short lifespan. But life in 2100 is likely to be completely unrecognizable from life now probably because of technological innovations that we can't even begin to imagine. Take a pic of how life was 82 years ago. In 1936. No cell phones. Do computers hardly any families even had a small black and white tv in 2100 more disturbingly life will be different because of the ways that we are desecrating our ecosystems. It's not clear how habitable the earth will be for human life 82 years from now. When all of us are gone. And babies born today would be elders. These are painful words for me to speak and i know that they are painful for you to hear if we continue on our current course by 2100 global temperatures will rise by about seven degrees fahrenheit. It doesn't sound like much but this would be a change to which humans would be in the dry language of the scientist. Unable to adapt. Levels of migration sea-level rise mass to certification and economic upheaval even if the earth is still habitable it is not clear that it will be a place. But anybody you will want to live. When we hear these kinds of end times narrative they have a kind of book of revelations fields them. So much so that they don't seem quite believable. We don't put much stock in this christian sects that say that the earth is only 10,000 years old and some of those same christians believe that history will have its climax any day now a time of tribulation followed by the second coming of christ, dating in a final battle with the antichrist christians who believe this also believe. They believe that everything that is happening now. Is just how it's supposed to be. Part of the pain that we feel when we hear the ecological and x narratives is that we know deep in our hearts that this is precisely not how it's supposed to be. But something is terribly terribly wrong. Modern liberal theologies don't tend to involve history beginning and ending. But rather history as a flow of lifeforce a complex interplay between us. As animals with agency and all other life on earth. We envision the salvation coming not at the force from outside but as an enlightened consciousness where we embrace our interdependence with all life. We see this world with all of its kaleidoscopic diversity of humans and creatures of all kinds as miraculous and extraordinary and beautiful and inherently worth preserving just out of sheer reverence and all. We witnessed all of this beauty in jeopardy and we know that this is not how it's supposed to be. More and more people everyday are recognizing us we're feeling it in our bones. Made of calcium. From the earth. We're feeling it and we're knowing it and the knowledge is making us sick. There's a growing recognition in the field of psychology. That eco-anxiety is a thing now. The american psychological association recently did a review of the literature on this and found that as our ecosystems through road. Our collective mental health arose as well. It probably goes without saying that people who are direct victims of climate change. They suffered emotional pain the obvious that if you lose your home or your livelihood. To flooding and storm some people are around the world that that's excruciating and traumatic. After katrina people had increased rates of suicide depression and one-in-six suffer from ptsd. Children have grown fearful sometimes being afraid of water afraid of swimming or even taking a bath so what's been less recognized until now is something that i think all of us are experiencing on some level even those of us who haven't been directly affected by ecological collapse we could call it pre traumatic stress syndrome. Bapa research shows that as we watch the impacts of climate change on fold. We are feeling a deep existential anxiety and what's most fascinating to me in this report is the following sentence to compound the issue the psychological responses to climate change such as conflict avoidance fatalism. Beer helplessness and resignation are growing. These responses are keeping us and our nation from properly addressing the core causes of and solutions for our changing climate the american psychological association i think some of us myself included recognize some of these very feeling conflict avoidance fatalism fear helplessness and resignation it feels too big it's a reality fun so far out of control so fast. It is said that stress. Is responsibility without power if you are responsible for something. Can you have the power to take care of it. Back and feel fine. If you don't have power over something but you're not responsible for it either that can be fine to do when you feel responsible for something. And you can't do anything about it that's excruciating. And so some of us don't engage with it. Let me focus more on issues that are drawn more to scale and a lot of us feel a lot of despair and we skip over the news stories when we see them because they are just too depressing. Some of us probably not in this room but some of us respond by denying the climate change is happening at all. The climate-change deniers up to the very highest levels of government i believe are suffering from eco-anxiety they know definitely on the backs of their neck just like it says on ours when the storms are coming they know by the gathering collective static electricity of scarcity and fear. They know by the smell of the air slightly thick. They know by the taste of the water. They know by the feel of the food in their mouths that it comes from chemicals and creatures far-flung and strangely assembled they know. And so when i try to roll back the efforts to heal the earth like the clean power plan it's not only denial it's a desperate exaggerated denial the denial on steroids. It's a survival strategy. Because if i'm them. What if i let in the notion that these efforts are important. What if i let in the notion that they might be necessary. What if i let em that they might not be enough what if i let in the even if we do these things and sacrifice so much they might not work and then one. And what if i fully let in that i have all this power and so is my responsibility. I couldn't live with that knowledge. Better to push it away. On the other end of the continuum we see people like david buckle who let it in all the way and couldn't live with the knowledge. He was a brooklyn attorney well-known for his successful work on lgbt civil rights cases deeply invested in the environmental movement seeking the truth there as he had in his legal work. He became the compost coordinator at red hook community farm here in brooklyn and ran it entirely on renewable energy processing 150 tons of compost material each year. Focus on low-income communities he created a model or local neighborhoods can grow and keep their organic produce. And then on april 14th he committed suicide by fire he left a note my early death by fossil-fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves pollution ravages our planet losing and habitability via are soil water whether our future needs more than what we've been doing tragedy of the highest order that such a brilliant and loving person came to believe that he was worth more dead than alive. Stress is responsibility without power. David buckle decided that he had no power. Climate-change deniers decides that they have no responsibility. We're all on a continuum somewhere between david buckle and the deniers trying to relieve the stress of knowing what we and our animal selves no. You can ask yourselves where you are, continuum i'd say most of us are much closer to the deniers. None of us myself included are acting as we would act if we really let ourselves experience this as the crisis that it is. Distress. Would be unbearable this is painful for all of us and we all deserve compassion. How do we help ourselves and each other off of this treadmill of eco-anxiety. First we have to be honest stress is responsibility without power so honestly are we responsible. Yes. The responsibility is real. The generations alive today not 82 years ago not 82 years from now the generations represented in this room are going to determine the fate of human civilization. And that of many other species. We didn't ask to be alive in this moment of human history eyes. Sure as hell didn't but here we are. Here we are some of us may see that is random chance i feel that we have been. Handed entrusted with a sacred responsibility. Stress is responsibility without power and we are responsible but do we have power yes. Yes we have political power we have personal power we have social power and most importantly we have spiritual power. Political power as voters and as activists we influence the policy decisions that can make quick change. Tomorrow morning my husband jeff and i and a few of you hear from first you are going to albany for a rally to call and governor cuomo to become a real leader in transitioning new york state to renewable energy. 30 great if a few more if you would join us maybe like 200 more of you would savannah every week i send out an action that you can do on the political level a phone call to make a letter to write a pipeline to get out in front of do it every week. And of course that's your political power. Then your personal power you don't have to wait for the next election because really this is gnarly problem is not the government it's made up of people like us really people exactly like a. Which means that we have tremendous power and changing ourselves and our culture the organization greenfaith that we have supported through our shared a plate program has recently put out a call for all people of faith to make three deep commitment to protecting the planet significantly lessen your home energy use to drastically reduce your meat consumption 3 conscientiously minimize your car and air travel. No matter how much the epad regulates if we don't buy the product that's desecrating our ecosystem. It's not going to get made. And if we can influence others and more and more of us support products that are healthy and sustainable for the earth they will be made simple. That's your personal power. Gunners what i'm calling your social power whatever spheres you already operate in your work your kids school your congregation your band your book group definitely your family you can find a way to make an impact on this issue. You already have the communal networks and the skills to make a difference somewhere somehow even areas that seem totally disconnected where you could not find some way to make a connection. I know a high school english teacher. Who decided to make damn sure that his students could tell the difference between real news and fake news real science and fake science he gave an example after example of each and drill them until he was sure that they could tell the difference. Psychotherapist are starting to recognize their opportunity. As i help people suffering from eco-anxiety they know that hugo anxiety like any other kind of anxiety is often best alleviated through action. So some are starting to help their clients through the disappearance of denial. To a healthy positive engagement. Whatever you already do whatever you already care about whatever gifts you already have are the perfect thing to bring to this work. Political power personal power. Social power these are powers that all of us have will they really. Will they really make a difference they are already making a difference. There is tremendous reason for hope. And the impact that people of faith and conscience are already having we are changing the culture everyday we have the technology to changes are starting to happen in pockets around the world cities and states are making commitment institutions are pulling their money out of the fossil fuel industry. Renewable energy is now popular across the american political spectrum. The polling data is almost unbelievable on this in a country with a huge partisan divide on virtually every issue one poll after another shows that massive majority of democrats republicans and independents favor government action to develop renewable energy. Momentum is building. This moment in history is dense with meaning. We have enormous responsibility and enormous power. But of all the powers that we bring to the table as people of faith. The greatest power is our spiritual power. I believe that god the life force the universe is not done with us yet. We didn't come this far as human beings in all our growth and all of our struggles over the millennia we didn't come this far to just vanish over one century in the furnace of our own making. That in time narrative is not ours our narrative of universal salvation and in love. Narrative of unity evolve toward healing and wholeness and compassion the human project is just getting started. We're just starting to learn how to live together and in harmony with the earth. Emily make even the smallest act of faith. That brings us closer to that harmony we have the entire power of the cosmos streaming through us. I pray for each of us to have the courage to open ourselves to that stream. For the sake of the babies born today. And for the sake of our own anxious heart. Listen for the force of life calling our name. Showing us. Guiding us whispering to us the promised land is right here. Our enlightenment is just beginning and our brightest days are still ahead please rise and battery or fear for our final hymn number 1040.

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Homily-Catalysts-By-Waciuma-Wanjohi.m4a

Within days of being asked to deliver a homily. I was questioning myself. What do i really have to tell others. After every reflection i was brought to the same conclusion. I was deeply unready. And. The last week has only served to reinforce.. His friends going to pass. As recently as the fudge dinner last night my answer and continue to be a not reading. And i highly suspect that i'm not the only person who's been in this position who's been brown or his jumps into the deep end and realize that it's time to swim and this experience is not just in each of us. It's also in our history. Abrahamic religions have the tradition of pathetic individual to declare themselves unready. In judaism when god declares to moses but he is to go to pharaoh and bring the people of israel out of egypt. Moses replies. Who am i that i should go. In christianity having overturned the temple the tables in the temple and preached a new covenant jesus knows the reckoning is at hand and following the last supper repairs to a garden to pray and there he admit that he is not ready. He call. My father is it be possible let this cup pass from me in islam when the angel gabriel appears to muhammad he commands mohabbat to read mohammed replies three times if he is unable and yet the israelites leave egypt and yet jesus submit to arrest and yet muhammad records the corrupt. What accounts for this movement from unreadiness to action. One explanation is catalysts in chemistry. Every reaction has an energy of activation by a large is your actions are not occurring. When we need them to her. We confront them with catalyst. Substances that lower the energy needed to move from one state to another. Estimates are that 90% of all commercially produced chemical products involve catalyst in the process of their manufacturer. It includes turning oil and gasoline. The manufacturer of margarine. Ibuprofen involves three. Different kinds of catalyzed reactions it's not only in our chemistry labs are we are using chemical reaction all of our enzymes are catalysts without them tons could not tell us when tasting something sweet. Bodies could not extract energy from food. Catalysts are distinctly certainly not exclusively human action in the state of unreadiness. Is the natural state of human life. In biblical story god is often cast as the catalyst. But one need not look only to the divine. We recognize many individuals as catalysts in our world. Rosa parks spark a bus boycott in a new era of civil rights. Gandhi birthday march to an ocean and an end to the british raj. But must we rely. Upon others. Bring us to action. I don't think so. I hope not. I think part of the reason that we think we are unready is because we wrongly think our efforts must approach a certain standard of perfection. But they don't. And even the most pivotal moments can be seen as very imperfect. Rosa parks could not ride in unsegregated bus the day after her arrest. And immediately after the salt march the british did not leave india as action was necessary. + 1/3. Seminar many understandings of the origin of our very world are gorgeous blue sphere. Few of these stories. Say that it was all made perfectly the first time. Whether it be the hindu story of brahma. Incarnated as a fish and asking manu the first man to save a seed. Of every creature. Before cutting the earth. Or the abrahamic story. Abogada dressing noah. But he was sending a flood. To destroy all but one family. Or even the scientific consensus. Hubbard's history. Our planet had rocky continent and liquid ocean. Before being struck by a planet or the size of mars turning the entire planet into a liquid molten rock. Which would later reform. Inquire rocky and watery planet with a satellite moon. From any number of perspectives. Our home is not the first iteration. Represented then with what i would call an iterative path to perfection. On this path we acknowledge our first effort comes as we are not ready. Our second effort comes only as we are a little bit more ready our third effort brings us just that much closer to perfection. And this viewpoint is useful. Because it can lower the bar to action. Are catalysts becomes our viewpoints. It is comfortable but. It is demanded in a different way because an interview has no time for us to rest upon our laurel. I need her to view of the world take seriously modern heresies and wonders. If they are next step toward perfection. Considerate of you understand that yesterday's best. We're still an effort that fell shorts. And today we must act again an iterative you perfectly ready to stand here but only because this won't be the final message from this pulpit. In an interview we were perfectly ready to divest from fossil fuel companies but only because that won't be our final effort to stem climate change. In an interview we are perfectly ready to serve. Only because. We know tomorrow. He'll be called to serve again. Please rise and body or in spirit for him 69 give thanks.

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The-Sacred-Hoop.m4a

So my dog and i go running together a few times a week and we're always trying to find new places to go for at least i am i don't think she really cares i've always fantasized. Far enough into some unknown part of the city will wind up off the grid. Go find some huge beautiful park with leafy big trees and wide-open spaces and a lake and will swim and will play. So few months back my search for this mythological land. Let us over the pulaski bridge into greenpoint brooklyn. We headed east toward the most industrial part of the neighborhood. Because. In fairytales at least miracles always happen where you least expect them. We headed toward the factories and the utility building. The smokestack deserted wide streets with trucks rumbling by the towers of the iconic greenpoint sewage treatment plant rising up in the distance like giant metallic onions you know what i'm talking about. We approached a dead-end and found a guard sitting in a little booth. In front of a barbed wire fence with a large no trespassing sign. Next to the booth a concrete walkway disappeared between two looming windowless building referred to that walkway. She said no no the signs for the parking lot that's a nature walk.. A nature walk. Really i felt a little like alice in wonderland falling into the rabbit hole. We entered the shoot between the buildings. I started to wonder about the mushrooms i had eaten in my stroganoff tonight before the past turned and the walls rows on either side of us. The past turned again. And there it was. The water. Trees. The grass. The breeze. I let the dog off the leash. Except we didn't go swimming. The water was newtown creek that divides queens from brooklyn and it was inky black and still with oil floating on the surface. The few trees were scraggly and skinny. And each was labeled with a little sign but gave their latin name as if to certify it as an actual living organism across the water highways criss-cross in the air and smoke billowed out of factories. A giant claw crane scooped up scrap metal by the ton and dropped it into a barge with a booming sound over and over again. The air smelled faintly of iron filings and exhaust. It was. An operatic industrial landscape. In the middle of all this was a circle of flat stones with words engraved in them. Place names used by the early lenape people. Indigenous to this area. Their names for the natural features that used to be here. It was so rich with irony. The postmodern gen-x certainly loved it i couldn't wait to run home and tell my husband jeff and get him to come and see it with me but of course part of me didn't love it at all. Part of me felt very very sad. I'm standing there i suddenly felt cheesy thinking of the crying indian commercial this was an ad running 1971 that portrayed a native american crying over the pollution of the natural world and he was staring out at a natural landscape that looked a lot like this. The guard had told me with a straight face that this was a nature walk. This simulation is what now passes for nature in our world. And this token rock engraving is what passes for an honoring of the tragic history of the people of this land. People who are only not here because early europeans like christopher columbus who we're supposed to be celebrating this weekend. Violently removed them. How did things get so distorted but this has come to seem normal. How did it get to seem normal that the only trace of the lanai pay people and the natural world they once lived in. Is a few words carved on a rock and a blighted corner. Evergreen point. An ironic name in itself anything about it. The answer is that what's considered normal what's considered moderate and reasonable. Moves. The changes. It's relative. All you need is for someone really extreme to come along on one and any continuum and the middle shift if you kill and displays enough native american eventually no one will know whose land it was supposed to be. And continue down this path long enough and it will come to seem reasonable that the middle. The reasonable compromise point is that indigenous people get to live in tiny reservations on unwanted land and european immigrants get the entire rest of the continent. A version of this is exactly what's going on in our government right now. By making extreme demands and being unwilling to budge on them the tea party has managed to move the middle way to the right even the business community is starting to feel like it's out of whack. Joey chavarria the chief executive of deloitte and a staunch republicans complained that while both parties have extreme elements only in the gop did the extreme elements exercise real power the extreme-right has 90 seats in a house he said. Occupy wall street has none. And so the middle moves. What sounds reasonable moves. History gets distorted people forget who made what concessions when and you wind up in a situation where the government is shut down because one side refuses to fund a law that has already passed. And they get away with it. According to a pew poll half of americans think that the current government shutdown as republicans fall. The other half think it's the democrats fault. The middle has moved. It's a house of mirrors you can lose your bearings in it. When you're inside a culture which we all are like alice in the rabbit hole. It's really hard to follow what's going on as everything shifts all around you. What you need is some kind of vantage point. Some kind of outside to the culture that you live in a place of perspective from which you can see the whole and get your bearings. What in the world could possibly give us that outside perspective what has even a chance of giving it to us religion religion religion is the one modality in our world that at least intends to transmit truths that are absolute it intends to supply us with an outside. In fact the etymological root for the word religion is r.l. meaning outside and gian manning world. Okay that's not true at all i completely made that up but it should be it should be. It should mean outside the world because i believe that's the single greatest gift that religion has the possibility of giving us. An outside perspective. Princess doesn't always work as i talked about last week and the ten commandments sermon religious teachings are also informed by the time and place of their authors. And religion sometimes perpetuates the worst of our cultural prejudices and oppressions yes but liberal religion in particular has evolved so that it has remained accountable to ideals that have lifetime appointments. Like supreme court justices. Allow them to stand just a little bit above the fray. Religion come give us a god's-eye view of the world. The biggest possible view of ethics and morality our place in the history of the universe. The sacredness of the natural world of our relationships. Of our ordinary lives. It can hold steady through the vagaries of culture. Alex best religion succeeds in this project and when it does it's really powerful the reading from black elk that we shared earlier gets to the sense of outside perspective then i was standing on the highest mountain of them all and round beneath me with the whole hoof of the world and i saw that the sacred hoop of my people was one of many poops that make one circle. Why does daylight and starlight. And in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And i saw that it was holy. Tim dechristopher is someone who in my view exemplifies the power of this religious outside perspective. He's a unitarian universalist and the number of years ago he metaphorically climbed a mountain. Looked at the sacred hoop of the world. And from that vantage point he looked down at the utah canyonlands. And saw something terrible unfolding. The rights for oil and gas drilling on 150,000 acres of public land were about to be put up for auction. Environmental groups had initiated a lawsuit maintaining that the auction shouldn't go forward until i review with the fragile ecosystem had been completed. But in 2008 the auction went forward anyway. While the lawsuit was still pending. So-dimm to christopher showed up. Instead of protesting outside the auction house with the other activists. He went inside. Picked up a paddle. And started bidding on the land. Keep it up the prices on many of the parcels driving them up as much as from $2 an acre to $240 an acre. And then he decided that wasn't enough. And he began bidding until he actually won by the time they figured out that this guy had no intention or means of paying the entire auction had been skewed by the artificially high prices the auction had to be canceled and rescheduled but by the time the new auction date rolled around the court had ruled on the case the auction was illegal and the rights to drilling on that land could not be sold tinder christopher's ideal stems from his religious perspective his connection to the interconnected web of all existence. But his actions existed inside does relativistic world where immediate profits often outweigh the long-term considerations. So tim was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his crime. The prosecution openly admitted that he wasn't a threat to society the stated purpose of the sentence was to deter other activists from taking similar action to further the climate movement tim served his two years. And recently got out and started at harvard divinity school preparing to become a unitarian universalist minister. I'm looking for a scute actually coming to first you to speak then just a few weeks on saturday november 2nd at 10 a.m. there's info in your order of service and i hope you can all come. We live in a house of mirrors the middle moves continually. The culture the culture can see some kind of equivalency between the needs of the oil companies and the needs of the earth as a whole and locate the middle somewhere in between. Advantage point of faith on the other hand teaches that those two needs are not equivalent at all. Through our faith in the words of black elk we can see more than we can tell and understand more than we can see. We don't have to wait for the culture to figure it out. We can act. End of tim dechristopher and people like us didn't do this a nature walk in the utah canyonlands would soon look a lot like a nature walk in greenpoint. I'm going to close with tim's closing words to the courtroom at his hearing. You can steer my commitment to a healthy and just world if you agree with it but you can't kill it this is not going away. At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon this is what hope looks like indiatimes of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles this is what patriotism looks like. With countless lives on the line this is what love looks like and it will only grow please rise and body or spirit for a final hymn number 207 earth was given as a garden.

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Going-On-All-The-Rides.m4a

What i'm trying to get my kids to taste a new food i often give them the following speech life is like coney island. They're all different kinds of rides big rides small rides fast ride slow ride some of them go up and down some of them go round and round summer scary. Summer fun some of them go really high up in the air and they give you a view of the whole wide ocean. Some of them take you down into a dark tunnel. So many kinds of rides. And when you reach the end of your life. When it's your turn to die. You're going to look back on your life. And wish that you had gone on every ride that you had a chance to go on you're going to want to have tasted everything. That life has to offer. Like this ethiopian pickled beets for example it doesn't work ever ignore me. They roll their eyes like little mini teenagers they start talking about something else. And to be fair it's probably a lot to ask of five-year-olds to imagine what they're going to feel like at the end of their life it's probably a lot to ask of anyone. And yet in a sense. That's what we're here to do. That's the thought and heart experiment that religion calls us to do. Hear it first you we think about the past and the future. We talked about god and not god. Ethics. We pray. We sang. We listen to inspiring music. sacred text. And poetry. Alton unjust to step outside of our day-to-day lives. And take the broadest possible view. The view from the top of the ferris wheel. The view that will get at the end of our lives. We asked ourselves how can we live now in a way that will be happy about having lived as we neared that what we want our life to have been about how will we want to be remembered how we want to touch our world what will we be proud of and what will we regret. We can't know for sure course humans are notoriously bad at what's called affective forecasting. Predicting how we're going to feel at some point in the future. But it's kind of a truism among ministers who compare notes on these things. The deep. Regrets. That people talk about at the end of their lives. Are not usually about the mistakes that they made. They're usually the opportunities that they messed. The risks they didn't take. The times when they played safe. I live small. The times when they could have swung at a pitch but they let it go by. Those are the regrettes. I don't want you to have those regrets. So. I'll try on you this beach. But doesn't work for my five-year-old. Life is like coney island. There are all different kinds of rides. And when you reach the end of your life. When it's your turn to die. You are going to wish that you had gone on all the rides that you had a chance to go on. Now let me tell you what i'm not talking about here i'm not talking about actual rides. I'm not talking about the kind of adult play that's expensive has a huge carbon footprint sucks up natural resources and requires a battalion of minimum wage workers to make happen. I'm not talking about spending the weekend at mar-a-lago. I'm not talking about hiring a crew of sherpas to haul you up to the top of mount everest. I'm not talking about buying. Anything. I'm also not talking about trying things that are truly self-destructive. Taking dangerous drugs like crack or crystal meth having unsafe sex. Engaging and self-harm those are not the rides i mean and i hope that you're able to let those pass by. Thrice i'm picking up for the rides the connect us more deeply to the sacred earth into the life of which we are apart there are rides of the body jump into that lake on your hike you don't know the future you just don't know what's going to happen this might be the last lake you ever have a chance to swim in. You just don't know. Taste those ethiopian pickled beets if you don't like beets or if the water is cold it's an experience and your soul is hungry for it. There are rides of the mind which unitarian universalist tend to be pretty good at already reading and studying and debating. Learn a new language. You might understand the world so differently if you learned a native american language. Or gujarati. Or chinese or his language. And then there are the rides of the heart. Take the ultimate risk. Of loving someone. A romantic partner. A child. A friend. Start that difficult conversation get real with another human being on this earth look into the eyes of your beloved and tell them that you love them. Let yourself believe that you are loved. The rides of the heart can be wild rides. For all of us if we go on these rides there will be absent down we will get hurt we will fail we will have moments of bliss. There will be times when just like you're riding rounding the top of a roller coaster looking down. Funny stories to the ground. Will wish that we hadn't climbed aboard for this one. Will wish we could get off. And we won't be able to. This was probably what that guy was feeling on friday morning to climbs onto a piece of plywood and the new jersey marina. Did you hear about this he got swept downstream riding on this board. All the way down to near governors island where he was rescued by the coast guard even though he was cold and scared this is a ride that he will remember for the rest of his life and i believe that he will cherish it at the end of his life. He isn't exactly my poster child for this message though because it was a pretty stupid thing to do and he relied on public resources to save him and apparently the only reason why he didn't swim for sure was because he didn't want his phone to get with a child and spokesperson for his generation he's been speaking out publicly about the environment. You can watch videos of him on on youtube speaking and wrapping before large crowds with his long long hair. Saying prayers for mother earth in his native language. Calling on a dose of the world to take bold steps to protect her. Today he and 20 other youth and eugene oregon ages 9219 are taking an amazing ride together. They are suing the us government. In a landmark climate change case. They're suing the government for violating their constitutional rights to life liberty property and their right to essential public trust resources by encouraging the continued burning of fossil fuels. They're fighting for their whole generation and they are speaking about it in those terms. @cnn photos. It's the future suing the presents. So not you said. The reason we're fighting for this is because of the world we want to grow up in and the world we want our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to grow up in. This is not a selfish cause we're not politically invested we're not financially invested we're in this because of the way it affects the state of the planet we want to be left with. That is the most noble cause i'd say leaving our children a better planet than the one we are living in today. We're doing our part we need political leaders to step up and do their. The ride that tone out you and these other youth are taking is what i would call a ride of the spirit. This is a special kind of ride. Where nothing. Picks us up and buckles us in and carries us along and powers are engine except for hope. And faith. Faith in our higher power and our deepest self. Like any ride a ride of the spirit has roller coasters of ups and down there are bitter disappointments and failures as well as wonderful successes. Enjoys. But a ride of the spirit. Gives not just experiences. Butt meaning. Tua life. It's when we live for something larger than ourselves. It's when we have such a power of conviction that we journey wherever that conviction takes us. That's a ride. Life is like coney island there are lots and lots of rides. The rides that we take make up the life that we lead. Brides of the body mind heart and spirit. And the fact is that we can't go on all of them. There are too many. At our time in this life is too short. Sunrise are thrust upon us and we have no option to get off. Poverty. Rlms. Others we can't get a ticket for even if we desperately want to. But for all the other rise. The ones we can choose. Let's agree that when we turn one down let it be for a damn good reason. Let it be because it's immoral or violent or would hurt someone or would be truly dangerous. But don't let it be because we might not like it. Don't let it be because we're scared. Don't let it be because we're clinging to the past. Don't let it be because we don't want our ideas about life challenged. Our god's sake don't let it be because we might get our hearts broken. And don't let it be because we think that the little bit of good that we can do on that ride won't make a difference. Because it will. At the end of our life. When it's our turn to die. We are going to look back on our lives and wish that we had gone on all the rides we could. The author hunter s thompson put it perfectly life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke thoroughly used up totally worn out and loudly proclaiming wow what a ride please rise and body or spirit for our final him when the saints go marching in.

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Breath-Of-Our-Ancestors.m4a

When my house james and i moved to brooklyn 6 years ago we quickly realized that in order to make the transition to citylife we were going to need to be intentional about spending some time outside. As we got to know our new neighborhood we poured over maps and looked around at the whole area and we just kept being drawn to a very large green space not too far from our apartment. Feeling adventurous one day we decided to check it out what we found astounded us of course we encounter the obligatory squirrels and canadian geese ever-present canadian geese in our city but groundhogs and red-tailed hawks and ponds and winding pathways up and down hills and under and through trees. So many trees. In fact. This space has over 5,000 mature trees. Including the oldest sassafras tree in new york city. And in spite of their being over half a million inhabitants. It's the quietest place i've been in brooklyn. Which was very good for the soul of this country girl from the mountains in need of some quiet reflection time some of you have probably already guessed that the place i'm describing is greenwood cemetery. A place that is more commonly known then it is visited and where my husband now works as a tour guide. From the amazing gothic arches to the at the entrance to be incredible statuary of the gravestones and monuments and markers this is arguably one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the country. It overlooks the bay with views of lower manhattan and if the conditions are just right on the far side of the cemetery on the highest point in the wintertime you can even see all the way to the far rockaways it's quite the realtors dream i must say this is. But we are now finding especially in cities that cemeteries have preserved valuable green space that would have otherwise been gobbled up by developers long ago ironically a space that was set aside for the dead now served through its many trees as the purifying lungs breathing life into the city. At the same time it was created in the mid-1800s. They're at the time it was created greenwood was this garden cemetery was a very new and more positive vision of the christian afterlife this was a radical departure from the original settlers view of death. Here instead your loved one is buried in a romantic landscape that is a joy to experience. And you can imagine them there in this beautiful comforting space they are on a journey but does not end in the cemetery but in heaven i haven't reflected right there where they are buried and you you will come to join them as well when it is your turn. Greenwood was somewhat based on the mother of all american garden cemeteries mount auburn in cambridge massachusetts members of our face many of our face ancestors for example julia ward howe a few of the people who are buried at mount auburn in cambridge. These gardens cemetery where really important for their time because they served the theological function of creating a sort of heaven on earth where the living could spend time with their dead ones creating a beautiful space in which to spend time with the dead was part of a trend and this is a trend that was moving toward universalism universal love away from the harsher calvinists believe in predestination. People who had previously been thinking for so long that most of the soles or dams. To an eternity in hell. It may come to a surprise to some here that our very own congregation first you has a special plot at greenwood cemetery in fact and it was only four years after greenwood was established. I want to share a quote with you from the book from 1869 called unitarianism in brooklyn it talks about the the purchase of the plots and and our congregation and it talked a little bit about the consecration or the ceremony at which the plot was dedicated and its states. The pastor made an address and. Reverend john pierpont offered a prayer both of whom also contributed original hems which were written for and song at the interesting solemn ceremony. Unitarian spell especially fortunate in securing this to hell greenwoods choicest thought the same year that their elegant building was completed the peaceful hilltop where one day they would rest from their labors. And so let us give thanks for the foresight of our congregational ancestors who secured this lovely spot for us they took a chance to this is very unusual.. How we think of the dead and how we treat deaths and our society has changed dramatically over time the death of a family member is always an intensely personal experience. But if you can see that most people died at home. And their bodies were usually just lay there for several days. If they owned lands they would be buried on their property likely or in a churchyard. Insidious the majority of people who had no money or property were buried anonymously in mass graves called potter's field. Disease paired with the lack of modern medical knowledge not to mention a civil war. That was left. A million people dead in this country. Hard to imagine isn't it. This man that you are average person had a very intimate relationship. With dad. Reacting to the horrors of this warfare on an industrial scale the likes of which had not been seen before. Many americans sought solace in a gentle are christian worldview of the afterlife. Our present-day proximity to death. Couldn't be more different from that of our ancestors. Not only are we insulated from deaths that are due to war and conflict. Things to news and information on demand. With a tap of the singer. We can click we can scroll away from death. We can also choose to be completely detached from the process of death. The ritual and care of the dead has been given over to professionals. We often die in hospitals and some people never see the body of their dead loved one many practical reasons for these changes and modern practices are population is much greater now than it was and on average people live to be much older than they used to which means that we are often in the hospital at the end of our lives. Modern technology and medicine along with the rules and regulations and cultural norms don't forget that piece of this these lead us in particular directions when it comes to the care and handling of the dead. And this is of care can be comforting for the grief-stricken ones left behind. I know i've been there. And i'm sure that many of you have to. There are some people today who are not satisfied with being so separate from death and have come up with very creative ways to become closer to death again and to honor the dead with cremation we now have the opportunity to keep the ashes of her love one in our homes with us. Or we can spread sashes at our loved ones favorite spot that they used to love to visit. Our loved ones ashes and continued have incredible journeys of their own incorporated into new artificial ocean reef systems or even shot into space to circle the heavens and definitely concept. I want to shove your coated people's ability to make choices about their own deaths is curtailed our involvement with dad is. Generally frowned upon and kept as pretty separate the dominant cultural messages we receive today are that death even thinking about it like right now you're probably wondering why does she keep going to be avoided at all costs. And how does this affect us spiritually. This is the question that i have for all of us and i don't necessarily have the answer but i do feel like because death is so much a part of life if we avoid dealing with it and we avoid thinking about it then we're going to be unprepared when the inevitable happens and someone close to us dies. Never really be like prepared right but. How do we know what to do i mean how to ask what what how can we do with this if it's just a fear and it's very seeing that we never really think about. 3y remembrance ceremony today. And through the memorials and funerals that are our faith community and other communities provide. There's time and space to grapple with our grief. And also to build the resiliency needed to face that. Talk work. But we have each other to do it with. Firstly avoid it. I can cause even more pain when it happens. We need the community. And we need to know that our love lives on the when we talked about and honor. The dead beloved from our lives. It gives us hope that we too will be remembered. How many of you you don't have to raise your hands or anything but just think that looks like how many of you have the voice or innervation of someone in your mind. Someone who has died but someone who taught you. Someone who nurtured you someone who mentored you they may not physically be here in your life anymore but the memory of them their words the lessons they live on in you. For a long long time humans have believed that as the earth transitions from the aliveness of summer to the death of winter the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest. This is when. The spirits of the dead are closest to the world of the living. Holidays recognizing the proximity of life and death have been celebrated in many different ways and in many different traditions. We don't need to avoid thinking about those who have died we can choose to honor those because call ancestors. Instead of being afraid. To honor our ancestors means to remember who they really were especially the good things but also the bad things about them. To honor our ancestors means to choose to be aware of that who we are is influenced by them by who they were. For the good and for the bad and how we choose to live now. Will influence those who come after us. And to honor our ancestors means to know that even though they have died in our hearts and minds they are present every time of year. We carry them with us in our memories of them the air we breathe is the flurry same air that they breathe. We are the breath of our ancestors. Mer the air for our descendants. What a gift that says. To be the in-between of generation. We have the opportunity to honor not only our ancestors. But also our descendants. Through the lives we live. For a child that's born a morning star rises and sings to the universe. Who we are we are our grandmother's prayer we are our grandfather's dream. We are the breath of our ancestors. Please rise and body or spirit for our final him we are which is printed on the insert in your order of service.

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Homily-Dont-Steal.m4a

The first of the ten the first four of the ten commandments speak to our personal relationship with the holy thou shalt have no other gods before me. shall not take the name of the lord thy god in vain the eighth commandment thou shalt not steal falls under the remaining six that govern our relationship with others and with our inner selves. They calling us to behave responsibly not just within our communities but within our souls failing to do so brings harm to those against whom we transgressed and to a very beings the act of murder is not only about taking a life but the motives behind it the commandant prohibiting adultery not only speaks against the actual act but the desire that fuels it in 1976 then governor jimmy carter gave an interview with playboy magazine. But admitted that i've looked on a lot of women with lust i've committed adultery in my heart many times the biggest challenge i faced in preparing the timely is that of all the commandments the 8th is the least clearly defined for example. shut not covet is explicit as to what of your neighbor's possessions you should not covet his house wife or anything of his father and my mother and kill or rather self-explanatory so what exactly are we today i'd like to offer another interpretation. It was based on interviews with 174 randomly-selected covenant house clients between the ages of 18 and 23 in new york city our own backyard some of these used primarily in exchange for shelter others were forced into sex trafficking or labor trafficking such as being forced to sell drugs a large percentage of those surveyed traded sex for something of value for the first time when they were over the age of 18 for many they became homeless when they find themselves out of foster care or kicked out of a family home one of the most disturbing results of the study. But this congregation had a relationship with the ali forney center whose mission is to protect lesbian gay bisexual transgender questioning youth from the harm of homelessness so we are not ignorant of what goes on beyond our walls the reality is the more i research this commandment more obvious if it came to me that the original meaning needs to be reclaimed not only as a prohibition but it's a call to action as a commandment that truly governed our relationships with these teens and with our inner selves six of our seven principles are like those commandments that govern our relationships with others they call.

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Vampires-Are-Us1.m4a

At that same moment. I thought. What about the persistence of consciousness. I thought how can we know. Perhaps we simply return to the elements. We become earth and air and fire and water. That seems all right to me. In fact i remember reading a book by the feminist author barbara walker. In which she said that the ancient meaning of the elements. Was. It was the way we went to die. We were left for carrying in the air we were buried in the earth we were burned on the pyre who are buried in the depths of the sea. That seems all right to me. Although there was a part of me deep down. That was on my husband's wavelength. And wanted to live forever. The vampire of myth and literature and bodies some of that same tension. My husband and i had regarding death. They have near immortality and yet are tragically frozen in time. They cannot grow and change like the seasons. Or in those descriptions for new life. And yet they have superpowers and strength and the wisdom that comes with great age. Almost. Sometimes. A cynical in jaundiced view of life. Rosalie who bemoaned her frozen stayed in the twilight novels is asking the same questions asked since looks like tuck everlasting or oldest stapleton famous science-fiction novel from 1930 last and first men. Humans want to be part of nature and yet we still want to push the edge of the envelope seeking to be more. Vampires let us play with death and the issue of mortality. Wonder what it would mean to be truly long-lived they allow us to ask questions we usually bury except in science fiction what does one value more and what does one value less in a short human life. Is the vampires frozen like sterile this life only means something when it's part of a cycle of birth and growth and decay and death and the birth of new life. Is there a beauty that comes only from the cycles of the seasons which we are apart. From the beginning i condor mortality. But i knew. It didn't explain the millions of readers and movie viewers and television watchers who were devouring vampire stories. An article in the hollywood reporter a while back said vampires brought in seven billion dollars. To the hollywood economy in the last 2 years. That's the gdp of a small nation. Who were about 130 million. Twilight books sold the last time i looked in and it wasn't just a team phenomena a few years ago i went on a website and saw that there were 30,000 adults on a website for. Twilight moms. New twilight new vampire novels continue to be bestsellers there are all these movies and on television there's the vampire diaries true love true blood. On a recent trip to europe i found but my dutch teenage relatives. And a twenty-year-old get a conference i spoke at an edinboro not to do with empire. Absolutely obsessed with the vampire diaries. I wanted to understand why they're pirates had such pull. Such attraction such popularity in our culture both in american and much european culture at this very moment in time. Nope it's very easy to dismiss all this pop-culture snidely and say oh it's all about teens and sex. Or even repress sex. You print the articles how you know you've heard probably all the stories have twilight is basically about abstinence from a mormon point of view and edwards a stalker you know. We all now know. That weight. Isn't about sex. It's about power. I began to wonder. If maybe the interest in vampires. Was really a meditation on power and its abuses. What are the reasons that vampires are interesting is it they like we are in conflict over issues of power. We want it we just trust it we get twisted by it we abused it we love it we hate it and we struggle with it. Almost every recent vampire novel film and television show confronts this tissue. Amy smith a quaker who teaches courses on the literature of war and also i'm vampire films and fiction's at the university of the pacific puts it this way. The central question in so many of these films and novels is. If you had power over others. How would you use it. The tension is always between. We're at the top of the food chain we can do what we want humans are cattle their prey versus. We were once human. How can we treat humans as cattle. This is the same tension she says that we have in life. If. You earn more money than someone if you have more power than someone how will you use it. Does having more power or status give you the right to use it does might make right it's really the same question she says. Teens who naturally feel invisible and powerless. They are still under the thumb of the twin authorities of school in tarrant. Find the fantasy of difference. A special powers and abilities. Intoxicating. What are these powerful creatures of the x-men the beings of pandora or vampires. They identify with the struggle of wanting power yet they often see it's dangerous with clearer eyes than their parents. Because they are watching from the outside as the older generation abuses power off and wielding it over them. Often seeing their rites of passage as criminal. In an extraordinary email i received from anne rice. An author who has sold millions of vampire novels. She said the vampire the symbol for the outsider in all of us. Is romanticise by teens because they so desperately need to find a noble path through the hideous passage. That western culture has set up for them. As i thought about that passage. I thought about the horrors of consumer culture that they must navigate. I thought about high school. Think about the cullens in twilight doing high school over and over. Think about doing your senior prom five times. Now that's a horror story. And if we look at buffy the vampire slayer it's all about power women's power and leadership. In the last season of buffy she's forced to renounce patriarchal power and give up her own power for the power of all women. 102 scholarly articles about this. And of course if we look further back baltaire angles marks and the people of occupy wall street at present. All have used the word vampire to describe issues of power usually using the word. The powerful the corrupt the capitalist the wall street trader. But that still didn't explain to me what was really going on. Every age embraces the vampire it needs. Wright's feminist author need an hour back in her book are vampires ourselves. Every aid uses vampires to express their fears and concerns right eric museum in his book the dead travel fast. In 1897 when bram stoker's dracula england had the largest ports in the world. It was fear of incoming disease of foreigners of immigration. A stalker created the perfect monster eastern european bringing dirt from a foreign land you can do this for almost every. that is had a wave of interest in vampires. In the 80s with aids vampires were often described in novels of parasites. You became infected by vampires by vampire isn't like a disease. The first vampire story in the english language was started in 1816. In the same chalet. On the same weekend that mary shelley. Started writing frankenstein the fear at that time was science playing god. So what's happening now. Who are the vampires we have created. And what are the fears and concerns. That they are expressing. Look at our modern vampires most of those of the last 15 years. The cullens in twilight bill compton and eric northman in true blood mixing john in that wonderful only one season cbs show moonlight. Mitchell and aiden the vampires in the bbc in the american series being human. Henry fitzroy in blood ties by tanya huff. Stefan and damon in the television show the vampire diaries. And let's not forget angel and spike in buffy. They all have something in common that makes them different. From most of the vampires that went before. What i put their names on a line and a piece on a piece of paper. A light bulb went off. Unlike the vampires that went before they are all conflicted. They are all struggling desperately to be moral despite being predators. Sometimes failing. Sometimes succeeding. But always conflicted. Always engaged. In a profound struggle to lead a moral life despite their need for blood. There's a wonderful scheme in the presidential thriller blood on spike christopher farnsworth a couple of years ago it's not a very good book. The idea is that president andrew johnson found a vampire on a ship and imprisoned him. He managed to get marie laveau the voodoo queen of new orleans to find him by a blood oath to serve every president of the united states nathaniel cave the vampire is now in the modern world obama. In one scene he stands in the back of an aa meeting. He does his pretty regularly because he sees himself as an addict. And while he only drink animal blood he still lust for the blood of humans. We humans are addicts not only in the obvious ways of using alcohol and cigarettes and drugs and food. We're clearly in a struggle with an addictive lifestyle. Are jobs the economy the way we live in commute. The way our infrastructure is set up all compromises. We depend at least for now. I'm continuing an addictive relationship to fossil fuels. Boil is our blood. And our addiction compromises the earth. Vampires are exactly us right now as we wage wars use oil and suck the lifeblood out of the planet. Whitley strieber author of the hunger goes even further he says. Our prey is the planet. He says. And if so vampires are us. And the issue before us is how we can learn to use our formidable powers without destroying the world and future generations. Like vampires we are in a struggle with our own predation. You may ask when did we create this vampire that represents our moral struggle. Everest. I thought it started with buffy and then i thought it went back to an ricin. And i thought it really goes back at least 45 years to dark shadows. And the vampire barnabas. Dark shadows started in 1966 but barnabas didn't appear until well into 67 in and the word vampire was never used until 68. In 1966. Stewart brand. The man who founded the whole earth catalog one of the most significant environmental journals. Took an lsd trip on a rooftop in san francisco. He was meditating on something the buckminster fuller had once said the futurist and architect. Fuller said that the route of mannington this behavior. Was the notion that the earth was flat and infinite. On ost he suddenly felt and saw the curve of the earth when he came down in more ways than one he fell and he started to think about it and he printed up a political button. And he sent a couple of hundred of these buttons all over the world. He sent them to the united nations members of congress to nasa to soviet and us officials. And here's what the button said it said. Why have we not yet seen. A picture of the whole earth. Now there were already a couple of fuzzy satellite photos. But it would take apollo 8 in 1968. To give us that first color picture of the earth rising. And four years later apollo 17 gave us a picture of the blue marble earth. Probably the most reproduced picture. In all of history. These photographs change.. At first we saw the earth having no boundaries were all brothers and sisters we thought. But eventually. We understood a darker vision. We saw our vulnerabilities for the first time we saw it we saw ourselves as compromised morally standing on this fragile planet and not doing what we needed to do to save her. 1970 was the first earth day the real beginning of the environmental movement. We suddenly saw the earth fragility. A tiny ball of brilliant color in a dark universe. A ball so small the astronauts could blot it out with their thumb. They all noted it. And we all change. The image changed up and are thinking. I think are vampires changed at that same moment. I think the vampires so many are identifying with. Allow us to look at ourselves more clearly. To see the compromises that we make daily. The moral struggle we often lose. Or more commonly deny. Sylvia plath wrote i am terrified of this dark thing that lives in me. And stephen moore in the vampire inverse rights. The reason you can't see a vampire in a mirror. The vampire is a mirror. Reflecting our secret cell. Hopefully these morally convicted conflicted vampires. Will allow us not only to see our abuses of power more clearly. But give us a few inside. And how we can struggle to live more morally on this earth. And now when someone says to me. You waste 3 years. Reading 270 vampire novels. I stated him something i read. In a book called gothika. By victoria nelson. A professor at goddard. And she was kind of paraphrasing something that philip k dick's late science fiction writer once wrote. And it was this. When the divine. Is exile. From much of art. And culture. Sometimes. You have to find it. In the trash. And now would you please rise. As you are able and his body and spirit we will have our last him which is for the beauty of the earth.

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Stock-Options-In-Dignity.m4a

No one has ever asked me but if they did i would say that they should update the first principle of unitarian-universalism the first principle states that we affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Inherent worth i can get behind and herod worth refers to a holy spark inside each one of us. It's basically the godless version of the idea they were all made in the divine image. No matter what we look like how old we are what we fell out or how badly we make a mess of our lives no one and nothing can take away our fundamental value. So. Inherent worth yes. Dignity as parish unpacked it for us is more complicated. It's more nuanced. What is dignity. In the common use of the term dignity we certainly don't think of it as an inherent no matter what everybody has it kind of thing. We tend to think of it. As a kind of grace a kind of aesthetic of calm and reserved. We think of it as not being agitated or desperate or groveling. In parishes world growing up and i think many of us can relate to this was something conferred on you by others based on the way that you looked or dressed for spoke or comported yourself. And that dignity could easily crumble if you altered your outward appearance by for example deciding to perform gender differently. Dignity with anything--but inherent. The word dignity comes from a medieval french word dignity which means the state of being worthy. So inherent worth and dignity is kind of redundant. How did this redundancy happen. Well a committee came up with us in the early 80s auua committee was working on the seven principles and trying to make a series of edits to the previous set of principles the previous set was created in 1961 as the unitarian and universalist denominations were merging. The original version of the principal about inherent worth and dignity. Read like this. To affirm defend and promote the supreme worth of every human personality. And the dignity of man the supreme worth of every human personality and the dignity of man. The committee was trying to get rid of the gendered language in the dignity of man for good reason and so they just squeeze worth and dignity together and use the word person and they were done with it. But i think they missed a crucial bit about the intention of that original statement the 1961 version explicitly doesn't say that dignity is inherent in individuals. It says that individuals have supreme worth. But it references the dignity of man. Meaning humanity. Dignity is a quality possessed by our species as a whole but only as a beautiful potential for us as individuals it's like as humans we get stock options indignity whether we buy the stock is up to us. What does it mean to buy the stock. I think about this we can trace the idea back even further before the merger of unitarianism and universalism there were statements of principle by the two separate denominations none of them mentioned dignity at all. But as far as i can tell here are some of the closest connecting threads. 1935 the universalists amen includes we have all our faith in the supreme worth of every human personality and in the power of men of goodwill and sacrificial spirited to overcome all evil and progressively established the kingdom of god. 18650 unitarian statement talks about the obligations of all disciples of the lord jesus christ to prove their faith by self-denial and by the devotion of their lives and possessions to the service of god. 1803. A universalist statement reads we believe that holiness and true happiness are inseparable connected. And the believers ought to be careful to maintain order and practice good works for these things are good and profitable unto men and 1798 universalist statement talks about obedience to the moral law and promoting a holy active and useful life the common denominator in all of these in the very spot that has been replaced by the concept of dignity. Is the obligation of humans to live a holy and active and useful life. His language of self-sacrifice. It's language our devotion to something larger than ourselves. I think there's a deep wisdom here. But if we want to participate in the dignity of humanity if we want to buy the dignity stock. It's ours it's our inheritance as human being. But we're going to have to choose it in the way that we live our lives. And if choosing dignity means choosing a life of self-sacrifice devotion holiness activity and usefulness it's probably going to look from the outside. Pretty different from the kind of dignity that perishes relatives were into. It might. At times even look undignified it might look silly. You might have to get dirty. Look awkward be inconvenienced you might have to be the one in the room saying something that no one else is saying or you might have to be the one saying i don't know. Or i was wrong. It was dignity for the participants in the montgomery bus boycott. To exhaust themselves and wear out their shoes walking miles and miles to and from work everyday rather than ride. In the back of the bus. It's dignity for a trans man to insist on being who he is even when the world doesn't like it doesn't accept it and will punish him for it. Indignity for a parent to let their son go to school wearing a dress. It dignity to walk home from the grocery store with a teetering stack of groceries in your arms because you've forgotten a reusable bag and you'll be damned before you use the plastic one that they offered you at the store. It's dignity to work as a preschool teacher. Even when you're in a position to make more money and get more respect working someplace else. I want to suggest that we each take some time to reflect on what dignity means for us today. What does it mean to live a life of dignity in the time of climate change. The greatest threat that humanity has ever faced. What does it mean to live what our children and grandchildren will recognize as a life of dignity in the light of the knowledge that we have now. What does it mean to live a life of dignity knowing that values other than ours are guiding public life today. And it all of our best efforts at influencing how things turn out may fail. Whatever your answers to these questions dignity will certainly not be forgiven and will certainly not be free. But i believe that dignity should be one of our highest aspiration. And it should be a goal of our religious life together to maybe a committee should convene again and change the first principle to the inherit worth and commitment to dignity of every person but wait there's one more week there's a movement afoot in the person to being i think that's an important change to but non-human animals can't intentionally cultivate dignity so if i were really in charge i would change it to the inherent worth of every living being. And the commitment to dignity for every person. It is my hope and prayer for each of us that when we reach the end. We will be wealthy in the shares of dignity that we have purchased throughout our lives. And i when we were looking back we will know that we embodied both worth and dignity. That we were carriers of the divine spark. And we made moral choices religious choices. Authentic choices no matter how undignified those choices made us look to others may the universalists from 1790 looking down on us from heaven where they were sure they were headed turn to each other and say those people sure live holy active and useful lives please rise and body or spirit for our final hymn number 1028 and your teal hymnal the fire of commitment.

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Learning-Sunday-Morning-By-Heart-Lynn-Chandhok.m4a

When i started teaching high school english 25 years ago i didn't teach much poetry i didn't teach it for the reason some say they don't like poetry that's too hard to ambiguous too many dead white writers in the canon i knew i was supposed to admire keeps wordsworth frost stevens. But canonical poem spell alien. Written by people who were nothing like me about philosophical abstractions in iambic pentameter full of enjambment and caesar has terms i wouldn't require my students to memorize that was too old-fashioned. And i'd never make them do anything as wrote as memorize a sonnet. In-my-mind sonnets were foreign creatures threatening the literary landscape i was cultivating. My literary landscape made me feel connected not left out. I taught novels and a few poems that got my students talking and they were learning to write clearly so i was doing my job flash-forward 25 years today if i could i teach only poetry to my students hard feelings traditional poems until i could call them back up to the surface and speak them out into the world so i memorized i didn't analyze i didn't think i just listened and absorbed actually a relief if i couldn't understand. The answers come from a disembodied voice being narrator type thing it sounds like divinity must live within herself passions and rain or moods in falling snow grieving and loneliness or unsubdued relations when the forest blooms gusty emotions on wet roads on august nights these are the measures destined for her soul i spent months with a poem parts of it still totally confuse me but memorizing sunday morning changed me by heart gave me two things first questioning everything and memorizing the palm gave me interior access to lines i wanted to emulate those emotions on wet roads became my experiences alive or maybe i just became entranced lulled into submission by the pretty rhythm24 internalize it. How can we know the merits but we think until we know the language of others. How would i be able to write about my beliefs until i knew his sunday morning pretty soon my own poems started really happening and of course my teaching changed. Here's an example from one of my teachers it's not memorization exactly i read robert frost's onnit acquainted with a night out loud my students they've never heard it before i read it slowly word-by-word announcing capital letters and commas and line breaks. They have to write down everything i say so that after about 15 minutes they have made the sonnet themselves by hand. They caught the sound in the air and recreated or actually created the poem on the page but their hands they essentially take dictation but in those 15 minutes they really got the poem they could discuss it for days and they never reached understanding the revelation they have after they've made it from nothing letter-by-letter they inhabit the scene they feel the speaker's physical movement and his loneliness in a way that goes beyond anything i could teach to make the poem on that blank page fourteen lines roughly 140/70 beats they make room for someone else's experience rhythms and metaphors inside themselves. When we say we get a poem we feel we've made a connection to another human being we feel less alone you can carry of homeowner home around in your wallet but when you memorize it it's inside of you it's a live when we memorize we hold someone else's perspective permanently near our hearts remember iambic meter is just the heartbeat meter to dum de dum de dum the first m we ever here before were born while we're still one thing inside another literally close to someone else's heart. Maybe memorizing at home is a little bit like being pregnant we hear that person inside us we don't know who she is or who she will be but we make this safe space for her i make room in my being for a separate existence near my heart. Up until maybe fifty years ago everyone in this country memorize poetry in school the same poems i sometimes romanticize that time when everyone knew bible passages by heart and i know you use are not supposed to romanticize stuff like that but losing this tradition this practice kind of collective meditation something important. Along the way it's become okay to say i got it it's too hard or not worth the effort. His poetry is all about what it means to be human when did we stop wanting to know what that means in all its difficulty. Why was i so comfortable in that point of view as a young teacher. These days when i don't understand the poem i sit with it. Until it's no longer foreign keys or stevens. Claude mckay or claudia rankine. It takes both time and humility to accommodate and hold each other's language by our hearts. But doing so makes it easier to feel open to strangers. To our political adversaries. Two newcomers in the pew. What if we all started memorizing poems we didn't think we'd like or understand what if we memorize so many other people's poems that it became impossible for us to forget that our experience is one of many. Wouldn't that make us less fearful and less lonely wouldn't that be the actual embodying of empathy maybe not the ultimate act of empathy but certainly a way to practice it. Please stand in body or spirit and join us and him number 64 the words are by robert frost give us pleasure in the flowers today.

