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Reading_010911.mp3

A reading this morning is from a book by marcus je borg called the heart of christianity rediscovering a life of faith. And reverend flottmeyer brought this reading that it has little tiny print so i'm going to lose it. Yep. Well you notice i even had to get these out we are living in a time of major change. The name of this kind of change is paradigm change. Who introduced the term central to understanding what is happening in the church today. A paradigm is a comprehensive way of seeing. A way of seeing a whole. Sometimes called a gestalt. A paradigm is a large interpretive framework that shaped how everything is saying. A way of constantly hating particulars. Into a hole. Our time of conflict is about more than specifics where it concerns a change in how the christian tradition and the christian life are viewed as a whole. The history of astronomy provides an illuminating illustration of what is involved in paradigm change. The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries solid change from a ptolemaic paradigm to a comparative comparative. Each way of capturing the solar system as a whole and the earth's place in it. It's hella mad. i'm named after ptolemy an ancient greek astronomer. Was dominant in western science for about 1500 years a geocentric or earth-centered paradyne it's not to understand the motion of the planets and the stars in relationship to a stationary earth. At the center. The copernican paradigm is named after nicolaus copernicus a polish month and mathematician. In a book published in 1543 copernicus argued for a heliocentric view of the solar system the sun not the earth is at the center. It transformed the way the movement of the planets was seen even as it transformed our sense. Place in the universe. Significantly the change from the ptolemaic to a copernican paradigms with a detail or two. It affected how the whole was seen. A dinosaur a way of looking at the same phenomena in this case the solar system but the phenomena are seen differently. The shift in how the whole wisin affected how all the details were seen. So also in contemporary christian. The paradigm changes about how the whole of christianity is viewed. The same phenomena are in view god the bible jesus. Creed's faith and so forth. But they're seen differently. The analogy to what is happening in christianity is not perfect. Science precedes by different rules than religion and one may speak of the copernican paradigm as verified. And the ptolemaic paradigm as wrong. Put verification lynn falsification records are not so readily possible in religion. But the analogy does working this way. Christians in north america are living in a time of paradigm change and conflict. The conflict is not about a few items of christian theology or behavior the between to comprehensive ways of seeing christianity. As a whole.

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Reading2_053109.mp3

A second reading is taken. I'm a blog entry. Why angels and demons will shake up hollywood's attitude towards religion by screenwriter and novelist. Cameron pasha. He makes the following observation he is also a muslim. He says ron howard's new adaptation of dan brown's book angels and demons represents a breakthrough in hollywood's approach toward religion. Taking discussion of faith away from the extremes of proselytizing. And rejection to the middle ground. That is where most believers are. And that is where great storytelling take place. An angels and demons is great storytelling. He goes on angels and demons is the first hollywood movie in a long time that really looks at what it means to be a believer. And the extremes that can be found among people who look for faith for guidance. Without revealing the films of secrets. I think it is safe to say this movie is a movie that examines whether science and religion are incompatible. Explores the dark actions that people take when they conclude that one of these disciplines. Threatens the other. What i know. Angels and demons did is to take the discussion of religion out of the hands of extremist with an agenda. That agenda could be the desire to proselytize others and convince them of the truth of a religion. Or to go to the other extreme which is to mock believers as simpletons who. Coke couple faith in god or the conviction that the earth is flat in the babies come from storks. As several characters in the film point out religion and science are methodologies to come to understand the truth of the cosmos. They do not need to be antithetical to each other. In fact they can and should be complementary human endeavors. To understand this remarkable universe in which we find ourselves. And this is by no means a radical new perspective among believers. As a fill-in point out galileo himself as a devout man. Seeking understood stand god's creation. Isaac newton also found no contradiction between faith and science and believe the existence of god was self-evident. It was simply his role as a scientist to better understand the work of the creator. God was a cosmic clockmaker and scientists were merely examining the delicate inner workings of his design. But even if one is unconvinced that any ancient scripture can remain unchallenged. By the discoveries of modern science it is important to note that the purpose of scripture is not in fact. To serve as a scientific textbook. Now the texas. Board of education could take that under advisement. Tacos on. The purpose of any holy texts that has survived the centuries is to provide moral and ethical guidance to human beings. That is true of the bible the car on the back out of the bhagavad gita and the buddhist sutras. These texts are meant to help us as human beings live in this world and make sense of our lives. They survived because they work. A christian friend of mine once asked how i reconcile the story of adam and eve in the quran with the scientific consensus on evolution. I smiled and said to him that i didn't bother. It's like a annapolis in musical notes. The scientific theory in the scriptural story serve totally different purposes. Science is about how. Religion is about hawaii. I think it's important to say again science is about how. Religion is about why. Science can tell me how i got here as a human being but it cannot tell me what i am supposed to do now. Indeed science without a spiritual connection could be used to create great evil. As the nazis proved with their eugenics experiments. The nazis believed in the methodology of science but they did not believe in the simple lesson derive from faith. That human life is sacred. The ancient stories and rituals of our religions are meant to help us learn profound spiritual truths they cannot be deduced by examining cells under a microscope. It is by that power of why storytelling. That is religions purpose and gift to humanity. Perhaps with angels and demons hollywood can start moving away from the extremes of materialism and send it to them. For the spiritual center where the audience eagerly awaits. And then maybe we filmmakers might be able to play a more profound role asteroid colors. That help human beings make sense of this truly majestic cosmos. This ends our readings.

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20140824-f-Response.mp3

Please join us in our congregational response. We bring waters which have touched the west the north the south. The east fish come from the sky and from the earth. We bring water that belongs to lakes and streams reservoirs are freshwater's that quench our thirst bring water that is apart of the great oceans and the seas that circle the globe. Teeming with life. The source of all life. We bring water to this place of beating and sharon in this water there is new water. Formed in the atmosphere daily there is old water. Water as old as the earth water from which life. Has evolved over the aeons. This is the stream of life from which all life. All people are connected by this dream. Four runs through our veins and courses through the stems and leaves of plants. It is the symbol. The cleansing power of forgiveness. And the faithful promise of healing love. It is the symbol and the reality of the oneness that unites humankind and all life. May our separate waters join into one ticket strain as we add our lives into the stream of living souls. Love. Work for justice and hunger work he's soviet.

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Sermon_031311.mp3

Well thank you for showing up this morning. And i bet you i was resetting my clocks last night just to make sure. For many unitarian universalists. Even the idea of prayer sometimes seems uncomfortable. Challenging. This is because we often come from backgrounds where we have been challenged. By the way in which. This was used. Yet the regularity of actual prayer. Or practice of prayer by most of us is far more common than we consciously realize. Hey you calling once shared with me her experiences of having devoutly atheist members of her congregation contact her in times of crisis. To ask her to pray for them or others. At first it seemed strange and hypocritical. And it may be for some but i feel that it is not a need to be so. In reality most of his prayer at least for huntley wish and earnest for things all the time. Stretching from the mundane such as a parking space to the sublime. Such as good health and world peace. As individuals and congregations we're a pair of prey a lot more than we think we do. Many of the hymns we sing are actually prayers set to music. Sasha is the ones that we saying earlier today. Prayer has been a part of my life as long as i can remember. From the childhood formulations of bedtime prayers to put your kind of scary. To the lord's prayer said in church. Later is a teenager and young adults amor angst-filled cries of the dark night of the soul. It was in the more prayerful time forms of. More prayerful forms of chanting that i was able to learn actually how to meditate. How to be more mindful of my thoughts feelings. I tried to pray on a daily basis often simple gratitude for small grace's that come my way. Include the whimsical such as praise asphalt i got us a parking that your lines run straight through forever. This my humanist internship supervisor came up with. Because i had good parking karma. Or two perhaps maybe the deep gratitude for the many blessings of my family. And desire for safety and. But feels at times. Like a much less certain. I pray for strength not to wish some extremist. Office holder or politician or pundits to go to a hell i really don't believe in. Bucket learn to find convenience. I pray for the lives of those touched by loss or tragedy. Or who are immersed in disaster. Such as. Earthquake. Tsunamis. Disasters both man-made. Natural. Katrina. It is said that. It is in prayer that we speak. To the universe. And that perhaps it isn't meditation or mindfulness or simple stillness. That we hear it's. Reply. Prayer is an act of reaching out to something greater than ourselves. It is a desire a need for relationship that allows us to better understand who we are and where we are. In relationship. To everything. Play call relationship-based communication. Prayer is not necessarily about being reverend or even respectful. Many of the the hebrew psalms. Are actually arguments with god. I just randomly opened my bible. When i was writing this and opened it to him 42 or psalm 42. And part of it says. I say to god. My rock. Why hast thou forgotten. Why god why do i morning because of the oppression of my enemy. Evidently wanted my body my adversaries taught me well they say to me continually where is your god. Does that sound like a reverential. Prayer. Somebody having a great session was god. Where the heck are you. In her book holy listening the art of spiritual direction fiscal priest. Margaret. Against rights. The author of the cloud which is a a book. Classic work on prayer and spiritual practice. Seems to be acknowledging that there are different temperaments and knees and hands no single right way to pray. She goes that she says that the unknown author says. Quotes. Do not pray with words unless you are really drawn to this. Or if you do pray with words they are many or few. Do not weigh them in their meaning. Do not be concerned about what kind of prayers you use for it is unimportant whether or not they are official liturgical prayers songs hymns or anthems. Whether they are for particular or general intentions or whether you formulate them interior early i thought or stressing allowed in words. Enter ads. Essential to prayer is only that there be a naked intent. Stretching out toward god. Tom driver the paul tillich professor theology and culture at union theological seminary in new york rice that. The act of prayer may establish or re-establish relationships. Between people or groups. Who pray. The deity to whom they pray and the people are circumstances for pitch. Like speech in general prayer may on occasion have not only and not mainly the function of conveying information. But rather that of establishing or consolidating relationship. Intensifying. The presence of one being. To another. Has prayer may transform isolation into community. Emptiness into fullness. Despair into hole. And so on. Now. Just back it up just a little bit a little bit of of language. The word religion. Some people have difficulty with. Comes from the latin word the god. The same root word as ligament. It means that which connects or binds and an adding the prefix re re to it. It becomes that which reconnects or binds back. So religion is a path it is a discipline a practice or a tradition which reconnects us or binds us back to that which is holy or ultimately meaningful in our lives. Spirituality is the experience of that connection. That we connection. Prayer is one type of religious practice or practice. By which we may have the spiritual experience of this connection or reconnection with the holy. Ultimately. Meaningful. When i was in my internship back in 1994. With my supervisor the reverend kendall gibbons. She would often watch me struggle with various issues both personal and professional. My father died just before i began the internship and i was dealing with a lot of fairly profound issues. This would go on sometimes for days and her watching me struggle and after i had apparently exhausted my own insights and resources to understand whatever i was struggling with. She would gently ask me. How's your paralyzed. Coming from a cradle unitarian human is like her this it first seemed strange. But she knew that prayer. Was a form of communion with myself and the holy. When i don't do it because i become clogged or blocked or feel cut off. From some. Deeper wisdom. The underlined question i experienced was. How is your relationship with yourself and the universe. And the result of her question was that i often turned into a pile of emotional goo. I also gained access to a deeper connection to what i was experiencing. And to the universe. The impulse behind the desire. Too experienced reconnection is the desire for transformation. Tom driver writes that religion is not about the elimination of desire but its transformation from lower to higher forms. The transformation of the suffering world into one more compassionate. Loving and just. In more traditional religious language this transformation is often called salvation or redemption or renewal. Underlying them all is the understanding that things are not what they should be and they need to be changed. If we didn't we wouldn't bother being here probably. We pray because we want to be saved from the reality of whatever our current predicament is whether that is personal loneliness greece. Impossible loss. Where to create a more just and compassionate world. Salvation is a traditional religious term which many of us. Are only marginally even on speaking terms with. But it is crucial. Understanding prayer. All salvation. Is about being saved or rescued in some way. I'm a state of being or circumstance. All of us are here today to be saved in some way from something. If you. Wouldn't otherwise you wouldn't be here and i wouldn't either. We all seek some sort of deliverance from something which is a source of discomfort or stress. Distress in our lives. We seek a reordering of the universe. Ease our pain our fears. Our loneliness. Prayer is one place. Play macy can perhaps find. That salvation. Tranceformation we are seeking. Or even the one that we did not know. That we had talked. At this point i feel it is very important to reinforce understanding their prayer does not require a supernatural being or agency or sacred power to be prayed to. When they feel a need to make reference to some agency or otherwise unseen powers. And these can be anything from certain aspects of nature of society of the state or the psyche. These may be invoked or evil symbolically in some way. Examples would be an address to the essence of community. Remind of hole. Spirit of life. Therefore it is very possible. To be an atheist. And still. Authentically. Engaged. In prayer. Also prayer is not about control. It's about relationship. In and through prayer we become open to something beyond our everyday consciousness. Praying is an act of faith and faith requires vulnerability in the absence of security. It's about being vulnerable to something more than we. Already know and experience. We enter a state of extra dependency. Human beings have a need to not being crude troll or be responsible all the time. We need to be able to depend on something other than our own everyday self. We put our need for control aside for the sake. Of finding and maintaining this relationship. Unfortunately similar to the old saw that they are. No atheists in foxholes. Prayer is often entered into by many of us only in times of stress or crisis and for purposes of gaining control of some situation. Your god let me please pass this test. Dear god please let me find those receipts for my taxes. Your god please let me get this pay increase. Your god let me find a job. I believe that. This discontinuity between the relational nature prayer and the desire to use it simply as a form of technology. Perhaps even consumerism. Is in large part of what leads to the view that prayer is either ineffective or at least. Inconsistent with our supposedly pragmatic and rational modern review. In prayer as with most relationships we do not get to control what the sum total of the relationship will be. Think about the relationships do you get control what the sum total their relationship is. If you do. Think again. One does not order the universe to do one's bidding. 1 ask politely. First of all it really works and secondly it is not a good start to most any relationship. I need to ask is about humility and relationship. Disability is not about the cringing self-abasing self-negating groveling many of us associate with experiences in religious traditions. Humility i refer to comes from the recognition of our own finitude and mortality. Within the larger frame of our existence. We are not the masters of our face as we would so often like to believe that we are. We are. Relationally dependent upon each other. And the universe. For our continuing existence. This humility which stems from our recognition of our finitude allows us to be aware of and experience our connection to that something more than ourselves. Which is within a saint. Around us. Prayer is a half. Detecting a device a practice estate of attitude. Which allows us to access. This state of reconnection and relationship. This reconnection comes from the experience of engagement of authentic cell. My authentic self is vulnerable to yours and ours to others and the universe and to the moment in which we reside. What is the greatest irony of the christian tradition is that jesus is a temp. Teach his disciples how to be spontaneous and pray from and in their authenticity of the moment. Became the most widely used and recognized formulae prayer. Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Did you read everything he says up to that point. Just don't go together. He was trying to teach them not to be pompous publican formulaic like those in the temple. Unfortunately his example of authenticity became the epitome of a formulaic recitation. Prayer is a human activity. It is something we do or that we or that may be done for us. It is an act of doing through which we is reassert our participation. A connection with everything and everyone else. When i said earlier that prayer was not about control i was not totally. Actor. Prayer is an act by which we may exercise our free will by which we may not directly affect the world but we at the least effect ourselves. Prayer does not just. Kinecta. But it is in fact an active reordering of our relationship. To everything. When we enter into prayer we are seeking to change something or to affect ourselves or the world in a particular way. The object of change may be immediate and internal to the petitioner what may be distant and extern. The mechanisms by which we exchange is understood to be affected they also vary from placebo effect. Reactions of objectively existing spiritual beings. So we may believe that it's all in her head or that there's actually somebody out there doing something. But no matter how we describe and understand the objects and forces. The intent is to affect the world in some way. Even if we take the most rationally conservative approach. And conclude that prayer that in prayer we are only affecting ourselves. We are still affecting the world. In the area of study known as systems theory it is now understood that the easiest and often most effective way. To change create change in a social system whether it's a family or a nation. Easter change the way we interact. With it. If we change ourselves. We will change the nature of our interactions with other people and social systems and thereby change them in some way as well. By changing ourselves we then change the world. This is often for some of us who go out and. Learn how to live our lives differently. And you know people may be in recovery. And it's hard to get healthy and the systems around them fight this. Because the system doesn't like change. But the way to effect the change we want is to be the change. We want. So take an even further if all the praying all that frank does is to lower our blood pressure. Or slightly alter our body chemistry as many studies seem to indicate that this kind of activity can. We are entering having real though perhaps small effects. All the rest of the universe. Espo's quantum physics has shown us we. Interact and participate. In and with each other as energy and particles at the subatomic level. We are literally interconnected. Givenus. Even the smallest changes in ourselves which might be accomplished through prayer. You have some real impact. On the rest of existence. Some type of physics here. And biology. Not spiritual. If prayers are answered. They are often answered in ways we do not anticipate. Or are outside of our preconceived expectations. Out of the ravages of hurricane katrina comes they supposedly true story dealing with prayer that goes something like this. It seems there was an older woman in the flooded city of new orleans. Who was watching the water rising moment-by-moment praying for god to intercede and save her from the situation. Later is the water had risen higher and higher a boat came by and several men suggested that she get in and let them help. She answered no god will take care of me he will send help. Which the rescuers replied begging your pardon ma'am but i think god sent us. Eventually she got in the boat and went to higher and safer ground. Part of what i got from this is of course answers may come in ways we don't expect. However a flip side to this is that when confronted with change especially traumatic events. We actually may not be asking for help in dealing with it we. Maybe in denial of winning the whole thing just to go away so we don't have to deal with the situation. Change the situation is going to revert back to what it was before. In our grief. We want god hit some sort of cosmic reset button. One of the powers of prayer. Is to help us to deal with tragedy and loss. But not to make it go. Way. Power. Issue a power itself. Is ability to create or inhibit change. Therefore power and nickel prayer is an exercise in power and free will. Far from being impotent wishful thinking. Prairies ability to change the world we inhabit. It is an active reordering of our universe. Your prayer we exercised the power of renewal and innovation. This is why totalitarian regimes try to eliminate or restrict religious and religions and religious practices. As competing sources of personal power and empowerment. Prayer is dangerous to those who seek to enslave and repressed because it is an exercise of personal power. It is an expression of personal moral choices. It is a statement of free-will even in the midst of the worst oppression. Some driver rice that as ritual. Prayer is the performance of an act in which people confront. One kind of power with another and rehearse their own. Future. The african-american experience prayer has been crucial as a way to empower individuals. And groups not only persevere in the present. But you articulate and rehearsing future of justice and freedom. Driver continues the business of religion and the rituals. Then is to effect transformations not only a person's individual subjectivity. It also transformations of society and the natural world. In a religious perspective the person's societal and physical realms are not isolated from each other. Participate together in a single field of divine power. This means that through prayer we are co-creators of our reality. With that which we call holy. Therefore when we deny ourselves access to prayer or it's like. We deny ourselves part of our empowerment to experience relationship. And transformation. Prayer is not about escaping from the hard realities which confront us. Rather prayer is a path. Pipe which we enter into a deeper connection. With that which we are apart of. However we understand and named that. Many mystics and prophets a light say that when we seeks to transform ourselves in the world. We are praying. What we do and become our our prayer as much as anything we may say. Or desire. Is unitarian universalist our desire is to save ourselves in the world from the illnesses and dysfunctions would play gus. Then we are. Seeking nothing perhaps less than to live transformed and transformational lives in relationship with each other. And all that is. So whether we are seeking some sort of. Renewal for our bodies a healing for our souls. Or to create the beloved community. Define power and solace in prayer. We enter into the deepening of relationships with ourselves with each other and all that is and in so doing we can make our lives a prayer of salvation. When we at unitarian universalist spring are saving message of inherent worth and dignity. And interconnection to those who are suffering. We are doing sacred work. Unitarian universalist share our good news then we are more aware of our relationship. Is that which we call holy. And in turn we make of our lives of prayer and a blessing for the entire world. Power of prayer. Is yours. Mine. Hours. Enter into. Explorer. Create. With. 4. Common good. I pray for all of us. For all of us together. And for all the world. Almond.

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20151101-Homily_II_-_Healing.mp3

Here we are. We are moving into the midst of one of those times of year when holidays come in bunches yesterday was halloween. Thanksgiving is coming up very quickly. Christmas hanukkah. Yuletide season new year's. Are all not far off. More immediately were also in that silly season 2 politics. Have been for a while little earlier season than used to be. Now we see a lot of people doing and saying. Bizarre. And hurtful things. If they were just bizarre to be alright. And they do this in the pursuit of power or access to power. And many officials and candidates or their supporters often act very badly. And often do things that we can only hope that they regret. At some point in the future. After all the dust settles we the citizenry. Are actively asked for our individual and collective. Forgiveness. For their various transgressions. Super is involved in. Forgiveness. Reconciliation and then. How might we apply those to our own lives. Webster's dictionary offers definitions of. Forgive is. To give up resentment of or. Claim. To requital for some offense. To forgive is to cease to feel resentment against. Some offender or offense. And i think that emotional component. Is important to keep in mind. Forgiving is in allowing of room for error or mistakes. The party forgiveness is a recognition of our common fellow ability. One of the reasons i think small children are among our best teachers is because they tend to ask the basic elemental questions. Such as who what. Where when how and especially why. Asking why now i got a three-year-old the seven-year-old so these are daily living for me. Asking why in particular is important because it points to our motivation. Or our need for motivation in our actions. So why should we forgive. Rabbi harold kushner author of the best-selling book. How good thing how do we have to be hate how good we have to be and also when bad things happen to good people. He offers. One reason we may choose not to be forgiving. Is that it gives us a feeling of power over someone we may otherwise feel powerless with. I'm going to stay mad at that purse. Christian also says that holding onto grievances against another tends to do two things. First they strangers from other people and that in turn can become a habit. Super mad at this person over there and they're related to that person over there and we're mad at them is only medicine to and. In all of their dogs too. Additionally he says holding grudges conditions us to think of ourselves as victims. Rather than as active participants in our own lives. Not forgiving. Will in reality give away the power of our life. To the past action or person. Which we are a messed with. Forgiveness is there for an act of personal empowerment and liberation. More for the forgiver then for the forgiven. In forgiving we choose health. And happiness. Over. Perceived righteousness. Don't be very clear that all this talk of forgiveness is not about forgive and forget and i'll be talking more about this next sunday. Or about. Condoning what someone may have done. But it is about moving beyond suffering. Quotes a place of healing. Process religious liberals as unitarian universalist the consequences for not forgiving are twofold. First it does all of the things which rabbi kirchner says. That is it gives away our power and turns us into victims. Which in turn allows us to negate and ignore ourselves as inherently worthy beings. In not forgiving we in turn are not able to fully honor ourselves. And others. As precious parts of the holiness of the universe. Secondly we are diminishing our ability to extend that recognition to others. And not just those who have transgressed against us. No matter how indifferent or depraved another maybe. They are still not devoid of worth. This is a hard one sometimes. They are also a child of the universe as are we. And we are obligated to recognize them asked if we wish to claim the same. Choose happiness over righteousness. Forgiveness is also a way for us to say we can do better. It is not a condemnation but an encouragement for us to grow to be more than we currently are. It is a part of the spiritual journey of accepting ourselves as we are. As enough. And seeking to be even more. To transcend ourselves as we are. Forgiveness. Can help us to find closer relationships with ourselves. With each other and with the holy. Given all of this how do we apply it to our current situation with various public figures and each other. How to start with forgiveness makes reconciliation possible. But. It does not make it inevitable. It does not make it necessary. In a relationships with public officials. We may be able to forgive. And get beyond resentment but we may not be reconciled with these people. Our trust may continue to be damaged and we may not have the same ability. To be vulnerable into risky with them. Again. And next week we shouldn't be proxy grudge holders. Some of us are really good at this. Right. How many family members united somebody sitting around you'll hear a lot of this season right. Various meals and gatherings. About how i'm so mad at so-and-so for what they did is so-and-so. But my friend. We see this type of proxy action all the time in the editorial pages or on political blogs. Being sympathetic for others is an important part of being fully human. Are holding grudges i'm active path of another is usually sign of a projection of one's own issues. Onto an unrelated situation. The same goes for any inclinations to feel righteous indignation over violations of religious doctrine. Transgressions against god is god or the universe or whatever or between the transgressor and the universe. We don't need the mediator medal on behalf of the holy the holy can take care of itself. You think. So what conditions are necessary for us to be able to forgive. All the following are ideal. Or not. Only allowing us to be more readily able to forgive but to move towards reconciliation. They're not necessary. Prostitues. To forget. It is a choice. That is ultimately a matter. Our control and our choice. For starters what would help. Well. There has to be a recognition and a wheel on our part that we indeed wish to forgive. Sometimes even before that we have to own up the fact that we're holding a grudge or. Need to forgive. That may even come. Before. Secondly an honest recognition of wrongdoing and sincere apology by the transgressor get easier ideals. Certainly an offer to make amends of some kind of turman by those injured and within reason. Is very helpful. The great show my name is earl. Dealt with a lot of this issue of. Making amends. To forgive or not forgive is that the question. The choice is ours do we liberate ourselves from being held hostage. By our anger at ourselves and others. Do they release the white-hot cole of resentment and choose happiness over righteousness. As unitarian universalist our tradition challenges to love justice and mercy and to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. In responsible forgiveness. He put into practice all of those beliefs. Bike seeking to forgive and to be forgiven. We can make reconciliation. And the restoration of a greater harmony. I'm more present possibility. For ourselves. And for the world.

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20140824-e-WaterCommunionCeremony.mp3

When we come together i used to be that these services were often and what i did with my summer vacation type of travel vlogs. Now in the last few years we've been trying to understand that what we are really doing is bringing a symbolic part of ourselves. Or some other place. That has meaning to us and to share that together so we may all be enlarged in that understanding. So i'm going to invite you as family members as individuals. Come forward to share with us what you have brought with you if you have not running physically with me we have our symbolic water here. We used to have magic water but got too expensive and so now we use symbolic water and. Sew-in tell us. Where this may be coming from. For you. I would like to invite my son nate up to help me. To share something and then we'll go from there. So. Where did we go that had water this year this summer. Go to boston. Yes and we went to the lake at your cousin pam's up in massachusetts. Sapphire works. Celebrating fourth of july. And that celebrate that that basically was all about family a big family gathering up their right. Chubb. Are water. Is for that celebration of family and the trip. And it's on the kids had and also recognition of the water we're not putting on our lawn. So please come up i was a good people if you come this direction and. Move through she may want to come hit the water and then. If you have brought a lot of water with you you don't need to put all of it in and when you do a little flirting there don't put it all in either. Because this limited capacity. So just water will be then collect it up and part of it will be saved for next year. So what is actually in here originally was some water from last year. And we also sometimes. Clara clarify this water and use it for other rituals. And i offered this water to the collect water that we're bringing together as a hope and a prayer for relief from the drought that our area and so many other areas of the earth. You're suffering from right now thank you. Of this water is from salt lake city that's where my daughter and son-in-law live from there we went on a road trip on to oregon that's great. This is i'm in remembrance of going to my first general assembly assembly in providence rhode island which i encourage everybody who possibly can to have that opportunity to go to at least 21ga and also the pleasure of goat walking the entire circumference for walden pond. This is water from the mighty mississippi from the youth service trip that the teens from this church and bill daphne and pick eldon bryan grande and i went on this summer. This water is from my hotel room in. Krakow poland i went there i went there last month to europe and partly to do the ironman in zurich and also on a pilgrimage of sorts to visit i'm holocaust memorials including them schindler's factory at the krakow ghetto and auschwitz. And while i was there i did have the opportunity to physically pay my respects i place the stone on one of the monuments thank you. This letter is from the park by our house. This is the first summer after a lot of years in the military do my husband was home to play with her kids. And we spent a lot of time at the park this year. Instead of taking pictures and sending them to iraq and afghanistan. It was a fantastic summer. About park at the best place in the world cuz my whole family was there. This water is to symbolize the water that i spent way too much time underneath. It in the swimming tank at the u bar u ranch trying to repair the ladder. And douglas water. Wait we spent the summer. Traveling around the midwest saying goodbye to some old friends and meeting lots of new ones and this water symbolizes all the sprinklers we ran through the rivers we crossed the lakes we looked at the pools we swam in. The tears that flowed. And all of the laughter that flows like water. This water is from palestine texas. Where we stayed for a long weekend in a very remote cabin sleeping with the windows open reconnecting with nature staying awake not really my choice listening to these very loud. And we're celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary in the process. This water is from amtrak train that we. We traveled along with some rental cars for about forty-five hundred miles and i travel with and visited with our daughters and for that trip and so. So we had a great time saw lots of miles lots of people that would never imagined we would meet. And i highly recommend amtrak. And in this water is symbolic of the great south bay and the great atlantic ocean which are always in my heart and in my memory and our life-affirming force in my life. As water is not special at all it's from work i work a lot and go whole lot i probably wouldn't make it to the work week i didn't start at church so i guess the water can symbolize work that i'm willing to do here too. Every year for our anniversary my wife and i go on a retreat to a city with a letter corresponding to the year of our of the year of our anniversary so this year was m. We went to medicine park oklahoma the river that is the main attraction of the city water here. Started this morning as an ice cube for my refrigerator its name was auto he was going to sing a song to you they about what happens to ice in the summertime but he's not saying now actually. No longer isis changed. I've changed a lot in the last year my family has changed a lot in the last year. And we're growing we're changing and. As ice changes to liquid as we have liquid. And as i understand the community chalice here. The changes good the magic us forward. This is virtual water. She said it's okay this summer it's. It's represents one of the 10000 lakes in minnesota. Where i grew up and we had our first. Family reunions. Since we sold my parents house last year. And we had it at a lake and i. Quite a few of our family members from all of the states where we're able to come. And. Fish hang out and i met some of my newest little grand. Nieces and nephews how it was. It was just a really nice week. Weekend. Until i went to my sisters and got. The flu bug. But regardless. Yeah just lots of lakes. Hi ni this implies is actually a couple of different things and my mother was in the hospital. This summer is so we still have time there. And but it also also celebrate both a virtual lake like mcclellan and a real life-like like elsa's that we went to together with family. We got both good and bad with this summer. This one represents for us the. Yearly trip that we take the south padre with their friends and our trip that we took to punta cana so both trips or the person we've been doing we've been doing for 20 years in the kids have been doing for 7 to south padre. So we need a big group of friends there so that's always nice. The second one is a new group of friends that we have soap. Both are very special to it. This water represents the family trip we took to colorado this year when i had actually a bottle of the water they're from arrowhead and somebody drink in the house. So i don't ever anyway represents a trip to colorado and all the different lakes we went into in the water we didn't drink that had bugs in it probably. But we had a good time and tracy want to come up there he's embarrassed so i stay berenstain completely but this represents and i'm looking forward to church again. And i. For this water to represent the three weeks that i celebrated some family time and some family roots with my daughter and my son-in-law and their three children david emily and dan. And we were in ireland. And celebrated my. Irish roots. And we celebrated summer leaving london in 1680 when my family came to the united states. In london and then we went to paris and celebrated my son-in-law's. I read it's as french and his relationship to the king louie's. We went to see versailles so we had a wonderful time but the main thing was we celebrated being together it was a wonderful family trip. Thank you and i'm celebrating that i was here all summer and i did a lot of work for the church so kind of my sacred work doing classes and just caring though. Had a good summer this is water from family gatherings in colorado river eagle colorado and the clarks fork river missoula montana. The adventures my family had this summer in wine country gary jumping out of a plane skydiving. Shoreline. Any chance going to camp twice as summer get done. Zipline in horsepower. This is water from swoozie wonderful time several let's go every year we got to hear inspiring speeches from reverend mike barnhouse from first church austin kai heart which music leon dunkley's music all sorts of fun interesting things to do. And i am not putting any water in the bowl to represent the artificial grass we just installed in our front yard. 4 hours for mexico city. This is water from mexico. Specifically san miguel de allende if you notice is crushed. Vessel. This is sandy bellaire. At 6200 ft which is brought to here in our heavy are crushes it. So unlike most of what people have been doing you been bringing water where you visit and bring it home. This is my home water and i bring it to where i visit. This water represents curiosity. I have a bowl at home i poured some water in and i print cheerio on the top of it from you say what in the world i saw this on the internet and they put a magnet next to the cheerio material moved. And i was thinking about all the weird things that a cheerio might have possessed with water and i found out that the way they make cheerios how you put a little bit of ground up iron in there. That's how its magnetic so i learned something new and it's really wonderful to really have something new in your life. And i'm our water symbolizes where we are from which is wisconsin and we spent some time up in lake minocqua this summer and that was great to be back with family. And then i part a little bit to symbolize a little trip where i left the kids and my husband i went to lake tahoe for the first time so.. And this water symbolize to summer trips the first one my mom made to. Boston and i think she came down through some of the southern states and swing through louisiana this waters from there. We also had a trip. I'm with the kids and we went through biloxi mississippi. And went through the baton rouge and new orleans. That a great timing in louisiana this summer. It's not virtual water it's not symbolic. Water from. Very spiritually significant place in my life. Our church kitchen. This is water to symbolize. What is going on in my life for the past four months. I have. Been so much closer to my mother because of things that she's gone through and that symbolizes the time at her home. And it seemed furious. Nursing homes. Hospitals in all. That we have shared time with my mother and. The families come together and it has been. So much i different time. She has healed so much she's gone so. Much better and we have done so much closer. This last year has been pretty rough. Your for me so the water i'm going to pour today is representative. Chinese proverbs it's been giving me a lot of. Comfort. And. Hopefully he's some help it's. Be still in the waters will clear. Let this water represent all of those other waters. Not brought here we shared here. Also all the tears shed. Both in sorrow and enjoy. All the births. All of those who have gone on. Promise. Water of life. Essential part of who we are. Physically. Spiritually. Let us go renewed. Refresh.

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20131215-Reading_1.mp3

One facet of unitarian universalism that i personally appreciate greatly is that we can draw from many sources for inspiration. And understanding. An insight. This morning we have a. Meditation on rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. It's adapted from an essay by unitarian universalist minister edward harris. He writes. What can we say about rudolph. He was excluded by other reindeer. They did not let him play with them. When i feel confident. That they made fun of him and his red nose. It is possible that they hurt poor rudolph. He was on the outside. The other reindeer had a special. Relationship with santa claus. They. Worthy poor rudolph. They were the elite. Dancer dasher. Prancer vixen comet. Cupid. Dunder. Blitzen. Find names. Sturdy names. The speaking solidarity stability. Education. Training. Ability. And access to the very best. These reindeer were strong and fast. Rudolph with smaller. And it's only distinctive feature was a shiny red nose. It seems to have a glow about it. It made the young rudolph a figure of fun. Say rudolph the red-nosed haha i'd rather be dead than red in the nose. So he may have been content to be red nose by himself. He probably muttered more than once. I don't care. Let them have all of the fun i can have fun by myself. Did rudolph wish to be included. We don't know. Probably he did. Ford is the deepest wish of all creatures to belong and be accepted. So what happened. On a foggy christmas eve. Santa realized rudolph could make the difference in guiding the sleigh. Rudolph special trait was his ugly shiny red nose. Rudolph could lead them through. It was this knows this trait that was needed. So santa goes to little rudolph. And says. He asked him to guide the sleigh actually to lead it. Out in front of the other reindeer because their mission was so important. It became necessary to rethink past practices. When rudolph was asked what did he say. You did not say. I can't i'm too little he didn't say. Me. The others always make fun of me. He didn't say. Now you ask i've got something else to do it isn't fair. He didn't say spitefully get somebody else. What the answer to it. And he didn't say i hope you crash you and all the others. He just did it. He led the sleigh through. He did the job. It was a hard job but he did it. So what we have here is a classic story of the insider's excluding the newcomer and making fun of his special traits. It happens all of the time in school rooms. Playing fields. Classes. Society. We say. They just don't have it. And if they do well we got here first. We don't have to let them be in our group. Our company. Our church. Our political party. Our country our games. What does this little bit of doggerel mean. What is it tomorrow. I wonder. Some possible meanings are. We need everyone. Even the ugliest. Or what we label ugly. And smaller. Has a contribution to make. Even if it feels like everyone else is making fun of you. You should let your own light shine. Every person has a special gift. The gift we need the most is probably among us right now.