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The-Vulnerable-Heart.m4a

On my wedding day. I got up in front of a crowd of people i loved. With the man i love. And we made promises to each other. About the life lyrics we were creating together. The music. The reading and the words we chose. We're all pieces of our lives up until that point. That we shared with the people in the sanctuary that day. A wedding is a vulnerable act. Often we bring together pieces of our lives that are usually separate. Our grandparents and our college best friends. Our siblings and our coworkers. The catholic family members and the atheist. The political activist in the street ticket voters. Then we asked them all to celebrate one relationship. For a moment. And sometimes then go on to spend the whole evening together over food. And drink. And dance. What's a bizarre tradition. What a vulnerable one. We do not get a whole lot of practice at being vulnerable. At least not willing practice. In fact we spend a lot of energy and time reducing our feelings of vulnerability as we move through our days. I would like to challenge the idea that vulnerability is a bad thing. I would also like to positive that it is a necessary thing. For us to practice in order to make the world we believe possible. Vulnerability is a necessity. As part of creating relationships that go deeper and casual conversations. And talking to people to complete transactions in our daily lives. In order to build those deep relationships. We need to share who we are. And we need to be willing to listen to the other person share who they are. Not just the good stuff. But those parts of ourselves that we hide when we leave the house. Go to work or start walking down the street. That vulnerability is our precious resource we need to think about how to cultivate. As well as how to use well. We need to be in a situation that has a certain amount of safety. To take that risk to share our hearts with others. People who mistreat us or when there is too large a difference in power in the relationship. Can be times when we need to protect ourselves. Rather than open up. Finding the spaces and people with which. To be more authentically ourselves. Is a big piece of the challenge. Then we need to find those people. Or think we may have found when then. Then what. We find those people. Or we think we may have found them. It takes no small amount of courage to take the risk. That relationships require to become meaningful. Suwaidi vulnerable at all. It sounds relatively scary at least to me. It takes time and effort to find the right people and the right moments in our busy lives to practicing. And after all of that the whole thing might not work out. Again. Why do this hard thing if we can get away with not doing it. Sociologist and popular researcher brene brown helps us answer this question. Brown says. Vulnerability is the core of all emotions and feelings. To feel is to be vulnerable. To believe honorability is weakness is to believe that feeling is weakness. To foreclose on our emotional life out of a fear that the cost will be too high. Is to walk away from the very thing that gives purpose and meaning to living. The scary place within us that brown describes is the source of another important quality of our lives. Empathy. Empathy is something i do not think we should be willing to sacrifice to feel safe. That indeed is what i see as a mabert major problem with the state of our world right now. We are securing ourselves. Whether it be behind walls or well. Or limiting scooby let into our lives. Without empathy. We are more able to turn away the person in need. Or not participate in a cause for justice. We are white have especially learned the lesson that being vulnerable is dangerous. And optional. For many people in this world vulnerability is not only not an option. It is a constant state of being. I believe we are in fact all vulnerable. It is the role of privilege that helps us believe that we are not. And it is that belief. That we are separate and safe. That allows us to move through the world without empathy. Or at least. With less empathy than many of us would like. As unitarian-universalist one of our principal is that we believe we are part of an interdependent web of existence. Each and everyone of us is connected and interconnected to all that is. Yet so many of our decisions and actions in this world would call that into question. We seem to sometimes act as though we are interdependence. And sometimes as though we are all we need. That we've got. And i don't really believe that. I think that is the lie that's so much of our society tells us. That we can do it alone. When in fact we need one another. And that's a vulnerable place to be. That's a vulnerable belief to hold. That i need you. And you need me. That together is how we accomplished anything of worth in this world. Meegan henry art director of education and family ministries. Share this story with me from a former come congregation she served. A group of parents formed out of the need to pass the time while their kids were in a sunday afternoon sexuality class called our whole lives. What developed over this time was a space for parents to let down the mask of perfectionism. The ability to share the struggles of parenting. The mistakes made. The uncertainty of what the right decisions are. By the end of that year this group of parents had developed a place to be vulnerable. And these relationships are the ones that stand the test of time. The parents from that group are still in conversation today even though their children have moved into adulthood. I believe it is that risk of sharing our failures that create relationships that in drawer. In fact this very afternoon after worship. We are beginning of spiritual parenting discussion group as you heard earlier. With the hope that we can hold rum. For the strengths and challenges of parenting from our values. I hope you'll join meeting for that conversation. This is but one example of how we create resiliency out of vulnerability. So many of the messages we hear each day are about self-reliance. And being strong individuals. We are told strength comes from not needing a whole bunch of other people. I've come to realize. Over many. Many experiences. That this way just doesn't work once the problems get very big. I would argue that most of our problems we face are more than anyone of us can handle. I can't do it alone anymore and if i'm being honest with myself i wasn't really going it alone to start with. None of us in fact are going it alone at all. That mess up so much of modern living is what is that we are self-sufficient. People are far removed from the systems that support them and the people it takes to make our lives work at all. The roads and sidewalks when you travel on. The water from our faucet. The electricity that makes so much of our daily lives possible and easy. All of these things rely on thousands and thousands of people we don't see making things happen behind the scenes. We go to the grocery store. To pick up food we need for that day. Or week or maybe a little bit longer. It feels like we're doing it ourselves. I go to the store i pick up the items i paid for them bring them home. And then make the meal. Or if i'm being honest with you all my husband doctor does. The systems that make that food up here before us are hidden behind the price taking pay. Money in many ways has allowed some of us to separate ourselves from the immediate needs of community. In several areas of our lives. We might not know our neighbors at all. We might travel somewhere far from home to work each day. With people we might like. But wouldn't call on to help us in a crisis. In fact a few years back as study looked into the idea that we are becoming more and more isolated. And you found something interesting. They found the people did not have dramatically fewer people to talk to or interact with. The concerning thing. What's they had relatively few just 2 or less on average. That they could discuss important. We might have any number of people have casual conversations with. But to find someone to share deeply what is good. And perhaps more importantly. What is hurting inside. Is the challenge we find ourselves in. And that is where we find. The need to change how we build community together. How do we create relationships that matter. Those people in our lives that are not transactional. But instead are mutually life-giving. And who we would miss in a deep way if they were gone. Alyssa if we were gone. The concept i'd like to see how to incorporate into our daily lives and here at first unitarian. Is the idea of community resiliency. There are three main pieces to developing relationships that make our communities and each of each of us within them more resilient. The first. And i believe most important. Is to make lasting relationships with the people around you in order to grow that sense of belonging of everyone involved. This is where the vulnerability comes in. It takes a certain amount of risk fancher into these deeper relationships. I see this is the family level of community. The 226 people that you can call on when times are hardest. If you lost your home or had a major medical crisis. Who could you turn to. And. Who could turn to you in a similar situation. You likely can't help hundreds and hundreds of people with major crises. But you could perhaps help a handful. The second circle of resiliency goes out from a core group of people to form a larger community with different interests abilities resources and connection to shared place. Shared values. And share goal. This is the neighborhood level of community. It could be an apartment building. Or a congregation. Or you going to small city block. At this level you have enough people to create something that will help more than the people involved directly. What is important is that you need to know those other people. Well not even know what is possible. And what they mean. One way this used to and sometimes still does happen is in town hall meetings for neighborhood councils. This level of organization allows for change to happen that household cannot achieve. Finally the third circle. Is not really a circle at all but a network of interconnected small neighborhood communities. Instead of jumping to that large nation-state model of organizing that we seem to be so familiar with. What if we had small groups of people. Poonam each other route. Communicating together and sharing resources to accomplish the goals that are bigger than a neighborhood for a congregation can handle alone. This is how electric cooperatives work in the part of the country where i grew up. Each town didn't have the resources to build their own power plant. Put a group of towns together did. They have the interest of the people in each town in mind. Because they themselves were part of those communities. There wasn't an interest in extracting as much money as possible. But instead sent her the goal of providing for the needs of everyone. At the lowest cost. Another way to think of this is how we come together as unitarian universalist. What a unitarian universalist association had deeper covenantal connections between congregation. And those congregations were made up of small groups of people who knew each other well. To the point where every single person who is a member felt they belong at every level all the way up. Those five people in their small group would know someone didn't show up. Envy the people to reach out to in times of crisis. Each of those smaller circles would connect together to support the needs of the whole congregation. At each of those congregations would connect together to have an association that could span the country. This is often the model that we believe we are operating within as unitarian universalist. However many of the places i have been apart of the skip that smallest level. Having 226 people you can really count on when you need them. End that can count on you as well. And without that smallest unit. The rest of the layers feel flimsy under stress. That is why we need to dispel the myth that we are self-sufficient. If we are to create resilient communities. We can start by trusting another person. And another. Until he find just a handful of people. To help us face the challenges of this world together. We begin to form relationships that are more than transaction. When you find people to practice honorability with. Not every person we encounter. Just a few. Come up with some story this morning. It is this practice of the imperfect open heart. That is able to share pieces of itself. Because of a faith in others to share of themselves. One might call this a covenant relationship. This is where we begin to recognize vulnerability as a strength. And not a weakness. When we show up and make promises with people. To stick together through good times. My hope is that as we reflect on the role of vulnerability in our relationships. We consider the benefits of taking that risk. How can unity is transformed by practicing vulnerability. How we are sustained and heels. Through opening our hearts. And that we think about with who we would want to begin practice. The clothes i'd like to share joseph cherries prayer for living intention. Something i find helpful when thinking about being vulnerable. If you have any hope of transforming the world. And changing ourselves. We must be. Old enough to step into our discomfort. Brave enough to be clumsy there. Loving enough to forgive ourselves and others. May we as a people of be. Be granted the strength to be. Sobol. Sobre. So loving. Please rise in body or spirit foreclosing him for a closing hymn number 1800 heart is in a holy place.

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Women-Of-Hebrew-And-Christian-Scriptures-Miriam.m4a

The story of miriam after whom my daughter is named. Begins during a terrifying episode in the biblical drama. Israelites miriam people are enslaved in egypt. The farrah insecure and cruel. As wealthy men with illegitimate power often are. Has decided. That every male israelite baby must be drowned in the nile river. They are immigrants. After all from certain kinds of countries. And the pharaoh doesn't know why they like so many of them into egypt to begin with. Miriam is a girl growing up during this time. As i imagined that she watches with her. As her mother you'll have it. Gives birth. To a baby. Headed to boy. We heard in the story what happened. You'll have it hide the baby for as long as she can. And then mates was described as a little art for him reminiscent of noah's ark. Like no she makes it seaworthy. Constructing it well. Feeling the edges of it with pets. Miriam witnesses the worst moment of her mother's life. As you'll have it. Places the baby and the ark among the reeds of the river. And set him afloat. You'll have it lets him go. Miriam however. Does not. She watches her baby brother from afar. Keeping pace with the basket as it slows down the river. It floats to where the pharaoh's daughter happens at that moment to be bathing in the river. The pharaoh's daughter. Find the basket. Feed the crying baby in immediately puts together what must have happened. This baby is in some sense the enemy of her father. But her heart has moved to compassion. For this baby. And she decides to keep him. She names the baby moshe or moses. Which means drawn from the water. At this moment marion who's been watching all of this from afar seizes the opportunity to act. Interaction. Changes the entire course of this epic myth for all time. She approaches the pharaoh's daughter. And that by itself remember that this is a member of a reviled underclass basically approaching ivanka. She approaches the pharaoh's daughter and offers to solve a problem for her. Because in those days there was no baby formula. The only way that an infant could survive was to be nursed by a lactating women. Answer the fairest daughter need someone to nurse this baby. I know somebody who could nurses baby for you. The pharaoh's daughter agrees. Not knowing that this is the baby sister talking about the baby's mother. And she offers to pay for the service. Do you have the delicious irony of this. Rather than her baby brother being killed through the pharaohs decree. Miriam brokers that deal by which her mother gets paid. By pharoah sanders her own baby like it's some kind of really progressive scandinavian country. Miriam inverse. Fate. You can just imagine the scene as mary embraces home it says mom you're not believe what just happened. The implications for the rest of the story are profound. Because of this deal brokered by miriam. Moses grows up with a dual identity. Israel. In the pharaoh's palace. Absorbed that culture learned the language of power. Probably fix-it gyptian. But because of miriam he is also able to learn the spirituality and the language and the culture of his own people. Literally threw his mother's milk and and his mother's arms. Because of miriam. Moses lives at the intersection. Have two worlds. Hyphenated and bilingual. He has a unique vantage point from which to see the political landscape. To see the injustice against his own people and ultimately lead them to freedom. For the most part in scripture we're not told about the sauce. And the feelings in the motivations of the characters. We have only their actions. And the story is no exception. Missy marion's actions. And we the listeners and the readers are less than our own to reverse-engineer them to try to understand the person. Imperium space is clear that she's not content to just let fake carry her baby brother down the river and just. See what happened she's a young girl at the time but she already has the sense of personal responsibility for the outcome. Let go and let god is not her thing. She is proactive. At the same time. She has the wisdom to know that you can't force the result that she wants. This is a kind of wisdom that we can all learn from. Miriam understands the power that she has and the power that she doesn't have. She can't just pull her brother out of the river. And she can't just tell pharaoh's daughter to give him back. Instead she works the system shrewdly. Playing the power dynamics in the jiu-jitsu move. Such that the forces of power in the world unwittingly wind up serving the resistance. Miriam has not only great. but also a kind of spiritual brilliance to be able to pull this off. Now of course she can't have known who her baby brother would become. But she follows if you believe this kind of thing she follows a kind of holy intuition. She is a conduit for that exact same divine energy that flow that brings the basket right to the pharaoh's daughter. That morning. She witnesses a convergence of unlikely events. Seasons ammoman. And catalyzes a miracle. It is perhaps for this reason that miriam is identified in the torah as a prophet. The only one i'm so identified. Years later after moses. Has grown up. And become the leader of his people after the 10 plagues after the israelites have made their dramatic escape leaving egypt so fast that they can't even wait for their bread to rise. Just grabbing their fingers and running. After the parting of the red sea after the journey to freedom on the other side miriam appears again in the narrative. And she appears this time. As the leader of the celebration. After the israelites safely reach the other side of the red sea and the waters have clothes back in on the egyptian army the text reads. And miriam the prophet the sister of aron aaron was her other brother. Took a tambourine in her hand and all the women went out behind her with tambourines and with dances. And miriam sang to them. Sing to god for god has triumph horse and its rider god cast into the sea. This may sound overly violent and militaristic to re-register remember that she is singing on behalf of the people who have justin liberated from slavery. Cheer singing in other words. Debary water that was supposed to claim my brother and our people has instead claimed our oppressors. God has inverted fate. So here we have another window into the character of marion. Because. She is ready. To sing this song. She's ready i don't think she just made it up. Imma stop right there on the shore. I think she's been writing this song for a long time. I think she's inviting visit from the day she washed her heartbroken mother put that bath basket into the broker. She's been writing the song of her people's liberation in her heart for as long as she can remember. And she had so much faith. She was so sure. But this day would come when she could finally sing her song. That in the midst of this emergency departure from egypt. But everybody is racing around and grabbing with most precious to them when there isn't even enough time to let the bread rise in the oven miriam remembers to bring her tambourine. Miriam knows the power of celebration. In the midst of a military liberation. Miriam brings with her the tools of spiritual liberation. She has seen in her own life how god can do the impossible and so she carries for her people a profound faith. And so in a sense we see to marion. The bull proactive miriam who takes matters into her own hands and bend the world to her will. And the faithful miriam. Who believed so sweetly an absolutely but god will work miracles that while she and her family are becoming refugees and a time of war she packs her tambourine. In a sense she is the living embodiment of the opera ism. Work like everything depends on you and pray like everything depends on god. This is a great a prison for our time. It's the exact. Cocktail that we need right now. The combination of hard-nosed practical work. With reliance on the power of something greater. Unrelenting activism and unrelenting faith. The frequent toggle between the immediate action and the cosmic picture. This weekend we're celebrating the legacy of the rev dr martin luther king jr and king of all leaders was a virtuosic. Deployer of this exact combination. In his i've been to the mountaintop speech. King model did perfectly. On one hand he called for an economic boycott. Saying. Now we are poor people individually we are poor when you compare us with white society in america we are for. Never stop and forget that collectively that means all of us together collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world with the exception of 9. Did you ever think about that. And so as a result of that we are asking you tonight to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy coca-cola in memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy field test milk. Tell them not to buy what is that other bread wonder bread. So king. Got really specific. Really granular really practical really jiu-jitsu about how to have impact when you don't have power. And at the same time. In the same speech. He preached. A profound faith. A profound letting go. This was the last speech he ever gave. And he shared his absolute certainty. But his people would get to the promised land. He said. Like anybody i would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But i'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do god's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And i've looked over and i've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But i want you to know tonight that we as a people. Will get to the promised land. King. Did you ready. His song was written at his tambourine for path. It may seem strange to stories but king it did it all the time. He often drew parallels between the liberation of the israelites in egypt and the struggles of his people. He connected the worldly powers of their time with the worldly powers of his time. He conducted their god of liberation with his god of liberation. He called for unity. Among his people saying the sparrow's favorite technique for keeping the slaves and slaves was to keep them fighting amongst themselves. He said when the slave get together now that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity. These traditions are timeless and deep. Bayliner to draw strength and inspiration. From king at all of the revolutionaries before him historic and mythic. The lesson we take away is that is all one oppression and all one liberation. The cycles of history repeat. Strategies of the powerless get passed down like a secret code from generation to generation. There are small-minded rulers with great power. And there are those who act with courage and compassion in the face of that power. Sometimes those people are even children. Sometimes the keys with heart and sometimes the impossible will happen. Communities rise up and the oppressed do not remain oppressed forever. At our best moments. Maid marian hossa b h foot spa. Making courage. The our courage. That made their great faith be our faith. Emma things are at their worst. When there is panic and dread and even death all around. Maybe remember to bring out amberen. Please rise and body or spirit for a final hymn number 201 glory glory hallelujah.

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Technology-Religion-God-As-Algorithm.m4a

Melissa dozeman can't get out of her driveway in the morning on her quietly see residential street in leonia new jersey there's no bumper-to-bumper traffic everyday it's commuters heading through new jersey tour the george washington bridge to get into new york. Melissa's blog is not on the way to the george washington bridge but the line of cars at the end of her driveway is so tight that you literally just has to sit there and wait. Weather people letter n depends upon how nice they're feeling and how aggressive she's feeling sometimes she says it can take 10 to 15 minutes. Figured out. It didn't used to be like this saturday commuters who hit traffic would sometimes take a detour through the main streets of leonia but it's only recently that they're finding all the little residential nooks and crannies to fill. You can probably guess why it's because of traffic apps like waze waze is a complex algorithm that allows users to send it information about the traffic that they're experiencing if there's an accident at a traffic jam a roadblock and it also just tracks each driver's progress directly. And then in real-time it is simulates all of that information and uses it to direct all of the 90 million drivers on its platform. It's really an amazing piece of technology. An elegant concept. And unfathomably. Complicated in the sheer amount of data that's involved. This is the new world that we're living in. In which computer algorithms create lifelike systems that are constantly receiving and put adjusting morphing optimizing themselves and then giving output which changes something in the outside world. And then affect the inputs but they receive next. It's a kind of fluids symbiotic symbiotic dance with the rest of the world. I need the algorithms are having an increasingly huge impact. On our lives in some ways. They're basically running our lives sometimes invisibly. The more sophisticated dating websites are run by algorithms that analyze information that we give them about ourselves and some information that we don't even know we're giving them about ourselves. Any mattress with people. Regardless of whether those people match the criteria that we think we want. Kind of like a modern version of an arranged marriage. The authorities in your life know better than you do youngster you may think you want the hot young artist from brooklyn but actually want the actuary from queens trust us or for someone else vice-versa what is an algorithm we hear a lot about that word these days an algorithm on the simplest level is a series of rule to set of rules for performing a task. So if i wanted to write an algorithm to sort laundry before washing it i would write something like take a piece of clothing out of the camper if it's white put it in the pile on the left if it's any other color the algorithm with then process the laundry and exactly this way. It might accidentally sort a calico cat until they colored pile but no matter and as for whether it's even necessary to sort clothes by color before washing it. The algorithm has no opinion. A computer follows rules. But it has no inside. It can do amazing thing. But it doesn't understand what it's doing. Which is why waze has issues the algorithmic and all of the available data for the fastest routes into new york city and then thousands of drivers on their morning commute heading into traffic will hear a pleasant voice telling them to exit the highway and turn right and turn left and go straight and turn left until they eventually wind up in front of melissa servicemen's driveway two ways there's no essential difference between and a highway. They're just two ways of getting from point a to point b. At certain times of day one is faster at other times of day the other is faster. It knows that the residential streets are smaller and have a slower speed limit. Benefactors all about end but it doesn't grasp the meaning of that knowledge. It doesn't understand. The community around that street. It doesn't remember that time that melissa's dog chase a ball into the street and almost got hit but didn't. It doesn't know the earth seafood he smell of that neighborhood. Or the endless game of tag that melissa's kids in the neighborhood kids play house. The traffic that they create. The human element is missing the element of beauty memory. And meaning. Basically wisdom. They say that knowledge is knowing that it tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad. The human element is replaced by a kind of seeing. In which the entire surface of the earth is just the landscape of a video game. By the algorithmic way of seeing everything is flat. The world of icons representations that boil us down to just the information relevant to a particular task. But who exactly is it who is seeing the world in this way. Who owns that reduction of. Gays. Behind the algorithm. With a simple algorithm like the sorting laundry while you can kind of see the person behind it you can eat the easily healthy assumptions of that person like sorting by color. Is legitimate. But most of the algorithms we encounter today are nowhere near that transparent and the more complex they are the more they hide the person or the organization behind them and all the assumptions that went into writing them. They come to seem neutral and authoritative impersonal and objective. Google search engine for all most people know as a neutral tool to help you find what you're looking for like an angelic assistant who will just flip through god's giants dictionary for you. But nothing could be further from the truth. There are all kinds of humanist options baked into google's algorithm like the assumption that the most important websites to show you. The ones that they're going to show you first are the ones link to most often by other websites and not just any other websites. But other websites that are deemed most important by that same criteria. It's a self-reinforcing popularity contest that gives greater power to people and organizations and ideas that already have power. Many algorithms today are so complex that there is no single human being who fully understand. What they do or how they work. Facebook algorithm. Uses. 100000 signals to decide which posts we see and it is comprised of 60 million lines of code. Nobody could possibly grasp that computer science as jon kleinberg wrote we have perhaps for the first time ever built machines that we do not understand. So we have strata of in comprehensible code built on top of opaque layers of deeply held assumptions of a few developers. And they determine. Everything from what facebook posts we see to who gets approved for a housing loan to what diagnosis a patient gets to who we go on dates with two whose driveway gets blocked on a weekday morning. Information about us is constantly being mined by the algorithms around us. And it to use two notches and to placate us and to sell things to us even our conversations and customer service called are fed into an algorithm to gauge our personality and then they use that information about us for future efficiency and cell. The gurus of the tech world are bothered. By all of this when they wind up in legal trouble or are called to testify before congress but philosophically. They are not bothered. None of this potential loss of autonomy privacy free-will quiet neighborhoods are tasteful fruit salad is grieved by the tech world. Because underlying all of this. Is a deep belief. About what humans are. Atkore. That we ourselves are nothing but complex. Algorithms. More complex and vast that any programmer has ever written sure. More than 60 million lines of code but still just an algorithm. We receive inputs from the world around us process those inputs according to the complex rules of our nature or nurture and we output. Behavior. There is no separate self or soul at our car. Here's a telling factoid this view of human nature emerged along with the first analog computers in the 1930s and mathematician at mit name to norbert winer was doing military research. Trying to create a predictor to track and shoot down enemy aircraft. The problem was that this scenario included machine elements. The enemy aircraft and the anti-aircraft system and human element both soldiers. Very squishy for a mathematician so he decided that in order to make it mathematical he had to assimilate both the machine and the human element to a single basis he wrote since our understanding of the mechanical elements appeared to us to be far ahead of our psychological understanding we chose to find a mechanical analog of the gun pointer and the airplane pilot. Do because machines are easier he decided to think of machines and humans in the same way. It's the computational metaphor. Everything in our world organic and inorganic is just a computing machine that has nested within it smaller and smaller machines. The human organism is just. One of them is smaller machines within us our organs and neural networks that guide our thought processes. And this philosophy has invisibly affected all of us to this day. If humans and machines are basically the same thing it doesn't really matter how the two of them and giraffe in our society. If one algorithms like waze. Create an unfavorable set of input. For another algorithm like melissa soesman. Melissa sowers middle village after out put to influence waze. Which is exactly what's happening. The people of leonia new jersey are trying to pass a town ordinance forbidding any non-resident any non-residents from driving on their streets. Why do they have to go to such extremes. Because the developers that weighs have explained that they are helpless. To direct cars away from those street unless it is the law. The law is a rule that the algorithm can understand. It's easier to create models in the language of machines been in the language of humans. Underlying all of this. Making all of this possible isn't even bigger idea that god is nothing but one giant. Algorithm. All of matter and energy. Is the input. The laws of physics and math and biology process it and the universe as we know it. Is the outfit. The cosmic machine runs a morally indifferently without meaning or purpose this is the essence of nihilism. Everything we know and everything we can imagine is just a bunch of data being processed according to an arbitrary set of rules whatever happens happens it all comes out in the wash. And clearly there is an element of chance. In the universe and terrible things sometimes happen simply because they are as likely to happen as anything else but i do believe that we have free will. I believe in the human soul. Anime soul of many other animals as well. I believe in a cosmic wisdom that i called god. But also resides in each one of us. I believe that art. The music and language are the nests of meaning. But no machine can fully grasp. I believe that the earth is holy. And that. Places and ecosystems and neighborhoods. Have spirits. I believe that love between two people is a sacred spark that cannot be fully captured by any number of lines of code. Is it a matter of faith yes it's a matter of faith can i prove it no. Amaya romantic yes. But this is the stuff that makes us human this is exactly precisely what makes us human. And if we want to continue being human. We have to resist the attempts to reduce us to numbers. To model us and extract data from us to feed the hunger of the algorithm we need to insist on wisdom over knowledge sometimes and honor the value of intuition and beauty in our lives we need to reimagine our relationships with each other and with the earth we need to make music and raise our children by holding them a lot and talking with them a lot and letting them explore the physical world. Only then when we can fully embody our humanity will a melissa salesmen be able to get out of her driveway again and only then can the healing begin please rise and body or spirit for our final.

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Paying-It-Forward.m4a

For thousands of years various traditions have been followed as ways to honor one's parents one that has stuck around for a very very long time it's for a child to wash their parents feet. This is an opportunity for us to care and provide for our parents as they have cared for us we practice this ritual last year as part of the coming-of-age program i can't tell you all that my life changed at that very moment but to be able to at least symbolically take care of the people who have nurtured me for so long was an incredibly fulfilling experience. We knelt in front of our parents literally washing their feet in boys with soapy water. Forever awkward it may have been i felt as though i had made a first step towards are paying some of the care they have given to me the fifth commandment and seems simple at first glance. But it is so deeply rooted in sebaste to deserve some thinking about you honor your father and mother so that your days may be long upon the land which the lord your god gives you. What's so unique about this commandment is that at office as a reward for following you. We say do not kill or steal or covet because these things are wrong why does god need to offer an incentive for honoring your parents my parents duty is a mess. And that's why i deserve such high regard. Draw stages of life apparent serves as a caretaker provider disciplinarian mentor and so much more. The pride of raising a child australian-owned rewards but they respect love and gratitude that a child can give back makes it all the more satisfying. If you think about the commandments as rules that were made for group of scared and starving people in order to keep social order then it makes sense that we should honor our parents. A crazy psycho that is completely necessary in our world you show gratitude and kindness your parents. And when they're old you take care of them. In return you hope that your child wanting you this way. Of course if this were completely easy then we wouldn't need it to be able from guy. And we wouldn't need a reward the relationship between a child and their parents is precious. It's in dying and it is complicated maybe now we can figure out why there has to be a reward titan here. I think this god figure must have been apparent your may have even been a teenager some point because god seems to understand the hard truth. Sometimes having someone tell you what to do because it's in your best interest. It's not easy to listen to. Trust me they're not always going to be right. What if i know it's best for me but if i don't want to help make dinner because i have more homework today what if i just want to be lazy today. Once we look into this we realized it would be pretty near impossible for god to get a hold on all those rowdy teenage israelites without offering them a long life. And children who will care for them someday this commandment above all else teaches us to be grateful for the blessings that we are given. Two people dedicated 16 years without lives to get me where i am today count as teachers mentors on suncoast grandparents and friends. Committed their time. To help me grab none of us is truly independent. To acknowledge the love and care that these people give us is what shows that we deserve it. And to pass it on to the next generation is how we pay it forward. So whoever you are and whoever you love be grateful. Be aware. Be respectful and honor your father and especially today on your mother. That your day is maybe long in this world.

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Making-Holy-Water.m4a

Imagine a desolate rocky place. With no tv. No facebook. Note twitter. I'm cell phone service that barely works. There's no hot water except for occasional showers that are strictly rationed there are no cars no subway. And nowhere to go anyway. You're trapped there for a whole week. Separated from the nearest glimmer of civilization by 6 miles of cold deep ocean. Escape is impossible. Even el chapo wouldn't stand a chance. I'm not making this up boys and girls ladies and gentlemen and others this is real. This was the fate that befell me and my family and about 15 other first you members this very summer. I think i can speak for all of us who were there when i say that it was pure bliss we were on star island bright have been invited to go for the first time to serve as minister of the week. Starlito said island off the coast of new hampshire really is 6 miles off the coast. And is home to a unitarian universalist retreat center. Several of our families from first you go every year and spend a week together just. Hanging out. Making music reading going to talks and discussion groups. Sitting on the rocks watching the ocean rise and fall. The kids play. The grown-ups play. Everyone is pretty much unplugged d wired and connecting. Not virtually but actually connecting face-to-face. With one another and with the natural world. Island like this there is no entertainment as such. At least nothing provided by multinational corporations after years of focus groups and taylor to the ease and preference of us the audience. If we wanted to be entertained we had to create the entertainment ourselves and created we did. There were various talent shows and performances every night put on by the people there that were way better i guarantee you that any tv show or youtube video. And then there was the water skin. Not with a motorboat please not the motorboats this was human-powered waterskiing basically you take a wooden board you put it kind of way out into the water away from the shore the would-be waterseer gets on top of it so they're floating. The rope stretches all the way to the beach. We're about 10 people adults and kids are holding the other end. I want a water skier is ready perched on the floating board and holding the rope somebody count the three and all the people holding the rope on the land begin to run as fast as i can away from the water the ropes hold tight and pretty soon the waters gear is here trying to stay balanced on the board while the people on the land pull him or her through the water. Some people like my five-year-old son fall off right away and then just swimming very happy. Others actually ride the board like a surfer all the way into shore to wild applause. I know this might be a little bit hard to picture would you like to see. A dryland demonstration of how this would work. Alright let's see if we can get some volunteers here volunteered to be the waters here oh allen great thank you from grace perfect and perfect. Hey is everybody ready. No. Everybody right. Thank you alright 123. Thank you very much sir or brave participants. Here's the thing. If the rope had been told by paige staff people. Or if it had been conventional old-fashioned water skiing with a fancy shiny boat and shiny water skis. It still might have been fun. But i believe that it would have been spiritually flat. The thing that made this so special. Quizlet it was created by the people. Betrayed by the people. We're doing it for themselves or each other. Everybody who got to ride also pulled for others. And there were some people who didn't even want to ride they just did it for the sheer joy of creating this experience participating and creating something. Together. To see the happy excitement on the faces of the water sears and to know that they have done this together with nothing more than a board and a rope. The whole was far greater than the sum of its parts. And that whole. The camaraderie. The selfless giving. The sparkling energy. The collective hootspa of such a ridiculous idea of brought to life. What's magical. Holy. Please rise in body or spirit for our next him in the teal hymnal blue boat home number 1064. What makes water holy. Most of the religions of the world have some concept of holy water. Water with the power to clean us not just our bodies but our spirits as well. Water that blesses for nurtures us. Brings us closer to the divine. For catholics holy water is water that has been specially blessed by a priest. For hindus the ganga soros ganges river and other rivers are considered holy. Each connected to a goddess. In judaism to make a mixer or ritual bath you take pure rainwater. Pour it into a basin with stone walls and make sure that it's flowing not still. This water is considered so fully so spiritually charge that nothing can ruin it. Even if you were to throw a pig into it which i don't recommend. It still keeps its purity and its potency. Holy water and all of these traditions has power. Just as water conduct electricity. It's also a medium for transmitting blessing. The juicy goodness of life. What about unitarian universalist. Can we get in on this holy water thing what if anything makes water holy for us. To the extent that unitarian-universalist can agree on a theology. It entails the idea that the holy is to be found. In the collective. The illuminated moment of our gathering. They want me to come together when we each bring a piece of our authentic selves to the community. Recreate something far greater than the sum of our parts. That's something greater. That ineffable sparkle of electricity. Is what some of us call god. And so for us i believe that holy water. Is water that we all make. Together. It's water that sparkles with the energy of a little bit of each of us. A little bit of each of our experiences our histories are stories. Our hopes. Our love. It's where the one includes the many. And the many become one. Making holy water is what we're going to do and our ceremony today. Breach going to pour a little bit of water. Into the basement and the two. Side i'll chapel by feel like a flight attendant. And also this baptismal font here marble baptismal font from the 1850s. Tell the water that results when we do this probably part. Saltwater part freshwater. Some chlorine. Millions of microorganisms. Molecules from new york and molecules from far away. Adams from the age of the dinosaurs. This water will reflect the diversity of all of us. This water will be greater than the sum of the parts that we pour into it. This water will hold a spiritual charge. Because it's been charged with love from each of us. And this water. Is water that we together will pronounce. Holy. What are we going to do with this holy water. Hooper's for going to boil it. I assure you this will not diminish his holiness and anyway but it will diminish the headcount of the microorganisms in it. And then we'll use this water to bless people. You might have noticed there are a lot of babies here today will use it in our baby's dedication ceremonies here at first you. Right from this baptismal font as it was intended. When we touch that water to the baby's head we will transmit the blessing from each of us in this room to that baby. And when one of our gathering is ill or dying if they would like they can also be touched with this water and receive our blessing. What is a to give a blessing. It's to give a part of yourself. Part at your own internal electric charge. It's to say. Here. Here's a little bit of me. That can become a little bit of you. It can strengthen you connect to a little bit more to the universe. Because of course i i made from little bits of everything that came before me. Cheers. A little bit of my love. Little bit of the juicy goodness of life as i experienced it. I'm sharing this with you. At the end of this year. We're going to save a little bit of our holy water to include it and next year's holy water. 3d cheer will also include molecules from past years. If we do this for the next. Hundred years say your water will still be there. However diluted. Taking part in making the blessing. Babies born to people not yet born. Go receive your blessing. Elderly people in their final days on this earth. Will receive your blessing. You may even receive your own blessing someday. Now i invite you to lift up your container of water. If you just bought one for your family you can all touch it together. If you don't have one just close your hands and focus. In the space in your hands. And fill it up with your best. Prayers and visions for our world saturated with your unis. And then when you're ready. Please come up. Walking up to the front. And let it go we have a middle. I'll hear station and we have the two side isles usher's will be there to help you for a little bit you don't need a huge gallon of water just a little bit will be wonderful and we'll share our blessing.

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Why-I-Dont-Talk-About-Trump.m4a

My kids have been wanting a small cabinet to keep their art supply then actually did be more precise i've been wanting them to have one so that their markers and crayons wouldn't be all over the living room floor after having spilled over the top of their crappy old bastard that we've been keeping them in so the other day i went to staples to try to buy this thing and i found small metal cabinet that would do the job. I'm carrying it toward the cash register when i stopped by a very concerned employee saying oh no that's the floor model you can't buy that one you have to buy order it online tomorrow computer here so okay so i bring the thing back and i follow him over to the computer and he pulls it up on the screen and as he's taking my information i noticed that it cost $10 more than it said on the display and so. I point this out to him and he says. That's just the in-store price online it's different in the store and he laughed uncomfortably i actually had to push back a second time. Before he relented and agreed to charge me to match the price that was advertised in the store so you might think this is just a corporate error. Prices for things are always changing maybe the guy was new but in general just kind of ploy is actually part of corporations business model. You'll see it if you call up your phone companies and try to get them to match a deal that you were offered by a different phone company they'll tell you it's impossible until you actually begin the mildly aggressive process of canceling your service with them at which point they will bend over backwards to give you the very things that they had said were impossible before. They will push you right to the breaking point to see how much they can get out of you before you take your business elsewhere. Locating that precise breaking point is actually a booming tech business right now. There are hot startups that monitor calls to customer service line and calculate the exact level of exasperation in the customer's voice. The chief strategy officer for one of these startups love talk about the potential goldmine layden's in the tone of people's voices. Voice is the last offline data set. He explained. Depending on how close the customer is to the breaking point the ai will direct the customer service rep to give them more or give them less. Figure out exactly how much they will pay and charge them that much figure out exactly how much misery they will endure and allow that much do not spend an extra dime or an extra minute on a human encounter and of course it's dehumanizing as corporations relationships are with customers it's even worse with their employees. Until workers can be replaced by machines they are treated like machines. I'm sure that that guy that i was interacting with with paid as little as staples could get away with paying him and he received his few benefits as they could possibly give him the average ceo and 71 times the salary of the lowest paid employee. We've heard stories if not experienced these things ourselves walmart refusing to give employees predictable hours. So they can plan for childcare for example xpo logistics forcing pregnant women. Workers to lift heavy boxes of verizon phone throughout their pregnancy not giving bathroom breaks. In the warehouses the pack and ship all of our online orders the working conditions are becoming dickensian. And then to mask the exploitation companies like amazon pay workers to post happy statuses on social media raving about how great it is to work for the company. All of this. Hips people against one another. Workers against workers neighbors against neighbors. Customers against employees. To buy that cabinet at staples that day i had to have a brief moment of conflict. With another human being. With no big deal was a very mild conflict than just taken on its own but the system was not setup to shall we say encourage us to see the holy in one another. These constant little fictions and defense with vacations. Spinlife undercarpet capitalism add up to alienation. People feel isolated. Deaths of despair are on the rise that's death by suicide overdose and addiction. We're all being pushed to the breakpoint. Mass shootings are now in the news practically everyday. Immigrants are being caged as if they were criminals. And the delicately balanced edifices are water and air and climate and soil is terrifyingly close. To a collapse from which we and millions of other species. May not recover. None of this. Began on november 8th 2016. November 8th 2016 was an energetic conversion. Of the ugliest and most destructive forces in american culture congealed into one spectacular manifestation. Can i use the word spectacular in the sense of spectacle. Here before our eyes was a concentrated form of the great absence. The spiritual poverty at the core of so much of our culture. Here was an exaggeration almost a caricature of the values that animate our whole economy. Our voices are just a data set. The natural world of the set of resources to be exploited. The entrusted business supersede all other interest. Life is a zero-sum game of winners and losers. Women exist for the pleasure of men. Whiteness is normative and superior. Well generated by slavery is legitimate well and may be protected by for wealth generated by the genocide of native peoples is legitimate well and may be protected by force. Well generated by the destruction of other species and entire ecosystem is legitimate wealth and maybe protected by force. The future may be sacrificed for the present. During the last election cycle these values surface fully visible fully legible unmask unashamed practically shooting people on 5th avenue for everyone to see. They surfaced. They were not born that day. And on november 8th 2016 the american people. Affirmed these values as our own. But wait you might protest the american people did not do this those values lost by almost three million votes. And yes this is true but it's not a coincidence that the system that ensured their victory anyway the electoral college was a system first designed to fortify the power of slaveholders. To this day it works to give the historical slaveholding states and world states disproportionate power. And in over 200 years. We've been. Unwilling unable. To change this. And then almost half the country didn't vote at all there are lots of reasons why people didn't vote. But maybe most upsetting late some stayed home because they said that the enormous difference that many of us. Saw between the two candidates was not real. And there is a tiny grain of truth in this. The values of surface in the 2016 election are deeply baked into the structure and the spiritual subconscious. Of this country. They are in all of us like the microplastics that are now found in our bloodstream they don't reside in any one person alone. All of this is not to say that the occupant of the white house has not done harm. His words and actions had led to horrific violence of all kinds. His jeopardize our future. But she couldn't do much. Without the active and passive collusion. The people of this country. When he's deregulates and industry. He doesn't make them do bad things. He just allowed them. To do bad things. He gives them license. We give them consent. When he rolls back auto emission rules he hasn't caused the auto industry to make less fuel-efficient cars. We do. By buying them. The amazon is burning because farmers set fire to clear the land for beef and soy the whole world including us spies that be. And the pork and the chicken raised on that story. That's why the amazon is being destroyed it's not just because of the madman in the white house or the madman in brasilia. I'm at staples where i bought that metal cabinet. It's a driven out the little mom-and-pop office supply store that used to be in the neighborhood. They were able to do that because people like me shop there. As much as i claim to hit it i supported the rise of multinational corporations like staples. As much as i explored that moment of friction between me and my brother the sales guy i played the game and i brought the cabinet anyway. I gave my consent. 2d sanctifying relationships in the service of commerce. And as much as i deplore the extraction of metals and fossil fuels from the earth. I bought the cabinet anyway. I gave my consent to plunder in the land in the service of commerce. I believe that it's wrong to buy something new when i have something serviceable i didn't need that thing. My kids definitely didn't need it they didn't care. But i bought it anyway. I don't talk about the occupant of the white house not because what i might say about his sins would not be accurate but because it would not be useful. The change has to come from. Change has to come from us. This is bad news and it's good news it's really hard. My family and i also really like that metal cabinet it's clean it's simple it has drawers and my kids markers and crayons are now contained in those drawers instead of all over the living room floor it seems like a reasonable modest thing to have bought. Not like a munchery. And most of all we have to change feels just like this. Just like normal stuff absolutely shoulder-shrugging lee normal it's our culture. Doesn't feel evil it's just the way we've always done things. And that sense of what's normal is exactly what has to change. And it's so hard because it's so deep deep inside us it's the water we swim in. We have to change not only what we buy but how we speak and how we spend our time and ultimately how we think and what we want out of life. The good news. Is that we are far more powerful than we think. We don't have to rely on the government to solve the problems of our world officially when they're clearly not going to we can take matters into our own hands. Some of us have more choice than others based on our privilege and what we have to do to get through a day. But every action we take. No matter how small is dense with meaning because it has a ripple effect. In everything we do we have a chance to advance a love larger than ourselves. But we do together here at the community has an even greater ripple effect. But we need a spiritual culture change and we have opportunities almost every hour of every day to make that change. Did anne frank's words how wonderful it is that nobody need to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world the other good news is we can lean on our religious community and our traditions. From the vantage point of faith. We can swim in different waters. Those toxic values that surface like a sea monster on november 8th 2016 may seem all-powerful these days. But through our religious imagination. You are missed and our storytelling and our testimonies we can turn them inside out. We can nurture a vision of an alternative. Like blowing on coals to make a flame. Together we can envision the liberation of the oppressed. We can ambition other people not adversaries but as siblings. We can envision a relationship with the earth grounded in humility and reverence an ethic of caring for the garden with which we've been entrusted. It does not belong to us. We belong to it. We can envision each person made in the image of the holy. Whoever they are. Whomever they love wherever they are on their life journey. Whatever the color of their skin or their country of origin whatever their gender and whatever the source of their face. And if we can see it if we can see this kind of world. We can be at. We can live these values these visions into reality. The circles of fact to what i preached about last week living a religious life we get to live as if it matters how we live. Because it does. Religious practices give voice to our faith. The tech startup guy was right when he said that voice is the last offline data set. But our voices belong to us and to no one else. With our voices we can sing we can describe the world that we believe is possible with our voices we can say i love you. With our voices we can tell the tech guys but they don't have to calculate when we're going to reach our breaking point we've reached it already and we are calling for a different way of living together on this planet for ourselves for each other for our children and for all the creatures up here please rise and body or spirit for our final him there is more love.

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The-Self-Help-Commandment-Do-Not-Covet.m4a

It turns out that evangelical pastor mark driscoll of the 13,000 member mars hill church stole my idea and is also doing a sermon series on the ten commandments his are a little different from mine though we haven't been able to plagiarize each other very much. But i'm going to lift from him a series of questions that he asked his congregation when he preached on the commandments low top mode do not covet. Think about these questions. If you could have anyone's home the house of anyone in the world. Where would you live. If you could have any one spouse or partner. Who would you be with. If you could have anyone's stuff anything at all. Technology clothes a car. Who's stuff. Would you take. If you could have the abilities or talents of anyone in the world whose would you have. Driscoll says if you answered those questions you're a cover. If you didn't you're a liar and he's right we all covered. Can you think. Feel how even thinking about those questions. Provoked coveting within you. Let me stop to think about what we might cover the coveting intensifies this is one of the paradoxes of this commandment right it's like being told don't think about a white rabbit thinking about not thinking about something and makes you think about it. And the biblical commandments bailed out exactly what it is that you're supposed to not covet. You're not supposed to covet your neighbor's house wife presumably husband as well ox donkey servant or anything that belongs to your neighbor. What better way to make somebody covet something bad to say see that you can't have it and you can watch it. So what's going on with this commandment protest you can't make a law about how we should feel they can control how we feel all we can do is control what we do. And so low talk mode is kind of an outlier in the sense. It's the only commandant of the big ten but deals with an internal spiritual sensibility. All the others deal directly with actions things that we do or don't do out in the world and this is the only one that deals with what's going on in here. And your inner world. It's the only commandment which if you break it. Nobody will know but you. But i think by including it as a commandment the biblical author was assuming that we actually do have some agency in our internal life. Just like we do in our actions. The idea that you can't help what you feel that we're just overcome with emotions like a ragdoll is maybe a nineteenth-century romantic idea maybe the ancient israelites believe that we have a free will so expensive that it reaches into the very depths of our being. The ten commandments were developed or received by a people who sell funder standing at least was that they had recently been slaves in egypt. Escape from a place where laws subjugated and demean them once they were free they had to start a society from scratch and the temptation must have been great to have no laws at all but they were wise enough to recognize that without any laws or guidelines for living there would have been a lord of the flies situation that would not have been happy for anyone so the commandments and more importantly to teach people how to live a good life. Because that word is so modern american and sounds kind of tried but a good life a meaningful life a fulfilling life the wisdom of the commandments is that they teach us how to live. And so it is that at the end of this list of important things that we should and shouldn't do in our relationship with god and with others. We are taught to attend to ourselves spiritually. To live the good life we need to find. Gratitude for what we have. And not be constantly striving after something else. We could almost extrapolate and extend this commandment and it would say. Do not covet your neighbor's house do not covet your neighbor's partner or your neighbor's ox donkey servant or anything that belongs to your neighbor because coveting like this will make you miserable. Longing for things that you can't or shouldn't have will keep you in a perpetual state of restless desire. It will render you unable to appreciate the gifts that you do have. It's all if femoral anyway. This concern about desire and attachment leading to suffering. Sainsbury buddha. In fact it's interesting to note but some scholars date the writing of the ten commandments. As late as the fifth century bce and if this is true. The net coincides with the life of siddhartha gautama the buddha. Might there have been some spiritual cross-pollination between these two traditions. In buddhism coveting or greed is considered one of the three poisons that cause suffering and get in the way of enlightenment. The sanskrit word for it is raga. I want to share with you a reading about this from one of the buddhist sacred text the first you have to know what monkey lime is monkey lion was a kind of a sticky pitch substance used by monkey hunters to trap monkeys. The monkey would be attracted to the good smell and put a paw in it and that paul would get stuck. Then the monkey would get further involved and put another paw in it and. That paul would get stuck. And then finally all4paws and the monkeys nose would be stuck in the monkey lime and that would be bad news for the monkey. So here's the reading from the buddhist texts. Greed has a characteristic of grasping an object like monkey line. Its function is sticking like meat in a hot pan. It is manifested as not giving up its proximate cause is seeing enjoyment and things that lead to bondage. Swelling with the current of craving it should be regarded as taking beings with it to states of lost as a swift flowing river does to the great ocean. The comedy worldly things takes us away from ourselves like a river to the ocean we get involved in our craving and we lose our center our god self. Several of the other commandments also lend themselves really easily to a buddhist interpretation especially the first one. The first commandment teaches that we should have no other gods besides. Yhwh. If you remember that's the name of god that is simply the verb to be its reality it's what is we should have no other gods other than that which is. Buddhism is all about a kind of devotion to what is and to nothing other than what is. It's really beautiful. Both traditions teach us to come into the present into reality to see things as they are without the overlay of our attachments and desires and constructions and assumptions both traditions teach that we shouldn't grovel before the things that we covet but rather retain a kind of spiritual dignity. Rabbi zalman schachter-shalomi the founder of the jewish renewal movement has written an interpretive translation of the jewish morning prayers and he brings these ideas together saying. Don't let your cravings delude you don't let your cravings become your gods. Don't debase yourself before them. So we're still left with the question of how. How can we change our inner experience of life so that we don't get stuck in the monkey lime covered in our neighbors stuff. Buddhism gives us meditation the intentional discipline of repeatedly reeling in the monkey mind from its excursions and returning to simply what is. Judaism gives us. Daily prayers and blessings for all that we have. The rabbis teach that we should say 100 blessings each day thanking god for each meal we'd each interesting or beautiful thing we see even the functioning of our bodies when we go to the bathroom. Gratitude. The sabbath is another practice that allows us for a set. of time to enter the beauty of what is instead of grasping after something else. These are all tools at our disposal to help us to lead the good life. They are the exact opposite of mark driskill's questions instead of stimulating coveting they stimulate gratitude. There's also just the day-to-day practice of being aware of our coveting. I think if we're really honest with ourselves. We know that to some extent we can control it. We can choose to indulge our fantasies about something. Something or someone we might like to have. For we can choose not to. When the fog comes up we can get involved in it and feed the fires of it or we can say to ourselves. This is monkey lime. I don't want to get stuck here. This is not who i want to be and what i want to do. So what i want to focus on let's go somewhere else brain. End up having that intention can help not a hundred percent. But it helps. In buddhist philosophy the reason why provident create suffering is because it perpetuates the myth. Of a difference a separation to covet there has to be two parties. The catheter and the coveted. In buddhism. The distinction between self and other is an illusion it's not real. And so in buddhism we draw together self and other through practice. How we learn to see the oneness of the world. I'm just holding the intention to keep the do not covet commandment can serve as a buffer zone around the other commandments or the other ethical goals of your life. This may in fact be part of its purpose. If you don't even covet your neighbor's ipad you're certainly not going to steal it. If you don't even covet your neighbor's partner you're not going to commit adultery. Keeping an intention like this create the kind of wholeness in your life. You're not as fragmented between what you do and what you desire who you appear to be on the outside and who you are on the inside. It's a way of living with integrity and drawing the pieces of yourself and word together. The message is clear from both traditions we are all one and our beautiful world is suffused with blessings. Get in touch with gratitude for the miracle of it all and that gratitude will fuel and ethical life and a peaceful heart if you could have anyone's life whose life would you have how about the life of the person who doesn't want anybody else's life. The life of a person at peace with themselves. Who knows that there is nothing to covet. And nothing to crave. Nothing out there nothing but separate. Because they are one with the world. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him for all that is our life number 128.

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Biblical-Migrations-Egypt.m4a

Dream interpretation has fallen out of fashion these days it's often seen as a bit of a quackenbush endeavor pseudoscience at best but it used to be all the rage and freudian and union and gestalt psychology where dreams were thought to reveal deep truths about ourselves every night we enter this land where the rational world falls away and the laws of the physical world fall away and what we're left with is pure creativity and spirit. Images emotions symbols in the dreamworld and we can do things beyond the bounty of logic like fly. Or visit a loved one who has died. Those of you who have been here a really really long time may remember an early sermon of mine where i talked about a dream where i was visited by my long deceased grandmother. She gave me a message that became the heart of my call to ministry in the ancient near east dreams were believe not to say anything about the dreamer but to tell the future. Enter someone who could interpret dreams. Had the power of prophecy. The biblical joseph was such a person. This is the third and this year's series on migration stories of the bible and october we looked at adam and eve in november we looked at noah and his family and today we're exploring the migration story of the entire hebrew people and how they became immigrants in the land of egypt. It's bound up with joseph and his gift of dream interpretation. Like so many of our real migration stories today it's forest by ecological crisis. In this case it's a. Quote. Scorching east wind. That brings drought. Crop failure and famine the people are desperate and they're going to starve if they don't move but where to go. The drought isn't confined to one place. Nature knows no national borders. The drought stretches all the way through canaan and egypt but egypt unlike hainan as wealthy. And the pharaoh has stockpiled grain. Kind of like the rich silicon valley people today who are building compound in new zealand starts with food and ammunition it's not the climate change what happened in new zealand it's just that they'll be ready to protect themselves when it does. How did the pharaoh know that he should stockpile this grain. Because of joseph. Who is sold by his brothers to be a slave. Big and told the story of how joseph interprets the strange dream of pharaoh the seven fat healthy cows on the seven emaciated cows it's obvious to joseph what this means that there was going to be seven years of abundance and seven years of famine he insists that it's not he but god who interprets the dream. Paris's how about you be that someone. Joseph is the al gore or rachel carson or bill mckibben of his day. She sees something that nobody else sees about the coming ecological crisis. Like them he says yes i'm sure. But unlike in our case today in joseph's case the man in power listens and responds instead of denying. Adam joseph case the one with the inside is the one who is put in charge of solving the problem. I told joseph the hebrew outsider at the age of 30 rises from being a slave and a prisoner in the palace to being pharaoh's right-hand man. With untold wealth and power. He does his job well traveling all over egypt setting up systems to preserve and store food making egypt resilient to the coming drought. I'm sure enough. There are seven good years and then the text says the famine was heavy and the lamb. Joseph's family back home in canaan begins to suffer. So they come to egypt because they've heard that there's food in egypt. Joseph tells the pharaoh about them. The pharaoh invites the whole extended family to immigrate and settle in egypt giving them the luscious most fertile land. Until with relief. And sadness in their hearts. 70 members of joseph extended family form a caravan. I travel with everything they have which isn't much. Through the desert. Across the border. To make their new home in egypt. There's no one to put out gallon bottles of water for them. But they make it it's only because of their connection with joseph that the pharaoh welcomes them. They're still clearly outsiders who are not permitted to even sit at the same table with egyptian. They pine. For their homeland. Like anybody who has ever left. Home never to return. Meanwhile the famine is getting worse and joseph gets drunk with power instead of giving generously of the food he has stockpiled he uses it for profit he's cynically seizes the moment to consolidated well for the pharaoh hungry egyptians come by the hundreds to buy bread from joseph paying with all their silver until joseph has all the silver in the land of egypt. The famine persist. And hungry people come back to joseph and he makes them pay for bread with all of their livestock until the pharaoh has all the livestock and the land of egypt. The famine persist. And the people come back to joseph flat broke with no livestock and they say nothing is left except our body. That our land. Why should we die before you both we and our land by us and our land for bread and we and our landfill disturbance tufaro. And go to seed so will live and not die. Every family in egypt sell their field to the pharaoh because i have to. To survive. And joseph set them back to work on their farms with the mandate to give the pharaoh 1/5 of their produce forevermore. Thousands of years. Before naomi klein wrote the shock doctrine the principal was alive and well. Those in power use moments of crisis to gain even more power. The leverage the chaos and desperation of the moment to bake income-inequality into the very structure of society not just for the present but for future generations as well. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. This is happening today as the floods and droughts and famines. Brought by climate change. Leave the most vulnerable even more vulnerable and corporate pharaoh's seize the moment. Remember that in the story this is the egyptian peasant poor uneducated country folk that joseph does this too little does he know he is creating the exact a pressure cooker that a pharaoh will later exploit to drum up hatred against the emigrants. Sound familiar. Under joseph's umbrella of protection the israelites grow and thrive and have lots of babies and everything is going well for them and his new land. Until it's not. We hear one of the most. Famous and chilling lines in the hebrew bible. A new king arose over egypt. Who did not know. Joseph. Without that personal connection. The israelites become aliens. The new pharisees their success their growing numbers they're thriving there other knows and he is scared they don't have simulator. They have their own ways they speak their own language. The pharaoh warrenton people that the israelites are getting too powerful and if a war were to break out they might side with egypt enemy. This is the age-old charge that the immigrant is not loyal to the country that is now their home. The pharaoh becomes a hate monger. The pharaoh forces them into work companies he enslaves them specifically he says in order to degrade them and keep them down. But it doesn't work. They keep growing and thriving. Did gyptian start to resent the israelites intrusion into their country the text says that they start to feel disgust at the children of israel what are they doing here anyway who let them in they need to go back to where they came from beyond have room for them all unfolding drama becomes the floor plan for oppression and violence against immigrant communities around the world and the pharaoh moves steadily toward genocide he orders the two hebrew midwives to kill all the male babies as they are born. They refuse to do it. The text says because they are afraid of god are in aunt god and then the pharaohs deputizes all his people the egyptian citizens to take action against these dangerous foreigners they're all murderers and rapists he says. And he orders his people to throw every newborn male into the nile river. For anyone who's ever been to a passover seder. Or who's old enough to have watched the cecil b demille movie the ten commandments featuring the overacting of charlton heston you know that this is all backstory for the dramatic exodus from egypt that happens. Much later we're going to talk about that next month. But right now let's pause. In this uncomfortable moment in story. Let's interpret this story as if it's a dream not a dream that tells the future like joseph might but a dream that tells the present as a gestalt interpreter might. The inside of gestalt dream interpretation is that the dreamer is all the characters. And the dream. Not just the one that the dreamer experiences as i. Doctors the protagonist not just a good guy not just the predator not just the prey all the characters i believe that scripture can be read the same way who are we in this story in some way we maybe everybody we are the israelites with ancestral memories of having to leave our home running for our lives toward a new land. We are the egyptians lodged in systems of economic inequality manipulated by those in power into blaming our problems on those who are other we experience ecological devastation and we wish others would change while we resist change ourselves upheaval is happening all around us the world is shifting under our feet maybe we know fewer and fewer people in our community. We feel like strangers in our own home. We are joseph living through reversals of fortune moving from power to powerlessness and back to power again we never feel secure in our status always feel like a fraud and a posture. No matter how much money we have we always feel poor no matter how much security we have we never feel safe and then in our own version of freud's repetition compulsion we sometimes turn around and oppress those with less power than us we are the pharaoh lively benefiting from the wealth generated by slaves specially white people in this country maybe we're a little bit jealous of the success of others paranoid that they will turn against us maybe we're anxious about holding onto whatever power we have to hold all these characters with compassion is to hold ourselves with compassion. And to hold these characters accountable for where they fall short is to hold ourselves accountable for where we fall short. They are all deeply flawed as we are. But i'll tell you who i would want to be who i desire to be in the story if there are any actual heroes i would say it is the midwives. The midwives who refused to kill the male babies as they are born. They are ordered to commit murder by the greatest secular authority and the land the pharaoh himself with all his economic and military might but the text says they were in awe of god and so they didn't do it they know what's right and wrong the spiritual reality is more powerful to them. Then the social political reality. And so at great risk they protect those babies and every single home if you think about it if anybody is going to be in awe of god it's going to be people who see the miracle of birth every single day the midwives seemed new life tiny humans just emigrating from another dimension they see the overwhelming love of their mothers if anybody in this story is going to be empowered by all to disobey an earthly authority it's going to be the midwives the pharaoh chooses the wrong people to carry out his deadly mission. At times. We are the midwives as well. We are led by odd something larger than ourselves. And that cuts through the secular powers and social conventions of our time. We protect babies and children. We stand up for the emigrants and i missed and welcome them into our homes we take every opportunity to rebalance the power relationships among human beings. And all other species and living communities on this earth. We show compassion in a harsh world. And sometimes we turn our vocation whatever-it-is into a calling. May we all be so empowered by all. And guided. Buy dreams. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him i'm going to live so this is printed in your order of service.

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The-Optics.m4a

In the story of the golden calf where the israelites fresh from having received the commandment about not worshipping idols go ahead and immediately worship an idol there's a little dispute about whose responsibility it is. From the top of mount sinai god sees what's going on and says to moses guess what your people who you just brought out of egypt are busy doing down there while you're gone. Kind of like my husband might say to me. Guess what your daughter did with the dog food while you were at work. Moses is this mad but he also wants to set the record straight actually god you brought them out of egypt they're your people actually honey you're the one who wanted to have kids she's your daughter and when moses runs down the mountain and confronts his brother aaron what were you thinking aaron says it was the weirdest things to people all gave me their jewelry i threw it into the fire and out came this calf really that's in there that's what he says the optics. We know a lot about the objects these days in the wake of the government shutdown and the debt ceiling debacle over the last few weeks there's been a lot of talk about optics on both sides who's going to be playing how did the republicans look how did the democrats look how did the tea party look how did obama look. And although we all know that objects won't pass a budget and won't raise the debt ceiling they are what most politicians seem to think about most of the time the optics or what election campaigns are based on. Despite the fact that the optics. How things look on the surface. It's often very different from the substance. Sometimes you can even have just optics and no substance at all. The second commandment of the ten commandments is i believe about this distinction between optics and substance. The distinction between. How something looks and what it is. Or the distinction between. That which only has looks and that which ultimately is. The text and english translation is you shall not make for yourself a sculptured image. Or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth you shall not bow down to them or serve them. On the historical level this was just an expression of the politics the religious politics of the ancient near east the israelites were monotheistic to worship the god with no shape or form a god that was utterly unrepresented bowl. The commandments were part of a campaign against the influence of the pagan egyptians assyrians and others who worships natural elements are animals and who used idols to facilitate the worship of their gods. Check out the play mother wove the morning this week for that will explore some of the darker sides of his culture war. But the historical reading of the second commandment or if any of the pain is only one dimension and is primarily interesting really if you're a historian. Scripture has not survived for thousands of years by having only historical meaning. It's the layers of meaning that give it its power. What's interesting to me at least is what are the deeper spiritual layers here and how can they teach her something today. For those of you who missed the first of my ten commandments sermon series i'm borrowing my approach from doctor eliezer diamond who's a bible professor here in new york he offers the vision for how modern can engage with ancient scripture especially those of us who are tempted to write it off entirely. He says that the beautiful truly inspired spiritual wisdom contained in the bible is being held captive by the narrowness of vision of its authors and their own is rooted in the constraints of their time and place the good stuff is buried beneath a pile of junk. And it's our job to redeeming to excavated to set it free and give it new life it's our job to discard the superficial meaning in favor of the deep meaning. This is a particularly useful metaphor for looking at the prohibition against idolatry which is all about the superficial versus the deep. The fake versus the real. This commandment is not just a quibble with pagan gods. It's about the dangers of trying to represent god at all. Innocence the second commandment is a subcategory of the first you shall have no other gods before me. In fact all the other nine commandments could be seeing as living under the umbrella of that first. The first commandment is to focus all our hearts longing on the real god. Deliberating and loving power of life itself. The other nine deal with strategies for staying connected to that focus and avoiding all the way through might get distracted from it. They warned about reducing the intangible to the tangible. About not mistaking an image or a simulation for the real thing. In our culture we mistake images and simulations for the real thing. All the time. We mistakes social prestige for personal power we mistake superficial attractiveness for inner beauty we mistake competitive games for moral battle. We mistake fitness for health. We mistake money. For wealth. Our media-driven culture teaches us to bow down and serve projections of ourselves the performance of success in our careers and our relationships in our finances. The things and people that we have. Become more important than who we are. It's no coincidence that the word idle means both an image of a human in the form of a movie star. An image of a god in the form of a golden calf. We imbue the temporal. But the significance of the eternal. We worship the finite as if it were the infamous. The narrative of the golden calf begins with people catching that moses has been gone too long. He was the source of their connection with the infinite god and in his absence they're starting to lose the thread of what this god was all about. Does abstract formless shapeless ton representable god this force of liberation that had taken them out of egypt it was too hard to hold on to that face when the miracles were no longer happening right in front of their eyes. So they told aaron to make a god for them who could leave them something shiny and solid that they can hold onto that they could see and touch. Are instructed them to give him all of their gold jewelry all of their earrings. Symbols of adornment and prestige financial well. It was this goal that was melted down and became the cash. It wasn't this goal that the people worshipped they were bowing down and serving their own status symbols. They had replaced the god of liberation with the god of materialism and appearances. We all do this to some extent what a world of trouble we've gotten ourselves into by worshiping material wealth and appearances. The problem is. But these are optical illusions. We're never going to find true happiness real relationships or a deep connection with the living loving god if we don't let go of our obsession with the optic. I don't fortunately many of us don't really figure this out until the end of our lives. The canon of urban mythology is brimming with stories of people on their deathbed looking back on their lives with some form of regret some version of they wish they had spent less time for suing well beauty prestige and more time with their families more time with god more time with themselves they wish they had not bow down and served the wrong priorities and then you get those very occasional people who get a second chance. Forgiving a terminal diagnosis that turns out to be wrong. And when they are released from their hospital room and back out into the world they plunge into life as if for the first time with abandon with authenticity and vigour and gratitude they invariably see their near-death experience as the greatest blessing of their lives because now they are really free to live. I no longer care about the stuff that they have they no longer care about the optics. Rabbi zalman schachter-shalomi the founder of a modern mystical movement in judaism says that when you think about dying and having to account for your life. You shouldn't worry that god will ask why were you not moses why were you not more like sarah or rachel you should worry the guide will ask why were you not more like you. He understands that the commandant to not worship something fake is really a commandment to not be something fake. Because of emerson says what we are worshipping we are becoming. We squander so much of our life for us and trying to be things other than what we are. We try so hard to achieve and so many different arenas. To have the right kind of body the right kind of job the right kind of friends the right kind of online persona. To have the right kind of family in the right kind of neighborhood. Did brooklyn heights with a brownstone or williamsburg with tattoos and ironic facial hair. We do it because it feels satisfying we do it because it feels fun. We do it because we feel like. We have to in order to be loved we do it because we're starving for social validation. We do it because we're scared. We do it because like the israelites who made the golden calf we get impatient waiting for those flashes of revelation to return to us they are so few and far between. And so commandments like the second commandment can help us stay connected to the deepest truths we know. And the more we let them permeate our consciousness the more meaning they can have laura. So you shall not make for yourself a sculpted image. Can become you shall not make of yourself as felted image. Or even you shall not sculpt your image. You shall not bow down and serve it. Because when we bow down to the image of who we think we ought to be then we abandoned who we are and all our power is lost. All of the true power that we have in this world comes from our connection to our most authentic selves. But i would call our god self. And that's all we have. If we substitute something fake. But our connection to that god self gets distorted. It gets harder and harder to reach. In the poem we read earlier stephen mitchell rice blessed are the man and the woman who have grown beyond their greed and no longer nourish illusions. They delight in the way things are. And keep their hearts open day and night. They're like trees planted near flowing rivers which bear fruit when they are ready. I don't worry so much about the optics. Instead imagine that you are a tree planted by a flowing river. That river is the source that slows love and strength an inspiration to you constantly day and night and it can never be used up and it's always available to you. That indescribable on representable energy is the only real source of your life. Let yourself be bathed in it and make a promise with yourself. But you will sculpt no other images. And bow down and serve no other guys. Her final hymn is in the teal hymnal. There's a river flowing in my soul is number 1007 will sing it through and will then we'll sing the first verse again at the end.

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The-Thousandth-Generation.m4a

When the news of bashar al-assad's chemical weapon attack on the people of syria came into focus a few weeks ago many of us in this country not knowing what to do with the rage and the pain called for a punitive counter-attack for a brief while it seemed inevitable and everybody was bracing for the deployment. Schedule proposed by president obama was it our responsibility brief forceful and very narrowly clearly neatly targeted. We would respond to assad's spray of violence with a laser of violence the matter would remain within the bounds that we had set and that would be that. Many of us feared that it wouldn't exactly work out that way. Our great spiritual teachers from jesus to mahatma gandhi to the reverend martin luther king jr. but it rarely does work out that way. And the great coloring book of life violence doesn't like to sit neatly coloring inside the lines. The color bleeds and gets everywhere. Now that the u.s. is exploring diplomatic alternatives there's a lot of talk of convincing aside to destroy his chemical weapons stockpile. But it turns out that even if you wanted to this is not so easy either. Look at our own history as part of an international treaty our country pledge back in 1997 to destroy all of our chemical weapons in 10 years that's pretty amazing when you think about it. But it's 16 years later now and we've still got them and it's actually not for lack of trying. Turns out it's really hard to get rid of chemical weapons once they exist. Their health and environmental factors you can't transport them so separate destruction facilities have to be made for each arsenal we currently have nine. And we've spent 35 billion dollars so far and we're still not done. For every $1 it cost to make a chemical weapon it cost $10 to destroy it like the genie in the bottle violence and the implements of violence take on a life of their own. They proliferate they bloom they become in some ways larger than their creator. The story of fritz haber is a chilling example of this. Haber was a 20th century german jewish scientist who first figured out how to separate nitrogen out of the air. As a german patriot who hadn't experienced much and is semitism haber was happy to help germany's games in wwii and help them he did. What havers technique germany was able to make nitrogen bombs literally out of the air. Well the allied forces had to import their nitrogen from abroad. Without haber germany would have failed years earlier. Haber also figured out how to weaponize chlorine. Then he turned his attention to creating pesticides which are also chemical weapons one in particular named zyklon-b. The tragic irony of this story is that as brilliant a scientist as haber was he misunderstood one of the fundamental principles of life he believes that a vector or agent of death can be confined to its intended purpose and its intended target he believes that none of what he had created would get on to him but his wife committed suicide when she learns about the horrors he had rod with his chlorine gas. Their young son found her body and he later killed himself as well. Zyklon-b the pesticide ended up being used by the nazi regime in the gas chambers that killed some of haber zone extended family and co-workers. Pesticides are meant to kill specific insects and yet they kill jews at auschwitz they kill children in india when they accidentally wind up in a school lunch. And they kill bees. Bees that we need to pollinate our crops. Guns are meant to kill bad guys and animals and yet they kill 13 civilians in a dc navy yard. Had fritz haber imagined the use to which is zyklon-b would be put he probably never would have created it. And yet we can never imagine the effects of our actions. We can never fathom our own power. Violence and ill-will dishonesty and disregard for the earth proliferate like a virus uncontrollably and unpredictably we can't anticipate their scope except to know that it will be beyond what we could possibly dream there's a poignant moment in the hebrew bible that speaks to the same principle after the israelites had escaped from egypt through the red sea and wandered in the desert and arrived at mount sinai to receive the commandments god warns them. I the lord your god am an impassioned god visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject me. Liberals tend to dislike that quote because it sounds like god is punishing kids for things their parents did. But when you look at the world it's true but that's how things work. Whether or not you think of god as the agent of it. Kids do suffer for the things their parents do. There is a transfer of pain across the generations. The rejection of god or call it the inability or refusal to access love and goodness it never contained to just one action or just one person. It always affects the world to the 3rd or 4th degree of separation. When a parent is violent or abusive or simply doesn't know how to love that pain off and transfers to the children the grandchildren the great-grandchildren. So many of us in this room are third and fourth-generation inheritors of pain like that. Even in a single lifetime when were told as children that we are ugly or stupid or bullied for being gay or for being handicapped it can resonate across the decades of our lives. African-american descendants of slaves are still suffering from the violence of that enslavement generations ago. Violence and evil don't stay put in history or geography they breed and multiply literally the saving good news of faith is that love also breeds and multiplies our religious traditions. The hebrew bible quote that i read doesn't actually end where i ended it. Here's the full quote. I the lord your god am an impassioned god visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children upon the third and a pound of fourth generations of those who reject me. But. Showing loving kindness to the thousandth generation. Have those who love me and those who keep my commandments. Loving kindness to the thousandth generation this to rings true in our world. When you act out of love. Justice. Truthfulness and respect that goodness reverberate outward into the galaxy touching everyone and everything. The corollary to that is the we are all beneficiaries of goodness from long long ago. I'm sure you all know people who are very saying loving people good partners are good parents who themselves came from an abusive family. Or just a family who didn't know how to love them or see them. And you ask yourself how did he turn out to be such a good partner how did she turn out to be such a good mother. Where did she get such confidence. Where did she get such strength. Are you don't find the answer when you look at their parents or their grandparents or the community that they were raised in. The thousandth generation principal teachers that it could have been a powerful love from 100 years ago. Deformed a substrate. The compassion and kindness. Strength and pride that transmitted silently through the generations to that person. Love can never really be contained you may have heard that story last month of antoinette tuff the school administrator who encountered a gunman armed with an ak-47 and touring the school. Antoinette hadn't had an easy life. She'd had tragedies and even attempted suicide. But she was somehow the inheritor of a loving soul. And she was able to tell the gunman. But she loved him. That he was going to be alright. To reassure him saying we all go through something in life. She talked with him gently and encouraged him until he put down his weapons. And everyone was safe. The whole conversation is recorded on a 911 call and you can listen to it online. Absolutely breathtaking. She saved his life and her own the lives of countless children and the school their families were saved from devastation the communities around those families and the love rippled outward 1000 times into the world in every direction. Those children will now grow up many of them will have children if their own and grandchildren and great-grandchildren a thousand generations all because of the power of antoinette's love. I hope they pass that story down like scripture helen keller says when we do the best we can we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or in the life of another. And that's what it is we can't possibly know the effects of our actions how'd it will reverberate through time and space. That information is hidden from us but we can do is ask ourselves what kind of seed are we holding in our hand. What is the nature of the thing that we're planting and putting out into the world. If we're making pesticides or chemical weapons is easy to know that we're putting poison out into the world. If we're comforting and armed intruder. It's easy to see that we're putting love out into the world. But for most of us it's not that dramatic it's more subtle. What about the words were about to speak. What about the words were about to withhold. What about the quality of attention that we pay to somebody who needs to express themselves. What about the food and the clothing that we buy. What about the way we touch someone. How do we behave with those who have no power children and their animals. How do we behave with those who can't hold us accountable. Strangers on the subway. Strangers online. Homeless strangers. We can't possibly know the consequences of our actions but we can form the intention and the prayer that each individual step we take. Each word that we speak. Put the goodness out into the world and not pain peace and not filing. The striking thing about the thousandth generation teaching is that in the world of the hebrew bible. There haven't even been a thousand generations yet. Not even now much less when those words were written. So it's not only about receiving love from our ancestors long ago but the love is our natural inheritance from before the world was formed. The genealogy of evil only stems back three or four generations but love was born in the dawn of time. This is our true inheritance. And we can have faith that when we transmit that love when we express and manifest that love. It will live and breathe and ripple outward for a thousand generations out into a future world. That we can't even begin to fathom. Please rise for our final him going to lay down my sword and shield number 162.

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Remembering-Our-Way-To-Who-We-Are.m4a

Throughout the year anna and then meegan and now i have been exploring the stories of women in the hebrew and christian scriptures next month will be our final sermon in the series so i wanted to begin this morning by reminding us why we are doing this thing. And the lenses that i am bringing to this particular sermon part of the impetus for this series is to show that there are in fact many stories of women in the jewish and christian scriptures. And the stories are complex there are layers to these stories. When we read them from our particular perspectives there are pieces we disagree with. There are pieces we might interpret very differently. Ben originally intended. These stories and scripture more broadly. Are often used by religious conservatives. To tell a particular story. Of religion. Of women. Of god. And if we in fact are or should be. When we read and share and discuss these stories we add to them as well we bring who we are to the text end to the telly. The way i read and preach about this story is different than ivanna or meegan or any other person did so. That is the challenge and the power of scripture. A holy text they do not in fact me just one thing for all-time no story does. With all of this in mind we look this week to deborah story in the book of judges. Dissection of the hebrew scriptures is actually a series of stories involving unlikely leaders. We find the israelites struggling to maintain their cultural and religious identity. Among many other groups of people. They're trying to establish themselves in a new land. And losing touch with that core of who they are a people chosen and liberated by a singular god. Aidan relationship. Or covenants with only that deity and no other. The people who are alive for the events at mount sinai have died. Each tale of the judges goes something like this. The tribes of israel are ruled by another people under harsh conditions. The people of israel cry out to god for help. God responds with a l a deliver a judge. To help the people know the way forward and should become free again from oppression. To govern themselves and live in peace for a time. Mostly this leader this judge reminds the people of who they are of their values and commitment to a particular history before they are lost in a sea of narratives of surrounding peoples. Then the israelites forget again. And the cycle repeats. Deborah is just such a leader. She is a prophet someone with a direct line to the divine. She is able to send forth armies and direct the fate of an entire people yeah none of that is up for debate in the story that is a powerful statement of the role of deborah and the potential role of women in jewish society here in scripture is an example a possibility that women have just as much authority as anyone else they too can be judges deborah summons the military commander to her. Just as the king of their oppressors summons his commander in this they are the same. Both leaders have the role of general taken up by someone else and are not expected to go into battle themselves. But then something curious happens as commander responds with a demand of his own. He will only go into battle if debra goes to the stakes have been raised. And debra doesn't blink. She agrees with these prophetic words. Very well i will go with you. However there will be no glory for you in the course you are taking. For them the lord will deliver sisera into the hands of a woman. And so they go deborah and her commander off into battle. She is in fact putting more on the line than her opponent. The king is not putting himself in battle. But god is with the israelites and in fact god is a force that goes ahead of their smaller army. To disrupt the larger army. All goes according to prophecy as debra has said it would. The israelites are victorious except the enemy commanders cicero. Escapes on foot. He finds his way to the 10th of a woman named yael. Yael is alone and invites him into safety gives him water and milk. And let some sleep. And here is where things take a gruesome turn. Having given him a please of safety and sleep yale kiltimagh with a tent stake. Deborah's commander catches up. And when he approaches the 10th of yael she shows him the body of cicero. Does completing the prophecy. God has delivered the enemy commander into the hands of a woman. And therefore the glory goes to debra and yeah for delivering the people of israel from their oppressors. From this victory the israelites go on to defeat the king's horses. And a victory hymn is sung for the leadership of deborah and the final blow struck by l. The land was tranquil. The land was tranquil for 40 years. And so the israelites are pulled back together as a single people with a story of who they are going or who they are going back in time beyond any living memories. And with a purpose and relationship to the ultimate. Their god. Usually after a generation of peace. 40 or 60 years the people forget again. They break their promises to god and begin to lose their way. Then the next truck comes forward to remind them yet again they continue to be to remind the people over the course of generations about who they are these stories also add to who the jewish people are overtime and eventually christians and eventually unitarian universalist. Story create as much as it reminds us of our heritage. That cycle of remembrance and retailing and adding new pieces has built us up over time. When we look to this text it is messi. Deborah is one judge aman allah online that keep course-correcting. The israelites overtime. This is the challenge of being people together. We get things wrong we forgot. And sometimes we are called to remember or help others remember. That is not usually a fun process. It is something like meditation or any spiritual practice. We stray off course and then return to our breath. We are pulled back into awareness about who we are and why we do. What we do. And then there are yells actions. She murdered someone after offering him safety. She kills one person to perhaps save many more from oppression or death. Within these passages impossible things happen. Violent things happen that allow the israelites to survive. A message i find within this story is that individual choices can turn the course of whole groups of people. Deborah's actions guide the lives of all the people of israel. Her commander's decision to question. Means that he is not remembered for this battle. And yet he plays a role in delivering the israelites from oppression to. Ngal. Who brings the actions of battle into a more personal sphere. Into her home. War and hearth merge and yale story. From my vantage point as an american today. Icel is us. She represents the reality of war. That do most of the fighting may take place far from our homes. The ultimate glory. Or the ultimate responsibility. For that fighting wines up at our own tents. We are responsible for the actions of our armies of our police we are part of a whole people. A whole culture. And while we might not individually harm others. The systems we are part of do. We benefit from them and we are harmed by them. It is both a as so many of these stories are are we the israelites in the story. Are we the oppressors. Are we deborah. Are we gay out. I believe the answer is that we are all of the actors in these stories. When we read of a man killed in brooklyn by police i'm on witnesses family members neighbors and protesters who are we in the story. Are we only one person in it or we many of the people. Represented. And where are the leaders that are calling us back to remember who we are. Who we hope to be. Who is our prophet today. Who is our prophetess where is h deborah. We are who we are through the stories we are taught. Any experiences that add our own lines to the next chapter. The ancient stories and the modern one we hear from others. And the ones we write our salads. That is where i see something happening that goes beyond the everyday and touches upon the divine. The stories we let in make us who we are. And help us to become. What we can only imagine. Sometimes they are not the stories we would like. Sometimes we have god on our side. Sometimes we do what is right. And sometimes we don't. And more often we can't be certain of where the truth lies. We are always at risk of forgetting. A passing by the painful stories. So we're in all of the confusion just stories guide us. Why does deborah being the prophet and l matter. Because because the stories we choose to tell matter. We create a certain amount of our reality. We make things real true relationship and layering experience. / meaning. On top of memory. We share and pass on this reality through the power of story. Of all the things we've done is a species. Becoming storytellers maybe our most amazing gift. The stories we lift up and pass on gained power through every single retelling. We gather them together over the course of our lives and they formed the core of who we are. Our identities are stories. Part truth and part myth. When i say i am gay. That has meanings. Real meaning in this world. And without context. From the times that we live in now could be completely meaningless to the people that come in the future. When we say we are unitarian universalist. We are entering into a narrative that began long ago. And has been recalled overtime. In many places. By many people. Whether we were born uu or became you you later in life. Our religious identity. Is one of accepting a heritage we didn't make ourselves. One that exists outside of normal time. And is bigger than any single person. In fact if you would like to learn some of these stories that make up the unitarian universalist narrative. You can join the group being formed this tuesday evening. Details are in your order of service and i will be leading that for several weeks. The news itself is a series of stories. Curated and created by people based in this world. In the year and the now and instantly. Become part fiction. A partial truth. Not the capital t truth. What is an old is as important as what is. What made it into the scriptures. And what did not. Whose stories are told. Our very lives are stories our relationships are the exchange of chapter. A parables between us. Moster monday. But every now and then a story takes on the light of prophecy. Or perhaps the surprise twist. And we are no longer who we were a moment ago. We may have a sense of when our decisions begin a new path. And sometimes perhaps more often. Only learn the depth of meaning later. And here is where humanity in divinity intersect in the mystery and complexity of who we are and how we are remembered. We have choices about whose stories to listen to about which stories to tell. We also have a great deal to surrender to. The vastness of those intersecting stories we cannot control. Or products. Deborah is called to be a leader. Gales actions have many interpretations. Both have power and lessons for us today. Neither are solely good or bad. No story worth retelling is that clear. But both have the power to change how you think. And change who you are. After all of these spencer centuries and retaliating. Our small amount of agency. Is where our stories get told. Where we connect to what came before in begin to write what will happen next. How do you want to be remembered and who will tell. Your story.

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Honoring-Our-Anscestors.m4a

In the small village of up sushi japan. After the devastating tsunami of 2011. A new tradition developed. Mourners began visiting an old fashioned telephone booth. In order to make calls to the dead. Some people stand in the booth staring at the phone for a long time before picking up the receiver. And dialing. It's an old rotary phone. So they dial through each of the numbers. Many calling the number that they used to call to reach their loved ones. Some enter the booth alone and talk for a long time. Others come with family and each take turns talking on the phone. And others still. Make a call. But never utter a word. The phone booth is not connected to a phone line. It was installed a year prior to the tsunami by one of the villagers heartbroken at the sudden death of his beloved cousin and in need of a way to express his grief. When someone dies suddenly or simply disappears as in the case with a tsunami. We are left with so many things unspoken. There are things from our past that we wish we had said. They're all the events big and small that happened in our present life that we wish we could tell our missing loved ones. So the idea of being able to pick up a telephone. And share what's going on in one's life with those who are not present. Is. Well. I just find it incredibly heart-wrenching. But also there's something about it that is just so appealing. Here is a way of feeling there are presents with us. I can see from my own experience that this strong desire to speak to someone i loved one after they're gone is also present even when we've known someone's death is imminent. When my stepdad whom i'd grown up with since i was one year old was diagnosed with terminal cancer and made the choice not to have chemotherapy treatments. We knew he would die soon. And so our family was able to have some time to have conversations we hadn't made time for before. They say some of the really hard things we'd held back before. Near the end of his life i deferred graduate school for a semester in order to be with him. This is precious time at the end of his life was a gift. For both of us. And i'm so grateful. And yet. There are still so many times when i want to tell him things that are happening in my life. I want his invite i want to know what he thinks about what's going on in the world around us. I just want to pick up the phone and call him. Death and the afterlife isn't something that we unitarian-universalist talk about very often. I will let you know it comes up in the children's programs. More regularly i think than it does amongst our adults. But i find that when we do talk about it. There is this lovely belief that it's our legacy that lives on after our death. We take this way of thinking as encouragement to do our best to be our best selves in the world today to make a difference. To make a positive impact. We think of ourselves how do i want to be remembered. We look to our ancestors for examples and we honor their contributions to our religious tradition. This is our unitarian universalist way of knowing immortality. Cake augustus g for example. Here is a fascinating forbearer of our congregation who i learned about by reading all of hogan bones book. History 150 years of history of this congregation. Augustus g is one of the founding fathers of unitarianism in brookline. And i would like to call his presence. Into the room here with us today. Graham was actually born richard king. In devonshire england. When he immigrated to the us he mysteriously changed his name to augustus g. In 1806 he married a woman in frederick county maryland. And around the time of his marriage augustus graham met nineteen-year-old john bell. A young scotsman from northern ireland. And together they started a successful stagecoach line to baltimore. At some point john bell adopted augustus's last name. And the two decided to move together to upstate new york. Augustus left his wife and children on her parents maryland farm. The two men started a new life together and from then on claimed to be brothers. They ran a lumber business. They ran a lumber business in the wilderness and started a country store a brewery and a distillery making a name for themselves as get this the brothers grimm. I just love that they moved to brooklyn. They lived together and held their money in common. Some people commented that the two didn't think look like brothers. Perhaps because of feeling guilty for his long involvement in distilling and brewing g became part of the first radical temperance movement in brooklyn. Determined to use his money to create jobs for the unemployed he opened a white led factory. Two years later augustus decided to attract his young workers away from the garage at shops and gambling resorts. So he founded the apprentices library. There are stories of augustus g. Wealthy wealthy man at this time and their stories of him walking up and down the streets of downtown brooklyn with a wheelbarrow collecting old used books to create this library. We know the apprentices library today why would it grew into which is the brooklyn museum. Augustus and john eventually parted ways. John move to 11 monroe place right down the street. And married his housekeeper. The historical record is shaky here. But we can assume that the two men continue to have at least an amicable relationship because they co-owned a buggy. But they took turns using it and each pitching his own forces as the saying goes. Wilson works together a collaborated in order for this. Building to be built. In 1833 augustus helped found this church the first unitarian church of brooklyn. And i'm just wondering if those of you who are on the ends of pews could just take a moment and looked down at the q and see if you can see what number your pew is. So some of you back here or in the forties i think you got 40 we go and end actually there's no 45. They're right now. What about 69 is it over gary numbers. One right over here. Yeah okay great in that row and those in the forties or 45 would be you are sitting in the pews that augustus a g boss for the congregation there used to be this way you could sponsor you give money to the church by buying a few so he he did that. In addition he also bought. A very costly silver communion set. This is a key. It has an inscription and it's from at 1947 this is one piece of the set that we still use right today on good friday when we have communion and our deacons take care of this whole silver set. This is all even though augustus g never took communion himself. Although he did attend this congregation regularly. He refused to join the congregation. On his deathbed he confessed that he believed himself unworthy of god's love. He confessed that john was not his brother. He said that he has done things in his past that he couldn't be forgiven for. Augustus died in 1851 at the age of 69. She donated $20,000 for the advancement of unitarianism in england. Which at that time was a massive amount of money he also paid $22,500 to this congregation to help pay down mortgage which was also a mess of the translates to quite a bit of money. At that time. His funeral was the first one held in this sanctuary and this was at a time when most people were buried from their home. It was unusual and it was attended by many prominent brooklynites as well as the entire congregation. Reverend farley eulogize him. He said a lot about him one thing i thought was interesting he said that. Augustus g by backing unitarianism had done much to make an unpopular face of respectable. We today can visit g grave in our first unitarian cemetery plot on vista hill in greenwood cemetery. And things to the work of my husband's james henry who's. Hiding back there i guess this g is now featured on the lgbtq notables tour of greenwich. And his grave is marked with a rainbow flag during pride. James was also able to get augustus and john listed on the new york city lgbt historic sites project website and interactive map so they are literally on the map. Well i do wish to remember about the scram for his legacy of what he did for our city and he did so much there are hospitals there are the brooklyn museum all of these things that he and john bell also gave money. For a home for widowed older women. So they did a lot of great things but i also wish that i could tell augustus g something. I want to pick up the phone. I want to tell him that today i'm going to probably cry i try practices before i promise i want to tell him that today in this sanctuary that he helps build same-sex couples are regularly married. In holy matrimony. And they come here to worship openly together and many of them sit right there in the pews that he generated. They drink from the silver communion cup. That he bought for this congregation and never drink from. I want him to know that his love for john bell did not make him ineligible. For membership interfaith community. I want to tell him that he was indeed worthy of god's love. So. With augustus's presence in the room with us today. I say to him we love you. We are so grateful to you. Thank you. And just a moment i'm going to invite you to rise and sing together. Hemet number 354 we're going to sing verses 1 through 3. This him i chose because it was written by shelly denim jackson. She is a woman who i grew up knowing that the mountain unitarian camp & conference center she passed away suddenly and tragically a few years ago and i like to think that singing her song is a way of bringing her presence also into this space with all of our many ancestors here with us today. Please rise and body are spirits and sing together hymn number 354 verses 1 through 3.

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Anger-Management.m4a

Dale's beautiful raw story of anger and despair is one that i'm hearing from many of you these days and i'm feeling myself as many of you know this past tuesday somebody carbs swastikas into the front doors of our sister congregation fourth universalist. In manhattan they had recently declared themselves the sanctuary for immigrants and refugees. The hatred is hitting so close to home. In my case it's literally close to home my live four blocks from that church i also work out at the gym at our local jcc and my kids take swim classes there and they've received two bomb threats this year a friend of mine is from suriname she's lived in the us for 17 years she's raised four kids here they all speak english not dutch which is what they speak in suriname she's paid taxes but she overstayed her visa along time ago and so she is illegal she and her kids are terrified of being deported probably even more terrified than they need to be because of the climate of panic that there is in the world right now of course we here at first you had our black lives matter banner stolen and vandalized multiple times and just last night heads bones were knocked over at a jewish cemetery here in brooklyn as your minister as a mother as a friend and just as a person it all makes me feel angry and scared and i'm guessing you feel something similar. We see all these things and the circles of horror just keep expanding outward refill the onslaught of the bad to worse news the surreal daily cocktails of truth and truth enos and lies the daily eruptions of new controversies each weirder than the next. New outrageous new unfairness some of these some of us feel these things so deeply it makes our blood boil. We live with this churning anger and negativity and sometimes it feels like i could swallow us whole. It ruins our date nights. We don't know what to tell our kids it feels like the whole world is going mad. What's. A spiritual response to this. What are we to do. In addition to. Continuing our. Protests and calling congress people and organizing and standing up for the values of our faith what else. In addition to all of that i would say in a word. Compassion. First we need the awareness that some of us. Especially minorities especially people of color for some of us none of this is all that new. They've been subjected to hatred and violence for hundreds of years. There is something to the derek bell quote the dale mentioned about the permanence of racism racism is not new and it's not going away anytime soon. And that could be said of all forms of injustice discrimination against transgender you certainly didn't start last week. We and our ancestors have found ourselves on all sides of these issues some of us own 401ks that are promoting the very haase's that we then go out and protest the next day. It's more complicated then we're right. And they're wrong. Nobody's hands i've ever been clean for some of us in this room this world has never felt safe we need compassion for those of us who have been fighting this fight because we had no choice for decades and then we need compassion for those whom we other bear in mind that with most of these recent expressions the swastika the bomb threats the banner vandalism the cemetery desecrations it's not the government doing these things it's the people probably not wealthy people probably not privileged people probably desperate angry but ordinary people. These are people who feel like their world has been taken away from them. And they've been falsely led to believe that they can get it back. And we liberals have played a role in humiliating and alienating them. You can imagine the rage. Of someone who feels like we nice educated liberals care so deeply about a muslim from syria that will hide them in our church but don't give a flying you know what about his dad who lost his job his coal job in pennsylvania after working hard his whole life and now has nothing. We need compassion for those who feel like this world is leaving them in the dust. And who in some cases are right. And we need compassion for ourselves because well all this static of pain and rage is happening on one station on our internal radios. On another station. Children are having birthdays grandparents are getting sick and needing to go to the hospital a dog throws up on the rug a friend gets a promotion and needs a celebration we're on hold with customer service to fix some bureaucratic problem with a bill. We're on our way to work and a tree falls across the subway tracks and the train is delayed for 4 hours. Goes on. And we're still living and we're still struggling with the same stuff that we have always been struggling with and sometimes truth be told it's a relief. To have these ordinary things. To deal with. Doing the laundry. Somehow feels indulgent and escapist. It's okay and in fact it's essential to have other parts of ourselves. Other concerns to even indulge in a little bit of happiness now and then to protect ourselves and our families from the toxicity of constant anger. Is a good thing. Compassion for ourselves. So what's my advice to you if you're mad. Stay mad. But don't let it consume you or your life allow yourself your average but maintains a long view that they'll educated and a spiritual perspective that i want to advocate this morning for this work we need to be at our best and anger seldom leads to the best thinking and acting in the moment so as i've done in recent sermons i want to urge you to begin or continue spiritual practices daily weekly that refresh you and ground you and inspire you and that cultivate compassion. You owe it to yourselves and to your families and to the world everyone who depends on you to remain healthy and body and spirit. I also want to urge you to be really clear about exactly what our seven principles call upon us to do and how they call upon us to be in the world. We hold dearly to the principle that every life has inherent worth and dignity every life that includes the muslim parent turned away at jfk the salvadoran fleeing death squads at the border who is supported for jaywalking and the poor black man turned away at the polls because he doesn't have a driver's license but it also includes the factory in ohio who is losing his home and the coal miner in pennsylvania whose dad lost his job. We need to hold it. That's our calling that's our mission it isn't easy now and it doesn't look like it's going to get any easier anytime soon we need to fight through our prejudices just as we are demanding that others fight through theirs. We have to work on ourselves and on the world its anger management its marshaling or energies it's looking hard at ourselves in the mirror is finding humility. Knowing that we are complicit in the pain of the world. It's finding righteous indignation. Seeing ever more clearly the contrast between this world. And the world of love that we envision. It's keeping our anger on just the perfect simmer just that perfect goldilocks spot where we burn but are not consumed we keep a sense of ourselves outside of all of that we need patience and impatience. Love and hard resolve courage and tenderness. And most of all to hold onto each other and our vision of a just society for everyone. 4. Everyone. Our final him is we will not stop singing it's an insert in your order of service.

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Technology-Religion-God-As-Attention.m4a

In the year 1833 the year that this congregation was founded the newspaper was a luxury item newspaper they were published by wealthy white men who had some political or philosophical axe to grind newspapers had little of interest for the average reader and most new yorkers did not read them. Enter a businessman named benjamin day. They had no political agenda he was not interested in swaying public opinion about anything he just wanted to make money. And he saw a good way to do that he would start his own newspaper and sell it at a loss. For $0.01. You can probably guess where this is headed instead of making his money from news dancel his paper the new york sun would make it from advertisement it wasn't that newspapers had never had advertisements before but they took it to a whole new level columbia professor tim wu and his wonderful book the attention merchants put it this way. What day understood more firmly more clearly than anyone before him was that while his readers may have thought themselves his customers they were in fact. His product. Timaru described how to make this business plan work day was going to have to attract a much larger readership larger than any newspaper had ever had before that way he could sell space to advertisers who wanted to reach the masses. The $0.01 price would help bring the masses but it wasn't going to be enough. He was going to have to produce material that was irresistible. Any had a good instinct for how to do that. The first issue of the sun contained all kinds of overwrought and gossipy stories that he gathered from his trips to police court with what he described as it's dismal parade of drunkards wife beaters con men and petty thieves prostitutes and their john. By the end of the year the sun was turning a profit. The copycats started coming out of the woodwork but days competitors we're going to have to go even further to attract the attention of new yorkers because they were now buying for that attention with him so competing newspapers began focusing on the lurid and the weird the editor of the morning herald began writing about deformities freakish occurrences and violent death. He wrote articles that insulted and picked fights with other newspapers the first troll readers loved it. There was no an arms race for attention. To compete the sun had to go even further and the reporting came unmoored from reality. What article describes a new astronomical phenomenon when you do creatures that have been sighted on the moon this was still the 1830s and already we had fake news readers could not look away and a whole new model had been born people's attention could be captured and then resold. Just like that someone who admitted. That his interest was business and not journalism money and not morality created a new paradigm that would change our society forever and we we let it happen to be fair back in the nineteenth century none of us and most of us to violence. Possible dangers sex and things that are just strange and out of the norm black cats falling off of a television set these are survival at a patient's of ours that used to genuinely come in handy when it came to avoiding being attacked by wild animals but the early news men figured out how to use this. To make money and the repercussions have been wider and deeper than anyone could possibly have imagined. Who gets to decide what we pay attention to. It's a crucial question. Because i'm a spiritual level attention is everything. It's the point at which we our innermost self. Touch. The world. The psychologist william james wrote my experience is what i agree to attend to. Really dramatic statement if you think about it entire experience of our lives what we think of is just life. Consist of what we pay attention to. Our attention is our most precious resource. And when we pay attention we call it paying attention right when we pay attention we give a little bit of it up a little bit of our life span that we are never going to get back. Attention is a zero-sum game if i'm paying attention to one thing i'm ignoring another. We're always paying attention to something. And we can't pay attention to everything. Forget fermented about the internet just in the physical world every second 11 million bits of information are coming in through our senses and one of the most amazing capacities. The we have been endowed with the ability to make choices conscious and unconscious about what to agree to attend to. And filter the rest out. Today the online world has taken benjamin days principal to the ultimate conclusion. Literary and artistic work which is now generically called content. Is giving away for free the use of social media platforms is giving away for free technologies allow companies to target each one of us very precisely based on our personal predilections on its face the bargain seems like a good one it is allowed people like you and me we got a lot of good stuff for nothing and it has made a few people exceedingly wealthy but there really is no such thing as a free lunch. In exchange we pay attention. Sweet surrender a little bit of our life and this has both private and public ramifications let me give you an example of how this has played out. The guardian last year showed how during the 2016 presidential election cycle youtube unwittingly became a propaganda machine for one of the candidates who will refer to as candidate one but the next up video and recommendation teasers were optimized just to keep people watching more videos so that you two could serve more ads best way to do this regardless of what video people initially searched for whether it was about candidate 12 or something else entirely. The recommended next video tended towards the more violence more disturbing more faith newsie and more sensationalist. And it just so happened that those videos overwhelmingly favored candidates won in fact according to the guardians investigation to youtube's recommended next videos during that time were six times more likely to favor candidate one then handed it to. Tech companies strive to own more and more of our attention. Because we are their product. The arms race for our attention has become so intense it reaches into every square inch of our lives and every second of our day. The science of attention capture has gotten more and more sophisticated to the point where tech companies intentionally make their stuff addictive. Our continuous gays is cultivated and a fertilized with social rewards and biological triggers our attention is harvested and sold. There's no harm intended usually. Youtube's algorithm is a dispassionate nonpartisan algorithm. Like benjamin day it had no agenda other than making money by capturing and holding our attention. The ramifications are of no concern to it. At worst you could call it neolithic. But there are entities that are using the science of attention capture online for ideological purposes. It's well-documented that both russia and china hire people to shape public opinion in their own respective countries. By posing as ordinary citizens commenting online the fascinating thing is that much of the work of these paid online commentators is not about directly cheerleading for the government although there is some of that much of it is to stifle dissent through distraction. Chinese artist and activist i weiwei interviewed one of these online commentators working in china for the chinese government. The commentator explain some of the strategies he's expected to use online. He said. When transferring the attention of citizens and blurring the public focus is very effective. For example during the census everyone will be talking about its truthfulness or a necessity then i'll post jokes that appeared in the census or in other instances i would publish adverts to take up space on political news reports. So people's attention is captured and redirected. Noise is injected the quality of the conversation is diluted. Brains get overwhelmed with the effort of filtering no army is needed to quell a revolution any dissenting movement gets hijacked and diffused before it even gets off the ground. In this country there is probably nobody who's literally paid by the government to do this kind of thing but the politics of distraction still work the same way. We could point to much of the lord and sensational stuff pornstars hush-money middle-of-the-night arrest the sartorial choices of the first lady the list is endless a recent headline read bezos exposes pecker meaning david pecker the chairman of ami. It's brilliant but these bright shiny objects distract us from the deep conversations and broad thinking that we need. We stay stimulated and raged and enraptured. In light of the huge humanitarian crises of are they paying attention. To these things is a form of civic submission. When shooter generations living on a desert ified planet. With a human population of 1 billion. Look back on the fact. The 2019 presidential state of the union address did not even mention climate change. They might explain it. By saying the people lost control of their attention. Like so many things the effort to repossess. Our own attention. Is both spiritual and political. It's spiritual because our experiences. Or what we agree to attend to. It's r life. And when we reach the end of our life we're going to want to have lived it in the real world attending to the things and the people who matter most. Attention is the spiritual equivalent of physical action we will want to have exercise our power to decide. And it's political because if we allow inelastic financial interest to control our collective attention atrocities will continue to occur beneath our noses and we will barely notice. So how do we repossess our attention. Religious practices from many different religious traditions are designed to help us do just that to focus on our ideals and the deep call of our spirit we need tools for this because the effort to focus our attention where we want it is really really hard. Was hard before it was hard when the buddha was alive we had monkey mind back then now we have monkey society now we have corporations and government and technological forces that are mostly unintentionally making it exponentially harder. So if we want to have even a chance of seizing control of our attention we have to be really intentional about it. And use all of the resources that we have. Buddhism takes a deep dive in this area the concepts of attention. Mindfulness presents to the moment are central to buddhist philosophy. Peggy schubert let us in the zen meditation earlier this is a wonderful way to use to use that ancient wisdom to help us filter some of the noise and reconnect with what is. Other traditions to offer strategies a jewish tradition teaches that we should make 100 blessings a day. 100 times every day we should pause in our rush and say. Wow this is holy. Thank you for this 100 times a day. Christian tradition offers daily prayer and scripture study muslims are taught to stop rollout of matt and pray five times a day this may sound like overkill for modern liberals but it is clear to me looking at our society that we need this level of intentionality to even begin to make a dent. We need to also do things to respond to the unique challenges of today's technology. Need to give ourselves space from our devices. Check checking cell phones at the door of first you is a small way to do this but more importantly it's each of us setting rules for ourselves and for our children and our daily lives so we're not constantly being seduced by our screen. Personally i try i'm not always successful but i try to shut down my computer and my phone an hour before bedtime and then not turn them back on again until after i've prayed in the morning. A textfree sabbath practice one day a week is very powerful for those of us who can move towards bath. All of these are ways for us to declare to ourselves and to the world that we refused to be somebody else's product. We are the humans here. And we get to decide. What we pay attention to who we want to be and what kind of world we want to live in simply spending time here at first you every week and this non-virtual communal space is a practice in such decision making. We are deciding to direct our attention to this service and this community where deciding how much to give in the offering whether or not to light a candle. We're deciding to be here rather than be somewhere else that might be pulling us and dad is an exercise of our own power i invite all of us to keep growing this power and more ways in our own ways. Everyday. And by so doing may we all learn how it feels to be free. Please rise for our final him i wish i knew how number 151 and your headphones.

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Technology-Religion-God-As-Virtuality.m4a

Open your eyes you are a fisherman in the pacific a weaver in the philippines and a journalist on the front lines you act with kindness you fight with courage you swim the depths of the oceans you float the heights of the skies you walk on top of the world. And you are somebody else's world you are with family. You are with friends you are with ancestors. So goes the voiceover for the latest oculus go commercial oculus go is a virtual reality headset that allows you to virtually travel to all of these places and be all of these things as the female voice married the experiences that you can have the images are gorgeous you see the fishermen and their wet yellow rain slickers carrying baskets of shining fish you see the earthy colors of the weavers loom in the philippines when she says you're a journalist on the front lines you see an urban stairwell shredded by shrapnel when she says you are somebody else's world you see abby baby staring up at you and wonder and when she said you are with ancestors you see a native american drumming circle around a bonfire the image is flash faster and faster the choices. What's not to like. Where the physical world has limits the virtual world is limitless. Where our own bodies can't do certain things in the virtual world we can do anything. We're in real life the laws of time and space dictate where we can go. In the virtual world we can go anywhere anytime a real fisherman pays for his experience of the ocean in sweat and injuries and back-breaking labor with oculus go we can get it for free. A real weaver in the philippines pays for her immersion in those rich colors of the threads with decades of practice and monotonous tedious work $4 a day of their babies love and sleepless nights and countless sacrifices we the wearer's of the oculus go headset sacrifice nothing. He might say that there's nothing really wrong with this these are just fantasies and everybody knows it it's just a taste we all know it's not real what's wrong with playing. And to be fair virtual reality has been used successfully for therapeutic purposes in one experiment domestic abusers got to experience a virtual reality scene of a larger man looming over them threatening them and they actually emerged from that better able to empathize with their own victims and understand what they've done as abusers. Aspiring pilots use flight simulators. Medical students learn and virtual surgical theaters it's great because mistakes in that dimension won't mean life or death. But the notion of virtuality and our culture goes way beyond these specific applications. With our virtual desktops and virtual navigation systems and virtual meetings and virtual gaming and virtual doctors and virtual communities virtual assistants virtual tours virtual shopping we are creating an entire parallel reality a life overlay. It's all easier than real life and it's all free or close to free we are god-like recreating the world but one level removed. But the difference is best when god or the wisdom flow of the cosmos. First created the world that we know. Biblical and evolutionary accounts agree that it was all rock and fire and water that became earth that became our bodies. The first human in genesis was named i dumb. Which comes from the hebrew word adamah. Soil. We are earthlings. We are physical beings and everything that we are springs from the soil beneath our feet. We are literally what we eat. We are what we breathe we are shaped by the billions of microorganisms that live in our guts we are shaped by those whom we physically touch. We are living in a material world and we are material beings. When we deny this fundamental truth we do so at great risk and great cost. And deny it we do virtuality is becoming not just play. But a growing collective misunderstanding of what we are the virtual world in so many ways seems better to us. And i don't mean that the sara lee us as individuals but us collectively. Virtuality is unencumbered by the nuisances of location and history picture the american highway. If you use a gps to get around you may never actually know where you are and where you're going you turn here you exit there you arrived at your destination. It's like playing a video game. The highway stretches out infinitely in front of you the road on the screen becomes more real than the road beneath your wheels everything in the virtual world has kind of uniform sheen and sparkle. Instagram stars get paid big bucks to convey lifestyle even things that are supposed to be gritty and harsh like that image of the torn-up stairwell in the war zone has a kind of romantic shine everything is clean and even wanted to look dirty the dirt never really sticks. You never get dirty and you never get hurt. If you run into trouble in a virtual community you never have to be held accountable. You can just disappear and it's all unpleasant political realities. A native american drummer on oculus go isn't traded with the history of genocide and oppression. A beautiful woman on oculus go is never going to turn to you and say me too and so virtuality represents a kind of collective dream a world where everything is simple. It's two-dimensional even when it creates the illusion of 3d. We've recreated reality. Bug with latex gloves on its life abstracted. It lives on the plaintiff ideas and images and it denies the plane of the body. And some archetypal systems this cerebral rational world is the masculine whereas the embodied emotional world is the feminine. This is not to say that women are not rational but it's about the interplay of cosmic energies. Women and men participated in both. But as a society we are catapulting headlong into the world of the disembodied mind and we are collectively deciding that it's better than our of voluptuous earth bodies the etymology of the word virtual is really helpful here. He comes from the latin br2s which is virtue in english which meant excellence potency efficiency it also meant manhood or manliness from the latin word beer which means man so virtual in the 14th century basically meant good and manly. And then down the line virtual came to me and what it means today the virtual world is virtually the same as reality itself but better. And more manly. It's almost as if the virtual world has become primary like plato's forms the virtual is the ideal while the physical is just a pale imitation. It's as if virtuality is becoming god. To us. So we have two worlds before us. The shiny platonic virtudes virtual world. And the earthy messi adam a physical world wetware as they call it for bankruptcy. They are the most recent and a string of giant retailers including toys r us to do so little mom-and-pop shops are closing every minute as amazon now sells things online that they used to sell but for less. We are in the midst of what experts are calling a brick-and-mortar fiasco they speculate about whether there will even be brick-and-mortar stores ten or twenty years from now print publications are shutting down one after another as people get their corporate news and entertainment for free online. New york village voice and alternative newspaper is the most recent casualty. The iconic red plastic boxes are empty all over the city. The physical world is failing. The recent un report on climate change shows us that the natural physical world is also failing. And i can't help but think. But there's a connection there. We are embracing cerebral ver tus and closing our eyes to mother earth. We're so entranced by the logic of virtuality that we have forgotten how organic matter works. As we can draw and erase on a screen change themes and colors as well we forgotten that the natural world is not malleable like that. As location is irrelevant in cyberspace and your address is in the cloud we've forgotten that ecosystems our place taste cannot be moved at each serves a vital and irreplaceable function on earth. At the click of the mouse creates instant affect we forgot that in the natural world change can take decades or millennia. Today's global warming is due to fossil fuels that we burned years ago as we can hit delete and move things to the trash so easily on a computer and they just disappear we forget that in the real world there is no away there's just moving our garbage from one place to another as virtual space is infinitely forgotten that space on earth is finite and as life online is largely free and easy we forgotten that anything worthwhile on earth takes effort time work and even sacrifice. Our collective fantasy is crashing into our reality with devastating effect. And in the midst of all this humans are more isolated from each other than ever. We spend more and more time online ordering where we used to go out to stores we text and browse social media where we used to get together with our friends. Studies have shown that as people use their phones more and live in the virtual world more we slowly lose our ability to read social cues. And body language and communicate with real people face-to-face. The birth rate in japan has been dropping dramatically and in surveys and in speculation they're finding that among other reasons. It's because people are scared of each other. They'd rather watch online torrent or play games than risk face-to-face contact with all of its uncertainty and vulnerability. Here in the us to. Teenagers are going out with their friends list dating left getting more depressed and anxious and having less sex. Which has the happy side effect of fewer teen pregnancies but not for a good reason. As a human species we are deciding that we would rather be on our phones then have sex. Sex aside we have two little touch. With all the awareness of violence and unwanted touch these days we forget the touch is actually something that we need as human being. Babies who don't get touched can die. Elderly people with two little touch suffer much more from depression and disease we need physical contact and eye contact with other human beings it matters that we are together in a room right now that matters. I know that there are people watching online and although that is way better than nothing i think they would be the first to tell you it's not the same. Not the same. That's why we're building a chairlift so that everybody who's in town can get into this space because our physical presence together our singing together our talking together are shaking hands and our consensual hugs matter there is something ineffable but irreplaceable about the physical presence of another human being. We rarely pause to take in the miracle of our existence the genius conglomeration that is us. Somehow physical and spiritual energetic and emotional we give off heat. Adsense. And create vibrations with every. Breath every word every heartbeat our eyes tell an entire story. While they take and the story of another. Our bodies die and the foreknowledge of that death makes our life virgin. We are earth. Animated by spirit. Try to siphon off just the spirit and uploaded to the internet and you are left with virtually nothing. Play-doh got it backwards exactly backwards this world is not a wannabe imitation of some ideal world of form in the clouds actually it is the virtual world in the cloud that is an imitation of physical life on earth. God is at least at present in the other mama as in the virtudes. As we find ourselves in the midst of autumn right now with the days getting cooler and the night getting longer we can immerse ourselves in the beauty the unique beauty of a place. At a time. That leaves that fall from trees of things that fade and die. Let's take a moment to marvel at our own skin. The miracle of our adam abati's made of the bodies of everything and everyone who came before us. The oculus go ad ends with the line live every story because when you learn to love a life different from your own. The world becomes a little closer. The truth is we cannot live every story. We are finite beings and it's all we can do to fully live our own story. And if we really want the world to come a little closer the real challenge is to bridge the enormous gulf between ourselves and our closest neighbor. To commit ourselves to that to be fully present with who we actually are and open ourselves to the physical presence of another to look into the eyes of another human being that is as wild ride and as much of an adventure as any of us can really handle these rise in body or spirit for our final him number 348.