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Sermon_060709.mp3

Listen friends. To a parable. Once. There was a man who longs to know god as a certainty. For he was anxious. And his life. He was not certain at all off. He prayed long and hard for sign and eventually had a dream in which he was told to go out into the hills and forest where he would find god. The warms light filled the day with beauty and the breeze is refreshed him up he did not see god. Eventually as he walked he came to a clear flowing stream. Where he met a traveling holy man who was carrying a heavy burden on his back. After proper introductions the pilgrim ask the holy man what he carried on his back to which the holy man joyfully replied i am carrying god on my back. I found god. At the center of the universe. The pilgrim. Was it first astonished and delighted for this must surely be the answer to his prayers he asked the holy man if he might accompany him and even if he might help him in his holy task the holy man agreed and said they were on their way with carrying the swaddle bundle of god upon his back. As they walked the holy man said nothing. We left plenty of time for the pilgrim to think mrs. went something like this. It's a whole head gazette universe to find god how lucky i am that he brought you to me but probably never have found god on my own. Obviously god has made him a holy man of wit and will do this for me until he is asleep and leave and take god. So that he blessed and always know where to find god. And that is exactly what he did. Upon waking the holy man looked around and did not see the pilgrim or the bundle. But the holy man seemed undisturbed and after his morning devotion clear running stream where he walk his fill last he waited down into the stream and reached andrew forth a large gray smooth. By the water. Admiringly he kept it in his hand and he watched water drip. Water begin to dry. And cordially he said to the stone. Good morning god. Going back to the bank of the stream. He put it in a bundle and put upon his back and sat out once more. Up sunlit road. Put in the air force long time ago it was common wisdom that you did not discuss politics or religion ostensibly in order to prevent conflict or discord unfortunately i have found too often people feel the same way about. Church life as well. Especially here in unitarian universalist congregation. But we are often left with them is it a few logical equivalent of don't ask don't tell. Where we do not engage each other on the things which usually matter most to us. Presumably to preserve the tranquility of our illusion of oneness with each other. To exist in a pseudo community. For the sake perhaps certainty of oneness we denied our differences. Refuse risks and lose our opportunity. To deepen our different our encounters with each other. And the holy. And some more for fountains for hap's that lie beneath the teas and our fears. When i moved to south carolina i think one of the interesting things was. I came from the mid i had someone take side and they say. Confuse. Civility for affection. I think that is well for us all to remember. Is difficult for many people it is probably difficult for many of us gathered here today this morning for some of us it has very harsh emotional connections or memories. For others it is just too much or makes absolutely no sense at all. For still others of us equally or a sense of strength. Certainty. Historian and author at marcus borg offers that there are two types of them. One is a complete and total rejection of any identity or beings beyond the physical empirical world and that there are many for whom this is a reasonable and desirable belief. The other type of atheism that board points to and which is more often what is actually practiced from sophia's is actually a selective or particular atheism. Why does he means that there are certain types of or concepts or images of god or the holy that we have each rejected. All of us have rejected some concept of god. So we are all atheist of this particular type. The problem comes when the concept concept we were ejected. Was presumed by us to be the only one possible oroville. Or valid for our lives and the world. Fortunately as unitarian universalist we know there are many even to the sky of the eternal. Archie is one place where we can share needs together if we in different rocks that we have found in different streams of truth and experience. And we must take the risks to do so. Many people are simply projections of human qualities and desires. This is probably true to it but it is also true that humans introject or take into themselves. Many of the qualities of goddess god. An eastern proverb warns be careful what gods you worship lest you become like them. So what we think of god has impact on us whether we like it or even if we're atheists. As many words as we may throw at our understandings of god we must recognize the inherent limitations of words themselves. Words are and language are only symbols and as such they are human creations and therefore are finite. Eating for the symbol for infinity is finite. Phoenix. Because in particular in the totality of the holy whether it is finite or infinite just because it is so big. Remember that i'm a cheapskate in think the meaning of life or god who are truly huge rebd big. And are a mistake. Any human experiences or claims about the holy goddess god. Are only partial and finite. And this leads us. Then to the issue of idolatry. Country pure notion that it requires some sort of stone stone statue to commit audrey. Claim to know the whole mind or reality of god. Is an act of idolatry. Idolatry occurs when we confuse the non ultimate. With the ultimate. For the whole. Let me confuse human language and symbols about the holy with the holy itself. Dollar tree. The map is not the terrain and the finger pointing to the moon is not the same as the moon itself. Therefore any attempt to make aloo claims about or the holy is an act up now this has some interesting implications about the response that you might get the next time someone is trying to impress you with the inerrancy of some religious scripture and you lay this little bit of logic on them. Very frankly the reality is any type of scriptural literalism is an act of idolatry. My sense is that because him general resist change. We attempt to perhaps. Fence in leveraging streams of reality to claim my god. There is that a tendency towards a kind of spiritual materialism in which we make of god yet in russian. Harvard theologian diana eckrich we must not claimed. The god as we know exhaust the reality of. God. To do so and to claim ultimacy for human symbols and language is truly idolatry god always transcends what we humans can apprehend or under tradition. Can claim the holy or the truth. As as dundee put it so succinctly. Revelation. Is the exclusive property of no nation or tribe. So here we are limited beings with limited tools trying to understand that which by definition is beyond understanding. What my teacher is actually beyond. Description. Yet our attempts to italy describe holy the ultimate one. We encounter. The menace. Of god. In the 3000 year old hindu scripture the rig-veda. It is. Truth is one the wise call it names. This is a challenge. A direct challenge to our western culturally ingrained montem which underlies many of the assumptions in our lives such as one god one saved people 1 through 30. Yet even within the traditions of monotheism there are multiple ways to understand gut asbel spirit creator redeemer sunwater destroyer shepherd. Cetera. Because of the inadequacies of language we are required multiply names and descriptions by which we identify and. Identify with. The ultimate. More personal and less abstract in describing our experiences of the ultimate in our lives. The language becomes more specific graphic. Into. In our hymnal we just sang. Hey moneytree bring many names with descriptions in it like. Strong mother god old aching god. Or him number 31 name and with names for the holy lighter of chaos edging discomfort midwife of daredevil gamble. Are the muslim population reading number 607 beloved present who speaks of god. Speaks to god as a lover. Cloak yourself in a thousand ways and i shall still know you my beloved. In contrast rock musician says there is no devil it's just god when he drinks. Interesting lee if he is right and we are truly made in the images of god. Then this would explain a lot. Yeah they're a major factor contributing to our experience of the menace of god. Is that a point of view by different and even the same people at different times and places. The anyone of time there are many different. Voices. Like the proverbial blind men and the elephant we are all differently. Experiencing different of the same thing. Some describing trunks some describing tales other's legs and yet all are part of a large unseen hole. I feel the real importance of all of this. Is. In the fact that the ways we experience and describe the underlying reality of our lot in turn affects our lives lives of those around us. If we experience god as harsh demanding and jealous then that is that will hold certain implications for us about the world and how we should behave in the world. If our experience of the holiest all-loving and bracing and forgiving that understanding different locations for us. And for our world. Be careful but god you worship let him like them. Or as unitarian minister and transcendentalist ralph waldo emerson wrote. A person will worship something. Have no doubt about that we may think that are just paid in it in the dark recesses of our hearts. It will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will our lives and character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship. For what we are worshipping we are becoming. Even so believing something alone does not make it concrete or influential in our lives others. As unitarian thomas jefferson wrote it is not our words our religion will be demonstrated. In a world increasingly. Complex. And increasingly diverse in duplicity. Rigid singly focused ways of understanding life the holy the ultimate goddess god. Become more brittle. It is. Ever increasingly necessary to be able to see the reflection of the spirit of eyes de from our own. To be open to understandings of the under locken's of every. Different. From. The intricate of existence. Is woven. Buy many different strands. As unitarian universalist we should not and cannot abandon god language those who would just as soon abuses. Acknowledge our own responsibility of god that we are content to believe in or not believe in. As unitarian universalist we are already diverse. But we need to use the various languages we have to share together the profoundness. Of our lives and to find new ways for us. To experience. Each other. As part of the holy breathing of the world. Intern. Weaver our lives. The world. Examples more open for lung. And caring ways. Of being in the menace and oneness. Better braces. All.

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Reading_022011.mp3

One of the most influential liberal theologians of the 20th century was james luther adams. Who lived from 1901 to 1994. He was a professor at meadville lombard school of theology are unitarian universalist. Seminary in chicago. And also a professor at various times in his career at the university of chicago. And at harvard divinity school. Ar reading for this morning comes from a collection of james luther adams ridings published in 1976 under the title. On being human religiously. The essay is called guiding principles for a free faith. The five smooth stones of liberalism. Translator adam says this. Religious liberalism depends first. On the principle that revelation is continuous. Meaning has not been finally captured. Nothing is complete. And that's nothing is exempt from criticism. Liberalism itself as an actuality is patient this limitation. At best are symbols of communication. Are only reference. And do not capsule reality. Events of word deed and nature. Are not sealed. They point always beyond themselves. Reading from james luther adams. The first smooth stone of his five smooth stones. Religious liberalism.

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Sermon_021013.mp3

I was asked by someone earlier this week. I was using 50 shades of grey is my poop text. No. Although it is interesting to think about the use of the word fifty-shades-of-grey and how it might relate to unitarian universalism. Theological. Well if you were to wear that 14th february. So get those valentine's in the mail by your requisite boxes of chocolates and flowers and etc because today we're talking about. Known only to mystics and. I see i have your attention. The form of love. The ancient greeks called eros is about longing for the object of our desire. There is an intensity of feeling that can be a huge rush of excitement and anxiety. For the one feeling and stomach-churning for many watching it from the sideline. The essence of the experience is an intense desire to be one with the beloved. Lose ourselves in the other or two lens. Them. Lose those eagle boundaries the scott pack was talking about. Change my mind when i was writing this it was marx brothers bit. For groucho marx is holding his beautiful woman his arms and she said hold me closer closer. Lady. Sometimes it feels like that. We get engrossed with or addicted to. Desire. In the state of desire with each other. For pratt only us with the other. We often. Miss the opportunities that are at him. I know as a straight male. Who is been a lot of years in singlehood. Before i got married 10 years ago. Encounter for us girls. Who are mooney in their longing for someone who is nice and caring and stable and not mean to them. And all the while you were over here. You know. But we learn what i learned over time with appreciate being overlooked. By just how shutter worthy. With who they did fine. And it brings me to a very important learning and one of my axioms for living if you want something in the worst way that is probably how you will get it. And when i forget that i paid dearly for it. Ego batteries scott packing in his book the road less traveled about this issue of longing and the collapse of ego boundaries in the dream of the beloved where you and i become we. If i have couples come to me for counseling and they talk about. The wii. I get concerned. The main thrust of textbook is that there is a neural chemically induced state that cannot be maintained indefinitely. Usually after weeks or months or even years one of the partner wakes up from the lover's dream. With that regained ecoboundary and ask. What is really going on here. Usually the other partner reaches over and says the equivalent to quit complaining and come back to bed. Because they're still there in the dream. So at this point there is a recognition. A deeper reality of the situation and at that point. There is in a relationship and opportunity to either engage with the possibility for co-creating something sustainable. With this person or some other. So we might be kept acting with aztec talk about his reading. Or to go looking again for the perfection of the lover's dream of eros. Now i know some of you were aware of this people who. Are addicted falling in love. I mean how many others watched the tabloids. And see one couple after another go to the process of falling in love and the whole romantic stuff and then get married to go. This isn't what i was looking for. Don't do that. The same desire for oneness for protection for something. Drive also much of the religious impulse. And are seeking after. Lahore. In my twenties i had the opportunity to do a lot of spiritual exploration. This included several years training in facilitating trance channelers who would have spirit guides and others provide information to those who sought it. He was a kind of oracle. The center i work with mostly did this free for the public on weekends. It was not uncommon for us to have very large groups of people 20 30 or more crowding very small. Space that we used before these reading. Very hot merman. Things that i became aware of overtime. What is the number of return visitors. Who asked the same or similar question week. After week. And more than once the spirit guides with gently but firmly inform them the questioner had already gotten what they needed to do their work. Several times. Perhaps they should spend some time now doing the work. And not asking more of the same questions. Generally i saw a couple of reactions to this. When's the sort of outrage that they were being denied what they wanted. Another was an inability or unwillingness to grasp what they were told i don't understand. The most hopeful was a quiet and even hopeful recognition. That they could move on in their process. They took the hint. What this means. That sometimes we are so enamored with the with the journey that we lose track of the fact that there is a place we are going. It becomes a sort of spiritual tourism. I have problems with some of the trip to machu picchu in a lot of other places that people. Spend all their time going to. All the time. That's all i do. Is one special training stonehenge. Heady carhenge. In nebraska nebraska. Because one of the great secrets of the mystics. Is that they can't be mystical all the time. Last year i preached a sermon about mountaintops and we can visit them. We got to live in the valleys or even the plateau. If you will. Does maslow was talking about. We got to live someplace that. A little more literal. Has the buddhist say after enlightenment. The laundry. Botero. And commitment. Are risk-taking behaviors. One risks the transcendence of previous bounds and the other risk the loss of choices. In order to go deeper within. Those expanded now. In churches one of the ways to think of this is that if all we do is think about how many members can we get in here how big can we grow ourselves. Then we may lose the opportunity for deepening ourselves. It may actually be with much attracted to people anyway i mean think about it when you're actually looking for someone to be in a relationship with somebody who's fairly deep. The last thing we wanted somebody who way down deep is really shallow. We have too many politicians already. In order to maintain some semblance of the union with the beloved. We seek a way to have stability or continuity of the relationship. In order to maintain the goal of being in contact with the beloved. A commitment to the beloved. With the beloved. The nature of the relationship then changes from losing ourselves and each other. To finding ourselves. True committed relationship. With. We move towards agape. The broader love. So we find. Within commitment to god and each other. Earlier i read in from starhawks recasting of the charge of the goddess. There is this this movement. Reading earlier. Because they have similar qualities to them. How. Similar they are. Teresa of aguilar or hildegard hildegard. All these mystics and all of these people who have. Yearning relationship. Also tacos through process. I am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars the mysteries of the waters. I call unto your soul to arise and come unto me. So this is written from the perspective of the beloved. Come unto me. Semi we all want as the song says we all want to be wanted. For i am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From me all them proceed and unto me they must return let my worship be in the heart that rejoices for behold all acts of love and pleasure are my ritual. So there is celebration. Indus. Celebration. Flutterby beauty and strength power the passion honor humility mirth and reverence within you. You seek to know me know that you're seeking and yearning will avail you naught. Unless you know the mystery. Kitty cat. So here we are we're in the state of yearning. Desiring wanting. And we are told that there is. Something. And that is what we are yearning in seeking for. We are not willing to look for inside ourselves for a fat what you seek you find not within yourself. You will never find it without. Externalizing. All about once and our needs and our desires. We're never going to be satisfied. For behold i have been with you from the beginning. Because we are already a part of the universalist message. We are already a part of. The sacred the holy. And i am that was detained at the end of desire. So while we have to go through the longing. And the desiring. Not the point. The enlargement of ourselves comes. From within ourselves as we experience and understand the other. Is both apart from and a part of ourselves. Interdependence. Another earlier reading 607. So we did. Which is my. Sums. Who doing hammad hafeez. He talked about. First culture self in a thousand ways still i still know you my beloved he does like you can't hide from me i will know you so there's already familiarity. Why the lover with the beloved. Avail yourself of every enchantment and yet i smell presents most dear clothes and into. I salute you in the spring of the cypress and the machine of the lace the laughter of fountains. I shall surely see you in tumbling clouds and brightly embroidered meds meadows. Oh beloved presents more beautiful than all of the stars. You think i'll know you were too high for me and then he says i trace your face in the ivy that climbs i see you now. I see you now. You can't hide from me i see you now. Hi trace your face in the iv to climbs in clusters of grapes in morning flaming the mountain in the clear arts of sky. And then. And then he says you glad in the whole earth and make every heartbreak. You are the breathing of the world. There is. Recognition. Celebration enlargements. Unsustainable muse. In this sense of union the same way that. Pac was talking about in his book. So we reach that plateau. So the religious. Journey the mystical union is not about. Falling in love. The sense that we may think i'm with eagle boundaries calling. I think sometimes when we see people who go from one religion to another that's what they're doing the start of serial monogamist. Different religions. Because they can't find something to which they can. Give their heart. Twitch they can make cradle. In the reading by hafiz. Is from the point of view of the beloved i think that's why such a great compliment to the charge of the goddess which is. From the lover. And the other is from the point of view of the beloved. And how both of those had the same. Both of them take us through a process again from desire to discovery to joy. Sumit. And both move from desire and longing to recognition and celebration. To commitment. So eros is an essential part of our journey towards agape. Just like last week when we talked about celia. Set that form a friendship that form of. Pavlov was an essential precursor. It was essential because he required us to also be in relationship with ourselves. You see a pattern here. We have to have celia. With ourselves. In order to have it with other we have to have that sense of of eros that commitment to that deepening and that yearning. With ourselves. Because if we do it with someone else without having that. And it will not last it is unsustainable. Simply and externalizing. The shadow casting. Some sort of hunger. Force you find not within yourself. He'll surely not find it with. And keep in mind. I go to all these things. It's not a linear progression. But something that we re engage with over and over. Re-engaging with that sense of desire. Honey hopefully nrr committed relationships with partners in the end. We do that. I mean cosmo sure writes a lot of articles about that sort of thing. So we're engaged over and over again with this process is renewing. We have to renew ourselves and our relationships. Through this process. Eros this morning that moves into a place of. Commitment. Need. To move to the process of engagement and even fusion. But then differentiation and recognition of the essential. Interdependent co participating. Nature. Existence. With each other. Universal holy. Show my beloved go for. And love yourself. Love each other. Love the world.

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Sermon_013110_p2.mp3

To risk the obvious. If you take the word responsibility apart. It literally means. The ability. To respond. Response. Ability. What are we are truly responsible for. Like the poet's mother we often carry our lives. Are in the riches. Like they were heavier than iron. Liking them from room to room. As if they were burdened. Rather than our unique. An extraordinary cell. What happens when we smash the jug. And come to the river. What happens when we consider all the creation is calling us to. For me poetry is often a kind of spiritual pickaxe. That breaks me open. Shakes me up and rearranges my priorities. So in honor of the poets like my son sam. And other great teachers. I'd like to suggest seven kinds of being responsible. One is to remember that we have a body. And that it is good. It is so good in fact. But even the spirit says mary oliver likes to dress up like us. 10 fingers. Ten toes. Shoulders and all the rest. We have all of these ways to touch. And connect. And experience the world. Even an ant knows that. It's time it's perfectly designed. To draw in and takes all that sweetness. We were given at least five senses. So we to contagious. And see. And listen. And dance. And make love and sing. I was diagnosed with a very serious illness. With a lie. Lou gehrig's disease. 3 years ago. As you can imagine. Finding out i had this illness was devastating. Almost overnight i lost my sense. Of having a future. And a lot of my identity. The ways i knew myself it's an independent person. Self-sufficient. Healthy. And in charge of myself. I was going to complete. State of shock. Disoriented. Terrified. And heartbroken. Especially for my husband and my children. I have found it takes vigilance. Focusing on living in the moment. And what i care about and love most. To keep this illness from defeating my spirit. I'm taking me over. Including my truest deepest self. To keep realizing as. Colleague mark valentini remind me. Mary. You are not your diagnosis. It's still hard to talk about. But this is what i know for sure. We are so lucky. Somehow we got here. Each of us sitting here tonight. Somehow we got a body. Got to have a life. Got to have a human life. Be alive. How amazing. That we are here. Right now. That there is a here. Ice meister eckhart the 13th century christian mystic road. If the only prayer you say in your entire life. Is thank you. That would suffice. Feeling and expressing gratitude. Is the second spiritual responsibility. It would even that card says. Be enough. In his cosmology that's all it would take to make god happy. But when the water and our jug is low and brackish. We do not even have the trim or feistiness of a moth. To offer this prayer of gratitude. In a meaningful way. We are not capable of fulfilling that responsibility. Thank you. Then. There are those hummingbirds. There are those squirrels raiding the bird feeder. There are those egrets in the ditch. We are supposed to notice these things. Dare hard the poet insist. This is an enormous. Glorious responsibility. I don't regret any of those times i was late. Because i found a bird or small animal that was injured. And drove it to the wild animal rescue. I don't regret my ruins pantyhose than shoes. From chasing a hobbling blue jay. To a field of novels. Until i got it into a shoebox. Until i literally couldn't do it anymore. This was one of my most cherished. South chosen responsibilities. At one time we had baby bottles. For every size the preacher from a little bunny. To appreciate lamb. Birds are especially fragile. And often didn't make it. But every once in awhile. There was the thrill of holding that tiny heartbeat. Between my hands. And then watching it fly away. Forest. We have the capacity for perspective. To see all around us that nothing laugh. We are able to be aware of our mortality and fragility. In ways that we humans. Imagine no other creatures can. We can perceive. How all beings are interrelated. How we are part of everything. Marty and i have gone to maine in the summer. For eleven years now. And until recently i would set out and are red canoe. Very late at night. Drifting in seal cove. The water was completely still. So still i hardly needed a paddle. The area was still too. And warm and heavy with the scent of the sea. It was very very dark. And you could hear the fish jumping and the seals barking and splashing. High above. The entire night sky with so blanketed with stars. There was almost no room for the sky part. It was an experience. Timelessness. And keep. The completely enveloped me. And reflected in the water all around me. With jose millions of stars. Sparkling on the surface. I felt so small. Absolutely alone. And solitary. And yet part of something ancient. Andaman. You can't stay in those wild places forever. But you can go to them when you have the chance. And you consult your mind and heart with their memory. So when you need to focus on something beautiful and strong. Those times will come to you. And be a mercy. And a bomb. Another responsibility we have. Is to acknowledge the past. Find healing for our spirit. And then walk away. Refuse to be complicit with those forces. That hold us back. Keep on hurting us through memory and grievance. Sweep the floor clean. Then close the door. Don't take that iron sing with you. This. It's your life. You are responsible. There's too much beauty for even a lifetime of noticing. And wonderment. All of these riches. Have been entrusted to you. For the little time you will be among us. I know it's not easy to let go and move on. Relationships with other people are the hardest part of living. And i don't think after 57 years. It's gotten any easier. We are all hopelessly eccentric. Quirky. Distinctive particular. You can't really figure someone else out. No matter how hard you try. And just when you think you've gotten it right. Things change. When i am over the top with frustration. Fury or despair. I asked myself this one question. When i can remember. What is the most loving thing. I can do right now. It's difficult to think to do this. Sometimes infuriating to contemplate. The answers don't always come right away or even make sense. But when i have remembered. And when i have acted on love in the present moment no matter what. I have never been sorry. Another charge we have is loving soul. It's the claim and experience our own grief. The losses of our lives. 2 min into them rather than push them away. To be there kiss and kin. Like a sister or brother. Four losses will surely come. And their impact will surely remain. And they belong to us. We are responsible to make a home for them inside our self. Not give over the whole house. But it's how it denise levertov puts it. To invite our grief in. Like a dog that has been hanging around the back porch. Give this faithful dog of your grief. A mat on the kitchen floor. And her own water dish. His rightful place. In your life. Story. It's also vitally important. To care for our own people. And to bury our on dead. To sit with and comfort. And companion someone who is very ill. To kiss them goodbye at the end. To wash. And dropped their body. To speak or sing at their memorial service. If you can. To run your fingers through their ashes. To pick up a lump of earth. And crumble it gingerly into their grave. This used to happen all the time you know. We had no choice we humans. Now everything can be handled by others. By professionals. And sometimes this is either. Unavoidable or desirable. But never will i forget. Lowering a handful of my mother's ashes. Into the blue-green waters of lake michigan. Are common spiritual home. And watching as they turned. Silver and luminous. And swelled into a cloud of such. Breathtaking beauty. I knew we had given her back to life. Where she came from. Forever. The seventh responsibility. Solitude graston sabbath time. These are what make it possible to be responsible at all. For anything that matters. Whatever bring the fossilized. Nourishes.. Art beauty. Poetry music. Good cooking. Watching beatles. Feeling the wind. We don't just get to take time to these things. They are essential. We're fortunate as you use that there are more and more opportunities for us. To develop our own unique spiritual practices. One of these does the retreat center in upstate new york. Where i went a few years ago. I arrived on the opening night feeling run out and ready for a change of scene. On that first morning when i woke up in the old farmhouse where we were staying. I gathered my things and headed for the shower. It was a chilly morning. And the hot water streaming down my back felt. Singing good. I stayed in there a long time warming up. I have some of my best thoughts in the shower. A tiffany's even. This particular time i was. Keenly aware of missing my beloved friend elizabeth. Who had died not long before. I thought how much she would have enjoyed this particular retreat. Because she was a poet. And so is one of our leaders. Then i just felt so sad. Thinking about how she would never be going to another retreat of any kind. Or feeling hot water on her skin. Or waking up in a farmhouse. When i stepped out of the shower. I saw the huge. Fluffy's howell. Folded so neatly. And my favorite robe draped over a chair. Waiting for me. For some reason. Being nice made me unspeakably happy. I thought house someday i won't be here either. A time will come when i will never take another shower. But i could so vividly picture my beautiful daughter julia. Putting on her favorite robe. And then maybe my granddaughter. And hopefully. A long line of others stop to that. And at that very moment i thought. Just lice. Just lights. Inside that little temple i felt. So clearly last myself. Send part of everything. My whole life i've been tired of the liberal church. To put it in terms of plants. Or cars. I missed this generation. Youyou hybrid. Everyone here will have your own religious understanding since spiritual practices. Does jewel carry in your mind and heart. The face i was raised with. Came to me from people like you. You who are ministers my beloved colleague. And also those of you who are sunday school teachers. And you said visors. Older wiser friends. I'm from my childhood and youth group friends growing up. Thank you with all my heart. This is the essence of what i internalized. From my religious upbringing. Everything and everyone is connected. We are responsible to each other. It's very important to be a good person. It's not always possible. But that should never stop us from trying. Curiosity. Courage. Kindness and humility. Create a life of bose integrity. Enjoy. Suffering and grief can happen to anyone. And i'm not deserved. Healing. It's always possible. There are countless ways to experience. The holy and the sacred. Life on earth is astounding. Beautiful. Enough. We are in good hands. Love underlies everything. When all is said and done. It's a vast and endless mystery. As a minister i have learned that. Someone's faith is tested most. When faced with trauma or tragedy. I can only speak for myself. But i have struggled with this illness. And as i have tried to see clearly and justice in our world. And bear witness. And take action. With people like you. This faith has helped. Held up. Held me. Held together. It has been enough. Andis buddhists like to say. Enough. Is the feast. I pray this is so for you to. One moment has come stalking. Go into the fields. Live with the beetle. And the wind. This is an enormous. Glorious. Responsibility. This is persistence. Holy. Transforming work. Holman.

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20150927-Sermon.mp3

This is going to be a short, lee. Not just cuz of the time but also because. Just my wife and my. Sun. That the. Protest witness last spring. After events in mckinney unfolded. Swimming pool instagram. Now this is at a school there in mckinney not at the. Courthouse we are not at that event because it was brutally hot. And we roll melting. So but we did stand there with several thousand other people milling about and hearing people speak about the issues at hand. And those by the way or are your standing on the side of love t-shirts. Genocide of love is a program started by her sociation which is now also branched out and includes people from mini face. And it we often now referred to as the love people at retreat at at rallies and protests and witness events when we have these yellow t-shirts. A big part of what. I want to talk about today is about this issue of. Witness public ministry. Sharing our faith publicly. And when things are really want to be very clear about this is not about evangelism although that can be in effect. And also to share the fact that when we talked about evangelism we're only sharing our good news not proselytizing. Proselytizing which is a much harder word to remember. Is the one that most people think of is evangelizing. Because proselytizing says i got a good news and boy do you need it and in fact i'm going to leave you alone until you accept it. And that's proselytize. Evangelizing means evangel good news. It means to share what good news you have. Without. Imposition. It's been strange of information. So when we witness in public we're also not doing the proselytizing thing. We are not even necessarily overtly doing evangelism but we are being present. But we are not doing is standing on the corner shouting for not praying in public. Jesus had very specific directions about not doing that. And i think they're pretty worthwhile paying attention to. And i go to your closet and pray if you can do it don't stand out in the middle of the temple in. So it's a. Now give me my job that's a little difficult but. The idea is this is not what we're talking about we're talking about. Doing the things we say we value. Working towards us thinks the community garden an excellent example of this they continually exceed their own expectations. And provide much-needed healthy food. For so many. So many of you were involved in this program and others and providing. For support of food needs for so many in this area which. Are invisible. Too much of the population of this town in this county. What we find and what i find. About this. Issue of. Living our faith out loud. Is the loud part isn't the important part is still living it when we between what we level. And what we do and say in the world. That brings people peace. They brings people essence that we are in line with that which is. Profound. With that which is holy the ground of being. This is why people flock to programs like habitat for humanity or who go out and do the. Program at plano has where. People fix houses in and. Clean up the neighborhood. Social part of the reason people go on these walks for various charities. And those are important things to do. They're definitely definitely important things to do the millennial generation that is. Some of you are apart of the most of us are not. And. That population wants to change the world and they want opportunities to do that but they don't have to go to meetings to plan them. So one of the opportunities at churches have is to create those opportunities for people to come together in service so they may change the world. The thing i hope for. Among others. Is that we can do that well. That we can provide people a place to make connections for their personal lives and to make difference. So their souls may be enlarged. And the world may be a little bit better. Two lives are face out loud means to risk being identified as someone who does good things. Now i know a lot of problem right now in our culture so we could getting identified by the various people for all the various things we do and then they sell us things. Right. You know whatever we do then helps identify us. Very scary science around that actually from algorithms are designed to help track down people by what you do you think she would imagine they can predict exactly what you're doing like are you pregnant are you. So we can we risk ourselves we put ourselves out there. When we do things that make a difference in the world we also risk changing ourselves being transformed. Are those experiences. Perhaps in ways we can't even begin to fathom. It is a risk but the encounter with the holy is always a risk. Etheric something transformational. Will happen. The nature of the holy is one of change. A transformation. A becoming more. Then we were before. And we have no idea sometimes what that means. Until it happens. So this is a matter of faith then. We have faith in this experience we have faith that we will be transformed that we will that our lives will be better that the the world itself will in some way be brought more in line with all of that is healthy and sustainable and proper and that will grow the souls and heal the lives of all. As we. Think about those things that are most important to us the values we hold most sincerely and deeply. What are we doing. To manifestos in the world. To make them real and tangible. It is said that intentions. Or what pave the road to hell we don't believe in hell so. That's how wasted one but we get the metaphorical implications and. Intentions are good. The work i've done with the institutions. Is it nothing is real until three or four different things are done and and commitments are made. There has to be. Money. Space. Time of in labor. And priority. Until those things are present. Don't catch it. And even that you know. Amelia duck butt. Until we have made those kinds of commitments in our own life to things do we have getting something priority. We've dedicated. Money or welsh to it our time or energy. So we can put those things together. What's an intention. It's a nice idea. It is okay. And it's one of the difference between faith and belief. Belief is about what we assert is so. But we don't have to prove it this early or we don't have trent live it out. Face is what we're willing to live out as we said in an earlier sermon this month in faith that. If people in the future want to know what we are about here. Put our values what do we say we truly. Really represent if historians. A religion look at us and say. Okay do you use are saying this over here this is their values but were they really doing and their personalized not just institution as well. Let's go look at their checkbooks for their online accounts i guess. And that will give him a pretty clear idea of what we're doing. We may not be clear about it cuz you're maybe too close to it. But that's a good place to work. Because money is power in osun jable form. It's how we give of the essence of our lives. Is the exchange of that thunderbolt power. As we think about these things hopefully. And as we. Take the time to. Spend. Reflecting on what we value in our lives what is important. What do we want to see. Done different or better or more of. Keep in mind that this is a journey. Not a destination but it is a process and a part of being human becoming more human and more in line. With that which we know to be holy. And just and beautiful. May we all find a way. To walk the beautiful trail.

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Sermon_2_050612.mp3

Why do. Any of us eat these commitments. In hard ways. They're obviously easier ways we can do things what motivates us to commit ourselves to struggle to do things that clearly caused us discomfort and possibly pain and suffering which since we have free will. What is the payoff for doing this. And i see that. Might need a question to some of you were asking yourselves right now. Or you might be asking yourselves at the end of a particularly grueling week of work or looking for work. And not finding it or while struggling in school or dealing with somebody difficult. The family member or not. When faced with one of those endless meeting. I think you may ask yourselves why bother when you were engaged with each other and making decisions about the future. As the congregation and our mission in north texas. I believe that we not only enjoy that that we strive and even thrive and ripped because there is something worth risking and striving and injuring. My sense is that we feel pain and reacting to something else or in relation to someone else. So why do we stay in those relationships that may cause of suffering or we can just avoid it. Some might say that it is because we are simply. And there is a reasonable warning in this. After all not all risks. The commitment is about staying connected with each other in trust. As they are. With no expectations they will change. Commitment is not about changing others. But about the risk and even the desire. Change. Ourselves. So give them this why do we stay in relationships cause us discomfort when we can avoid it might not be in relationship. It is this question which brings my friends to mine. A lot. And then with cold to my first. I live for another 10 years. In my travels and work i've met people and made some friends many of whom i still stay connected to various degrees of regularity or intensity. Stayconnected we do. Some are many hours away and others are all the way across the country. He's wonderful people some streisand some christian. Tell me when i am with them to be the most of who i am and in doing so help me to be transformed into the person. I can and then i want. Miss each other. Play sometimes. And yet i would not trade. Losing that ache for all the joy we experience when we are actually. For when we spend that time together. But there might be some discomfort. But rather because suffering can be one of the consequences. And transformation. Ingrate. When we speak. And listen from our office. What psychologists call our true selves. When we speak from our heart from the centers of arby's. Enjoy. It isn't experience oven the hope for joy for fulfillment. Which motivates me to maintain these relationships. And which called me to ministry on you. We find this openness whenever we commit ourselves to any relationship. In a relationship with each other we choose responsibility. To each other. Sacrifice. And i do have to say i did get some of action when you're. Brookledge drive i burned a $20 bill. I won't be doing that here anytime trust me. We also have to be able to discover. The reality. Other underlying connectedness. Our relationship to everything. Should we consider a source of meaningfulness. The ground of our being holy. If we are apart. Joy. Is our experience. Of her awareness. A commitment. Is loyalty over time. Which in turn is motivated by experience of. Striving for. Personally i discovered all too early in my life that by refusing the awareness of our. For many years. And it's hard to believe now i know. But what i have learned from various relationships in my life is that when i do this one i withdraw when i when we disconnect from others when we are. Pueblo. Human. When i talk to friends and family when we write letters or emails or text or facebook or how many other million ways we can communicate now. Your hug. Persing. I rejoice in that is more important than all of the grief of separation for all the pain from missing someone. This is why i bother. Experience joy in the heart. That's why i bother. This is why we struggle with the ministries of our lives for the commitment of ourselves and our families our work our congregation or association our religion. This is why we bother with preaching teaching living-learning working that put our lives in the fires of struggle and sacrifice through our relationships and our commitment. And to the ultimate. Holy. Soulja boy. To love and to hold friends i will sing i will sing. To log on to all friends i will see. To love and to hold friends. Who pain and saw a roman. With thanks unto the hyundai will see. I will see. Thanks unto the hyundai will see. For us to live religiously. His to place ourselves in and not. Bystanders. The secret drama and comedy of cosmo. We should be the leading figures. In our own lives. Don't you think. And not the best banner the girlfriend. From the experience and understanding of ourselves as sacred precious of gratitude and gratitude we are. Ensign. And this i believe is the meaning of the phrase. The lord loves a cheerful giver. It's not the giving it is that we are in. That we are in this state of joy. Giving me do is not done out of you or shame it doesn't work very well around here. But rather that from a outpouring of gratitude. For all that we are and have been in. What are the basic definitions of the word liberal seems to be open-handed and generous. He asked in all enjoy as him number 18 does what wondrous love. What wondrous love is this that brings my heart such bliss and takes away the pain of mine. Comose do you use. If there is a redemptive. If we are to be a redemptive tradition. Indecision. He bring to the world of saving message. Hope. Nah hell of an inherent self-worth and connection instead of isolation and. When we are liberated from impressions internal and external we are able to help others in their struggle. And if we both live our lives as if things is if if the things we believe are true. Then maybe they will be true. Then we in the world cannot help that you changed by our faith. It does not matter. It does matter it does matter what what we put our faith in. It does matter how we believe and how we can do. Terraliving. Unitarian universalist faith offers us. Into the world of possibility of a strong and joyful love. Liberation and belonging. Ultimately. What wondrous love is this. That brings my heart. Takes away the pain. Takes away pain.

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Sermon_031812.mp3

We are here together. And if this is a spiritual practice for us. 200. Is senator. The greatest number of it. 30. There is. Some desire for neck. Whether someone olympic person answered. Encouragement between working. Bring. The world. Somebody here great music. Lucky or what. Someone's a little quiet. Handsome sure. Are you sure why were here. I know i have wandered into many worship services. Years and years ago. Early 80s. Common worth it about. Human activity so. It is often defined as reverence given to divine healing or power worship these not have supernatural implication. In fact the word worship. English word. Bullshittin. Describe working something. Worship. Whenever we scribe value and idea and object person.. Attitude. Or whenever we get form or shape to that. Smile one is alone or part of a group. Whenever something beautiful is for keys. Whenever there is a deep sense of connectedness. Depression. Supernatural world. Sending however one made harness. Never one games inside or you sent. Whenever one challenge. Never life is really focused on order. And all of these situations. Hours off in the rain hitting reference to something supernatural or something beyond ourselves. It is about an hour.. Our. Finding a chase. Crossy road. Sunday morning service. Whatever we call it. Nina worship. X federal loan. Signs that meditating or a prayer is howl. Working hands. None of these. Her place. Others. Consulting work the church's one of the things i remind them of. All other nonprofit working today. Experience. Thomas merton described. Corner new york city. He suddenly realized that there was. A connection that he had to each and everyone of them. All remembers of the same human family. Living room. Worship pizza. Weekend. You can see that our own personalized contact. This cannot be done. Isolate. Unitarian universalist. Our own lies exist in the celebration of life. Score of the bigfoot. Come together to celebrate the joys of ry. Has gone before i ever generation. Used to our own descendants. Marcos. I would say. Great american author. Says the miracles of church not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly years or from a car. On our perceptions. So that for a moment our eyes and our ears can hear. Always. Couple of things. One of those places fairly. Are able to let go of our needs. Everything else in our lives. A place where you can say. Set my burden down. Luke bryan. Members of congregation in south carolina. Do not understand. Partner. Store. First down. Internet processor entry into that safe. You're able to be open. Yes tinagong rebillet iver lee mable open. Church steeple. Church. Hey. Jeepers. Recreation. Amen wages function for a conscious mind specialized away that team does for unconscious mind. Vitus a method of cleaning and processing important. Icarus is a sense of renewal or be born again or a beast. He may be but many of this call. Hay spear. Sound. about reconnecting. Her hopefully through this process of honorable or not. Color in the way. Favorable. Er. Reenacting. Er. Play acting. This is the place. Where is ritual. Able to. Call me jade. For the rest of. Creation. Or taste. 14. You're horrible. All the trappings of our lives of our tile house. Vr only. Stand on sacred ground hidden secrets highness's not time in a world between worlds. Tfboys. Warming edges of our home line. Al green. But we can see ourselves as you are. Sirius rodgers nfl. 4 and hoping to find. Siri. Remember the last time. What was mike. No you haven't. Gummy bear menu. Necessities. Pinky. Google. Ride the sanctuary place. Every. Well this naming colors. Nature. Everything. Hear it. Sheridan package. They offer a few things on. Worship services. Right. I remember my mother inquiries. The 25-minute drive. You know. You're always rushing out the door fighting the family members and pretty traffic as you try to get there on time you might arrive in time. Another suggestion. Ashley. He says it's nice because. Office. The lady the opportunity. What do of whatever you don't need for an hour. Prepare yourself president. I know. Bad singers because of. I don't think that's true i really don't. And i'm in anna illinois. I had professionals in theater i have promised. Mcdowell. Hardest. Appreciate. Each and every person in the sanctuary. And it is rooted in his wonderful as you are. Francis.. Make an offering. Talk about collection of ties and offering. Hyde's. The question plate is from where. Out of the largest. You like to say that. I think in part because of companies. Kia. So make an offer. Tiana. What's up. Corey sibley hear our own voices in hughes. It's often our encounters with the unexpected. Magic. Ask yourself what can i learn. Really listen. Is it also referred to as. Never since i come to you with the problem of that existed. Look for hunting. And not just for congregation. We have telephones internet committee meeting. Are socializing. time t h is for vegans with other people. Richard service included. She got someone you haven't seen in awhile. Story. Hey a new member. Another opportunity. Journal practice at 4 4:30. You don't you're only be set aside some time to think about it. I always. Remember my parents talking about the service on the way home. Define leo locker. Attend services regularly as your circumstances. There is of course no threat of hell retribution or. Danger. Regular weekly attendance has time to lower blood pressure. Perhaps more important. Other individuals into the congregation. Any stripper classes. Laborer. If we wish to show our children. I am currently learning day-by-day. Ian's fake girlfriend. You know our long-range plan. Popping your back. Come back to us. Dedicated.. Generation. English. Example. Brittany. This is really important because. Hayward not. Airport. That's not what i mean to be. Large number of. And. I still hear my laces tomorrow. Hell no. I don't have my kids. And all of the people who may be here now who would love to work with our children. You don't want to miss it. This is something we're going to be exploring. America. So. You will be discussing this. And hopefully. You don't worship. Other. Going trick. Heard you off. More. Experiencing. Caring. Here.