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An-Embodied-Spirituality.m4a

As a child i had four parents my mother my father the messiah and his wife. Allow me to explain i was raised in the unification church also known as the moonies you may have heard of them in the 1960s newspapers across the country warned of a mystical religion taking root in us cities it was led by the reverend sun myung moon a self-proclaimed messiah and my true father moon claims that is a teenager living in what is now north korea jesus christ came to him in a vision. Sorry spelled a son of god and names moon his successor. After the korean war he and his wife founded the unification church. A faith-based on a loose interpretation of christianity. And a resolute belief that moon was the second coming of the messiah in the press however he was labeled a pariah his religion a cult still he convinced thousands of men and women to abandon college stable jobs and loving families. Follow him. My parents were among his earliest disciples as young people in search of meaning they found purpose and his teaching and they strove to demonstrate their absolute faith in him. To illustrate this faith let me tell you about my parents wedding in february of 1975 moon wed my mother and father in a football stadium in seoul south korea along with 1799 other people i was born into this church and was considered a blessed child equal to an unfallen eve and a direct spiritual descendant of moon himself while he was not my biological father he was my spiritual one. And as his spiritual child i had a mandate to carry out his mission critical to this mission is to become somebody whose mind could overcome her body. Interest doctrine the mind is holy while the body is hedonistic. Achieving the state of mind over body became my most important task and moon gave me plenty of chances to reach it through his edicts of fasting sleep deprivation social isolation and virtualized abuse. Each time i denied my body i was told i moved a bit closer to god now i believe him until my early twenties when i left the church. This decision transformed my life i left my family the community that raised me the value system i took to be the truth with a capital t. I had to start over. It was hard. And the hardest part on an existential level was losing my sense of certainty from the time i was a child i knew exactly what my life path would be and i was assured it was my one true calling. Without this path i felt lost. Having options. oppressive i craved a blueprint to move forward. I created my own rules i did this most acutely with food. I created two broad categories clean food and processed food and i resolved to eat clean if i faltered eating refined sugar or white flour for example i felt so much guilt. But i obeyed my rules because they gave me a sense of control and that made me feel powerful even righteous i developed a formula 24 how did judge knowledge and college and graduate school i learned that cold hard facts are irrefutable so i discounted wisdom like folk tales or somatic work that didn't need this empirical standard because as a good progressive i believed in science and when i could not devise my own playbook i melted popular orthodoxies to create the perfect life in brooklyn that meant i should aspire to own a modest brownstown have a hudson valley wedding and go to the farmers market every saturday with kids trailing along behind me in patagonia fleece is. It all felt so arduous and trying i really lived with a sense of ease so i took a step back from my vantage point of having left a call i saw that i swapped one dogma for another i grabbed onto another formula written by someone else that was upheld to be the truth with a capital t or the superlative way to live my life i grappled with this internally but as i looked around i saw that most people faced the same struggle they too had a deep need for certainty even if they had not grown up in a cult they swore by thought leaders and politicians with catchy slogan or other peoples instagram accounts to determine what the perfect life looked like and then tried to follow suit. They found their own idols to worship. And they jesus not because we are feeble-minded. I believe we succumb to dogma and all of its forms because it's really hard not to. Dogmight turns out is seductive. It seduces you because it responds to a primal need for order. It reduces life into black-and-white so we don't need to wave through the murky craze where we risk failure and make mistakes. And to be fair this is not altogether bad data and rules the real and valuable i certainly don't think they all qualify as dogma. But when we hold up certain truths as the only way even though they so often fail to serve as personally. Or exclude certain groups systematically i think that as a problem. So this leaves me with a simple question if not dogma then what. I believe the body as part of the answer now at first i hated this idea i was trained to distrust my body to paraphrase james joyce i lived a short distance from my body but as i became aware of how dogma seated itself in my life. I began to view my body as a place of sanctuary. The body has wisdom but the mind may not be conscious enough to express. I thought this as a teenager when i made my first ideological brakes for my true father ever call him my stomach plunged when he said that clear people are the scum-of-the-earth by that women who cannot bear children are doomed to hell to each of his racist and anti-semitic rants my body would win as a quietly saying no that's not right i just won't believe you and your mindfulness practices i learned that many of life's past experiences take place in the body the warm golden light that floats above your chest when you fall in love the deep guttural breath that fill your lungs when you fall into a laughing fit with an old friend that has a flood of relief that washing over you when you learn your family member is safe words almost cheapen the experience believe exist between. The body in contrast can only exist here in the present moment. The body can help with this dogma. Because it is inextricably embedded in the messy complex work. A being alive. After all we can flat-out the most incredible lives in our heads. But ultimately we show up for those grand plans in our bodies. Thought maybe it wouldn't hurt to pay them a bit more attention. And then perhaps the next time that that slippery feeling of uncertainty scares us and we revert to our adolescent need to control everything we can stop breathe and settle back into ourselves for me personally this practice create just enough space to name that rigid and critical voice in my head as the mere echoes of a true father i walked away from years ago. And overtime i hope that in the words of buddhist teachers and you are lin-manuel. I can learn that. slippery feeling of nothing to hold onto. Is a feeling of liberation. Be in your body especially when you can't seem to figure it all out. I'm not saying we should stop the planning and the puttering return the body into its own form of doctrine. But maybe we can listen to our bodies a little bit more and reject any form of dogma that tries to flat enough to feel the wisdom that resides deep in our bones and to trust that in our bodies we are holy. And we are free. Please send a body or spirit and join us and him number 1053 in the teal hymnal how could anyone.

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Message-For-The-Future.m4a

I came up to the pulpit today talk to you about climate change. Because the most pressing and critical issue facing us today. But also to talk about what we can do about it. I guess this is a u u congregation. We believe in the power back. First though i'm going to talk about sending messages to the future. If you were to travel to the town of carlsbad in new mexico hike 30 miles east through the desert. You would comes with first place. It's called the wipp. The waste isolation pilot plant. And it's a coffin dug deep in the bedrock for nuclear waste. The radioactive leftovers entombed are deadly poisonous and will be so for millennia to come. The people who built this place had to confront a difficult fact. Is not likely that our country or culture will survive as long as our atomic poisoning. It is not even a certain thing whether our species will last that long. At the time the design of the wipp started. In the 1970s. The height of the cold war. These things were true and things have since gotten are far worse. The engineers who built this place in the 1970s had to plan as though it outlived not only their bodies. But their language and their culture and their way of understanding the world. They went on. They studied they thought hard about it and they came back with a simple idea. They would use word yes. And pictures. But they would make the very place itself in posing in hostile. They poured and set gigantic flat slab with behr concrete baking in the new mexico sun. An ugly almost hateful landscape to drive people away from the dangers hidden underneath. Immensity slabs they left a message in every language they knew repeated over and over. And the message begins with these words. This is not a place of honor. Now. The sounds quickly. And in the most literal sense is. But there's also something profoundly hopeful and. Human there. Think again about those engineers. They were building a fortress. To protect people who are not only strangers to them. Utterly unlike them in every imaginable way. They painstakingly built a cage in the desert. For the toxic remnants of one of our worst inventions. They did this because it was the right thing to do. But in doing so they left a message for the future. We cared about you. We did this to protect you. Now let's talk about climate change a bit. These are the simple realities of climate change. The time for gradual course correction is passed. The time for the longview. Incremental change in prevent is behind us. We are now in a crisis. Society stumbling towards in abyss of its own making. Without drastic changes. From us as individuals from our communities. For my entire species. We will not live another handful of centuries. Please sit with that for a moment. A picture of people. Every dream with evergreen every song we've ever sung. Every story we've ever told will die out. The spark of our existence. Snapchat app. We're talking ourselves to death moment-by-moment on our own dust on our own fumes. But there is yet hope. It is not too late for us to change. We can still sit back from the abyss. Great artiste and make the changes the future demands of us. We're too late for it to be easy but we are in time for it to be possible. It will hurt let there be no mistake about that. Or we can do it and we must do it. We will give up our cars. It will not be fun. It will simply become untenable for us to keep having them. When that happens. Either will be ready with our bikes on our trains that are comfortable walking shoes. Or we won't. We can keep our cars for a time. But the price is brett still on for our grandchildren's ones. We will give up meat and cheese and milk. It will not be fun. Either we will get that voluntarily. Or we will be forced to when the coming apocalypse of our own design drives livestock animals into extinction. Either will be ready with our sustainable agriculture and our lowest food economy and our delicious tofu recipes or we want. We can keep our cows for a time but the prices bread stolen from our grandchildren's mouth. We will give up our coal power in our oil power. It will not be fun. Either will give them up on tara lee or we'll be forced to because these things do not grow back and we are burning through them fast. Either will be ready with our solar panel. And our fishing appliances. Enter candlelit dinners or we won't. We can keep the lights on for a while. But the price is poisons in the air and in the new mexico desert. This is a mess of our own making. And our parents and our grandparents. And now we have to unmake it because the stakes are quite literally life-and-death. Not for us maybe but for our grandchildren or even for our children. I'll admit up front this is difficult. I have bought my morning coffee even though it was in a paper cup. Because i forgot in my travel mug and you know how it is with coffee. I bought croissants with dairy butter and ice cream with dairy milk. I haven't had meat in a while but i'd be lying if i said i wasn't sometimes tempted. I've been walking home from work just passing her grocery store when i realized my reusable bag with hang on it took it home. I've gone in anyway and come out laden with plastic bags rather than while coming back. I failed at this over and over. I think anyone who really tries will fail over and over to. Still we have to try it because the alternative is unthinkable. So. Here's what we must do. We must change ourselves. We must change ourselves we must change our society. The time for us to stand shoulder-to-shoulder to insist on a future for ourselves and our children is now. We must demand from governments that they take the threat seriously. We must demand from companies that they produce less and do it more efficiently. We must demand from ourselves that we give things up. Give up things we like even if they make our life easier or more pleasant or more comfortable. The truth is. We are struggling each of us individually in all of us as a civilization with our worst impulses. Our laziness are greed and ignorance would let us down this down this path. To save ourselves. To save our future. We have to start seeing understanding and fighting those things in ourselves and in our societies. Do things simply. And again they are. There is still hope. There is still time for us to change so let us change. What is usher in a marvelous future. What is step back from the abyss trade in our cars for bikes in our meat for tofu in our cold for wind. What if built the world we all dream of. Let us leave our own message for the future. Let us write our message with solar panels and bicycles and clean skies in pure water. Children and our children's children and the children that will come after them. We cared about you. We did this to protect you. The thing that concrete. And with nuclear waste and even with plastic. Is it eventually if uk. Nature reclaim tuesday. Recycles them into the web of existence. And it's on time. Someday in the far future. The concrete messages in the desert bullet primble the way to dust. But if we do the right thing here and now. That message is forever. Please ryan and jonathan him number 120 turn back.

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Learning-To-Pray-Praying-On-Your-own-Time.m4a

Recently i realized that i don't know how to pray it happened while driving home from a long weekend with my wife. We were listening to the radio and an episode of the show on being came on the guest explained that people traditionally pray by asking for something from god but he insisted that quote. Prayers are tools not for doing or getting. But for being and becoming. Tumi. He was a divinely inspired phrase. And i've been grappling with it ever since. For about a decade i have felt like something is missing from my spiritual life like there's a whole that i've been trying to fill. A sitting in that rental car. Listening to the radio. I started to realize that i'm not sure how to pray anymore. And as a consequence. How to have a full spiritual life in our congregation. When i was young i was taught how to pray. You gave thanks for what you had you asked for things you needed. And maybe some things you wanted to. These daily ritual culminated every sunday for me with a catholic mass. I was always excited to come to church. And listen to the pastor calmly on the week's reading. And i was always ready to critique him for being too literal. Or more concerning to me. For not celebrating the radical nature of jesus message which opposed the oppressive social structures at this time. I enjoy taking the eucharist most a sacrament of a lot of meaning for me. It was a symbol of what christianity should be about. The self-sacrifice and dedication needed to make society more equal and just throw community united in spirit it was also the culmination of what prayer meant to me a communal spiritual moment where i have my one-on-one time with god i could have a conversation to ask for things. And to be thankful. Where i would say my our fathers my hell marys and my glory to bees. It was simple and i loved it. It was my ritual. And it was essential to sustaining my spirit and helping me grow. I left that spiritual setting almost 10 years ago. I searched and searched for a catholic church that would share my political views and my moral values. I held out hope that i would find one. Maybe even one that my partner who grew up you you could enjoy. It was essential to me. But i find a church that was welcoming to all people. Regardless of whoever they are. Wherever they come from. And whoever they love. But as you might imagine i did not find that parrish. And i came to accept that i would. And this man that i would not be part of a mass. Protected uterus and any regular cadence. While i always miss it. I know now that there is no real place for me at max. I just can't celebrate my spirituality. In a church that through many of its actions and words so often goes against my core beliefs. Someone my wife and i decide to try out first you i got excited by the seven principles in the six sources. I thought i have found my place. And i have. Started. I also thought. These people share many of my values and concerns for the world. But. They don't know how to pray. I was looking for a eucharist weekly communion something that would anchor my spiritual life and relationship with god. Anna and something that i would do as part of a community. I've missed taking the eucharist for sometime. That communion of people all being together and sharing a piece of bread with each other. Ezra banana with call it. It kind of spiritual technology something that helps us connect with god. I know my memories are the catholic masses of my youth are undoubtedly rose-colored. But it was a place where i could question. Learn and wrestle with my spirituality in a non logical way. It requires face from me. I can understand myself in a way i don't today. I miss that. And i've been wanting that loss. So i thought. This is the compromise. I'll come to a place with other people of faith with others were questioning who share many of mike or political moral values. But i won't necessarily find the spiritual practices or rituals that i needed for praying. I'll do that on my own time and that's okay. But then driving home that afternoon listening to the radio. My perspective shift. Quite unexpectedly. I just kept thinking. About this new definition of prayer. Prayers at tools not for doing or getting. Deptford being a coming. I realized that i have been going at it the wrong way. It's not that you used to know how to pray. It's that i don't know how to pray in this new spiritual context. I realize that i am free to redefine the way i pray. To either link it to weekly mass to weekly communion. Or tonight i realize that prayer did not need to be confined to the rituals i'd learned as a child. And that i can search for a new way of prayer as a way of being. I'll be honest. I'm not quite sure where i'll go from here. And i'm still not entirely sure what it means for prayer to be a tool for being and becoming. But that's okay. I'm trying to bridge my spiritual roots with a new prayer practice of my making. Figuring out what prayer should look and feel like to meet. I think it will require a mix of mindful routines. And moment of silence and listening. It probably should have cooperate some physicality. The pasha of my body or the movements i make with it. The most essentially it must include exploring different prayer practices. Listening to others about what prayer means to them. And at least every once in awhile. Harboring a looker feel. Praying in a communal setting. In this progressive church community. Even though the rituals of my youth are absent. I have an opportunity to be supported in my free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Our fourth principle. And to be accepted and encouraged to grow spiritually. As our principal cause us to do. So here's what i'm thinking. If you've had a similar journey to mine. Or if you are interested in exploring a new type of prayer together. I am ready and willing to join you in that search. Will you join me please join us in singing down in the river to pray it's in the insert in your order of service. In the case of adrian's experience which he articulated so poignantly it's at unitarian-universalism does not provide a communal spiritual path. We are both. Free to. And forced to. Engage in our own free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This is a strength because it makes space. For all of the fabulous kaleidoscopic array of ways. That humans have to connect with the holy. And it's a weakness. Because it doesn't offer one particular way. Anytime list. Tested spiritual technology. Like the catholic mass and communion that adrian describe. I call these spiritual technologies because they allow us to connect. With something beyond ourselves something in the cloud. Something across space and time. Monday work well. They can help us do things spiritually that are hard to do with just the ordinary toolbox of life. Like. Keep our hearts open. It our most intimate relationships even when things get hard. Forgive ourselves. Or someone else. Grow in our ability to sit with the unknown. To be vulnerable. Find a place of inner strength that's deeper. Then we think we could muster on our own. Keep the embers of hope alive even when the world feels like it's collapse. I'm all around us. Spiritual technologies like prayer help us keep a broadband connection open to god or whatever we call holy. Hear it first you we don't all pray and connect in the same way. Many of us wouldn't even say that we pray that all. Some of us bigger than order to pray you have to believe that there is something or someone out there to pray to. And we don't all necessarily believe that there is something or someone out there where a mix of people who believe and people who don't believe and most of us probably kind of relieved and kind of don't believe so. So what does that mean that we should each whoever wants to just go and pray on our own time. Yes. And no it's not that simple. Well it's true that we all basically do our own thing spiritually. We come here. Once a week. To each do our own thing in the same place at the same time. Together. Which. When you think about it is a kind of spiritual technology itself. We've come. Together. Which is quite different spiritually from. Walking alone on the beach or sitting on a meditation cushion at home. Wee sing. Together. I'm not always new songs every week but mostly songs and him. That we've song before. We grow to know them and the music seeps into our bones and when we revisit each him it can resonate for us in different ways depending on where we are in our lives. That's a spiritual technology. We use language. Through sermons and spoken prayers and readings to conjure possibilities that we may not imagine on our own. We tell ancient stories that spark our mythic imagination. That's a spiritual. Technology to. We like handles each week to mark the joys and sorrows in our lives. And once these candles are lit. As they are now the rest of the service happens in the glow of their flames. The light of each of our stories filling the room. That's the spiritual technology. These may not be as robust and specific as catholic communion or the jewish yom kippur fast or the muslim five times a day communal prayer but they provide a framework. A kind of an armature. To support our individual practices. And here's where we can lean into the string. That unitarian-universalism brings the encouragement of each of us to find our own way of connecting. Spiritually. I want to tell you a story about this and credit for the story goes to a visiting pastor whose name i don't know who i heard preach last year at abyssinian baptist church in manhattan. The pastor described going to a barnes & noble one day with his laptop. He noticed he had noticed previous and previous visit there was a sign on the wall that said there was wi-fi available in their cafe so he thought he'd be able to sit there. And get a little work done. How many try to connect to the wi-fi he thought he was typing in the password just right like i said on the sign it didn't work. Frustrated he went looking for a staff person. The jefferson he found was busy. And didn't really seem interested in taking the time to help him. Another customer overhearing said. You know you can use your iphone as a hotspot right. He said what what do you mean. She took his phone from him and with a few swipes that enough to allow his laptop to connect to wi-fi through his smartphone. He said you got to be kidding you mean to tell me that this little thing that i carry around in my pocket is a wi-fi connection. All along. Without knowing it's already possess everything that he needed to connect. Anytime anywhere. He didn't need to appeal to the barnes & noble authority or any other authority to grant him that connection. This was a baptist preacher telling this allegory for connection to god but this is also quintessentially unitarian theology. The earliest unitarians were heretics who said that we can redo the bible directly. We don't need priests in the church to interpret it for us. Later unitarian said we don't even need the bible we can connect with jesus directly through our minds and our hearts. The later they said we don't even necessarily need to jesus we can connect with god through nature and through our own free spirits. And i'm still later they said we don't even necessarily need god we are already one with everything. Emerson famously wrote as there is no screen or ceiling between our heads and the infinite heaven. So there is no bar or wall in the soul where we the effect. And god. Cause. Begotten. Yes you can use the spiritual wi-fi of our services here at first you. It works it's good it feels good it gives you a solid streaming connection but you also have a mobile hotspot on your person. You have it with you at all times you can activate it in a thousand different ways. Through daily prayer. Meditation. Yoga. Chanting walking making art. But we try to do here at first you is repeated invitations. Invitation to take your spiritual life. Seriously. To know that there is something to connect to. And find a path that works. For you. In order to pray you don't have to believe that there is someone in the sky listening to your prayers. In fact you don't have to believe anything at all. You just have to actively make space in your life. For the holy and open yourself to the. Experiences that unfold. Open the door a crack. And grace will open up the rest of the way. We all have a longing to feel part of something larger than ourselves. You've already got the connection. It's in your pocket. You just have to remember that it's there. And fire it up. Please rise for our final him number 205 amazing grace and let state soul rather than each when we get to that part of the cell.

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Redrawing-Our-Lines.m4a

That was so beautiful. That was so beautiful what a way to start. When i was only five years old tragedy struck. At least from the perspective of my aunt barb who at age 10 was more like an older sister then or not. You see barb had been working meticulously. On a coloring book for days. And she was careful to make sure that each picture was neat and perfect. And she only had a few pages left. Until it was finished. And then one afternoon. I saw it lying on the table unattended. And decided to help her finish it. When she went to pick it up where she left off and saw what i had done she was so upset to make matters worse not only had i colored outside the lines a little bit but apparently i chosen inappropriate builders which that her off enough that she literally tried to drown me in community swimming pool later that day is it true story i still remember thinking i was going to die and she held me under the water. Know that i really love to socialize and as i've gotten to know some of you are relatively new. Not only new to this church but new to the idea of even being involved with the church at all. I realize that this has triggered some of the same transformations in thinking and behavior that i myself. Have experience. For whatever reason. Call serendipity faith. God's will. We've arrived here at this key intersection in our life's journey. Where we find ourselves not accidentally but deliberately coloring outside the lines that have historically been given to help us to find our identities and provide definition. To our respective conceptions of reality. And we find ourselves surprised. And maybe a bit scared. Because we realize that there are inherent risks to venturing outside with familiar. Pre printed pictures to which we've long since resigned ourselves and for many of us. Our senses of consciousness had become so activated. That we've come to the profound moment when we stopped asking ourselves how do i define myself. And have been asking the more catalytic question instead. How should i. Define myself. Should i. Define mecca. This is a tougher question to answer because it's so open-ended. When we think about it the model many of us have been given throughout our lives especially those of us over 30. Doesn't support this type of question at all. It decidedly doesn't ask johnny how do you think you should find yourself. Here's a blank sheet of paper take your time and create any picture you'd like. Instead we've been given more of a multiple-choice model. From the coloring book you've been handed please select from one of the five predefined themes and begin coloring please be sure to color within the throughly mark lines. But as simple as that sounds. Growing up it didn't end up being that sample for many of us. What's that jonna. You selected the picture of an astronaut do you realize that you've got to be really really smart to be an astronaut. You want to choose that picture johnny. Why don't you choose this really nice picture of a lawyer instead you only need to be kind of smart to be a lawyer and besides you're great at talking yourself out of trouble. Man how did some of us even cope growing up when the authority figures we looked up to the most discouraged us from truly exploring our identities and potentialities. Besides reporting to some version of besides resorting to some version of self-medication many of us adapted by simply taking on the philosophy. That it's okay to color outside the lines. And that rules. They're made to be broken. We come to the conclusion that many of the boundaries that parents. Schools religious. Organizations governments. Have laid down are so ill fitting. But they simply. Can be ignored. And believe me i spent quite a number of years earlier in my adelfa. Living by that philosophy. The problem was. Did the picture my life manifested. Was not artistic expressive or fulfilling. Like the pages i ruined in my arms coloring book. The picture of my life. Became a model. Ugliness. I was unhappy my family was unhappy until one day. I realized. That i needed to change my philosophy. After all i've been through and put others through. I came to the realization. That it's not okay to color outside the lines and it rules. There maybe cat. It's just that i believe we should continuously reevaluate. And sometimes redraw or lines based. Ungenuine vision. Insensible values. And then diligently strived to color within the boundaries that we establish for ourselves. This means living not a careless life. Or even a carefree life. But a careful life as we strive to color within the lines that are personal. Yet respectful of the greater common good. It's not that some wines at others draw for us are valueless. Clearly there are many that are tried. Tested. True. And that shouldn't be crossed. And while there are many that we simply must accept even if we don't particularly like them. There yet others that we both individually. And collectively. Must demand. Be changed. I think the key insight is it life's more subtle strokes. Have no meaning for us. Unless we've chosen them for ourselves. But we have chosen them. Really and truly then we must care enough about ourselves in the people around us to stay faithful and true to our designs. So here's the thing i don't think we can be effective either in the line redrawing part or in the staying faithful part unless we really dig to explore the depths of our own hearts and minds and it's a bit like archaeology and can be scary territory. As we traced back through the layers that have accumulated since childhood we uncover using histories in the artifacts that we find buried there. These artifacts. Beetle stories. The joys and the pains of how we came to be who we are in our present form it's through this exhumation examination and reflection that we see vision for our lives asking who am i where do i come from. Where am i going. To whom. Do i belong. How should i define my. Should i. Define myself. Give me the context of our fellowship. first you. Has become the perfect environment within which to engage this process of examination. And reflection. It's been. A major component of how i've experienced the beauty of life. These past eighteen months. And i'm anyways. Has become the very sweetest part. And it's a big reason why. One of the lines that i've drawn well redesigning my own life this past year. Has been to take the last day of each week. To rest my mind from all the busyness of life. In order to reflect on thoughts that are most important. Engage with people. That are most important. This way i hope and i can continuously tweak. In this way i hope that i can continuously tweet the shape that my life is taking. And enjoy the process of filling each shape with all the truth and beauty that i know my heart holds. Swan this sabbath sunday. I'd like to encourage. Us all to join in the process of digging deep into our own hearts and minds. Together let's dig deep enough to access all the love and intention ality that flows at the core. Barbie. Then once there. Let's reconsider. Reconnect. Redefine. Redraw. Andre become. Please stand in body or spirit and join us and him number 348 guide my feet.

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Invisible-People.m4a

If you've known me for a while. You know that i'm a junior in high school. Being a junior is incredibly hard work and sometimes that hard work is unnoticed all the experiences i will share with you have affected who i am as a human being and have changed the way i think about our world. In the beginning of the school year i signed up for music class because i wanted to have something to brighten my day on the side of my academics the teacher of the class ended up making my schedule even harder as he did not treat everyone equally. He ignored students hard work and was only interested in a hand few of his favorites. As i came to class willing to learn. His negligence made it hard for me to feel part of the class. For example when it was time for our final we all came prepared with our written songs to perform. This teacher called on his three favorite students to perform and no one else. We never got the chance to show our hard work. This is only one example of how people are ignored in our daily lives. The first principle of unitarian universalism state we embrace the inherent worth and dignity of every person. According to this principle no one should be treated unfairly or have their work go unnoticed how many of us talk to our cashiers while checking out how about to the person who does how her nap at hair or our nails our mailman. Communication is something we struggle with. And we replaced the gap with technology. 2 weeks ago. We were shopping in whole foods and while checking out there was this woman talking on the phone as the cashier was ringing her up the cashier look tired from a long day of standing and was being ignored by someone who did not value for efforts. When it was our turn we immediately said hi and ask how are you. She gave us a big smile and said i'm doing fine thanks she proceeded to ring us up and we had a very friendly conversation it never hurts to look up and give your attention to someone doing you a service. The homeless experience invisibility everyday on a whole other level having close to nothing they beg society for a chance to be treated like human beings. Going to school in manhattan for three years i have witnessed countless moments where others walked by homeless people begging for their rights to food and water in a society that praises freedom for all the homeless are often left out and are kept below the poverty line there are even people who are not homeless were left out as well and are fighting to put food on their tables even though it may only help them a little bit it is the acknowledgement of the of the person that counts no matter if we can afford to help financially. I take the train everyday to school and i noticed that almost everyone is looking at a screen and has wires in their ear the train car is silent and is filled with invisible barriers between each see these barriers are revealed when someone asked for directions and no one responds. The headphones are physical barriers that block our hearing when we combine the blocking of our ears with a birding our eyes down to look at a screen we are up we are blocking out our surroundings completely people asking for directions for hearing anything ain't but very important announcements from the train conductor when we are having telephone. Our weekend we are losing our confidence to talk to one another and it has impacted our emotional sphere by increasing social anxiety especially amongst teenagers high school experience i noticed a general trend of social anxiety for example texting has replaced calling our friends and has increased the fear of in persin in person can conversations. This can lead to those to our so-called awkward moments during conversations. Texting has also introduced us to new acronyms that replace some of our true emotions as well as vocabulary for example. How many of us are actually laughing when you type lol exactly even though it is a new and fun way to talk to one another we are not giving our most cherished friends and family members. The pleasure of hearing our voices enough this has created the invisible cyberworld by reducing our communication skills and promoting social awkwardness on the internet we are slowly decreasing our self-worth as humans humans have so much potential beyond the limits of our technological advances our emotions body language facial expressions and other forms of communication are lost when we limit ourselves to texting on the internet. This all affects our ability to interact with people on a daily basis whether it is saying hello to a cashier helping out a homeless person on the street or having a phone conversation with a friend we can all benefit from incorporating the first principle and our daily lives by realizing that every connection matters we should embrace people's work and encourage them through kind words all while keeping our social skills we don't have to throw away our smartphones and computers but we do have to be sensitive to the people around us.

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Jude-Sermon.mp3

Can you indulge me a moment and smile y'all can squeeze in a little bit that's pretty good thanks thank you. 5 years ago when i began working with our congregation are coming at 8 youth we're in third and fourth grade some head siblings who were in high school stunted siblings who were in kindergarten at the time. Some were even part of our congregation yet. 5 years of religious education classes on you history. Cheaper than christian scriptures stories from faith traditions around the world and roughly as we heard 35 classes on comprehensive sexuality education later. Yeah busy headed to come in at 8 year working with their advisers and mentors. Some joined us later and had an intense immersion into how we do things here. By the age of 13 to 15 most of these youth have attended more religious education classes in the uu tradition than all but a few of our most dedicated adults. We don't make earning the designation of you. Easy here. We make a big deal of entering the teenage years because. It's really kind of a big deal. Our newest youth are no longer children more is expected of them. And they now expect us to offer them more responsibilities more opportunities to lead. More freedom to explore and learn in our community. They just cost crossed one of the big threshold in life. The first few thresholds roughly go like this. 1. Out of diapers check. To first tooth under the pillow check. 3 first dion homework. Check. That's a rough one right. For 200 argument with parent. That can happen at any age really. The next one is learn how to show up when people expect you to show up. Telephone is a much bigger deal than i might seem like right now. But believe me showing up is half of over here for in the world. And it's not always that simple to do. And today making the first best guess at what the other half of life is all about. In our tradition nascar you to begin to sort that out for themselves. Rather than learn what we've all figured out and repeat it back to us. The really good thing for us to do it this way because if they had to memorize all of our different views and answers. They would take them another five years before they would come at age. Am i taking that long if they had to do that with just what i believe. I'd like to offer my own face-saving today as well i realize i don't think i've ever done that here in the last 5 years. In a way i offer briefer version of it though every time i give our benediction the benediction you're familiar with is an edited version of the words of the union minister. Robert mabry. it's actually number 702 hymnal. For all who see god may god be with us all embrace life may life return our affection. Francica right paths may way be found in the courage to take it. Step-by-step. For this is the day we are given let us rejoice and be glad in it amen. I began using that benediction at a district youth conference for is a bridging ceremony of youth teenagers becoming adults. About 7 years ago. I was the adult codeine of the weekend-long youth conference and we were coming to an impasse. And how to leave the service. After all the worship planning with nearly done we're talking like two days of meetings. I raised my head and said but no one's mentioned god anywhere in the service. 1 youth responded to the effect of. Well we want to be welcoming of all beliefs so we don't want to put anyone off who doesn't believe in god i remember saying but. But some of us to believe in god how is that welcoming to us. It led to some really great discussions. Some changes in the service and the selection of that benediction at the close so it's special to me because of that story because of the connections that we made 2.2 it. But it also means something else as well it means that when i talk about god. Or she talks about embracing life or they talk about finally. Finding the way forward after a tough run. Through whatever makes the engel eagle twinge that we all mean roughly the same thing. I don't mean to say that when everyone talks about god all they mean is life and bracing life. Some people have a different religion than me. In fact most people do. But we talked about god here. Better core we're talking about connecting to the holy. Not to finding the holy. Not building meet little fences around the holy. Not having tedious arguments about the specificity of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. We're talking about getting past our heads into our hearts. And relating to that which is beyond merely our singular cells. We're not about our individual growth here. Only. We're not about consuming the resources are pledged money supports. We're not about thinking big thoughts. Only. We're about finding ourselves again helping our neighbor do the same and trying to figure out how to gather remind filled the places of brokenness in our lives and in our world. I'm at the center of my story but i know there are a lot of centers all around me going through all their stories. I choose to find meaning in that i choose to find value in all our connections. Human or ugly pigeon or that orange salamander i saw a recent hike in the woods. I get a little edgy. When folks want to pin my views down for careful examination. I know the pins don't well for the butterfat don't do well for the butterflies in the wall. And the rough on spirituality as well. No because of light of reason proves our faith wrong but because too much intense he. But whether any plant. It's a tension between our intellectual side and the deep felt need for many of us to encounter a real spiritual passion in our lives. I prefer to err on the side of not drying people out so i tend to preach about what we mean what were pointing toward and not get caught up in the details to be honest details that another faith traditions would be of inmortal importance. My view is this. We can talk about exactly what is going on when our community gathers. The prayer after time of silence calling out the names held in our hearts. Lighting candles and chapels were sitting in meditation. We can talk about it. Or we can experience it. We can't do both. There's an inclination here to talk about what i believe exactly. But i feel that that's outside the math that face drawers. Faith is our drive it's how we live how we love and how we dream. I really feel that the rest are details. Details that have changed a lot over my life and i imagine we'll continue to change but how i live love and dream i hope that continues the deep end throughout my days. And yes that's a benediction says. This is the day we are given. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Premier at socorro face right there. Very hard headed to follow all the time. I failed it dozens of times just this weekend. As most of you have heard now in letter or by email or facebook or our annual report. I'll be leaving first uu after next sunday june 9th. Starting in august, the leading minister in the fellowship of huntington new york. I'm grateful for my 5 years here at the congregation and i'm definitely going to miss brooklyn. Assuming the purchase and closing goes well in our house brian and i will be moving into our new home at the end of july. In huntington i think this community for being with me. At the start of my work in the ministry. I learned so much from all of you. Not that it is always been easy. Or smooth. But i don't think the yorkers to easier smooth very well. Doing. I have a lot of faith in this community. I don't believe that brooklyn will do everything right all the time. You continue to have some great successes as all the awards to toleration and members of recent recently received at the district meeting i do all the work we do in the community points toward as the radically growing sunday attendance reflects and you'll continue to make some of the same mistakes one bit of parting advice only get one. Be mindful of how new members and newcomers get integrated into leadership and committees. Or how i newest youth right here. Get welcome. Sometimes we have a tendency to new folks as part of our work at the same time insisting. But they leave things in exactly the same way folks have been leading for the past 40 or 50 years. One of the ways to tell if you're doing this is l. It's a notice if you're on a committee that sees a lot of new people come and go. Especially in the middle of the year. Take stock of that. Please. It doesn't do us any good and it doesn't make our work in the world any stronger. Use habit styles change over the decades be nimble. Please don't be distracted by the forum new leadership. When i leave i need to honor my covenant with my fellow clergy in order to allow your next minister whoever they may be a real chance to develop a healthy ministry with you aside from the officiating at a couple of non-member weddings. I will be away from first you you for at least a year after the permanent mre get settled. Afterwards with permission from the clergy. I can visit. It's not meant to be cold or willfully distant but rather to allow the new person to be your minister. By becoming other congregations minister. I promise not to turn my face if i see you. But it does mean i won't be talking about your re-program with the re council. For pitching here in the interim. It'll be the new ministers program and i need to let it go the next to the rewards. Worried about 2626 successes and the rebuilding of red hook. I'll be cheering you for my seat. Adorable be departing till next sunday this is my last time in the pulpit. So i get the joy of giving out one more gift. Took it apart teams who are formally leaving their childhood years behind. Alaska coming today cheese to please rise. Are visors will give them their presents and i'll explain what's going on. On the back of the object is a classic quote from one of our best-known unitarian philosophers. Dr. seuss from his great literary work oh the places you'll go. The inscription reads you have brains in your head you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any way you choose. Excuse me in any direction you choose. The gift itself is you can sit if you like. To get the self as a compass. You could open the box to that's cool. The compass means a lot of things in the coming-of-age program but i like to tell her you now that although the truth is. Always tells you which direction you're facing. Remember you're always the person. That's got to read it. 30 many times in your life when experts and ministers and politicians and guidance counselors will tell you how things are wearing heading and how to get there. Even if they're right and sometimes they will actually be right. You're the one that holds that direction for yourself. You're the one that needs to make your best decision just because you might know where true north lies. Doesn't mean you have to go there. For good or for ill. You can steer yourself in any direction you to. Amen. But to be and thank you all. I got you now to rise for our closing hymn number 114 thank you.

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Intangible-Spiritual-Benefits.m4a

Back in the day church buildings like this one in the winter or cold. I mean really cold this was back in the days before central heating before the benefits of global warming that we seem to be enjoying today if a church had a furnace of some kind of the richer people paid for the right to sit closer to it. And the rest of us presumably just shivered and waited for the service to be over. Here first unitarian people used to keep warm by bringing foot warmers little boxes full of burning coals that they would set under their feet it was byoh bring-your-own heat everyone lives in the neighborhood i wasn't much trouble to scoop some coals out of your furnace at home and bring it here. It really wasn't any trouble at all. And then technology evolved and central heating became available and some folks started saying hey that sounds really great we should get that here. And they were invariably met with resistance. Why would we do that the food warmers work perfectly well. That would be an irresponsible use of our operating budget. What seems like excess and luxury 21 generation seems like just the baseline index of civilization to the next. Imagine if we still had foot-warmers here today maybe you'll get one as you came in the door along with your order of service it just wouldn't fly today. Although on the other hand maybe it would be so retro and ironic that we'd be the hottest thing in new york city. Able to interview these people in the nineteenth century who wanted to stick with the foot warmers. If you were to ask them about their resistance to splurging on the heating system i imagine that they would have said something like. What we are doing here is so important. Spreading the good news of jesus christ cuz they were christians and those days building character and our children caring for the sick and the needy it would be a sin to spend any of our resources on anything that is merely for our own comfort their motivation would have been absolutely noble. Although we can now look back with twenty-twenty hindsight and say that they were wrong about what was best for the church and its long-term growth. Their hearts were in the right place. Their hearts were exactly where you'd want them to be. They wanted the money but they contributed to the church to produce only. Intangible spiritual benefits. It turns out that i'm just point they and the irs agree. You'll see on your 2016 tax statement from first you it will say something on the bottom to the effect that in return for your contribution here you've received no goods or services you receive nothing other than intangible spiritual benefits. This is the standard language used to convince the irs that you shouldn't be taxed on the money that you gave because you haven't really been able to buy anything with it. You no longer. Habit. But you no longer really have anything else in exchange for it either. Except for intangible spiritual benefits which don't really count. From the irs's perspective that money has just evaporated. There's a built-in awkward relationship between the financial and material infrastructure that we need to keep this place running. And what's actually produced here. Do you imagine this place like a giant machine. We put in very tangible things money and material resources and people labor-time paid and volunteer we put all that in it one end and then we turn it up and process it and combine it in different ways. And then what comes out the other end after all of that. Intangible spiritual benefits they don't measure them. It's hard to really even define them. In our moments of witness here some of our members have tried to define exactly what it is that gets produced here what are the benefits. And why does it mean so much to them joy gabriel talks about how when she really needed it. The choir sang to her. And we all held her without even knowing we were doing it. Danny digiacomo and chris singh spoke with joy about their upcoming wedding here. And ask where else would a nice guyanese south american gay hindu from long island to get to walk down the aisle with a nice sicilian italian gay catholic from brooklyn where else indeed. And sam mckelvey and her mom and have witnessed today said that she has found family here. The most amazing family. She said i have close friends who are a generation older than me and their knowledge and experience is exciting and invaluable. Members have also written to us about how being here at first you has transformed the way that they see and act in the world outside these walls katie truscello one of our members who is a nurse practitioner working mostly with latino patients. Wrote about how she looks at medical care differently now. She gives the example that when professionals in her field look at trends. Say they're looking at the rates that bridge pediatric x-rays are ordered they will often ask themselves why are kids getting so many more x-rays here than there is it insurance status. Large hospitals versus small clinics a lot of new doctors who are nervous and over ordering but katie now from her time at first do also sees other factors. She writes it's widely known that people of color are repeatedly under screened and receive less care. So with my understanding of disparities in the world i'm able to take this information and see a bigger picture. Could there be a rationing of resources. Are these decisions being based on race and provider bias. Kd now brings a different lens to her work with her patients. She has grown so. Passionate and courageous about issues of inequality that she's leaving next week for a trip to the arizona desert with a unitarian universalist group called nomad swept has no more that's where she will help provide water and life-saving supplies immigrants making the perilous trip. Through the desert. I'll tell you something that is probably heresy on stewardship sunday all of that juicy spiritually rich stuff that's coming out of first you. All those relationships. Although. Personal transformations that are rippling outward and changing the world money can't buy any of it. Not a bit of it. And yet. I guarantee you. But if we still had an unheated building if we were still expecting to bring their own foot warmers from home. None of it would happen. We need this home this literal material home in order for the magic of what we do to happen. We need heat. We need life. We need all the boring stuff like insurance and regular gutter maintenance. We need to pay our staff. In the old days everything was volunteer the minister's wife ran the church school. Good luck getting the minister's wife to run the church school now. These days times have changed we need to pay our staff and we need to invest in our building for the future and functional and accessible and welcoming and so well cared for that we never have to think about them. We need to be able to say to our members and friends come in. Bwarm. Don't worry. Will provide the heat. And when we do this. Recreate the conditions of possibility. For those intangible spiritual benefits to accrue. Our sabbath quote for today that's at the top of your order of services by the architect louis kahn. It gets at the irony of what we're talking about here a great building must begin with the unmeasurable go through measurable means and in the end must be unmeasurable he's talking about the strange mystical process that we witness here. Because what we all start out with his kind of intangible. It's the individual life energy of everybody in this room it's our talents and our work ethic and our passions. And we work and we turn it into money. A material product of our life energy. And we see that money into the machine here and it gets transformed into heat and light and insurance and salaries and then those things get really transformed into something intangible. But it's something new. Something greater than the sum of its parts. Different. Send wechat individually before. What we do collectively here. Outlast at outreaches us as individuals. It touches the realm of the spirit. It seems strange does journey from intangible to tangible to intangible but innocence that's how life always works. The intangible things that we value most in the world. Like love. Can only be expressed in concrete ways. Love is always communicated through action. You make a nice meal for your partner when they come home after a hard day at work. You work three minimum wage jobs so that your kids can have a place to live. You hold your mother's hand. Has she dies. Your tutor a child who's struggling with english-as-a-second-language. You gently clean a bird whose feathers are covered with crude oil. Love is always express. Tangibly. You take the love you feel. And transform it. Into concrete actions. The transformed back into love when they are received. It's a constant flow of life energy between material and spiritual and back again. One of the wonderful mysteries of life. One of our longtime members john pritchard road about this mystery. He wrote. Fellowship. Social interaction spirituality. It is difficult to explain these concepts to those who have not experienced them. It seems a trivial thing to some folks. But for those of us who have lived it. They are the most important things in one's life. I give financially the best i can and i'm proud to do so. It is hard to explain why. But i know deep inside that it is important for me to do. I hope each of you will come downstairs to our stewardship brunch after the service. Sing a song talk eat some food. And make a pledge. To transform some of your love. Some of your life energy. Into the building blocks of our home here. I asked you to do it joyfully and generously and very intentionally. Knowing that there is a sacred mystery to this process where we build something together that transforms lives. We give in recognition of this mystery we give for john pritchard sam mckelvey. Danny digiacomo chris saying and all those who have spoken and written about how much first you means to them. We care for those in the wider communities whose names we will never know but whose lives will somehow be touched by what we do here. Video for the people who sat in these pews in the 19th century with their foot warmers. Praying for this to be a place of salvation for all. We care for those who will sit in these pews in the future. With our hearts full of pain and love and joy living in some unimaginable world. Images of course also for ourselves. So that our spiritual home here can continue to nurture and sustain us because in the lives of all these people we make a difference that is real and that is unique and don't tell the irs but definitely tangible please rise for our final him number 407 we're going to sit at the welcome table.

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Grand-Larceny-The-8th-Commandment.m4a

If you want to climb mount everest do you have about a 1.6% chance of dying. Along with the physical risks of falling into a crevasse or getting hit by an avalanche there are physiological risk fatal conditions that you can get just by exercising hard at such high altitudes. Our bodies weren't really designed to do that. You need so much beer and you can actually carry it all with you all at the same time so you have to do laps going back up and coming back down with more and more stuff. And with each lab you incur more risk. As a western climbers who want to stand on top of the world as they say talk a lot about risk mitigation strategies. Chief among these strategies. Is hiring a sherpa. The sherpa basically carries your stuff the sherpa does the laps up and down with heavy backpack full of gear you meanwhile do a single trip. Carrying a backpack that looks big and full for the photos but that is actually packed with virtually nothing and so at the end the greatest share of the physical wear-and-tear and risk belongs to the sherpa and the glory belongs to you. Working as a sherpa in nepal is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. It's more dangerous than working on a crab boat and alaska more dangerous than it was to serve in the infantry in the first four years of the iraq war. No other service industry in the world so regularly kills and maims its workers with so little safety net for the benefit of paying clients. I'm unsure if it dies. His family usually winds up impoverished. But very little compensation from the guide company. The commandant in question today is lotive no. Usually translated as thou shalt not steal. I don't want to start in right off the bat with scratching but i really don't like this val shalt and bow shelf not stuff. Why do we still use this old english speak when we quote from the bible i mean it's a translation anyway right why wouldn't we just translated the way we normally speak. Like. Don't. Still. It seems like it's a way of keeping the material at arm's length preserving its foreign this. Dial is someone else from another place and time it's not me here and now. But i digress marquetta is exactly right that the hebrew verb ghana of does not mean to steal generally it means to steal a person. To kidnap. She rightly points out the kidnapping still happens today in the form of human trafficking. And the working to end trafficking is a great way to observe both this commandment and our unitarian universalist seven principles. I would guess that none of us in this room would ever dream of participating in human trafficking kidnapping or stealing a person. So in the case of miss commanded maybe a vow is appropriate. Is this a commandment that truly is addressed to other people in other places. I don't think so. I think it is addressed to us if we can look deeper at what it means to steal a person. Rabbi naftali silberberg here in brooklyn at the aurora jewish learning institute says about this commandment the essence of kidnapping is utilizing another for our personal gain. Focus on being a real friend don't be in the relationship only for your own benefit. Be there for your friend even when it's uncomfortable or inconvenient for you. The essence of kidnapping is using another for your personal gain. He's right. It's about objectifying and monetizing a person. Literally commodify him or her for your personal gain. Do an interpretive translation of lotief nose. Could be a manual kant famous formula. Always recognize that human individuals are ends. And do not use them as mere means to your end. So we may not directly participate in human trafficking. But. Fail to recognize people as ends in themselves and use them as means to rn. That we do a lot. Like the western climbers who hire nepali sherpas we use other people to carry our stuff. We see it a lot in romantic relationships someone is in the relationship for the status the other person can convey upon him or her through looks or power or prestige. Someone might be in it for the other person's money or class. Someone that might be in it for sex in ways or to an extent that the other person is not fully aware and such relationships there's a sense that you're always ready to trade up if something better comes along in the professional world we sometimes use others for personal gain we cultivate friendship to the extent that their financially pragmatic and good for business. Getting what we can out of the other person the connection the assistants the free work the sweet deal. Sometimes. We see a picture or a therapist or a parent as a means to get something we want. And not a person themselves. In the world of parenting we sometimes use our children for our personal gain. We want them to act in a particular way or excel in certain areas because of how that will reflect on us as parents. Or we use their need for us to feed our ego and give us a sense of place in the world. Or we use the most ammunition in some war with our partner. We use our kids. We all do the same to some extent their stomachs and it's just part of life we use each other to get our needs med. The starbucks arista uses me to get her paycheck and i use her to get my latte. We all use each other as a means to various gold and that's okay as long as it's mutual and consensual and everyone's being honest about what's going on. And as long as that's not all that's going on. Pumps formula says that we should not use other people as mere means. But also treat them as ends in themselves in other words we shouldn't only think of others in terms of what we can get from them but they can do for us but see them and their fullness. Their inherent worth and dignity as human beings. In religious language to do otherwise. Is to negate their holiness. The distinction is very personal. And it's a very fine line. It's subtle it's something that we can really only determine for ourselves. To know if i'm stealing a person. I have to be really honest with myself and ask. What am i really doing in this relationship. Am i making someone else carry my stuff am i making someone my sherpa making them pay a cost that really should be mine. Am i appropriated them carrying them off for some purpose that's not there is but that's really all about me. Am i failing to see the face of god and them. And stealing them and violating this commandment. Space command is all about preserving the holiness of others and the sanctity of our relationships. That you might be sitting there thinking. Okay i know this is all well and good but you just made this stuff up this doesn't have anything to do with the actual ten commandments if you were thinking that i can understand why but you'd be wrong check check this out rabbinic traditions actually meant to be read vertically 1 through 10 but they were meant to be read horizontally five on each tablet reading across each commandment about our relationship. So for example you shall have no other gods besides me. It's right next to. Do not commit adultery. Easy to see that connection right. Do not take the name of the lord your god in vain. A side-by-side with do not steal. This connection may not be immediately obvious but in my sermon on be taking god's name in vain commandment i mentioned that the verb nasa which is translated as take. Actually means more like. Pick up and carry away. As in a financial transaction. The word lisha translated as in vain means outside of its proper meaning. Or negating the holiness that should be there. Do not torment i suggested that we could rewrite the commandment do not appropriate or steal god's name in a way that nullifies the holiness that should be there. Do not use god opportunistically for your own personal gain. So these two commandments are flip sides of the same coin. We are taught to see both god and humans as ends in themselves. Holing and complete. We should not use them as a mere means to an end making them carry our stuff we should honor the sacred and all our relationships and strive to really see each other. This is how we build a world of trust this is how we can teach our children faith in all of the goodness that life has to offer the nepali sherpa chuang nehemiah was reported missing after being struck by an avalanche on his ascent of mount everest. A day later the search was called off and his widow was informed of his death he been working for veteran climber melissa argo and after the accident she immediately came back down the mountain to go to the widow's house. She says that the wailing could be heard down the street. Melissa argo was devastated by what had happened. After thinking about it and talking with mimas family she decided to put herself in the role of breadwinner for that family. Every year she decided she would give them the amount of money that he would have made working as a sherpa. And she doesn't just send a check. To a foreign dow in nepal she goes in person each year to visit that family and to pay her respects and deliver the money. She's trying to treat him and them as a end in themselves and not just as means. You could say that melissa argo is really only using demos family as a means to assuage her gel. But i'd like to believe that it's more than that. But she was changed by what happened and she is grown and she's trying to make amends in a deep way. Maybe through this family she is learning to recognize the holiness. In all of us. I want more can you really ask if any of us. And to recognize our mistakes when we make them and learn and grow from them. Lucky for us in this world and our world here when we use someone to carry our stuff. They generally don't die or become maimed from it. We have time to look again. And to make amends. We have time to look again at them and see if they're holding us. We have time to return what we have stolen. When we use someone as merely a means we diminish them we leave love and respect on the table when it should be the true currency of our relationships more than that we diminish the world. We forsake the holiness that is the essence of everything that gives life and all relationships in it. Their meaning. That's why this commandment is don't steal lives among the top 10. That's why i reside side-by-side with forsaking the source of life as we climb our personal mountains be there a mount everest or mount sinai as we journey onward in our lives let's make sure that our traveling companions are really our partners and not our sherpas let's make sure that we see them and all their inherent worth and dignity and at the end of the day if we can't carry our own stuff let's leave the top of the world to the gods are final him is number 26 holy holy holy.

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Believing-Your-Thoughts.m4a

The world is perfect it's what we believe about the world that could use a little work. Doesn't sound like me does it usually i'm up here ranting about how imperfect the world is and how we should be more upset about it than we already are well the world is perfect quote is not mine in fact it's the words of byron katie and if anybody familiar with byron katie. Only a couple of okay i have a treat for you today but she's a modern-day spiritual teacher with many many followers although you wouldn't know it from this crowd she probably wouldn't use the word spiritual that's not her style her teaching is centered around loving what is. It's about clearly seeing and embracing reality instead of living in the past or living in the future wishing that things had been different of the things will be different and she claims that believing our thoughts especially fearful and stressful thoughts is the root cause of all suffering she tells her own story of hitting rock bottom at a halfway house for women with eating disorders and having a life-changing realization. She says. I discovered that when i believed my thoughts. I suffered. But that when i didn't believe them i didn't suffer. And this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared not for a single moment. Imagine that. Ijoy never disappears not for a single moment. This is what eastern traditions often called enlightenment byron katie teaches that this joy is available to us at any moment. And she believes that suffering is a choice and so she has absolutely no sympathy for it. All of our suffering comes from the ways that we think about or interpreting things that happened to us. It's very buddha she literally thinks that there is no legitimate reason to suffer. Think about that with respect to your own life no legitimate reason to suffer. She called suffering or sadness like a little mini tantrum at god like we're pouting and saying god you did it wrong and god is just a metaphor for reality or life in the way that she talks that's what god is. And she takes all the way no matter what it is she works with people who have been sexually assaulted people in war-torn countries who fear for their lives and their families people who live with chronic pain terminally ill you-name-it no legitimate reason for suffering. Do i find a bristle at this idea. And i'm guessing that some of you do to it seems to belittle the truly horrific things of our world and innocence blame-the-victim. Headed back to use blaming the victim not for the event itself but for the suffering associated with it she believes that we always have a choice. And thousands of people have found these teachings to be completely life-changing. So. As much as this might rub you the wrong way and i completely get why it would. I enjoyed you just for the hell of it for the next 10 minutes. To just open yourself to this possibility. Just. Try it on for size. Maybe she's right to some extent that maybe believing our thoughts does cause our suffering. In her workshop savage i've attended one and it was really fascinating byron katie asked people to fill out what she calls the judge your neighbor worksheet. Susan is she that you get when you walk into the workshop and you get to rent unedited about whatever is causing you suffering in your life. You write down what the other person or god is doing to you and what they're doing wrong and how they're making you feel and what they should do differently so try to see yourself fill out this sheet in your mind. Hens right. I am feeling blank. At blank because blank. I want him or her to blank he or she should really. Black. I'll give you a minute to think about that and pick a really loaded one. And so we've got that in our minds and we're really worked up believing our thoughts about this person or this situation and we're feeling really pissed off and upset byron katie invites us to ask ourselves for questions it's a kind of socratic self-inquiry. 1 is it true. Just yes or no is it true two can you add solutely know that it's true. Yes or no. 3 how do you react what happens when you believe that thought. And for who would you be without that thought. When it comes to relationships with individuals this can be a really useful tool. A mother came to one of byron katie's workshops and talked about how her son was weird. She thought he should try to fit in with the other kids more she said she said he makes her worry about him. There were never any details about what he did that was so weird but through the conversation it came out that he was very kind. Kinder than other children and he never hurt anybody and he was a happy kid. Byron katie help this mother realized that the problem resided in her the mother not the kid. She was upset. She was fine. As she was projecting her anxieties on to him. He wasn't making her worry about him. She was making him worry about her. And who would she be without the thought that her son should be less weird. She discovered that she would simply be the mother of a happy. Child. Byron katie help the mother recognize that the problem was hers and not her son. And that recognition was tremendously liberating. This question of responsibility for one's own experience i think is key here and i like the way she talks about it in terms of who's business wanted in. She says they're only three kinds of business in the universe mine yours and gods. Remember god hear his life reality whose business is it if an earthquake happens god's business whose business is it if your neighbor down the street has an ugly lawn your neighbors business. Whose business is it if you're angry at your neighbor for having an ugly long your business. So the idea is it if you're upset about something ask yourself who's business am i in. Because the only persons business that you have any business being in of course is your own. This emphasis on personal responsibility strikes me as a very unitarian-universalist concept. We tend to be big on taking responsibility for our actions or words our beliefs. Its actions are seven principles in the language of the right of conscience and the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Its actions are into our history in the form of the early unitarian and universalist insisting that they could read the bible directly and interpret it for themselves and draw their own conclusions not relying on the mediation of religious authorities. I'm at emerson and the transcendentalist came along and asserted that yeah and not only that but we have direct access to god. And we don't need anybody in the way of that access. The experience of that direct connection to god is true religion. That's what i said byron katie called it and i love this the uninterpreted moment. Uninterpreted moment i think they're all talking about the same thing my experience. Of reality is my responsibility. It's my business. And a beautiful joyful reality is there for the taking so i think unitarian-universalist can embrace byron katie's philosophies. But there is another angle on this where her thinking doesn't jell quite as well with ours because in addition to our emphasis on personal responsibility we have a strong and faithful sense of responsibility for one another. We like to think that on some level we are our brother and sisters keepers what's my business and your business and god's business or not always that clearly distinguishable in real life. Is global warming god's business or our business. Is domestic violence your business or my business if you're hungry isn't it my business and responsibility to feed you if you say something hurtful to me isn't it your business as much as mine to seek healing and reconciliation so to our new members here today. Gloria amanda danny chris. Ashley annie rebecca and john yes. Of course i invite you to do this work of taking responsibility for yourselves you're responsible for your words and your actions for being kind and thoughtful and respectful you're also responsible for your experience here. In a sense that the more you put into it the more you'll get out of it and the more you can jump in and help and fix things the happier you will be. But we also know that this is a place where we take responsibility for each other. By joining together in a congregation like this you become our business and we become yours that is after all the whole point of community. And so like ben's subway preacher we can say that we all have a role in creating our own reality. Every little thing's going to be alright as long as we say it is. As long as we say it together. And say it loud and make it so. Together. And as long as we take the time to love what is. And embrace the startling beauty of what we already have instead of always wishing things were different we can practice here. And find out what it really means to be free. Please drive in body or spirit for our final him i wish i knew how number 151.

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Practical-Ethics.m4a

Every night and every morn some to misery are born. Every morning and every night some are born to sweet delight. These are the words by william blake that we just sang. They described so chrisley one of the problems in ethics that people have wrestled with throughout the ages what is the right epochal response to the fact that we humans start out in such radically different places. Some in missouri. And some if not always in sweet delight at least in possession of grades advantages. What's the ethical response to this. Especially in terms of charitable giving. What responsibilities do those with greater resources have to those with much much less we're faced with this question every time we pass a homeless person on the street every time we hear a story of famine and devastation far away this is the question that lake wise are sermon auction winner and by the way our congregations treasurer. Ask me to address and my sermon today he asked me to look at the issue of charity especially through the lens of princeton at this is peter singer who takes provocative positions on virtually everything his work is quite controversial mainly because he's both very harsh and very hard to argue with. So people end up despising him and despising anybody who stands up and promotes his fuse thanks a lot like here's a famous peter singer scenario everyday. But just are you notice a small child who seems to be drowning. You see the terror and the child's eyes you look around for a parent or caregiver to try to alert them but there's no one around. You realize what you could easily wade into the water and pulled the child out. You're nice work clothes we get all muddy and wet and you have to go home and change and you'll be late for work but you would save the child's life pretty much everyone would agree that we have a moral obligation to save the child we would just instinctively unthinkingly immediately wade into the water and save the child it would be a matter of our heart not our head. In this case our clothing is not of comprable moral significance to a person's life so we are obliged to save the child. In his book practical ethics. Singer points out that this is in fact the real-life scenario that we are faced with every single day. Across the world there are millions of children who are essentially drowning. And we. For the sake of thing is like our clothes walk right on by at least some of them. But we don't he's talking of course about the 1.4 billion people in this world who live in extreme poverty. As the world bank defines extreme poverty is where you eat one meal a day at best sometimes have to choose between feeding your children and feeding yourself. You live in an unstable house. Made of mud or thatch that you constantly have to rebuild when there is severe weather which of course is more and more often these days. You're unable to save any money. You have no backup if someone in your family needs to see a doctor and needs medicine you have no safe drinking water nearby you have to walk a long way for water and even when you get it you have to boiler boil it or it'll make you sick. Extreme poverty like this. Is the equivalent to being in the process of drowning. Millions of children die every year because of it. According to the world bank it takes it income. Of $1.25 a day to avoid such extreme poverty. Not what a us $1.25 would buy you in a third world country. But what it would buy you here. That's the purchasing power that it takes. To rise out of extreme poverty. And 1.4 billion people. Don't have it. I know how depressing this is to here. Flame lake. No don't blame like blame me. Blaine peter singer blame god blame the government blame all of us who have allowed it to get to this point but regardless of who or what we blame the basic scenario that we started out with is still valid. It still stares us in the face we are walking by. fountain with a drowning child and we can save that child without sacrificing anything of comprable moral significance. And for the most part we don't last night i went out to dinner with my family when we probably could have scrounge something at home and we could have donated the extra money to somebody who had no food at all that's just true. How much should we give. How many children should we save. How much money is it ethical for us to keep for ourselves. Strictly speaking if you believe. That you should save the drowning child. We should give and we should keep giving up to the point. We're giving more would require sacrificing something of comprable of moral significance. We should give everything we have down to bare subsistence. At that point ethics would not require us to go further we're not required to sacrifice our own lives or our own hell. For that of a stranger. But give up going out to dinner sure. How to a movie $15 a pop absolutely. Netflix for $10 a month. Yeah. New clothes ever. A new haircut of cuisinart so we don't have to chop our own food by hand a four-bedroom apartment before room apartment for a family of four whose families are lucky to have one room all these things would have to go peter singer clarifies saying strictly we would need to cut down to the minimum level compatible with earning the income which after providing for our needs left us the most to give away. So basically you have to calculate your bare subsistence living expenses relative to the income you can make in each place live in the job that takes a job and live in the place that leaves you the most to give away and give it away it's just a simple calculation. Just do that and we can all live with a clean conscience. Of course if it were simple we're all good people. We would do it. And yet virtually none of us to ynot here are a few of the reasons we tell ourselves. And that would be sufficient if that foreign aid solve the problem but even with that aid there are still 1.4 billion people in extreme poverty and so the moral question is still in front of us regardless of what money we've given in the past at this moment we are walking by that fountain and we're still in a position to save that child. This is a tricky one because many would argue that there is a connection between first world wealth and third world poverty but even putting that aside. Even if you accept the premise that it's not our fault then you get into the question of whether we are our brother's keeper. Spiritually we tend to say yes. It's not our fault that the child is drowning in the fountain. But it's not the child's fault either. Every night and every morning to some to misery are born. Every morning every night summer born to sweet delight. The very fact that we start out some such radically different places does impose a moral obligation on us. This is true but from an ethical and spiritual standpoint it doesn't matter some number. Of individual people with existence is just as important as ours would be helped or even saved by our efforts. For those people we could make all the difference in the world. Just because you can't do everything. Doesn't mean that you shouldn't do as much as you can. As they say a doctor who cannot have a perfectly sterile operating field does not need to conduct surgery in a sewer. At least three objections i think this third one is the most relevant for us. And it offers us a possible way out of the corner that we've been backed into by peter singer because it's true that the problem is virtually infinite and it our responsibility to help is virtually infinite. Not one of us is likely to go to the links that we ought to go to transfer our excess well to people who really need it and yet this fact should not paralyze us as religious people. Let's take off the harsh clinical lens of ethics. For a minute. And put on the compassionate lens of spirituality. Through this lens we have compassion both for ourselves and for the people around the world who are suffering. We can say to ourselves. We are human. We have a natural impulse to tend to ourselves and our own first and foremost. At the same time we are called to constantly expand our circle of who we consider to be our own. Recalled each day to open our hearts and little bit wider a little bit wider to the suffering of the world. We are our siblings keeper. All the major world religions include charitable giving as a primary spiritual practice. In hinduism and buddhism it's called donna. And the key thing is that it be done in a joyful spirit. With a pure intention to help not for sure duck hatorah charity is one of the five pillars of islam. It's not a suggestion it's a religious obligation for all muslims who are financially stable to give to charity if god has blessed a person with well it is their responsibility to share that well. In judaism and christianity the forebears of unitarian-universalism there's an age-old expectation of tithing. Giving 10%. Of our income. Traditionally was given to the temple or the church. But today in the progressive circles there's an expanded sense of tithing collectively to all your charitable groups and nonprofits. Most of us probably don't even come close to this some of us could literally not afford it. Most would have to make pretty radical changes in our lifestyles to do it. But it's not ridiculous and it's not unheard of people do it there's a member of this congregation who gives 35%. Of his adjusted gross income to charities and non-profits including first you he's in a financial position to do it but he also lives very frugally to enable himself to give at this level. Peter singer titled his book practical ethics in my book practical is what's doable and was doable is different for each person and each year. From a spiritual perspective the important thing is not what percentage we currently give. But what direction we're moving if we're doing our job here as a community of faith we will all find ourselves more and more often wanting to pull a child out of the fountain our circle of compassion and our senses family will grow bigger and bigger and bigger. Will be more and more willing to give up some comfort. To help others. Our own luxuries will feel less important and the suffering of others will feel more important. Will give with greater integrity. And yes greater generosity every year. Will be more and more guided by love. As long as we're sincerely on that road. I think we're doing all right. Please rise and body or spirit try final him love will guide us.

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In-The-Service-Of-Love.m4a

Lauren laid out so pointedly the trouble with love your neighbor sometimes we feel like our neighbor doesn't deserve it. Sometimes we feel like we just can't no matter how hard we try love your neighbor as a blanket rule has always struck me as a little unreasonable to maybe everyone deserve to be loved by god but it's everyone in the world entitled to be loved by me it's a really tall order and yet the command to love your neighbor or to love your neighbor as yourself is central in the hebrew scriptures the christian scriptures and many other traditions as well. I guess it all comes down to what you mean by love there is romantic love love between parents and children love between friends sexual love. Love of an ideal or a country or community. In some christian understanding is the highest form of love the goal is what's called a guppy love. This is a greek word that refers refers to a kind of pure platonic unconditional selfless love it supposed to be a kind of love that you give without expecting anything back in return. Some explained it as a disinterested love. In that it has nothing to do with who you're loving. Whether that person is a lovable person nice not nice attractive not attractive related to or not you love them generically and purely. Soren kierkegaard the danish theologian took this concept to the extreme and he concluded that the highest form of this agape disinterested love would be love towards someone who is. Dad if they're already dead to love can't be reciprocated you can't possibly benefit from if you can't get a return on your investment so that love he says is the purest of all he writes therefore remember one dead and learned to love the living disinterestedly freely faithfully in relation to one dead you have the criterion whereby you can test yourself as a christian lover it's almost seems like a parody of itself but it's real feeling. It's not relational it's disembodied you're not required to do anything you just have to feel it you can be fulfilling your religious obligation to love your neighbor even if your neighbor is dead. Especially if they're dead feminist critique this concept of disinterested love for years. They say the disinterested love isn't a real world love it doesn't necessarily do the loved one any good. Real love sadie's critics is intensely interested and it's messy it's the love of a mother for example it's emotional but it's also active practical the lover makes sacrifices for the loved one who is very much alive whether they feel like it or not and whether or not they feel the love at that particular moment. So on the opposite end of the continuum from kierkegaard is the ideal of practical intensely interested love will call this the tevye and golden from fiddler on the roof love their understanding of love is extreme in the other direction. Love has nothing to do with feelings at all it's about what you do. A little while ago jay and pat so beautifully to pick that this. In the story. This newfangled idea of romantic love has hit the shuttle in czarist russia and these peasants don't know what to make of it. Their marriage was arranged by their parents long ago in the feeling was love the feeling of love was seen as a side benefit that may come with time. When golden washed tevye's close cooked his meals and milk the cows it was anything but disinterested. She absolutely had a steak and doing those things keeping her husband cared for in the family running. She was involved and entangled with him at him with her and it was inconceivable that it could be any other way. Chief of filled her religious obligation to love through her actions. And by the end of the song teddy and gold it aside the cumulative lee the day-to-day practical devotion to one another as up to love. Missing it doesn't change a thing but after 25 years it's nice to know. 2 and 1/4 we have kierkegaard in the other corner we have golda. I think in most people's experience love is a little bit of each. It includes both the feeling and the actions. The loving feelings inspire the loving actions and the loving actions inspire the loving feeling. But to me it's the loving actions that are most compelling. It's the actions that are in the service of love itself. Universalism teaches of a loving god. Or universe made in love grounded and love and propelling us all toward salvation in love. I believe that this is real. But that universal love can stay trapped. Anna curica guardian abstraction. It can be inaccessible until death unless it's realized through our actions on this earth. Many spiritual traditions teach about loving our neighbor in exactly this way. When we perform loving actions we are expressing god's love our universal love. We are at channeling it and making it available to sentient beings. Kind of like how sugar in our bloodstream is only available to power our brains and our bodies when it's process light insulin. Without insulin the sugar can't get in. We humans are like the insulin that process is universal love gives it an entry point and makes it useful in this world. To me this is a really beautiful idea and i try to let it inspire my actions. I do it very imperfectly but i want to be a channel for that universal love. An order to do that i don't think i actually have to feel love for the person i'm dealing with i don't even have to like them the feeling side of things can be god's business. My job is not that my job is to act in a loving way or at least in a kind and respectful way toward my neighbor to serve them as best they can whoever that neighbor maybe that's what i try for at least and when people do this just the actions without profound it can be profound on the neighbor and profound on the actor. And i mean actor in both senses of the word the one who's doing the action. And also the actor playing a role. Because even people we do love we don't feel that love streaming every second of every day any parent any spouse anybody who's ever loved anyone knows that. You just have to fake it till you make it sometimes. You just have to do things for someone because they need to be done and the love may follow. The sufi mystic happy is put it this way. Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth you owe me. Look what happens with a love like that. It lights up the whole sky. We can't be everyone's sun lighting up their whole sky we may not be able to be anyone sun it may not be reasonable to aspire to feel love for our every neighbor especially when you read the news these days but we can aspire to become more and more loving actors we can each grow our capacity to love more through our actions. And that is enough the heart is a muscle and the more we push its limits the more it grows the stronger it gets and the more love were able to channel out into the world. They can be hard work sometimes it can seem impossible. But looking around the troubled world can anyone argue that we don't need more love and more of us working in the service of love. In so doing we can become conduit. Of universal love and we can rest assured that the very natural limitations of our hearts won't get in the way. At the end of the day will be able to sing to one another as tevye and goldust thing. Albino television dina me the words are in the order of service.

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Giving-Sanctuary.m4a

Religion and religious communities are among other things. Sanctuaries for stories. From ancient stories. Two stories of current-day people to individual stories of people in this room. Our community creates a sanctuary for stories to be told. And heard. And held. This is a stark contrast to the mainstream world in which stories are getting lost. The 24-hour news cycle. Combined with the advent of online advertising creates a pressure cooker. In which stories have to be fast and cheap. Shiny and shallow. And of course short. Often as short as a tweet. History is getting forgotten and therefore repeated. To a world in which human stories are increasingly disposable. We at first unitarian dancer. Human stories are sacred. Some of the most powerful stories we've heard this year have been the ones told by our own congregants. In their own words about their own experiences here at first unitarian. As we contemplate today how we can each. Financially support this community find by do to reflect with me on some of these stories and what they tell us. Of all the ways that we are getting. Sanctuary. We get sanctuary from the alienation and the loneliness of modern life. Loneliness is the great epidemic of our time. The flu notwithstanding. People's isolation from one another in this country. Is getting brighter. Causing failing health. Spiritual breakdown and a x even agree. So great that it leads to violence. At first unitarian we offer a community where people can be held. I'm connected. Remembered. And heard. Liz homar in her words to the congregation this fall said. I arrived here isolated and so tired. But between the choir the young adult ministry and queer caucus within a month i was struggling with the wonderful problem of potluck over-commitment i feel like i found something wild and precious here. True friends and community. A home. To a world that isolates and sets up in competition against one another we at first unitarian say that we are part of one interdependent web. And you are not alone. We give sanctuary for people to be themselves. Toca kokhono in her words to the congregation said. About an earlier period in her life. My progressive political identity emerged at the same time that my religious identity retreated. So i took them to be mutually exclusive. And yet i felt a deep and persistent yearning for spiritual community. From the first time i sat in these pews. I knew i found something quite special here. And to my surprise i also found a socially active congregation where in psalms scripture and sermon we bravely confronts alien political issues. From a place that is honest and hopeful. Realistic and still really optimistic. Here i found a new kind of spiritual home. One that does not require trade-offs. Because it makes room for all people. One more time and again stands on the side of love. Justice and compassion. Two worlds that says you have to choose. Between religion. And being who you are. We at first unitarian answer it is our very space that calls us to be who we are. Biggest sanctuary for people who are working hard to transform our world who need respite. And healing. Anger and moral indignation can fuel our work in short-term burst but it's not sustaining in the long run. We all need a place where we can be spiritually and emotionally recharge to do our best work. Out in the world without journey house. Dale hollow who works with the aclu share these words with us. In these dark times i've been fortunate to find a tremendous sense of purpose in my work as a civil rights lawyer. Part of why i come here is to find peace. In a community founded on the unitarian principle of the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Coming here each week. Helps me carry on. I don't come here to forget. The ugliness and the pain that's out there but to process and morin. Enter remember. Bed love and community are the spiritual food. That's the same as in the long road ahead. Along these same lines liz, who i just have to quote again here says. I received spiritual sustenance an inspiration i need for my work on criminal justice reform here i find hope and from hope springs resilient. To a world with unlimited demands on our time and energy we at first unitarian answer with unlimited refills. Of the renewable resource of love. Make a sanctuary for all of these ideas. I do all of these people like liz taco and dale who come here looking for solace. Community and empowerment. We're also growing our sanctuary for people who are coming here from outside our walls. We're becoming an actual sanctuary congregation. Immigrants and refugees. When someone is at risk of being deported. They need to save space to to stay for a day or two while they collect themselves and figure out next steps. We have committed to be that place. Members are volunteering right now to accompany these guests while they're here. And we're having our first training to them today. We're growing our sanctuary by hosting three other progressive congregations. Original blessing is a fledgling uu congregation that experimenting with alternative and more participatory worship. Romemu is an egalitarian progressive jewish congregation that's expanding from manhattan to brooklyn. And it said hannah is a progressive hindu congregation. They reject ideas of caste and teaches a hindu ecological consciousness. I feel proud that we are able to give these budding communities a home. In our sanctuary. We're going on sanctuary through our phoenix rising program partnering with formerly homeless veterans to reimagine their lives and ours. We're giving away over $15,000 a year to social service organization. We're giving our space probe own up to social justice organizations. And perhaps most important of all. We are extending the ethics. Of sanctuary out into the world. We're spreading the ideals of inclusiveness. Respite and commitment to solidarity with the vulnerable we are becoming walking wi-fi hotspots of sanctuary forever we go. Allegra alcohol. One of the young adults who grew up at first unitarian the serving in the peace corps in zambia. Here's what she wrote to us. I am here in a little mud hut in zambia. And i'll tell you why i'm here. I'm here because the undercroft gave me the space to cultivate my own identity. Because the third floor classrooms gave me the words i needed to be able to empower young girls here in zambia about their sexuality. And because the chapel. Gave me the support and sense of unity that can be so hard to find. People. Who gets fed. Get the spirituality of sanctuary don't just keep it to ourselves. We go out across the country and to other countries and we helped transform the world. To a world of divisiveness. We answer with the quote that we heard last week from france with david we need not think alike to love of life. To world of cynicism we answer with awe and wonder at the universe. To world of despair we answer with focus hope. In the human capacity to transform. Our sanctuary is what the world needs right now. And so the world needs us to be strong. This is where all of you come in on this stewardship sunday. Because all of this vital work for transformation. All of this refuge and spiritual nourishment. All the inspiration of our worship services all the empowerment of our religious education. It ain't free. We are growing. And we are rising. To meet greater and greater needs. From this community had from the world at large. And modest tastes lot of committed work. From dozens of volunteers. It also takes money. It takes money to maintain our physical sanctuary old and beautiful as it is. Takes money to pay for boring things like taxes and utilities. It takes money to pay our excellent staff here and to keep our staff with fair compensation. And even to grow our staff. To meet the growing needs of this community. And frankly it's going to take more money than it has in the past. There's the old saying what got us here won't get us there. Here's what we'll get up there. I have a metaphor. To explain it. When i was an undergrad i was a music major. And one little trick that i learned in composition class that always stayed with me. Possess. When you have written a piece. In which all of your instruments or singers are playing or singing at the top of their range. Whatever that range maybe. It creates a powerful effect. The creates much greater intensity. Then a different group of instruments are singers playing those same note. But where those notes are in the middle of their range. So that feeling of everyone reaching together is actually audible in the music. We heard a little bit of it is today and our music the men and instruments of peace in the beginning. And candice singing vokalis. It's powerful. I think there's something similar when we look at our financial given. Something powerful happens. When we are all reaching together. When we are each giving at the top of our range. Whatever that range is it feels different. Because even if we could make the same amount is bill gates moved in here and wrote a big fat check for us. There's a special magic that happen. But every one of us says. What's happening here at first unitarian is vital to this world and i am going to stretch. To make this place. And when you do that. You are personally. Giving sanctuary. All the good that we do hear all the different ways that we give sanctuary you get to claim credit for us. Because when you were given at the top of your range. Even if you don't have time to save do an overnight shift with an immigrant family here. You are making it possible for the magic brew. To happen here. And you're helping to provide healing in a world that needs it so badly. If you think about your plans for the next year. Give some thought to this. Enter the importance of first unitarian in your life. I think about what you've heard through our sacred stories here. About how first unitarian is changing lives and changing the world. How can a service volunteers are going to be available in the undercroft. Wearing. Cats like this. I'm such a fashion plate color-coordinated gildardo. And they will be available to help you make your pledges for next year. It'll be just like the apple store you don't have to go up to any counter or desk they can take care of you right where you are in the middle of the floor. So i invite you to reach this year. Reach toward the top of your range. And if we all do that. We can all give sanctuary and listen for the sound of the amazing symphony will make together. Please rise and body or spirit for our final hymn number 1028 the fire of commitment.

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All-Of-Us-Part-2.m4a

My name is parrish and i grew up going to catholic parish school of religion that was only confusing for a few years but i assume turn my inquisitive nature to other questions i frustrated my teachers with questions about inconsistencies or as i called them plot holes and other strange philosophical questions about the nature of sin and afterlife instead of discussing my bizarre questions about mormon of freshly converted mormon a game as a druid and year-old uu minister but we had made a difference we wanted to have tough discussions heated debates about the nature of goodness and which season of american horror story was the best we were a group of each other to become i have found a place that i know i can turn to in good times full of excitement i know i have found a place. There is a place where all kinds can sit together and celebrate our differences. That we may disagree we have learned to do so out of love and recognize that often through conflict from the most beautiful discoveries we are all part of the same big family and we need each other for salvation. That sounds dangerously unitarian doesn't it but the less unitarian part is that people can be cut out of this family circle people who have questions about race or gender or sexuality. People with questions so everyone in this room basically it's funny for me now but when i was growing up i lived under this palpable threat like a hand around my neck. When i was a teenager my mom said that. The lord had told her there was something wrong with me. I still don't know why. Unnamed fill-in-the-blank unworthiness. A broken man. That could not be fixed. I thought it was just me. Until my brother and my father-in-law came out around the same time. This was not fill-in-the-blank unworthiness. Vest had a label. And they were swiftly cut out of our communities. The easy brutality of it the inhumanity of it shook me to my foundation. I found it really hard to stay to them get with the program or get out because i have been trying to get with the program my entire life. I couldn't fix what was just me. We had a god a religion. A family who said we are all connected no one gets left behind we will take care of each other. Except you. There's something wrong with you. All our systems failed us yes we left the church but it had already left us. And yes it was a punch in the gut to hear my cherished family say i had ruined their life and their chance at happiness in this world and the next so they could no longer love or respect me. But i no longer had a place there it is soul rending to see the forces that took over my family and my church take over my country now too i thought it was finally free from this but my childhood religion and my family was not wrong about one thing we are all part of the same big family and we do need each other to attain salvation for humanity. I found it here. Along with something that no therapist could give me because i was cut out of family and community there was work i couldn't do alone. None of us can. I needed. You. I needed us. You can call that salvation if you want. I only know that i stand here today at changed woman than i was a year ago. I thought through the darkness for years and transformed my entire world just not easy to give my children a chance to live in a different one from the place where i grew up. I never imagined this. Kind of world. Or the if i found it there would be such power behind it. That's why i am not feeding this ground to anyone certainly not on an electoral college technicality because because is my religion it's not a shared belief in a supreme being or set of ancient rules we all agree agree to live by. But a shared vision for the future. The world. We see as possible. This isn't just about my kids it's about yours too. It's about the immigrant separated from her parents. It's not just about affirming my own worth and dignity it's about my brothers and parrish and all lgbtq lives and black lives it is taken care of each other and standing for justice together because we are all human beings that is my religion no one gets left behind. That's why i give to first you and on behalf of the stewardship team we ask you to give enough of yourself. And your means to feel generous but not burdened. My idea of generous as much different today than when i first walked through the door. Back then i couldn't even find the voice to stand and introduce myself. I let your strength carry me here. Give from where you are and we will rise to meet you. And i believe the universe will rise to meet us. Because whatever is coming we are in this together all of us please rise in body or spirit for the closing hymn number 1017 in your teal hymnal building a new way.

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Selma-And-The-Parable-Of-The-Sower.m4a

Jesus didn't usually explain his parables the whole point of speaking in parables was it only certain people would be able to understand people within his words ears to hear. This would be his followers and other jews with a certain revolutionary leaning in politics and religion it would not include romans and those jews who in his mind had sold out. But in the case of the parable of the sower. He did offer an explanation. He was speaking to a particularly large crowd at the time there were so many people crowding onto the beach that he had to get into a boat and preach from the boat so that he wouldn't get trampled by all the people if you remember from becky's wisdom story the parable basically describes the efforts of a sower somebody who's spreading seeds planting seeds some of the seeds fall on the path and get eaten by birds. Some fallen rocks where they can grow roots and they get cooked by the sun and they wither and die some fall among thorin and get choked as they try to grow and some fall on good soil and grow and bear in abundance of fruit. Here's what he says to the crowd by way of explanation this is in the book of matthew. But anyway here's the word of the kingdom and does not understand it. The evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart this is what was sewn on the path. As for what was sewn on rocky ground but this is the one who hears the word and immediately received it was joy yet such a person has no root but only indoors for a while and when trouble or persecution arrived on account of the word that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among the thorns this is for the one who hears the word but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word and it yields nothing but as for what was sewn on good soil this is the one who hears the word and understands it who indeed bears fruit. And healed. Two teams that seed in this parable represents the word the spiritual message. Division of god that jesus is teaching very differently with very different results. Just like the seed can only grow into a big healthy plant if it falls into soil that's ready to receive it a message can only transform our lives if it falls into a heart and a consciousness. Better ready to receive it. If you're not ready. Hitches withers and dies. And so we might ask what does it take to be ready to receive a spiritual message in the parable the types of conditions into which the seeds fall are static unchangeable. It's a path or it's a rocky ground or its thorns or a good soil it is what it is in the seed is either going to grow or not grow and that's not going to change but people of course we hope are not like that we aren't static over the years we do change and sometimes when we're not ready to hear at one point in our lives we hear that same message later and we are ready then when we have ears to hear that message transforms us. Then and not a day earlier. If america had heard the message of civil rights a day earlier back in 1965 jimmie lee jackson might never have been shot while protesting for black floating rides. If america had heard the message of civil rights a day earlier. Bloody sunday might never have occurred where nonviolent protesters were. Viciously beaten and injured as they tried to march across the edmund pettus bridge. Yesterday was the anniversary of that day and actually one of our members bob patterson was there that day marching. If america had heard the message of civil rights a day earlier unitarian universalist minister james reid might not have been beaten to death in selma but a day earlier america was not ready those seeds all those sermons and speeches and activism that had taken place on those days before the time and selma those seeds fell on the path and on the rocky ground and could not grow. And the tragic paradox is that america probably could not have been ready until those traumatic events took place. It took those beatings and those debts particularly as a recent new york times op-ed points out the death of a white man. To shake the consciousness and conscience of this nation. Then i'd only then the soil was ready and the message was planted. And it grew and flowered in the form of the voting rights act a few months later that enforced voting rights for people of color it groove and bore fruit. This is often a cruel truth of our individual lives as well. We can hear something 100 times and it doesn't sink in. We don't know what we don't know. It often takes trauma pain and loss before our soil is ready to receive a message. And sometimes the transformation that comes from receiving that message could have prevented the very trauma pain or loss that precipitated it. Sometimes it takes being told by our spouse that he or she wants a divorce before we're ready to take a hard look at our own behavior in the marriage. Sometimes it takes losing our job because of showing up for work drunk one too many times before we're ready to go to our first aa meeting. Sometimes it takes our teenager getting so angry that he stopped speaking to us. Before we realize that we haven't really been listening to him. It takes being shaken to our core sometimes. It takes being softened by the meat tenderizer of life. So that our old way becomes completely unsustainable before we have ears to hear. As in the parable of the sower there are so many things that get in the way of our being ready to receive a message. It's so hard to really enter into to initiate that momentum of personal transformation. Jesus explains that in some cases the evil one comes and snatches away with a stone in the heart the evil one could be the devil if you happen to believe in the devil or it could be our belief in our capacity to change. Jesus explains been in other cases one hears the word and immediately receives it with joy yet such a person has no root but indoors only for a while and when trouble arises that person immediately falls away. I'm sure many of us have experienced this as well we get really excited about some new fad some new diet some new exercise regimen new program or it's not magically working. Until we drop it. And finally chooses explains it in some cases one hears the word but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke. The word. Many of us have been there too. The appeal of material things. Lifestyle. Having a normal social life. Can laura's away from hearing what we are being called to do. So what's a person to do with all these hazards in the farm fields of our lives getting in the way of getting the message and making the change. Are we static after all like the rocky ground in the parable and either we can hear it or we can't. Are we doomed to repeat the cycle of trauma where our inability to receive a message. Produces a disaster which turns out to be a prerequisite to being able to receive the message in the first place. In other words are we helpless to avoid being pummeled by life time and again. I don't think so. And i don't think this is what jesus was saying but it is a danger and it does sometimes seem like trauma is life's back-up plan for getting through to us if gentler means don't work. So how can we open ourselves to the messages coming our way. This question is right in the wheelhouse of religion religious and spiritual practices are all about readying ourselves opening ourselves preparing our hearts drawing the ears to hear. Softening our souls ideally without the application of the meat tenderizer. We engage in some of these practices here are worship services our prayers are music. Are candle-lighting. And today is sabbath sunday we're all invited to step outside of our regular lives. Let go of our to-do list and our self improvement project of the week and just float. In the universe. Strip down to our bare essentials selves. Getting this little bit of space. From the rat race just a breath away. Can give us a vantage point from which to see some of the obstacles that jesus was talking about. Getting a little bit of distance can help us see how the evil one are negative patterns and self-doubt are influencing us. Getting a little bit of distance can help us see which of our activities have roots and depth and staying power and which do not. I'm getting a little bit of distance can help us see how the lure of wealth and material success might be enticing us away from a spiritually grounded life. Carving out time in our day are week. For prayer and meditation can help to open our hearts and make us fertile ground ready to receive wisdom and insight and grace and then once you're ready to the ground and grown the plant. Spiritual practice can help you tend the plant and keep it healthy because you can't take for granted that the transformations you've gone through in your life will always stick around just on their own we in this country took for granted that the selma transformations were permanent and inviolable. And we were so wrong. We blink and be fine but the heart of the voting rights act of 1965 has been struck down by the supreme court. We see discrimination mass incarceration and police violence against people of color all the time. The tending of our spiritual farm field is a lifelong ongoing process for us as a global community and for our individual souls as well but if we do it right we can make our transformations the easy way rather than the hard way we can figure out the bad patterns in our marriage before our spouse wants to divorce us we can deal with our substance addiction before we lose our job. We can start listening to our kids before. They go silent and disappear into their rage. And if we work together looking at our communal challenges through a spiritual lens maybe we can build a truly inclusive and farah society. Before the next bloody sunday maybe we can learn to live in harmony with the earth before the land is too saturated with poisons to bear fruit. At all. Through this sabbath sunday today and through all our spiritual practices may we be transformed may we all cultivate the goodness in our lives and ready ourselves so that when the next blessing comes in the form of a message. A word or a song of wisdom we have the ears to hear it our final him is when the spirit says do the music is in your order of service please rise in body or spirit.

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Woke-Up-One-Morning.m4a

At the republican debate in detroit last month the candidates were discussing flipped specifically what to make of the coincidence. That the thousands of children and adults whose drinking water was contaminated with lead were mostly black. Senator marco rubio is saying that it's unfair to politicize the issue. He said i don't think someone woke up one morning and said let's figure out how to poison the water system and hurt someone. He's absolutely right about that no one did wake up one morning and decides to hurt someone. Instead someone to save money. Decided to unhook the city of flint from its freshwater source like huron and hope hook them up to the polluted. Platte river. Someone else to save money. Decided to not treat the water with a chemical that would keep the led out of it. When the crisis began to come to light someone ignored it someone hid evidence and someone tampered with lead past to save their own jobs. When people complained about the yellow foul tasting water. Someone advised them to boil it which of course does nothing about lead. When general motors complained that the water was corroding the car engines and their flint plant. Someone decided to switch them and only them back to the lake huron water. Someone thought it was okay. To let children drink water that corrodes car engine. No one woke up one morning and set out to hurt anyone. And yet. Hurt people they did. In phrasing it no one woke up one morning and. Senator rubio or anyone else who uses that kind of language is diverting attention away from the big picture. It suggests that if it wasn't malice. Then the only other option is that it was just a series of innocent mistakes garden-variety bureaucratic incompetence sure you have to fire them but it doesn't mean anything could have happened anywhere. We all know that's not true either. We all know that it is simply would not have happened in a wealthy white community. Or if it had begun to happen it would have been fixed in a nanosecond. There is another explanation besides individual malicious intent and individual innocence incompetence. It's called assistance explanation. In this case systemic racism. Systemic classism a systemic hypervolume at the financial bottom line at a devaluing of human lives. A systematic failure of moral courage. A systematic failure of compassion. It's the system. It's not to say that individuals are not responsible of course individuals in this situation acted stunningly unethically and should be held accountable but did this behavior spring spontaneously from some inherent defects in their hearts that they just wake up one morning like this. No in our individualistic culture we tend to focus on the bad apples. But we keep trying to throw out the bad apples and we keep finding more and more and more and it's not because people are bad or white people are bad or rich people are bad but the systems in which we all live are far more powerful than any of us know they have a life of their own they form us from the start and ways that we can't even begin to fathom and the most insidious thing about systems. The thing that has slowed our progress in so many dimensions of human life is that they tend to be invisible. To whoever is inside them. The psychiatrist dr. murray bowen back in the 1950s came up with a way to think about this phenomenon and helping patients he found that when a patient came to him with a problem the kind that freud might have called an individual neurosis it was more of an expression of something in the patient's family system. Current family family of origin or both he coined the term family systems theory. Dysfunction doesn't belong to individuals but to the system as a whole. Summerfield burdened by doing all the work in the family while someone else is being infantilize by not being given any responsibilities someone is stuck in the role of the family clown while someone else in the family is terrified of what might happen if the clown ever got serious. Dr balan describes how each family system has a shape family members have certain roles those rolls get replicated across generations most importantly the shape of a family system has a powerful inertia. It's like memory foam even when a change would benefit every single one of its members the system itself resist change. If you're unsure about this think about your own family. Better yet go home today and create a visual map of your family. Make it like a family tree that shows your whole extended family and current relationships siblings and parents and in-laws children grandparents even great-grandparents. But on this family map called a genogram you create symbols for the different roles and characteristics that individuals have maybe people with depression are marked with a star may be wealthy alpha males are marked with a dollar sign draw lines between individuals showing their relationships tension love competitiveness mark divorce mark adoption mark levels of education. When you do this patterns emerge that are really extraordinary. It doesn't explain everything no siri does but it reveals a lot. What are the points of pain in your life that you find intractable. Is it possible that they're not just yours alone but that they somehow related to your family system what are the roles that you and others in your family play. Think about what happens when somebody tries to step outside of their assigned role. Does one child have to be the good child all the time. Is another child the one with all the problems. Is someone the martyr. It's someone else the hero is someone the sick one. Is someone to success story. You can go deep into these windy roads but the key thing ask yourself what happens when somebody in the family system tries to change. The complexity of the layers of relationships in a family are dizzying and that's just. One family. Or the state of michigan. Or the united states of america or the whole human family. Imagine that genogram of our whole species. Entire demographic groups have assigned roles. In the system. And those roles interweave and overlap each other i have assigned roles as a white person. Different assigned roles as a woman different assigned roles as a straight woman. And there is a powerful invisible force that pulled me toward fulfilling those rolls so that everyone else can stay in their position and the system doesn't have to change. So no senator rubio of course no one wakes up one morning and decide to play their assigned role in the family they just play it like they do every other morning. It's the default it's the way things are. If a family system tries to resist change imagine how hard it is to change a system that has been entrenched in the collective cultures of millions of people over hundreds of years. Hard but not impossible. People are able to change systems slowly and sometimes quickly once we truly see them for what they are. As i said earlier the great superpower that systems have is invisibility. People within them can't see them. I don't see fully how i'm shaped. Has a woman by patriarchy shaped as a white person by racism i see some of it but certainly not all of it much of that systemic shaping i just experienced as me it's just the air that i breathe it's the water that i drank i can't smell it i can't taste it. And so step 1 i believe in changing our system is to become more and more able. To see them smell them taste them. And when it happens. It's a kind of spiritual awakening. Mini enlightenment over and over repeal back layers of the onion of who we are realizing layer after layer of what's been infused by our family our culture we say that's not me that's not me the women's movement of the 60s and 70s again with this kind of peeling back of the onion women gathered in small groups where they talked and talked about this feeling they had the things weren't right. And came to realize that what they had thought of is personal and unique to their families. What's in fact. Systemic. It was part of the social and political systems in which all of them. Embedded. By 1973. 100000 women in this country were members of these consciousness-raising groups. The reference that's about as many unitarian universalist says there are today it is said that these groups formed the backbone of the women's liberation movement. Well we still have miles to go we have made enormous progress since 1973 so much so that we are looking at the very real possibility of our first woman president. Such is the power of people coming together. To try to decipher the edges of the boxes in which they find themselves everything. But we can wake up one morning and decide to begin the process. We can commit to trying to see the systems of which we are apart. Maybe we start with our family. Halt the whole family into therapy dredge up our issues and by talking about it try to expose the family system itself. Maybe we participated anti-racism training. By approaching it then open heart we will probably find all kinds of ways that we white people and people of color buy into myths of white superiority. Maybe we form consciousness-raising groups around our relationship to the earth. The way that we live. Our separation from our source maybe we meditate or pray everyday. Maybe we keep a sabbath. And once a week try to disengage from our economic systems are consumer systems are technological systems and see what we can see when we unplug from all that. Maybe we make genograms of all of our systems and keep adding to them as we learn. Other systems good review they have less power. They become more malleable. We can wake up one morning and decide that as the fog starts to clear for us. As we can start to see bits and bits of the systems that we which we are apart we're going to do everything we can to render them visible to others as well. Even to people especially to people who don't want to see them. Show others what we can see. And keep showing them and keep showing them as we become more aware we can wake up one morning as we did this morning. And decide to contribute our own flower. To the system. Add ourselves to the mix. In hopes that somebody somewhere that we don't even know may benefit. We can make sure that we use whatever power we may have. In ways that are fair and compassionate. We can work to change laws elect people of the highest integrity to public office stand up against injustice whatever we see it we can wake up one morning and say a flint michigan is never going to happen on my watch. We can commit to building a world in which there is clean water for all children. Please rise in body or spirit our final him is all i woke up this morning number 153.

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The-Art-of-Battling-Giants.m4a

Jesus being jesus and the bible being the bible it's hard to get a really clear read on exactly what went down some 2,000 plus years ago in jerusalem. We only hear the story interpreted through layers and layers of political agendas starting with the agendas of the gospel writers themselves. We know that a prophet named jesus was crucified by the romans date. We know that his followers claim to have seen him after his resurrection. After his crucifixion. We don't know for sure even the reasons for his execution. Most of the gospel seemed to suggest that it was the jewish establishment that wanted him dead because he threatened to the religious power structure. They pressured pontius pilate who is cassidy. Reluctant but spineless bureaucrat to order his crucifixion. What is gospel accounts were written fifty years later or more at a time when there was tension between the jews and early christians and the christians were trying to ingratiate themselves for the roman empire. They had some incentive. To make it look like the romans have been the good guys just a little confused. And the jews were the real perpetrators of the travesty. A different reading is that the roman authorities sought jesus's dramatic theatrical entrance to jerusalem that i talked about last week. The crowds and crowds of jews surrounding him and hailing him as a king. And they figured they were about to have an insurrection on their hands. There wasn't supposed to be and he came except for caesar. This guy whoever he was with a serious political problem and they better get rid of him as quickly as possible. The roman soldiers did not seem reluctant at all. They seem to revel and torturing him. And assign the pilot affixed to the bottom of the cross clearly stated the charge against jesus. King of the jews. It said. Whichever interpretation you subscribe to if me primary driving force behind his execution it's clear that the institutional giants of his day. Did not like him. And i think we can probably all agree. But the execution itself. Was unjust. Jesus had not actually done anything wrong. He had not committed any crimes. He had done nothing in secret. They haven't hurt anybody. In fact if you believe the story he had actually helped and healed people. Future profit in a tradition of hebrew prophets with a powerful message to convey. And when he was arrested and interrogated he remained completely non-violent. But if people started to draw weapons he called them off. He passively allowed himself to be publicly abused and killed. When he probably could have done otherwise. Jesus was unjustly killed. And he identified with exactly the kinds of people who today. Are unjustly killed. People who are literally executed through our court systems. Or people whose lives are stolen from them. Spiked by extreme poverty. Racism gender discrimination and violence. He spoke 4 and 2. The poor and the oppressed. The teaching turned the traditional hierarchies on their heads saying the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of god. Blessed are you who are hungry now. For you shall be filled. His whole ministry was about exactly inverting. Our expectations. He substituted a radical new religious reality. For the familiar social reality of money and status. Jesus was the underdog representing underdogs and implicitly battling the giants of church and state. Candice case temple and state. All those giants arrayed against him then as now when an innocent person is executed something is terribly terribly wrong. On some level everybody knows it. Nothing could have been a were strategically blunder for the romans or for the jewish establishment. Because now. Instead of jesus being in one place. Now he was everywhere. Now he spoke with the authority of the dead. At least before you can locate him. You could contain him. For a brief moment. You could make a thing of him. Just a body. Strip him of his humanity and his dignity. Empower. But that moment where he seemed to be defeated. With fleeting. Now the tomb was empty. And he was nowhere to be found. Invisible to his enemies. Hypervisible to his followers. So here is another thing we know. Something of jesus. Survive the death. Of jesus. The attempt to kill him and what he stood for. Fundamentally fail. Authorities back then had been able to read malcolm gladwell book david and goliath. They might have guessed that this was going to happen. God will make the case that contrary to what we usually think. It's not the extremely rare exception that the underdog prevails but it's actually surprisingly common. Are you look at military history for example and take all the wars that have been waged between two countries. Where the size and military might of 1. Was 10 times the size of the other. It turns out that the bigger country only wins 72% of the time. You think it would be close to a hundred. Take it a step further and look at countries with the 10 full size difference. Where the smaller country refuses to fight the way the larger country wants to fight. And uses unconventional or gorilla tactics then the smaller country actually wins 63% of the time. Sewing malcolm gladwell's words. To put that in perspective the united states population is 10 times that of canada. If the two countries went to war. And canada chose to fight unconventionally history would suggest that you oughta put your money on canada. That he was canadian full disclosure gladwell's book goes through a fascinating study of example after example of this. Underdog prevail. But underfunded girls basketball team from a small high school becomes the undefeated champion competing against way better equipped teams from much bigger schools. People with learning disabilities become successful entrepreneurs and even president of the united states and astonishing numbers. The little boy named david defeats. The giant. Warrior named goliath. In each case the supposedly weaker party succeed despite. And sometimes because of. Their weakness. This is the key point in gladwell's book. But sometimes the very thing that puts you at a disadvantage. Forces you to creatively reinvent the rules of the game. Two amazing effect. You develop new kinds of skills to compensate for the areas where you are weakest. And you approach the world with a new kind of offbeat vision. You play a different game. And suddenly your powerlessness becomes the very root of your power. It can be disarming. It can be thrilling it can be wildly successful. Jesus was playing a different game. He was horrified by what he saw as the hypocrisies and disingenuousness of the wealthy jewish establishment of his day. He had an alternative radical vision of what it means to be a religious person. And he wanted to spread that message. But. Being an ordinary carpenter from a poor family there was no way he was going to be able to enter the world of power and money and change the system from the inside. So he went road and came out of from the outside. He became a gorilla spiritual teacher preaching and fields and on beaches convincing people to leave their homes and their jobs and all their possessions behind. He knocked over the tables of the money-changers and he dined with prostitutes. He refused the conventional terms of success. Which atom has now involved the accumulation of money status and power. He created new terms of success. In which the current losers became the winners and the winners became the losers. Jesus was playing a different game. And who are the winners in that game. Blessed are the peacemakers he said. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Success in this game is measured by how loving and how compassionate you are. Don't bother accumulated wealth on earth he said but store up treasure in heaven where moth and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. Not only does well not get you a spiritual life according to jesus but it actually may hinder you. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of god. He contested all the social values of his day. I'm invited people into an inverted parallel spiritual reality. Bunch of pontius pilate asked him point-blank whether he was king of the jews jesus answered. My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world by followers will be fighting to keep me from being handed over. But as it is my kingdom is not from here. For jesus the reality of god with its message of love and peace and compassion for the downtrodden. With so much more vivid than the material world. He was willing to die for it he was the ultimate underdog who prevail. Argue this point saying he actually didn't prevail he died an awful death and probably stay the dead and how can that be called prevailing. Over one time the roman empire which executed him is long gone and christianity is the biggest religion in the world. More importantly though his bodily death. And a resurrection somehow. so by his followers. Prove the reality of exactly the spiritual realm of wichita. You can destroy somebody's body. But love will not die. The struggle for justice. Will not die. The spark that makes us both human and divine. Will not die. And this is the easter message of hope. In our amy ambiguous space of the empty tomb. Plies all of our dreams. It's a giddy space of possibility. In which the rules don't have to apply. Power does not always win. The powerless will rise up again and again brute force does not get the final word the voices of compassion and peace will be heard over the den of violence truth is indomitable. We all battle giants in our lives their moments in each of our journeys when powerful forces either within our own hearts or out there in the world are arrayed against us. There are moments when pontius pilate is inside of us as patterns we can't break. Sears we can't let go of. Sorrows we can bear. There are moments when we feel powerless against the giants of this world doing violence to the earth. And to all its most vulnerable creatures. At those moments. When we feel small and daunted in the face of vast power. Easter. Is for us. Easter teaches us that whatever we feel like underdogs and whatever fight we're in. We are upheld by force. Far stronger than any earthly giants. We have untapped resources still to be on earth. We are embraced by a loving universe. Lifted by compassionate hands. We have nothing really to fear. The universe propels us inexorably toward wholeness for the power and the love so great. The death itself. Kanesada. Our final him is number 270 and your head no. O.j. fighting batman.

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The-Ocean-Refuses-No-River.m4a

I'm sunita viswanathan am very very blessed to be with you this morning i'm co-founder of sadness coalition of progressive hindus and organization that has been welcomed with love into the first use family as garnet says we have set songs or worship gatherings in the chapel every second tuesday and all of you are welcome and i also request you to spread the word we've been doing this for a year-and-a-half and we really want to grow our community of progressive hindus in brooklyn. If i stand here. My heart aches. From my muslim brothers and sisters because of the hateful islamophobia that has become so pervasive in so many parts of the world. The massacre at christchurch new zealand is just the most recent of the hate-filled atrocities that have been devastating our lives in every corner of the world. I stand against this hate. I know that love justice unity. This is the only way forward. But i find myself stuck. Love is the answer. But does that love extend to everyone. Unity is the answer. But do i unite with everyone. Could i love the perpetrator of this or any other of the atrocities we have known in recent years. No. I am not capable. But i also know deep in my heart that there is no way to heal this world. Except by connecting with understanding and perhaps even loving those. So we cannot see eye-to-eye with. I'm from india and i'm hindu to very sensitive issues in my world are cocked and islamophobia. And i take a progressive stance on both. I struggle to have respectful conversations with those in my family and my community who expressed views which are explicitly costumed and islamophobic. People who want india to become a hindu country. My husband is a secular jew who believes there must be a one-state solution to israel and palestine. He struggles to have dialogue with within his family and with others about the state of israel and the fate of the palestinian people. And if we are all only too well aware most americans are struggling to talk about politics. Indistinctly divided nation of ours. Some of you may know as well that i work with women for afghan women. My work with afghan women is it a terrifying juncture. With the united states and the taliban engaged in closed-door talks without the participation of either the afghan government or civil society that work has me thinking almost every minute. About this question of how does one dialogue across different and when if ever does one decides not to engage in dialogue how can we have respectful dialogue across different even when the difference seems insurmountable what wisdom and tools does my faith hinduism offer me the first thing i do when in crisis or in confusion is remember my favorite daddy who happens to be an elephant. Lord ganesha. Lincoln asia is the most beloved daddy for many hindus. Especially children. We worship him before we worship any other god because he removes the obstacles from our path. He never says no to children. Ganesha is considered the epitome of wisdom. In fact he is described who penned the mahabharata as it was recited by sage biasa. Understanding the spiritual meaning of every word before writing it down. Every part of ganesha's body has an important meaning and symbolism. Canisius enormous flapping ears remind us that we have to listen. His gigantic head tell her to think and to discern his tiny eyes tells us we have to focus. And his huge belly. Represented appetite everything that life brings we must digest that is deal with head on everything good or bad. His thick and strong trunk can balance any object tiny or large. And it tells that the importance of balance and equanimity at all time. Indonesia has to taka. But one is broken and one is intact. He himself broke a test. Write down the mahabharata this to me represents how much self-sacrifice is needed in order to achieve one's goal. I can also represent discernment keeping the good and throwing away the bad. And so you can see just meditating on lord ganesha can help us navigate a challenge a crisis or conflict i was at a workshop a few years ago when everyone was asked what it means to them to be hindus and the response of a hindu chaplain pleasantly surprised me to me he said. Being hindu means questioning everything and never believing blindly. Delete data is arguably the most most ancient hindu text somewhere between 5 and 7000 years old. And it connect contains the line which incapsulate this limitless open-mindedness all know but young to dishwasher. Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions. This is such a liberating and empowering notion for me. That being hindu means not believing blindly not having blind faith. And it means being open-minded. Which requires listening questioning. Thinking and discerning. And the thought that might come from all directions could be beautiful or disturbing noble or evil we are being challenged to consider it all welcome at all deal with it all. The open the shed are the side effects that follow the vedas. Open ishit literally means. Sitting at the feet of the guru or teacher. Each cat is a conversation a dialogue the student asking questions and the guru answering. Another indica indication that questioning is encouraged and welcomed. Which means of course that differences of opinion are to be expected. The two major hindu epics. You will all probably have heard of are the mahabharata and the ramayana. And i don't think it's an accident that the centrepiece of both epics is an actual battle. Through these stories that are told and retold children and adults alike. Think about the many ways that the characters navigate their lives there loves their fears their power struggles their failures. And their conflicts. Both epics have characters that are gods demons and mortals. And these categories are fluid. Gods and demons are cousins of each other. And austin the mortals are god's with taken human form the gods and the humans and the demons have flaws and commit sins. The demons demonstrate austin with great compassion and nobility great deeds. There really is no good and no evil. And every character is a composite of both. As are we. The puppet that is a small chapter in the mahabharata and it is also in the form of a dialogue. The warrior prince are janelle is in a state of existential crisis and ask many questions and lord krishna taking the form of our genetic friend counselor and charioteer. Answers patiently. Toward the end of the gita lord krishna revealed his true universal form to argentina. It is a massive and terrifying form and arjun aziz that lord krishna is everything. He is all the gods. He is all the demon. All the people all of time-space literally everything krishna. Do we understand of god or the divine is everything good but also everything terrible in the world. In one of the final verses of the gita krishna says. That's i have explained to you this knowledge that is more secret than all secrets. Ponder over it deeply and then do as you wish. This is lord krishna saying we have discussed and debated. And so after you have thought deeply about what you have learned you have the right to dissent. Having listened, sincerely consider lord krishna as advice take the good from it. I know but ricardo noble thoughts come to me from all directions. And then lord krishna must make up his own mind. When hindus go to the temple we sync session of the divine. Russian is a fighting. When our eyes fall upon the beautiful day tr hearts are full. Similarly when we catch a glimpse of the one we love we might use the term darshan a fleeting sighting which overwhelms us with love and bliss the vedas and open the shades are replete with verses that means that we are not just connected to each other in the divine we are one the maha open-and-shut says become the world is one family. And so if the divine is in all of us. Then that person who is a different race gender religion or caste. Or indeed that person who is our adversary in a conflict. Who is committed an evil act. That person is connected to us. And to god. And every time we harm or discriminated against another we are committing i himself and we are harming ourselves and the universe and when we are in a conflict or disagreement we must see the other er opponent. And remember that they are connected to us they are up together we form but so david could come become the beloved community. And since we have listened to them with an open mind. And concerned for ourselves what is good and what they are saying. And since we have the right then to descend if need be. And since we hope they will do the same for us. We convened together find a point of mutual respect understanding each other. 1/2. Sometimes even agreeing with each other. Yep. Saturday. Namaskar. Chat. Karate. Play chevelle. Just as all raindrops drop that fall from the sky and in the ocean. So do all salutations to all god's reach lord ke shiva. The same notion occurs of course in a sufi chant. No. He refuses. No rhythm. I closed with a question. If the ocean refuses no river. Then how can we. And once we have decided that we cannot refuse the river. That we cannot close our ears and our small focus eyes. And our minds. And that we have no choice but to listen and to discern and to see each other. And since. We are all one. And we know we are bound to see if ourselves in each other than this. Is the beginning of hope. Are you convinced. Well i am far from being able to sit down and have a dialogue with the killer of 49 muslims. Drinking my prayers. But i do know that the only hope. Isn't that beginning. In an understanding which lie about what it might be that leads a person to such violence and this means listening. Discerning. Trying to understand them. Trying to see them and seeing ourselves in them. And this most certainly is the work i have to do.