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Sermon_060312.mp3

What's been a very mixed week in the news specially for families or anyone really. Job creation is down not such good news federal federal appeals court. Struck down the defense of marriage act. Of course that's all holding pending other things like probably going on to spring court. Does the defense of marriage act is. It is a law that declares marriage to be a union solely between a man and woman and discriminates against same-sex couples by denying them benefits afforded to heterosexual couples. Especially in dealing with federal benefits. The reality now is that our families. Are not what people used to think of when they used to think of families. It's not ozzie and harriet. It's not the partridge family. Although that's closer. Public discussion about family is often assumed as a nation is largely made up of married heterosexual couples raising a biological children. And reality is according to our senses that less than a quarter of all us households fall into this category. Children today are raised by grandparents and single parents and step parent. Their parents may be married or unmarried and they may be straight or gay. Unfortunately our public policy has not kept up with changing realities and american family system. Especially during recent periods of national economic crisis. Instead outdated laws largely ignore the two million children being raised by lesbian gay bisexual and transgender or lgbt parents as well as many children and unmarried heterosexual families. Or families headed by related caregivers. Tragically the barriers and discrimination faced by twenty century. 21st century families due to outdated laws and policies often pose the greatest harm to the children. Who could benefit the most from safety-net programs. Including children living in low-income and otherwise struggling lgbt families. In october of last year. Movement advancement project the family equality council and the center for american progress released a report called all children matter how legal and social inequities hurt lgbt families. And the report offers some of the most comprehensive portraits. The date of the lgbt families in america. And details ways in which antiquated laws and stigma make it harder for children parents to achieve major needs three major needs in particular. Stable loving homes. Economic security. Health and well-being. I want to share a lot of offer from you today is from an american progress article from last january. And from that a woman named lisa t from california. Says of her experience. She says we're a blended family the sometimes worries about how to put food on the table for our kids. We get no assistance because although i support for people on my income. They will only count three. Our kids and me so we do not fit into their mold of who needs help. The kids are not secure legally if something ever happens to me and that scares me. I wish for one day that i didn't have to worry and could know my kids will stay with their other mom when i park this earth. So who are these lgbt families. Today just 69% of. Children live with married heterosexual parents. Down from 83% in 1970. This trend is in part driven by increasing numbers of lgbt families that are raising children currently between 2 million and 2.8 million children are being raised by lgd lgbt parents. And 24%. A female same-sex couples in 11%. Same smell same-sex couples are raising children so it's almost a quarter and over 10% of male same-sex couples. A recent survey of transgender americans finds that 30%. 38% identify as parents. Overall lgbt families are racially and ethnically diverse. More so than married heterosexual couples raising children. Only 59% of same-sex couples with children identify as white. Compared to 73% of married heterosexual couples with children. Similarly 55% of children raised by same-sex couples are white compared to 70% of children raised by married heterosexual couples. Reflecting trends in the broader population same-sex couples of color raising children are more likely to be poor than white same-sex couples are raising children. A lesbian couples with children for example poverty rates are at 14%. Four white households 16% for asian pacific islander household. 29% for native american household and 32% for latina and african-american households. Well research about families headed by transgender parents is limited. Transgender parents and general face severe economic challenges. For example a large national survey of transgender americans found 15% reported making $10,000 less a year. The rate of extreme poverty four times that of the general population. Although you might expect lgbt families to live in major metropolitan areas or in states with policies friendly to lgbt families. Lgbt americans and their families are dispersed living in 93% of us counties. States like california new york. Have high numbers of same-sex couples yet. Sing sex couples are most likely to raise children in. Mississippi. Followed by wyoming. Alaska. Arkansas. Texas louisiana oklahoma kansas alabama montana south dakota and south carolina. Having moved into of those states. That's got to be a tough row to hoe. These families have a profound lack of legal recognition. And in a myriad of ways and forms. These parents may want to adopt or foster a child and it may even have children from previous relationships. But couples wishing to conceal a a newborn child together parenthood made the come through donor insemination or surrogacy disease options maybe too expensive. For many families. Celia a woman from south from indiana says. My wife although we are not legally married we didn't have a ceremony. And i planned our pregnancy together and thought things like changing last names and adoption would go smoothly. But right after i got pregnant i was laid off and we still aren't cut off of caught up with all the legal hoops we need to jump through. Although we share the same last name now because i petition for a name change through the court. We can't afford my wife to adopt our beautiful son and the way things look he won't have the money we won't have the money for a legal adoption anytime soon. I have tried to look into making a will or something to name her as a guardian in case something happens while we're trying to save up money that people keep sending me back to lawyers we can't afford. In the meantime we're getting by and praying that nothing happens to harm our family. We may not be rolling in money but our love for each other and for our son will pull us through. Regardless of how lgbt families form however laws. May not exist to protect the families by ensuring that children. Have or can establish legal relationships with parents. This inability to form a legal ties lens leads to a higher percentage of unrelated children for lgbt parents. Recent analysis of census data on same-sex couples. Raising children indicates that 36% of same-sex households with children include adopted children stepchildren and non-related children. Compared to 10% for married heterosexual couples and 24% for unmarried heterosexual couples. Born to or adopted. Buy a married heterosexual couple that child is jelly recognized by all 50 states as the legal child if both parents. By contrast a child with lgbtq parents faces a climate of uncertainty. A child awaiting adoption might be denied forever a home simply because the caring parents who want to provide it are the same sex. A lesbian couple using a donor insemination might find at the non-biological mother is a legal stranger to her child. Or both. Mothers might be considered legal parents in one state yet only one mother might be considered legal parent and another. Finally federal government may not recognize both parents as legal parents even when the state in which the family lives does so. Most families don't think twice about how to show the world who they're legal parents are in the household but many lgbt families are likely to encounter this concern throughout their lives. My parents are legal strangers to their children families may be unable to get health insurance face higher tax burdens and being denied safety nets. And safety services when facing economic. Crises. There are additional. Social and economic costs for lgbt families. Lgbt families not like face discrimination and social stigma facing widespread anti-lgbt sentiment.. Those impacted the most are in fact low-income families. Who are also more likely to be families of color and therefore already facing discrimination and a separate set of barriers as well. Hits just keep coming. For low-income lgbt families the additional economic obstacles protecting and providing for their families can be insurmountable. Here's some of the most common ways that these obstacles translate into rough tough realities. For lgbt families. They can't afford legal fees to create the legal protections that there that are possible. Families pay higher taxes. Because they can't file joint tax returns. Which would bring their taxes down. And they cannot establish legal parent-child relationships. And arjun i check tax deductions for childcare and other kinds of household deductions. Children have few options for welcoming schools. Low-income lgbt families maybe have limited alternatives for welcoming schools for their children. Private schools will probably be out of their reach. And even if they find them they may not be welcoming. Families have reduced access to health insurance for their children. Because of the legal barriers. Federal state and local governments have established programs and policies to help families meet basic physical needs and raise healthy children. These programs are particularly essential for families in crisis in low-income situations. Government economic protections include safety net programs as well as other programs and legal protections. Designed to provide economic stability when parents die or become disabled. And yet government basic. Basic anomic protections are applied. Unevenly based on. Family structure. Britain time qualification for benefits to family size or need governments use inconsistent definitions of family. And. Parents may not be included even if they are legally married in that state. This even the sunnyvale application of government benefits and other protections based on family structure affects not only lgbt families but also many other types of families. This lack of legal recognition is is really kind of central to all of these things. One of things when i talked with. Couples who i'm doing wedding consultation with. Heterosexual couples in this state. I talked about the kinds of changes that will occur in their life even if they've been together for a long time. That they will have access to all sorts of immediate. Benefits and responsibilities because of the state sanctioning of that relationship. State recognition. Those who worry in. Lesbian gay bisexual transgender relationships do not have that expectation. They have to try and forge those things piecemeal. Quite expensive lie through legal. Structures outside of those of which are normally afforded to heterosexual couple. It's a very different world. So even as a community here is a religious community we make. Sanctify that marriage. For same-sex couples religiously. Legally and typically they are at a profound economic. Disadvantage. In addition to the economic burdens outline. Just like a family recognition means laws design support families when a parent dies or becomes disabled. Exclude lgbt families and children. Fall. Through the safety net. When government programs refuse. To take care of them as a result of the legal stranger situation. There are some policy recommendations that specifically apply to economic security for these families. Legally recognizing lgbt families that would be. The first. Legalizing marriage for same-sex couples including the repeal of doma. Which we talked about could be in the works. Or at least a challenge. Legally recognizing families by passing comprehensive parental recognition laws at the state level to fully protect children in lgbt families. Revising the irs code to provide equitable treatment. Provide pathways to immigration. And citizenship for it by national and immigrant. Lgbt families. Advancing equal access to health insurance and health care. Modernizing archaic wrongful-death in in. Intestacy statutes. Opening government safety-net programs to lgbt families. Defining family broadly across federal programs. Revising requirements in definitions of priorities. To reflect today's families. Broadening definition of family for a child care and early assistance programs one of these are just a few of many many policy things that could change. People's circumstance dramatically. The path of fully commit security for these lgbt families is not simple. Especially with the mini current laws a place that do not recognize the very real facts. Did lbg lbgt families and other diverse families in fact exist. It is time for public policy based on these facts and not on animus. As unitarian universalist. It is for us a matter of our principles. Our faith. That we advocate. 4 as a quart. These types of policy reforms. Create greater health and well-being for all families. Regardless of their composition. This is a matter of justice making as well as a matter of common sense. If we want to have a society that is going to be creative healthy and productive. As possible. It is our principles with call us with firm and support. Social. Justice equity and compassion in human relations. As well as peace liberty and justice. For all. Is a part of our inherent covenant. As unitarian universalist as members of this community. To reach out. 2. Try and strive for that justice equity and compassion. I believe these issues. worley under the fence.. If we are to creation be apart of. Beloved community. So we know is possible.

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Sermon_120609.mp3

Isn't that a couple of months ago. I shared with you the first. Three of james luther adams five smooth stones. Liberal religion press to think about. And by the way there is an inserting you order service with those so. You can do that or take them home. Today i'm going to lay out the last two of adams smooth stones of liberal religion. And then we'll look at what exactly. Idiots. The beloved community where building and how to use. These. Stones to gilbert. There are many definitions of liberalism and of course one of the most eloquent. And complete. Can be seen in these. Statements of liberal religion made by adams. In brief. Caribbean. Revelation is not sealed. Meaning has essentially. Not been finally captured. Nothing is complete. Unless nothing is exempt from criticism. There is always more to discover. Learn. Second. All are children of one father. Sexiest language aside. All relations between persons there for. But ideally to rest on mutual. Free. On persuasion not coercion. All people have responsibility and dignity. 3. Faith. Must be the sister of justice. There is a moral obligation to direct one's efforts for the establishment of a just. And loving community. The role of the profit is central to this. 4. We deny the immaculate conception of virtue. The decisive forms of goodness our institutional. And require the organization of power. Freedom and justice are impossible in merely individual. Empire. We joined the hallelujah chorus. The divine and human resources available for the cheese month of meaningful change. Justify an attitude of ultimate optimism. History moves toward the victory of justice. And the fulfillment. Agrace. So let's pick up where we left off. Number for. Denial of the immaculate conception of virtue and affirmation of the necessity of social incarnation. Another words good must be consciously given form and power within history. We are. Particular finite and concrete beams. We exist in a very substantial reality. And if we take adams at face value then part of our mission our faith as religious liberals. Used to give tangible concrete expression. To those intangibles. Richly valued such as respect. Worth. Value. Dignity true. Justice. Freedom. And mutual interdependence. The reason we need to incarnate. Virtue and justice and goodness. In social societal institutions is because social institutions. Are where the concentrated power that is maintained over time. Resides in all human cultures. Power. Is the ability to create or inhibit change. If the intangibles we hold as sacred are to be more than matters for discussion. Then we must give them body substance. And power in social system. As religious liberals while we may or may not believe that goodness and virtue exist. Independent of us as moral beings. We agree that it does not manifest it does not come into being on its own. Even if we believe that god or the holy reaches into and participate in the human experience. It must do so through human institutions and persons. Adams rite we deny the immaculate conception of virtue and a firm in this essence of social incarnation. Let me put a timely face on this dynamic. I believe that the current fight in the halls of power in our congress particularly in the senate right now about the public option and insurance for healthcare. He is in fact a battle over whether there will be an institutional incarnation. To this new ethic of healthcare as a right in this country. This i think is what is being fought against. This is why it is such a question. Because the people do not want it. Know that if it is there. Will be hard to root. Out an institutional base. Advocate for admission. Laws can and will be picked apart over time. So a large part of importance of creating to social institutions. Which manifests and carry our ideals forward. He's that they have much the same place. In the social ecology as trees in the natural environment. They hold the ground against the rosen. And provide a means of collecting concentrating and manifesting disparate and diverse resources and energies. As we seek to manifest the good let us transcend the theology of what's in it for me. And bill's not just for ourselves but for others as well. Let us incarnate. Virtue in society not by happenstance but by design and intent. The organization's we build our. And need to be. Vehicles for creating and realizing the social incarnation of virtue in the world. If we create and change and sustain them in the good. For the good of all. The good one step at a time. Wolfenstein and transform us. And the world. We going to adams. Resources divine and human. That are available for achievement of meaningful change. Justifying attitude of ultimate but not necessarily immediate. Optimum. There is cool. Ultimate abundance. The universe. Just as. Courage is action. In the face of fear. Not in its absence. So does true optimism live in the presence of despair. Not. In its absence. It is easy to seem optimistic when things are going well. Optimism is however. A matter of faith. We cannot give proof of or for something that is an ultimate. But we can look at things. Which ethel east point. Chords. Psychologist now tell us that in general those who live longest among our species. Are those who tend to be optimistic. They not only strike survive often tragic and heroin situations that seem to transcend them with a creativity and grace. Go in. The face of despair and adversity with a face. In the ultimate life hopeful nature. Existence. Impark. An implication of this type of finding is that. An authentic optimism rooted in a realistic understanding and experience of life. Can actually save or increase our physical lives. Deeper than this issue. Quality or quantity of life. Is more depressing issue of the quality of our lives. Individually. And collectibles. Despair. Despair is a necessary precursor. Of the successful. Oppression of people. New hope. And we remove resistance to those who would controls. Through our whole optimism we are ultimately saved from despair and nihilism. Now nihilism is that lovely $5 word. For believe in the meaninglessness of existence. A consequence of this. Received meaninglessness. Is the conviction that it is often necessary to utterly destroy. Existing patterns of relationship and society in order to level the field and start all over again. Recreating reality in some other image. This is the basic self-justifying philosophy. Pellitteri and systems. Like lemon is stolen. And malice communism. Nazi fascism. Khmer rouge. And millenia list. Traditions where they are christian jewish. Or otherwise. They say that the world must be destroyed. So that god can recreate it. Many of these have killed millions of people in name of imposing order on chaos. A sense of. Created meaning on meaninglessness. As religious liberals we rejected nihilism and its implications. Has adams rights he says. History has a meaning a demanded direction. This is the issue that cuts through all others it cuts through the ranks of those who believe in god as well as the through the ranks of unbelievers. For us as religious liberals existence is ultimately meaning. Not meaningless. And despairing. Applications are not just part of the realm of large socio-political dynamics. They can be intimate. And personal. In my own undergraduate years. Long time ago now. Flag of the university of missouri. I had one of those crises that many undergraduates have some of them maybe even your kids are going through. I couldn't figure out what i wanted to do with my life. I was already on track at one point. Do i get a. Degree in political science but then. Where do i go from there. I had thought about laws of possibility went to interview with the treloar advisor. Theodore ted taco. Doctor turco. Was already known commodity to me he was. Are you taking two of my courses in greek and roman civilizations from classics professor. Gray honestly doctor taco made it politely clear that my grades were let us a insufficient. Whataburger is of law school admission. And i must have seemed very very disappointed because he took several minutes to observe me. Can inquire after other options. Enclosing our interview he remark that he had remembered me from his classes and that. I had an obvious interest in aptitude for history and classics. He said that given this that i should remember. That coat is always hope. For those who love truth and beauty. There's always hope. For those who love truth. Beauty. Over the intervening years. Many of them more difficult than that.. This praise and its implications have given me more solace. Encouragement and guidance then i probably. Even realize now. It is a profound statement. Optimum. I also find it remarkably similar to adams own statement that. Anyone who does not enter into that struggle for justice. The affirmation of love and beauty. Misses the mark. And for creation as well as self. Even in our darkest. Moments we can reach out. In the face in the hope that there is someone. Or something beyond ourselves. But it can help save us from our despair. It's one of my favorite hymns and choirs. What wondrous love is this for my soul oh my soul. What wondrous love is this. Marines my horse. And takes away the pain. Oh my soul oh my soul. Actually the pain. Of my soul. Is. Wondrous. Love. Some amazing race which will lift us. Hold us heal us and light our way in the depths of our darkest night. No matter what we understand the source of this race. Whether it is god or goddess or the spirit of life but a ground of being or simply the dynamics of a healthy human community. Implications are basically the same. There is hope. And we are not. Or. Even in the darkness we can claim for ourselves at hope which is our birthright as co-creators and participants in this sacred and holy exist. And then as one voice in this great. An ongoing enterprise this hallelujah chorus of. James walter adams has gifted us with five smooth stones of liberalism. And we can use them in many ways. They are lenses through which we may better understand the world. They are markers. By which we may better perceive the outlines of our own liberal religious tradition. They are perhaps. Projectiles. A truth and justice to be hurled at the sources of evil and injustice. And they are tools. For building. Beloved community. In which all. Ultimately. Brother we are counting out adams five smooth stones or. Using other definitions of liberal religion. Impulse and the calling justice and walk humbly with the universe. Are the same. As we struggle to understand ourselves and each other. And to break the chains of repression and to create. And to be the good. Let us not doubt our connectedness to. An ultimate abundance of the universe. This life. Which we call.

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20160214-Sermon.mp3

Well happy valentine's day valentine's blessings be upon you and for those who don't have a valentine we're here as your valentine. Valentine's day supposed to be one of those days where you talk about love you know luv love you know. I did have somebody asked me if i was going to use any tina turner in the service because the title is what's love got to do with it and i said no because. That's not where we're going but it is good to think about. You know i remember when she was talking about when the song first came out she did say that. Her backup singers. So. Can have a lot of different meanings. Is love a second hand emotion. I don't think so. I think she was trying to make a point with the song actually. So what's love got to do with it. What does love got to do with anything. If you listen to certain people in certain places it's got nothing to do with anything and it's all about. Making money or about. Changing. How we do policy in politics. But for a lot of the rest of us we need something a little more. We need that sense. That we are connected. That's black aqua saying that we are apart of. Everything. That's a hard concept to get our heads around sometimes. Potato were connected with then we have the sort of imaginary electrical plug you know cord plugging into the universe. But that were actually somehow separate we're just drawing power off of it. Rather than the idea that we are in trouble to the entire. Reality. We're not an add-on. We're not lytical peripherals. In computer language. For a big part of the hard drive. If they still have hard drives excuse me. Dynomax going away from those. Where's henschel. Are are being a component. Sacapuntas around word being. Part and parcel. Of. The nature of reality. Of the universe. And participating in the love. The joy. That is ours by being apart of. That loving universe. I talked. I think last week about the nature of the i-85 our relationship. If you're careful and saying i it if be very clear to articulate. That because otherwise people mistaken martin buber for somebody else. The ideas of of. Of not being in relationship with. People as objects of use. Es. But rather in relationship with each other as authentic beings. In our being earnest. One way of expressing that is true. Gratitude. A story that. Michael dad shared in writing his book on. Gratitude and realizing the name the love of god and your neighbor he says. He says many years ago i listen to another angelical teacher winkie pratney. Some eminem who winkie pratney is. Probably the format your time my intuitive. But many years ago he said he listened to him speak on the importance of expressing gratitude to people in our lives. Who deserve it. As opposed to those who don't. As i soon discovered virtually everyone deserves it and benefits enormously from being on the receiving end of authentic. Freshens. A thanksgiving. And he told this story. A woman had worked at a newspaper from more than a dozen years. One sunday morning her pastor spoke on the subject of thanksgiving. After church the woman felt led to express gratitude to her boss. A gruff. Curmudgeonly fellow. The next day she walked into his office and said you know it dawned on me yesterday that i've never told you how much i appreciate you for being my boss. You're hard-working. Fair. Can you pay me well. And i really enjoy my job. She then went on to thank him for particular things he had said or done over the years. When she finished he replied incredulously. Is that it. We came in here justice thank me. You're not buttering me up for something. No she said with a smile. I just thought you deserved to hear how grateful i am. For my job and for the fact that you're my boss. That's all. She turned locked out. 10 minutes later. He came back to her cubicle and ask her if she would see. At her back in his office. He shut the door and motion for her to sit. Voice wavering. He began. As you know i've been the editor here for 40 years. And all that time. No one has ever thanked me like you just did. He fell silent clearly fighting with his emotions. After a few seconds he said. You just validated what i've been doing. Here. For four decades. His eyes moistened. She gets say. How do we take. Expressions of love. Of our gratitude how do we share them with people. Yes valentine's cards are lovely and they're very nice. It's good when we have children write them up for us and freeze them in. We stick them in drawers and keep them. Forever and ever. How do we how do we express our gratitude. Do we express our gratitude to people i think actually might be the first question. And that might be one of the most important things we can do. As the song was saying shower. He people. The greatest thing we have infinite. Gift that we have every single one of us that we can give to others. Is the power. A blessing. You can give a blessing to someone. As long as you're not doing it away like hi i'm powerful and i bless you. So. So it's not you're not doing that number. It's. It's an amazing thing it's transformative. In people's lives. When we are given that validation. Not just as a. Yeah make you feel good kind of thing but every true i see you. I. And now. Are here in this. Place together now in this moment. And i want you to understand. With authenticity and. Humility. The power of your life. On my life. And in my life. One of the exercises that. Michael dowd offers in his book. Is 2 then. Perhaps sit down to write a letter to someone. Expressing all of the things that you can think of that you are grateful for. He talked about doing this for his father who is still alive. And he wrote 16 pages. Going for. And. Cause him to really just. Truly be able to bask in the love. Of what he had been given and to be able to give that back. To his father who also. Was so overwhelmed and touched that he wrote his own. 10 page letter. I think she was grateful for. With his son. Even if someone is not with us anymore. If they have moved beyond that veil of perception. We still can do this. I think of this and sending waze as a complementary exercise to one where we do this. By forgiving. People. You got forgiveness is not about condoning things it's about letting go the energy attachments we have. 7 - 2. So those are possibilities. If you're sitting at your desk at work writing this at prying you can tell your boss you're. Taking a moment out for spiritual reflection. What's love got to do with it. I'd say probably everything. Whether we understand love in the classic sense of of of eros. Erotic and end. Connubial love or if we understand it as. Philia. But the warm and platonic and. Deeply felt. Appreciation of someone who appreciates you. And all of your. Foibles end. Beauty. I'm reminded. Yesterday when we talked about antonin scalia yesterday judge scalia. The his best friend on the court was. Ruth bader ginsburg. I mean there's not gobble. Apparently they sang together did opera together they were. Friends they enjoyed each other's company. There was true philia. They're even though they were. At great odds. In their legal. Decisions. Or if we're talking about dr. king you know refers to as i copy that. That love. That power that binds communities. Or some other form of love and some framework that we don't know if these are all human frameworks. Do not exist exhaust the nature of love. Or the nature of god or anything else. The same cos i have to remind myself and others. Everything we read about god. It's something we came up with. And the nature and reality of love and god. Are beyond our understanding ultimately but we can at least make a stab at it. Pikachu. Opportunity. So here we are. Looking at the nature of love. On a day that is supposed to be dedicated to love. And candy. Flowers. Greeting cards. Dinners out. Those are nice things. By ghosts of those rituals to. So does my wife. Cuz we like being married. And in the the lack of anything else that's what we're going to do. So we're sitting here in the face of all of those. Expectations. And hopes. And some of us are like charlie brown at the mailbox you know waiting for valentine to show up. I tend to prefer. A remedy that's more like. Going out buying your own valentines. And giving the whites of people you don't even know. There was a news story. This week as a man. On a train. A commuter train. Who is the large and kind of scary looking in he was. Very obviously upset. And everyone on the train. Moved away from him. Until a woman and elderly woman. Moved over a chat next to where he was and she took his hand. And he sat down and wept. And wet. She later said yes of course i was scared but i know he was going to do to take a pen out of pocket. But all i know is that. He needed to have his hand held i need to hold his hand. And that moment. To have that courage. To do that. Afterwards he says. Thank you grandma. Cut off the tree. We transform lives. We transform our life. Transform the lives of others. How many little ways in so many big ways. We can't begin to. Cutter stand. The ripple effect we have on. The things we do. And say. Does a parent have to smell children who. Have got my number. Just say the very least. In my wife's. An elegant line. And you know when you try to retreat and not revert back to your default mode with your parents taught you which was. So you try not to go to that negative place and said you want to be in a good healthy hopeful place. We're talkin being fairly rational because otherwise your head's going to explode. And. You know. There's no line about. Some comedian said his father used to say. You know go ahead i can take you out and make another one just like you. So sometimes we have to restrain ourselves from that. Kind of commentary. And. And realize that. Aside from avoiding harm. There's also tremendous good am i. My kids i'm trying to training myself more and more and more that my response to their distress. Is not my distress. But that is me holding my arms open to. And that takes practice. But it's good. I like it. I read the other day that the primates. Tobias. Have. Sorry about that next week when they do evolution sunday. Primates have this need for touch. There was a several studies done. Not too long ago when. They took married couples and put them through. Stressful situations and the couples could not reconcile until they were able to physically touch each other. So we are here. Find understand why does love got to do with it. Again everything. And we come together as a community of hope. Of grace of love. Pursuing these things. Not just our own good but for the good of the world. I have to work on my own mental exercise which is. To see myself. Opening my arms and embracing ted cruz. Belton high bar. Working over heather. Persons that we tend to disagree with vehement lee. And who wouldn't have a clue what to do with the action in the first place but. That's not true i can't read minds. It's not that i can actually do it it's. So that the exercise of trying to the the spiritual practice if you will. Of. Trying to. Simply start with imagining being at the same table with someone with whom you went to reach across. Anna ruffle him. You know. And can't i mean you can start with your own family members. Right. Mother's day is coming up. Easter. So let's start with those things. Start small. We can build her way up way up. We can start large. I hope it's not some sisyphus ian. V2 or trying to do. So. Love it's got everything to do with it. It is being alive. Health. Hope happiness. Independent existence. Ourselves and for our world. Everyone. Soleta shower. The people with love. Starting with ourselves. And those closest to us. Proximity. And those. In our hearts. And then. Move outward. From our city of love into the suburbs. And engage with those we perhaps may not be. On those terms with. Let us have that open-hearted courage. Which jesus had. Gandhi. Dr. king. Even our dear late friend bob bader. To never met a stranger. Let us go forward. Is this form of love. The love of ourselves. At each other. And the world. So precious. And so much a part of who we are and we apart of. Let us go now.

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Reading_083009.mp3

Langston hughes has offered us the following to think about he says i've known rivers i've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins my soul has grown deep like the rivers i bathed in your frailties and dawn's were young i built my hut near the congo and it lulled me to sleep i look upon the nile and raised the pyramids above it i heard the singing of the mississippi when abe lincoln went down to new orleans and i've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset i've no known rivers ancient dusky rivers my soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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20160103-Sermon.mp3

Good morning everyone. I think you first of all for such a warm welcome here this is wonderful congregation and wonderful places. I'm really pleased to be here with you this morning. I just to share a few thoughts about that the work which we do with human rights initiative and which i've done over the last few years. The catholic priests and peace activist henry now and wrote this in his collection of essays called the road to peace. He said if you think of all the prophets in our modern times. They're people who began doing small things. I'm talking up small in the sense with what they did to not change everything overnight they opened a soup kitchen or work for the migrant workers are labored for the liberation of black people. Even when they knew their efforts were imperfect. These people created signs on the midst of this violent world of the coming kingdom. Well i certainly do not report to be a modern-day prophet. I do these words resonate with me in terms of starting small with things in your life because you see i didn't really set out to become a human rights lawyer i didn't set out to become an activist for refugees and asylum-seekers. I got out of law school in 1981 and i hung up a shingle and i started practicing trial off. Can i get back for the next 32 years. I just really unlike a lot of the great millennial generation and seemed so devoted to doing something significant and meaningful there for their careers i just wanted to make a living. And so i've i've represented a people really from all walks of life and really more or less anything that had to do with litigation. Long the way i had avis was in the mid-1980s i had a client from el salvador. Charged with burglary and i was i was a court-appointed lawyer for him. And i got a call from a mennonite missionary brad ginther. Fred called me he said that bill i see you're representing whatever this guy's name was i don't remember any more than i said yeah and he said he's in jail right and went yes if you've been to visit him yet and went yeah. He said well are you working on his case i said who are you. Eddie said obama mennonite missionary i'm sure you're familiar with the salvadoran civil war in a way it's not really and he said well bear civil wars and both guatemala and el salvador in tens of thousands of people are fleeing that chaos and they're coming here to get his face and i'm working with them just to help them navigate life here in the united states. Then i said something and i have to say i gave this note thought at all but it changed my whole life i said well if you ever need a hand give me a call i can see by your reaction similar experiences in your life and ironically. Children from el salvador. These were kids who were fleeing the civil war their parents were dead or missing and there were coming up the united states and they needed guardianships in order to attend school and so i went to probate court and help get these kids. Guardianship will then i took a training a gun asylum law training. And i got up they sent me your cases an agency that's no longer brown comfrey up till adelante and they sent me a case that for a woman from guatemala. Her husband had been a truckers union leader they were taking their kids to school one morning in an unmarked car pulled up raptor husband pulled him into the car and took off. 2 days later she got a call from the police to say please come identify your husband's body at the morgue. You've been murdered by a best squad. What she was well as she paced all this together later because she rather naively started investigating a pushing the police to investigate her husband's murder and then she realized the police were actually complicit in his murder because these death squads were part of the government. And then she started getting death threats and her children started getting death threats and she made the very difficult decision is this young mother of a small children to make their way to the united states and she did she came to the united states. A productive atlanta assigned the case to me and i helped her get political asylum to stay here in the united states to start over and i was completely hooked because it was the most fulfilling thing i've ever done as a lawyer and so i had a very simple. Policy in my practice is always had one of those cases going and i did that for the next 20 something years. Presenting people from all over the world and she pointed out in the introduction eventually people from. 20 different countries i want to share a few of those stories this morning because after all that's really what the work is about is the clients. And i chose this a reading this morning. From the prophet isaiah because it really. Is melissa a mission statement for me and my life because this work over the year it didn't start out this way but over the years it became this way if it came a working with immigrants were refugees with asylum-seekers became an act of worship it became a very spiritual thing for me by my work with people and part of that was because of how much. I changed really truly don't want to leave you the impression. There are many kind of great guy i assure you that i have benefited much more than anything i've ever given to other people because of this of this work. No sense 1999 up in taking these cases from human rights initiative of north texas. We just celebrated our 15th anniversary this year with a quinceanera celebration. The founders of hr i were two people and actually as it turns out their idea was a brilliant one. And that was to do free legal services of very high quality through a pro bono network and so consequently with a very small staff now we have 11 employees last year we did 4.7 million dollars a free legal services for immigrants and that's because we do the work through this extensive network of volunteer lawyers like myself. And they're mostly lawyers from major law firms in the city and so now people with no resources whatsoever do went to immigration court here with the highest quality legal representation that you could imagine. That's really a remarkable thing to see. What if you're done during the unaccompanied minor crisis other agencies. Tried the starter pro bono a program for devon the fly because there were so many kids and they were so great of a need and they realize how long it takes to build these networks and so the founders are agency were very wise and starting this 15 years ago. Who are these people. And what is it about them that. Lawyers like myself find so compelling in representing them. One client and in my experience really illustrates this well. And i have to say given the current wetterich about refugees in this country i think the story is is quite profound. Because the way i look at it's open working with refugees and accepting refugees. Is pain and sexually is what we have to offer them. But what i what i was suggesting you is people coming to this country fleeing persecution have a lot to offer us and we have an awful lot to gain from their experience and their values. The client represents this really well he was a young man for actually when i when i met him he was wasn't he got man he was my age. And he was from ethiopia you been a schoolteacher and he'll being a political activist from the time of haile selassie. When he protested the a feudalistic land policies of the emperor of ethiopia. Are you got that for many years the holly selassie was assassinated and overthrown by the marxist. In the marxist government was called the dark and was particularly bloody and violent euro of ethiopian history. One day my client he was a school teacher and he was teaching. Soldiers paintings at the classroom with machine guns they arrested him they arrested another teacher and they arrested a couple students. Who were involved in student government and this was just for his membership in a teacher's union he wasn't any really doing any found outrageous that he was certainly not doing anything we wouldn't just take for granted what we do here in the united states. They took him to prison where he remained for the next five years. I asked him did you have a trial he said no i was just told i was a counterrevolutionary. He was taken to this poison they had inadequate food they have no medical treatment that drinking water was untreated water from a river and so all of the clients had intestinal problems from. Drinking unfit water. This day for five years one day the guards came in and said. You're a rehabilitated you might go. And i thought they released him of course he lost his job as a teacher in the interim because that's a government job and so heinous why put together enough money to buy a school bus and they had a small transportation business. Demarcus were overthrown by the current government of ethiopia which is a dictatorship and he commenced his pro-democracy activities. Using his butt. So is he drove around the country he would distribute literature for opposition parties that were problem in for parliamentary election. This resulted in several arrest and imprisonment. This when he was when he applied for asylum bay scientist human rights initiative assign the case to me. It was supposed we call of defensive asylum case which means it's a contested trial and immigration court so there's an immigration judge and the government is represented by an attorney so this is an adversarial trial at the trial he testified he told his story really his whole life story of all of us activist and. Hippie end of the testimony i said sir you've been an activist for many years is that right yes. I said and you were in prison multiple times is that right yes i said every time you're in jail they beat you isn't that correct yes or it is. Interstate on one occasion actually tortured you is that right yes. Trukfit and everytime they let you loose they told you to quit your political activity right yes sir they did and i said so why did you persist. And a sixty-two-year-old man got tears in his eyes and he looked at me and he said because there's a price for freedom and there's a cost for democracy and i was willing to do that for my children. Well why wouldn't we want a man like that in in our country i mean if this is this is somebody they end is one of the things i've learned from representing asylum-seekers over the years i did nothing to obtain my citizenship i was just born in mobile alabama. And i became an american citizen because of that. And i take i have to say i take those freedoms for granted like most of us do. Batman he does not take those freedoms for granted he knows what it is like to go to prison for freedom of speech. Another thing is. Representing people asylum-seekers and refugees has given me a great sense of perspective. The fact is we will even the poorest among us live great life compared to most people on the rest of the world i had a client from eritrea. Which is the little country just a cheap attempt of ethiopia foreign policy magazine call sarah tria an open-air prison it's also referred to sometimes his africa's north korea is one of those repressive places on earth. Along the way the eritrean government prohibited all religions other than islam orthodoxy and for some reason i still don't understand lutheran. So like my client was a of my client was a pentecostal christian. There is compulsory military service universal compulsory military service which is so people are in military 4 years. She was my client was in her dorm room one night reading a bible along with some other fellow soldiers that she identified this fellow christian. So they're sending a reading the bible say officers caught them took them out later perform labor and then stuck them in an overseas shipping container out in the desert where they had no food or water for the next three days hopefully it'll research the the line of how long you can live without water i asked her what she did while they were in that overseas shipping container and she said we prayed for a captain. We as christians do. What she was able to she fainted they took her to a hospital she escaped. And her family race enough money for her to escape eritrea. This tells you a lot about eritrea. She escaped. 2 sedan. So she went to saturday and they hired smugglers to spell several thousand dollars and they raised the money and they escaped they went from sudan to south africa to brazil they made their way all the way up from south america central america they swam the rio grande presented themselves to border patrol and said we're here or she said i'm here for refuge i'm here for safety in america. And i tried her case and immigration port and we were successful in obtaining. Asylum for her about the perspective with while we were preparing her case for trial her brother was also an asylee was here he'd been hearing united states for a few years his daughter was in prison as we spoke probably still in prison. And i said and i looked at him and i said you know. I'm really struck by just how positive you are and how beat you are despite the things you've been through and the things that your family is still going through and he looked at me and he smiled and he said. You americans have everything and you complain all the time and i thought that was really true and so really talking to people that it gives me a sense of perspective about the freedoms that we take for granted and also the tragedies that i think passing my life. Thanks-thanks-thanks believe it had a fairly straightforward life and saw it. Talking to people who have a sense of joy and hope in their lives despite tragedy it's actually really a beneficial instructive and helps me live a fuller life. Hoshino the last year they were 68,000. Children unaccompanied children who came up here from primarily from 100sl salvador and guatemala most of those kids a we've actually been doing that work for over 10 years so it's not a recent phenomenon what was recent numbers of children there were coming up here and they were fling really unrelenting gang violence i'm sure some of you maybe all of your aware of the fact that san pedro sula honduras was the murder capital of the world. Let me talk to little kids that said well we can really sleep at night because there was so much gunfire that's just how violent these places are and that's imagine for a moment. The desperation it would take you to send your child. To another country hiring a smuggler and take them through central america and mexico to go to the united states. That's a level of desperation most of us barely understand. We have a young client from el salvador. I hear it was a really great young guy three times the more has it was a very violent street gang in el salvador tried to recruit him and that's what happened these young teenagers they've tried to recruit him to join the gangs become drug traffickers in the good kids don't want to do it i want to go to school they want to be involved in their church group and so our client refused to participate it was his picture right there. And he he was going to school one day and one of the gang members put him in literally slit his throat and left him to die. He took he said he'd watched csu on tv and so we get there was an episode where somebody had taken their shirt off to stop bleeding and so that's what he did he literally stopped the bleeding his family took him to the hospital he had an asthma attack he he died on the table they were able to revive him when he walked into our office he was 15 years old with a walker that's speaking a word of english. Last year he and i spoke at the other school at richland college he stood up there and spoke in perfect english to this entire group of honor students now walking because we were able living here with status because we were able to get him what's called a special immigrant juvenile status visa. So that's that's the kind of thing that we get to do and that's how my life has been enriched it's a it's a privilege to represent a young man like that he told those kids at richland college i have a second chance in life and i'm not going to waste. That's the perspective he brings to do his life here. Sometimes people will last me what why do you do this work you know pro bono is a really fancy word for free latin phrase for free evenings problem approval color for the public good. In a client for one that answered maybe the best thing as rhino up to that question why would you do this work. He was a he wasn't actually a political activist his father had a dispute with a government is father was arrested. And so then he started trying to just get his father out of jail and for that he was arrested and placed in solitary confinement. Importer in owego intimate details of that people are very creative and inflicting torture on each other and so he was tortured there and he said he was in this solitary cell but there was a little hole in the door he said everyday the guards would walk by and he said he started pleading with this one guard saying help me help me get out of here he said the guard looked at him and said if i help you. And they took him and other guy's name march them out into the jungle where they have dug a pit and they made them all feeling the pit and then they shot them all. He's actually when i tried. Ford with his asylum case he said i'm really not sure what happened what i think happened was that guard. That i talk to you everyday put pity on me and he shot into the ground and hit me in the head and knocked me into this ditch because everyone else in that ditch was dead. He was covered in blood. Any crawled out of this did she made his way to a clinic his wife came and met him at this medical clinic. She bought a passport and said you have to leave the country you can't it's not safe for you. Despite your in rwanda any longer. So he did he went to tanzania he said he was standing in a it was sitting in a hotel lobby and he was old bandaged up from the torture and beatings he received in prison. And he said this guy was sitting across the lobby and looked at him and said what happened to you and he said. I have no clan i have no idea what i was going to do it so i just told him my story. He said this man looked at and he said this is old man and he said he looked at him and he said you know. I'm going to be an old man someday i never do this. But i'm going to be an old man someday. If i'm going to regret not helping you. So i'm going to help you go somewhere safe and it turned out he was a ship captain. Any smoking in the board a cargo ship in tanzania. And he said i'll take you somewhere safe you said he was down below dexley spending down food and water and he was said he was on the road for an hour long it takes to go from tanzania to it turned out the port of houston he said he came down into the hold of the ship captain and he said you're in america now it's safe. Can you swim and he said yeah i can swim until you opened up a port on the side of the ship and let him down and he swam to shore. He went to a convenience store he knew one man in america he had the piece of paper with a phone number on it. So we called him and said hey i'm here at the port of houston can you come get me and the guy said i live in minnesota. So he said that i have a friend in fort worth he'll come get you insured up this man throws down to the port of houston picked him up brought him to dallas where you live with people that's center for survivors of torture here we're providing a psycho psych services for him and they assign the case to me in i helped him get asylum here. Play finesse poke to this man he was a volunteering for the american military. He said i wanted to get back to this country this life my life. We could tell you that story is because. That's why i do this work because i am going to be an old man someday. My wife always reminds me yet. It's really soon though and i don't want to look back on my life and know that i had the legal education and the skills and the ability to help people and i just chose not to do it. Info at that's a lie and so i've been my life has been just so richly blessed and rich because of of that work. I want to close with a couple quotes. What is from a my favorite a poet whose irish poet seamus heaney. In his nobel prize-winning poet in his poem church roy cespedes. History says don't hope on this side of the grave but then once-in-a-lifetime the longed-for tidal wave of justice. Ken wise up and hoping his free rhyme. So hope for a great sea change on the far side of revenge believe that further shores reachable from here. Believe in miracles and cures and healing well. Call miracle self-healing the other stuff revealing double-take of feeling if there's fire on the mountain or lightning and storm in a god speaks from the sky that means someone is hearing the out crying the birth cry of new life and its term. And the other quote is a quote i saw in a museum in in galway ireland and it's michael higgins who's presently the president of ireland but if the time he wasn't this was a speech he delivered in a receiving a. Human rights prize in ireland. It'll leave it with this early my last words to you and it's a challenge to you and a challenge to me as we reflect about the world we live in. He said to look at bodies on an abandoned rubbish tip to write details of torture or experiences they can never. Cannot ever be obliterated. Twisted days that such wounds of humanity is to choose to be changed forever. To choose to know is to risk being presented with a dilemma. That dilemma put simply is that once one knows you can from that moment live only in the band face of guilty silence. Or act.