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Real-Sanctuary.m4a

The nausea that many of us are feeling these days it's not because of any one person or any one political party it's not about anyone's executive order for anyone bill in congress. It's not only about the people who are already being harmed by acts of hate and fear today. It is on a profound spiritual level about the victory of an archetype that we all know deep in our gut it's the superman the monolithic white power the deathless winner. The judge. The rapist. This archetype has manifested painfully and all of our lives in one way or another including the lives of the white men in this room. For some of us is our own father. For some it's a boss. A relative. A bureaucrat. For a teacher for some it's a cruel bill targeting the lgbtq community. For some of us it's a sexual assailant. For some of us it's the judeo-christian god. It's the voice in our heads that says who are you kidding you're never going to be able to make anything of yourself. It's the voice that says stop sniveling boys don't cry. It's the voice that says shut up you don't get to talk here. Many of us have spent a lifetime struggling to break free from these figures in our psyches and in our material lives we've worked so hard to overcome them we've carved out space for ourselves and for others we've tried to welcome crying and not prime we've tried to love our bodies we tried to honor difference to embrace vulnerability and to value nurturing we struggle to gain a foothold. We have cultivated compassion for ourselves and for others even and weakness and we have found great power there and we've seen tiny signs that a new consciousness might be taking hold in our world. It has been a journey empowering and affirming. We've known of course that we still have miles to go but that unbridled power of that archetypal figure seemed to be crumbling and now it's back returning like our worst nightmares recurring in our nightmares. Back from the past like kryptonite. Threatening to drain all our power this archetype manifest itself over and over through our history because it is built into the structure of our society. It's a structure of dominance and submission. Of winners and losers those who belong and those who don't. It's woven into the fabric of our lives of sports of school of physical looks of physical ability of the military and most certainly of capitalism itself discourage of hierarchy and competition afflict everyone and everything everything gets rated on a scale of 1 to 10 it's so crushing even some of the top of the social pecking order a strong white male. A woman beautiful enough to be crowned miss universe is a failure if she gains weight. A well-respected journalist is a failure from the start because of his disability. Failure looms for everyone in this world of winners and losers and so it's vital to remember that as heartbreaking as it is that the perpetual winner has won again he who won and i'm using key in the archetypal sense here he who one is the one who invented winning. I believe that when we are at our best here at first unitarian we are writing a different game. We're not just focus on winning one battle but on a global transformation. A consciousness starting with the people in this room right now. We are guided by faith our unitarianism teaches us that we are all one we will never find salvation by building walls and keeping people out but we will find salvation together our universalism teaches us that love in the universe is infinite and unconditional but no one has to lose for someone else to gain there is enough for everyone or 7 principles teeth so we each have inherent worth and dignity the matter what we look like how much money we have what our religion is where we come from or what we may accomplish in this life they teach that we can be trusted to follow our own conscience they teach us to pursue spiritual growth and compassion not power and well they teach us to honor and care for the interdependent web of life we are all apart. In the best of times this vision is spiritually challenging for our society. Today it is downright countercultural. We are heading into our annual stewardship campaign here at first you. Over the next six weeks will be asking each other to give the financial support that this community needs to keep going for the next year. I want you to know that when you support first unitarian you are supporting this spiritual vision of our world. You are supporting the thriving of a real sanctuary. We are a sanctuary for people of different genders and races and backgrounds and ethnicities many of whom are rightfully afraid today we are a sanctuary for all of those banda to them and love we are a sanctuary for changemakers so many of us in this room are working one way or another for the most vulnerable and for the delicate ecosystems that sustain life itself from my vantage point here as a minister the outpouring of energy and commitment from this congregation especially over the last few months i know that this congregation is a powerful force for good in the world. Here we can be a little bit sheltered from those voices in our heads the tell us all that we cannot be and all that we cannot do. Here it's okay to be weak. Here it's okay to be different. Here it's okay to make mistakes. Here it's okay to cry. We are a spiritual community that says yes to each one of us to believe in ourselves and to honoring each other and we lift up a different image of god. God is compassion. God of love. God of inner guidance. God has the power of liberation for the oppressed god as the radical force that rachel talked about in her homily in which we are slaying in spirit and anything is possible. If you haven't yet joined this congregation join us this year. If you haven't yet made a financial pledge make a pledge this year. We need your support to keep our sanctuary strong and we need your unique voice to keep our sanctuary real in the days ahead the need for a touchstone like this one will unfortunately likely grow it will become more and more in the central place. For us all together to sing about love and peace and not ashamed. To need each other. And not be ashamed. 3 challenge by each other to take action and not lose heart. We'll need to know that this sanctuary is here will need to hear from each other. As our final him says it's okay you can lean on me it will be a reality check. And a fake check. For us all please join me in that final him lean on me an insert in your order of service.

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Living-A-Religious-Life.m4a

People do not like being told what to do take it from me on the mother-of-two nine-year-olds and i can personally testify to this basic truth i'm also the minister of the unitarian universalist congregation and i can testify to live a life guided by a code basically being told what to do by their religious community for their tradition. We tend to think of the most obvious examples orthodox jews or amish people for right here in our local neighborhood there are ordinary muslims who pray five times a day there is a presbyterian minister in my brooklyn heights clergy group who lives a life according to monastic discipline a seventh-day congregation keeps a strict sabbath on saturdays ordinary people. Charity. I guess i'm a spiritual core that the joyful. It keeps their channel open to the flow of love. Does this mean that these are perfect people know course not they have struggles and pain and the capacity for cruelty like everyone else. But they have a great spiritual resource at their disposal. In responding to whatever life throws at them i believe that one of the reasons why our world is in such a state of crisis right now. Is it fewer and fewer people have such a spiritual resource. I'm going to speak more about this next week but the short version is. Our life practices. Abhor a vacuum. But we don't have practices that we consciously and faithfully choose to embody our values there are armies of phd psychologist and algorithm designers working for corporations round-the-clock for all too happy to tell us how to spend our time and money. We are made and wants things that are not ultimately going to make us happy. We're made to do things that continued plundering and earth that cannot take anymore plundering. We are made to feel inadequate. And unloved even unlovable. We are made to feel that our value depends on our looks or our bank account or our social media ratings. We're isolated from one another and left to care for our young without a village. We have no time for the holy in our lives. Living a religious life is not a magic bullet to fix all of this it doesn't automatically enable us to live at the glee or find inner peace but it gives us a fighting chance it gives us a wisp of a rare it creates the conditions of possibility for finding freedom for ourselves and our world. For me personally as i've committed more and more deeply over the years to living a religious life i have felt more clarity more, more stability. I become a more loving wife and mother i felt less cognitive dissonance as my lifestyle better reflect my values. I've been more effective in my work. The difference is not night and day but it's significant. So what does it mean to live a religious life it means to live a life where our day-to-day practices. And by this i mean mostly things that we actually do with our bodies. Our practices are shaped by our sense of the holy. And the religious traditions of our community spiritual technologies to keep god or our highest self at the center of our consciousness in a world that is constantly angling to control our attention. This is not always sexy and it's not always easy it involves some time doing things that we don't want to do. And sometimes not doing things that we want to do. Most of us are already used to this piece of it. We already do things that we don't want to do to meet our obligations to our families or put food on our own table or reach goals for the future. Doing things we don't want to do is not necessarily the deal-breaker for us liberal folks. The deal-breaker is what i mentioned earlier. Being told by someone else what to do. I'm so. Far be it from me to tell you what to do. I'm not even going to try. I won't tell you specifically how to live a religious life. But i want to encourage you. To somehow live a religious life. What i can offer you is this. If you want to live a religious life. Here are the sand boxes to play in. Here are the types of commitments. That religious communities have made throughout the generations. What commitments you make are up to you have identified seven man boxes i'm sure there are more but deserve a good start. Number one the sandbox of spiritual practice most religious traditions teach that it's essential to have some kind of daily practice to keep the channel open with god and our highest selves it can be prayer it can be meditation yoga tai chi it can be repeating a mantra while you walk or swim. Any modality that helps unlock our hearts is good but the key is to do it everyday. It can be just 5 minutes at first but do it everyday. Number two. The sandbox of good deeds we think of this is the bread-and-butter of religion. How we treat one another and the other creatures of the year its basic kindness its hospitality to strangers. It's packing meals for hungry people as were invited to do here on november 17th as part of our rise against hunger program in this sandbox i would also put social justice work supporting the world's youth in the climate strike on friday and four people just got arrested tomorrow congregation as part of a demonstration yesterday. immigration a regular commitment to tipping the balance of the world toward goodness and love its heart of the religious life. Number three the sandbox of sabbath and holidays. There's a bumper sticker that says i considered atheism but there weren't enough holidays that's supposed to be kind of snarky but it's holidays are important. There are joyful fun holidays there are contemplatively sumber intense holidays there is sabbath which is a holiday that happens every single week holidays give shape to our week and our year they mark the passage of time we cycled back to the same sacred stories over and over again and we find how we've changed a little bit each time there are holidays from our cultural background diwali christmas passover. There are first you homegrown holidays like our hunger communion. Natural holidays like the solstices and the equinoxes but the magic only happen if we embrace a few specific holidays. Call them and invest in them. Number for the sandbox of daily bread. I know that doesn't sound very appetizing i hate when metaphors break that the sandbox of daily bread true food our bodies are connected to the world. We are literally what we eat plants metabolize sunlight and rain and soil and then we eat the plants either directly or through animals and that sunlight and rain and soil literally become our bodies. Many religions recognize the miracle of this process and sanctify the simple act of eating a meal a blessing beforehand. Laws governing what's fit to eat and what's not fit to eat. Today we know that through food not only do we bring water and soil and sky into the temple of our bodies for the reading broccoli or god forbid doritos but we also affect the outside world involved spiritual traditions number 5 the sandbox speech. Words create worlds. The words we speak and write a tweet have an impact far beyond ourselves. Some of us may have heard the tale of how gossip and negative talk spread like feathers from an open pillow you can never retrieve them once they're out there. This is especially true in our digital age are words to bounce around the world and an infant. How do we talk about race. For the white people in this room when do we not talk about race. What do we avoid saying silence is speech to. How do we all talked about the natural world do we instrumentalize natural elements as resources or do we honor them words create world number six the sandbox is conscious sexuality sexuality has always been a religious concern many of us would say too much of a religious concern religion has a reputation for suppressing certain kinds of sexuality. But they're also tradition to celebrate sexuality as sacred. We know that sex is a marbled thing it can be an expression of love it can be used as a weapon. In the age of me to our society is becoming more and more aware of how the gift of sexuality is so often abused with tragic consequences. As people of faith we might ask ourselves how do we share our sexuality with others why and with whom and in what circumstances how do we value consent what does it mean to respect our own sexual dignity. Sexuality is a powerful force to lead a religious life is to be intentional and how we use it number seven the sandbox of charitable giving religions teach that giving is a vital practice both because of how it supports the flow of healing in the world and because of how it impacts the giver the soul of the giver. I think we know intuitively that it feels good to give. But it can also be a little scary. It can free up the flow of energy and compassion in our lives. Traditionally charity has men giving to the poor. Today it can also mean giving to social justice groups and organizations working to transform the soul of society. In the sandbox we may also play with not only where we give our money and how much but where we withhold our money. We might refuse to give our money to corporations that do violence against other people for the earth. Money is a concentrated form of human energy. How we use that energy is a religious question. So those are the seven sandboxes. I know that was a lot so i'm going to repeat them and you'll be able to find them in the e-news and online daily practices. Good deeds. Sabbath and holidays. Daily bread. Reverend speech. Conscious sexuality. Charitable giving. So here's what i'm proposing. This fall we each explore what it would mean to adopt one religious practice in each of these areas. You might notice that a few of these are hot-button items. Food sex money these things tend to trigger emotions and stress they can trigger fear of judgment or fear of failure. Which is why i'm not prescribing what we should do in these areas i'm just inviting us to do something. What we do how intensely we do it is up to us. No one's judging us no one even has to know i offer some good sandbox with the play-in you build a sandcastle or the tunnel or the bridge or the sculpture or whatever it is that you want to build in there. I invite you to spend some time with yourself thinking about or praying about what small tractive to could commit to in each area make them small enough that you feel pretty sure that you can succeed in some cases there may be a practice that you already do but you clarify it in your mind and heart you infuse it with purpose. To help you in this exploration will be offering seven workshops over the next couple of months one for each samba at each workshop i'll talk a little bit about religious practices in this area from a couple different traditions. I'll share what i do as an example of what one liberal in new york city in 2019 could do and we'll have a conversation about what you might try what you're thinking about what would be hard about it would be good about it what's realistic and attainable we'll talk about it this is not a covenant group either drop-in sessions come to any or all of them that would be helpful to you this process will culminate on our hunger communion the sunday before thanksgiving. This is our annual fast today and whether you fast or not i invite you to use that day as a day of contemplation. Going deep. Thinking about the practices that you want to try for the rest of the year you can come out of this with a set of seven practices. Better yours. I'll be available along with megan and ethan to help. Even though no two sets of practices in this room may be exactly the same sharing a journey of practice will help us build a stronger community. We can live to each other up when we fall short of our aspirations which everyone of us will. We can see each other's cheerleaders will have a new tool to navigate the tough times we are in and the tough times ahead. It will soothe our hearts and clear our minds. Will be individual in our paths but unified in our goal to live life has meaning grounded in the holy. To create loving community and to play a small part in turning the tide. Of our culture and our world please rise and body or spirit for our final him number 121 wheel build a lab.

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When-Youre-Down-And-Out-The-Parable-Of-The-Good-Samaritan.m4a

If you need a kidney transplant the average wait time for getting one is four and a half years often if you're sick enough to need to transplant you don't have four and a half years to weigh. You can go on dialysis but that carries its own health risks making it harder to find a suitable kidney. It can be a downward spiral. Of course if you have a friend or family member who has a spare kidney and they're willing to give it to you you may be in luck if their kidney is a match for your body you could do the transplant right away. They can donate their kidney with little risk to themselves a two-week recovery time and boom potentially save your life people donate kidneys to people they love people rarely however will donate their kidney to a stranger i wouldn't at least not a stranger who i knew nothing about. A stranger who like the stranger in the good samaritan story was anonymous. Lying by the side of the road. Would you. If someone came up to you and said hey that guy at the end of the subway car needs a kidney can he had yours. If you're like me and i think in this respect you probably are i think you would think. Why should i. What's my obligation to that particular guy at the end of the subway car that i should have an invasive medical procedure and turn my life upside down for him. Who is he to me. This is the last sermon in this year's sermon series on the parables of jesus and then i thought i'd finished with what i think of as the most challenging parable although it's usually positioned as one of the more innocuous ones. The parable of the good samaritan is processed with an exchange between a lawyer and jesus and what he has to do to inherit eternal life meaning salvation jesus asked him to recite what's in the torah on this topic and he answers that among other things he knows he's supposed to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus says basically yep you got it so go do that and then the lawyer famously asked who is my neighbor. In reply the jesus says this a man was going down from jerusalem to jericho and fell into the hands of robbers who stripped him beat him and went away leaving him half-dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side. But as samaritan while traveling and near him and when he saw him he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal. Brought into an n and took care of him the next day he took out two denarii gave them to the innkeeper and said take care of him and when i come back i will repay you for whatever more you spend. Which of these three. Do you think. Was a neighbor to the man who fell in the hands of robbers. The lawyer said the one who showed him mercy. Jesus said to him. Go and do likewise. The lawyer's question echoes. Who is my neighbor. The concept of a neighbor is very specific if you think about it and it's ordinary non-fee logical usage a neighbor is somebody who doesn't live with you but doesn't live very far away. Someone who lives near you maybe next or maybe across the street but it's subjective right you could have two people living in brooklyn heights who call themselves neighbors even though they're half a mile apart. And you could have two people living on the opposite side of the tracks from one another who would not say that their neighbors even though technically they are. And it's the same with the spiritual question. It's subjective. Who is the neighbor who is a friend. Who is the stranger who is the other what's the relevant proximity that we're talking about here. For the purposes of the spiritual law about loving your neighbor. Who is considered to be my neighbor. That was the lawyer's lawyer lee question. He tells a parable and at the end he quizzes the lawyer jews are famous for answering a question with another question. He asks which of these three. Meaning the priest the levite or the samaritan which of these three a neighbor. To the man who fell in the hands of robbers. In other words. Which of these three made themselves a neighbor to the man in need. It's almost like jesus was turning neighboring into a verb which of these three neighbors themselves to the man which of them collapse the difference the distance between them bringing himself and the man into a proximity and the intimacy where the law about loving your neighbor would apply. The priest and the levite clearly did not do this. It says that they cross to the other side of the street. They increase the distance between themselves and the man. The dna birds themselves. Are there lots of theories about why. It was against jewish law for priests to touch a dead body. The text says that the guy was. Half-dead they might have worried that maybe he was all the way dead and so touching him would render them in pure to do the rituals in the temple that they were supposed to do more likely that was just an excuse. Exactly the kind of legalistic dogmatic rationalization that jesus would probably mocking by telling the story to begin with. More likely the priest and the levite we're just scared. The road from jerusalem to jericho was notoriously dangerous. What if this was a trap and the guy was bluffing and there was someone waiting behind a rock to rob them and beat them up. Like the guy who wants a kidney on the subway. They don't know this guy. He was bloody suffering down-and-out and as we know and nobody knows you when you're down and out. He was other to them they didn't see him as their neighbor they didn't see him as their problem. They didn't really see him at all. Nothing just be something that many of us can relate to. But there's an even deeper fear here that i think we can relate to as well. The priest fear of being ritually contaminated. By the dying man is really a primal fear of being contaminated with suffering. Someone who is truly down-and-out someone who's homeless sick disabled socially outcast or just desperately lonely can be scary like we don't want to get any of that on us our deepest fear is becoming like them we don't want to believe that life can. Actually be so horrible. We don't want to believe that it could happen to us we don't want to see our face and there's. We don't want to look into their eyes we don't want to be their neighbor because that's just a little bit too close. And so we cross the street. Of course not all of us cross the street and those who do don't do it every time. There are times i bet that each of us can remember when we acted less like the priests and more like the samaritan. Renee byrd ourselves to someone in need. But in the parable the samaritan model the kind of superhuman heroic. Neighboring. He doesn't just give the guy a kind word or a pat-on-the-back or a band-aid he gets in there physically caring for his wounds and picking him up and putting him on his own animal that's what the text says taking him to an end and caring for him there. Promising to come back for him. Kind of over-the-top. He takes full responsibility for this stranger on the road the equivalent of giving your kidney to someone on the subway mitch almost no one actually does why does he do it the text says he was moved with pity other translation say compassion but some scholars say that the concept of pity and compassion don't quite do justice to the connotations of the original greek word which is far as i can tell is completely unpronounceable i'm going to i'm going to give it a shot log chimneys so my this word refers to a movement in one's gut a deep-seated stirring the noun form as one's inner their entrails inner organs like saying the kidney. It's a physical even gory word that has connections with animal sacrifice. Later it was associated with strong impulses and emotions. So it was something. Physical and deep. Inexplicable and unpronounceable that move the samaritan to help the stranger on the side of the road it was something within the samaritan's body. That connected him with the body of the stranger and moved him to help in such a bodily way they gave him a kind of enlightened consciousness he would have given his kidney at a heartbeat. In the real world of kidney transplants the issue of the four-and-a-half-year waiting list and people donating to family but not strangers isn't issue this gotten a lot of attention. Because an interesting dilemma pops up with some frequency. Let's say you have kidney disease and you have a friend or family member who is a willing donor. But their kidney is not a match for you. I must say your neighbor also has kidney disease. And she also has a willing donor. But that person's kidney is not a match for her. But it just so happens that their donors kidney would be a perfect match for your body and your daughter's kidney would be a perfect match for your neighbor. Wouldn't it make sense instead of both of you languishing for four-and-a-half years for the two donors to swap and each give their kidney to the person who can use it. Turn down people are much more willing to give their kidney to a stranger knowing that their loved one will also wind up with a kidney in the deal. I would. So no programs have popped up that use algorithms to write their buys by nobel prize-winning economist that match donors and recipients in these paired donation initiatives. Carry this logic forward and you can imagine correctly that there are now algorithms that can identify whole chains of donors and recipients each giving their kidney and receiving a kidney from someone other than their loved one passing the gift down the line until everyone ends up with the right kidney. Extrapolate still further and you can imagine that the chain would get so long that eventually it would encompass everyone in the world who needed a kidney transplant. And. If we all had the heightened consciousness of the samaritan in the parable. We could dispense with the algorithms all together and know that if we donate our kidney to anyone somehow somewhere down the line in some form it will come back to us we could feel our gut-level splagchnizomai physical connection to all human being perhaps all living beings and know that ultimately there are no strangers. So jesus doesn't answer the lawyers question. And he doesn't do anything to answer the practical problem that we can't do everything for everybody in the world. But he does teachers. The important lesson that your neighbor. At least for the purposes of loving your neighbor as yourself has nothing to do with proximity it's not about who is close to you who is like you who speaks your language who shares your values your ethnicity your species who doesn't need you too much in fact the idea of a neighbor is not a noun describing a state of proximity it's a verb describing a way of being in relationship you can't intellectualize it and parse it out like the lawyer was trying to do. The teaching of loving one's neighbor as yourself is about committing ourselves. Two neighboring ourselves to others going through life that way. And let me make that commitment. We open our gut. Not just our hearts but our animal guts. To that special unpronounceable feeling that impulse to connect. At the health without being able to see a clear legal or mathematical reason why we should. When we do this instead of crossing to the other side of the street the boundaries between self and other. Neighbor and stranger can dissolve and then together we can achieve what the lawyer really wanted at the beginning of this story. Everlasting life but it's a collective salvation one but none of us could ever achieve alone please rise and body or spirit for a final him oh when the saints the lyrics are in your order of service.

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Biblical-Migrations-Jonah-and-the-Big-Fish-Part-2.m4a

When jonah is thrown overboard and gets swallowed by the big fish he descends to a place known as scholl. Joel is a kind of equivalent to hell but it's not imagined as a fiery place. It's imagined as a watery place. I think of it as the primordial waters that the creation story teaches came before the world as we know it it's a thick liquid undifferentiated teeming with the raw materials of everything in the universe it's chaos it is the abyss it's a place without the shaping hand of god or the ordering laws of physics it's the perfect exposure therapy for jonah. The watery depths are exactly the muddy messi dre ambiguous world he's been running away from. Jonah suffers from the chaos he suffers from the seaweed wrapped around his head feeling trapped in submerged and imprisoned. The most of all he suffers from his alienation from god. Jonah's refusal to answer god's wake up call has created a distance that it seems like it's going to be impossible for him to close from the belly of the big fish jonah praise but instead of praying god get me out of here jonah tells god a story. The story of what's happening to him at that moment he tells it in past tense as if the nightmare we're already over. He says i was stuck here deep in shell with seaweed wrapped around my head so far away from god and i called out to godsend. heard my call and saved me and i repented and now i praise god and everything is good again. Jonah is talking about his prices as if he's already on the other side of it. He's visualizing the healing the restoration the redemption that he's so desperately craves. In the middle of the story that feels hopeless. He is rewriting it in real time. He's writing a new story we've all heard of the power of visualization and athletics and in the art some even believe in the law of attraction where are you attract positive things into your life by thinking positive thoughts picturing what you want writing it down using the power of imagination jonah makes an imaginative leap into a liberated future. He projected himself propels himself into it. And when jonah finishes his poem the text says that god caused the big fish to vomit jonah up. Onto dry land. What if we were to apply this teaching to the complex problems of our day. Climate change racism war violence. Instead of staying inside the current story that feels so hopeless what if we were to start to tell a new story what if we could together write the poems and the songs and the dances and the plays describing our current storms as if they are in the past and we have already come through them and found redemption on the other side. What if we could take that imaginative leap from what is. To what could be. We might find that like jonah we. Call into being. A wondrous love. Please rise and body or spirit try next him number 18 what wondrous love.

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Citizens-Of-Heaven.m4a

A rabbi i know tells a story of when he was just starting out in the wrapping it and he went to visit a maximum-security prison to offer some pastoral care to the prisoners and to teach a class about judaism. The group he was working with a group of women who were serving life sentences. He taught his class and they were very interested and they asked lots of questions and toward the end somebody asked what judaism teaches about the afterlife. And he explained that there's no single answer to that question the text teach many different things and modern-day jews believe many different things including that there simply isn't one and then she asked what do you personally believe he said i don't really think there's an afterlife i think when you die that's just kind of tears welled up in her eyes and then she started to sob and then he realized what he had done. This woman was never again going to see life outside of these prison walls. Never again going to see the ocean. Or make love. Or share the holidays with her family and he had just told her that this was it. But after this twilight existence in prison after decades of loneliness and suffering someday she would simply cease to exist. The existential horror. Have that for somebody and her shoes is hard to fathom. Needless to say this caused my friend to question not only the wisdom of saying such a thing to someone serving a life sentence but to question whether he really believed it whether the loving god that he knew would really allow such a thing to happen. This idea this face this hope that there's something more to life than where we just happen to be. Is part of religious thought throughout the ages. The sense that we're not truly at home where we are but there were longing for our real home in another time or place some of us can feel this longing to. It can be a longing for our childhood. For a bygone era. Or longing for the childhood we never had. For an era that never really was. It's a longing for love. For innocence lost or for a place of total peace and harmony. It's a longing for who we might be if we lived outside of our own prison walls. Do you recognize this longing. In christianity the metaphor for the true home is sometimes an afterlife heaven where we are finally with godfrey from all pain and suffering and strife. I say metaphor because many modern christians don't believe in an afterlife as a chronological thing that follows our time on earth but rather a state of being the state of being in the presence of the divine jesus teaches about always keeping one eye toward heaven not always being preoccupied with the material physical world here on earth. He says do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Rick warren the longtime pastor of saddleback megachurch in california. Preachers about us being just temporary residence here on earth. And his best-selling book the purpose driven life here ice in california where i live many people have moved from other parts of the world to work here but they keep their citizenship in their home country. They're required to carry a green card which allows them to work here even though they aren't citizens. Christians should carry spiritual green cards to remind us that our citizenship is in heaven. God says christians are to think differently about life from the way unbelievers do. Real believers understand that there is far more to life than just a few years we live on this planet. Then warren quotes the book of philippians from the christian scriptures. All they think about they meaning unbelievers all they think about is this life here on earth but we are citizens of heaven where the lord jesus christ lives this phrase from philippians the citizens of heaven it's a pretty loaded phrase actually originating at the time of the roman occupation notion was written by saint paul. It was a way of saying to the early christians know we are not citizens of rome or any earthly power refused to give in to that. Whatever happens to us here we ultimately belong to god. Citizens of heaven. We wear our earthly skin lightly. The jewish version of this concept is the theme of exile and return. Exile first from the garden of eden where the torah describe the early humans as innocent and childlike all their needs provided for we're naked in a garden where god also walks and converse is with us all the food we need grows on trees and the world is beautiful and peaceful. After our infraction we are cast out of the garden and suffering and pain begin for the first time. No longer taking care of we now have to work for our food. We are alienated from god and god no longer walks among us. Is it kind of forced maturation process where the nurturing dries up suddenly and the child is compelled to fend for him or herself. The regret and the longing for return permits the literature and art and music to this day. Tennessee recurring nightmare of exile from the promised land the land promised to moses and abraham the land flowing with milk and honey this exile was not mythological but historical jews rejected from the land of judah which they called zion time and again as various warring empires came and took over and drove them out in the 6th century bce the babylonian army took over and captured a number of jews and deported them to babylon. Out of this babylonian exile came psalm 137. A wailing lament for the lost homeland of zion. To me the words of the song are so powerful. They point to a refusal to view this new land of babylon as home. The refusal to sing songs and normalize their new existence. The song goes. By the waters of babylon there we sat down and wept. When we remembered zion. On the willows there we hung up our liars for there are captives demanded of us songs and our tormentors murph saying sing us one of the songs of zion. How can we sing the lord's song in a foreign land. So again just like in the christian scriptures there's that edgy seditious refusal to accept the current political reality. There's that insistence on keeping. Citizenship in a real homeland. Elsewhere. In a sad irony some palestinian groups living in occupied territories today have adopted exactly this anti normalization strategy and their dealings with israelis having been forcibly displaced from their land and living a second-class citizens they resist any kind of dialogue or athletic play or socializing with israelis but legitimate the israeli regime and anyway. They won't sing or pretend tomorrow. Anything that would suggest accept them of israeli oppression and occupation after all how come they sing the lord's song in a foreign land like the jews and ancient babylon these palestinians contest the status quo with every breath so christians tend to look to a future time and end time when everything is finally set right. Jews and perhaps muslims tend to look back to an idealized past the time of intimacy with god and a natural paradise. Both work to keep the dream alive a better time and place. And state of being. Classic unitarian-universalism on the other hand reject the idea that there is a better time and place. We tend to focus on this world this life this time this state of being. We don't know from an afterlife. And we're appropriately skeptical about romanticizing the past. We figured that the good old days probably weren't as good as they are cracked up to be the minister of first unitarian church in providence rhode island james ishmael ford road an article about this very topic that articulates the uu perspective beautifully. He's just had an encounter with a christian minister. Who is talking much like rick warren about encouraging her congregants to see themselves as citizens of heaven just passing through here on earth he writes just really bothered me i had to respond that i couldn't disagree more my mission my work is to recall people to the fact that our home is here in a larger sense we are citizens of this world and more intimately our knowing is found in this body this place here this place now this being and nowhere else is our true home this is a very unitarian-universalist perspective and it's also very buddhist carrying a torch for some imagined past or holding out for some imagined future we will miss the spectacular beauty of the present moment. Reality itself will pass us by. Instead our task is to embrace our real lives and all their marbled wonder. And this is clearly right on some level. It's obviously true on the face of it we do risk dreaming our lives away waiting for a better time and there is tremendous beauty in the here and the now. But the story is not exactly that simple either because as my rabbi friend found out the hard way. It's an incredible privilege. To be able to blithely shrug and say. I don't believe in an afterlife or i prefer to focus on this world. That's all well and good if you're not serving a life sentence on rikers island. It's all well and good if you're not a palestinian mother whose son was shot by the idf. Or if you're not a gay man in uganda. It's great to embrace this life wholeheartedly. If you're not struggling with depression if you were loved as a child if you have friends and a roof over your head. Otherwise the suggestion can sound brutally empty and patronizing. As we've seen the question of our true home is both spiritual and political where do we belong. Even those of us who are not materially down-and-out. Whose wives are objectively good. Still live in a fragmented broken world. We still live in a world where were so often dislocated. Alienated from our communities from our sense of god. From ourselves. We're disconnected from nature. Watching helplessly as ecosystems collapse around us. We're plugged into entertainment and unplugged from relationships. We scramble to make money while we lose our precious time here on earth. In a world like this it is appropriate to be in reverend martin luther king jr's terms. Maladjusted. It spiritually healthy to resist normalization. It's essential to remember that the world as it is is not the world as it has to be. But we as we are now are not we who we must be. It's right to be a little uncomfortable a little out of place. To have the sense that we were made we were born for something else something better than this but this is not all there is. Until maybe the answer for unitarian universalist is to see with dual vision on one hand embracing the beauty of the present living fully into this reality and making the most out of this life and on the other hand keeping a little strand of resistance in our hearts by faith that there is a promised land and we are not there yet maybe the work is in the words of one of our dharma statements to love where there is life. And to lead where change is needed. Let's allow the prison inmate and ourselves the hope that life is much larger than what we see around us. Can we can hold this world just a little more likely. Let's maintain dual citizenship. Both citizens of this world and citizens of heaven. Praying and working for the day when earth and sky meet. And the world we inhabit and the world we longshore are one and the same please rise in body or spirit for our final him number 279 by the waters of babylon.

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The-Parable-Of-The-Yeast.m4a

I have two kids there each four years old their twins named miriam and micah they love each other a lot and they fight with each other a lot they want everything to be exactly fair. Everything. If one gets milk the other wants milk. If one gets an apple the other once it apple if one gets to walk the dog with me the other one wants to walk the dog with me even things that i don't think of especially special or fun they want to make sure that it's exactly fair. So when i print out my sermon on sunday morning micah asked if he can be the one to take the papers out of the printer and if i say yeah then we'll wayland say i wanted to be out of the printer and i let her know that i'll be printing more papers and she can take the papers out of the printer next time and her indignation temporarily subsides. But she still doesn't like that her brother got to do it first these fights are not really about milk or apples or dog-walking or printer paper. They're really about love kids sometimes think and. To be honest grownups sometimes think too. But love is like a pie. Right and if you give some to one kid then there's less for the other kids to have. And so the more people you have in your life who you love the less love each one yes. Makes perfect sense if love is like a pie because pie gets used up. But love isn't really like a pie. Love is more like yeast. What is yeast. Yeast according to adam gopnik one of my favorite writers in the world. Is really just a bunch of bugs rooming together like oberlin grads in brooklyn organisms of the fungus kingdom when you mix a little bugs with carbohydrate wet weed is a good one they begin to eat up all the oxygen and it. And then they pass gas. The gastric have causes the dough to rise. It's what puts the bubbles and the bread. So basically he's saying that bread rises and becomes bread because of the farts of tiny little bugs can i say fart in a storm and you might be wondering only if children are present and here's the important part. Important parts the yeast has babies these makes more yeast which can make even more bread rise. Jesus once talked about yeast and one of his stories he loves to tell stories that seem to be about one thing but really worried about something else. Call parables. This story that seems to be about nice with the shortest one he ever told it's only one sentence long. To understand this very short story you have to know the word leavened when something is 11 it means that it's big and puffy like a bread instead of hard and flat like a cracker. The jesus gather all these followers around him and he said the kingdom of heaven is like. That a woman took. And mixed in with three measures of flour. Until all of it was 11:00. Three measures of flour was a lot of flour enough to fill a whole bathtub. So he was talking about someone taking a teeny tiny bit of yeast. And mixing it in with a huge amount of flour. And just that little bit of yeast. Was so powerful so strong so special that it didn't get used up. It grew and grew and grew and eventually leavens the whole thing. Have any of you ever tried to make bread from scratch. It's magic isn't it. You take some yeast and some warm water and some flour and something sweet like sugar or honey. Maybe a little salt when you mix it all together and give it a little deep tissue massage. Then you talk it in under a blanket someplace really warm and safe and it starts to grow. Like an animal like a living thing grows and it gets really really warm. Then you massages tomorrow it's all spongy and soft and then you let it grow some more. And then you put it in the oven and bake it. And pretty soon the whole kitchen maybe the whole apartment or house starts to smell amazing. It's a warm cozy earthy smell. I'm understand it's all golden brown and christian yummy just like the red we had here earlier. It's one whole beautiful thing. And you can't believe. But just a little while ago. It was just a spoonful of this in a pile of that. We people are like that too when we start out we're just a spoonful of this and a pile of that. And then if someone gives us some sweetness. And some warm. And maybe some massages now and then. We grow big we grow and grow and turn into ourselves. And just like brad we need a special ingredient our own kind of yeast to leaven us. We need a special ingredient to help us rise up and be what we are meant to be. For us for people that special ingredient is love i think when jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven this is what he was talking about the place and the time. Your love is everywhere where everyone loves and everyone is loved. And like he's. He was saying. Love doesn't get used up. Just like yeast. Doesn't get used up beautifully it a little tiny bit. You need for someone to give it a chance. And it makes more and more and more of itself. I can change the lives of more and more and more people helping them all rise up and become who they are meant to be. Even lots of people even a whole bathtub full of people it doesn't matter. Lots of people and here's the amazing thing here's the really amazing thing. You don't even need to have any yeast. To start out with. You don't need to go and get it. You don't need to buy it in a store. Just like love yeast is in the air all around us waiting to find something to attach to. True. This is how adam gopnik explains it you can mix up water and wheat. Put it out in the air. And wait. For all the wild yeast with drifting around in the schmutz of the kitchen to land on it and start eating the carbohydrates. This yeast tends to have more character than they used to buy in a store. Because as every dog knows the schmutz on the kitchen floor has more flavor than anything else the long terashd deposit of ancient schmutz a spongy mess that you can use day after day even decade after decade is called no kidding. The mother. Love is just like that. Where does it come from. Who knows. The air. God. Leftover love schmutz from other times and places. But if you give it a chance and you open your heart. That love can just grow and grow and grow. So i hope that all of us as we go into this holiday season with all the good smells of fresh pies and breads and all of the good stuff and all of the hard stuff about being with family will remember this. You don't have to fight for love. You don't have to worry about who's getting more or less. You don't have to hold back or save any love for later. Love will never run out. Love will never get used up. Love is like yeast. We'll mix it all in. Mlb enough. For all of us. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him we're going to sit at the welcome table number 407 and your hymnal.

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Homilies-Getting-To-Humility.m4a

The brown or they are the worst they are his bloated stomach strained against the grip of the red cotton t-shirts talking to his faded baggy blue jeans. He lifted a meaty white hand takes his nose. Revealing fresh sweat stains in his armpits. He looks like he was expecting some sort of response. But we just stood there in a minute. this was not the west virginia i expected. What's the cost of july summer summer already sick and we are just days after the end of my freshman year of high school we in first use youth group had been planning this service trip the last year and i for one was looking for a straightforward story i could lay out in one concise paragraph to anyone who'd asked me what i did last summer. Well i'd say i went on a service trip to a poor area of west virginia old couple in their six children. I pause here to get the listener moment to appreciate how generous i was with my time i went expect him to help them i'd say but in the end i was the one held because i learned that we aren't so different after all lebron or they are the worst they are this hateful rhetoric threw a wrench in the works the tour guide informant of the active coal mine were looking around. His name was ben i need you in a long breath there was nostrils he must have been congested because it sounds rather gurgly. I don't like those immigrants to continue their taken our jobs i'm a trump man he's doing us to ride the building that wall he went on to claim that all interracial marriages were immoral and the people of color were ruining our country whatever visited social norms and the fury. How can you believe that why on earth would you vote for trump that's racist i didn't say anything for anyone who knows me this is probably a surprise i am perhaps too often the first to voice my opinion on what's right or wrong regardless of whether i was asked but here here i didn't say anything i just watched everything unfold clearly what ben said doesn't come from a place of caring he doesn't believe what unitarian universalist to say in the inherent person justice equity and compassion. Even today the clansman and neo-nazis hide-a-bed combat my first instinct when i heard this was embarrassingly to go directly against with its communities taught me to stoop to benton's level to think well if he doesn't respect others that he isn't worth anything himself he doesn't deserve compassion of course this isn't true when they go low we don't stoop down lower we can't not if we want to be carrying more people. Then despite holding an obviously reprehensible ideology is worth something nothing he can ever do or not do can ever and will ever disqualify him from that. It's really hard sometimes to believe this i struggle with the first principle how can these load some excuses for human beings be worth anything i know intellectually that resorting to this kind of thinking is exactly what has led to the dehumanization of people around the world and dust the crimes perpetrated against them but emotionally i hate having to admit that. But i'll tell you that one thing that's helped me. He's trying to understand why people believe these things what in their life had allowed racism to take route. So bad this wrapped up his monologue and i'm silence i'm looking for what it is and his life that allowed him to see the world in such a twisted broken hateful sad manner he tells us about his high school career for becoming a minor himself opening his own line about being cheated by the electric company. As it was a hundred times more expensive than what he just been saying the scales fell from my eyes benton wasn't just an angry hateful person he was afraid he was afraid of being left behind by mechanization and industry he was afraid of hard-working immigrants coming and making his job obsolete when he hears trump say. He was publicly preaching about a hatred of others unlike him because he couldn't bear to admit to what he was really afraid of with the uncertainty of his future. I'm young i have absolutely no idea for the stresses of everyday adult-like entail. And for a man like ben who success hinges on that of the coal-mining industry the thought of the world were immigrants and people of color occupied the remnants of his location must be quite stressful indeed. We're going back to west virginia this summer. We will probably encounter racism of this sort again but this time i'll be prepared. I want question that clearly good fourth principle of inherent worth. I'll remember that everyone is flawed and that hatred aren't faceless. And then understanding its roots is the only way to combat racism where we see it now. I would have told him i'm sorry i'm sorry life is treated him in a way where he believes that everyone's out to get them. This congregation itami well as told me that people are inherently worthy of kindness and respect i've had the luxury of growing up with an economic background that means i don't have to be scared and i pity them that he hasn't had the same opportunities it's a scary world out there you can trust me on this i'm 16 but it's a little less scary when we stop assuming we need to watch our backs recognizing we're all inherently good people. It's comforting indeed please rise for ham number 168 in your gray hymnal one more step. Name david friedberg who has studied astrophysics at uc-berkeley and he went on to found a small business selling weather-related insurance to businesses that are affected by the weather so ski resorts outdoor cafes bicycle rental shops etcetera the numbers he provided good value to his clients. But friedberg symbolizes there was potentially an even bigger market for what he offered farmers. To understand how weather affected crops however he was going to need to know more he was going to need to know all about soil composition and absorption and runoff all of which can be mapped by infrared images so once again he went to the us government for data. This time satellite images of every one of america's 26 million farmfield he hired mark wants to crunch the numbers. By the end of the process he had a gold mine of information. And he set out to sell his insurance to the farmers of america. This is how he would do if he would arrange a meeting with a farmer and he would sit down with this farmer on the farmers front porch or find in his barn and friedberg would pull out his ipad. And show the farmer a map of the united states. And then zoom in on that particular farmer's field. He would show him all kinds of information about the risks and the benefits of planting certain crops at certain times advise him when to fertilize based on when rain was going to come for fries. The farmers were gobsmacked by the value of this information. They bought his insurance used his knowledge and benefited from it one farmer told him you save me four hundred grand last year. But as much as friedberg help these farmers materially he always sent an undercurrent of resentment. If i'm the farmer here's this big city young whippersnapper with a fancy degree swooping in with his high-tech gadgets and data from the us government showing me my field on his screen. And telling me that she knows how to run my farm better than i do. The fact that he's right. Makes it even worse. My family has been on this land for generations we have our ways we can tell when it's going to rain. Sure we have our troubles but they're our troubles. This guy may be helping my wallet but he and everything he represents is threatening who i am. David friedberg eventually sold his business to monsanto for 1.1 billion dollars. But as he got to know his customers. All the success that he had came with a sense of dread. In those days he used to play a high-stakes wedding game with some friends in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. He offered to bet anybody that donald trump would win. We always assume that knowledge is good newness is good and if we can do something better by doing it differently. Then we should go for it. Stalled progress. That's why it's called being progressive. Onward and upward. But that's not the only way to look at the world. Some communities place greater value on tradition and culture and comfort. The well-worn grooves of life. And there's beauty in that too. And it's very human to feel threatened by change and to resist it every one of us resist change. Especially. Mother threatens the well-worn grooves of our lives. Winsome whippersnapper like. Me for example comes along and says that we need to start stop flying when we take our vacations or eat plant-based diet in order to live sustainably or equitably on this planet nobody likes that i don't even like it. I may have plenty of data to back it up even data from the government i may even be right. But it doesn't matter think of any change that has been imposed on you by the world nobody likes it. At the very least we can recognize a little bit of ourselves in those farmers and say yeah. Change is hard. Change is really hard especially when i threatened to my culture my comfort my identity i also am not able to just swivel on a dime to a whole new way of being. Even when i think i should. We're not a whole different species from those farmers we're on the same continuum with them. Maybe that's a way that we can get to a little bit of humility. In declan's wonderful story a few minutes ago he painted a portrait of a man benton. Who we also experience as very different from us and let's be honest not just a neutrally different but worse. As far as many of us are concerned the more benton like they are the worst they are openly racist xenophobic a proud build the wall coal miner. The guy was a caricature of himself. But that one went on a journey of humility and his thoughts and feelings about this guy first recognizing his inherent worth if the first principle of unitarian universalism is to mean anything at all and has to apply to that guy to then recognizing the fear that must be driving some of his hatred of people of color and most importantly recognizing that benton advertisers. Happens more secretly and our progressive spaces to. It's easy to look at a guy like benton and protect all of our worst most shameful qualities on him but as people of color have known for generations. And white liberals are starting to wake up to. Racism flourishes and our circles as well in liberal cities in the suburbs. In the unitarian universalist denomination and even here at first you. It's subtler and often denied it happens in words. And silences. And gestures it happens in white people's decisions about where to live and where to send our kids to school. It happens in who sets agendas and who speaks at meetings. Robin diangelo in her book white fragility describes how a good versus bad dichotomy where someone like benton is racist and bad whereas i am non-racist and good actually gets in the way of me confronting my own problems with race. It's much healthier to see benton and me. As sharing one continuum. So this is another way to get to humility. Cuz we all have our stuff. Our own fear of change our own internalized prejudice or racism and thousands of other ways that we could be better human sometimes it aggravates us most when we see our flaws come up and others. Sometimes we can be especially harsh. With somebody when they remind us most of ourselves. Think of a parent or child or a partner. Doesn't it. Drive you crazy when they do something that somehow deep down you kind of know that you do it too. Jesus famously asked. How can you say to your brother let me take the speck out of your eye. But all the time there is a plank in your own eye. Now i'm not trying to set up false equivalencies here i'm not saying that where there's a white supremacist rally there are very fine people on both sides. I'm definitely not a relativist i believe that there are better and worse ways to live. But i am saying. But our most productive orientation at toward the world is not to be scanning for bad guys but to be asking ourselves how can i work on my own stuff where are the blind spots that prevent me from honestly locating my own place on that continuum where are the infrared images into my own heart where i might have to confront the things that i would never tolerate in others and the more we can do that and the more empathy we can generate for david friedberg farmer and declan guns coal miner. Along with a good dose of compassion for ourselves the closer we can get to humility. Is being human on this earth is not as easy as it looks. And we have more than enough work to do tending our own field. Please.

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Ally-To-The-Children.m4a

I've discovered that when you're apparently you have to be prepared to field existential question pretty early on like why is there poison ivy the real question of course is in indignant one. Why should there be something in the world that seems to exist only in order to make our lives miserable it's a question that places humans and the center of the universe and all of the responsibility on the plant for its own malevolent existence or maybe i'm god or whatever it was that created such a hostile being as poison ivy to begin with but of course it's the wrong question because plants don't only exist. Why are humans allergic to this kind of ivy. Does ivy that we call poison ivy actually isn't doing anything it's just sitting there minding its own business and we are the ones who have to go along and touch it have our reaction and got all upset about it turns out that the chemicals in the oil of the leaves. Are actually not poisonous at all. If it weren't for our own histamine freaked out they would be completely harmless. So now this is where it gets very kind of buddhist and even little bit new ag because it raises the question of whether anything really out there. Actually. Makes us happy or unhappy or whether it's really always just about our own reaction to things. But i didn't go into all of that when my kids ask me this question a few years ago i just explained that every plant and every animal has its own way of protecting itself. Poison ivy has oil on a sleeve. But make you itch when you touch it and so people try not to touch it and the plant stays safe. This prompted a flurry of follow-up questions over the next few years. What do deer have to protect themselves. What are cockroaches has protected them so what do whales have to protect themselves. What does grass have to protect itself. It's been fun to talk about fish that tastes really bad. Turtle shells and cheetahs that run fast and starfish that have arms that regenerate if it gets cut off. And then i asked the mother of all questions. What do we have. To protect ourselves. What do humans have and that was the quest. That i answered but as a mother i couldn't help but also here. What do we children have. To protect ourselves. The world is so big and so scary sometimes. And we don't have a shell. And we can't run that fast. And our arms and legs won't grow back. What do we have. To protect ourselves. This is a question that i'll come back to later. But i explained to them that we humans have our brains. We are the smartest animal. And so we have figure it out. How to build shelters that keep us dry in the rain and heaters and fires that keep us warm in the cold. We can invent weapons to protect ourselves from something attacking us. We can't run fast so we can invent cars that do. We can't fly but we can invent airplanes that do. We can't grow an arm back like a starfish but we can invent medicines to cure diseases. And even create artificial arm. That work. And so even though our bodies really aren't that great compared to other animals in the wild. Our brains have allowed us to survive better than almost any other creature on earth. We humans and the things that we've created and the animals that we raised for food have taken over the entire planet. Humans have been given our brains. To protect ourselves. And it's really the only thing we have. But i didn't tell my kids at that moment is that this very thing that we have deployed to protect ourselves. Is the very thing that's causing us the greatest risk. Right now. Our industries are technological advances all the ways that we have. Harness nature for our benefit and protected ourselves against the nature are now taxing the interdependent web of the earth to the tipping point. And if we go over that tipping point. It could create such an ecological avalanche that not all our best brains not all the king's horses and all the king's men would be able to do anything. About it. I won't go over with you again the kind of humanitarian disasters that would ensue. Because the weird thing is is we all know this already. And maybe some people in this country right now who are actually in denial but for the most part. We know it with our brain. We know it. Many of us participated in the science march yesterday and celebrated our extraordinary human brains and our capacity to understand our world and the complexities of biology and. Chemistry and physics. We celebrated the wonderful things that we have been able to achieve through science and the human problems that we have been able to solve. Put our brains for all their miraculous power. Are limited. Our brains have evolved to protect ourselves from certain kinds of dangers only. Immediate dangers. Shelf. Dangerous. The danger of walking too near the edge of a cliff. The danger of a saber-toothed tiger approaching the danger of cold weather if we don't have shelter emily experience such danger we will deploy the full brilliance of our brains and bodies to escape it and when we see a child in such danger we will go to great lengths of heroism and sacrifice to save that child. The dangers that we face today however for the first time ever. Are not those kinds of dangerous. Global warming. Freshwater shortages. Loss of biodiversity. Bee colony collapses for many of us in this room these are abstracts dangers. Some of us were affected by hurricane sandy i know at least. One had their home destroyed but for the most part these are not. Personal threats. To us and they will not be in our lifetime. The adults here will pretty much be okay. I was talking with a 66 year-old hippie artist recently who was telling me that he thinks his age 66. Is the perfect age to be right now because he said look you got to live through the sixties and seventies which were awesome and then you get to die before things get really bad to me he said global warming. And so well our brains may know the danger. We don't feel the danger for ourselves or for others we don't feel that fear of the saber-tooth tiger approaching. We don't have that fight or flight response. We don't see the face of the child who will become a refugee. Because of a deadly drought. In her land. We don't have a chance to be a hero with a cave who can swoop in and save her instead of mta subway driver. We're being told over a crackly intercom that there may be a child on the tracks a mile ahead and we're being told to slam on the brakes right now. We may very well believe that it's true but you know we're being told lots of things our brains have evolved to help a child that we can see. Not a child somewhere down the track. But if we wait. If we wait until we can. See the face of that child. We can slam on the emergency brakes but it will be too late. There are children in our world who know that they are on the tracks and they are desperately trying to show us their faces now. They're the children who are seeing their homes flooded in southern louisiana. They're urban children who are suffering asthma at epidemic right now because of air pollution. Bear alaskan indigenous children who are having to evacuate their ancestral homes because the ice is literally melting out from beneath their feet. They're the children in syria who find themselves in the midst of mass migration and war because of drought. They're the children with the wisdom to look into their future and see that they are the ones who are going to. Paying the price for the actions of the adults long after those adults are gone. One group of these children and youth had banded together with the help of an adult attorney and had actually filed a lawsuit against the federal government for doing too much to contribute to climate change and too little to stop it. To me it's an incredibly inspiring story. The group is called our children's trust and their suit claims that quote through the government's actions and causing climate change it has violated the youngest generations constitutional right to life liberty property as well as failed to protect essential public trust. The children are the plaintiffs here. In this case as well as one of those who is a plaintiff on behalf of his granddaughter. The federal government and the fossil fuel industry have moved to dismiss the case but just as fall a us district judge denied their motion so this case which started so this case is actually moving forward now and gaining momentum. What the adults are doing in this case the attorney the grandfather and others is acting as allies. To the children. The concept of being an ally is used a lot in progressive movement these days to describe someone who is not directly impacted by a particular form of oppression but who's working with and for people who are so freaking apple a straight person who will not experience homophobia directly can become an ally to lgbtq people and the world. So i want to invite all of us on this earth day weekend. In 2017. In this moment of political upheaval and rapid change of all kinds. To pause for a moment and consider. How we can eat. Best serve as allies. 2. The children. It's going to be different for each of us depending on the unique gifts that we bring. Some of us are fighters and we want to resist and stand in the way of bulldozers building pipelines. Some of us are builders and want to work on technological and community-based solution more solar more rooftop farming more making running shoes out of plastic that they find in the ocean. Some of us are intellectuals and artists and want to write and paint and use drama and film to light a new vision for the future. Some of us are martyrs. And want to make the protest loud and visible to shake the world-soul into awareness of the crisis center shout there is a child on the track the people's climate march in dc this coming saturday is one step in this direction. But this march or any march is not an end in itself. It's a tactic. And the strategy is movement-building and culture change. Building a movement and changing the culture. Is something that we all can. We can all learn to consider in every decision the impact of our actions. Not only on the children but on the next seven generations. We can all become allies for the children and allow our hearts to carry us where our brains. Cannot. So that when my children. Or any children come to us adults and ask. What do we have to protect ourselves. We don't have a shell and we can't run that fast. And we can't fly and our arms and legs won't grow back. What do we have to protect ourselves we can say with integrity. And conviction. You have us. We're going to have a really special opportunity right now to actually say this to some of the children in our community i want to invite the children to come up to the front again. Horizon form a physical chain of connection. You can rise now and you can put your hand if you're comfortable on the shoulder of the person in front of you we're going to all get physically connected here with these children.

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One-More-Light.m4a

This morning i want to talk with you about hope. That might seem audacious given the year we are marking the end of this evening. But i want to call our attention to is not a saccharin everything is going to be alright sort of hope. When i think about hope. It is as a source of resilience and defiance of how the world is. Rate this moment. In the past 12 months we had witnessed some horrible and disturbing things. The inauguration of a dangerous and fear-filled man for a nation's highest office. Hurricanes have impacted thousands and thousands in texas. The deep south in puerto rico where the recovery is still ongoing. Fires have displaced thousands more to the west. Gun violence has cost the lives of more people this year than any and recent record as we remember. Las vegas and so many more tragedies. Our own new york city has seen multiple terrorist attacks. And this weekend. Young minds and families were lost due to fire in the bronx. But wait you may be wondering i thought you were going to be preaching about hope. With all these and so many more negative things to whole. How can i remain hopeful. How can we. Because of that indomitable spirit. We because of that indomitable thing we named. The human spirit. For all of these workers are also hopeful there are also hopeful responses. As a national politics have turned to heat. All responses citizens. Has been one of resistance. And building community. To support and welcome. Rather than to fear. As water wind earth and fire have harmed people across the planet. We have shown up to help even when our governments failed to do so. We have found ways to create hope. Between individuals. As violence has taken life. We have also nurtured by. And brought healing to others. We have refused the offer of blaming whole populations. For the apps of a handful. As politicians try to create walls of policy. For those born beyond our borders. We have answered the call to provide sanctuary. At the end of this year i stand in awe of the myriad ways this community. Has responded.. To all that is asked of us. And created new ways to join together in support of our values. With forces so big operating in this world. I feel the challenge of holding onto hope for the big for the big picture. And yes i am reminded of a particular and miraculous bat. Every big act of tragedy or resistance. Comes down to the people involved. The decisions of individuals to join together. I do not believe anything is preordained. We each have choices to make. With how we live this one wild ride we call life. And when we remember that alone we may be vulnerable. But together. Together we can change the rules and alter our very reality. Marge piercy poem the low road is one i return to. When i need to remember the power of numbers. To change our world. Piercings poem starts with these words. What can they do to you. Whatever they want. They can set you up they can bust you. Bake and break your fingers. Blurry with drugs till you can't walk can't remember. They can do anything you can't blame them from you can't blame them from doing. How can you stop them. Alone you can fight. You can refuse. You can take what revenge you can. But still they roll over you. How do we move to a hopeful place from piercings opening words. We let her remind us. That they only only define what happens. When we remain isolated. In fact philately bring to this world at the quickly. Each of our claims is one more light of resistance. It can feel like a dim light at times. But think back to those times. When we have stood together in the dark for worship. Or protests. Each person has chosen to be there. And add their light to the group. Piercy continues. But two people. Fighting back-to-back can cut through a mob. A snake dancing file can break a cordon. An army can meet an army. Two people can keep each other sane. Give support. Conviction. Love. Massage. Hope. Sex. Three people are a delegation. A committee. A welsh. With for you can play bridge and start an organization. With six. You can rent a whole house. Eat pie for dinner with no s. And hold a fundraising party. This past spring a small number of us left this congregation. To join the people's climate march in washington dc. Just a few small lights very early in the morning. A delegation of sorts. But we picked up others from area congregation and filled our bus. Just one bus. Back out on the road to d.c.. And would not have been called a movement by itself. Piercing continuous. A dozen make a demonstration. 100 filhall. 1000 have solidarity and your own newsletter. 10000 power and your own paper. 100000 your own media. 10 million. Your own. So we joined with other buses. Growing from single lights to a bonfire that filled the streets of dc. And cities around the world as hundreds of thousands of people made their choice. To be part of something more that day. At that time. We shut down sections of cities banning our planet. And drew the attention of the world by showing up. And this was just one day. One of collective resistance. Over the course of justice year we have gathered up so many more. We have learned to see how one movement connects to the next. How onelife can amplify. What is possible. Piercing closes with. It goes on one at a time. It starts when you care to act. It starts when you do it again. After they said no. It starts when you say we. Know who you mean. And each day. You mean. One more. That is my source of hope. That each are one more light. One more person showing up. When i becomes we the rules change. Rodger moore who is previously elected with more than 95% of the vote. Is no longer electable. When women say me too. The daily misdeeds of men are no longer tolerable. Sanctuary becomes a rallying cry of a lisha with immigrants were no longer a vegetable. Black lives matter grows from protest sign to a movement for black lives that are no longer expendable. Our changing climate and the need to shift how we live life in balance with this planet. Is no longer debatable. It takes incredible fortitude to exist and kindle the light of hope as we stand at the threshold of this new year. There will be tragedy. Real hope can i change that. Nor should we pretend otherwise. Hope creed possibility. How did this imperfect world. It always has. That is the magic of hope it creates something barely imaginable out of the mundane building blocks of life. By the very act of being. And making the decision to be hopeful. We are changing the world. As we clean religious liberal identity. Progressive political identity. And as we proclaim who we are in our heart of hearts. To those we encounter. We are taking a risk. But also resisting the call to individualism. We can reflect on who we mean. When we say we. We can consciously choose to mean more than we did yesterday. Each person's life can become an active resistance when we joined to ideals greater than the south. Those who are activists in a formal way and those who refuse to remain silent in daily life. Some of us may take to the streets. Some of us may take to the phone. Some of us may take to our own families for conversation. Each of us can tell our stories to others. And importantly. Each and every single one of us. Can resist. By taking a breath. And then another. And another. To paraphrase one of our unitarian ancestors henry david thoreau. The price of anything is the amount of life which is exchanged for it. At the beginning of this new year i am thinking about the rose words and what it is i want to invest my life in. I choose hope. I see the need in this world right now. Being one of gathering up the sparks of our individual lives. And sending them into flames of resistance. We have seen the possibilities that can happen when we work together. For change and we have seen the devastating consequences. Subdivision in fear. Terrapin countless people for whom existing and refusing to go unnoticed. Has expanded our notions of humanity. And change the ways of society operates. A sibling to refuse to be labeled on a gender binary. Eritrean siblings who claim the truth of who they are. Our sister's mother's aunts and friends square naming those who have harmed them. Are black and brown siblings who have said for so long that their lives matter. Are needed siblings with resistant genocide for generation. And you're still here. And those of us who are white who i believe are beginning to listen. And see the resistance for what it is. Not at the mountains. Better realization that business-as-usual. It's no longer possible. Remember rose tico's words. That's how we're going to win. Not fighting but we hates. But saving what we love. Rose has given us a rallying cry for how to reflect reframe what resistance means going forward in this new year. That life itself and century love can redefine the very idea of winning. Thorough reminds us. To invest our life into that which matters most. Because the currency is. Most precious. Each of us is a light in this world. Together we are brighter than hate. Is an act of resistance. Hope it's love in motion. Hope is a seed in winter. Together our light. He comes the sun.