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20130707-Homily_2_070713.mp3

Hi there. Good morning everybody is sure good to see family and friends and all you good visitors with us thanks. I'm jean grinder and i'm going to present leadership skills you've already got them. But first i want to thank sarah riley and gary truxton for the wonderful job they did and teaching the class we had lots of activities examples and exercises that really drove the topics home. And i want to thank my fellow students for sharing their ideas their suggestions or experiences and especially their feelings during the class we. We had some really good bonding sessions. Leadership qualities we all have them yes everyone has. Usual leadership is simply exercising and accentuating your abilities that will produce the desired result among us freethinkers. First let me tell you what. Qualities or not. You don't have to be able to play musical you you later. You don't have to be retired from the workforce. You don't have to be a webmaster. You don't have to have a santa. Also you don't have to have all the fervour of a new. Convert bau leader. So what do you have to ask what do you have to have you asked for my thoughts. First do you wish for a community of mankind. I mean do you really yearn for a blessed free compassionate accepting nurturing transformative powerful community for all of mankind. Well if you do you could be a u u l. Are you a good follower. I mean do you really know what motivates yourself and others to follow a cause to chase the rainbow to grab that and hold on for dear life. Do you sometimes wonder if you're going in the right direction. I mean you really find yourself taking a break from all the details of the task at hand a project your family your whole life. To ask the question. Really doing the right thing here. Well if you do you could give you you later. Do you sometimes find yourself facing a challenge that forces you to adapt. I mean you really look at changing some of the things you do your attitude your opinions even your own faith. When presented with such a challenge. Well if you do you could be a u u l. You look beyond the conflict to track down the real problem. I mean do you really dig into the motivators of the different parties in a disagreement. Define consecutive attitudinal and emotional reason behind that. And try to solve those. If you do you could be a u u l. Do you take some time out for yourself. I mean do you really take it personal time out. For meditation to read a good book. Take a long walk. Go on a forget everything they keishin to refresh yourself and provencher on burnout. If you do you could be a u u l. And. Do you have vision. I mean do you really daydream about a better world. Find yourself singing john lennon's song imagine. Envision a world of freedom and justice for all dream of a beloved congregation of thousands with a multi-building campus community church. Well if you do you could be a u u l. So leadership among us freethinkers is not that hard you already have a lot of the abilities that would be required. Fat. Leading you use kind of like sandy already mention there is sort of like herding cats. While riding a bicycle with a flat tire through a field of catnip. Thank you very much.

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20160131-Sermon.mp3

It is now my pleasure to. Our guest speaker. Susan harper phd is an educator writer activist. An advocate in irving texas. She holds an ma and phd in anthropology from southern methodist university. Where her work focused on the intersections of gender identity and religion. She also holds a graduate certificate. In women's studies from texas woman's university. She serves as the graduate reader at texas woman's university and teaches courses in anthropology sociology women's studies. In lgbtq studies. At various colleges and universities in the dallas-fort worth area. In addition she is an activist and advocate for a number social justice. Causes. Including lgbtq equality. Gender equality. Partner and sexual violence prevention and healthcare equality. She has presented numerous workshops and courses on lgbtq equality issues in venues as diverse. As corporate environment. Nonprofit agencies. An academic. And we're honored to have. Here today. So june 26th 2015 was kind of a weird day i was in my last few days off before starting a brand new job at texas woman's university. I am with. Taking some time to. Get used to the idea of going back to me to my job. After. She's in college part-time for many years and i got up at 6:12 5:30 that morning and took my partner to work. At 6 and was back home under the blankets by 6:15. And we knew that the. Supreme court decision on marriage equality was going to come down that day. Because i procrastinated the last day. So we know. And i lay down too. Take a note. Fully intending to wake up and and watch this decision come down on cnn. And. I fucken love you more than i thought i would and i woke up because my phone started blowing up the text messages. And. They all said things like i'm so happy for you guys i'll my god turn on the news. Return on the news. And for that. Precision had come down. And that marriage equality was now supposed to be the law of the land in this country and i sat for a minute. And wasn't quite sure what to think. Because it was something i never thought i'd see in my lifetime. And i called my partner who's sitting in the back so i keep looking at her. I said so. I guess we should get married if we want it really not sure what to do with you. And. Let's talk about it. 5/2 years at that point from chris the text messages were offering to come in saying so you guys going are you going are you going. Please i haven't even had a cup of coffee. But i started to see my friends who had been waiting for so long posting pictures that they were going to the courthouse. My friends who went to the denton county courthouse and were turned away. Posted that they were going to dallas. And there was all this sort of marriage fever that happened. And so went and had lunch. With my partner and i. So what do you think. And the other five and a half years. Lesbian years. And she said. I have to check the policy. Because i don't know if i walk in with a marriage license. 2hr if they're going to fire me. And it was just very sobering moment that i kind of got caught up and i do this for a living i know that's right. So when. Friends asking me so did you guys go get married are you going to go. No i know that my. New employer texas woman's university has explicitly. Within. Their policies with a do not disturb. On the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. But she didn't know. I need to make part of the clear that she had no reason to believe. That her workplace would discriminate against her she had not experienced any homophobia from supervisors. Coworkers. It was a very welcoming place. The fact is that she didn't know. And. That there were people all over the country. But realize that they could get married at 10 a.m. and lose their job by 2. And that's. I think it's really important. Don't get me wrong it legal marriage in this country you get as i tell my sociology students. 1138 distinct legal right. Most of them have to do with inheritance and money and they're not particularly romantic and most of us will never take advantage of us. But you got them. And you only got them. If your relationship is legally. Field under the label of marriage under civil partnership not under anything else that's why the word marriage matters so i don't want to diminish. I think it is important to look at the fact that the two decisions. Supreme court decisions that brought us. To the moment of marriage equality. Us versus edith windsor. And jim overfelt at all. Versus hodges. We're not decisions we're not cases that were brought by people who wanted to get marry. They were cases that were brought by people that work with. And they wanted to have the right. Executor. Partners estate. And have access to survivors benefits and all those things that we don't think about. When were arguing about wedding cakes. And she's in crisis. And all that the height of marriage fever. When my friend started to ask me are you going to get married. Very simple answer was we don't know yet. We have to look. At the policies except his workplace. And. Most of the other queer folks were like. But almost all of my straight friends. They're all because. Nearby friends. Very quality minded like what do you mean doesn't. Business decision meme. You have the same rights as everybody else now. And when i started to explain that it didn't they are really shocked. A recent poll that was taken by harris. And was published by glad. What used to be the gay and lesbian alliance against defamation but now they're just. Found that. Fully 50%. Of her sexual americans think that the marriage decision. Brought completed. To glbt. Aia plus. People. And for many people they sort of assume. But the fight for equality is over. And it is. And it is incredibly important that we know that we're going into an election season. Anna. I know that. For his service so i'm not going to be like everything is awful i'm going to give you some practical things to do. But it's important to know in 31 states. 31. Which is down from 38 just a couple years ago. You cannot lose your job. For being lesbian gay bisexual transgender door any transgender or anywhere. On. For that umbrella. In. 27 of those dates are some protection for lesbian and gay. Bisexual people are very much left out of that and even where they have protections transgender and other. Gender-diverse. People do not have proof. So that's. Texas is one of those days. Most of the states you can also be denied housing. On the basis. Sexual orientation and gender identity or gender. Expression. The owner. Even as recently as. That the week before the supreme court decision i had friends were denied in apartment. Anna's leasing agents response when they see women and their young child went to try and rent an apartment was we only rent to families. And when. They said but. Work family. This leasing agent looked at them and said put your not a real thing. And there's nothing they could do. Supper walk away and trying to find another apartment. Because. Even with marriage equality. Search orientation and gender identity and expression are not federally protected. Which is what is surprising to a lot of people it is sobering. To think i. But in the same pool by harris about 2/3 of. The lgbtq. Respondents said that. Discrimination had a direct effect on their daily life. And there were people who were actively putting off getting married. Because they knew. That if they walked into hr dad there. Partner to their benefits or whatever that they would. Beginning a pink slip. And what. I think is most surprising about that to most people is. Better person i texted the right-to-work say they can fire you anytime i want. But they can tell you they're firing you for being gay lesbian bisexual or transgender. They don't even have to pretend but it's anything else. So they can look straight at you and say we don't hire gay people get up. And that happens to people more often than you might think. So in the aftermath of the august 12th decision and. With marriage equality at least supposedly being the law of the land other we've had our problems. Getting that instituted in all of texas and soon as you have probably followed the events in kentucky. But it happened there. And in many other places. Your this is now. Is a final decision. There is a great reason. And in election season. Were you do have. Several candidates campaigning on the platform that they will find a way to overturn that. It's incredibly important to realize that we've come a long way we've come longer come further than i ever thought i would see in my life. I'm in my early 40s. And if you told me when i was 20. And just kind of figure it out. Coming out of the closet that i would be talking about marriage equality as something that's actually happened i would have said you're crazy. But we have we have further to go. In the time since. The. Supreme court decision and even if you want to push that back a little bit to january of last year. No further no fewer than 151 bills. That would enshrine further in trying. Discrimination against lgbtq people have been. Propose. In. Right around 25. Either to enshrine further discrimination or to rollback. Games. Most of them have not passed have not made it out even made it out of committee. But they represent really important for. In what happening. Texas. Is responsible for at between 20 and 25 of those bills depending on how you count it. And while most of them have not made it. Even to the floor of our legislature it is something to watch when our legislature comes. Together again so you to meet. Assuming the thing about when we go to the polls in november. And i've been speaking with a lot of people who enjoy never voted in. What's not a presidential year. And i'd like to point to these. Why you need to. Interesting time that we have places that are voting in a limited local. Projections dallas for its city employees has a non-discrimination ordinance. Which they put in place very quietly a couple of years ago. So thrifty green out this patchwork. Is i think. Conifer my money. Is the next place because you can sort of get married all you want but one that all you want that one person but you can marry them as many times as you like. But that's a whole other. But yeah you can get married but you're most of us are used to things like electric lights and housing. And most of us to have to have a job. To have those things so. When you have to make the choice between making a decision that would. Allow your. The person you love most normal to hold your hand while you're having a heart attack in the back of an ambulance. And being able to have health insurance. That. Is that the kind of a devil's bargain how do you make that choice. And if you're a couple that has children. That becomes even more complicated. If we look at the inside of the case. That's. Hugo and reed dance lahore he's. Contrast this case. That the paramedic who wrote in. With a case of a couple who. Had gone on vacation. And they had put all them the legal patchwork in place. 4 powers of attorney and medical power of attorney guardianship. All that. When one of partners got ill. Critically ill. On. Vacation and they rock cruise and they. Personally the. Checker and support. Nicosia medical attention alabama. Which is not. Not inequalities. And really wasn't then and. Children because they weren't her biological. And her partner were not. Allowed to see her. And it was almost 8 hours until a blood relative could show up and by that point she had slipped into a coma. In spite of the fact that they had all their paperwork in order and had it fax within 30 minutes of coming to the hospital now.. So. We are in a place where. We can move around that with marriage but there are all these other. Really really cute things that we have to think about. Glbt people and unfortunately especially. Transgender. People face really high. Levels of violence. And the supreme court decision changes. In 2015 alone. 27. Transgender people mostly trans women. Were murdered in the us. And unfortunately were subjected to violence by the media and law enforcement afterwards. Through being improperly identified. And referred to by. Their birth names. And not having. There. Murders and taken seriously. Or proceeded hate crime. I'm out of something that. What is an epidemic. We have these a distinction that texas is the home to the first. Trans woman to be murdered in 2006. So that's. We need to figure we need to as a quilter. Do a lot. 2. Take on me levels of violence. But one thing that we can do. Ins to work towards a full equality where we have sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Especially protective statuses. Because. That provides a measure of protection in the workplace. It also. Means that. People who are often very vulnerable to working in the informal economy or moving into survival sex work because of discrimination in the workplace. Can i have other opportunities open to them. About 40% of homeless. People are people experiencing homelessness under the age of 25. Are lgbtq. And that puts them at huge. Risk for trafficking and other violence. And well there's a lot to be done about changing hearts and minds of families where they don't put their lgbt children out on the streets. There's also a need. 2. Moved where we have services that are available. Angela dresses. And one of the biggest ships i think is for. People to realize it's still a big deal. When harris conducted this pool and asked about things like violence against trans people especially trans women or homelessness. Among i'll give it to you. That's not a big deal. But that's that's please. Start with horrible that it happened to anybody but they didn't think it'd happen to that many people. And even my colleagues to work professionally in sexual violence prevention. Find in many of their curricula. Where it says there is basically no violence in same-sex or same-gender relationship so we don't talk about it. We don't educate people on how to recognize the signs we don't educate service providers and how to. Respond appropriately. To the situation so people still more and more marginalized. And. At a time when julie see people and. Really if we look at marriage is often something that is mostly mostly. Available to lgb. People who. Are cisgender not transgender because there's a hole. Other set of issues for. Principal and getting proper documentation very difficult to get things like your driver's license in your. Certificate in everything chain. Even with access to this institution which is so important. We still have relief article. Anna i can wax poetic about this for hours. But i promise i would give you a solution. So i'm going to try anyway there are few things that are happening that it would make me really hopeful. Even in looking at the fact that so many of us are still concerned about workplace discrimination about healthcare discrimination which is i could come back and talk about that let me tell you. Experiences people have butts. If this has been happening frequently. I'm so your call to action is to go right your. Your representatives and your senators. There is an act in the us congress right now called the equality act. It is house resolution 3185. And it is senate. Resolution or bill. 1858. And would amend the civil rights act of 1964 to include. Sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Birthstones were. Sponsored by democratic legislators legislators. But. Each have one republican co-sponsor. Right. And you can you can look up at online and see. It was on record as as doing that quit that cuz sponsorship. That's a big. The last thing that got even close. Was the end of the employment non-discrimination act. Which passed the senate but not the house and then the. Transgender. Productions were stripped out of it. So. It kind of died on the floor because there are people who said we're not going to take a whole community in. Say okay the quality that's not a quality. So they called you back since i haven't been to bed yet it's not out of committee but the president has officially endorsed it and all three democratic present presidential candidates. Have said that they supported. We won't talk about with a guy. So i encourage you this is the next fight. And i'm really won't cover it quite the way it did. Looking for. But i am really looking forward to the day that. My. My text messages blowout. With. People telling me are you watching c-span they passed it oh my goodness. But it is important to note that depending on what happens in november events at the mailbox it's even if it doesn't pass. So i really encourage people to. Look at this nashua to look locally. At. If you are in a position with. Hiring or human resources. No. What is in your policy. No. If. Do you have a non-discrimination policy advertised at. Advertise that. Something like 60% of millennials regardless of political affiliation so that they won't work for employer that doesn't have not discriminate. Positive right we like that. There are a lot of things we can do locally. And in our own world to both. 2 chainz hearts and minds are also change policy. So that maybe in a year or two and come and i can talk about. How far we've come now that we have the equality act. Am i. Really believe that i will see this. In my lifetime. But like all fights for social justice word. We've come far but we have. Wells fargo but i believe it when service-oriented people. Start to know where the next fight is where the next battle is. That we can really. Come together and do it. I am i'm looking forward to that and i am i give you that tard.

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20150215-Sermon.mp3

Well it's certainly hard to follow an act like michael dowd. Do you say we go on for 30 or 40 minutes at a shot. And keep reminding myself is that he is an evangelist it would have angeles have is a very very limited number of set pieces that they have internalized. Making den chair. As if breathing. Until because they are sharing their message. And he has been doing this for 13 years. For more. So i have to keep that in mind so i don't quite intimidated by his. Eloquence and velocity. Evolution this is evolution sunday by the way and i did read my kids. Play chess. Down here. Course the dinosaur cyborg is questionable to but that's what i have for dinosaurs. Amphibians and seahorses real. Dinosaurs and mammals billfisher. Enjoy your nice visual presentation. Reminder keep my darwin was a unitarian. Jesse was he bailed he and his wife. And. So. We have a vested interest in engaging with these issues. So turns out this month this month really with religious authority so section. Evolution the theory of evolution. Darwin did not. Publish it. When he found out. He he discovered this thing and he got his light under a bushel because he knew it would create a firestorm. If he did. His wife. Eventually convinced him to publish. I believe there's some 10 or 12 years afterwards. That he did and indeed. All hell can't be paid. This isn't england. And when the book was published. Now it was a best-seller mind you. But it was just so scandalous and threatened all of the institutional powers. When you have an institutional church like the church of england. People got a lot of money in the game. And a lot of temporal power involved not just the illogical. Issues. They famous challenge their entire working understanding. Of history and reality. And then when it was published united states a couple years later. Can i rinse repeat so it just happened again and you know on the scale here. And lost are popping up again about it you know trying to keep it fended off. Until we get to the scopes monkey trial in. It was 1927. Between 9 and. So and of course. The rest is history. Or maybe not. But. So evolution has had a profound effect on. Our lives the life of our predecessors our grandparents and great-grandparents. And we'll have an effect on our children mean just look at the continuing ongoing. Kerfuffle in. The state boards of education around the country especially ours. God bless their hearts. And. And you know about all the things that. People want to do. To prevent a more rational. Approach. To understanding. How we got here. I love. Michael dobbs analogy. That. Using. You know to 3000 year old texts. To guide your life and society is like using an 1840s map. Energy ps to go cross-country. It's not going to get you very far. And probably with dire consequences in the long run. This is not to say there aren't really excellent things to be found. In. The texts that were talking about. Can i talk about throwing everything out. But it should not be the central organizing principle of one's life either. As far as the redan what is the really real. And what matters. What are the affirmations that have come down to us from our. Ancestors in our tradition. And is actually credited to susan b anthony but we know it was from her friend krisha mod who is a quaker. And they say that we seek truth for authority not authority for truth. I think that's a bumper sticker. And i think this is a very concise description of the liberal projects throughout history. Which was an effort to get over and past and through. Some of these idolatries that michael dowd talks about the idolatry of the written word. And the idolatry of the supernatural. There's a $5 word i learned in seminary in chicago. Called heteronymous truth claims. A heteronymous truth claim basically says because it's over. Bora precedes other things it therefore has greater authority. You know i find it interesting who's considering most writers never stick with their first draft. So this assumption that if something was older it's it's more valuable it has more authenticity it is more real. Has driven. The formation of mini mini religions many churches particularly in this country the primitive church movement that swept across this country in the early 19th century. The millennial terminal church. The effort to get back to what would they think. In religion. Has almost always. Completely misread historically was going on in the original. And then spawned something new and different. So this assumption that is older it was true. Explain the efforts by groups to claim older lineages as sources of legitimacy. If not supremacy. I mean the white supremacist are still trying to claim adam. As theirs. Right. So if someone in authority says it must bestow. That this is so because i say it so. Her parents. And maybe occasional teacher. But there's a there's a fancy word for this to go begging the question. More specifically the form of circular reasoning. Which is a logical fallacy. First you have to be willing to accept logical first place. And. Along these lines is if it is traditionally it must be true or valid. And if a lot of people believe it it must be true. That's what i call the fox news paradigm. I'm sure there's a fancier name for it somewhere else. So. An understanding truth. Trust is progressives religious liberals. We actually understand truth is. Traditionally it's a pyramid. Okay and at the top. The pyramid is. Inherited faith wisdom a cannon. Whatever they say the authorities say is so is so. However that is understood. And then you have. Below that to other things you have. Critical thought and reason and you have an individual experience or subjective experience. And those can be moving around somewhere. But the top is supposed to be this inherited. And economical kind of love. Authority authority of truth. And it's a fairly static model. On the other hand we have is very holistic. Dynamic. Interactive. Prologue. Spell checker does not like that word. Trialogue three-way conversation. Not argument conversation. Between. Critical thought and reason. Inherited. Understandings. And our own individual. Personal subjective experience. And understanding if they all have to be in conversation and informing on into each other and they will change each other as they do so it's a moving target. But. We also believe that revelation is not sealed. So therefore. There is not the neverending the never neverending never changing word of god that michael dad talks about we do not believe that that is not. We don't recognize that is valid. I have to say that as much as i have done this and i've been doing this is my 20th year. Is an ordained minister. Watching michael dowd do his thing. Give me the opportunity to cut. Back even more. From. Having the sense that there is this claim on me that i have to operate within this narrow range when we talk about religion. Universalist we have historically. Been very good at pushing. The old stuff away. I said we are not this we are not that. But what i am finding that this. Theology. Deep time of the theology that michael and his wife and others the new theist they're called. Or no. Unpacking for us. I find that is something that i can move toward. I find that is something that i can say yes to and not just know. other thing. That's nothing having a conversion experience my eyes are a little more open than they were before in and this is helping me. To feel less. Like i have to be. Constantly. Immersed in a paradigm that i no longer find useful. The christian tradition the jewish tradition are all profoundly important and in order to be culturally literate we have to know these things. Our children have to notice. This is why we teach them. And that anymore the quran and islamic tradition as well as. Buddhism. And sikhism and many many others also. Are now becoming so much apart our tradition our culture that we really need to be more literate. Inner tube assembly functional. So i mean what would the rising bollywood jokes. Already you know if you start looking at the next generation of comics coming up. You know. 30 years ago was jewish. Comics. Now it's indian. Araki. Arabic. You know so. And they're great but they're also using cultural references that a lot of us. Don't get. So. He's idolatries. This idolatry of the written word. This old data. Is undone by. Understanding life is an ongoing unfolding progression. Thanks. Not necessarily fated. Mind you. Maybe we are not. An obvious conclusion. 4 outcome of evolution. A lot of things went into getting us here. And if it's not careful. You're not having too many things going to take us out. Involve ourselves right out of here. But we can understand that we we can get past that old data. And. We can call people on begging the question when they do it. Do i say this is authoritative because it says it's authoritative. What. So. This embracing of evolution as part of our understanding of religious authority. I'll just get at those questions of what is real and what is important. That michael dad was lifting up. What is real. What is important. Everything that goes into that. Those are important things to know what's real what's important. I think there's a third one that comes out of. The. Ethical culture history ethical culture society and also. The. Religious humanism movement. It says what does it mean to live well. What does it mean to live a good and serviceable life. And i think that's. What we went to then look at it say what's what is what is real. What are the knowable things and why do they matter and i think this is a part of this question event and packing of why does it matter. What does it mean. To take that information and then turn it into something you can actually use. I think that is part of. The progress of the. Process the. Enterprise that we are about. As a faith community. It to unpack those things for each other and for the world into say. And this is why it matters. And this is how. We can go about living together in a better way. Actually the only way. But maybe better way. And we aren't the only ones with answers we don't have all the answers there's no t capital t with truth. It's like a little tease running around. Bumping into each other in forming each other. And helping us understand a little broader perspective. So my hope is that we will continue to evolve. Our understanding. And that. We will continue to be challenged. What the concept of evolution does. That is about progress about. Unfolding. And. Mutation and. You know it. The unfolding of generations is about sex and death. By themselves sex and death. That's what you have to have for evolution. I'm not advocating anybody this. Reality physical reality. The point is that there are hard truths there are really fundamental things. Out there. That we have to take into account more talking about how we move through our lives. What are the things that. I mean. When you think about that you have sex and death. And. Reminder forest churches. Work our late colleague male colleague who wrote so many wonderful books particularly. One about. Issue of. Death and dying as he was dying from cancer. And he talks about. The. Things that are defining in our lives. Particularly. Love. And death. And how they are a part of. How we constantly evolve. And change and challenge us to understand how we live. How do. I mean we as a community have taken a stand here recently. From this very place. On the issue of equality. Not dust. For people in the lgbtq community but for a broad spectrum of people. Because we know what it means to live a good life has to include those things. Our understanding is constantly evolving. We are constantly evolving. Constantly changing in our understanding. Not just our interpretations that are very embodiment. This congregation is evolving it's changing all the time. We have. Directions we can choose that's interesting about us as weak as a species have the opportunity actually choose the directions. Revolving in. I don't think the cyborg dinosaur had much choice. In. His makeup that we ourselves have choices about. The the literal evolutionary directions for taking. These are the kinds of things we. I called on to natalie ponder but to make choices about. Not just ourselves but as a society and it's a world. So i asked you. To think about. All of these things. About evolution. About how it has fundamentally changed our understanding of the nature of reality. And if history and of human beings and of organisms. And of processes. And of the nature of ourselves. And the nature of the communities we inhabit. And the world that we would like to create. Nothing is faded. The many things are possible. Go forth and evolve. Authoritative.

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Sermon_030611.mp3

Yes. We are all already saying. Jesus died for our sins. Now go play. Replied my harried mother. As a kid growing up in the hilly suburban west of fort worth. During this 1960s and 70s i was confronted with the many of the same issues. Kids. Are confronted with today. The ones our peers usually put to us. Are you saved. And this was the question about. That question which i had put to my mother when she was busy doing something. Mom are we safe. Yes we are already saved jesus died for our sins go now go play. I am forever grateful. To my mother for her answer because it not only calm the fears of an anxious child agami out from underfoot. It also. Formerly said what had not been said out loud in my fairly moderate protestant upbringing. If there is no fear of hell or eternal punishment after death. And that we are all saved. Together. So i was lucky. Enough not to have a hangover my head along with all the other stuff the kids have to confront growing up. Over the years i became aware that i was essentially raised. As what it called a blood atonement universalist trinitarian. And by my mid-twenties the trinitarian aspect of that got left behind. And resolved. And then later the blood atonement aspect left behind in later years. But those are different stories in different sermons. For another day. Stay tuned. Suffice it to say that i was an early recipient. Of. Founding universalist preacher. John marie's declaration. To give them not he'll about hope and courage. Preach the kindness and everlasting love of god. This is the first reason that i call myself. A universalist. In the meantime our american society. Since the 1970s. Has been plunged back into a morass of neo calvinist hell and damnation preaching. Teaching and organizing. He thought i was just going to say neil calvin is telling damnation. And with the 1980 election of ronald reagan the rise of super super corporatism. And super wealth. Began pinellas 30-year decline of the american dream for all that a lucky few. I don't suspect any of them are in this room. So we are now in a time. When we could use more hope and courage. And the rest of the world along with us. This is the second reason i am a universalist. Because the world needs what i was raised within what we have as. Present error. The present-day errors of the religion of john murray and hosea ballou and olympia brown. That god is love. Not fear. Not greed. But love. Another maybe some of you out there thinking is he kidding god is love. Yuck. How sappy and sentimental. So let me explain myself. According to my colleague the reverend richard trudeau a more traditional formulation of universalism in a nutshell is that. God is a loving god. Who will somehow find a way to save everybody. We're all in the same boat. And there is nothing to fear after death. Religion. Is about learning to accept love. And loving others. In this life. My god. We can mean many things. And we usually do even people who think they know what they mean by god we usually mean anything. But we are not talking about the god with the long white beard sitting on a throne waiting does that people for dancing drinking and swearing. That is not we're talkin about. By connecting god. With love. Universalism points to the experience of love as perhaps being the closest. We will get. To answer to an answer to some of the big questions in life. An answer to what am i doing here. What's it all about. 1st and 7th. Unitarian universalist principles. The inherent worth and dignity of every person. And. Respect. For the interdependent web of all existence. When's it probably most of all know by heart you don't know the other five. You probably know those two. Those are essentially universalist. Theology. We are all worthy. We are in this together. I am fond of a quote. B u greta crosby cosby. From her work tree in jubilee. She says. I can give you one key and one key only to a more abundant life. I would give you a sense of your own worth. Unspeakable sense of your own dignity as one grounded in the source. Cosmic dance. As one plays at unique part in the unfolding of the story of the world. Sure in a sense of your own worth. We can rejoice in the worth of others. And love out of fullness. Instead of inner emptiness. That eats others. Alive. Secure in a sense of our own worth. We can rejoice in the worth of others. I love out of fullness. Instead of inner emptiness. That eats others. Ally. This suggests to me that we may have to grow our hearts. In order to love ourselves and others. Sometimes i get the image of the grinch. Cartoon for his heart grows five times. After all. Growth is life. But it is also change. And change reminds us of. Jeff. So we try to stave off death by refusing to embrace. Lie. It's always stay safe. Ian small. An unfulfilled lives. As a religion we stay safe and small congregations that do not find their voices when we have a gospel of hope and joy that should be shouted from the tops of mountains. And whispered into the ears of babies. Religion. Our religion especially is not about being safe and comfortable. Comforting loving yes. But not comfortable. It is an axiom that ministry and i would add religion or about comforting the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And sometimes too comfortable is us. That's a lot of times too comfortable with us. So it's not about being safe and perfect. Religion our living tradition is about taking risks to love and be loved. And becoming wise. It is supposed to force us. To make choices. To prioritize to make sacrifices to sacrifice to make sacred. That which we know to be right and good and important. Holy. This is why i am a universalist. A unitarian universalist. We here. In a world in which both religious and secular voices are shouting for us to despair. To give up and to give into their constant. Parking. Engine of consumption. To have us by our salvation from them by giving up and giving over a part of ourselves. To them. Two innocents cat but we already have been given. For free. As rebecca parker said in our reading earlier from her book blessing the world but can save us now. The purpose of life then is to discover the joy or well-being that simultaneously pleases us and blesses our neighbor. Every act we commit. Is a contribution to the world. The question is whether our action will be a blessing. Or a curse. The basic question of life is not what do i want. But rather what do i want. She give. Our. Liberal religion. Is a life. Practice. For holding the fragility of our lives in ways that show us how strong we actually are. Universalist religion is a place where we can be reminded that the kingdom of god or to use martin luther king junior's words the beloved community. He is within each and everyone of us. Unitarian universalism then brings this knowledge and these experiences together to project to erect and affirm those visions of the world made fair and all her people one. Into focus in the here and in the now. A one moment at a time one acted a time to see that vision that dream. Brought into being. To see what lies behind the shroud of our fears. And with each breath. And each heartbeat. At each thing that we do that is in line with the profoundest authenticity of worth. Who we are. Then in those moments. As they become longer and more common that veil between what it is and the justice and rightness of what can be. Becomes. Just dance. Dinner. That much more real. So what is a religion. Is it a drinking fountain in a private park in a gated community. We're only we and our selected friends can we refresh ourselves at our leisure. Or is it an expansive life-affirming ignorance bustang to spare destroying giving fountain of the water of life. For justice rolls down and peace like an ever-flowing stream that we have to pedal like mad to stay afloat on. And laugh. Enjoy all the while. Do we take our religion to the streets. To the highways and byways by first. Taking it into our own hearts. And asking the spirit of life to move in our hands giving life to shape of justice. I choose the ladder and say to this face. Which has placed before us the loftiest of ideals. Without counting the cost. Because what we are doing. Cuz what we are doing. A living out. This face. Is nothing. And loving ourselves. Blessing our world. And saving it.

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20131103-Message-For-All-Ages.mp3

Good morning again and what a delight it is to see so many of you here this morning my name is cathy smith i'm the director of religious education here at the church. And it is my pleasure and privilege to bring to you the message for all ages this morning. Now this morning story is by a gentleman named douglas wood. There are pictures up on the screen that will go with the story or if you'd rather you could close your eyes and listen to the words gives awards of the story paint pictures all of their own. So this is a story about a secret. The world is full of secrets gentle shy thing. Did some people know and some people don't. The best secrets are the ones that make us happy. And the best thing about any secret. It's sharing it with someone who wants to know. Perhaps you'd like to know a secret one of the happiest secrets of all. You'll probably find it for yourself one day. You'll discover it all on your own. Maybe when you least expect it. Now you might discover this secret at dawn a morning like all other mornings when the sun climbs over the edge of the earth and fills the world with light and warm. It touches your cheek with a golden ray. And you say softly and simply. Thank you. Thank you son for the gift of a new day. For all the choices and challenges. For all the beauty that it brings. Or sometime perhaps you'll notice of flour as if for the very first time. You might think it. And all of its bright brothers and sisters for the grace of their blossoms. And the sweetness of their breath. For coloring your path and reminding you how easy it can be to smile. You might discover the secret when you find yourself under an old tree grateful for it's cool shade on a hot day. Staying awhile beneath its limbs remembering. They're the good and gentle gifts of trees all over the earth. Forest to explore. Leaves that sing in the breeze. Roots that hold the earth in place. Simple lessons. And how to grow. One long day you might stop to rest upon a rock a silent stone that's been waiting age upon age for someone to come along. And say. Thank you. Thank you stone and rocks and pebbles and hills and mountains. Thank you for your silence. And your patience. For standing still and not changing in a world that is full of noise and speed. And change. You might find the secret when you hear a bird sing. And feel grateful for the gentle music of the skies for flash of wing and brightness of feathers for the good company of graceful creatures that dance upon the wind. Perhaps you'll remember to thank all creatures who swim or crawl or creep or borough or climb or run. Creatures with fur or feathers. Horns or hubs. Or scales or shells. They remind us of the mystery and beauty of all life. And they say this from a great loneliness here on our small blue planet. Sailing among the stars. Those stars themselves tiny twinkling beams from far far away farther than you could even dream that give just enough light for dreaming or wishing on. Don't forget to thank them and the soft shining moon the night son that helps us find our way in the dark. Beneath the moon the earth's waters are spread with silver. Lakes and rivers ponds and puddles. Streams and oceans. It is water that makes the magic of life possible. Perhaps one day taking a cool drink or paddling a canoe. Or swimming or splashing in the sun you will remember to say. Thanks waters. Thank you for sweet dreams cool swims reflecting sunset and the gift of life itself. Or maybe. You'll find the secret in your very own home. Sitting around a table with people you love giving thanks for good food and the good earth that gave it. The many hands that prepared it and family to share it. Perhaps one day you'll feel the secret when someone is holding your hand or kissing away tears or hugging you closer reading you a story or tucking you into bed at night and reminding you to say your prayers. It might be in your bedtime bedtime prayer itself. As you said thanks for sun and moon and stars and rocks and trees and flowers at waters and birds and animals and all those who love them. And the love you feel for them. For here. Here is the secret. In case you haven't guessed. The heart that gives thanks is a happy one. It is hard to feel thankful and unhappy. At the same time. The more we say thanks. The more we find to be thankful for. And the more we find to be thankful for. The happier we become. We don't give thanks because we are happy. We are happy. Because we give thanks.