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Is-First-Unitarian-A-White-Church_.m4a

Just the feelings ideas successes and lives of white people over that of people of color. White supremacy is a complex system. Meant to maintain the societal power and wealth. A relatively small group of people. It's not maintained only by extreme racist. Not even only by white people. It's insidiously taken up parts in the hearts and minds. White supremacy is rooted in history. It's perpetuated by institutions. And it's alive in our habit actions and beliefs. There's one other turn that we'll need to know together for a time. White fragility. It's a term that i feel like i need for my everyday life. Talking about race is hard. We do this. No one likes to be called racist. No one except maybe actual white nationalist. Want to hear that despite whatever protest they've been too despite what your spouse or your kids look like. We're all caught up in a system of white supremacy. Without knowing it we contribute to it all the time. It snowed out raises some uncomfortable feelings. When i say that we're all implicated in white supremacy. Maybe you hear that were bad people. And. As people who want to be good. This feels like an intolerable accusation. White fragility describes this all too common response when conversations turn to race. Even a small amount of stress it's based on racial conversation. It comes with that feeling of being accused and that will trigger arrangement offenses. Anger fear guilt. It turns into argumentation tears silence. I'm leaving. Defective surly always the same the conversation and. The most powerful tool of white supremacy is refusal to talk about it. Or even acknowledge that it exists. That it exists here. As a denomination we pride ourselves for being able to say that black lives matter. We say the names of the dead. We know that jordan edwards is dead and that he shouldn't be. We know that alton sterling is dead. Keisha. When people maintain that the killing of unarmed black people is just a tragic accident. Maybe the actions of one rogue officer. We know better. We know that these tragedies are rooted in systemic racism. Both of these unjust deaths have occurred in the same region where the hiring practice that were talking about now occurred. 12 current controversy began and where a woman who is. Highly qualified. Was told that she was not a good fit. Not getting a job and losing your life or not the same thing and i don't mean to suggest that they are. But they're connected. Those are symptoms of an in-service of white supremacy. And it's like peter morales your bothered when you hear the word white supremacy applied to our spiritual home. I urge you to reflect on this. Perhaps the resistance that people fear or have when they hear that racism might be linked to law enforcement. That can give us some insight into our own resistance. I don't want us to leave here calling ourselves white supremacist. Rather the hope is that we can look together at the ways in which white supremacy is present in our community. The hope is that we might occasionally renege on our silent commitment to upholding white supremacy. The hope is that here in community we might change. For today change comes in not changing. We are great changers of words when it comes to him. We want the beauty of the song but we don't always want to see ology. Words like god or jesus or masculine pronouns to describe the divine. And don't work for us. And then when we erase these words. We too often with the songs out of their context in their communities. We take. Sam from the places. They belong. Some of the songs that wheelchair today include words that might feel strange. I urge you to receive them as a gift. Sit with them even if these words feel uncomfortable sure gave a beautiful framing for how we got here why were here. Explanation of the term white supremacy as we are using it here but even the broad definition that she gave us is challenging for us. Many of us like to think of ourselves here at first unitarian as the good guys. We like to think that racism is something that happened elsewhere and never hear some of us may feel certain that we oppose rather than uphold a culture of white supremacy. But the events at the u.s.a. cherry described the forest as along with congregations across the country to question that certainty. We also live in a wider culture that perpetuates white supremacy and if you had any doubts about that before november 8th you probably don't know. When the journal is bill moyers folk at fourth universalist in manhattan after swastikas were carved into their front door is a few months ago he said the dominant ideology and washington right now is that of white supremacy. We know about the mass incarceration of people of color. We know that black babies are twice as likely to die as white babies before they reach their first birthday. We know about the police killings of unarmed black men. Just last saturday a fifteen-year-old. Jordan edwards was shot dead as he sat in a car. We all know this and we are now being challenged to take a hard look at ourselves and ask whether the systemic racism that pervades the rest of society also infect our own community. It would be arrogant for us to assume that it doesn't. Really how could it not. They say we don't know who discovered water but that it definitely wasn't a fish. I entered this conversation as a white person a fish in water. The white person in a position of leadership in a majority white congregation. And so there was much about how these systems perpetuate themselves that is invisible to me. I don't know what it's like to be a person of color here. I can't always see. The kinds of subtle signals of exclusion or superiority that i or other white people might be sending. But i'm sure i've sent them. I don't know what i don't know. So i'm trying to approach this with humility. Speaking from down here instead of up there today it's one way of representing this humility. I was talking sometime last year with a few people of color and one moment and the conversation particularly stood out for me. Someone was talking about feeling pretty comfortable here at first you even though they said in an offhand way it's a white church. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. I tried to confirm what they seem to be saying. So do all of you think of this as a white church. They all said yes. They weren't complaining exactly it was just a statement of fact. This insight about the nature of this institution. That was completely self-evident to this group of people of color. Had been invisible to me and i'm guessing too many of the white people here. Because i'm quite sure that what they were saying was not just about numbers. Anyone can observe that there are more white people here than people of color on the typical sunday it was about culture. The essence of this place feel. White. And the church part was about a religious tradition that goes hand-in-hand with white culture. I know a number of us have issues with calling this congregation a church and that's a topic for another day today we're focusing on the white part of the equation but i would save it on both counts. These people were seeing something real about our culture here. The implications of this are profound. A white church is one that is oriented around the needs and the comforts of white people. Whiteness is the norm and the default. And power is concentrated among white people. White culture is quite literally. Supreme. This means that if you are a person of color participation here comes at a cost. You have to be. Willing to tolerate being part of something that isn't really for you. I'll give you some examples of how white supremacy may function here. First the obvious thing. We have an all-white we have a mostly white staff and an all-white senior staff. Are all the way to senior staff are not people who have been here forever all of us were newly hired in the last 5 years. So as with the uua it seems like the right fit for us and hiring. Is white people. Our board of trustees is currently all white. Then there are subtler day-to-day things that happen. And let me say it's a side note that as the staff and i were. Sitting this week sharing stories of moments that we had noticed or the people had pointed out to us we realized that we can't actually share any of the specific. Of any of these stories in the service without publicly calling out white individuals in a way that would be completely inappropriate. And here's the crucial point. They were never called out in the moment of these incidents either. Because. And here's the problem of white fragility that cherry was talking about. It's not okay to hurt the feelings of white people in order to create safety for people of color. So here are some examples of things that have happened here stated in very general terms. A white person speaking to a mixed group implies that the presence of people of color is an act of social justice on the part of the congregation. A sermon includes a story that perpetuates the white savior trope. A white person singled out a nude person of color and offers to introduce them to another person of color. The conversational tone of a committee meeting is so fast-talking expertise base and competitive that the one woman of color in the room feels marginalized and drops off the committee. A person of color is publicly complemented by a white person as very articulate. None of these on its own seems like much but when taken together and compounded with countless other incidents over and over over the years they create a culture of white supremacy. It's a culture that people of color like the ones i was talking with in this conversation just have to live with if they want to be here. They might be used to it. But this is not the vision to which our faith calls us. It's also important to say if it's each one of these incidents a rose out of good-hearted well-intentioned motivation. Nobody was trying to hurt anyone. Nobody here is a white supremacist in the conventional sense of actively intending to oppress or exclude people of color. But good intentions as both of our sabbath quotes for today express. Are not enough. So the move beyond good intentions we are planning to engage with this work. To transform our culture here at first you over the next months and years. The task ahead. Is not for white people to find our friend of color in the congregation and saves to the you think this is a white church. Please don't do that. Let us not as is so often done placed the work of undoing white supremacy on people of color. The task ahead is for all of us. To bring an anti-racist perspective to our being together. Define ways that whiteness is pervasive and privileged here and imagine something new. Please share with us your thoughts and ideas and feelings we very much need them in order to do this work well and lovingly. Here are some things that we are already planning. You'll see at the bottom of your order service there are three books listed. We're calling these books are common summer reading for first you. They all address issues of race and multiculturalism for asking you to read at least one maybe all three or the summer and then in the fall i am the staff will hold a series of discussions about them. Megan is also doing some more research and will offer up titles for children and youth to read over the summer as well. The staff is planning to offer pre-k land-based anti-racism work next year we hope that many of you will participate in that. The board has stated its intention to engage this work as well they will take it up at their next board retreat and possibly get some training for themselves particularly in the area of hiring. Kevin jago our intern minister is starting an initiative around environmental racism next year where there will be opportunities for this congregation to get involved. For more information we've created a page on our first few website with lots of resources including more of the background about the ua issues and the concepts and terminology that we've been discussing today there's also an informational sheet that you can take on your way out in the back. Please don't hesitate to come and talk with me and other members of the staff after today service about any of these issues we know that this is really hard stuff. Member committed to being open to listening and being changed by what you say. We changed our worship plan today because we know that large shifts require work. And can challenge our comfort levels. That's precisely why we feel it's important. We believe that hundreds of uu church congregation signaling to their own members and the larger community that our faith takes racism seriously especially within our walls will push our faith toward the beloved community that we all seek. I just wanted to make a little disclaimer that if you saw me over there texting just now it's because i'm letting the children know that it's time for them to come back. Today we celebrate capek. Who in the face of white supremacy said no. He could have come to the us he could have stayed quiet. White supremacy offered him privilege and protections. But his sincere wish to be in community with others who are different than him. Men that she could not be complicit. He stayed. He spoke out against white supremacy. For tropic this celebration of diversity and resistance was. As sherry said no dusty ritual. It was real and he sacrificed for it. So i'd like to invite our flower bearers to come forward and they're going to get into place and we're going to do a blessing and then the rest of the children will come into. Be first in the flower communion and unable to join their parents and everyone get will be able to come up we have three stations just like the candle lighting so there's one over there this one here in the center and then there was one over there now for our blessing. In the presence of these flowers these representatives of creation profound beauty. Diverse and unique. But related and interdependence. These flowers which come to us as gift. From we know not where. And which we intern choose to bring to our shared and common ulcer as gifts for one another. Me the meaning and message of flower communion to be alive in our heart. Inviting us to be faithful partners in the creation of beloved community. And guiding us toward right relationship. With all of our neighbors. Near and far. Amen. I now invite you to join and singing a special tech song this is a tradition here we're not changing fees words either we just continue singing the song throughout the flower communion the choir is going to lead us in this so that we can learn it.

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Jazz-Coffee-And-Purpose.m4a

He wasn't meaning to eavesdrop but joe falls that us son of garnet lovesac our director of congregational life here was sitting in the coffee shop in bay ridge brooklyn a few weeks ago and he began overhearing snippets of a conversation from across the room that he soon realized was unmistakably about us about first unitarian it was two women one of them all about it until joe being the good son that he is again live texting the conversation too helping others. Number to our coffee hour which we now call fellowship our because it's about so much more than coffee. It's nice it's nice we have community here and it shows and number 3 we have a purpose and is mainly about helping others transforming the world in which we live these three dimensions of our ministry came through loud and clear and apparently this bay ridge visitor found the experience so compelling that you was trying to talk her friend into coming next week if you are here today bay ridge visitor and thank you coffee and purpose our worship and spiritual life community service work in the world. Three elements ring a bell. Where have i heard those three things before a minute wait a minute i think i know your order service right here on the inside front cover of your order service is our mission statement and it says of the earth the same three things. Coincidence i don't think so how is it that what we are about here at first unitarian is stove crystal-clear to someone walking through these doors for the first time. That coffee shop conversation is powerful testament to that the work they were doing here the connections that we are forging here and the joy that we are radiating here are real you cannot fake that we're doing it we are creating something unique that our world desperately needs and people recognize it when they see it. Today is the beginning of our stewardship campaign where we take a moment to reflect on what first you is about what it means to us and what it means for the world for those of you who are newer here this is how our stewardship campaign works this time of year we make our financial commitments for next year and by next year i mean starting in july basically on the academic calendar for starting in july preferably today during our fellowship next year starting in july how much we gave is a very personal decision based on our own financial situation and circumstances. We ask that you stretch. Not to the point of pain but really stretch because this personal decision has broad consequences for this congregation our board of trustees is going to add up all those pledges all the ones we receive and use that total number to determine what can be part of our budget for next year how big can we dream i want to try to give you a snapshot of what the dreams of past years and the financial commitments of past years have allowed us to do today you can't fake a visitor knowing what we're about after one visit and even more. Our spiritual and worship life are caring community. And i work for social justice and stewardship of the earth. The number one hour worship life is real every week we create a sacred non-virtual space slipping out of the hub of city life to slow down together for words and song. Eye contact in touch we set aside our long list of tasks silence our phones and become present together we're teaching our children actually do this and they do it to and their children's chapel the fountain of creativity known as adam todd and the choir and the other musicians bring a world-class music program music from many different genres including jazz and traditions that helped us channel our joy and our pain and our bond with each other. We pray we share silence we like handles we make space to cry. This experience is absolutely unique. And most of our lives we don't get this anywhere else. But it means an elemental need for us as humans to irrigate our souls. Together we invoke the presence of the holy in this room on jones who has served as a lay worship leader here is going to share a bit about her experience of our worship ministry. Thank you ellie number to our caring community is real it's not just a nice idea we seriously take care of each other here but an elderly longtime member living alone recently started having a hard time cooking for himself a group of much younger first you friends began bringing him meals several times a week otherwise been able to this is the kind of community that we are i and other members of the pastorul ministry team provide pastoral care to congregants who are struggling and a thousand different ways we have gatherings for new parents we hold memorial services and weddings and baby dedication asians like rosie's today to care for people at all stages of life and we work hard to make our fellowship our nurturing and old-timers alike. Megan monroe from our membership committee is going to share a little bit about this ministry. Number three. The attacks on the earth and her people are coming in rapid-fire these days and this congregation has been responding with love faced vision and spirit driven action i want to highlight just a few of the areas where working in we've been sounding the alarm on our ecological crisis. Our members are participating in bold protest and advocacy work and even an activist art project in the making. We're working to transform our own food culture and consumer practices to bring us all into a healing relationship with the earth. We're working the counter systemic racism here and in the world through our beloved conversations group our book discussion series on race and all the ongoing programs of weaving the fabric of diversity everclear caucus is creating a home for our lgbtq community and doing advocacy beyond and i could not be prouder of our immigrant solidarity team and everyone who has been providing loving sanctuary to asylum-seekers who have come through our doors. Tomchek from the immigrant solidarity team is going to share a bit about this ministry. Thank you tom i recently heard a story about a guru a hindu teacher who told his students that he was planning to build an ashram students were a little skeptical about this and they asked him about where is the money going to come from he said i don't know wherever it is now make no mistake. And these dreams only became realities because the people in this room and many other people who came before us took their own money wherever it was then and brought it. In other words the pledges that we all made last year and the year before along with the cumulative generosity of this congregation going back to the 19th century. Funded this work we've been able to do all these unsexy stuff like keeping the lights on in the boiler running we've also been able to pay our staff are clergy and our musicians we created the context for creativity and compassion soulful hard work and engagement. We've raised kids and adults who are compassionate and aware and passionate about the challenges of our day we created the conditions were all of these things are possible and we've been able to mix up the cocktail of r3 ministries that draws people in and inspires them to want to bring their friends. I'm asking all of us this morning to build on the success that we already have so we can continue and expand our work let's dream big for the future of our ministries here where's the money going to come from wherever it is now and right now it's the people in this room some of us need most or all of it just to make ends meet and i would never suggest that anybody worse than any precarious situations they might be in. Many of us however have the means to invest whatever you can invest please bring it in the form of a pledge that is generous for you. Let's invest in our present and in our future in ourselves and in each other and our children and in our adults. In the sanctuary and beyond let's invest in our ministries of jazz and coffee and purpose that are ringing out so clearly in our world. When we have something as unique and powerful as first unitarian we are called to lift it up with everything we've got please rise and body or spirit for our final him we will not stop singing and this is printed in your order of service.

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The-Hungry-Ghost.m4a

Last year my twins were two years old i know what times they were loving and funny and sweet. Other times they provided the perfect textbook elucidation of the term the terrible twos. I was griping to a friend of mine about the tantrums the biting each other the going boneless when they don't want to be picked up seven parenting books in the mail i had thought that i didn't have time to read. I do recommend the practice of reading parenting books to all parents not because of any particular technique that you couldn't figure out on your own but because reading the books remind you to be intentional about your parenting it reminds you that you're communicating your values day and night to your children in the way that you're relating to them there was some really interesting counterintuitive stuff in one of these books though about self-esteem. And praising your kids. It basically said not to. In american culture we praise kids all the time thinking that this helps their self-esteem. What a great drawing do you look so pretty fantastic work on the puzzle. But this work citing the the work of child psychologist dr high m-go note makes the case that if you tell a kid that their drawing is. Great. Hey they don't know what that means. And be you rob them of the opportunity to determine its value for themselves. They don't get to learn to see the world through their own eyes. They just learn to see it through the eyes of others. What he suggests that you do instead is just describe what you see describe it in detail and describe the effect that it has on you. It's a very non-attached almost buddhist approach so when your kid shows you their drawing of a ghost instead of saying that it's great you could talk about what colors they use where they use squiggly lines and straight lines how scary it was or not scary. And then they can decide they have information now that they can use to determine for themselves if their ghost is great. Or not great. Skeptical at first i gave it a try with my own kids my daughter miriam came to me and said mommy mommy look i finished the puzzle instead of saying good job i'm so proud of you i said wow you did that whole puzzle all by yourself without any help from a grown-up that must have taken you a really long time and she said. Yes. I'm so proud of myself. The bells went off in my head dad is self-esteem. Self-esteem is a profound and complicated. Casa level is just what it sounds like it's how you esteem yourself how you appraise yourself in relation to some external measure of value. Heading true independently grounded self-esteem is considered the holy grail of healthy personhood in child psychology that usually contrasted with being pure oriented. Being dependent on the approval of one's peers for a sense of self-worth. But self-esteem seems to me like a bit of a paradoxical concept. Because the word self here is both the subject and the object of the term. The self is both doing the appraising and being a praise. So you could say that taken literally self-esteem is an impossible loop like lifting the chair that you're sitting on. Who am i to assign value to myself. Where does that value come from. I'm just question. Of where our value ultimately comes from. Is where the psychology textbooks fall silent. It's a spiritual question. It's one that all religions attempt to answer including unitarian-universalism. The very first of our 7 principles. States that we are firm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. According to the authors of the seven principles are worth and dignity is just inherent we just have it. With a beautiful idea that are worth is simply inherent that we that we have it just by virtue of being persons. It's probably a holdover from the notion of the divine spark. The breath of god. But some of us over the years have dropped the religious flavor of it and now it's just a special something in our dna that lends ultimate value to whatever it inhabits we each have worth and dignity beauty and importance. Just. Cuz. Self-esteem is a faith in one's own just cuz value. I just turned out that this faith is really hard to come by not just for children but for all of us. Maybe because most of us didn't have parents who parent like doctor who i am going to recommend most of us grew up learning to peg our sense of self-worth. Do other people's expectations. Peers and parents strangers on the street authority figures the norms established by media and narratives. Instead of our worth feeling inheritance and unconditional it feels contingent like something that we have to achieve or prove. And the problem is it's a constant rat race. Whenever done achieving it. If you got a good grade on one paper there's always a test coming up. If you managed to lose 10 lb you could always lose 10 lb more. Did you get a raise at work. You're going to want to try for a bigger one next year. It becomes habitual this constant striving for approval from others. And if you're on this treadmill. Rarely if ever do decide to get off. You never you never decide that you've sort of arrived and you've made it and now your self-worth is secure forevermore. In fact it tends to work the other way around. The pursuit of social approval is addictive. Does it kind of insulation so you need more and more to get the same high it's painful to watch in another person and it's painful to experience. But it's the kind of pain that we are so used to we don't even notice it. It's our culture. Even those among us who seem most self-confident most self-assured are often desperately addicted2success that work in order to feel good about themselves. Or they need their kids to get straight a's in order to feel good about themselves. Or need to be told how young they look for their age in order to feel good about themselves. Take away those external bolsters and they wouldn't even know who they are anymore. We crowdsource our worth and dignity. I'm all we have parenting books to help keep our kids off this treadmill. Many of us have no idea how to get off of it ourselves. In buddhist mythology there is a story of a being called the hungry ghost. Who has a really big belly but i really skinny neck only big enough for a needle. He wants to eat and feel full but no matter how much he eats he can't do it he's always hungry. Tick not han teaches that we all have a little bit of the hungry ghost within us. We have those restless anxiety that we should always be doing something differently having something more being something else. And the hunger is never sated. He writes. When we feel disconnected with our source of life. With our ancestors. With our traditional values we begin to wither and the, hungry ghost. Going around and looking for something to help us revive. Looking for a source of vitality again. Someone who is alienated feels that he or she is a separate entity that has no connection with anyone. There's no real communication between him and her with the sky with the earth with other human being including his father her mother brother sister and so on. Those who feel cut off like that have to learn how to practice so that they will feel connected again with life. But the source of life. That has brought him or her there. Tick not han remote recommended kind of mindfulness meditation practice to help us reconnect with the source of life. To fill our hunger from the inside rather than the outside. To practice we slowly release the illusion that achievement and approval will make us happy. For those of us who are more religiously inclined prayer is the same idea. Well prayer doesn't seem to be very effective at directly changing the outside world. It's extremely effective at changing the inside world in prayer we connect with the ultimate source of worth and dignity the unconditional love that are universalists theology teaches we invited into our souls and as that holy presence grows within us we gain and unshakeable confidence. The importance of social achievements and approval slowly shrink. Whether it's meditation prayer or some other spiritual practice the key is to be intentional about it you have to practice literally every day if you want to have any hope of counteracting the powerful social messages that we receive in our crowdsourced world. But what if you are successful attractive healthy. Smart and you feel pretty darn sexy most of the time. What is that what is that reward loop. Of social approval and self-image actually works in your favor. You're happy. Why should you be motivated to pray and meditate and work hard to change that. Why should you unplug from that yummy dopamine drip. I'll tell you why. Regardless of whether you got real happiness or not. It's more than just your happiness that's at stake. It's your ability to be trustworthy. And keep your promises. And to act ethically and compassionately in the world. By extension what's at stake is the well-being of everyone and everything that you love. Because let's say that in order to believe in your own value. You need to maintain your untarnished legacy as head football coach at a division 1 university and you get worried that an assistant coach may be molesting children. What are you going to do. Let's say that in order to believe in your own value you need the approval of other parents in your button-down suburban connecticut town and your young son wants to wear a dress to school. What are you going to do. Let's say that in order to believe in your own value you need success at your job as a high-level advertising executive. And you get offered the big philip morris account in central america. Selling single cigarettes to impoverished smokers to keep them addicted to nicotine. What are you going to do. Someone whose sense of self-worth is crowdsourced can actually be dangerous. They simply don't have the spine. To make the hard decisions that have to be made in this world. It's incumbent. But all of us to grow that's fine through our faith. Luckily universalism makes a promise to us that makes that spine possible. That we are all ultimately love. And accepted by god and the universe exactly as we are. We are all journeying toward its loving embrace no one is left out no one is refused not even for murder much less for a bad hair day. Are inherent worth is inalienable and sacrosanct. And so we can feed the hungry ghost on this promise through practice. Finally a square meal. I urge all of us to make this practice a priority. To find our true source of self-esteem and go hungry no longer so that we can come to feel full and whole just as we are not because of any praise or accomplishments but just cuz. Now final him is how could anyone don't know the number i don't have it up here 5353 53.

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The-Seventh-Day-Of-Creation.m4a

I love computer programmer derek sivers idea for hacking the consumer system he writes i'd like to get 100 parrots and teach them to say it won't make you happy and then let them loose and shopping malls big electronic stores and car lots then when people are considering spending thousands of dollars on a giant tv or going deeply in debt with a new car that's surprising squawk might shock them back to their senses. Leave it to a computer programmer to think that the virus like this. I might also take the parents to give the shoppers a more positive message you had enough. You are enough. You have enough you are enough maybe a project for another time so here we are on the 7th and final day of the creation story the seventh day. A creation of kind of a paradox because in the story on the 7th day nothing is actually created. Find each other day some new aspect of reality is spoken into being. On the first day its life and the regularity of time out of a chaotic watery chaos on the second day space is created with a delegate porous boundary separating it from the waters. I'm the third day and land shows up with plants that carry their seed within them. On the fourth day the sun and the moon and the stars appear glowing in the sky. On the fifth day it's birds and fish. On the sixth day land animals and humans with a spectacular explosion of diversity but the 7th day starts out the heavens and the earth were finished and all that god doesn't speak anything into existence in fact god doesn't speak at all. And the rest of the description of the day is just said god had finished the work and c-store wrested from the work and then god bless the day and made it holy because on that day god had seized from the creative work that god had done. Does all this redundancy and overlap between ceasing and finishing and resting and flashing and stopping and making holy but nothing actually happens. Do i even have a seventh day of creation the creation was done after 6. Why not just have a 6-day week. And if any day was going to get a special blessing from god if any day was going to be declared holy when you think it should be a day when something really important happened. Like maybe the first day when god made that first metaphysical incision into the void or maybe the sixth day. When humans are created. Shouldn't be a big deal. But no the day that is declared most special is the day on which nothing happens at all. It might be useful to look at what happens next in the story. The very next event in genesis after the seventh day when god rest. Is the god makes the world all over again. In an entirely different way. It's like somebody hit a cosmic reset button this time god makes the sky on the earth first but there are no plants and no rain yet god takes some of the earth and blows into it breathed into it to create the first earthwing. God plants the garden of eating. The garden of pleasure with fabulous fruit trees and four rivers to water the garden and puts the earthwing in the garden. It's a very different tone from the first creation story. More relational. More sensual. So after the first 6 days. Turns out god wasn't really finished at all. It says the heavens and the earth were finished and all their array but the entire rest of the torah. Goliath.. Everything we've been reading about all these months all this deep rich myth about the creation of the universe. Amounts to just. The first. The first draft is what's finished. God decides that the draft is complete. Good enough for now takes a breath takes a step back. Looks at it all. And then. That's right back in. And construct reality. Differently. In the story humans are created in the image of god. And in many ways we are like the god of the story creative procreative active. We continually build on the foundations we have laid the day before. We are good at doing stuff altering the world through building and writing and speaking and cleaning and fighting and shopping and tweeting and retweeting. But later in the torah humans are taught to mirror god not only in that creative work but in the rhythm of work and rest as well. The worst part of life we have down the rest part is a little more elusive. The whole of american culture and certainly the american economy. Is built on the idea that you always need to keep working or keep consuming. You have to keep improving yourself in one way or another you got to advance your career you've got to get your kids ahead you got to look better workout tomorrow get a new widget for the kitchen get a build a better mousetrap. There's an urgency. A feeling that there's never enough time and you can never do enough we all feel it to some degree. The creation story is a powerful antidote to this culture of more. It's unequivocally celebrate. The six days of creative work. The work-product is declared good. And then. In the space of that one in between day. The absence of activity. In the stillness. And the quiet. Of the season. The universe is allowed to simply be. The world can breathe. Dream. Cry. The heart can simply. No expectations. No blame. No striving. No improvements need to be made. That can all come later. For the moment existence itself. Is enough. And that. Enoughness. That. Samsung welcoming silence. Is what. God. Declares holy. You have enough. You are enough. You have enough. You are enough. This is not to say that our work is ever really done. It's never complete it certainly never perfect. In the creation story even god's work is not done after 6 days guards god starts all over again the next week with a whole new paradigm. The first six days were basically a decent first pass. At the end of each day looking at each new creation the text says and god saw that it was good it doesn't say that it was perfect it said it was good the closest guess is very good on the sixth day. I don't think this is just semantics. I think this is a powerful teaching here that even though everything that we do in a week. Is imperfect and unfinished we life god get to declare the work done. And cease. Our life is a giraffe. And once a week. We got to declare it a finished draft. It's a real gift when we can let go of the attachment to how things are matching up with some idea of how they should be whatever we did last week next week is another ground floor opportunity to try again we can keep working on our life soon. Let me experience it this way the sabbath has a kind of a buddhist sensibility to it. And buddhism you practice and meditate trying to get to a place of not trying. There's a stillness in the center where you can shed all of your striving and your identities. You get to return to the place where everything is okay. Just the way it is. I remember hearing a story about a group of elite buddhist monks who lived in a monastery high up in the mountains. There were no into the high-level practitioners even bodhisattvas on their way to enlightenment what a visitor came to learn. Their practices she asked so what are you do. To chad you meditate you pray do you make my dollaz do you fast what and the monks just laughed and said oh we used to but we gave that stuff up a long time ago around and let god love us. How delicious. To have one day a week to just sit around and let god love us. Or if god isn't your language for it. One day a week when we can just let all the goodness of life. Soak in. Enjoy all the simple gifts with which the universe has already showered us. One day a week. For gratitude. For all that we already have. Most importantly one-day-a-week to bask in the light of whatever glows with unconditional maternal love. For some maybe it's a biological mother. Forefather. For the memory of them. An adoptive mother or father maybe it's a teacher. A relative a community like this one. For some maybe it's god. Borgata. For an angel. There are so many kinds of mothers. Whatever represents for you the maternal nurturing energy of life. Go there. And hear the voice that says whatever you have or haven't done this week. I still love you. My mother's day is that it's best if this love that we celebrate. You may have heard the story of the author is joseph heller and kurt vonnegut talking together at the lavish party of a rich hedge fund manager kurt vonnegut says you know the guy who owns this mansion probably made more money this week. Then you did in your entire career through your sales of one flew over the cuckoo's nest and joseph heller replies but i have something that he will never have. What's up at spawn again. Enough. That hitler. So here we are at the end of this jazz and art and dance comparative fused journey through the seven days of creation. Landing on mother's day. And we've discovered that sadly humans are not the climax of creation. Apologies to those of you whose mother told you that you personally were the climax of creation story happens on the 7th day when nothing happens. And when something is yet created after all. Enough. That feeling of enough. Is truly the holiest. Most sacred most delicious thing whenever we encounter it. It's a holiest thing. To say i've done the best i can this week. And let it go. It's the holiest thing. Remington step far enough outside of our lives. To be able to take a breath. Take a fresh look and like god making the world for a second time in the story come back and construct reality in a different way it's the holiest thing when we're blessed with a parrot on our shoulder saying to us you have enough you are enough you have enough you are enough please rise and body or spirit.

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Press-1-For-English-.m4a

So a new boycott of coca-cola is brewing. You may have heard. Not because of their water usage and drought-stricken third world countries are bribing the american academy of pediatric dentistry to come out and say that it's not really clear that poke is bad for kids teeth. Not because of their environmental record or their labor record. No this boycott would be because coca-cola ran an ad during the super bowl in which america the beautiful was song in several different languages. It also showed two men who are obviously a couple. You may have seen this ad and you may have heard about the conservative uproar afterwards. Apparently it was a slap in the face to america. And pushing multiculturalism down our throats dumb and said that this ad was a sign that america is on the road to perdition. Someone tweeted. Coca-cola is now the official soft drink of illegals crossing the border. A former congressman complained it started out rather patriotically with the words of america the beautiful. Then the words when from english to languages i didn't recognize. Stephen colbert commented it's bad once represented florida and then served anoroc how is he supposed to recognize spanish and arabic has power and everybody knows it definitely our language. This is why language repression is one of the primary tools used by dominant cultures to control minority cultures. We've seen it. Throughout history all over the world. We saw it in lithuania when the russian empire forbade writing or speaking in lithuanian. Rescinded and quebec. Where the government suppress the aboriginal languages of create and mi'kmaq and others. We're seeing it in tibet where the chinese government set up chinese only schools and forbade instruction. In tibetan. And racine conservit in the u.s. today. Tom tancredo who's running for governor in colorado has said that we need to seal off the border entirely for a. of time let no one in. Until all the immigrants who are currently here. Have been thoroughly assimilated into american culture how will we know when they've assimilated. He says when we are on the phone call to a customer service line and we no longer have to press 1 for english and 24 any other language. That's when we'll know. 31 states have declared english as their official language miss currently a bill in the house called the english language unity act of 2013 that would make english the official language of the united states. This means that it would be illegal to provide federal forms or perform any public services in languages other than english. The aclu has stated that this would literally endanger lives of american citizens. If you can't read and understand and speak english close to fluently you'll be effectively disenfranchised and unable to access public health services. The message is clear. Speak english. Or disappear. The larger message is also clear that languages. Can be dangerous. The knowledge of the dangerous power of language dates back at least to the ancient myth of the tower of babel. God had created humans in the story and given them language. But now god's little beings were getting minds of their own becoming more ambitious and starting to challenge their creator. God's credit allowed but they have too much power and now nothing they scheme to do will be precluded from them. So god took down there erected tower. Simply by destroying their language. God had given humans language to empower them. And destroyed their language to disempower them. Whether or not this is a true story that literally happened doesn't matter what does matter is the basic truth about the power of language. I want to add another layer of mythology to this tower of babel story this is not in the hebrew bible this is just my own concoction but i think it gets an amazing that's quite possibly and plaid in that story. I'm trying to imagine if this were a true story what this language would have been that everybody spoke before god battle of the languages. I'm feeling it wasn't english. I imagine with this language was some kind of primordial meta language. It contained infinite words it has the capacity to express every possibility in the universe it was the language of pure unmediated expression. With this primordial language came perfect communication and perfect understanding. It was the language in which god would have said. Let there be light. And there was light. It had the power to create. It was the language of god. Again this is my own invention here but going with it for a second this would have been why god was so stressed out in the story. It wasn't the people we're going to be able to build a tower because they could say please pass the hammer. To one another. It was because with their internet lexicon the people had infinite power. God says here there one people and they all have one language and now nothing they scheme to do will be precluded from them. This is true on any level at all in any way at all. Why all the fuss today about letting other languages and you think that would be a good thing you think we'd want to regroup somehow. Why are people so threatened by languages they experience as farhan. Does anyone really fear that english is going to go away. What's the big deal about having to press an extra button on your touch tone phone. Obviously this issue touches a nerve that goes much much deeper. It's not about convenience it's not about the survival of english. It's about tower. When you have to press 1 for english. It forces you. Just for a split second. To admit that you are speaking. A language. One among many. This may seem like a small thing but it's actually huge. We live in a country where many of us have the privilege of assuming that's the way we talk and live as simply the way it is it's just normal it's default. Other ways of being in the world deviate from that norm in ways that are exotic or quaint or annoying. We are the norm. We teach our children the table is called a table. Rarely thinking about the fact that the word table is only one possible symbol for that four-legged object and the really it's only a minority of people in this world who refer to it as a table. We think of teaching our children to speak not teaching our children to speak english. Because of the dominance of american culture worldwide we have the luxury of forgetting that we are speaking a language. One of my many. My three-year-old son asked me yesterday what english. I was really hard to explain. When you have to press 1 for english it relativize has your universe. If what you speak everyday is just a language one of my many. Been so to your worldview is just one among many. Your religion one among many your sexual practices one among many your moral code one among many your lifestyle one among many. Your right to live your life exists right alongside of everybody else's right to live theirs. On some deep level. Pressing 14 english triggers all of these realizations and this can be either deeply threatening. Or just appropriately humbling. It reminds us that we are all somehow children of the tower of babel. I learn to speak french when i was little at the same time as i learn to speak english. My parents were francophiles they had me born in france and they wanted me to learn french and english at the same time. And a wonderful gift of this to me with not so much that i learned how to speak french but i pretty much forgotten it all by now. But the real gift. But i learned that whenever i spoke. I was speaking one language or the other. Always speaking the language i grew up understanding that when i expressed myself that expression always came through a filter of language a filter of one color or another there's no such thing as no filter when it comes to language that primordial metalanguage is gone if it ever existed to begin with the language we speak is never neutral. It's always particular. And a color is what we stay and even how we think every moment of the day. It's pretty common knowledge that some languages can express concept that simply can't be expressed in other languages some native american language systems place little emphasis on time or verb tense others make little differentiation between nouns and verbs can you even imagine. But that would mean for a language and not differentiate between nouns and verbs. Senator lee different way of thinking. Yet we destroy languages all the time. Most of the native american languages are now endangered or extinct due to the destruction of the native communities by european colonists. In my enhanced version of the tower of babel story when god battles the languages. That primordial meadow language was divided up like a pie. A nice group of people only got one slice. A subset of the original. Each people with left with a language that can only express partial truth but gave only partial understanding that was incomplete and itself and incomplete and its power. It was not simply the people couldn't understand each other that made it impossible for them to finish the tower. They couldn't understand anything as well as they could before. Certain concepts certain ways of thinking we're now unavailable to one group and only available to another group. I believe that each culture with its language has a piece of that original pie. Perfect complete language. We will only come close to achieving pure wisdom real wisdom by assembling all the pieces. When we genuinely embrace all the rich diversity that humanity has to offer. Then we can teach each other our languages use many languages many ways of seeing and knowing as the building blocks of our tower. We need. All those different ways of thinking. We need to be able to see the world through different lenses. Our survival as a species depends upon it. I don't know that coca-cola is the best standard-bearer for this vision. But my prayer for this country is it someday we will sing together in many languages. I pray that we will welcome the wisdom of all dimensions of human experience. They will reject attempts to promote assimilation and make our world and our that we will instead learn new languages. Teach you languages to our children. And practice humility as we go about our day knowing that whenever we open our mouths to speak. We are speaking. Hey language. One among many. There's only so much that we can do and say. Let's great for me press 1 for english. Reminder that our culture and worldview is just one and we need them all. Then we'll build our human power to the sky. That nothing we scheme to do will be precluded. From us.

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The-Religious-Counterculture-.m4a

High school teacher of mine used to love to entertain his classes by rattling off list of oxymorons. Pretty ugly. Jumbo shrimp. Constant variable. Sometimes he would take the opportunity to editorialize a little military intelligence. Airplane food. Liberal religion. Everybody with smirk and the class would go on the joke of course was a liberal religion couldn't really exist because liberals are not religious and religious people are definitely not liberal. As if everybody knows there's an inverse correlation between liberalism and religiosity. The more liberal you are the less religious you are. To the vanishing point. I was told recently not as a joke about a synagogue here in new york city that's so liberal and no one ever goes was not told as a joke. And of course as with most jokes and stereotypes there is some truth to it. If you look at any of the traditional markers of religiosity. We religious liberals are less religious. Religious jews will keep kosher. Religious catholics will go to confession regularly. Religious muslims. everything they're doing and pray five times a day. What do religious unitarian universalist do. Nothing. Nothing collectively at least. As religions have liberalize and modernize over the years communal religious practices have simply fallen away. I want to argue that beyond just making us the butt of jokes for high school teachers this has really cost us. It's a well-known fact that religious congregations especially liberal ones have been hemorrhaging congregants of late theological updates have done nothing to help. Unitarian universalism arguably the most updated has shrunk relative to the population every year for the last 10 and shrunk and absolute numbers every year for the last five. No i'm not saying that liberalization causes people to flee. But it's clearly not enough to keep them. Something else is missing. We keep trying to get more and more liberal thinking the bats with needed to keep moderns engaged in religious life but it's not enough. The problem as i see it is not that liberal religion isn't liberal enough. The problem is that it's not religious enough. We've updated our theology but instead of updated our religious practices to match. We just dropped them. I believe that if we had religious practices that reflected our religious ideal we would become a force. To be reckoned with. And our lives would look quite different than they look now. Because our theology and visions of world that is quite different from how it is now. Are unitarian theology envisions a world where we are all one with our brothers and sisters of all species and one great interdependent web. Are universalists theology and visions the world of boundless love and compassion where nobody is excluded from the table not based on how you look not based on whom you love not based on how much money you make. We envision a world in which everyone's worth and dignity is honored. Where violence and hunger are relics of the past. Where the powerful share their power. Amber love and compassion. Are the bottom line. Did you compare this vision to the world that we actually live in. Our theology is deeply countercultural. Our religious practices are to be as well. In response to our wounded world. We need to build a religious counterculture. The i'm not easily starstruck. But there is one minor celebrity by home i'm kind of dazzled. Mayim bialik. She plays amy farrah fowler in the big bang theory i've never actually seen the show but that's beside the point. She is an observant jew who keeps the sabbath and who keeps kosher. She's a vegan who says that she prepared vegan food for her family to teach your kids how to take care of the earth. So she has to prepare kosher vegan food. Cheers to jewish modesty laws in her dress. And this is no small feat for a woman who makes her living. In hollywood. The modesty issue came to a head as she prepared to attend the emmys for the first time a few years ago. She needed to find a dress that covered her elbows and her knees and her collarbone and was not too tight and of course was gorgeous enough for the red carpet. This quest for this perfect dress became very public as she wrote about it and all of her various blogs and columns. She called the quest. Operation hot and holy. We may disagree with a tradition that requires this kind of modesty but you got to admire somebody who takes her religious values so seriously that she is willing to withstand substantial social pressure. If women in our culture normally feel pressure to dress in revealing clothing. The pressure must be a hundred fold that big industry events like the emmys. But she's operation hot and holy mission accomplished and afterwards the blogosphere was bursting with women jewish and non-jewish alike. Thanking her for her courage and so publicly contesting the cultural rules of how women are supposed to look. Do we unitarian universalist similarly experienced a tension between our religious values and the values of the secular world. If not. Why not. Cm should be enormous tension. We should feel it in every decision we make. We should feel it when we go to the grocery store when we go to work. When we speak to a child. When and if we watch tv. Until our religious ideals are realized we should not be able to fit comfortably into this world. The questions of to what extent and in what ways we should participate in dominant culture should keep us up at night. As reverend martin luther king junior road there are some things in our social system to which all of us ought to be maladjusted. This is a thing that i return to again and again in my ministry i preached a version of this sermon at all souls and manhattan a version was published into coon magazine and a new uworld last year. I believe that this world desperately need people who are both very liberal and very religious. And who are there for maladjusted. Of course i didn't invent this idea religious communities have almost always started out countercultural. Teachers across the millennia have taught us to renounce the false idols of the secular world. The early christian community described in the book of acts is a perfect example. The story goes that people were so inspired. By the teachings of jesus that they completely broke from their social contacts. It says they were all filled with the holy spirit and spoke the word of god with boldness. Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions. But everything they owned was held in common. The great grace was upon them all there was not a needy person among them. For as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. This is christian scripture. Being a christian was not initially seen as compatible with living a normal life working a normal job or even owning land. To be a christian was to have an entirely different understanding of what it means to be human. These early christians were exerting an alternative vision of how people can live together. In community. Think of the kibbutz movement in israel. Ashrams in india. The same theme has appeared repeatedly in different forms through different religions at different times throughout history. But sadly the trajectory of these movement is almost always wind of decline. The commitment fades. The momentum fizzles the teachings ossify. Overtime people find it too hard to stand alienated from the lives they once knew. The sacrifices are too great. We all want to be able to look fabulous walking down the red carpet. And so religion loses its radical edge as its institutions become ensconced in mainstream society. James luther adams the same as 20th century unitarian minister had harsh words to say about what he saw as our slide down this familiar slope. He wrote. The element of commitment of change of hearts of decision so much emphasizing the gospel has been neglected by religious liberalism and that is the prime source if it's enfeeblement. We liberals are largely an uncommitted and therefore self frustrating people. Our first task then is to restore to liberalism its own dynamic and its own prophetic genius. A holy community must be a militant community with its own explicit face. And this explicit faith cannot be engendered without disciplines that shaped the ethos of the group. Adams is saying that our failure to embody a religious counterculture is the primary source of our enfeeblement. In contemporary terms this is why unitarian universalism is losing members and why the religious left doesn't have the power that the religious right does. We're liberal about our liberalism. We take our religious commitments to lightly measuring them against the secular understanding of what's reasonable. This i believe is our tragic flaw. That leaves us adrift. And our congregations lindell. There is another road. Other than traditional religious observance on one hand and watered-down religion on the other. We can become religiously observant liberals what would the world look like religious liberals became serious and observant institutions together and radically disengage from social and economic structures every week. What if we engaged in serious study of our spiritual tests and heritage. Had applied their lessons to the issues of today. What if we began lobbying on religious grounds for environmental stewardship. What if those of us who have high paying jobs refused to accept a salary that was more than seven times with the lowest paid workers and our organizations make. Unexplained it's because we're really religious unitarian universalist. What if we only a food that was sustainably-grown. Humanely raised. And for which the farm workers were paid a living wage and we explain even though this ruled out most of the food that we currently eight. Which planes were outraged children. It's because in this family we are really religious unitarian universalist. What if straight couples refuse to get married until there was marriage equality for everyone and explain to their disappointed parents it's because we are really religious unitarian universalist. What if we stopped to pray 235 times a day to keep ourselves oriented toward our highest ideals. This is not a call from moral or spiritual perfection but rather for all of us to think of religion as central to our lives. We don't need to retreat from modern life as much as to live in counterpoint with it. Continuing to embrace all that is good and that is joyful. There will be tension as we negotiate our desire to simply participate as normal people in the society. We'll hear ourselves saying. Can i just enjoy a friggin cheeseburger. We've naturally want to succeed in this world we want to make money we want to have fun we don't want to be freaks we want to feel accepted. We want to be not only holy but hot to. Even mayim bialik wondered aloud whether god would really mind so much if maybe just her left arm were exposed. The struggle is a holy struggle. The important thing is not that would be perfect but that we engage with the tension. And this is why we need each other. We're not there yet but i believe if i redeploying traditional religious discipline in the service of our ideals. We will find our gravitational center. Our connection to our own god energy and spiritual core will deepen as our lives take on a religious orientation. Rebuild internal coherence and integrity. We'll start taking ourselves seriously as religious people and everyone else will start to take us seriously as well. Our numbers will grow. Our influence will grow. We have a unique opportunity right now i believe that we could form a religious counterculture that changes the world. My old high-school teacher will just have to find a new oxymoron for his list because liberal religion. But no longer. A joke. Our final ham is this little light of mine please rise and body or spirit number 118.

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Be-It-Resolved-Shari-Halliday-Quan.m4a

Many years ago i lived for a couple of years in a village in east africa and their eye focus in part on water purification projects other peace corps volunteers and my family and friends at home couldn't understand why it was so difficult for people to just treat their water it's really annoying to have to boil your water or treat it every time you want to get a drink or cook for do laundry or do anything that involves water. It's a lot harder than people make it out to be. And it's also pretty hard to treat water if you don't know that it's making you sick. If for whatever reason. You don't want to believe that every year in june thousands of unitarian universalist from around the country and beyond together for denominations general assembly you heard today that we're having a cook-off in a couple of weeks to raise money to send delegates and religious professionals from all over gather together to worship to be in fellowship. And to learn more about how to do our work better in our churches and in the world. We also get together for the express purpose of conducting through the democratic process the business of the unitarian universalist association. A lot like our annual meeting or congregational meetings in general hear it first you and you can imagine what a national or international congregational meeting is like for those of you who worry about the meeting running into lunch just know that this meeting takes 5 days the agenda includes various business items things like changes to the bylaws or reports from various committees. And it also includes most years a few statements of conscience that the group votes on these actions of immediate witness are meant to be expressions of our solidarity with various social justice issues. Solidarity affirmed by this particular gathering in this particular city in this particular year and in recent years delegates have adopted statements about building solidarity with our muslim neighbors standing with indigenous people on climate justice issues protecting and supporting transgender people demanding closure of immigration detention centers. Annoyingly congress does not then immediately adopt these statements as the law of the land also knowingly the statements don't find our members are congregation or our association to funding or programming. They are statements. Some delegates will bring them back to their home congregations we do this at first you and people will vote to affirm them but in essence their words on a page. As such the statements the whole process the time and energy that goes into it sometimes are criticized for being merely symbolic maybe that's time it could be better spent doing something else. But as a community we generally think that words are important we like to listen to them we especially like to speak them we know that they're powerful we know that there are harmful repercussions of derogatory and dismissive words from the playground or the pulpit or the president-elect's twitter account we also know that we find comfort and strength and inspiration in poetry and speeches. These statements are professions of our religious convictions these public statements are meant to urge unitarian universalist to further action in 2015 working together with drum the diverse revolutionary unitarian universalist multicultural ministries organization basically the organization for you and delighted completely charmed that high schoolers wanted or willing to say the words black lives matter. Options intermediate witness entered into the general debate usually with two or three amendments unitarian-universalist like two words math but in this particular case this came to general debate with 14 amendments people simply didn't like the way it was written and the debate went on for 2 hours it was filled with emotion and descended into ever increasingly complicated procedural. I grew up in la where we have the world-famous carpets and to be quite honest i don't know if these are world-famous i don't know if people know i don't know if you know about them but this is la so everything is famous and i love the tar pits i went a lot as a child and when you walk in there are statues of woolly mammoths a parent and a child and they're stuck in the tar they are determined but they're stuck and they will be slowly overtaking and the look of terror on their faces is clear that's what that room felt like as a conversation went on and on that was what the room felt like when the ushers were hand recounting a vote about a vote about whether or not we should take a vote on the amendment to the statement as various amendments dragged on. You're later we gathered again at general assembly this time in columbus ohio well most of us you get paid to do this sort of thing attend almost every year mostly l most congregational members only go once every few years at most so most of the people at general assembly in 2016 in 2015. It was too hard on us the easy thing of being staff members and working from morning to midnight and when your staff member you can't go to everything you can't go to everything no matter who you are because lots of things happen at the same time so these numbers they weren't able to go to the black lives of uu workshop track for a sample. And while the words in the music were inspiring. It's actually more like a celebration than a call-to-action the youth long-sleeve reaction of the previous year when after the passage of the statement hundreds of you use and partners from the community walked out of the business meeting and onto the streets of portland in protest that was a witness this was a concert i heard a lot of the youth say. The doubts and concerns only grew when in the business meetings they repeatedly mentioned black last year's black lives matter statement. But. Didn't mention hustling the margin was they didn't really mention how much controversy it stirred or. How much pain and divisiveness there was in that room. Naomi shihab nye tells us that so much of any year is flammable. Heating service times for that matter might seem interminable but most of our time the poet tells us is a quick dance a shuffle of losses and leaves most of the people in the room in columbus for celebrated for their work but in the perceived absence of ongoing racial justice efforts that stretched unitarian universalist these felt like there. After heated exchanges of the previous year the things that didn't happen the things that the poet and many of us didn't do still crackle after the blazing dies despite my mandate as a chaplain to the youth i could not and would not pour water over the crackling of anger and hurt and discomfort about things that almost happened but didn't. Despite every intention to relax him stay out of the spotlight. Thieves took ^ words again in a series of emergency meetings between youth leaders and allies these drafted or sponsor resolution to introduce at the week's final general session. It reads in part. Whereas the action of immediate witness support the black lives matter movement was passed by the general assembly in 2015 whereas the black lives matter aiaw has been frequently referenced as satisfactory proof of our progress towards racial justice therefore be it resolved resolved on the board staff congregational and denominational responses to black lives matter and particularly examine the year-to-year growth in these responses at general assembly 2017 2018 and 2019. I'm not often inspired by the old speak parliamentary procedure is not really my thing but this resolution was powerful it was a heck of a resolution it was something that a lot of us don't bother to do of course this is the time for making resolutions and out of curiosity i'd like to know how many of you have made a new year's resolution. And. Others of us have real hopes big hopes for the world but maybe feel like calling a resolution feels trivial. Or and this is probably the biggest reason it's reason i'm guessing many of you don't bother to make resolutions we don't think they work we tried in the past and by february last year we need to move forward and look to the future. The formula is because of this and this and this therefore this we will do something differently. I don't necessarily think that we need to incorporate more legal governance speak into our personal lives but for those of us who are against resolutions we might take a lesson from this year's resolutions and forget the past when we've more honestly assess where we're coming from that resolution to exercise more comes with a recognition that you haven't exercised since high school when you were on the basketball team so maybe.