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Sermon_032011.mp3

Truly believing what we say we believe. Redundant. But what i have found. As is almost always the case when i go researching things for sermons. Is that the word believe has a lot of different meanings. It even has. Different cases it's intransitive and transitive. For those grammar geeks out there. He believes. Belief. Believing. Can be the same thing as what we call faith. Such as to think something is true without having proof or empirical evidence. I believe there is life after death. Poor to accept as true without empirical evidence i believe in fairies. To accept that someone is telling the truth. Why did i ever believe you. Or to accept as true. If you believe the numbers you'll agree we need change. Or i can go to. To have religious faith. To believe in a greater truth. Example is. After that night in church i believe. Many great hymns. Relate to that. Or to consider likely. I believe it might rain tomorrow. It's a possibility. So we might believe something. I want definition but not necessarily believe it by another definition. We're just so much. I mean words or symbols after all and symbols almost always have multiple meanings and values attached to them that's what makes him so very powerful. And it's slippery to get your hands around. So. Sometimes we as unitarian universalist. Say we believe certain things. Are often that's the kind of belief that. Yeah it might rain tomorrow. Or it might be the belief that we simply accept something as true. But it's not necessarily the same kind of belief. Where we have the equivalency to safe it's it's not the same belief. That we are. Willing to put ourselves. In. To the mix that we are willing to prioritize whatever that belief. Gives us. It's very easy for all of us as human beings. Just say yeah i believe this or i believe that i mean many of you come from other religious traditions where you have always been you're probably for years and then one day you woke up. Maybe not. I know that happened to me in my religious journey. You know i can't understand that jesus and i are really good friends but. Can't pray to god pray to jesus. An iron good terms. But. So i didn't believe. The things i have been saying for many years i said i believed and i thought i did leave them. Until i realized that i didn't believe them. Cebollitas is tricky tricky thing. Until i may use the word faith. For some of those. Things. More is in belize. And i would encourage you to just think about that yourself in the way you live your life. What is it you say you believe. And what is it you are willing to prioritize. 4. It's often been said that. Where are we. That that anthropologist in the future will value our garbage dumps. Just like anthropologist an archaeologist of the path of the current and past have of those who've gone before us. It's a thing they'll want to know the most about in order know about our personalized is they're going to want our check registers. Because it's our check registers to tell them where we actually. Spends our money it's where we put the priorities of our life. It's where we actually. Take that energy we have consolidated into. To some form. That we can utilize and we have been expended that energy of our life. In exchange for something else. That will tell them and will tell us if we look at it. Where. The priorities of our lives are. And it what we do you leave. We believe in a really good cell phone coverage. Bleeding good education for children. We believe in eating organic produce. We believe in buying lottery tickets. Christmas decorated trees they only take cash. You know i don't really believe i'm going to win the lottery this tistical adjust. Did you buy a ticket dear hannah. So we can go check out the you know. When is low points in the week is not enough. Money to go around pay the senate final bills you go well let's check that lottery ticket see what have i did online there. Not even one number matches most of time in my case. And then we are confronted with these these major events in our lives. Uprisings across the middle east and north africa even in some in china. Armed revolt in war in libya and with libya. Japan earthquake tsunami nuclear accidents i mean those who were the prophets of field day. They're having a great time. And it all the signs channels are running all of their shows on earthquakes tsunamis and nuclear accident. Everything they've got in their vault they're running. Setting if you want to escape the news that's not the place to go. And and we also in our own country have assault on the rights of workers going on across the country. By giving huge sums of money in tax breaks and subsidies to multinational corporations. There is no sense to this. Penny social service programs while we give rich people a tax break. I don't get it. So we have a lot going on so what do we believe believe. With these tremendous events in great tragedies. Insensitive become difficult to feel like one who can have faith in much of anything. But even before these events many people. Feel challenged by. Finding anything that we feel we can trust. And hang our beliefs on. Because so many of us come from other religious traditions we are often reluctant to agree to anything less we be wrong again. I'm hearing a lot of nervous twittering out there. Be careful that people actually twittering now and they're not doing it nervously nervous chittering maybe. We are often uncomfortable using words like religion or belief or faith because of old injuries and this is understandable and important. No matter how we choose to redefine the terms the reality is that we often have some sort of belief or faith in something. So what does belief and faith mean what do they mean and where do they lead us particularly as unitarian universalist religious liberals. Francis david. The great founder riding minister and martyr of. Unitarianism in transylvania in the 16th century. Said there must be knowledge in faith also. Sanctified reason is the lantern of faith. Sew-in part faith is about the window the lens through which we view the experience and experience the world. This is why religious education for our children is so very. Very important. And why many of you started coming here to begin with. There's somebody who's been in this room for many many years. And erased your children and sent them off to college and now maybe we have grandchildren. In the congregation or visiting. Mythic narratives the guiding stories and principles which we learn. As children. And as in v. Either implicitly. Or explicitly. Are there lenses through which we. Will begin to experience and consider the experiences. The transcendentalist philosopher and. One-time unitarian minister ralph waldo emerson. A person will worship something. Have no doubt about that. We may think that our tribute is paid in secret. In the dark recesses of our hearts. But it will out. That which dominates our imagination and our thoughts will determine our lives and our character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship. For what we are worshipping we are. Or as sofia faa's said in our reading earlier it matters what we believe. Some beliefs are like blinders shutting off the power to choose one's own direction. Other believe so like gateways opening wide vista. Or exploration. The language we use to describe the universe shapes the way we experience the universe. If you will look at the principles and purposes in the front of your hymnal if you want to. Is unitarian universalist we agree. To affirm certain things you might say we believe. Certain things. We do not agree on everything but find me a group of people who do. And they're probably going to be a pretty scary group of people. Would you not agree on everything. Nord we. Not agree. On everything. Nor do we agree on nothing. We're not just a bunch of individualist hanging out together cuz great coffee time. We are not. Despite garrison keillor's. Carnations. We are not a people who pray to whom it may concern. If you do. Find that and that's not. What is wisdom. And yet given all of this. Belief and faith is not simply about what we believe. Faith is not just about the set of propositions to which we may give a scent. When the definition of belief. And then ultimate sense faith is about where or in what we feel we can put our trust. What do we. Trust. What are we giving our loyalty because we feel it is loyal to. We are not. Believers. In some immutable static. Truth clothes for alzheimer even closed off for a while. As religious liberal as we believe that revelation is not closed. New truth and understanding and grace. Grace are constantly being revealed to and through us and all of. Creation. Universe is. Ally. Constantly creating and co-creating. And this is why we say that we are a quote. Living tradition. That's why your hymnals hold singing the living tradition. We as human beings and his religious levels are about. Change. Not change for its own sake. But being able to recognize it and utilize it. For good. Like surfing a wave occasionally we wipe out. Like. Theologian james luther adams pointing to our failures in the early part of the twentieth century. You're naive liberalism of constant progress onward and upward forever. Ran smack into world war 1. We had to learn that recognizing and respecting the inherent worth and dignity of others does not mean ignoring and or denying the equally inherent capacity of human beings for evil. There is an ongoing necessity to make our principles and actions relevant. To the spiritual and ethical demands. Of the changing historical situation. Adam says. Liberal religion. What unitarian universalism is the most. Specific expression. Is important and relevant because it allows us to live in and be empowered to change the world for the betterment of all and any age. As our pace of life accelerates and it is accelerating all the time. The need for a flexible but coherent method of making ethical and moral choices is paramount. Dick's and rigid system. To come cages because they cannot respond quickly enough to changing conditions. No they try to buy replacing reflective consideration with efficiency and management. So anytime you hear somebody talking about efficiency. Can government or efficiency. In the market. Or management of various things. Very. Leery. Efficiencies are great in certain circumstances their fantastic we want efficiencies of scale we want those sorts of things in a market economy. But we may not want them running our lives. We don't live our lives. To be efficient we do not live to be managed. The power of liberal religion is to see that these cages are just that they are cages not divine rights to unbridled wealth or power or rampant individualism order choices without consequences in a larger setting the japanese are finding this out. In spades right now. He's. Claims to ultimate authority are not altimate. But only idols of our own. Built out of our own desires. But mostly built out of our fears. Fears not having enough. Fears of an adequacy are fears of not getting enough our fears of being alone our fears of not being loved. There is. James luther adams the search erotic yearning for security which is developed in an age of convolutions. It is clear that yearning is neurotic or if it is privily it firmly rejects patient discussion as tedious. And frustrating. Unless you think he wrote this for us specifically he wrote this in the 1940s. He continues the power to break through these cages. Is a power that is accessible only to a liberalism that surrenders to something more potent than itself. It is accessible only to those who know their own sickness who know their fate false face. Ar. False. If we become convinced that there is no certainty. Nothing to have faith in. Then we are prone on the other hand to surrender. To despair. Mac. Meaninglessness and nihilism. Those who surrender to nihilism then decide the only way to make sense out of the world is too in fact destroy it and start over. This is the reason why many religious groups. Promote an agenda that believes we should promote the apocalypse. Get it over with. These are groups who want to see all of the prophecies of the bible take to come true and this is why fundamentalist christians are supporting the state of israel most extreme positions. On things like settlements in the west bank. And trying to breed a specific brand of red cow that will meet prosthetic. Obligation. They wish to impose their own internal sense of order. On us and the external world. This is the pattern of cynicism. And the mind of totalitarianism. This. Is omar kadafi is doing. It's 18 off hitler did. If i can't have things the way i envisioned them i will take everything with. It must be destroyed because without me it has no meaning. In other words if we find nothing to have faith and we will seek to destroy the world. And oppose our own order on it. Writer j ruth gendler rice it is faith. Supertax doubt. From cynicism. It is for us as unitarian universalist said if we do not act on our stated beliefs. Any inherent worth and dignity of others. And we have no face. All these words. Do you not have aleve. The face is not simply about what we. Believe. It's not just about the sense of propositions to which we give a sense. Faith is also about the nature of our experiences of the universe and our responses to it. Okay so what does faith look like. That belief how do we get it and where does it lead us. What are the often confusing things about discussions on faith or belief is that people associate different things with the term. I feel this usually illustrate. People are in. We're talking about different parts of faith development. Faith is not just one thing. Here we go more complication. But it's a process. And a result. This is. What we mean face. Development. Which is. The mission of the church. Are many different models of faith development. James fowler. There others. But i find that usually consists of three cyclic phases. Further space as affection. Second face as conviction. Answered face as. Commitment. They are affection. Conviction. Commitment. The fundamental nature of religion is that. One of relationship to the other. The word religion itself. Release your history connect. Truly awaken. To renew. Therefore it is logical the first place we. Experience. They're often associate with faith is our sense of relationship are. Affection. For what we esteem. This can be. Relationship two people. Replace an idea and experience. Cetera. I feel that this relational quality is why so many of us. Find choice insurance in milestones. In the pastoral prayer in our worship services to be so meaningful and important. To us. Sourface experience. It creates a bridge of relational authenticity by which we can better experience each other. And perhaps. The holy in our lives. In the bible in the book of hebrews. 11:1 it says. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things unseen. Affirmation itself is an act of expressing and reinforcing conviction. Conviction the knowing of the rightness of one's experience is a crucial second step in faith development. But convictions and knowing alone you not make. Face. Commitment is fundamental. Do any relationship. How many of you married out there. Okay you know about commitment. Most marital type and perhaps the mental health type. Commitment is fundamental to any relationship and it is the crucial. Third step. And development unfolding of. Faith. That deeper sort of belief. Institutional answers can be summarized as acts of commitment. Commitment is conviction in action. Faith without commitment. Is a dead. Faith. Conversely the christian apostle paul wrote show me your faith apart from your works. And i will show you my faith by my works. A word that we often hear in our circles and sometime is in sort of just. Generally liberal tradition liberal circles in general is the word credo. Cuz i think we find this to be a both fancy and safe alternative for the word faith. And belief. But the word credo is usually translated into english as i believe. The act. But in latin the literal meaning is i give my heart. I give my heart now. For some of us whose religious experience previously has been like a country western song it says you done stomped on my heart you smash that sucker flat. You just sorta stomped on my aorta. Giving my heart scares that whatever out of us. Okay. It scares the heck out of. Cradle i give my heart. Faith is about. Feeling. Iknowledge. A certainty so strong so deep that we can say i give my heart to this. For the many of us who come from other traditions we have found ourselves saying words. We could no longer give our hearts. 2. We no longer felt the conviction or the commitment and we hunger. Or something that we could say yes to as strongly with our lives as with our lips. We were looking for face saudi. And sweet and renewing that commitment. Scores from us in a torrent of joy. And gratitude. For many of us. Display. Or this tradition is where we have learned or we have found. That. Say. That place. To give our heart. During annual pledge drives over the years. Medication i've heard some people have jokingly bemoan our lack of guilt. Citing it as a hindrance to fundraising. But i think we can all agree that is the wrong path. To follow to generosity. I would much rather plumb the depths and heights of our faith of our love and our commitment. Which are so joyful so powerful. Compassionate. Next sunday we are. Going to formally recognize and welcome new members. And i asked you to think back on your journeys. Either as someone who started out in this tradition came in as a child as a young adult. Or later in life. And ask you what it is meant for you. To know us. I do know this. Faith. This is an opportunity for us to meet and to hear from those who have recently joined our beloved community as well as to share our faith with others. Who may benefit from knowing us. More fully. Membership. Is an expression of our religious commitment and i say spiritual disciplines for us. To be together in this way as a community of faith. Sometimes though. We become afraid to share our beliefs. Newly found. To the point sometimes it becomes a theological version of don't ask don't tell. This is crippling us. Address in this congregation that as a religious. Community. We are eager to talk about everything. With each other about what we believe. Theologically. We'll talk about what we believe we are about what we believe. Do you want talk about. The cradle. That to which i give my heart. For fear that somehow we will again be rejected. Ostracized. Or that we may cause harm or hurt someone else. Understandable. Hopefully we create space here or trust. Understanding. Grass to be able to engage in those conversations this is why we have small group ministries covenant groups. All sorts of activities which you can come together. On a more intimate. And. Appropriate level to communicate these kinds of things. It's hard to do this over coffee at coffee hour. You can't be done. So. Talk to each other. Take a risk. In faith. Remove from our experience of relationship. True conviction. To the actions of commitment. As human beings we all have belief. Faith. In something. That assures us of things hoped for. The conviction of things unseen. Has ralph waldo emerson said that which dominates our imaginations in our thoughts. Will determine our lives and our character. Net worth of louis has to be careful what we worship. What we are worshipping we are becoming. As unitarian universalist. We covenant. To keep our faith with each other. Covenants work commitments to our work. Curcumin commitments to our congregations. Association. To our communities to our world. Each other. Into ourselves. I pray that. Your beliefs. Eju. To truly believe. What you. Leave. If the deepest ways possible. True affection. Commitment. Convection to commitment. To the beloved community which we are all seeking create here. Not only in this congregation but in. Plano in collin county. In texas. United states and in the world. Sophia.

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Sermon_112209.mp3

How many pratt notwithstanding what is hospitality. Friendliness. Jerry. Caring. Sacrificing. Manatee. What is the next letter in the answers i came up with. I had martha stewart rachael ray. Any matthews. Play watch little too much. Hospitality. Is all of these things. And it is also a big deal more. Hospitality is the spiritual practice of genuinely welcoming others. As an embodiment of the holy. To beat the holy in our midst in the form of the stranger the traveler. Those we have yet to know. Practice by hindus and buddhists. Bowing to greet each other as knowledge's. Bully. Each other. Namaste. Experience of hospitality is about putting people. In a religious community this is important just putting people at ease because much of what a healthy religious community action does well. Easy challenges and two transformers to changes. In some fundamental ways. Putting people at ease is not about some of your motor. But as a generally open hand. Reading. Open today. The liberal is to be generous and open-handed. Not too just to those we know. Or those he thinking like a spot everyone. I've had the great fortune over the years. Of having some very dear friends in ohio who have a. Shamanic. Center there. Crow and becky. Dragon water. They do intensive spiritual work and shamanic training and. It's made possible because only made possible because of an inclusive and. Whatsapp hospitality they have because it really opened up their home in many ways. This allows. Great relationship with others and with ourselves. Just a fundamental of religious life. To experience a sense of reconnection with others and the world with the holy and with ourselves. This has been their gift to so many people who is going through their doors that is. Reality hospitality makes the effort of spiritual or religious discipline. War possible. Unsustainable. Dispenser he's actually. Nick carter. They're moving of obstacles. Removing a barriers to participation. Obstacles for us to. For our group is here to opticals in participating in the congregation. Basic things like adequate parking. And clear directions on the website. Childcare handicap accessibility. Play man who's all the measurable things we look for in a healthy congregation. On the westside of fort worth. Disciples of christ church denver. Lovely church. They had an unpaid parking lot at that time. This is mikey 60s through the 1970s.. And whatever rain. What happened. It was a mud pit. Cat grass. Half-blood. Some gravel some other stuff with an identifiable and mostly police chief. And in i do remember is as it is a young kid until 10:11 that someone was complaining that the mud was ruining women's shoes. As we know that people dressed then. My mother-in-law. Even sensible shoes didn't stand up to this. But no one seemed to hear this especially the men on the border. Nothing seemed to get done for years and years and years until suddenly. A large dirt quad from by somebody squealed a brand new luxury car belonging to the present. Suddenly there was a much greater interest. In getting the parking lot a. Amazing. So all of the sexes another things inside. Sometimes we don't pay attention to those things which actually may be a distraction or an impediment or somebody else. Part of our community. So somehow it is traffic on us. You don't worry about handicap parking or accessibility until. We are laid up or injured or handicapped. That's why we hold issues here really work hard. You work on issues and accessibility and. Childcare. And. Opportunities for people to eat and drink meetings we don't have to go hungry. Another kind of issues i've encountered in my travels around the country is a minister and. Eating appointment. Are invisible signs and invisible buildings. It's amazing how many invisible churches there are. You user.. Do you church of atlanta which is a very large congregation. 702 number. Hasn't had the church building right on. When the major freeways. Just don't know what it is. You're fine you just terrible. So anthony david i know he's out there three ministers with mama. But it's been a running issue for years but i live in southeast about yours this wonderful glorious beautiful shirt radar detector and nobody had a. Majoring. M highway. They were couple other congregations in a1 ohio and then the congregation i served in south carolina winning ohio i refer to it as a lovely little congregation. And they had a beautifully manicured head in front of the building. And a walkway of the gate wide enough for two people to walk through. Buttigieg. A sign about this big. From the road. That you had to read as you went by and it was on a beautiful. Round wood stain wood gold lettering. Cursive letters. Strolling by this sign it would have been wonderful. 45 mile an hour is no way you're going to see that song. South carolina when i got to the congregation there. Building was an old synagogue the 1950s. It was really built like a bunker. Really really dirty windows. And it was a kind of a brown gray rick. All the trim is dark chocolate brown. Dark chocolate made out of. And around we had the opportunity to have us some of the siding lawn party building repeat it cuz it'll be done. He had a gaston and so instead of painting at the dark chocolate brown. Yellow. Amazing. And we didn't want. I was out in the yard getting because there's no off-street parking. Call auntie parking ban in residential neighborhood. And i was in a car one day to go into my office. Incoming walking onto is a very true neighborhood to very nice. 90 park cities. Celestia logically in political. Teen titan hootie the blowfish darius. Car in someone. Is this building been here so i think it was built in 1950. This is 1996. I'm coming here people drive to the neighborhood to john. Beautiful. I never noticed. Well figure. We just painted it quiet and. I don't know that i'd never noticed it it's really amazing. Yeah isn't it. So. I shared that with people. You have these amazing invisible buildings amazing visible signs. Those of us who are used to them. To help with this to you you are association is put together a whole collection of assessment tools you can go through checklist. Things that you're doing this and score it for you. So we might do that. But the obstacles. Sabine welcoming in fact may have more to do. The bus then with our resources are buildings and the services we offer. Ordering papa supplies i entered a church where no usher's were at their front door. Because. Everyone knew to come in the side door off the parking lot that led through the kitchen. This was not worth it emily where the coffee pot and all the snacks were put. Instead of readily available in the social hall. The social on you didn't you can smell the coffee. You couldn't see it there were no signs with no idea people sharing with coffee. Even with lights. Taylor ham. Off their plate. But everybody what about knew you went to the kitchen to get this. Work went to the kitchen and pick it up on your way in to pick up a cup of coffee in on. Everybody knew. Except. And later on. As i was kind of marveling at this. Woman and so in a very interesting thing. I don't understand why people don't keep coming back. I have a great time with my friends. Maybe that's the issue. By the way we set an example. Drive people off. We're not getting them bread. Or even stones. But only the bitterness of him.. Am i doing so we lose the companionship of others. You lose the chance to be more of who we can be. And we lose the chance to change and even save the lives of other people who need this space. And this. Other unit. Gil geisenheimer. Tell the story of how she first attended a unitarian universalist church. There was a tall broad-shouldered and substantial person. She's much. She has been kicked to the curb so many times in her life or her sexual orientation for her beliefs. Her so much about her life. She says. I was 38 years old living in maine driving a snow plow for a living. I'm feeling very sorry for myself when a friend invited me to his church. He said it was different. I rudely refused my christchurch. I'm placing charges are the same. I informed him. There they say they're open. they don't want to help with church. My friend persisted. He knew his church was different he told me his church cared about people race different families and diversity and work to make the world better. You assured me i could come and not have to hide any elements who i was. And i dress. To carefully. Well my first sunday. I spike my short hair straight up in the air. I dug out my heaviest oldest work boots ones of the chainsaw cut across the exposed steel toe. I got my torn jeans and my leather jacket. There would not be a shared ambiguity this sunday morning. They would embrace me in my full amazon glory. Or they could fry ice. I carefully arranged my outfit so it would highlight the hard rock. I carried on my phone. Bundled up every shred of pain and hurt and betrayal i had harbored from every other religious experience in my life and i 11:30 into that tiny meeting house on the coast of maine. Woojung. Leather jacket spiked hair and belligerent attitude. My friend's invitation. I expected the grey-haired lady in the choir just got back into year. That would have been familiar. Permeable the newsletter and invited me to stay for coffee. Sing never even. They called me. But pronounced it. Stay for coffee. So i stayed for coffee. I stayed for unitarian universalist. Make. Strangers are awkward. Yet each of us is a stranger. Each of us needs this. Rule of saint benedict the basic pattern of western monasticism. Insists that if you want to be a whole person you have to let others. Where does this hospitality come from. They say hospitality is born in us when we are well loved by god and by others. A whole person. Open up a secure person to be available a strong person to give yourself away. I say it is a strong pay. Ourselves. The public eye and say yes we want to be seen and known. Those who love us. By the way just can't believe the ground has not opened up. Swallow nest. It is possible to attend this church every week and never let others in. Is it possible to do every welcoming trick in the book. Not really make room for guess. Or even for ourselves in a hole. How many times do we entertain the false comfort of thinking. Others like us. About much more. Hello. You see them. Don't even rap. Choices. Neither easy nor elegance that the stranger is not always easy to learn the people we know. Is thanksgiving hello. The reality is probably come over and we would say the same better. Yep. The candy the large that the presence of the larger pool. Weekend. Eventually collectively to someone who is o+. Even when we don't heal that hopefulness. Sometimes you fake it till you make it. Sometimes. Practice. What are the keys to deeper spiritual life is to listen. Something my mother. Set alarm. Patrick the only shut up and listen you get along much better in life. I realize actually he was just listening just heading out to take care of yourself. Still working. For some of us do we think we are listening to others. Only hearing them so we know what to say next. Listening is truly welcoming the other. Welcome. Bernadette backus unitarian minister and signer of the original original humanist manifesto. Caught that we are quote at once children of the beloved community and builders of. Beloved community. Why we provide a comfortable environment and goodies. We as a religious community or not about offering sugar-coated insurances. Chocolate jesus or chicken soup for the soul. You offer a place to explore what it means to be more of who we are as children of the universe. Made any maggio d. Image of the divine. Quaker author parker palmer talk about problems religious communities have with practicing radical hospitality. He writes. If the church is to serve as a school of the spirit and as a bridge between the private and public realm. It must find ways extending hospitality to the stranger. I did not mean coffee hours designed to recruit new members for the church. Are these are often aimed at making the stranger one of us. The essence of hospitality. And the public life. Is that. Let our differences. Our mutual strangeness be as they are. While still acknowledging the unity. Why. Is unitarian universalist. This is a core concept. Underneath all of this diversity. Hospitality. Attitude. Spiritual practice. Attorney. We will not be perfect in our practice. We can renew our awareness and our efforts. T-mobile. Hospitality is a way to keep our covenant with each other. As in tearing universalist. And as human beings. Here and now. Recall.

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Sermon_122709.mp3

I want to pick up on this christmas story that you might have heard last week. I mean i've heard it. Shortly after jesus's birth and angel appeared to justice in a dream. Instead get up. Take the child and his mother. And flee to egypt. And remain there until i tell you for herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. Joseph is a different kind of person than i am. When angels speak to me in a dream. I wake up and i think that was weird and if i'm lucky i go back to sleep. But the story goes on with no mention of hesitation it says jesus just have got up took the child and his mother by night and went to egypt. I mean i really know what their time there was like. As a fellow human being i can speculate. A long journey down to egypt. They find a place to settle down quietly. Play wait for god to again send word. And then they wait. Maybe they begin to wonder whether god has forgotten. Or perhaps each morning they wake up wondering if the dreams they dreamt worthy dream. Wondering if god did indeed send word but they were too sleepy to notice. And just as they were starting to settle down. Maybe they got a decent job without a mortgage. Maybe even found some baby sitters in the area. God comes and says. Hair it is dead. Return to israel. And they returned to find that king herod has killed all of the babies in the region. They're probably relieved their baby is saved. They're all so angry. Author chris hedges writes about a time. In 1983 when he was in a united nations camp for guatemalan refugees in honduras. It was precisely this time of year just after christmas and he's guatemalan refugees. We're getting ready for a celebration. They were decorating your tents with color papers. And preparing for a festival. They were celebrating this story. Mystery of mary joseph and jesus is flight to egypt. Escape the slaughter ordered by king harris. The author was a confused as to why there would be a celebration around the story. But then he discovered that this often downplayed story with important to these guatemalan refugees. Because they came to identify with jesus in this story. What is with the day that their christ became a refugee. As i think of this family as a refugee family i ceased to imagine mortgages and babysitters. Begin dc-10. I see them looking over their shoulders fearing for their lives. It's easy to impose our experiences onto others it's easy to identify with the heroes. In our spirit play cricket when we often tell a story and then we wonder together about its meeting for us. I wonder what the story. Is really about. I wonder who i am. I wonder what this story has to say to me today. And this line of wondering. Horses m wonder. I can hear it in this story. The way the story goes is that king herod heard that wise men from the east were looking for this one who has been born king of the jews. Didn't they could go and worship him. The story reads that when king herod heard this. He was disturbed. He was alarmed. Trouble writing. What did king herod the king hears that his people are perceiving another key. It poses a threat to his power. And he knows enough to be frightened. We don't have to be royalty to know how that goes. We know that sometimes when our power is threatened. In small ways or in big ways. We get disturbed. Trouble. Giving up control and sharing power is hard. And the king herod's in each of us sometime. Don't let us give up that power. It is a struggle and a struggle the struggle get even bigger when it's less about two people fighting over power and more about. One person and a larger organization or system. When king herod heard this he was disturbed and all jerusalem. With him. And all jerusalem with him. hatred within them all and it makes me wonder. If they even knew. Perhaps what they were doing was not jess. That there is no justification for the slaughtering of the innocent. These past few weeks i got to wondering about this story. It's not a story i often think about. But this year i got to wondering about it. And as i wondered what the story was really about and what it means for us today. I couldn't stop thinking about some youth i used. A few years ago right before i move to texas. I spent 72 months working at a nonprofit organization in philadelphia all the arts and spirituality. That particular year gun violence with increasing in philadelphia. The local paper with running an ongoing tally of deaths every day. They show pictures of the victims. Pictures of the vigils that followed there were town meetings protest people trying to figure out what to do. I have to admit that in those early months i didn't really feel anything when i read these statistics. I didn't really steal my as i saw these pictures in the paper it seemed so far removed from me. But as it turned out one of the things i did in philadelphia was to help run a theater program. For about 40 teenagers from a residential high school. You all had first-hand experience with the tragedy of gun violence. I got to hear their stories and watch them express themselves through music drama and dance. Many have lost a parent or both parents to violence. All came from circumstances that made 6s for them is very. Most of these teams were african-american a smaller or central latino. None of them were white. I'm working with these teenagers i caught a glimpse of how hard he's african-american and latino use. Have to work. Harder than i ever have. I saw how hard it was for them to break out of poverty. Haverty does. A few weeks ago i went on the internet to see how philadelphia was doing in the cigar. And it brought me to my knees. Last year 2008 the city of philadelphia experience 333 homicide. 44% of them were under the age of. 78% for african-americans. Most recent census information identifies at 43% of the people in the city of philadelphia are black or african american. I said that to say that there are a disproportionate number of african american people a lot of them youth and young adults. I think of these teenagers in philadelphia and others like them throughout the country these brilliant. Beautiful young men and women who act like pursue higher education jobs in community life will encounter harrods. You will not be willing to share power with them. Heritable try to cover up the divine spark in each of them that is yearning to light up the world. Harrods who in their selfish desire for power and control will not know what to do with someone who is different. Who doesn't understand the rules. Or he threatens to bring change to harris comfortable environment. But as scary and cruel as that king herod is he is not what i fear the most. The king hair that i fear is not the man. But the institution. The institution that would allow the death of innocent people. I named it necessary and righteous. The system that would allow a citizen to be handed down systemically rules and laws for institutions, corporations and ideology. The system that could declare racism dead. But you anything short of everything it could do. To stop the cycle of violence into heal the history created. In january. As part of the adult religious education series we are going to be showing up pbs series of videos. Called race the power of an illusion. In the series they drawn science and history to explain. How we developed the construct of race. In the united states and why we developed. People developed ideas about african-american people and native american people that help them and many of us to maintain our. One might say that those first few centuries of european americans heard about the great capacity. Aabies african and native american people. And they were disturbed. How far we have come indeed we are so far along that we can elect an african-american president. But we are not so far along that the centuries of violence disadvantage and domination have been made right. Many centuries ago in order to convince people that dominate. Domination of land with rye. And that the keeping of african slaves was good. A nation convinces people. The african and native people were inherently bad. Less than. Since that time many other acts of racial injustice continue as a direct result. I wonder what my role is. In that case. I wonder what my role is moving forward. Our unitarian universalist association is actively involved in working toward racial justice. And even in our progressive justice-seeking organization the leaders of our movement. Are smart enough to acknowledge that racism highs in each of us as individuals and hides in the corners of our organizations religious and secular. Unitarian universalist have a mixed history we celebrate the many heroes of our unitarian universalist heritage. You stood up for abolition silver rights. Women's rights equality for lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people. And we downplay the less progressive moments in our history. Reverend diane arakawa in the book silver. A discreet overview of the last talked about moments of our unitarian universalist history. She right. I can recount the tragedies of the past that still plague our association. From the settlor indian wars of the 17th century in massachusetts. Puritan policies related to slavery. The mixed unitarian response to abolition. The unjust labor practices at the turn of the century. And the racist statements of our denominational presidents in the first half of the last century to the slowness to engage in the civil rights movement. On the part of some of our congregations. Derailing of the black empowerment movement in the 60s. And the lack of support congregations and clergy. We can celebrate and honor reverend ethel ray brown who forced to racism and classism interdenominational. To create a liberal religious home for african americans. We also must acknowledge the parts of our heritage that made it so very hard for him as a black man to become a minister i just start a church. And what made it hard for those black pioneers in a white denomination. I believe that even today despite our best intentions despite our deep longing for peace and justice. I believe that each of us have our own unchecked by. And are clumsy acts of control and power. And i think that rather than not talking about them. It might better serve our quest for justice if we delay dinner. If we could agree to stay in covenant with one another and share openly and honestly where we are. Let ourselves offend. And be offended. And talk about our responses. Could we listen up the principles of our faith the inherent worth and dignity of every person the. Interdependent web of all existence of which we are card. Could we move through the hard places of this journey for justice. Knowing that we all mean well. Knowing that some of us were raised arrest. And that some of us were raised oppressing. But that each of us. Oppressed and oppressor are part of the interdependent web of all existence. And each of us as refugee and ruler have inherent worth. Could we know that these conversations will be renting. Ennard. Choose to continue on the journey anyway. This is a journey of space. Say that the work we are doing. Is the work of humanity. It is imperative if we want to create the kind of world that our best and brightest unitarian-universalist ancestors in azle. It is imperative if we are to create the vision about which we sing in our hands and lived up in a reading. If our journey does not lead us into the hard places. Into new relationships with people who are culturally economically or ethnically difficult. Different. If i do need is not invite us into risk and challenge as a new all the time. And i'm afraid we have strayed from our progressive. I would like to see whether our liberal faith tradition can stand up to the lights. Harry was unable to affirm the divine spark of jesus. Jesus grew up. To be the voice that his community needed. And long for the voice of the oppressed in the four. Are we silencing the voices of people who have words we need to hear. Are we complicit in a way of life that keeps people from succeeding. I wonder whether we would stand up for the baby jesus. Not out of pity or guilt. Because anyone any of us born at the right time in the right circumstances that have been that refugee. Or maybe we stand up for him today because we know and trust that that kid had a purpose beyond our knowing. And we affirm and promote his inherent work. Maybe we would stand up for him because we have so much love for our world that we cannot tolerate hate and oppression. Or maybe weekend up for him because we know that we are interconnected. And your freedom from oppression would be to free ourselves. The story of jesus the refugee. The story of african american people and the story of racism in the united states is a story of struggle. And astoria. In the season of kwanzaa lettuce take seriously the charge to both lists of the histories of our pioneering african-american ancestors. And also reflect on our own histories. And our place in the fight for freedom of all people. Arid lives among us in our country and in our communities. As interconnected beings. Maybe address his presence among us. And participate in the struggle. And may we say ever on the journey.

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20130818-Reading.mp3

No originally i had listed mission vision and covenant creating a future together as the resource for my reading today. Unfortunately. Has good resources it is i think i found something better. So feel free to look that up unitarian universalist association website it's a wonderful document is 98 pages long and there are 45 pages i think that were perfectly relevant for the day but. In favor of a story. It's called the parable of the trapeze and it's by. The late dean and perry who wrote the book warriors of the heart. Daniel perry is one of those rare individuals whose done so many different things in his life he was a nuclear physicist and then. Because of sending him to leadership. Training and management he ended up becoming a psychologist. And he realized that all he was doing there was making healthy people adapt to unhealthy situations and. And then he decided he was going to become an international conflict mediator. And he end up in places like. Mediating in the northern irish conflict. Or. Between the israelis and palestinians and various groups in africa. He offers this inside. He says sometimes i feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I'm either hanging onto a trapeze bar swing along or for a few moments in my life i'm hurtling across space in between trapeze bars. Most of the time i spend my life hanging on for dear life to my trapeze bar of the moment. He carries me along at a certain steady rate of swing and i have the feeling that i'm in control of my life. Sino that most of the right questions and even some of the answers. But every once in awhile as i merrily or not so merrily swinging along. I look out ahead of me into the distance and what do i see i see another trapeze bar swinging toward me. It's empty. And i know in that place in me that knows that this new bar has my name on it. It is my next step. My growth my life is coming to get me. In my heart of hearts i know that for me to grow i must release my grip on this present well-known bar and move. To the new one. Each time it happens to me i hope no. Pray. That i won't have to let go of my old bar completely before i grab the new one. But in my knowing place i know that i must totally release my grasp on the old bar and for some moment in time i must persil across space before i can grab onto the new one. Each time i am filled with terror. It doesn't matter then all of my previous hurdles across the void of unknowing i have always made it. I am each time frayed that i will miss that i will be. Rush on unseen rocks in the bottomless chasm between bars. I do it anyway. Perhaps this is the essence of what mystics call the faith experience. No guarantees. No net. No insurance policy. But you do it anyway because somehow to keep hanging on to that old bar is no longer on the list of alternatives. So for an eternity that can last a microsecond or a thousand lifetimes. Eyesore across the dark void of. The past is gone the future is not yet here. It's called transition. I have come to believe that this transition is the only place that real change occurs. I mean. Real change not the pseudo change that only lasts until the next time my old buttons get punched again. I have noticed that in our culture this transition zone is looked upon as a no thing they no place between places. Sure the old trapeze bar was real and that new one coming towards me i hope that's real too but the void in between. Is that just a scary confusing disorienting nowhere that must be gotten through as fast and as unconsciously as possible. No. No. What a wasted opportunity that would be. I have a sneaking suspicion that the transition zone is the only real thing in the bars are illusions we dream up to avoid the void where the real change the real growth occurs for us. Whether or not my hunch is true it remains that the transition zones in our lives are incredibly rich places. They should be honored even savored. Yes with all the pain and fear and feelings of being out of control that can but. Not necessarily. The company transitions. They are still the most alive. Most growth filled passionate. Expansive moments. In our lives. We cannot discover new oceans. The anonymous author says. Unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore. So. Transformation of my. Transformation of fear. May have nothing to do with making fear go away. But rather was giving ourselves permission to hang out in the transition zone between trapezes. Transforming our need to grab that new bar. Any bar. Is allowing ourselves to dwell in the only place where change really happens. They can be terrifying. They can also be in lightning. In the true sense of the word. Hurtling through the void. We might just. May learn how. To fly.

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Sermon_1_050612.mp3

What wondrous love is this is my soul my soul. Wondrous love. What wondrous love is this. Antique sofa. Of my soul. Mysore. William sloane coffin. Throat that. On the religious. Is more important than the purity of dogma. What is a signpost. Hitching post. Liberals contend that we should sharpen our minds not narrow them. We understand that faith far from clearing up uncertainty makes it possible to live with. Fundamentalists on the other hand cannot their uncertainties and diligent what psychiatrist call. Premature closure. Liberals contend that one of the most wonderful things about life is to act. Wholeheartedly. Without. Absolutely. A strong love. One that does not rely. On absolute. Publishing genders face. Hope. Faith is not just one. And a result of like. You know quantum particles. Wave and particle. This is what is metro development. Their many different models were faces element but i find that they usually consists of three cyclic phases. First c-section. Second fade as conviction. Section. Conviction. Commitment. Fundamental nature of religion is a relationship. A relationship. I feel that this relational quality is why many of us concerns and milestones. As a part of our faith experience. She creates a bridge of relational authenticity by which we can better experience each other and perhaps the holy that is present in our lives. Rev dr. rebecca parker is president. The ministry at berkeley california. She writes the following. She said throughout history the liberal theological anthropology. Love is not a vertical relationship. About vivian submission to divine ruler. As the liberal theologian walter rauschenbusch put. We love and serve god when we love and serve our fellows. Dr. parker goes on she says the powers of the soul enable connection interaction with others to be human is to be embedded in the intricate web. To be alive is to receive the world through all the channels of the senses all the sensitive modes of feeling that are ours. And to respond with our own contribution. We get. Life our kacar word our action our embrace our guidance our acceptance our central busing. All living is in community and in connection with others. Love is what happens. In the vibrant interchange living beans. It is experience of being drawn to another. Interacting with each other to create happiness and joy. Labor to care for life's daily needs. To give refreshment to the soul. Love. Blesses the intersections among individual being. A cool fabric. Universe. In the hebrew scriptures in hebrews 11:1 faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things unseen. Information itself is an act of expressing and reinforcing conviction. Conviction the knowing of rightness of one's experience. Is it crucial second step in faith development but convictions and knowing alone do not make. Do i do have to say having just had jury duty this week never seen were conviction i have another thing in mind. Commitment is fundamental to any relationship and it is crucial as part of the third step. He institutional answers can be summarized. Commitment is conviction in. Action. Facebook. Conversely the christian apostle paul wrote show me your faith apart from your worst and i will show you my faith by my work. The word cradle we had arkratos service last weekend. Shared their beliefs. The word credo is translated in english is i believe. But the literal latin meaning is i give my heart. How many people. You know whatever. What do you give your heart to. I think it would change the hult center. Forgive my heart. Is. About a feeling. A knowledge a certainty so strong so deep that we can say i give my heart to this. For so many of us who come from other traditions we often find ourselves saying words we can no longer give our hearts. He no longer felt the conviction or commitment and we hungered for something to which we did say. Yes. As strongly with our lives as with. We are. We were looking for a face so deep and sweet and renewing that commitment whores. From us in a torrent of joy and gratitude. For many of us this place. This tradition is where we have learned or where we have found. During annual stewardship drives over the years i've occasionally heard some people have jokingly bemoan our lack of fuel. Citing it as a hindrance to our fundraising abilities. But i think we can all agree that. Did the wrong path. Generosity generosity. I would much rather plumb the depths and height of our faith and our love and commitment. Are so joyful and so powerful. And compassionate. Can face removed from our experience of relationship true conviction to the actions of commitment. Human beings we will have faith in something. Assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things unseen. As unitarian universalist we covenant to keep our faith with each other through our covenants and our commitments to each other to our congregations to our association. To our community. Into the larger world. When i was sinking down. When i was sinking down sinking.. When i was thinking tom. He needs my sorrows wrong. Friends julie. Oh my soul oh my soul. Azumi gathered around. Oh my soul. We yearn. Hope. We yearn for hope especially in our current days of fear and trembling. We need to know that the light at the end of the tunnel is not. That there is room in our lives for more and greater possibilities for a fuller and more successful life. We need a strong love we feel embraces us and which we intern can. Embrace. There is a concentration. And a caring for word of power. Institutions which we create and sustain. If there had been no unitarian universalist association. This congregation would probably not be here now. If some of our founding members had not had universalist congregation to grow up in. And then the desired. If people which most of you and i will very likely never know. It says folks had not served on boards and committees and heart religious education. We would not have this place. Now. Terribly obvious. But we often forget the amazing amount of time and energy and money and other resources given over the years. One clean-up day at a time or dollar in the place. Hello accounts. Behold. The wonder the fruits of their labor. Writer and philosopher real generosity. For the future. And universalist minister the reverend olympia brown who was. The first woman united states. Country. She was also a leader of women's rights and social reform. And she said in one of our hymnal readings she said this. Standby. Work for and sacrifice for it there is nothing in all the world. Do not demand immediate results but rejoice that we are worthy. Great message. And that you are strong enough to work for a great through pensacola. Without counting. Definitely. A recipe. For a strong love.

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20131201-Message-For-All-Ages.mp3

Good morning i'm kathy smith is my pleasure and privilege to be your director of religious education it is also my pleasure and privilege to try to bring you this morning's message for all ages if i can get all of the words out in order. Apparently i seem to be stumbling over them today so please forgive me if i do. The story this morning. Is a story that comes from the legendary city of chelm. Now i'm telling you a story about the legendary city of chelm because it is a jewish folktale. And right now we are right in the middle of the jewish holiday of. Exactly so this is the story called the soul of a menorah. I'm in nora for those of you who may not know. Is this silver. Candle set sitting right here. The other thing. I'll tell you that the moment the soul of the menorah by eric a kimmel. Charm has a special place in jewish folklore. It is the setting for many of story. Ancient and new. Because it. Is a city full of fools. That is how the story goes. When god decided to populate the earth with people. He put all of the honest souls in one jar and all of the dishonest sold in another jar and all of the wise sold in one jar and the fool is juul sold in another. I'm so on and so forth with all of the different jars he has assigned an angel to each jar. And the angels were to go throughout the world and put a few souls in each city. Well the angel that went over the city of chelm. So all of the souls left in the jar of foolish soul slipped out into the city of chelm. And that is how so many fools came in website or as a chelmer might say. How the people of chelm came to be so wise that no one understands them. The hanukkah menorah in the grand synagogue of chelm is famous throughout the world there is no other like it though seeing it for the first time are a bit surprised. Because it doesn't look like this. In fact it looks a bit like a hayfork. How many of you have ever seen a hayfork or a pitchfork. It's the thing that you use in the garden to turn the hay or to turn the campo right. So it looks a little it looks exactly like i hate for it but don't be fooled it is a genuine. Hanukkah menorah and this is the story of how it came to be. Many years ago a farmer drilled his wagon through the city of chelm. She had a hayfork and some other tools in the back. And he went over a bump. And the hayfork fell out and landed in the road. It wasn't there half an hour before camel the clumsy stumbled over it. What is this he said. Looks like i hate pork said his friends bible the foolish. Look again said camel. It has nine branches eight of them of the same size one of them is taller. Only one object it's that description it must be a hanukkah menorah. Bible app. But why would a hanukkah menorah. Come to be lying in the middle of the road. It came down from heaven that camels perhaps the menorah is a gift from god to us. Quick let's clean it up and take it to the synagogue where it belongs. So the two men cleaned and polished the hayfork until it was a shiny and bright as silver. But when they got to the synagogue maki the pragmatic said. Take the fork away i just swept the floor. Camel. This is a menorah. We found it in the street. It is a gift from god. Alrighty said mikey he found a bucket put some sand in it stuck the handle of the hay fork in it so it wouldn't fall over he even found a way to stick the candles on the branches so that they stood up straight. So when the people of chum gathered in the synagogue for their evening prayers they were surprised to see what they thought was a hateful standing in a bucket. Fortier they said. Open your eyes said maki can't you tell him and nora when you see one. So we're going out to everyone in the town of the miraculous menorah in the synagogue of chelm. The news finally reached the farmer who had been missing his pay for all of this time. And he came to the synagogue to investigate sure enough there was his very own hayfork upside down in a bucket of sand with candle stuck on the branches and of course he claimed it for his own. That's begin a great argument about the nature of the hay for. The townsfolk insisted it was a menorah the farmer insisted it was his hate for. Finally. They consulted the wise rabbi jacob isaiah the seer of lublin. The holiest man of his time. He was called the seer. Because he could look into people's souls. Solve unsolvable mysteries. Discover hidden meaning. When the problem was explained to him. He thought out loud. On the one hand it has nine branches and one of the branches in is taller. So it must be a menorah. On the other hand it does indeed look like a hayfork. He thought some more. Sparks of holiness can be found in the most common ordinary things. A blind beggar singing in the marketplace might be an angel. An old boot might hold the key to a cosmic riddle. We must constantly search for these hidden sparks of holiness. So that we can uncover the true holiness at the heart of things. In this case you have discovered the holiness in the hay for. This object must have been a hay fork and its earlier existence but now. It is a menorah and it cannot be used as a hate work any longer. What about me said the farmer i still need a hay fork. The rabbi ordered the townspeople to pay the farmer 18 shekels in compensation. 18 circles grass for exclaim the townspeople. The farmer can't you see the menorah when you see one. And that is how the famous menorah came to the grand synagogue of chelm. Don't be fooled. It may resemble a hayfork. But it has the soul of a menorah. And that is what counts.

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Reading_120411.mp3

Are reading this morning is from one of my favorite books. The battle for christmas. A cultural history of america's most cherished holiday. Steven nissen bomb. How much 15 15 years ago but it's still. And it is pretty important for us to kind of understand our rules lothian post side of the emergence of what we considered modern christmas. Chicken bomb. The end of his book. There is a usable line. Weather historical or aesthetic dividing. Invented traditions from yerevan. But neither does this mean that we cannot and. Need not make judgments. If this book has argued on the one hand that traditions are constantly changing and the domestic christmas idol is surprisingly new. It is also argued that most of the problems he faced it christmas today. The greedy materialism the daily consumerism to deliberate manipulation that only have goods that also private desires. The personal relationship into purchasable commodity. Surprisingly. Playstation factory mergens other domestic christmas itself. And they were being publicly debated and lamented as early as 1830. It is michael to believe that the issues we face today arguing. Issues of unprecedented complexity likes of which we have never encountered before. The problems we associate with christmas in particular the loss of authenticity. Into an exhausting and often frustrating round of shopping for the perfect gift. The facts of modern life. Which advanced technologies are production and marketing. We believe in market capitalism sometimes blame it for christmas. What is book has suggested is that there never was a time. Some christmas existed as an unsullied domestic idol. Immune system. Commercialism. It has argued that the domestic christmas was the commercial christmas. Commercial from its earliest stages. Commercial addison series score. Indeed the domestic christmas was itself a force in the spread. Consumer. Capital. That may be the case because some assisting capitalism themselves. Family values and a cumulative competitive. I've been deeply interlinked from the very beginning. Even when they have a 2% alternative modes feeling. Or seem to be in conflict with each other. For there is. The other kind of christmas blues. The middle-class blues at peak of our disappointment in the family itself for its failure. Provide a urine for intimacy. That is especially the rule and trust at christmas. Electrical field at wall to satisfy that yearning. How much finally depends at both ends. Honda selection. Just survive. Purchases. How often do we buy using money as a substitute for a while we tear is insufficient thoughtfulness insensitivity. By deciding at the end of a shopping excursion to buy expensive presents. For our loved ones simply because we cannot see. Of that one simple gifts. Models in price the perfectly intimate. Is justin circumstance that may help to explain why. The second quarter of the nineteenth century. Summer tools at santa claus. And the christmas tree. Stockings or gift wrapping. Took that rapid and profound hold on the imagination. Those who created a new domestic christmas. Perhaps the receipt and intensity those essential new ritual. Plain as timeless tradition. How powerful was the new relationship. Between family life and commercial economy. Kitty from you. Protect children and adults too. Some understanding something troublesome about the way. World they were making. In our own time a century-and-a-half later that protection. 8 minutes. You can no longer.

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20150719-Book_Talk-1.mp3

Good morning i'm janet belden. The book on speaking about today is one that was published 30 years ago. I read it when it first came out. And it moved me so when i was asked to speak this morning it came to mind. Even though it is 30 years old. Most people are familiar with carl sagan because of the 1980 series cosmos. Or possibly the books pale blue dot or the dragons of eden. When you hear his name your first thought probably isn't science fiction. But along with all the wonderful science. He left us. Contact. For those of you who might be familiar with the movie. The general theme and story are the same. But the characters and their relationships are quite a bit different than the book. Try to imagine what it would mean. Seriously really considerate. If humanity were to discover that we are not alone. That an intelligent civilization capable of advanced technological communication exists and is sending us a message. That's the novels premise. And we followed this story. To the eyes of la. Dr. eleanor arroway. The radio astronomer in charge of the facility the first detect the signal. Imagine how the politicians would react. The scientific community. The media. And what would the various religious leaders have to say. Contact was written in 1985 and it's setting reflects both ongoing cold war between the us and ussr. And the upcoming new millennium. Understandably the signal from space is interpreted by some as a sign of impending destruction. Billy joe rankin a fundamentalist christian televangelist. With a museum dedicated to debacle literalism. It sure the messages either from god or the devil. Palmer joss a less conventional but still fundamentalist christian minister. Argues that while religion is imperfect. Science is also flawed and doesn't hold all the answers. His view is that no matter who's who the message is from. Scientist alone should not hold a monopoly on its contents. And interpretation. At the request of the president. Ellie religious agnostic. Reluctantly meets with rankin joss and a handful of others. In response to rankin's complaints about the way scientists question everything and insist on empirical evidence. Ellie responds with a wonderful explanation of scientific skepticism. And ask pointed questions about reconciling biblical discrepancies. And the differences between the various religions received truths. At one point things get a little heated and ellie says. What i'm saying. Is it god wanted to send us a message. You could have done a better job. He hardly had to confine himself to writings. Why isn't there a monster crucifix. Orbiting the earth. Why isn't the surface of the moon covered with the ten commandments. Why should god be so clear in the bible and so obscure in the world. Despite their different views. Jonathan deli meat again. And this time find they can discuss faith in science more amicably. The message is decoded and humanities finds itself in possession of detailed instructions for the construction of a machine that holds five chairs. The cost is enormous its function is unknown. Get the machine gets built. Ellie is one of the five passengers when it is activated. And the group is transported through a series of wormholes to the middle of the galaxy. Several stops along the way. Provide a tour of wildly different star systems they spend the night in a day at the final stop. For the centers of the message of humans. Census bureau. And offer a brief look at wonders such as a map of the wormhole transportation system. And the in progress construction. Galaxy cigna say. Passengers capture photographs and video recordings to take back. They returned home and discovered only 20 minutes have elapsed on earth. Their recordings have been erased possibly by the magnetic field in the wormholes. And the find find themselves accused of inventing the whole story. They're blackmailed into silence. Sent back to their homes. The end. We sense the five won't stay silent forever. Palmer joss does it's ellie and here's the full story. He encourages her to go public. Assuring her that she will be believed. I think it qualifies is irony. I would have to ask that her story be taken on face. I don't want the passage i read earlier to give the impression the book is scornful of faith or a religion. Here's a last quote this time from plummer joseph character. Any states that admires truth. It strives to know god. Must be brave enough to accommodate the universe. I mean the real universe. All those light-years. Universe. The opportunities it affords the creator. It takes my breath away.

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Sermon_022413.mp3

According to the king center. In atlanta. The core value of the quest of dr. king. Beloved community. Agape love. Distinguish between three kinds of love. Arrow sort of aesthetic or romantic love. We talked about a couple of weeks ago. Philia affection between friends. And agape which he describes as understanding redeeming goodwill for all. And overflowing love which is purely spontaneous unmotivated groundless and create. He calls it the love of god operating in the human heart. He said that agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people. It begins by loving others for their sakes. And makes no distinction between a friend and enemy it is directed toward both. Agape is love seeking. Preserve and create. Community. Agape is love. Seeking. To preserve and create. One expression of agape love in doctor king's beloved community is justice. Snapper ne-10 crestview but for old people. Dr. king said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice. Everywhere. And he felt that josh's could not be parceled out in individuals or groups. What was the birthright of every human being in. Save-a-lot. He says i have fought too long and hard against segregated accommodation stand-up segregating my moral concern. An article in july of 1966 in christian century magazine doctor king affirm the ultimate goal inherent in the quest for the beloved community. He said i do not think of political power as an end. Neither do i think of you can onyx power as an end they are ingredients in the objectives that we see. In life. And i think. That end. That objective is to truly brotherly society. The creation of the beloved commute. Love is creative and redemptive love builds up and unites hate tears down and destroyed. In his work the role of the church in facing a nation's chief moral dilemma what she wrote in nice. He goes on to say the aftermath of the fight with fire method. What you suggest is bitterness and chaos. The aftermath of the last message is reconciliation. And creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress restrain coerced destroy that it cannot create and organize anything permanent. Call milos. Tesla. Which means understanding. Creative redemptive goodwill. Even for lunch enemies. Is there a solution. Sugar ray. Problem. Reconciliation. Redemption. The end is the creation of the beloved community it is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. The type of love that i stress here is not arrow sort of aesthetic romantic love. Cecilia reciprocal.of between personal friends. Eddie sagarpa images understanding goodwill for almond. It isn't overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. It is the love of god. Working in the lives of men. If this is the love that may well be the salvation of. Our civilization. Recently there's been a spate of. Abraham lincoln. Pieces on the documentary channels. Intellivision. On channel 13. I want the coach that i was struck by was from. Former president of confederacy jefferson davis. He said. Basically to the effect that the two worst days for the south. Had been. Find a surrendered. And the second-worst was abraham lincoln. Chill. Because he knew that abraham lincoln and. Time for this out was the south's best friend. Cuz he was trying to create reconciliation. Not retribution. I shudder to think. How history may have. Turn it out. Had he lived. But it shows that we are manifesting the beloved community everyday. Everything. Funway. The beloved community is that it is a place that i my contacts. Are we still safe to give ourselves to something larger than ourselves. But safety while necessary is not enough. Secret community. And the blessed community. The beloved community does not create the compool of renewal. We need but it is also the vessel resale. Agape you know i've written these. Sherman's earlier in the month. Philia. Eros. And one of things i like to do anytime i'm. See what other people are saying about this online. And and other sources i have. And usually inevitably somebody says something flipping for cute or funny. Nobody's talking about it. Dentist. I can't find a good marks clean clothes on agape. Nothing by. Our beloved molly ivins. Serious deep stuff. The very fact. The wii. As people gather in. Community. Such as. The lies are. Western end chick-fil-a. American inn. Tickly text smith. Self. Sufficient person. Lone ranger. You forget the lone ranger came from texas. Right is a texas ranger. Because the reality is if we could do it alone. I mean a lot of us are just lazy enough. Father with dealing with other people do it ourselves. Or we have this illusion that we can do it herself. We like to. Just take care of business. Be alone. If we felt we could do it all ourselves we wouldn't. And we wouldn't gathering the other communities that are in our lives that are part of these interlinking. Communities. Circles. Has mark morrison reed said in our earlier reading the religious communities essential. Corona vision is too narrow to see all the must be seen in our spring. Together our vision widens and our strength is. So what are and are not some of the elements of. Healthy. Religious community. This. Manifestation of the beloved community coming into being. First let me offer a couple of religious communities are not the same things as families. Sign up for somebody.. Headed disappointment. There are elements of religious community which we may experience like that family or which may substitute for families at times. What communities are bigger. A family. And they have a different mission if you. Communities are charged with creating healthy environment. For families and individuals. Do understand and pursue their lives. Pre-con text larger. Send the immediacy of the family. To give context. To support. Set immediacy. Not trying to turn religious community into a surrogate family is often hard for many of us. We're looking to fill in part of our lives are emotional psychological family structures. We are looking to find a mother or father or other to meet inexperienced needs to fill in a part of our family system. We all do this to some extent in all of our relationships. And it is easy. Hoffman to feel safe and acting out our family systems issues. Cna religious community where people are supposed to be supportive and caring no matter what. Right. We're supposed to put. Isn't that true. No. I submitted my board members.. No. What are friends. We are not a community that is still open that our brains fall out. And that we may allow indiscriminate piercing of our heart. Fighters who are callous and uncaring. Complicated. And we may also very. Spiritual brothers and sisters. Spiritual brothers in brotherhood. And sisterhood. Religious communities. Safe enough to be vulnerable. And extra dependent that is relying on something more than ourselves. It is not about being inappropriate and codependent. Fortunately this community. Keep it up. And i don't think we want to be. Smashed in each other's ideals and frustrations resulting from our family system. Drink with each other over these things in her kind of relieved it where i thought my family was. Right. Disney and increases if we try and do this to each other kind of gridlock'd. And we are afraid to move or do anything for fear of upsetting somebody for fear some minor infraction real or perceived. You know i sat board meeting spot here obviously. Where. People sit in wonder if we can't do that because so until will be really upset about it. Yeah. So. What is a consultant in congregations i've had these conversations. One person is not about congregation make. Longer than anybody else. Yeah. So. So. Or they give more than anybody else. Would you have their time and contributions athena things wouldn't get done. Okay. What's the worst that could happen. He might have takeout on garbage and recycling. No church or religious community can meet everyone's needs. Even summer. But religious community. This beloved community is a place it's not the place where we can explore. The needs of our existence. Which can be known only to our immersion. In the daily ambiguities of our living. Does a chicken-and-egg kind of irony being had her in that in order to be healthy. Inherent in our struggling together towards wholeness and transformation. Successfully taking ripped can to get a sense of safety. Sometimes decree that safety we have to take steps of faith. Encourage. Flashlight. If you're willing and able i'd like you to reach out and take the hands of those who are around you especially if it's someone you don't know or know very well. This is the sharing portion of the sermon. Fear trepidation sweaty palms. Center for my god i'm really going to. Especially before weed. But we're experiencing is a real manifestation. This community that we come together to create. This is not all that it is but it isn't. This sacred community. We seek is present not only in words and ideas it looks basically. For the hands in greeting. In the shared work for ark. Now you may let go with you with. And this is a mutual thing you both have to wear to keep holding. Put all of these. Abilities to feel safe to risk challenge. Together to do allows us to do is to change to grow. Change and growth are inextricably interwoven. Send intertwined. No change no growth. Personally i know that's a disappointment for some of this isn't it. I want to grow i just want to change. I want to be spiritually mature i just want to give anything up. I like my toys. No change no growth. A personal level if we are perfectly comfortable with the status quo we have little motivation. On the other hand if we are open to possibility. Therefore discomfort is the herald of change. Possibilities of growth. Is that wonderful. Discomfort. Is a herald of change the possibilities of growth. How is it gets harder for me to get out of bed in the mornings i'm just hoping that's good news. If we are not able or willing to challenge. Likely to ossify dry brittle bones into come. Hey dancing. Unitarian universalist principles call us to acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth. In our congregations. The congregation that can openly and honestly engage itself and its larger community is operating in the realm. Sacred. It is expressing the beloved community. Dr. king and his writing is very clear. He's not a place absence of conflict. It is a place where conflict is dealt with. Finn nonviolent. They're not talking about abs. Healthy communities have some. This is normal. Healthy families have some. This is normal. It's a matter of degree and. Depends. Quantity. That is the issue. And why we have. The beloved community is not about. And i think this is one of the interesting dynamic right now. About. The. Coming generations we have the mosaic generation or. Generation y or millennials however you want to frame the democratically. People who want to be spiritual but not religious. I think people want the beloved community. They don't want. The baggage. Carrying. For the people have been in. For longtime or the fake receive within. And yet it is i think night. To a certain degree because institutions are the. Perpetuate. Ideas and concepts and ideals. Overtime. How to collect faces. What we call institution. In ways i cannot. And i don't think most of the people in the social sciences. Can predict either. Mainline tradition. Especially. They got a lot invested in institutions the way they're set up now. And we talked about it the other cutting all that in it it's a big chest. Changes grosso. Candy crush. The beloved community about ways and modes in which we encounter the holy. However we understand it whatever we call it. It requires us to be open to and mindful of and engage with each other. Might all be fully revealed to be the beautiful and holy beings that we are. Sacred mountain. Is beneath your feet. All the time. The sacred moment is now. The sacred life. He's in every act. And the sacred community is everyone and everything. All around us. What are the primary resources in my early spiritual life. And for my ministry is found in a reading this actually in our hymnal. By nicholas black elk. Departed reads and i saw the sacred hoop of my people was one of many hoops. To make one circle why does daylight and starlight. Andy and the center grew when mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children one mother and one. And i saw that it was. Have so many has given so much. He's not dreamed into being. But it has many sources. Her expression. And many who proclaim it. It is created. Action. Simple device simple.. Stewardship call by stewardship call. Play dive by pledge drive. Every time. We choose actively stand. Homicide of our convictions. On the side of the blood community on the side of love. Homicide of agape. The lovett reconcile. Shaquille. The amazing thing about great events is that they usually aren't. Singular event created by great people. The weather that you are the accumulations of discrete small axe by ordinary people. Living their lives as best they know how. And while this may seem frustratingly slow. Has a process that time. It also means it everything. No matter how small or simple. Count. Together. Let us risk. Leaving kind of lives. And maybe. If we recognize our interdependence and our relationship to each other. And in that communion. And the justice. Define create. Will be our strength. Our salvation. For the world.

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20150809-Sermon.mp3

Before i get started i want to say i am highly likely to offend somebody today and it's because i am being insensitive about something then i apologize if i offended you because you feel like i'm accusing you of something welding good i also want to say that i completely understand that in some ways. I have no real right to be standing up here spouting off about black lives matter. White girl racist no special qualifications except. That age-old conversation did you know you were speeding no warning but then he's. Comes back land back in the window. Carrying a gun. No. And i couldn't stop thinking of sandra bland which wasn't helping even though i don't anything and overly ingratiatingly polite normal-looking middle-aged completely. To trooper went back to his vehicle for a few minutes he came back and said ma'am can you step out of your car for a moment. And i had to wonder he was looking for something he never quit looking for something because for whatever reason his suspicions had been raised by word and the innocence of middle-aged white woman would he have found it. I don't know. We don't know there is the possibility that if i have looks like sandra bland good up for myself a little more. There would have been a different out we don't know. Did he let me go with an oral warning because my skin is white and white is normal. Truth is possibility and even if it wasn't a choice i made there is a good possibility that i was the beneficiary of the systemic racism privilege. This has been a tumultuous here. And if you are a thoughtful person you have not gotten through this year without. Knowing that racism. Is a real issue today it is not something of the past. Social media and some cameras has allowed us to see things that just a few years ago nobody except the police department internal investigations. Group. Would have known about. So in response to that the group of unitarian universalist laid the groundwork. Talk to people campaign discussed and i have to say i'm really proud of his this campaign was led by our youth caucus. A general assembly this last june they succeeded in passing the following resolution slightly abridged version. To the resolution as we all voted on it then. We must continue to support the black lives matter movement and black led racial justice organizations. The 2015 general assembly calls member congregations to action in order to become closer to adjust world community. Urges member congregations to engage in intentional learning spaces to organize for racial justice with recognition of the interconnected nature of racism. Coupled with systems of oppression that impact people based on class gender identity sexual orientation ability and language. Encourages member congregations and all unitarian universalist to work toward police reform and prison abolition which seeks to replace the current prison system with one that is more just and equitable and recognizes. For civil rights and equality is as real today as it was decades ago and urges member congregations to take initiative in collaboration with local and national organizations fighting for racial justice against the harsh racist practices many black people are exposed to there was a lot of discussion but ultimately an overwhelming majority of the delegates from you you member congregations all around the country. Voted to say black lives. Matter. And these banners that you see upfront joe hauser was kind enough to bring those starr king school for the ministry. This point is where i have a small confession to make. I have sometimes been the white moderate martin luther king jr. complained about when he wrote in his letter from birmingham jail i have all this regrettable conclusion that the negroes great stumbling block in the striped or not the white citizens council er or the klu klux klan er but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice who prefers. To a positive piece which is the presence of justice who constantly says i agree with you in the goal you seek. But i can't agree with you on your methods of direct action. Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. When i first heard the black lives matter call to action. I had the same reaction that other white people has had that we are still seem too stressed out there why not all lives matter. It took me a long time to understand why twisting that cry for justice was so extensive. To the leaders of the black lives matter movement. My gut reaction was that i perceived. I'm trying to lift up black lives above hispanic lives or middle eastern lives are native american lunch or woman's life and of course those. Best explanation i've heard and actually kathy smith forwarded this to me from somebody who goes by the name. Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family and while everyone else gets a serving of the any spaghetti you didn't get it. So you say. And as a direct response your dad corrects you saying everyone should get their fair share. Yes. That was your point in the first place but your dad's smart-ass comment just dismissed you. And didn't solve the problem that you still don't have any dinner. Once you think about it it's easy to see how distorting black lives matter into all odds matter. Dismissive. The explicit systemic disadvantages cruelty poverty and death the black people have suffered in this country for 400 years here it is black lives matter. If that helps you. But hear it. Hear the truth being brought to lie about injustice in the justice system about how the exact same resume gets twice as black sounding name. About the privileges that are too often invisible to those of us who benefit from them. And those of us here today who happened to be white benefit from those privileges make no mistake. Even if you suffer from other kinds of discrimination based on your income or your sexual orientation or gender or gender identity or physical disability if you're white we are benefiting from privilege and we can't fix it until we see it. Going to give you a little quiz that i think i think we can skip the privilege quiz. No i was raised by parents who worked hard to teach me that all people are equally valuable even though we were living in a west texas town where that was clearly and visibly not the lived experience of the black and brown people who lived over in certain very clearly defined sections found. I now have a black mask you and greatness you and soon-to-be a great-niece and our family has accepted all of them with great joy and love. I don't say none of that matters doesn't change the reality it doesn't mean i'm not a participant it doesn't change the reality that i benefited from being raised by well-educated parents in a family where everyone had gone to college for multiple generations. It doesn't change the fact that i don't have to hold two races believes or believe that the structures of societal racism a right. And it doesn't change the fact that we. As the majority. Race in his country. Are the ones with the power to change those structures. Those who aren't quite. Too many obstacles in front of them they can leave they can make change but not without our voices supporting. Breaking through certain barrier we can't take it over we can't be paternalistic. And jumping and say we know how to do this will do it for you but without our voices as allies as support saying yes listen. To the people telling you about their experiences look. At what goes on. And let's figure out how to change it we have to do better and no one group can do it alone. They need. Everyone's support. And that means that we have to be strong white allies. I'm going to ask you to make a pledge as individuals and as a church community that has stepped up before to protect the rights of those who are being oppressed and discriminated against i want you to forget about not being racist yourself as an individual. I'm assuming that's the case. If you had made it that far it wouldn't be here in this very same as fully liberal church. Forget that we need to speak up together to say black lives matter. To say it with words and actions to work with reverend price when he participates in things like a plano police initiative. Aimed at preventing problems like the ones in ferguson at building bridges between communities opening communication we need to hang a banner outside even if vandals slice it to pieces we fix it we replace it we hang it again. We need to go to city council meeting and speak up for justice and we need to quit protecting white feelings are owned and anybody else. It's time to speak up when someone tries to dismiss complaints of structural racism by claiming with somebody is being over-sensitive or deserved it. Or is playing the race card. The resolution passed the general assembly is not just a statement of support it is a call for action. Specifically we are urge to engage in intentional learning spaces to organize for racial justice. Work towards police reform and prison abolition take initiative in collaboration with local and national organizations fighting for racial justice. Those are three larger enos that we can working reverend price has already begun building alliances and we can build on and expand so our social action leaders and others lead a study of the book the new jim crow. Which is about systemic and intentional discrimination in the criminal justice system i'm sure we can pull some ideas out of that book and out of the discussions we had been. And of course organizing learning spaces we do that really well fighting for justice wisdom that we did that last spring we stepped up for the lgbtq community as well as racial minorities veterans and others last spring when the city of plano. Facetune controversy and some pushback when passing anti-discrimination ordinance we need to keep stepping up and expand our focus to try to dismantle the systems of power and oppression that are still a very real part of america black lives matter. But only if we make sure they do. My favorite quote on the subject comes from kenny wiley who said it general assembly this year after we passed that resolution black lives matter. Almond.

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Reading3_041209.mp3

Andean our last read. When not printed in your order of service this is from a business web posting by lori mccabe. What is social networking and why should you care. Social networking also referred to as social media encompasses many internet-based tools. That make it easier for people to listen interact engage. Collaborate with each other. Social networking platforms such as facebook and myspace youtube like. Linkedin twitter. Blogs message boards wikipedia and countless others are catching on like wildfire. People are using social networking to share recipes photos ideas and keep friends updated on their lives. In many cases. You can use social networking tools from mobile devices such as blackberries and iphones. Is easily as from a pc or imac. By its very nature. Social networking is interactive. You can tell anyone that you want to talk to and wants to listen to you. Anything about your opinions and experiences and vice versa. Two blondes facebook pages video and even 140-character messages called tweets. You can also build communities based on common interest causes. And concerns.

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20160221-Homily_2.mp3

I have a personal story. That could be seen as happy. Or sad. It's a story of progress. Or perhaps a story of loss. Honestly i was never sure. First. We learned in my generation. The world was created in 7 days. Then in catholic school. We learned about radiocarbon dating and lighters. We learned that adam and eve were made in god's image. Then in the same wonderful catholic school we learned that humans evolved from ancient ancestors of other species. The vast differences between the story in the bible. Discoveries of science. Have left many people and it's troubling place. Simply choosing. Science. Or religion. One of the other. I was a child of knowledge. I craved and respected institutions of learning and the books and knowledge they held. So naturally i turned my studies to fortify relationship between science and religion. My science classes did not help. Let's be honest they make things worse. Actually hope that the giants of english literature would bring beauty and articulation is the struggle. Shakespeare and wordsworth or no help. Milton was religious but also very complicated. He believed that good and bad were into woven that every man must defined truth for himself he would have loved y'all. But at 17 i'm reading. What should you do then should yeast suppress all this flowery crop of knowledge and new lights sprung up. I don't know john i was hoping you would tell me. William blake make things even more confusing. It was blake who wrote. Thou art a man. God is no more. 909 humanity learn to adore. His anti-religious songs of innocence and experience led straight into studies of karl marx. And of course dante made the matter of religion. Downright terrifying. All hope abandon. Ye who enter in. Okay.. Abandon. It was actually stephen jay gould a twentieth-century scientists. Who offered a temporary solution to my struggle. She said. Very eloquently. The magisterium of science is responsible for documenting the factual character of the natural world and developing theories to coordinate and explain hard facts. Religion is concerned with human purposes meaning and value. Science and religion are intertwined and have equal status. Both be necessary. For a complete human life. Basically he drew a line in the brain instead. Put science here. Put religion here. Keep them books. But. My brain didn't keep them both. It tried but lost religion. The ability for me to believe anything was just. Gone. What followed was a very scientific time for me which was fun. But it was also an angry time. I was angry that the god in the bible was. Kind mean. It seems like his fault that i didn't believe in him. I was angry that the story in genesis was taken literally. I was angry at the bible zone and consistencies i was angry that there was a line drawn between people who believe in the bible. And people who understood evolution. It felt like the fight surrounding creationism. Had driven me and my mind away from religion. But creation is work trying to take my religious belief. Those people we talked about. The ones were. Fighting against. They were once young too. They were once inquisitive. I'm excited about dinosaurs and rocks in science. I'm willing to bet that their brains like mine. Try to keep both science and religion. And failed as well. So what went wrong. Why can't they reason. Why can't i believe. Is this really a story of my scientific enlightenment. Or is this a story of what so many of us lost. Let's think seriously about how to hold on to our belief. How have scientists kept their faith. How have people of faith embraced science. How can they both believe. And learn. Perhaps they are not necessarily separate. There are many examples of scientists who believe. Carl sagan said. Science is not only compatible with spirituality. It is a profound source of spirituality. My favorite science writer willy ley was a religious humanist and solves little over conflict. Between evolutionary and biblical accounts. He was also a century full of natural theology. With the study of the natural world with a way to study and be closer to god. In my mid-twenties i went back to catholicism. I was desperate for anything to help me gain respect and love for a religious community. What i found was that there are and have been. Many respected religious people who have embraced scientific progress. To be confirmed catholic you must choose a saint to follow. Someone who's teaching can guide you. I chose. Albertus magnus. Also known. Hi albert the great the patron saint of scientists. He was an accomplished scientist in many ways. And had extensive knowledge of every area of medieval science. He was actually criticized by his contemporaries though. For neglecting his theological duties were. But his student thomas aquinas followed in his footsteps. If. Eventually though it took them a long time the catholic church followed to. As i learned the catholic church eventually became a religious institution. Very interested in science. They officially accept all evidence for evolution. They write in their catechism books for students that. The bible is not a scientific textbook. Play i am a confirmed catholic and very proud. But i still do not believe any of it. I'm trying. In truth this battle for me was not about creation. Versus appalachian or science versus religion. Albertus magnus reminds me. But i'm not at odds with any religious community unless i want to be. I think. What st albertus magnus do. Heat would never stop learning. And he would never stop believing. He would do.