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GF2017.m4a

Worldwide the central icon of christianity is the cross yet there is considerable ability and it's formed the eastern orthodox and roman catholic church has been rate the crucifix the call with the body of jesus fix to it while most protestants use an empty cross that suggest resurrection. Even empty crosses vary widely from the patriarchal cross with its three bars. The coptic cross with a sloop top to the celtic cross with a radiant circle at its center. Woody's manifold form signal to me if the universal import of a cross. In the most diverse of global christian traditions people are still required to make some sense of its meaning. Inevitably that leaves questions to reflection on the horrendous event of good friday. Which brings us precisely to where we are today. All together now. Hush and advantage church sanctuary. Punctuated with it empty lightning crosses. Commemorating the crucifixion of jesus of nazareth by romans millennia ago. And simultaneously preparing ourselves for the holy rite of communion it's not unusual juxtaposition surely but the first unitarian society in brooklyn is unusual place those unitarian and universalist who still celebrate an annual or occasional communion tend to be rather shy about the cross there is often a simple wooden one humbly standing on a pedestal and it's likely kept in the same closet at the communion silver with which is been virtually paired. When the filter has been polished maybe by church deacon such as ours the communion table gets that and if centerpiece becomes that simple cross free-standing in solitary. Of course that entire tableau is intended to symbolize our participation in worldwide communion and we do just that we participate it's a profound and beautiful religious practice i have a deep fondness for it myself. But lately a single solitary cross has begun justine conspicuous to me. Because jesus of nazareth was not crucified of them all the gospels agree on that. A minimum when he was crucified with two men although it may actually been dozens for scores more and luke's gospel account your told only that jesus was crucified between two criminals. Christian laura has dug these two as the one good or happy feet. And if you ever see the one who is neither these are peculiar labels because it's impossible to imagine how anyone might bear up well let alone happily under the public torment of state-sponsored terrorism and mass execution that we know of call crucifixion. According to luke the unhappy criminal drawings roman soldiers and community leaders in heckling jesus taunting but he should be his own savior if indeed he has any saving power at all. Jesus did not respond the criminal but the good thief.. Do you not fear god he asks him for you under the same sentence of condemnation. Jesus has already pray that god his heavenly father forgive the people clamoring at his crucifixion those relishing the sadistic spectacle of a cruel death. Jesus declares. They know not what they do. The other good dstreams understand precisely what people are doing into want hanging from a crossed himself interrupt the mercilessness of it all he says jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom. As best i understand that the kingdom of god that jesus both lived and died for is a realm of remembrance. His earthly ministries always involve him remembering those who society would literally and figuratively dismember the blind and elaine the adulteress in the prostituted the samaritan and the canaanite alike but jesus remembers the least of these the most despised and in doing so challenged is the prevailing thought is time a firmly held belief that those same people who suffered the most were most assuredly sinful. But they deserve to be set apart and isolated. The good thief challenges this thinking too when he tells the unhappy criminal this man has done nothing wrong and his gospel luke calls the men criminals that we know nothing of the charges that have been brought against them. Jesus was condemned as an insurrectionist. A threat to the established order nevermind that that order was a brutal one that your dad was an occupied territory at the outer reaches of a ruthless empire living under martial law and fearing for its very survival almost every offense was punishable by death at the hands of the roman legion and those criminals and either side of jesus might have been mother's but they might have easily been petty thieves we will never know. But today we will remember those criminals alongside jesus we will commemorate good friday with an opening knowledge man of the scope of suffering in our world and this present-day is utterly staggering much as it ever has them. And it's so much of a suffering is done. The reverend carl scoville a unitarian universalist minister who occupied the king's chapel pulpit four-decade lamented that the real cursive the real crucifixion. That mystery of self emulating compassion. My spirit lived again and again and each and every generation in the big murders and a small fry little christ. Those so-called small-fry little christ open top-of-mind for me lately because i cannot imagine us ever having a complete count of them. And i agree that they will not be remembered. Generation after generation. And his tally of the small fried little christ the reverend scoville included for american women. Three of them catholic nuns all doing relief work in el salvador who in 1980 were slaughtered by a salvadoran jeff claude. One of its victims maryknoll in michigan are named gene donovan considered leaving the country when the violence there became unchecked but she decided against it. Situation terrified her if she would have left explained in a surviving letter except for the poor bruised victims of this insanity. Who would care for them whose heart could be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing. Dusty of their tears and loneliness not mine. But the heart is gina donovan's is rare but ones as generous and faithful as her to continue beating in this world about that i have no doubt. But if something were to suddenly stop there beating would be over now. Perhaps not and this only magnifies the loss of our humanity. Nowadays in the better-known political resistance movement active in america black lives matter for instance for the women's march there is none insistence on shared leadership. It's a conscious rejection of the so-called big murderer model where a messianic figure a hero of the people becomes a spokesperson and almost immediately thereafter the target. Certainly key figures such as mahatma gandhi and dr. martin luther king bench history much as jesus christ did during the first century of our common era all of them proved and dignified alive of masses of downtrodden people. Yet each emerged as a leader of a large-scale spiritually alive anti-oppression movement a movement whose rank-and-file consisted of the committed and self-sacrificing small fry little christ be now work so very hard to recall. After jesus was crucified between us to feed all of his disciples those were chosen to follow him and his itinerant healing ministries. Were martyred for their beliefs one-by-one. Even at creative angela saint paul with probably be headed by roman centuries later. The christian traditions have a complicated and fraught sometimes and islay destroyed and disfiguring relationship to martyrdom. But they still found a clarion call courageous living. Gas is not the ultimate evil dr. king preached the ultimate evil is to be outside of god's love. Those who have grasped enormous scope of god's love and risking their lives among the small fry little christ the revenues gobble also includes seven chapter two months to refuse to abandon their abbey in algeria in the 1990s. Seven were subsequently kidnapped and killed anticipating that human self or become a victim of the islamic terrorism that had taken his adopted country hostage. One of the monks wrote a letter in which he forgave his future murderer it also extended this caveat to posterity associate my gas with so many violent ones which are forgotten to indifference and intimidate my life has no more value than there's no any less he concluded. Even facing his anticipated murderer this mug forge and unbreakable bond human fellowship writing you my last-minute friend. Will not have known what you were doing. Yes i want this thank you in a few to be for you to because in god's face i see yours. May we meet again as happy saved in paradise if it please god the father of us both a man and in sha allah. Intralox u-boat god willing. And that doesn't even seem to be the will of god will feel by jesus on the cross. According to luke the promise jesus makes the good thief is truly italian today you will be with me in paradise. Characters of the firm's but there are two share destiny jesus says nothing the unhappy criminal not because the man is left outside the scope of possible reconciliation but because the unhappy criminal is hard-hearted and lacks the ears to hear. We're here to listen. And this hour on this day the centrality of the cross in the christian tradition is a stark challenge to confront the reality of people suffering. And ultimately enanthate for us to confronted together as humans each of us has a market capacity for distancing ourselves from suffern. Rationalizing it justifying it defending against it or ignoring it altogether. Scared. We're afraid perhaps for potential contagion. We doubt the power of our solidarity in the face of it. Outside the church well outside the city usually outdoors and just in rural areas the cross often stands in a cluster of three. The tall one in the center standing for jesus the two flanking him representing those two thieves. It's historically accurate and socially contextualized and i find this configuration especially poignant lately during this time of remarkable polarisation across our country that cluster of three remind me that if we are not we are at least given the choice or the other. We can turn to a crucify christ the one nearest to us on this mortal plane and with all our hearts and with all our minds and with all our soul try to interrupt cruelty moment-by-moment with sincerest kindness. Having been your community minister for. Nearly a year now i know just how responsive unitarian universalist and brooklyn and beyond have been depressed and suffering. Whether it's by protesting racist italian new york marching on washington to reform women's rights or rounding at jfk international airport even in the middle of the night. As a flash response was unjust immigration ban. Facing a powerful backlash against globalization together we are asked to witness to a concern for suffering anywhere on us regardless of whether it occurs in latin america north africa ferguson missouri or the war-torn middle east of today. We recognize ourselves as rightful participants in this worldwide communion of a hurting humanity. We are called to be faithful nutranext that is no small task i know but a merciful and compassionate god requires of us. The next time you see any sort of cross remember this particular moral requirement it's across you see is a crucifix. Take a closer look at the posture of jesus. Customarily his head is tilted toward the right. Which some have suggested is his strength the right hand the hand of blushing meaning that in his death as well as in his life he blessed us other than that is headed to find in the general direction of the goodspeed the one who shows kindness his final co-conspirator in the greatest good may all of us here be sick as happiest he's bound and determined to live our lives in such a way that they eat prove worth dying for in the end. Let us drive to live in fully human fellowship trusting that we are always accompanied by that great communicate and the family of all souls knowing that we are never alone in our pain or sorrow. Not at any time but most especially not today. Please live in body or spirit and enjoy meeting our communion hymn number 45 and your gray hello memory of me.

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Loving-Thy-Neighbor.m4a

I don't dream often or at least i don't recall my dreams often when i wake up. But when i do dream my dreams are vivid and intense. They feel real. There's one pot strain that has really stayed with me. I had about 8 years ago before president obama was re-elected in my dream i'm at home and doing a quiet afternoon. Then i realized it's not so quiet there's a lot of commotion outside i go to my window to see a small parade of people. The group has drums and megaphones and sings champs their songs are against abortion gay marriage and president obama. Although they found lively fairchance are full of made-up facts and statistics. Are full of fear and hate. Some walk down the street passing my building. Other stop here in there after what seems like an hour of polite passive listening i can't take it anymore. I lead to the window and screen to the protesters get off my stoop and realize i have literally left out of bed and scream get off my stoop i'm out of bed cold and confused. Especially because i live on the second floor of an apartment building where there is no student i still find this dream telling of the fear and hateful protest become my dream came before the far-right neo-fascist organization the proud boys was established in 2016 it came before the charlottesville virginia unite the right rally in 2017. Which consisted of self-identifying white supremacist neo-nazis and klansman. I came before the many president trump led rallies that continued throughout our country. Edina terian universalist we often speak of the seven principles that we try to live by but rarely do we speak of the sources that they come from. Our fourth source comes from jewish and christian teachings it called us to respond to god's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves and the hebrew bible leviticus 19:2 or bear a grudge against any of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself i grew up in the catholic faith and ccd and during math i heard the teaching over and over again. It is embedded in my mind as an idealistic way of living love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It sounds simple enough. However i've always struggled with it what if i don't like my neighbor what if my neighbor doesn't like me. What is my neighbor is mean cruel or abusive. What if my neighbor is my bully. How can i let them. I love them. The new testament expands this idea and matthew chapter 5. But i say to you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. So let me get this straight. Not only do i have to love my neighbor who might not love me in return. I have to love and pray for my enemies. When i think about enemies to bullies come to mind. I made it through childhood okay but encountered my first bullies during my freshman year of undergrad. I shared a room with adelaide and we shared a suite with eight other freshmen. We all got along our first semester. But after winter break to rally the majority of our suitemates against me. I was no longer invited to study sessions. To watch our favorite tv shows. Or to group outings. My bully stop talking to me and went so far as to create a written language design for the sole purpose of talking about me on the suites announcement board. I experienced isolation and paranoia. My second bully was an ex-boyfriend. After three years together he showed a different side of himself one who was manipulative and intentionally cruel. I was prompted to ask permission to hang out with friends. I was encouraged to leave early when i spent time with family. Disbelieve lied cheated. Spied install. Well all along wearing a smile on his face. I experienced isolation and paranoia again. They're his gaslighting and stonewalling i question my reality and my sanity. I found myself in a constant state of doubt guilt. Confusion and insecurity. I experienced feeling unsafe in my own home. The second bully and part brought me here the first year. Now i would like to say that in my past experiences with enemies these beliefs or either mean people naysayers even competitors. That i love them and i pray for them but i did not. I didn't want to. And i may not have a lot of enemies but i do have a lot of neighbors we all do. And in love thy neighbor. As myself neighbor is understood as all people. The dictionary defines love as a strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties or affection based on admiration benevolence or common interest. For me it's easy to love someone that i admire how strong personal ties and common interests with. It is not easy to love someone i don't know or disagree with. Or worse someone who is mean to me without reason or makes my life miserable. Looking back at my dream when i yelled at those protesters walking past my apartment it was not out of love. Their views conflicted with mine. Despite understanding that they had a first amendment right to freedom of speech i didn't like it. I did not follow the motto if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. I did not try to kill them with kindness. I didn't even listen to michelle's obama michelle obama's when they go low we go high i did not say hey come sit with me on my stoop i would like to try to have a constructive with you and learn more about your perspective i feared their fear i hated their hatred. Likewise as i witnessed the latest racist protest rally march speech or text plaguing our country i'm not watching and love. I'm watching in frustration sadness fear and disbelief. Has james baldwin said to be a negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all of the time it is also still true today. But nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity martin luther king jr. today anti-semitic and transgender hate crimes are on the rise hate crimes targeting people of color muslims in the lgbtq community are still at unacceptable numbers the okay sign as no longer okay with the resurgence of white supremacy groups and unfortunately there's not been much movement on the mass incarceration of black people and come in a quality climate change and reproductive rights. Fear and hatred remain prominent in the us and the world today. And there's still a lot of bully. Between my husband and i we have 10 nieces and nephews. I know for sure at least half of them have been bullied the eldest is only 10 years old. At the same time one or two of them maybe doing the volume. So must i love all of my neighbors. Even those who are mean cruel or abusive. I don't think so. I don't think i should do something that feels and parently wrong where is the honesty and genuineness and that. At the same time i don't have any ill will towards my enemy neighbors. I don't have the desire or energy to fight hate with hate. And following the first principle of unitarian universalism i believe and then herent worth and dignity of all people. So although i may not be able to love all my neighbors i can pray for them. The older i get the more space i give myself for mistakes failure growth and love. I routinely check myself and i aim to be a better person. Maya angelou said do the best you can until you know better then when you know better do better so i can pray for all my neighbors to learn and grow and hope that they'll to do better.

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God-Taught-Me-How-To-Gargle1.m4a

A few weeks ago i was folding a sheet that i asked my three-year-old daughter miriam if she wanted to help me my knowledge she had never fold it is she's before but i thought it might be fun to try with her and she said sure and so she found the two corners of the sheet and brought them together and then immediately found the other corner and handed it back to me as if she have been doing this for decades and i said. She shrugged and said god taught me. God taught me how to gargle. And when i thought about it her testimonial really made perfect sense. Gargling is something so personal so interior so experiential it's really not something that somebody can teach you from the outside. You just have to kind of figure it out and yet his memory was not but she had just figured it out. Her memory was that god had taught her how to gargle. Her god must be like gargling. Interior. Experiential. Personal. And very real. God teaches her things from the inside that nobody could teach her from the outside. To her this is all very matter-of-fact and obvious. Three outside observer however in this case me this was an obvious at all. Is saying that god told you something just a fancy way of saying that you figured it out for yourself. Is there any real difference. Is there any active agent involved in the teaching. Is there anything beyond our ordinary self-involved at all. The distinction i'm wondering about here is not only between theism and atheism but between a mythopoetic worldview and a more rationalist worldview. But i say mythopoetic i made a spirituality that's rooted in mythology. In the best sense of the word as in sacred stories and traditions. And poetry meaning of the artistic the aesthetic the bells and smells. Everything is dense with meaning dripping with symbolism spiritual forces and made our lives. And god actually teaches you how to gargle. That's mythopoetic. A rationalist worldview on the other hand is cool scientific. Composed. It tries to examine the florid claims people make about religious experience and boil it down to some more easily digestible truth a universal truth. God didn't teach you you figured it out right. Religious liberals are known for being reductionist and exactly this way. Over the centuries. The mythopoetic understanding of religion has fallen away at least in in certain circles in favor of a more stripped-down rationalist understanding. We've moved from high church to load church although of course this particular sanctuary is as high church as any unitarian universalist sanctuary ever guess. He started out life as a catholic the ultimate world of bells and smells. As he grew up he found that he couldn't embrace sociology with these specific creedle claims about christ and the miracles and along with that he couldn't stomach the liturgical extravagance of it all the elaborate ritual designed to bypass the intellect. So he moved from catholicism to protestantism. He became a baptist minister here in the us where the theology and the liturgy were much stripped-down. Even here though he was too liberal for his congregation and they eventually tried him for heresy and kicked him out. Finally he found his home as the minister of a unitarian church back in prague. There he would preach in a plain wooden room as meghan describe plain wooden pews no music no art no ritual. He wouldn't wear a robe. Everyone witches show up on sunday mornings. He would lecture for some period of time and then they would all go home. That's it. Nothing liturgical to interfere with pure thought. Nothing sentimental or supernatural to sweep you away. Nothing involving one's body god forbid but the story goes and this story might be mythology and itself that this spartan religious existence was ultimately unsatisfying even for the reverend himself. It was depressing. He missed and he got that his congregation missed having something of beauty. Something rooted. Something symbolic. A ritual to join the community together. I'm so still thinking something democratic that spoke of people's uniqueness rather than conformity he asked his congregation to bring in and exchange flowers. It was a wild success and this tradition has been handed down and unitarian universalist congregation has ever since. Norbert capek story illustrates this anxiety that runs through much of liberal religion you see the pattern play out over and over again throughout history. People run screaming from the overly superstitious religious practices the god as a big white man with a beard the hierarchy of the church authority and liturgy we strip everything down to its bare essentials. And then. Return to feel empty and disconnected until we try to reclaim pieces of what we've lost based on nostalgia and a desire for beauty. There's a bit of a rebound. You might see might have seen this pattern in your own lives playing out and it is certainly playing out in unitarian-universalism today my sense is that the pendulum is swinging cautiously back. From a very heady humanism to a more spiritual mythopoetic sensibility. We don't live on bread alone we need bread and roses. Flowers have had mythopoetic residents since the very dawn of mythology and poetry. Think of the garden of eden story. You have this verdant fecund garden bursting with flowers and to nubile young people who are in direct conversation with a god who actually walks around in the very same garden. The humans live in ignorant bliss. They don't need to work they don't know the barenaked they don't know how good they have it. All of this knowledge is sealed in the fruit of a forbidden tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil they eat this forbidden fruit and their punishment is to be evicted from the garden. Now their eyes are open to the harsh world childbirth becomes painful. And they have to work for their food. They are alienated from god. The rationalist would say. Well that's a pretty story. But really it's just a decorative way of saying look when we're children we live in ignorant bliss if we're lucky. And then we make mistakes we grow up we have experiences and we fall from innocence. It's not that some god kicks you out of some flower garden it's just what happens it's a natural process. Child of god teaches you how to gargle you just do it. So this is the liberal religious project in a nutshell. The garden of eden story and story is like it as well as music and art are merely pretty renderings of universal principles. Buchanan should strip off the narrative clothing to reveal the true essence beneath. And it is for good reason in fact that religious liberals have undertaken this project. Religious mythology liturgy and discourse have carried seeds of violence and oppression through the generations. They reinforce the subservience of women and has affirmed a narrow-minded tribalism it's understandable that progressive people have wanted to shed all of the particulars of tradition in favor of a fresh start of rationalism and ethics. But the problem. With trying to surgically remove some universal message. From its mythopoetic contact is that it doesn't really work. When you rip a flower from the soil it dies. The wisdom is inextricably connected to the story in gruen. They're not separable. Ideas are always embedded in history in a particular time and place and aesthetic sensibility. They don't exist in a vacuum. Norbert chop explain woodend sanctuary didn't work. It lacked something. Acini and everyone else could feel it you can try to claim that the garden of eden story with all of its sights and smells and drama and a walking talking god is merely another way of saying that knowledge changes us and forces us to shed our innocent but the two are simply not equivalent they each have advantages and disadvantages but they're not the same. And they are primarily not the same because they are not experienced in the same way. We humans don't experience life at the level of the abstract and the universal. We experience life at the level of the story. Our own stories and receive stories the stories of others. We experience music as the soundtrack of our lives. Experience god if we experience god. Has a presence or a forest or a lover or a teacher. Donovan intellectual idea. I believe there are truths available in our lived experience and in the middle poetic expression of our lived experience. That are not available to pure reason. And. I really just liberal. This is nothing to be embarrassed about or scared of. You don't have to put your spiritual experiences in quotes and put the word god in quotes if that's the way you genuinely experience the world. You don't need to keep an ironic distance from the things that move you. But my daughter offered when she said that god taught her how to gargle with a testimonial. Together personal testimonials of how god showed up in her life. And rather than try to reinterpret for her what happened in a way that fits with a scientific understanding of the universe. I take her at her word. I respect her experience. Personally i think god probably did teacher had a gargoyle and i'm very grateful because i would have had no idea how to teach her something like that people have experiences like this all the time often with waiting subjects much later than gargling. They come and tell me these stories of great mythical experiences of personal transformation experiences of forces beyond their own capabilities beyond the grasp of their own intellect. They tell me of flowers blooming in the unlikeliest of places. Who am i to question their testimony. The world is great and mysterious and teeming with powers that we do not understand. The impossible seems to happen with some regularity. Don't you tell me that god taught you how to gargle. For how to sing. Or how to stop drinking. How to survive a great loss. Or how to get free from whatever has enslaved you. Who am i really. Who are any of us really to say that it isn't so. Please rise in body or spirit for our final him.

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2020-01-12-SineadWasRight.mp3

Welcome to the life oak unitarian universalist church podcast. For january 12th. 2020. This week's service is. Sinead was right. By reverend joanna fontaine crawford. On october 3rd. 1992. With a number one hits under her belt and growing popularity. 26 year old irish pop singer took the stage on saturday night live as their musical guest. For her final song that evening she did an acapella cover of bob marley song war. Which is about colonization and racism and she added into the lyrics the words. Child abuse. And then. There was the end of the song. We have confidence. Fight the real enemy. Anyone remember that. This was 1992. And she immediately went on interview starting the very next day to explain. What she had done and why she had done it in an interview with time she said it's not the man obviously and for anyone who didn't catch that that was the current pope at that time pope john paul the second. It's not the man obviously it's the office and the symbol of the organization that he represents. And ireland we see our people are manifesting the highest incidence in europe of child abuse. This is a direct result of the fact that they're not in contact with their history is irish people and the fact that in the schools the priests have been beating the. Stuff out of the children 4 years and sexually abusing them. This is the example that's been set for the people of ireland they have been controlled by the church. The very people who authorized what was done to them who gave permission for what was done to them. But this was 1992. And a whole lot of the world including the united states. Didn't know. Yet. About the prevalence. Of abuse. Within the church. And the concerted organized. Cover up. That would enable priests to never have to face any consequences and instead they would simply be moved to another town. Were they could hurt others. The world didn't know this yet. Are the united states didn't know what the situation was in ireland and i'm i'm willing to bet. Doesn't know to this day. In ireland. Up until about 2007. The catholic church still controlled 93%. Abschools. As well as the reform institution. And their reform schools kind of like our version of juvenile detention except that they were still operating like work houses. Where bad kids would be sent. And would be put to work unpaid child labor and abuse especially in those institutions was prevalent. Sinead o'connor. New all of these things. Because she didn't. It wasn't just that she was irish. But. She had a mother who had abused her and she had been one of those bad kids sent to an institution. This abuse and the irish times would later when a big report came out examining all this irish times said this was not a matter of you know abuse was not a failure. Of the system. Abuse. Was the sister. I need have been happening for generations. As we know. Without intervention without a lot of hard work a lot of times. Abused people. Abused people. Until you had parents. Who had been raised in this type of environment in this type of culture who thought that abuse was normal. And they themselves. Would perpetuate. Again. This was 1992. And people didn't know this. Or didn't want to know this. And the reaction to what sinead o'connor did was swift. And vicious. 4400 calls came in to embassy. And the vast vast majority of them were negative about o'connor. The following week joe pesci was the guest star and he got up after saturday night live had issued a formal apology for what sinead had done he held up a picture of the pope that was now taped together and held up another picture of sinead o'connor and ripped it apart. And said that had he been the host when she was there he would have put such a smack on her. Her records. And tapes and cds were crushed under a bulldozer as part of a protest. Radio stations boycotted her. Minicell celebrities came out to give their opinions of her all of it negative including madonna who had just released to give you some context those of you who were there had just released the book sex. I'm was getting a whole lot of attention for that and yet she too. Focalized her disapproval of what shanaya. Had done. The sales of her music. And concert tickets. Pretty much. Ended. Immediately. This month. We are going to be delving into the 5th principal. Unitarian universalist. Are seven principles are the promises that we as a congregation make to the other congregation. And the fifth principle says that we are firm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. The right of conscience has always been a foundational part. Of our. Even before we were the actual organized denominations of unitarianism and universalism back when unitarianism and universalism we're simply schools of thought. It was still guiding what we did because the right of conscience means that if you believe something. Different than what others do different than what the church is is is saying and teaching. That you speak up for that. During the reformation. It was michael servetus. Who with was trying to explain his unitarian thought. He was fighting back against john calvin and his right of conscience propelled him to write and publish the book on the errors of the trinity. The book that would then be strapped to his side. When he was burned at the stake. On the orders of john calvin. In the 1800's as the unitarians and the universalists were becoming religious movements and denominations. The right of conscience. Was what. Pushed them to make so many of the changes that have benefited this country that was what pushed them to work for the abolition of slavery and for women's suffrage in 1961 when unitarianism and universalism merge together it was that same spirit that drove people to work for civil rights. And for marriage equality and it's still guiding us now. Has anyone heard the name scott warren. Excited to tell y'all about. So. A couple of years ago. Scott warren was working with others out of the uu church of tucson. For an organization called no more deaths. That were seeing the migrants who were coming across the desert and often dying in the process. And some border patrol agents. Witness scott warren. Giving food and water to some migrants and leaving jugs of water for them out in the desert. And he was arrested and charged with a felony. This past november. He was acquitted. And in the ruling. The judge made a point. To mention that what scott warren was doing was he was operating out of his religious. Principles his as they say sincerely held religious beliefs. We liberals can use that to buy the way. But we're not always acquitted. When we are acting out of our right. And the. Court of public opinion. Isn't as good as giving a fair trial. I'm so for many of us at some point in our lives. We are going to be in a situation. Where we have a hard decision to make. Sometimes like the rally that is happening at the bottleneck. Next week that the the price is not high most of us can go to that and we know that we will be there with other people. What's really difficult. Is when the rest of the world. Isn't there yet. When sometimes someone. Has an understanding. Until they are one of the first people to talk about it. And. That is when they are most needed. 2. Speak up. And draw people's attention to this problem. So how do we make those decisions. I feel that often we are giving a disservice by just getting the message about how you know you're right of conscience you should just always. Follow that. And i think that there are people like the sinead o'connor's in the world who are just going to do that no matter what. But for many of us. It's a little more complex. And the thing is it's usually not that we are making a decision of cowardice versus some important thing from our conscience. It's not that we're trying to make a decision between the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do like that's actually pretty easy right i mean we may not like it it may not be convenient but it's it's not a hard decision. The hard decisions come when we have to make a decision between. The right thing. And the other right thing. We all have multiple. Core values we all have multiple. Personal principles. That guide our lives. And the hardest decisions that we will have to make. Or when we have two guiding principles. That crash into each other. And we can only choose one. I am sure that weather is as articulated or not that you have a guiding principle involving your conscience. Evolving speaking up. For compassion for justice for integrity. And i imagine that you also have guiding principles about your family and your community. Perhaps one of your guiding principles is that you financially provide. For your family. And so what happens you can wind up with these two very important guiding principles. And maybe you have to choose one. And there will be consequences. The right of conscience we know it's our 5th principal but we also know that it does not. Provide freedom from consequences not even unfair concept. So how do we make those choices. Well. For the accounting geeks in the room. I really think it does come down to using the discernment. I'm going through a potential benefits. Potential cost. Analysis. First and end. And we have to be. Honest with ourselves. We have to to look at this and go okay. Being reasonable. What is the possible benefit. I'm what is the possible cost. For scott warren it was pretty dramatic. The possible benefit was that he could save a person's life and the possible cost was that he could go to prison for years. Many of us it may not be quite. That traumatic. So we have to look at okay. What is the potential benefit here. Will this genuinely make. A difference will i be bringing a message that people need to hear or will i be adding my voice and my body to other bodies and voices that are making the same point because there is something about seeing a huge crowd that is all making the same point. And then this issue of cost. I have found that there are two words. That can really help. As i go through step-by-step. Trying to determine what the potential reasonable cost is. And the words are this. So what. I don't mean that in a dismissive way right that's usually how it's use that so what. I mean it. With all the depths of my being. To go step-by-step and with every answer asking the question. So what. So let's say that my neighborhood. Wants to do something that i disagree with. That's all i've determined that i am going to go to the hoa meeting and i'm going to tell them how i feel. Register my descent. And i start feeling anxious about it. Okay. So what if i do that. Well. So it could be that none of my neighbors agree with me. Okay. So what. Well. My neighbors may think less of me. For feeling this way. Okay. So what. Well. So my neighbors. Might be mean to me. Maybe they won't want to talk to me anymore i'm an extrovert i actually like it when people talk to me i know some people that would be a benefit. Okay so your neighbors won't talk to you anymore they will shun you. So what. I will feel lonely. I will feel disappointed. Okay. So what. I can't go any farther than that i've i've reached the point where i can identify. What the potential cost is. And then i can examine that. And see whether that cost. Versus the potential benefit. If it is worth it to me and i'm the only one who can make that decision for myself you are the only one who can make that decision for yourself and so i think it through and i go okay. So i'll feel lonely. I felt lonely before and i survived. They'll be mean to me i'll feel disappointed. I felt disappointed before. And i survived. Yeah i think i can do this. I think it's really helpful to take it to that point i think that so many of us are actually our problem is not that we are the shanaya aids of the world. Ours is the first time we start thinking about there being a potential cost. That we make it up. As something bigger in our heads than it is. I mean yeah sometimes people will be mean to us. Is there anyone in here who has lived their life thus far that no one has ever been mean to them before. No one no one. And yet you're all here. We have all survived. Until. That's that's what it can take. Is taking it. To that point. I still believe i still take as an article of faith. What unitarian theodore parker said about how the arc of the universe bends towards justice but the thing is it's often not on our timetable. For sinead o'connor. 9 years after she ripped up that picture. For the first time the pope came out and admitted. But there was a problem of abuse in the church. A year after that was when the boston globe broke their huge story. Detailing all of the abusive detailing the cover-up that had happened if any of you have seen the movie spotlight you know what i'm talking about that's the movie about that and the boston globe wound up winning a pulitzer prize. For that. That was ten years after she tripped up. The picture. On december 17th. 2019. The. Finally lifted what is called their policy of pontifical secrecy. Which had been used. To enable all of the cover-ups and the moving people around and they're not being any consequences and people often not getting the healing that they needed. So. Last month. 27 years after she ripped up. The picture. The arc of the universe bends towards justice but it doesn't always happen. On our timetable. She has been interviewed in recent years to ask how she feels about it all now. And she has said that with age and maturity that she does believe that sometimes there is a time for subtlety. But she also says this. She doesn't regret it. Shein. By andrea gibson. I was once told the story of a shaman who woke every single morning of his life crying for all the world's sorrow. And yet every day he would rise and shine bright he would walk the path from morning to night when he would like the night sky with the stars that would shine inside his dreams. For every hell he ever saw he made himself become the hope that tug the rope that ring the bell in the steeple of the people's hearts. He would part the seas of greed with the outstretched hands of his giving replacing the hate with the most amazing grace the world has ever seen. A week ago. Another war started. There wasn't a point inside me that wasn't crying. There wasn't a point inside me that didn't pound with the sound of a thousand bombs screaming to where children on the ground we're dying. And i didn't want to speak i didn't want to sleep because i didn't want to wake to another morning of morning so many when already tombstones have paved as many prairies as highways had and the traffic was backed up to my heart. I didn't know where to start like it was all too much like i could never reach to touch a healing hand to the wounds the world stood so brutally branded with. And a week ago. I almost wanted to give up. But then i remembered the story of the man who lived his life as life through even the darkest nights his eyes held the sound song of the don and his sorrow with the thing that kept him moving on kept him building a better tomorrow i remember the story and somewhere behind everything inside me that had felt so small. Behind every voice inside me that was doubting him a voice behind that loud and proud like my grandmother's voice shouting why do you mean your small of course your small we are all small but we are small like the moon is small in the sky and not a wave would ever find its way to shore without us we are all as small as a single tied but if that tied wherever to stop the entire ocean would freeze and shocking nothing in it would survive we are all small like the notches on the line that will one day wind the revolution through every gutter in this world. Then it's time we start believing in our power. Because the darkest hour will only come if we refuse to flower the light that has always burned. Bright inside us. So decide. What would you die for. Then live. Every moment of your life like you were born into this life just to save it knowing the light at the end of the tunnel is the fire of your faith so never put it out and everytime you start to doubt listen to the cries of everyone who has come before you pushing you on they know that there has never been a bomb built that can built the petals of your power when you allow yourself to bloom when you bloom there will be no room for anything else gandhi said you must be the change that you wish to see in the world so you've been curled up and sad. Good. Depression is the first blessing. It means you've been in tune. But now the moon is waiting for you to burn bright and there has never been a time when your life was needed more never a time like this before yes you are small we are all as small as a single breath but tied to the rest we are the life of the world the pulse that turns rocks to pearls inside the darkness of their shells so become the well where wishes are born become the bell that rings when even the birds refused to sing become the wings that fly and every time you're full of sorrow every time you wake up crying. Know that that day. It's a perfect day. To shine.

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2017-09-17-TheMostControversialThingIllSayAllYear.mp3

Welcome to the life oak unitarian universalist church podcast for september 17th 2017. Today service is the most controversial thing i'll say all year by reverend joanna fontaine crawford. So this year our theme for the church year is find your purpose. Find your purpose in your work find your purpose in your relationship. Find your purpose in the community and all the aspects of your life. But. Before. You can do that. You're going to need to unlearn. A lesson. That you learned long ago. Back when you were a kid. Or if you are a kid back when you were a younger kid. You learned. That you were responsible. For other people's feelings. Not that you should care. About other people's feelings. Should. Not just that you should be sensitive. Two other people's feelings which you should. But just about all of us absorb the lesson that we were actually responsible. For another person's feelings. And this happens. In all kinds of homes now it is more obvious. In homes where. Abuse. Because if you have a parent. Who gets mad. You get hit. Or you get the silent treatment. Or you get berated and vicious things said to. And so you learn at a very early age. That you are responsible for their feelings because. Their feelings have consequences. But even in healthy families. We still absorb this lesson. We learned that when dad comes home after a bad day from work we're just going to give him some space and by the way that's probably not the best time to ask if we can go to charlie's party on friday. Of course we would probably all heard some version of if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy. Have your apparent right now in your cringing. So am i. My kids are up here all nodding. Cuz they've heard me say that exact. When we know better. We do better. We try. And we fail. And then we try again. I'm so this is the first thing that we have to do is we have to. Unlearn. This lesson. That we are responsible. For other people's feelings. That's their job. And as we as you saw when i was here with the kids. To really always be able to know what someone else is feeling. Let alone predict it. And here's this. When we take responsibility. For someone else's feelings. We are crossing a boundary we are crossing. Deer boundary. And we are over functioning for them. Assistant siri tells us i mean this is like a mathematical equation if one person over functions the other person will under function. And so if we over function if we take responsibility for someone else's feelings. And that means that they're not. And they are losing.. Precious opportunity. Firgrove. That the author of our reading talked about. The only way. That you get to be more emotionally mature. Is by learning to manage your own anxiety. Being able to identify and deal with. Your own feelings. So that's the first thing. We got to unlearn this lesson. Keep saying it to yourself. I am not. Responsible. For other. Feelings again that doesn't mean you're not sensitive. That you don't care. But ultimately this is a matter of control. They get to control. Dear feelings. You may say. But i just want you to be happy. But what if i don't want to be happy. I get to. I get to control that. And i'm the one who gets to do that work. So. There's the good news. Out of all of the hundreds of people that you know. You are not responsible for any of their feelings. When when you're getting together with your extended family for a holiday and this one is mad at you cuz she's really mad at this one but you're acting friendly to this one. You're not responsible for their feelings. That's the good news. Bet you know where i'm going with this. There is only one person. In the entire world. Who is responsible for my feelings. Any guesses who that is. Me. I am the only person responsible for my feelings not my spouse. Even though i'm sure he would do a much better job with it. Then i do. I can't put that on him. I am the only person responsible for my feelings. And just maybe. The most controversial thing. That i say this year. Because we live in a culture. Irresponsibility we live in a culture that says that the whole world should be responsible for your feelings. For making sure you don't get triggered. Right. We are each responsible for our own. And the hurt that we feel. Usually comes. From a prior wound. A wound. That we probably. Did not choose. A wound that came to us. From someone else. The wounds are real. And you may have not had a part. And getting it. But it is yours now. And some of us have really deep wounds. And healing them will need we will need the help of a professional. And others the boss have. Little wounds but they still. Trigger russ. I think probably the most insignificant wound there is. Is a paper cut right. Sure does hurt. And if someone splashes lemon juice on it. It's really going to hurt. So maginus we're out in the hall and. You bump into me pretty hard. Unless you knock me over. I mean. Like. Like you can bump into me real hard and it's not going to hurt that. If i have a piece of glass embedded in. Anyone ever have a piece of glass embedded like in your foot or something. I realize i'm being kind of gory today i just finished binge watching game of thrones so my tolerance is real high. If i have a piece of glass embedded. In my arm. You will barely have to even brush against my sleeve. And i will be in excruciating pain. And i'll probably react out of that right i will i'll yell or i'll jerk away or punch you in the face. I don't do that but. Some people might. What we are reacting to is that wound. I'm so again the issue of being responsible for someone else's feelings. How could you know that that wound is there. Now we could just taken you know like wrap this all up in bubble wrap and try to make it so that no one in the world is going to bump up against this. Some people might say that was a little more effective. Is to figure out how to get the glass. Out of that wound. And how to begin healing. And so for that we may need people to help us. But ultimately that is ours to do. There are three steps. To becoming responsible. For your own feelings. The first let me say this. When i talk about being responsible for your own feelings. That doesn't mean pushing those feelings down. Ignoring them. Making them more palatable to other people because. See what i did there if i am worried about making my feelings more palatable to other people then that means i am once again trying to control. Their feelings. Rather than my own. So this first step. Is that we. Find where our own wounds are. I'm we begin doing the hard work. Of getting healthy. Around that. Wound. So. Here's one of the wounds that i struggle. Anything with wounds again think of that piece of glass. Our wounds lead to our triggers. Cuz we're trying to protect ourselves from. So one of mine that i have struggled with his i was born into this world a crier. Like my family of origin will still tell stories about when i was in the hospital nursery and the head nurse was so glad when they finally took me home because i cried so much. You think your family is still telling old stories on you i was one day old and they're still telling this story. I was not only born a crier though. I was born into a family of non crier. The person who had the hardest time. With me crying with my dad. My dad was a great dad and so many ways. But not this one. You would call me cry baby. He would say and i know i'm not the only one who ever got this. Stop that crying or. I'll give you something to cry about what my dad wasn't original okay. It wasn't until i was. In like my late 30s. That i found out. That my dad was acting out of his own anxiety. And his own woundedness cuz guess what. He was born a crier. And he had a a genuinely. Emotionally abusive father. Who would. Put him down for this. And so his method of dealing with that wound. Was to learn to never. Cry. I never learned that husband. Believe me i tried i think i'm just wired this way. And so because he would do this. I got a room but my wound wasn't around the crime. My wound was around the shame. Of crying. I'm so my way of dealing with that trigger. Was i was simply going to make it. That i was never in a situation where i might cry around other people. Crying at home was fine but i would never be in a situation where i. Quit crying around other people i merely did not become a menace. Because of that. Truth. Cuz i knew it was a minister right weddings funerals like there's going to be a whole lot of opportunities for board meetings there can be a false. We have great board meeting. I've never cried in one. Yet. But i kept doing for me it was like putting putting the the the the bubble wrap around the wound right. I was just going to make sure that i could never get triggered like that. Cancel that also meant that i was extremely conflict-averse. Because if i get really frustrated or angry. There's a good chance i'm going. Decry. And so that meant that i was. Holding myself back and not doing things i needed to do. No. I work with a coach many of you have met him ken. And years ago. I had a situation this was way before i ever came here. I was really mad at. Someone that i worked with. And i was disillusioned and i was frustrated so i'm meeting with my coach and talking all through this. Crying eye by that point i had gotten comfortable enough to cry in front of my couch. And he said. So have you. Have you told this person that. What was the craziest thing i ever heard of. No. Why not. Because i might cry. And then he said something that was so profound and really hacked me off. He said. So. Didn't you hear what i said. I would probably burst into tears. So. And he just let that sit there he's real good at that. Jerk. And so i said. I would be embarrassed. What do you think you said. So. I had to sit there for a while cuz i really didn't have an answer to that. Other than and then i would die. Which if you check if you trace back practically all of our triggers that is always sort of the the thing that we in some completely illogical way that we are going to. And then i would die i had to admit that i probably would not in point of fact. Die. And so i went and i met. This person i worked. And. I told them. About how i felt and i started the conversation by saying. I am very upset. And there's a good chance i'm going to. Wind up crying in this. And i did. I let them know how i felt i let them know. That a trust has been broken. Not a whole lot. Happened. Between me and that person. As a result of that conversation. I think they. The kind of apologized but nothing really changed. But my wound. Did a huge healing that. Because i had faced the sphere and i had taken control. My dad was no longer controlling what i did not that he ever wanted to. But see this is how it works we have that wound. And we are still operating out of that wound. I can't tell you how good how liberated i felt. After this. That wound no longer had control of me. Because i. Was being responsible. From my own wound. If i haven't already said. The most controversial thing i'll say this year. Let me go whatsapp for further. Not only are you responsible. For your feelings. You are responsible for your. Again. That doesn't mean hiding them. Or acting like they're not there. You didn't ask for them. But they are your. And so you are the one. To step forward. And take. Control. And be responsible. So all of that is step one. And that's probably the hardest part which is. Identifying the wounds. And taking responsibility to become healthier around them and becoming healthier around them. Is not going to happen overnight like this crying things thankfully i'm in a a a congregation that really wants everyone to be authentic and so i have done so much healing around it. And i am absolutely sure that there are certain situations i could be in. If i started crying i would feel that shame again. And i would once again have. Do that work. So with these wounds can take a long time to heal. And most likely we need other people to help us we need a therapist. We need a coach we need a circle of friends who we can just check in with periodically to say. I've identified this thing about myself. And i'm really working on. And i hope that i can kind of process. So the second step of being responsible for our own feelings. Is. Communicating. Clearly and directly. Now we should do that about everything. But especially about our feelings. As our kids pointed out to us it's really quite simple the best way to let other people know our feelings is to tell them what our feelings are. And not make them guess not try and make them responsible. And how conversations about them. Not. To put blame on them. But to share with them what we are going through. And why we might be doing some of the things that we're doing and to make our own commitment. Towards health. There's something that. Ar. That became part of you you used car. That i think is. Absolutely wonderful. And that is and i think the started quite a while ago. The word ouch. When they are in their gathering. If someone. Says something that they find hurtful if there's a microaggression. They really put a lot of of weight. Towards being authentic. And so. Part of being more courageous. Is that when they feel that hurt in their little gathering say will someone will say. Ouch. That is the start of another conversation. At that point then the group will talk about. Why ouch and this can be a dialogue. I am concerned within our larger world of unitarian universalism. And we may not use the same words outside of unitarian-universalism but i think we we see this happening in our culture. At some point we adults. I heard about this whole couch thing and thought it sounded pretty nifty. And what i have seen not at this church again this is the larger. Larger context of unitarian universalism. Is people will sometimes in a conversation say the word ouch. And it's a conversation stopper. Bright. You are saying something that hurts me. I don't want to hurt. I am going to stay out so that you will stop doing it. Again. Ouch me but not be the word. But outside of unitarian-universalism i bet you can think of some example. An online discussion. Where someone says this is a trigger for me you must stop. When we do that. We may be clearly communicating. But we are still making someone else. Responsible for our feelings. How to get that. Ouch. Should never be the end of a conversation. It should always be the start of. Hey you know what i i have this. This wound and i'm working on it. And. When you say something like that it's hits this wound and i know that my wound is my own but i just want you to know this. This is hurtful. Tumi. Not demanding them to change. But expressing what is so for you. If i had a different husband than the one who i do if i had married someone like my dad. I didn't marry someone like my dad. Then i might have had a spouse. Who shared that discomfort with tears. And this person might. How to tease me make fun of me whenever i cry. And so part of me saying what is so for me. Is this a. You know you do this teasing and teasing by the way is not a bad thing. Again if i don't have a wound right here it's not going to hurt. And so that's why we have to say honey. This hurts. And it's my wound and i'm working on it. But i want you to know that at this point this still here. We are communicating that without blaming the other person or demanding that they do something to. Now. Step 3 is. We establish boundaries. Based not on self protection. But based on self definition. That's when you may need to sit a little while with. Cuz when i first learned about it it. It was one of those thing for i was like yeah okay i think that's true but boy like where's the line and and it took me about a month of sitting with that because usually when we think about boundaries. We are thinking right about protecting ourselves. We don't want to have hurt feelings so we're going to put up boundaries. Wait wait wait wait wait if we do that. What have we just done. Who are we making responsible for our feelings. Somebody else. We set up our boundaries. According to our self definition. And this can be. A very fine line. So going back to this example so i'm. Married to my mythical horrible husband. And. Anytime he sees me get emotional. He has something to say about it. Hallmark commercials i'm tearing up you're such a crybaby. No i've already. Had the conversation. I spoke clearly and directly. And he is continuing. And he gets to do that. Here's the thing other people get to decide how they are going to be. But you get to the side. How you are going to be and so i go to him and i say. You know honey. I talked to you before. 12 times to be exact. About how this is a wound for me and i'm really working on getting healthier around it. But i'm not there yet. And so whenever you do it it just really. Gets me all stirred up and it's really not helpful so what i'm going to do from now on is if i know that i am going to be like watching a movie that's going to make me cry. I'm going to limit my time around you so i'm going to watch that movie when i know that you're not going to be around. Dc the distinction. I am controlling what i have control. Which is me. He gets to control. What he has control of. We set up our boundaries not. As a matter of self-protection. But as a matter of self-definition. That is rooted not in someone else's actions but in the actions that we ourselves are going to. This is hard work. First splitting ourselves from this lesson we need to unlearn. That we are not responsible for other people's feelings. And taking this on ourselves. That we are going to take back control. And we are going to be responsible for our own feelings. And the way that we get better through this. Is practice. And that is the only way that we get better at it and we're going to mess up we're going to fail so then we try again failed better next time. I wish that this was something where we could just all go back home and read a book on it and close the book and go. I'm done. I got it i'm all self differentiated i'm all healthy. I really have always wanted to learn to play piano. So can you tell me what book i can read about piano i don't have a piano but i'm sure there must be a book that i can read the whole book and when i'm done i can sit down and play. It has to happen through practice so i'm going to give you homework today and your homework is going to happen really quick lunch time. Lunchtime. You and the people you're with. What's going to be the question we ask what shall we do for lunch today right. I'm sure that was ours is not the only family out there in the parking lot. Arguing a nutball i don't want to decide what i want to do this what we did this man do first. First. Everyone. Has to say what they feel about. Lunch. And it. It can't be i don't care. That's what we often default to write especially. The grown-ups. I don't care of course you care i've been watching i've been been wiped binge watching game of thrones i know there is food that you do not want to be eating. Put parameters around it. Maybe you really there's not a specific thing but you want to say okay. I don't want to make the decision i don't feel like making the decision. Anything other than pizza is okay with me. And then however many people you are with. Decide who is going to make the decision. If you were by yourself i realized that rather than this making it easier in some ways this makes it even harder. Figure it out. Decide who's going to make the decision. And then. When you make that decision when you say what it is you feel like. Having. Do that entirely. From your own feelings. And not because you're trying to figure out what everyone else wants your trying to figure out the magic thing that will make everyone happy. Make a decision. Be clear about your feelings. And allow them. To be clear about their feeling. This is. The fundamental. Issue. And being able to figure out what your purpose in life. You have to be able to work on this first there's. This quote. By henry cloud he says. If we feel responsible for other people's feelings. We can no longer make decisions based on what is right we will make decisions based on how others feel about our choices. If we are always trying to keep everyone happy. Cannot make the choices required to live correctly and freely. We can't determine how successfully we are living our lives. Bike who is unhappy with us. If we feel responsible for other people's just pleasure. We are being controlled. By others. We have to learn this. Through practice. Information doesn't transform us. Experience.

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2017-11-05-BuiltMyLifeAroundYou.mp3

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2018-08-19-TacklingTheBigQuestions.mp3

Welcome to the live oak unitarian universalist church podcast for august 19th 2018. This week's service is tackling the big questions by kari krauss. Live oaks director of lifespan safe development. Today's reading comes from an article by charles cow. In the dictionary of unitarian universalist. Biography about angus maclean. Angus maclean was a universalist minister. Theological school professor and dean. And he played a major part in reshaping the philosophy and practice. Religious education. Within the universalist. And the unitarian denominations during the 1930s. 40. And 50s. Time with to change my ideas about god. The devil. The bible. And the sabbath. But integrity. Honesty. Truth-telling. And the overwhelming sense of the sovereignty of whatever made and governed life. No matter how named. We're in my guts. As in my mind. And not to be ousted. Mcclain also recognized that. Orthodox theological categories had their origins. In human experience. The idea of grace. Was especially important to him. Rooted in his recognition that he was the recipient. Of important gifts. But he had nothing either earned. Nor deserved. The evolution of maclean's religious thinking was by no means a smooth one. He reported that at one point he found himself depressed. His old faith gone. Living in a theological void. Later while contemplating a patch of swampy ground. He suddenly perceived it as a profound creative source. What a marvelous boos. I said. And i had my god again. But he never accepted the idea of god easily. There is a god. With whom i feel identified. He wrote. And there is also the god to whom i respond ambivalently. And with whom i keep up. Certain quarrel. How many of you are finished learning. You already know everything you need to know to live the rest of your lives full filled. And happy. You have answers to all the big questions and those answers are immovable. Regardless of new personal experiences. New scientific developments. Societal evolution. I see no hands in the air hallelujah. I'm glad to see.. So i wonder what are some of the big questions. That you wrestle with. Anybody want to what the big question you wrestle them. So i know you all wrestle with questions. He just may not want to share them here and that's fine. These are some of the cat theological categories that you might think about where your questions fall. I'm not going to answer any of them today. That's not what. Today is about. But i want you to keep asking. Keep those in your mind. Those big questions. Or meaning-making. Or god talk. That's bialigy. Y'all be seeking to frame our own existence in relationship. What we cannot know. You know to try to understand what it is that we cannot know. The questions that inform how we live our lives that are hard for us to answer. Some of us might call this kind of talk ontology. So we don't need to use use of the word god. Ontology deals with. Being the science of being. In fact i would say that modern unitarian universalist theology. In a broader scope is definitely. Ontological. It's clearly humanists. And its nature. And i say this not to diminish anybody's belief in god. I want you to know unitarian universalist are not anti-god. I repeat we are not. Anti. God. You some you use believe in god. Absolutely. We have theus. Pantheon. Canon thea's. We also have religious humanist. Agnostic. Atheist and more. So why do i say we are humanists. In our theology. Well it's because unitarian-universalism focus. Is not on meeting the demands. Of a higher power in order to attain salvation. Living our lives under the thumb of some greater being. That controls how we are so that when we die we achieve something. Afterlife. Rather. Our focus is on what we do right now. How we live our lives in the world today. How are we more fully human. How do we build better connections. With everybody. It's are interdependent web. And it doesn't matter what we believe about god. How are we creating. A heaven on earth. Some of you may have heard of our 7 principles raise your hand. Unitarian universalist association website says this. Unitarian universalist congregation of firm and promote. Seven principles. Which we hold a strong values and moral guides. We live out these principles within a living tradition of wisdom. And spirituality. Drawn from sources as diverse as science. Poetry. Scripture. And personal experience. We spend a lot of time talking about our principles and teaching them to our children. So i wanted to know if there any adults or children. In the congregation that would come up here and help me teach him to everybody. Peach the principal song who would like to come help me teach the principles. So. It to the tune of. Doremi so everybody knows that tune. 1 each person. Oftentimes. When someone asks what do you believe our work first response is to go to our principles. Because they're easier for people to grasp. It's difficult. Interfaith where personal experience play such a role in shaping our theology. For us sometimes to articulate what that theology is. And the principles as guiding. Morals. Values. Give us something that we can tell people outside our congregation. About how we live our life. Because we come from a variety of spiritual practices and have individual freedom to find our own truth. They give us a way to talk about her face. Outside our walls. And that's great. But i think it's vital that we understand that our principles are not our theology. Rather. Their statement that comes out. Of our diverse theological heritage. Change my personal experience and those that have gone before us. Our principles are a guide for how we live our faith in the world. We don't believe. The principles. We do them. Our desire to live into affirmation of those 7 principles. Points to a deep theology. 1. Becomes out of unitarianism and universalism and then out of unitarian-universalism when the two came together. A theological heritage that i think it's. Important. For us to know and understand. Because there's a core. There is a core there. It is sometimes lost. In our pluralistic. Churches. I think it's why we are sometimes referred to as a religion where. You don't have to believe anything. Or. You can believe anything you want to. But that's not who we are. As unitarian universalist. We share a theology of covenant. A theology of justice making. A theology. Of interdependence. Mcclain like others before him realize that personal experience. And reasoned thought. We're part of our theology. And i. Intentionally say reasoned thought and not rational thought. Because i want to leave room for the trans. Trans rational. For that which cannot be explained. But we have in our personal experiences. That primordial ooze. That mclean talked about. Unitarian universalist we ought to explore what that shared theology means for us both as individuals. And as a congregation. Yes we bring many names. But together. We are unitarian universalist. A colleague of mine. Joy berry. Serves as the assistant director for the fa's collaborative. At the meadville lombard seminary in chicago. I love the description. Of the collaborative on their website. The reeds. The faa's collaborative laboratory for innovation in face formation. Is a feisty cohort of religious educators who support people and living meaningful. Socially conscious. And spiritually grounded lives. Forging pathways and faith formation. That spark the human spirit. What an aspiration. That is what i aspire to in my own work. That is my job. Not to educate you or to tell you what to believe. But the offer opportunities. To come together across the ages for you to learn. Through meaningful deep sharing. Joy also holds up the importance of placing a commitment to faith formation for all at the center of our communities. And she says. Too many of our older adults. Think they are done. Learning. But they were they have arrived. They are good you use. And as such. They don't need any more faith development. But we know that faith is a lifelong process. She continues. Moving faith formation. In whatever format. With a focus on shared or congregational learning. To the center. Means that church life begins to reflect. And reconstitute the historical. Human norm. For multi-generational community. Where the wisdom and power of elders. The resources and capacity of middle-aged adults. The vision and energy of young adults. And the prophetic. Faith. And voices. A children and youth. Co-create the kind of church that absolutely attract. Sports. And sustains everyone. And i would add. But this faith formation done together equips us to do the work that is needed to build a better world. It's not just about us here it's about equipping us to go out. Side of these doors. Probably claim justice making is a part of our theology. Because we understand where we came from. And where we are now. To live more fully human lives. Bathing salt. Caught. Bought. And rot. We seek to understand we ask those theology logical questions. Caught. We take on the face of our childhood. Thought. We fight our faith in times of crisis. In times of rebellion. So we often miss the last part of the equation. Rot. Faith is wrought. In community. Unitarian universalism is shaped. And reshaped by the work we do together. To answer the big question. Over and over again. We are a living tradition. And we can't do this work alone. At least not if we want to move a congregation or denomination into the future with strength and energy to go forward. Finding our place in today's religious landscape. Means taking on the task of defining our modern theology together. Yes we are pluralistic. And still. There is an inherently unitarian universalist. Theology. That we can find. One of our theological tenants is it revelation is not sealed. This is one of the illusion james luther adams five smooth stones. If we believed as unitarian universalist that revelation is always unfolding. And part of our space development. Is to revisit over and over the questions that define what it is to be human. What it means to be spiritual. Moral. Just. Because we believe it how we live our lives matters. This year's church theme starting in september. Will be live a life on fire. What a great goal for unitarian universalist. Or anyone for that matter. For me that theme implies not only living a personal life on fire. But a congregational life on fire. Discerning and acting from our theological cord together. And so in support of the theme this year the faith development programming across all the ages. Will offer opportunities to be theological together. To reflect on the eternal big questions. To reflect on the questions of today. And to consider. What will the questions be. For our children when they are adults. Because social justice is an integral piece of our theological heritage. We planned some social justice sundays in there with opportunities to work alongside each other. Learning. Our place. In the justice making world. My dream. Is that we bring our many names to the table. And we learn about our theological heritage. That we have the deep discussions that helped define our common theological core. And in doing so. We become more fully. Unitarian universalist. And we take that love out into the community. Widening circle. I invite you to join the journey.

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2017-08-27-WhyWeDoWhatWeDo.mp3

Welcome to the live oak unitarian universalist church podcast. August 27th 2017. Today's service is. Why we do what we do. By reverend joanna fontaine crawford.