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Reading_091910.mp3

Reading today comes from. A book called all are chosen. About the nature of. Lay ministry in our association in in our congregations. The editors. A bespoke margaret bayard and rodger comstock. Have moved on from their positions at the times when they wrote the book margaritas not ordained minister and rodger is now well ensconced in a well-deserved retirement. But i knew rodger as the district executive. In thomas jefferson district where i served for 9 years. And margaret i worked with. Through the various congregations that i helped her within our association. They offer this insight they say the title. All are chosen stories of lay ministry and leadership grew out of. The root word for laity. The ancient greek word lagos. It means the chosen people. All too often now the word laity has the connotation of not good enough. Or not quite good. Or not professional. How far are understanding of lady has roland from the original meaning. Well much of the lay-lay ministry and leadership is done on a volunteer basis. Some lazy people do church work professionally even though they are not ordained. And whether the ministry leadership is paid or volunteer everyone's goals should be professional in terms of quality. Do use of the word all in our title fits. Well with our universalist routes. Call not just some. Are chosen for lay ministry and leadership. Our congregations are members and the wider world need and deserve the best we can offer. And they need all of us. One of the contributors to this anthology. Is a chablis. An artist's offers the following. How does the lady minister. Consider the minister. Example of message ministers inspire strength and comfort and celebrate to help us grow deeper spiritually. Taller personally and. Wider community. She offers how their ministers in their congregation. Minister to us in the way they model communauto ministry and commitment to action and dedicated service. As personal coaches. To help raise hurdles and cheer on. Shamanic spiritual teachers. Funny open windows of their hearts to the universe. She goes on to say our lay ministry means we care for and celebrate one another we teach and encourage each other we inspire and motivate. When we share what we have with others ministry. Is multiplied. We are. Ministry. And we are presenting ourselves. As unitarian universalist. To the world. Only march or a minority rights. We are ministering. When we demonstrate our values. We minister. When religion is your life. You are a minister. We are welcoming congregation developing and intentionally diverse religious community. We are loving church embracing our family and encouraging them to grow. We are a teaching church helping to grow ministers including those in the intern minister program. Ministry is shared. In all the churches. Program. Sew-ins are we.

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20140928-Sermon.mp3

What's today's sermon is in dialogue format. In keeping with our monthly theme of visions chris is here to share his story and his insights on the topic. Chris give us some history. Tell us about your life as a sighted person. Yeah first of all patrick's done a great job at various aspects and. They asked me how i feel very honored to be able to talk about. My particular life. As a vision. Well at least about vision. And. What's interesting about vision is that. Y'all from my life. Aesthetically. I enjoyed everything. I mean i love. Yes that is supply. It's nothing like that sunset. And sunrise in the morning. A beautiful sunrise and sunset. Or the. Mountain. When driving through. Or the desert. When going through a. Call. Beautiful. It's a hot day. Has its own beauty. And everywhere i went. I saw beauty. That's the way my. Aesthetically as a guy. With women i mean. And all of those trials and tribulations that go along with it. Meow with. The cue cues that go along with that sometimes obvious sometimes. In terms of relationships. And. I. I have phrases in my life that. At 1 is that. Everything happens for a reason. That's why i might start off with. The way i start off with life of my folks my dad being in the military. And following him. How are the seas if you times. And experiencing all the different cultures. And. In that. A lot of people who are also service brass maybe year. That. You're moving around every 23 years. And what that does is it gives you a chance to exercise. A particular skill sets. Like adaptability. You know. Learn how to wherever you hang your hat. Is where you're comfortable. Another is. You don't. You don't see people for long depending on the tour endings you could be 6-8 months be the longest you get to know anybody. So. Your empath everybody's empathic here. And meaning. You really had that sense. About people and when you exercise that sends quickly to get to know somebody quickly because you don't have long to get to know them. That. You exercised that skill. And it becomes a very brilliant scale. And women come with a natural and. Depending on the stubbornness. Y'all ever men. Like myself. Is that the requires feeling. And so. You get to relate to people. The way i was raised in fortunately. My mother and my dad. It was that i was very independent. I was never lonely even in these times when your friends are moving on. I was. Alone but i was never lonely. Military brats young you don't have a lot of money. Yo in the household. I never felt like. I mean you give me a baseball glove that and a bike and i'm sad. When alone i i just love dick. And it's so. Impressive autonomous discovery you don't you don't presume anything about nature. About to searcy all fears basically about lac. And i didn't have that. No i didn't have any like i didn't have any fears. And so. Getting to know centipedes and caterpillars in. Snails in. Scorpions. My mom doesn't know about it you wouldn't be alive today if you do about all these. But. You know you get. 2. Become familiar and then. Just. Feel like being you know your. Very comfortable in your skin. That's not to say that i didn't have my ups and downs you know i mean. My mom will tell you all the stories. How i was pretty stubborn. And. You know when. Yeah well you know like one of her biggest warnings where i email you get out there and that in that water. Puddle again. You're going to have inspected. And i thought about it and course. I went into the puddle. I mean is well thought out. But. The idea here is that being very independent i was very impending i enjoy being alone as well as i enjoyed being with others. I had a great time. Whenever. And. As i grew up in my first 18 years you don't half of my life was had experienced being outside the united states. And my dad based off of his particular top-secret credentials now he. What's far enough to put us in one place which is in california on the beach. Ian ventura. So that when he was off in his. Particular abroad. Yo areas where we couldn't go. We are able to enjoy our junior in high school years. Well i never had my dad my life and there was a reason for that as i'll tell you a little bit later in that. He was ill but my mother was very responsible and work two jobs and very hard-working and. Because of this independent upbringing you. We're able to take care of ourselves. We had absolutely no no worries. You how to open up a can of soup. And we knew how to warm it up. But we kept the house clean and i we cook for ourselves we did our all our laundry the whole bit i mean rose pretty responsible. My mom she was busy. And so are we. And we had a good time. There's a point in your life circumstances changed quite a bit can you tell us a bit about that. From all of these particular experiences. One of the things is that i believe that my life. Has. Actually. Prepared me. For my biggest travesty in life. And and i call that travesty because that's what it was at the beginning. And. When. Rui having worked out and. And had a blood blister that. You know i cannot contracted mrsa. Staph infection. That not only tore up that foot. But. Also went septic in my body. And in the process. Went through. Experiencing. Allopathic medicine is the blenders as well as. Yeah the greatness. And. Became y'all slowly but surely blind. In the end of my career of as a business systems analyst i. It was life is synchronicity would have it. I meant my very best friend. I haul with y'all know. Enjoy. And he with his charitable heart. I was giving me a ride to work. Labor day. And because i had that time i was. What it happened is like you have floaters in your eyes. Well i had a bunch of floaters and what they are is blood. And what it was is that the vancomycin. Oh that was treating mrsa. I was very allergic to. And i'll put the outcome studies say it's very rare to be allergic to it. And they wouldn't believe me when i said my intuition says and that was the wrong thing to say at the very beginning to any kind of doctor. That you know. There's something wrong. You know i burn up inside with this vancomycin. And it's one of the most powerful antibiotics if you don't know. And i have a little bit of an undiagnosed. Case of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes in a little bit of retinopathy and i ended up letting you know that's what ruptured all of my sight. So basically the movie story alarm is that after nearly dying a couple of times. It's interesting how when you have a major change in your life. That you. All of a sudden. God becomes much more prevalent. In your in your in your thoughts. Now it's not that i i didn't believe in god i certainly did. But i threw out my career as a business systems analyst where i was. Getting a lot of mental discipline. I was. Moving out into an expanding my horizons of understanding all the different pace. And in that process. Gotta understand what i thought was really what god was. Now in that process in my worldview. And basically. In. Alternative modalities which i ended up as a as a parallel of vocation. A mycareer. We got that i got to know and understand about. The universe and that. The world of duality the yin and yang the. Hot and cold. Yeah. Happy and sad and. Love and fear you know those type of expansive and contractive. Aspects of life. And what ends up happening is that you go through this emotional rollercoaster. My gosh she pay a dime and you would get the ride of your life at the beginning. And as i went through it i noticed that. You know what i wasn't doing. Was that wasn't grieving. And. It's so important. To go through the process of grieving. Of losing your eyesight. That was very optimistic open-minded skeptic. Very optimistic clydewood. I tested this young biography very good friend of mine. Who he and i have had many discussions. Not about my we we always talk about the inner journeys and if you've never experienced that that's certainly something you want to. You want to try to experience. The. The. Emotional rollercoaster that one goes through in any kind of disability i would say. But envision. Is that all of a sudden. All that independence. Became a dependent environment for me. I mean i was very independent very independent. And all of a sudden my ex-wife came through you and helping me out. All of a sudden my not all the sudden my mom is always there you know she was there to handle my wound. Yeah yeah my wounds as well as taking care of some of the domestics in. And so i needed to relearn how to become independent again. And that's. That's an amazing vision. Of yourself. Y'all win all of you i had a very successful. Life of all of that gresham's in the world. That i was successful at. That i needed to that i i was i like the zigzag in my life people very fortunate i know exactly everything so. I tried everything and i'll let your imagination go cuz that's what i had said that you had some conversation to discuss the concept that not only a vision but of harmony. Bringing things together when you're going through all of this emotional eventually that that roller coasters moves out. And you start gaining the piece in the back. That stillness in the back of your. Have your head in. And i've always been very optimistic like i said and. Yo this idea of. You know now all of a sudden it's about energy and somebody listening to the birds the all of your senses become more you know in tunein and this harmony what's interesting is that. There's a synchronicity in life yo where things happen along the way all along the way. I was knew i had this vision quest. You understanding the holistic aspects of ourselves spiritual mental emotional and physical. Yo i was blessed. I was you know it's wyatt enjoyed all of the anyting ended in ball i enjoyed. Anything that ended in ing as activities skiing camping hiking biking whatever. I enjoyed that harmony. With people. In here all of a sudden this independent individual becoming dependent. From always having tactical and strategic goals but. All the sudden everything is strategic when you want to do something. The spontaneity is completely gone. Except for waking up. In doing the spontaneity spontaneous stuff. Where you're at and so what's interesting is that all of a sudden the focus. Wizard. I mean it was it was always important before. But now it's incredibly important. And like eckhart tolle we talked about being in the present moment. Is absolutely. Important. Conscious awareness in that gap between intention. Have understanding or innocent harmony. Harmony is interesting. You know we have this. Yo duality in life of things going right things going wrong. No consistently and we're always use words like while we've been in balance well what does that mean. What is imbalance in so this idea of harmony. If i use an exercise it's really. This the kind of vision when you're looking at lie you know harmonies important. And so if everybody here and i mean everybody that if you could just close your eyes for a second. And think of yourself imagine yourself. On this white sandy beach. Very fine and soft. Saying that's just moves through your toes. It's nice and cool that's a dorm day. Sun's out listening. Yo off the off the breakers. Now that's coming in and out that evan flow of the ocean. And that sound seagulls in the water. You know that the rustling in the breeze that goes across you in the breeze that goes across his scan and it just cools at in the. You take your tongue and you. Feel the top of your lap and you can taste that salty air. Yo i mean all of this. Coming together i mean. That's that's nature's harmony it knows how to just be. Just like that. And what we do. As we have all of our diversions in life. And what i did i had all my diversions a lot. And when you wake up from that it's like. That is what it's like to see the glass half-full. When you can see harmony. You can see the glass half-full. You can always pick out a hot day oh my god or that cold a or the sanzel too rough on my skin. I mean you know you can always pick out. Something. But harmony nature has its natural instincts of being harmonious. A fish as we would say in eastern philosophy. Don't have a problem of being comfortable where they're at. Chris how would you suggest that people apply what you discussed with us today. The biggest thing about. Vision and thinking about things and practicing. Meditation. And then i have to say that. In my life. You know it's about. Acting. No it's about putting things in action. It's about discipline yourself. Yo it's about discipline that will. Meal that will with that goal of being happy and joyful. And this imbalance that were talking about is. Being in balance from our natural. Where you be. And that is being happy and joyful. Being that kid out there. Yeah we've got in back of in back of my house we got this playground and just love listening. Just having a good time out there. That's what life like kids. Playing a lot. Some of us don't play well with others. Someone don't. And others just love it. And then jane's always screaming at the same time. Yeah jack. And having a great time. Abby. Being joyful being happy. Certainly so the financial said so. Yo it's about instilling. Focused intention motivation. Of. Feeling good now of our natural be. Which is what were when were misaligned and we feel it like a naked ne-yo in a grind. Whatever. Whatever you're going through an even more serious like being blind. Or. Y'all having having neuropathy. It's it's all about being a little misaligned so. What do you what do you do what what you do is start understanding yourself. You start becoming self-aware and in introspection when i became blind. Introspection. It came in my important substitute for all that other spontaneity. And beautiful aesthetics. Inow envision. What i'm doing and who i'm talking to and i feel them. I feel you i feel every where i'm at. Wow what a wonderful thing to be able to do while you're cited as well. You know. So what we do is we become active. And being a leader. Of our own self. Of the way we are naturally. Happy and joyful. And if we're not there. Hey. No biggie. Figure it out. Chris thank you so much for that insight. And thank you for providing your story to us today. Dustin's are sermon.

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Sermon_062010.mp3

So it gives me a strange feeling to preach here as on the last day as your ministerial intern. One thing i feel obligated to do is to publicly share the answers to some of the questions that many of you have been asking me over the recent weeks. One of the questions is whether you will ever see me again i do expect that we will see each other in the future i hope that you will invite me to preach from time to time. And i also formally invite all of you to attend my ordination service which is going to be in september on september 26th which is a sunday. Lake me afternoon at pathways church in southlake and i'm sure you'll. Care more about that as the date gets closer but i do hope that. You will all join me in that occasion. The other big question is. What the heck i'm going to do next as many of you know i live in denton with my partner jeff and he's a professor at texas woman's university so we've been kind of settled here. And i'm very pleased to report that denton unitarian universalist fellowship has offered me a part-time consulting ministry position. And so i'm. Besides myself excited to be able to work in the town where we live and. To be doing church ministry cuz i wasn't really sure that would be an option. And because getting ordained and starting a new job wasn't enough. Breath jeff and i threw in a wedding this summer to keep things moving along and so we are having a small family wedding in denton in july. The next three what's in queue for me after this internship. More immediately i'm leaving on tuesday for our general assembly of unitarian universalist. Association of congregations where i have the honor of participating in our annual service of the living tradition where i will be recognized for entering into preliminary ministerial fellowship. After 10 years of ministerial preparation i am still getting used to the idea that this is actually happening. Ever since i first got involved in church life a little over ten years ago. People have often asked me why church is important to me. When i was first getting into involved in church i was in my twenties. Anime circle of twenty-something friends there weren't many of us who were going to church. I started going to church because it helps me. To be my best self. Before i became involved in church i mostly hung out with people who are a lot like me. Young people mostly women artsy progressives similar dispositions in personality types. We're all doing a kind of unconscious selection process hanging out only with those people who were kind of easy to hang out with. When i started going to church at force me to interact with people of different ages and trust social views personality type. It made it harder for me to be my best self. I've had to learn how to listen more deeply. To set aside my bio season assumptions. I had to exercise patience and accept differences in waze. That i didn't have to do and i was. Selecting friends who are more like me. Churches important to me because it is a place where i can come and learn the skills to be my best self. And because we have shared values others in the congregation can help me stay accountable to write behavior. And the more we do this for one another. In the more we show up as our best selves. The more we might not only show up this way at church. But also out in the world at the office at the grocery store sitting in traffic. So by learning and practicing to be a good member of a church i'm also practicing how to be a good citizen how to be a good daughter partner. Sister. And how those and how to serve those rolls joyfully with compassion with love with vigor. The church is important to me because it gives me the skills and a practice to be a good human being. Any doing so i might hopefully in some small way do my part to nudge the world toward peace. I've seen many in this congregation model being their best selves even during tense times. I participated in a number of conversations here about their projected budget deficit for next year. They tell us in seminary that financial hardship is among the most painful of congregational experiences. Because the congregation often comes in with so many different and deeply embedded perspective on how money ought to be managed. People from different generations have different ideas about money. People from different economic backgrounds have different ideas about money. Cultural backgrounds can also create different perspectives about money. Any conversations over the past month or so there was rarely agreement or consensus but for the most part you did a really good job of listening to one another's fears. Concerns and experience and integrate them into your own ideas and opinions. You were able to consider compromise. Even when it was tense there wasn't hostility or disrespect. Na meetings where financial matters are at stake that is really hard to do. And that is why i go to church to practice being in right relationship even when it's hard. I'm going to lift up another side of church life a few weeks ago i was talking with a woman from another state who was here as a visitor for about 3 months following the death of her mother who is from plano. She came back to texas to take care of the estate and to support family. When i talked with her it was her last day here before returning home. She said that although she had no ties to this church before and the short few months that she was coming here. This community was her lifeline. And it grounded her doing a very difficult and emotional time. That too is why i go to church. Because at its best. Church is a relational community that can offer something to a person in need. These two experiences and countless others throughout this past year have inspired my spirit. I've been honored to be a part of this community. Starhawk offer these words about community. We are all longing to go home to some place we have never been. Please half-remembered in half envisioned we can only catch glimpses of it from time to time. Community. Somewhere there are people to whom we can speak with passion. Without having the words catch in our throats. Somewhere a circle of hands will open to receive us. Eyes will light up as we enter. Voices will celebrate with us whenever we come into our own power. Community means strength that joins our strength to do the work that needs to be done. Arms to hold us when we falter. A circle of healing a circle of friends. Someplace where we can be free. That is my experience of this place. This has been a place of support for me when my father became sick in january many from this congregation offered support. Kind words. Loving gestures. When i was going to the rigor of the ministerial credentialing process you offered encouragement. Many of you supported me financially so that i could do this work of ministerial preparation. When i took risks or a try new things you helped me along the way. When i came into my own power you celebrated with me. From where i stand this place is a place of tremendous light. There's a hymn called with joy we claim the growing light. Which was written by samuel longfellow brother. Fellow brother of the famous foot henry wadsworth longfellow in the 19th century. It's a short hammond it goes like this. With joy we claim the growing light. Advancing thoughts and widening you. The larger freedom clearsight. From which the old. Unfold the new. With wider view come lost your goal. With fuller light. More good to see. With freedom. True or self-control. With knowledge. Keeper reference be. That is my vision. Of church. A place where we can joyfully claim the growing light. To create increased perspective freedom reverence. One more light. The thing about this growing light is that it takes a certain amount of work. A certain amount of effort and commitment to keep the light growing. I like this image of growing light. And i heard you as a congregation and as individuals. To find new and deeper ways of growing this light. Writer philosopher alan watts observed. Met a tiny child. We'll ask how does a baby grow. But an american child will ask how do you make a baby. Let us ask the question not how do you make a congregation or how do you make a successful congregation. But how does our congregation grow. I'm not in numbers. But in spirit. In love. Enlight. When longfellow road. Of the growing light he wasn't talking about growing attendance. For membership. Or even pledged funds. The children of giovanni oh no not because they have been told. But because they have lived it that all people needs support. Another people are hurting we can take the time to notice. And that words can build bridges. And hugs can heal. And so it might be reasonable to assume that all the people on the planet. Could reach out to one another. And heal the wounds and make a world fit for us. And that. Is the work of the growing light. Is spiritual work. And it isn't easy. Whether you know it or not in addition to the covenant that you say on sunday morning. Your policies and procedures for the congregation also includes a behavioral covenant. Do helps roll you back into right interactions with one another. In case you don't have the policies and procedures handy we're going to project the covenants on the screen. And i ask that you. Read this covenant together with me. We the members and friends of community unitarian universalist church. Will reflect and embody our unitarian universalist principles. By holding ourselves to the following ideas. To treat others with genuine respect. To practice moral and manners behavior. To be welcoming an open and honest with ourselves and sharing with others. To strive towards consensus. To deal with conflict directly face-to-face voice to voice. To improve ourselves our process and our policies. That all may sound easy but when things get tense maybe doesn't maybe sounds daunting to come with you. When someone is burned out or having a bad day it's not easy to maintain this covenant. There's a new book out by unitarian universalist eric walker wickstrom. The book is called serving with grace. Play leadership as a spiritual practice. I need addresses the spiritual work. A congregation. Wickstrom talks about churches as voluntary organization whose voluntary work is not just work. But part of how they draw their best stuff into their everyday lives. So that if you were board member. You served aboard not just to help make decisions or to get work done he served aboard as a spiritual practice is a way to practice staying and covenant even as a leader. Even when you have a certain amount of power. Even when there is contentious gritty work to be done. Wickstrom right. Seeing leadership as an opportunity and a tool for spiritual growth. Also means seeing the work of leadership in a new light. Accomplishing tasks become secondary. Learning to engage deeply and mindfully with yourselves and others. While looking at your group's work in light of the spirit of your congregation. Becomes primary. If everyone on the committee or task force covenants with one another to do this. It will go a long way toward helping the group as a whole to stay focused on the spiritual dimensions of the work. Wickstrom also shares one of the challenges of serving your church community is precisely that it is in fact your church community. The person with whom you co-teach on sunday morning or we can you sit on the finance committee. May also be someone with whom you have all kinds of other interactions. She may be someone who always hog the conversation during the after film discussion. Where takes the best pieces of pie at the monthly supper. Or maybe you've heard his opinions on political issues and found them troubling. We're having some other setting found him hard to be around. And yet here you are. Also serving together on the board or task group. Some buddhist traditions teach that everyone you encounter in your life and perhaps especially those people you find irksome and difficult. Are in reality bodhisattvas. Who have chosen to incarnate in those particular forms to assist you on your spiritual journey mark rosen's book thank you for being such a pain develops this notion the people with whom we have the greatest trouble. Are actually or at least have the potential to be our greatest teachers. Part of our spiritual work here is also practicing the hard work of being in a multicultural and multi-generational community. We are divorced. People and differences can make misunderstandings much more common. Differences can also deepen our spiritual experience. And practice in our community. Which term identifies white cultural norms as opposed to the set of norms nemo's emerge from a multicultural institution. He writes that among the so-called white cultural norms include a tendency toward individualism as opposed to collaboration and cooperation. An inward focus as opposed to an outward focused on relationships of accountability. Abaya store deficiency. As opposed to affected effectiveness and relationship. Either or thinking as opposed to both and thinking. An operating out of a scarcity mentality. As opposed to an abundant worldview. How would our congregations and its members be served. Find learning increase collaboration. Cooperation and relationship-building. Part of what our churches give us a different way of being in the world. A place where different voices can. Be fully heard and we're difference. Is freeing instead of threatening. A place perhaps. As radical and liberating as the junior school. Whether you are a first-time visitor today or a founding member. Whether you are here five days a week or occasionally on sundays. I invite you to step into this covenant with one another. And make it hard. If you're doing pretty well staying in covenant during coffee hour. Join a class. The group. A committee and tried in that context. If you do pretty well with grown-ups try hanging out during the during coffee hour in the playground. Especially if you don't have young children of your own. That is part of the work of spiritual community. A place where we learn together how to treat others with genuine respect. And practice moral and manners behavior. A place where we work on being welcoming and open and honest with ourselves and sharing with others. A place where we strive toward consensus. Even when it means setting aside our own ideas and goals so that we can fully listen to another. This place is a place where we can deal with conflict directly. Face-to-face voice to voice and know that we do so in compassion and in care. A place where we can try out relational community. I step away from individualism. It may seem like a foreign way of being in the world. It may require us to dream outside the box. To imagine ways of doing and being that are as unfamiliar as teeny tiny trumpet players training pet raccoons. It might even seem childish. It might seem bold or unorthodox. Anna worst it might seem unnecessary. But i believe that digging deeper into the possibilities for this vibrant spiritual community will help this light you have grow even more. Invite you to keep your covenant close at hand and work together to keep it alive. It will take effort. Of each of you to keep this community growing in light and love. Wickstrom states that some 12-step meetings and in a circle. With each person intern taking the hand of the person next to them. Saying i put my hand in yours. So that we may do together. When i cannot do alone. Such a ritual reminds the group of its common need for one another. Although i will miss you very much after today. I am comforted to know that even when we are far from each other. We remain part of the same movement. Such that if our paths cross again. I know that you will wiggle a little. To make room for me. And i hope you know that i will wiggle a little to make room for you. That we can speak with passion to one another. Without having the words. Cats in our throats. That we will welcome one another with open arms. But i will celebrate with you and you with me whenever one of us comes into our own power. Are circle gets ever wider. Our community ever deeper. With joy. Let us claim the growing light.

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20131103-Sermon.mp3

Amazing grace how sweet the sound. That's one of you may be saying wow this feels familiar. Didn't you do that last week. And yes you're right i did. I could tell you the story of the young minister who. When she preacher first sermon people thought it was great. And then she preached the next week. The same sermon. And board of elders got together said well let's give her another week maybe she had a tough time. And the next week she preached the same sermon again. I wish one of the elders went to where it says reference scuse me. We've noticed that you've preached the same sermon three weeks in a row. When you going to give us a new one. She looked thoughtful and says when you do something with the first one i gave you. But that's not what we're doing here. That song amazing grace says what i wanted to say well and memorably that's why i used it. Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now i'm found was blind but now i see. But of course that it's not that simple. From what i understand grace as i mentioned last week is our experience of the abundance of the universe it is the weariness of gifts which we have not worked for and if not actively earned again that is not the same as not deserved. Grace is the experience of receiving that. None of our own making that which we have not learned but do deserve. Grace is about that which we have not learned in fact cannot aren't even if we want to. Grace. In my understanding can i be your end either by works or by faith. Either of these approaches turns goddess god the holy the brand of being in the experience of our universe. Into a type of material or metaphysical exchange of goods and services. Are christian universalist forbearers clearly rejected this bartering with god as seen in their belief in the universal salvation of all souls regardless of merit. Because of its inherent. Cuz all are inherently worthy. The grace of the universe is all around us and our living are breathing are being even in our opportunity to struggle for what is better. We experienced disgrace when we become aware of it. When the ears of our ears are awake in the eyes of our eyes are open. Does this mean we should not ask for help from the universe. Sure we should ask. But we must be aware that we're not able to dictate the terms. It may not be answered in the ways we might hope or expect to be answered. We cannot command. Grace. But we can't risk being open to its possibility. For many of us this talk of grace our gratitude can bring on a premature case of bah humbug. We do not particularly feel grace or grateful. And it would be a mistake to say the gratitude is only a feeling it is more importantly an attitude. That we can consciously assume regardless. How we actually feel about our situation. I'm not talking about some shallow affirmation or pep talk. Has someone said oh f****** don't feel so blue. Has it actually ever worked. Probably not. Eric idle. Of monty python fame wrote a wonderful song he said some things in life are bad. They can really make you mad and other things just make you swear and curse. When you're chewing on light special. And this will help turn turn out the best. And i'm always look on the bright side of life. Yeah i know some of you really want to get into a dungeon. He says also if license jelly rotten there's something you've forgotten and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing. When you're feeling in the dumps don't be silly chumps part purse your lips and whistle that's the thing. And always look on the bright side of life. Fun things which say life is absurd no matter what we do so we might as well be happy. That's not exactly what i'm going for either when i discuss gratitude or home. Or when we talked about the current research. That but it offers. Now i mentioned robert emmons earlier and he is perhaps the world's leading expert on gratitude. He argues that gratitude has two key components. Which he describes in a greater good say gratitude is good and i would encourage you to look at the url then the website location that is in the order of service with the reading. To go look at what they have to say there. One thing i will be talking a lot about that stuff this month. First he writes it's an affirmation of goodness we affirm that there are good things in the world gifts and benefits we received. In the second part of gratitude he explains we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. The transpersonal. We ignored she says that other people are even higher powers if you are spiritual mindset. Gave us gifts big and small to help us achieve the goodness of our lives. Emmons and other researchers see the social dimension as being especially important. Gratitude. He says quote. I see it as a relationship strengthening emotion. Because it requires us to see how we've been supported and affirmed by other people. Because raditude encourages us not only to. Appreciate gifts but you repaid them or pay them forward. Sociologist george schimmel called it. The moral memory of mankind. Now i'd like to ask for the infographic we have here. This is a great infographic that they have. And let's go over a little bit here. What good is gratitude reasons why it's better to live gracefully well. Start with grateful people on average 20% more time and money to charity. Psychologically gratitude is related to age for every 10 years gratitude increases by 5%. Some of you may dispute this. But these are statistical averages. Community grateful people will have a stronger bond with the local community. Help. Grateful people have 10% fewer stress-related illnesses. Be more physically fit i have low blood pressure that is lower by 12%. Work happy people's income is roughly 7% happier. Is higher. Does make one think about that doesn't it. Friends more satisfying relationships with others and will be better liked. Youth. 13% to our fights 20% more likely to get good grades. Get a grip. Grateful teens are 10% of 10 * 10 times less likely to start smoking. Where are the most grateful countries are south africa. United arab emirates is the philippines and india. Restart netherlands denmark hungary and czech republic and the uk. I'm sure the united states is somewhere close. And life overall positive emotions going to add up to 7 years to your life. Often we don't recognize. The grace. In our lives. Is emmons road in our earlier reading. Her attitude can help you through hard times. He said it is precisely under crisis conditions when we have the most to gain. From a grateful perspective on life it is the face of demoralization. Gratitude. In the face of demoralisation gratitude has the power to energize. In the face of brokenness gratitude has the power to heal. And in the face of despair gratitude has power to bring hope. In other words gratitude can help us cope with hard times. Now i think one of the things that he says there's a big distinction between. Feeling grateful and being grateful. I think this is a good example of how. Form can function or function follow form. In that. Last week i spoke about. Gratitude flowing from our feelings. And that is also a very true positive way in which we can express our gratitude we can feel grateful. And and then express that gratitude. And again i also said without expression gratitude is just a feeling. Well he's also saying that gratitude can also. Start as. An action. And end up as. A feeling. So can work both ways. Eman says that being grateful is a choice. A prevailing attitude that endorses that endures in the face of short-term losses. He says it's hard. What is the end of the reading he said it's worth it. Now how do you do this he has a couple of ways he when she recommends. One is remember the bad. It seems counterintuitive to us. He recalls. Trials and suffering can actually refine and deepen gratefulness if we allow them to show us. Not to take things for granted. Our national holiday of gratitude thanksgiving was born and grew out of hard times. The first thanksgiving took place after nearly half. Of the pilgrims died from a rough winter and a year. It became a national holiday thanksgiving good in 19 in 1883 in the middle of the civil war. And was moved to its current date in the 1930s. During the depression. Eman says remembering the bad can help us to appreciate the good. As the german theologian. And lutheran pastor dietrich bonhoeffer offers. Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy. You don't remember dietrich bonhoeffer was killed by the nazis. Force participation. In trying to kill hitler. Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy. No images second to lure offering. Is to reframe disaster to say that gratitude is a helpful strategy to handle her feelings does not mean that we should try to ignore or deny suffering and pain. And as the chief editor in chief of the positive psychology journal he says that one of things that happens is there started this let's get happy kind of understanding about positive psychology and other things he's not the point at all. The point is you know. He says life is suffering. Sounds like the buddha write. Life is suffering. And he says no amount of positive thinking exercises will change. This truth. He recounted that. In the reading he said. Some years ago i asked people with debilitating physical illnesses to composing narrative concerning a time when they felt a deep sense of gratitude to someone or for something. He says i asked them to let themselves recreate that experience in their mind so they could feel the emotions as if they had transported themselves back in time to the event itself. I also. Had them reflect on what they felt in that situation and how to express those feelings. In the face of progressive diseases. People often find life extremely challenging. Painful and frustrating. I wondered whether would be even possible. We're going to find anything to be grateful about. For many of them life revolves around visits to pain clinics and pharmacies. I would not have been surprised. If resentment overshadowed gratefulness. He goes on to say that is a turn out most of the respondents had trouble settling on this specific instance. They simply had so much in their lives that they were grateful for. He says i was struck by the profound depth of feeling that they conveyed in their essays and by the apparent life transforming power of gratitude. In many of their lives. He says it was evident from reading these narrative accounts that one. Gratitude can be and overwhelmingly intense emotion. Feeling. To the gratitude for gifts that others. Easily overlooked. Most can be the most powerful and frequent form of thankfulness. And third gratitude can be chosen in spite of one's situation or circumstance. He was also struck by the redemptive twist that occurred in nearly half of these narratives. Out of something bad suffering adversity affliction. Him something good new life or new opportunities for which the person felt profoundly grateful. It was holy show of reframing. There's a really classic examples in history. Anybody who knows the christian or jewish old testament the tanakh knows about the babylonian exile the song. That was made famous. By the way of babylon. Okay. Very famous song. Well that comes from. Element. From the babylonian exile which the jews were taken away. And they were confronted with a philosophical theological conundrum. This was at a time when they were still philosophy or theology was one of what called henotheism in which it's not that we have the only god is that our god is better than the other guy. Their other gods are guys just. Going to kick their butt. Well that didn't happen. And so either. Their god. Wasn't as powerful as the other gods. There is no god. Or something else until they were struggling for something else and what they came up with as a reframing. Was that there is only one god and that god. Is punishing us is using his other people because somehow we did something wrong. We're out of. Covenant out of relationship. With that got. And this is the basis of most of. Old testament new testament religion. Get my personal life. With my children. Does peter talk about last night he said that he didn't realize it going on the road would allow him to catch up on his sleep. Cuz he's got two small children also. Sometimes when my kids come at me. And you know that feeling. There's a temptation to push them away or be angry or upset or do something like that and it does happen. But i really try to refrain that moment in the moment. That this moment will never come again. And to savor that. So when we are confronted with all of these things in our lives. Remember that our goal is not to relieve and experience. Rather to get. A new perspective. We are simply rehearsing he says that emmons says it's simply rehearsing. And upsetting event makes us feel worse about it. And that's why catharsis by itself is really effective. Temple run. Emotional venting without accompanying insight does not produce change. And no amount of writing about an event will help unless you are able to take a fresh. Redemptive. Perspective. This is an advantage that grateful people have. And it is a skill that anyone can learn he says. He says that gratitude helps us cope with adversity. And i certainly not only a benefit. Not the only benefit. I would encourage you even if you're not. Reading scripture on a regular basis. A lot of this arc. To look at the lamentations in the old testament. Most of us start out guide you rat. And goes from there you know people take god you done me wrong what's going on here things are not good. But then you find it by the end of it there is this understanding this reconciliation. This sense of redemption. And a sense of gratitude. That comes out of that. Only one in there that doesn't do that. So next time you're feeling that way. That might be something to look at. Asean are. Children's story imessage for all ages earlier. I'd like to conclude with. The conclusion of a story. We do not give thanks because we are happy. We are happy because we give time. Let us go. And meditate on these. As we go through.

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Sermon_041711.mp3

Have another quote from the book you're going to love. It's from that wonderfully room erudite religious text. Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by douglas adams. It opens by establishing that the story begins one thursday. Nearly 2,000 years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change. Pep boys spring to mind recently as i was thinking about the approach of palm sunday. Which is today. And easter. Many of you probably know that today is called palm sunday and the christian liturgy because the gospels tell stories of jesus entering jerusalem to preach his message. Riding a donkey over palm branches that people had strewn on the road before him and welcome. The gospel writers tell the story of the man who walked into a crowded capital city during the major holiday passover. To preach his message of love and service to all people. Even sinners. Even tax collectors. Play we remember on this particular weekend. Knowing knowing that it would lead to his death. The confrontation with the powers-that-be of the time was inevitable. Because jesus is message was and is. Depleted person. He challenged the jewish priest. He challenged people of high rank and high will. And every time. You raised up the people whom society spat upon. And he said numerous times. Everyone who exalts himself shall be abased. And he who humbles himself. Shall be exalted. The stories he told worth people giving their resources freely. Forgiving without demands. Treating each other as they would wish to be treated. Jesus's message is part of the foundation underlying unitarian-universalism including its deeds not creed's emphasis. You don't have to call yourself a christian to believe that we should be kind to each other. Feed the poor heal the sick. Help people the near me. Badoon. We. And by we. I mean why. Have the tendency to observe two primary ways of doing good. 1. Write a check to the causes we believe in. The church samaritan in north texas food bank. Our children's schools. The other is to take on big social justice causes. Send a week in new orleans. Orrmont in haiti if you can. Making phone calls asking for donations lobbying legislators. Traveling to the side of the latest big disaster or famine. Organizing projects such as those are faith in action committee leads here community. Those are all wonderful things to do. Overwhelming. The term compassion fatigue was even coined to convey the sense of exhaustion that can creep over is his weary day after day about the tragedies in the world. The papers never seem to run out of this. Use has photographed every night. Video of people in terrible circumstances. Regardless of how many people pitch in how many hours in dollars of brain cells and muscles. Go into housing refugees healing children wounded by landmines. Treating people infected with hiv or malaria. There are still more homeless. Hungry sick people lined up behind him. It's overwhelming. So it's easier to return your check in the pre-stamped envelope. Take your children's out downs host goodwill. Drop off a few cans in the foyer here every week. I feel like a good person. Even if you're not. It may even be a hopeful sign if you're feeling overwhelmed by the needs of the world. Because it means that you see. The needs of the world. You don't have to be her. Is mary oliver right you don't have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. In fact. Sort of a helpful thing for some of this jesus wasn't actually too fond of perfect. Their numerous scriptures that quote him excoriating the high-status individuals of the day. The rich man the priest. Those who flaunted their piety and worried more about following the letter of jewish law. Other more than 600 of those laws. Worried more about that than about being kind to other people. When he preached his message over and over again. Quiz about being kind. To the person in front of you. Regardless of whether that person appears to be worthy. Or not. Selena can i ask you to advance to the next slides. It's or the series. The prototypical story to me always seem to be the parable of the good samaritan just to refresh your memory. This is from the gospel according to luke chapter 10 and i took it from the living bible version instead of king james. One day an expert on moses's la came to test jesus's orthodoxy by asking him a question. Teacher what does a man need to do to live forever in heaven. And jesus replied what does moses law say about it. It says he replied that you must love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor justice. Love yourself. Do this. And you shall live. Wanting to justify himself. Which of us doesn't want to do that. The man's dead.. Which neighbors. Jesus replied with an illustration. A jew going on a trip from jerusalem to jericho was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money and beat him up and left him lying half-dead beside the road. By chance a jewish priest came along. When he saw the man lying there. Cross to the other side of the road and ask him by. A jewish temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there. Then went on. But it the spice maraton. Came along. And when he saw the wounded man he felt deep kitty. Kneeling beside him the samaritan suits his wounds with medicine and bandage them. Then he put the man on his donkey and walked along beside him until they came to an end. Or he nursed him through the night. The next day he handed the innkeeper innkeeper to day's wages. And told him to take care of her man. Because bill runs higher than that he said i'll pay the difference next time i'm here. Which of these three would you say was the neighbor. To the bandits. The man replied the one who showed him some kitty. Jesus said yes. Now go do the same. Shreve heard that story. Countless times. The thing that struck me when i reread it this week. Actually the samaritan. What's a good respectable people who kept walking. A priest. Crossword. People like us. Like me. People like us. The roll up our windows. When there's a woman with a cardboard sign on a street. People like me to walk a little faster when a homeless man is begging on a street downtown. Wasn't always like that. My parents are the kind of people who always gave money to anybody who needed it. Even. Cases where other people so that's not so smart. I grew up in lubbock it's a small town it's west texas. You were expecting. Just stop if there was someone broken down by the side of the road it was. It was just. Expecting. Even now i know that if my car breaks down on that long nearly deserted stretch of road between say jacksboro crosbyton. Highway 114. There's going to be a ranch hand stopping by. Probably in a pickup truck with lots of tools. And he's going to stop. And he's going to help me. So that's what i grew up with the expectation. Expecting to be the good samaritan and even as a young single woman. I usually pulled over when i saw someone stranded on the road. Anomalisa. 20 year old girl by myself out in the middle of ohio and i. Then i move to the big city. You have to be careful. People fake accidents. This is true. Adele pretend to have a broken down car. To abduct women and write them. Some of those papers are on. And i can be violence. If you give the money they'll just use it to buy alcohol or drugs. If you really want to help. You can offer to take them to a shelter. It's not safe. Remember. I can't remember who the author was that someone wants roach. If you're not a liberal when you're 20 you have no heart. If you're still a liberal when you're 40 you have no brain i know i know. But those are the messages. All the time. So after a while. Stinkface. Smart. Because the natural thing to do. Like the priest in the story. Across the other side of the road. It becomes a habit. We cross the road. Can we mail the check to the food pantry. To try to assuage our guilt. After while. Even the guilt stays. Until for me this winter. When i met a college friend for dinner in san antonio. We ate on the riverwalk favorite places in the world. Hung out with some friends at pat collins landing. And then we walk back along the riverwalk to where the cars were parked. What's late. Probably 11:00 at night. Stark. The crowds were standing out. Those of you who've been on the riverwalk. Know that it is heavily taurus stood and therefore there are always. Checkers. Along with has in various places in there are some dark spots anderson bridges it can be a little spooky. Late at night. So annie and i came around a bend. Slightly ragan. Man who walked tortoise. Looks like he might have been miss birdies. Haggard not not clean. But not drunk or stoned. When we came closer he asked quietly if kimberly very politely. Do you have some extra change. Message sorry no. And i just keep walking. Might have even set up a little. Annie said hang on. She dug in her purse for a moment she pulled out a few bills. She smiled at the man. Press the money and she was here. Here you go have a great night. I must have looked as surprised as i felt because she said i was give money to people when they ask if i have it there welcome to. Wow. Pure shame. Just washed over me. I might have been stealing for. But i'm not. And annie's not rich. What does just ordinary people getting by. But she. Had managed to stay open-hearted. And open-handed. And i had. Besides giving sedaka so freely like like rabbi cooper and i reading earlier. She treated the schnorrer with dignity. She smiled. She touched him. She acknowledged him as an individual who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Looking back at the quote from the zohar when the holy one love someone. It sends this person a gift in the shape of a poor person. So that the loved one should perform a good deed or giving charity. This is social justice ritz small and intimate. Actually sure whether it's. Easier. To look for opportunities to lift people up. One at a time. Then it is to organize mission to haiti. But it's something we can do more often. So that's the task i set for myself after the epiphany on the riverwalk. To be more open. To be more generous. On the path that i walk every. He's nice. To give to the arts organizations that my family and i. It's nice. Ticket time and money and love. To my school and my church. But the hierarchy. The sedaka. Is that an anonymous gift. With no help with reward. Or return. It's the greatest. When one is recognized for gift or benefits ourselves or our children even indirectly. Stupid things to do. It's not completely free of self-interest either. Jesus spoke primarily in terms of our actions as individuals. How do we treat each other. One on one. In unitarian-universalist terms. Do we truly. Affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity. Everything. Polishing. Even the homeless man who left the downtown library doctrine of stinky mask when houston to clean himself up. Even the legislator who infuriates you with her stupid decisions and distracting asinine bills. This is what i have trouble with tina cell. How about your cousin. Who spends every family gathering trying to save your soul. Preaching against gay marriage. Do we promote justice equity and compassion and human relations. Starting with the neighbor who lets his dog poop on your lawn everyday. How does promoting justice equity and compassion. Translate into your attitude. For that annoying. Incompetent power group who was assigned in your project team. How does it translate into your views on osage school finance. Or healthcare. Some of those problems can't be addressed. One person at a time. And that's where the cast of loving others as we want to be loved. Begins to demand larger action. The larger action is what we call social justice. I was intrigued to learn the social justice isn't a modern concept. St.thomas aquinas. Spoke of a special virtue that has the common good as its direct object. In that way every action can become an active social justice if it furthers the common good. The term social justice itself dates back to about 1850. Pope pius the 11th road in the 1931 and cyclical if he act of social justice. Is whatever is done in association with others. To restructure our institutions and our laws. To advance the perfection of every person in every family affected by that institution. In other words we making those institutions so they offer dignity respect. Compassion. Equity. Chastise. To every person. I just wasn't shy about it either. He wrote the richest is socio-economic development constantly increase ought to be so distributed among individual persons and classes that the common advantage of all will be safeguarded. In other words that the common good of all society will be captain violet. Social justice one man is forbidden to exclude the other from sharing in the bank. To each therefore must be given his own share of good. And the distribution of created good. Which is every discerning person knows is laboring today under the greatest evils. Due to the few exceedingly rich. Unnumbered propertyless. Must be effectively called back to and brought into conformity with the norm of the common good. Who's reading this house thinking my caution the texas legislature that would be called communism. Actually took himself explicitly condemned communism. He embraced what he called moderate socialism. Which around here let's face it is still a dirty word. But the pope wasn't a politician he was arguing for a religious duty. To inform political decisions. Atlanta 2d that unitarian-universalism has taken to heart. Unitarian universalist service committee or uusc and that's where most of these photographs come from. Has taken on the overwhelming task of remaking our world to promote human welfare dignity and respect. They have four focus areas. Rights and humanitarian crises. What are natural or man-made. Economic justice. Which means workers rights fair wages worldwide pear tree. Civil liberties. Which means women's right. The right to marry other things. And finally environmental justice. Right now they have a special emphasis on the right to clean water. Usc's uniqueness is to find out who doesn't get help because of who they are. Because of their color their gender their class the religion. In haiti might take the form of a young person. One of more than 9,000 people living in houses and yards and family members who were part of the papaya peasant movement or mtp. Your scattered in the countryside is earthquake survivors and they were invisible. 28 organization. Like the united nations and the red cross. They lost everything but they weren't in the capital. And i were unserved by the major release system. So uusc and npp work together to provide food and supplies to those 9000 survivors in the central plateau. Uusc works hard to partner with indigenous. Cramps. For media and long-term responses to poverty and devastation. It's an approach that works local organizations that have already earned the trust of the local people. Can reach haitians example bypass by larger relief organizations that deny the fault lie. Gender. And failed to consult with let's face it the real life. Happens through the unconventional approach a partnership solidarity. Honoring rights in humanitarian crises. Honoring the dignity of survival. It happens through you. It happens through you and i providing funds and sometimes fall into your support. It happens through you and i supporting partnerships with indigenous groups who hold the expertise overlooked by mainstream relief organization. It happens through each and all of us. Affirming the truth proclaimed by rev dr martin luther king jr just four days before he was murdered. We are tied together in a single garment of destiny caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. Whatever affects one directly. Affects all. Interesting. Back here in states. The usa is currently sponsoring a campaign known as standing on the side of love. Under that champagne you use his words prominently in the end immigrant-rights struggle in arizona. And support muslims rights to freedom of religion. The usa has been vocal and active in supporting the right to marriage campaign across the u.s.. Our own faith in action committee here community using shirts led by new imma come see. Deborah here and linda frank. Has a number of projects, someone time some of them on going. You may have noticed the car at this always in the foyer bruce a. You can bring chance or other non-perishable food anytime and place in there for food pantry. Community garden donates at least 10% of its harvest. To local food pantry that has a hard time getting fresh produce. Last year linda collected coats to be taken to a very poor community in mexico. A group led by dick hildebrandt went to new orleans to help rebuild damage from katrina. Yes i do slater six years that work is still incomplete. And they're going back this june. You can ask to kill a details about that when she like to know. Who's the bigger task. They don't immediately seem to be one-on-one that they really are. And you still local you're still manageable. The point is to do good in the world where you can. Don't let yourself get too overwhelmed to act. Don't allow yourself. To get numb to the suffering of the people around you. Start with your neighbors. Started the day labor center. Meals on wheels at the food pantry. Someone on the uu world block or something i really like. It's only ourselves that we can change. I cannot make someone else love their neighbor. But i can do that. I can choose to love my neighbor. I can reflect on what that action means to me. And reinforce it in my behavior. I can join with others who also choose to love their neighbors. And together we can reflect on our common experiences of doing that and build it into our way of being together. This is what our unitarian universalist congregation saying to do every sunday. We can model that behavior for others to witness. Standing on the side of love is spiritual work. And social justice is service on a larger scale. We need to remember that the whole spectrum is important. Loving for the rights marriages traveling around the world to wrap the wounds of war. Doesn't excuse us from the daily need to be kind to. Send coins to a snore without even thinking about whether to give to smart. Peter morales who is our current uui president wrote i think service maybe the best former prayer. I've seen again and again how service transforms people. When we serve we become more compassionate we're sensitive. More understanding and more aware. We are reminded of how precious and fragile life is. We experience our vulnerability. Nursing need for each other. When we serve we experience what love can do. You wouldn't be here this morning. If you were indifferent to the well-being of other people. It's still easy. To be overwhelmed by the desperate needs were confronted with everyday. And even more desperate need. Stay out of the header. This is the morning that you can make a pledge to that. Pledge right now to roll down your window. And a few dollars to the next person you meet at an intersection. Holding a cardboard sign that says hungry please. Pledge to take a shift the next time community church serves dinner at the samaritan inn. How to make a special point of recognizing the spark of holiness that lives in every resident. And every employee there. Pledge to support the community you use summer trip to new orleans. Rebuilding houses and lives that were devastated even before katrina. I'm still not home. Pledge to join the usc and support its work to bring justice equity and compassion. Two people around the world who suffer either at the hands of man or of nature. Writing a check is not a bad thing it's just not you are. I myself. Pledged to set aside my own fears and judgments. So that the next time someone asks. Have any spare change. Don't hesitate. I will greet that person as a child of the divine. Share whatever. Will you.

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Sermon_031013.mp3

Brokenness. It's not something we like to dwell on sara lee. Person we are. It's not something we necessarily seek out. It is something that tends to find all of us. Sometimes in more quantity then. Shakespeare talks about me of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. And sometimes our fortunes are truly outrageous. And there are traumas which we may sustain. Which we will spend our lifetime. Healing. What are the things i have discovered is that sometimes. Being broken is its own gift. Keystone opportunity perhaps. The same way that a broken bone may be an opportunity to actually make. The bones stronger. Sometimes i find that it's important that we have to remember that awful we have to get underneath things we have to break things open. So let the light in. To find out what is actually going on. Look at what our assumptions are. Assignment most interesting ways to. It's a metaphor for that would be a do-it-yourself. Dyi. How many have you watched those a lot yeah. I learn how to tile floors doing that. So far it's still there. I find interesting is that people go in there and they take something out. The whole wall is integrating it is physically like oh my god. And sometimes that's our lives you know. I have often resisted going into having another good talk therapy with somebody or just because i'm afraid. You know they say what's going on oh great now i got to clean it up. So. Sometimes being broken open though is only way we can get at the stuff. Lansing. So it's not always a bad thing. Not necessarily comfortable thing. You can be painful at the point. One of the places i've experienced this sort of breaking open experience was. Right. Did a lot of spiritual training. One of the experiences i had it was called nishikori experience. Where i had some. Shirley spunky visions and dreams. Company. No drugs were involved. And. Was able to fortunately i had a supportive community at the time that can help me. Walkthrough that but i was. Pretty raw piece of broken open in a sense that i. I was not able to carry on a conversation with less people. I can only talk to homeless people in artist. In anyway for like a week. Not sure why. But. I was broken open and. Like a snake shedding its skin. Became larger in some way. Because of that experience. We all have those experiences that. We got your alliance and they served with our skins. And we have a little more elbow room to breathe and to move. Be in the world. In many traditional cultures as was mentioned earlier in the reading. Tucker 11r. Endings are usually the beginning of. Creation stories. Something has to end something has to break. The big bang even. Something has to stop being what it was before something. Coming to bur. And we know that in. Transition theory that. In order for something new to. Something else has to stop. And that usually there's this chaos in between this.. Transition. Mythologically we often think of it as you know the hero's journey. Where the where the. Journey of persephone into the underworld. Or. Any number of. Metaphors in place in between. Interesting things. And having had those couple of times in my life in a pickle even all the different transitions. You know you have these interesting scratches and you do feel broken. Open. And exposed. Invulnerable. And ready for possibilities. Some of us who have experienced 12-step programs. Armillary with attorney. Probably familiar with that. And sometimes we have to hit bottom. And the broken open in order to find. That ability to healing. In what will create restoration. For us and for others. I break. Or broken this creates a change in the nature of how we. Experience ourselves. And world. One of the interesting things. What happened. We get a rainbow. We couldn't see all of those colors unless we somehow. Broke off the spectrum of light. And looked at it. In parts. Often the sense of brokenness we have. In brokenness is generally an experience even if there's a physical,. Experience. Is. About relationships to something or someone. Has broken or damaged or severed. And even especially our relationships with ourselves. It is in the deepest. Relationships with others and with ourselves that we best experience our connection to. What we often call the holy. That which is the greatest authenticity. Which we can live and have our being. Alarm. The restoration of the world. Can only happen when there has been a breaking of. The world. We recognize that we are not perfect that we are inside. Broken in some way. The title for a sermon today comes from a song called anthem by leonard cohen. If you haven't heard it before and i'm such a great gravely baritone voice. I wouldn't. Hind what he does. He talks about. In the chorus he says. Ring the bells that still can ring forget your perfect offering. There is a crack. Everything. Gets in. And for a lot of us we have to have that experience. Being scrapped or disappearing to woodcraft. An understanding that often asked where the light. Comes in. That's a possibility. Not a certainty. And it's not being broken or getting broken is that desirable thing but it may be necessary in some way. The beauty for us. Universalist is understanding that no matter how broke. We are never cut off. From that sense of authenticity from that source of holiness tech source of wholeness. We are not alone. Even when we may be by ourselves. For some people that's a thought. Reality. There is that greater sense of presence that greater reality. But we understand that through physics or metaphysics. There is a greater wholeness of which we are. Hornet park. We are star stuff. We exist because of the stars. We. Have our being in each other. Are molecules exchange. We. Participate physical. In each other's lives in ways that we can't even really imagine. And that goes on often without. Even in each other's presence. I am moved. By the possibility. It is always present in our lives. This is a part of our messages unitarian universalist. That we. Always have more resources in the universe and we can. That we are never cut awesome those resources that there is always. Ultimate sense. And that are broken this may become our strongest place. It may be the place from which we are able to actually move forth and change the world. Even as we may be changed. Experience. How do we take. Those things. Which may feel like a deficit and turn them into some. For our lives. 4r. World. How do we help each other. Has moments when we have been cracked open and are raw. Invulnerable. How many more people in the world are in those places and need a safe. Place to do those. Exploring. T-pain the great things i experience as unitarian universalist. And grow and be more than i was before. And other. Without having to find. Some other tribe or group. To be hard us do that. So in all of our homeless and our brokenness. Just remember that we have great resources we have each other. We have. All of that which is in the world. The sadie talk about the. Diving. We never realised quite what we have. Until we're willing to give it away. Haim. Or our attention. So next week i will be talking about. Issues of resilience how do we move forward from. Experiencing things. That may break us. And why some people. Have different breaking points maybe. If it this week. Locate be in that place. Her experience some of that vulnerability. And know that. At least in this community hopefully you feel that you are safe. And ask to do that. To do that important works. And that's a part of the work we do together. So. Remember to cool alarm. Fighting the restoration of the world. About letting the light. Broken places. So we can be more whole time we are now.

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20160221-Homily_1.mp3

Fuentes evolution sunday we are gathered on a day when just recently. The gravitational waves that were predicted by albert einstein in his general theory of relativity 100 years ago. Were confirmed. And here we are 100 years later saying someone please explain what this means. Blessed are the explainers. For they shall explain stuff. And many of us need them. Bless it all blessed are also. The questioners. The curious. And the observers. The science realities of today are introduced and framed by the scientific predictions and realities embedded in history. This process is progressive and entirely intentional. So we'll spend some time. With some aspects of the history of we understand. What we understand is evolution today. And our vessel. Will be observation. In december of 1831 the hms beagle set sail for what was to be a 5-year voyage. Onboard this ship with the naturalist charles darwin. Darwin had always displayed veracious interest in natural history. And had already gained some renowned with his publications up to this point. Darwin with l. Really l. During long stretches of this voyage. Spend. Many many nights bent over. The railing of the ship. This is a long voyage it covered vast distances around south america. The galapagos archipelago tahiti australia and new zealand. Darwin was all in addition to being l was also hardly the most popular person on the ship. But he did impress others with his commitment to creating detailed notes of all that he observed. Even when he was ill. When the beagle return to england in 1836. Darwin said about analyzing the information he had collected. A task that would take many years and would include many colleagues. At the time he had embarked on this journey of observation and data collection he already was determined to understand what we now call. Evolution. He was not alone. And asking those questions he was not alone in his curiosity. He was not the first naturalist to grapple with this problem. This question. The complexity of how life. Had developed. And continues to develop. Here on earth. In april of 1850 for another english naturalist alfred wallace. Arrived in what was then called the malay archipelago. Like darwin he was determined to doggedly observe in detail the species that he encountered. Wallace spent eight years in the melee area traveling over 14,000 miles and 70 expeditions. He collected over 120,000 specimens. And saw evidence that darwin had also seen. Geographic divisions and therefore different environments. Correlated with variations in species. In 1859 he drew a geographic line that separated what he had seen. As it is still known today. Wallace's line separates the observable differences between the fauna of southeast asia with those of australia. In 1859 darwin published on the origin of species by means of natural selection. He anticipated the controversy that it would create. He understood that there would be implications that were beyond the realm of science. Fast forward a few decades in our vessel and we observe high school teacher john scopes being arrested for teaching about evolution in his tennessee classroom. In violation of state law. At the now-infamous scopes monkey trial. Prosecutor william jennings bryan referred to the evolutionary serious simply millions of gases strung together. Anti-evolution activists were galvanized by the trial and it's aftermath. Attempts were made. Outlawed the teaching of evolutionary theory and 13 more states. This style. This attitude. And characterizing evolution has been branded into the hearts and minds of many in our country. And also around the world. United states does not stand alone. And having these conflicts. And as we may observe. This alleged dichotomy of science vs religion continues unabated to this day. In dover pennsylvania and kansas. And here in texas. This dichotomy is played out and state boards of education. Courtrooms. And in the public square. We observe that those who oppose the teaching of evolution undergo their own evolution with regularity. Pay close attention to this. Creationism. Morphed into intelligent design. And the names of groups. That. Stand for intelligent design and not teaching evolution to children and science classes change their names with great regularity. With intention. A misleading people. Into what their agenda maybe. Citizens for objective public education. Does that tell you. Anything. They change my language they change targets with a strategy to teach the controversy. There is no shortage of fuel here. We stand now. Nearly two hundred years since darwin stood on the deck of the beagle and we routinely hear the phrase to believe in evolution. As in i do or don't believe. That question floats. Continuously. But biological evolution is not something to believe in or not believe in. Is not santa claus or the easter bunny. It is a foundational concepts. That has enabled advances and science for decades. And the benefits that we all enjoy from these advances are clearly observable. Even those who deny. The existence of the process of evolution. Benefit from its application. Biomedical e. Every single day. We can observe that homo sapiens sapiens is in a species that assigns meaning we are remaining seeking group. In particular we assign meaning to phenomena in the natural world as we observe them. Turn back centuries and people believed in geocentrism. The concept that the heavens revolved around the earth this is mentioned earlier. The earth is the center of the universe. The earth is the center of god's creation. So anything else that we see. Open the heavens must be rotating around us. What possible other reality could there be. It's hot at the time we didn't quite have evidence to the contrary yet and so we assign personal meaning to that. People also believe that the orbits of all celestial bodies were perfectly circular. Perfect. Because it was a predisposing belief that circles carried their own special significance in god's world and us we assigned personal meaning to that. And when science disprove these ideas. A process that involves many people and many attempts at elucidation. There were those who felt that the meaning that has had assigned to the previous model's was under threat. And therefore they were under threat. But here now. Centuries after the copernican revolution took root. How often do you meet someone who is feeling distraught that the earth orbits the sun. Has it happened to you lately. Have you recently encountered someone who is weeping with gray dots because their entire personal theology had been crushed by the understanding that there is no celestial body that moves in a perfect circle. Are there people holding placards angrily protesting kepler's laws of planetary motion. Dc protesters around. Saying. That can't possibly be true. Because that's about us. We assign meaning but we also have the ability to shift the meaning that we assign. We affirm today the value of science and inquiry. We also understand and encourage our yearning for meaning. And we observe that these things may coexist. In our lives. Everyday.

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20130616-Sermon_061613.mp3

Step bro.

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Sermon_030710.mp3

Listen friends to a parable. Once there was a man who longs to know god as a certainty. For he was anxious and his life was not certain at all. He prayed long and hard for a sign and eventually he had a dream in which he was told to go out into the hills. And forests where he would find god. The warm sunlight filled the day with beauty and breezes which refreshed him along his way. Yet still he did not see god. Eventually as he walked he came to a clear flowing stream there he met a traveling holy man who was carrying a heavy burden on his back. After proper introductions to pilgrim ask the holy man what he carried on his back. Twista holy man joyfully replied i am carrying god on my back. I found god at the center of the universe. The pilgrim was at first astonished and then delighted. For this must surely be the answer to his prayers. He asked the holy man if he might accompany him and and if he might even help him in his holy task. The holy man agreed and soon they were on their way. What's the pilgrim carrying the swaddle bundle of god upon his back. As they walk the holy man said nothing which left plenty of time for the pilgrim to think. And his thoughts when something like this. It's a holy man had to go to the center of the universe to find god how lucky i am that has brought god here to me. I would probably never have found god on my own. Obviously god has made him a holy man of wisdom and will do the same for me. I will wait until he is asleep. And leave. And take god back with me so that i will be blessed and always know where to find god. And that is exactly what he did. Upon waking the holy man looked around and did not see the pilgrim or the bundle. What's a holy man seemed undisturbed and after his morning devotions. He went to the clear running stream where you washed and he drank his fill. At last he didn't reach into the stream and 3/4 a large greystone smooth by the waters. Admiringly he balance it in his hands watching the water drip and dry. And importantly he's headed to stone good morning. And going to the bank of the stream he put it in another bundle. Play sit on his back and set out once more upon this sunlit road. When i served in the air force almost 20 years ago it was common wisdom that and i'm sure it is still now that you did not discuss politics or religion. Ostensibly in order to prevent conflict or discord. Unfortunately i have too often, people feel the same way about church life as well. Especially in many unitarian universalist congregation. The one thing we cannot talk about is religion. What we are often left with and is a sort of theological equivalent of don't ask don't tell where we do not engage each other on the things that usually matter to us most presumably to preserve the twin quility of re illusion of oneness with each other. For the sake of maintaining the certainty of oneness we deny our differences. Refuse risks and lose our opportunity to deepen our encounters with each other and the holy. And the more profound connections that perhaps live in these. Our civility. And our fear. On the maps of our lives. And beliefs the holy is located in very many different places and experience as different types of terrain. When doing spiritual direction work with people in existential or spiritual crisis the question of where is god or the holy becomes paramount. The loss of one's feeling a connection to the universe as we understand it is debilitating and frightening. Reconnect with our sense of relationship with the all the holy. Is a reassuring healing and liberating homecoming. The word or concept god. Is difficult for many people. It is probably difficult for many of us gathered here this morning. For some of us it has harsh emotional at connections and memories. Brothers it is too much to encompass. Or it makes no sense at all. Still for others of us. He creates joy. Play sense of strength. Or centeredness. I personally choose to preserve my agnosticism. For me while i have faith i cannot make absolute claims of certainty. About things which i cannot prove or even possibly know as a finite being. For me this seems to be an honest position. I do not ultimately know what it is that i encounter but i cannot deny the encounter either. Therefore i try to make sense of it as best i can. We cannot understand or capture what we call god but only point towards it. Like a finger pointing towards the moon. It is said that the ology is our attempt to make sense of our experiences of the world and the ineffable. It is the experiences of our lives past the fires of thought and reflection. Theology attempts to explain our encounters with god but they are within the preference of our personal and historical frames. Our experiences and everything that we are shape and mold our understanding of who and what and even where god is. A couple had two little boys. Ages 8 and 10. Receipt excessively mischievous. They're always getting into trouble. And their parents knew that if any mischief occurred in their town their sons were probably involved. Who is mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children so she asked if he would speak to her boys. The clergyman agreed. But have to see them individually. So the mother said that your role first in the morning and the older boy. The afternoon. The clergyman a huge man with a booming voice seth younger boy down ask him sternly. Where is god. Boys mouth dropped open. But he made no respond. Settings. So the clergyman repeated the question and even stronger tone. Where is god. Again the boy made no attempt to answer. The clergyman raise his voice. Even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed where is god. Boy scream. Bolted from the room running directly home diving into his own closet slamming the door behind him. Later when his older brother actually finally found him in the closet he have. What happened. Younger brother gasping for breath replied. We are in. Pig. Trouble this time dude. God is missing and they think we did it. Our concept of god. He's not simply. Given. It is learned. For better or for worse. We develop the operative concept of god with which we live inheriting god as if it were from our historical religious tradition. As it is taught to. Learning something of god from our families and teachers from personal friends and public figures we develop an impression of what this word god means. Perhaps it becomes more than a concept and we experience god for ourselves. But even within a single religious traditions such as christianity or the image of god is seen in christ. People believe their lives. People live their lives with vastly different concepts of what god is. Some live with an angry and vengeful god just over their shoulder. Some live with the god of forgiveness some live with a revolutionary god. Others may god who is a pillar of the status quo. We need to acknowledge our own responsibility. For the image of god that we are content to believe in. Or not. To believe him. Unitarian social esopus ethicist and theologian james luther adams claim that. People are incurably religious. Adams felt that there is a certain perverseness in human nature that causes people to be religious in spite of themselves. When we do not give our highest loyalty to god we end by surrendering our life to the service of an idol. We are so incurably religious that we abhor the vacuum of religious experience. The empty altar. Or to change the figure. If we unseat the most high from the throne then we inevitably setup. A substitute. Adams later rice that religious faith is a response to that which is held to be ultimately. Reliable. Where to put it more succinctly we have an appetite. For the certainty. Of the sacred. At some point people have this yearning and it is our role. As a liberal religious community to be around when they come looking. To feel it. What do we mean by. The god we don't believe in. Marcus borg. A. Historian of jesus and the bible himself. Does not believe in a supernatural god of supernatural theism. The cosmic santa claus or the vindictive zeus like figure sitting on a cloud looking down on everything. Scoreboard. For him god is all around and within us. Court holds a vision of panentheism which he feels is described in the christian scriptures in acts. 17 verse 28. A god in which we live and move and have our being. God as life-giving. And life. Sustaining. In talking about god. Board feels it is important in our modern world to ask people when they say i don't believe in god. To say tell me about the god you don't believe in. He points out. That there really are two basic types of atheism. The person who calls absolute atheism and absolute atheism reject any or all concepts of god or divinity. And this is what most people think they are practicing when they call themselves atheists. But this is often not the case. Work offers a more nuanced category of disability calls a relative atheism. Relative atheism is being an atheist relative to a particular idea or concept of god. We are all relative atheist to some degree. There are a lot of concepts of god which we don't ascribe to. Board holes that much of the atheism we encounter in contemporary western culture is actually a relative atheism. In which it is the god of traditional supernatural theism that is rejected basically because he just doesn't make sense to people anymore. Search rejecting the god of supernatural theism often are ignorant and unaware of other ways of understanding the sacred where god. Essence they don't know of any other way they assume they're rejecting the only way and that they are then total atheist. Mistakenly so. Am i experience. Unitarian universalist. Who call themselves atheists this definition of relative atheism often seems to fit pretty well. This may explain the presence of so many atheist and humanist in our faith community who are also holding deep feelings about transcendent and even mystical experiences. Fortunately as unitarian universalist we know there are many windows to open to the sky of the eternal. Our religious community is one place where we can take the risk. To share in our journeys together even if we are carrying different rocks that we have found in different streams of truth and experience. Many people contend that god or gods are simply projections of human qualities and desires. This is probably true somewhat. But it is also true that human beings introject. Or take into themselves many of the qualities of goddess god. An ancient proverb warns us to be careful put gods you worship. Lest you become like them. So what we think of god has an impact on us whether or not. We think about it or even if we are atheists. With as many words as we may throw at our understanding of god. We must recognize the inherent limitation of words. Themselves. Words and languages are symbols. As such they are human creations. And therefore they are finite. Because words and humans are particular and finite they cannot express or encompass. The totality of existence. The holy whether it is finite or infinite. Therefore any claims to have complete understanding of the holy or to know the whole mind of god are impossible. And a mistake. Any human experiences her claims about the holy goddess god. Are only partial and finite. This leads us into the issue of idolatry. Contrary to popular notion that it requires a stone statue to commit idolatry. Reality is any claim. To know the whole mine or reality of god isn't act of idolatry. Idolatry occurs when we confuse the non ultimate with the ultimate. The part. For the whole. Idolatry occurs when we confuse human language and symbol about the holy with the holy itself. The map is not the terrain. The finger pointing to the moon is not the same as the moon itself. And therefore any attempt to make absolute claims about god or the holy is an act of idolatry. And any kind of scriptural literalism. Is therefore an act of idolatry. That might make things interesting at some family gathering. Expand on diana x writings she says we must not claim that god as we know god exhaust the reality of god. Did you sew into claim ultimacy for human symbols and language is truly idolatry. God always transcends what we humans can apprehend or understand. No tradition can claim the holy or the truth as its private property. Has gandhi put it so succinctly revelation is exclusive property of no revelate of no nation. Unitarian universalist minister emeritus the reverend arthur ft. Has written that god is not a proposition. Proof. But a reality to experience. Not something to define. But you know in the mines commitment. Truth. In the claims of justice. In the prevalence of beauty and in the sanctities. I feel the real importance to all of this. Is in the fact that. The ways we experience and describe the underlying. Reality of our lives in turn affects our lives. And the lives of those around us. If we experience god as harsh demanding jealous vindictive then that will hold certain implications about the world on how we should live in it. If our experience and image of the holy is all loving and bracing and forgiving then that understanding will have a different set of implications. For us and our lives. And the world. Be careful what gods you worship lest you become like them. Or as unitarian minister and transcendentalist ralph waldo emerson has written. A person will worship something. Have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid and secret in the dark recesses of our hearts. It will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives and character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship. For what we are worshipping. We are becoming. My original attractions unitarian-universalism was because it offered me a place to explore my understanding of the holy was in a tradition that lifted up social justice as a necessary response. To our encounters with the divine. In my time as a you you i have found this to be common if not universal experience. How many you use. So. What and where is god. And what have we done with him her or it. If she he it is present. One of the biggest questions we can ask ourselves and each other is how do we know that god is god the holy is present in our lives. Ultimately for me i can give no better answer than to say that i know it because i experienced it. Usually when i'm not looking for. In my own theology i am an imminent pissed. Which means that i believe that the holy is present and manifest. Or imminent. Or present. Can everyone and everything. I have faith that we are immersed in the holy that we are integral parts of a larger sacred reality. And here's the important part. Therefore it is not possible for us to be divorced or cutoff. From the holy. But we can become. Unaware of it and we can act and feel as if we are divorced for cut off from the sacredness. The holiness of our existence. The reality we perceive is the one we react to. Religion is about that which we connect or reawakens us. The ultimate. And. I believe that witch. Seeks to deny distort disrupt or supersede this relationship. Is in fact thesaurus or experience of that which are traditionally called sin. And evil. I experienced the holy. And those who minister to us. And two others. The healers and caregivers in our lives are evidence of the presence of the holy. I see this as a manifestation of the eval relationship. Describe by jewish theologian martin buber. He says that when we relate to each other and the world in ways that are mutual and respectful. We are then in an i-thou relationship. The other the vow. Eocene honored and treated as sacred. What to use unitarian-universalist language they have inherent worth and dignity. As part of the interconnected web of all existence. In this type of relationship martin buber believed and i agree that the holy is present. Or perhaps we are aware of his presence. Inequalities of the relationship. The idle relationship is in stark contrast to an eye it. Relationship. In which we see a tracy other as an object. As a thing with no inherent worth or dignity. It's something to be consumed. So tell me about the god you don't believe in. And tell and together we can learn about the possibilities of god that we can. So where is the holy goddess god. It is within the prayers that we say. And hope. That will feel. It is in the hands that heal and in those that give the life. The shape of justice. It is in holiness seeking communion. It is in the mystery. Within us. Reaching out. To mystery beyond. Oh holy reside in the midst of our relationships between i and thou. You are in the darkest night as well as in the all and hope and gratitude we have. For the multitudes of blessings that grace our lives. You are in the here and now. Holy. We are apart of you and you are always with us. Here. Remind us that we are powerful precious holy. And not.

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Sermon_120411.mp3

How many of you done your holiday shopping so far. Sirius early birds out there. I am personally not reading. We are simply not going to do it the same way. Chris's barely registers on our four-year-old son's radar. And if we are going to. And he has poise. Because he just has so much. The rest of my extended family.. I think family photos. My family and i decided that it would be better for us to drive to celebration of these holidays. Rather than driven by. Invention. In the spirit of our occupy america movement. We. Occupy christmas. Or it has a chance to occupy our family. This is possible though it may be difficult to resist corporate. Gaspar corso. By that i mean unitarians. Had a major role in creating and spreading. Current practice of christmas. I know this is something you would not want to brag about. But let me share some of that story. How much does. Circle coco. That shows how is transformed from a carnival season. Quintessential american family holiday. The pilgrims and puritans. Basically. There was no christmas.. Until we know what because it started having. Find some people for violating. Taboo. So eventually. Christmas. They were not fooled by this monday. Can you have an end other major. . of card intensive labor. To get the crops handbook of the animals after the first cross. December 4th because. So you have all this. Unusually entire you. Eating drinking relaxing and kind of blowing off steam. Lacrosse team. Military. This is what we're talking about.. The puritans and pilgrims knew that there was a very strong. Taking over display off. Even in the wilderness of america. Christmas. Halloween. All rolled into one. Boxing day. Werewolves are reversed so you have your other classes in his pitching rules. I will give you something. Hilarious. Gorgeous door demanding food and drink. Alright. That was carried on as well. Alright. So. This was what they were cheering kind of rowdiness to take over. Ghetto christmas. Took over and they lost that battle. 1722 16th 1760. Somewhere just before the revolutionary war. Remerge. Then came the great awakening. Any boxing there were. Evangelical university universalist. Unitarian. However afterwards and his stay in the country. Right will be here. Alright. Score hero. Santa claus. And their pockets are the wilton scions of new york city. Sing. So in order to match down. This. Threatening. People rabble in the streets. Okay. Rather be with you train children. Dwayne on class. And they would then become the surrogate. Even lavish are. Adidas. Ingrid. This is the way you can investigate. The christmas celebration. So jeans. Family events. Orion. For an orderly neutralized way for the social classes in harmony. Kauai. Established social order. Similar. A lot of people into pretty high food places. And there'll be doing more of those things are unusual and subversive. So. Washington irving. His written brightington volume that has sleepy hollow. Creating the christmas that never was. These are fictional story. Okay. Unitarian. Charles. Christmas. Christmas. They made them up. The dutch practice of santa claus. Was not in the united states. Until. Early to mid. Part of the early 19th century. The ducks did not bring it with us. Who is not here. It was not a part of the native america. Normal americans.. Transplanted. Colette moore. Finishing taylor. Ashley moore ordinances hard. Political conservative. You don't know what that works.. Guardians of their rights of privileged life. More even more than most. Slow down. The total domestic. Domesticated. Commercial bustle and democratic misrule early 19th century. Commercial and private. You're not sure you spent most of your house. Okay. Ushering the reader. Practice house. Okay. And and he acted as if he patrician giving away gifts to the children. Sushi inversion. Had an undeniable role. Alright. It is a part of the christmas tree was originally developed. Play a bunch of reformist transcendentalist unitarian clergy in new england. Germany. German sing. One small area germany sort of used it in britain he proved he could on as a symbol of transformation. Again sorry to break all those little things we learn in school. .. Three performers. Commercialized christmas that was occurring at the time. Anto. Unitarian female best selling authors. Responsible for the christmas tree. When was english to italian author harriet martineau. How much is a christmas tree ceremony held by the family for friend german-born. Who died young unfortunately and his wife and their children. Unitarian opolis. Go to popular fictional account of a christmas tree ritual. Central purpose of the christmas tree was commercialized the home. But i said ironically. Emphasizing handmade or small and simple gifts. Hugo on the tree. Special gifts from the children. As an act of unselfishness and reciprocal domestic. He's behind it. So there was all sorts of. Chicken balls with invented. Mainly he created and used as an iconic figure. Commercial sanitizer. Red rocks. They were they were made secret. And made them somehow acceptable as in exchange for emotional. Emotional. So you had the commercialization of emotional changes and the emotional zacian of commercials. So when are we get so upset about this. Variety. Appliance and payson. By the 1860s in albany. Number 25 and legal holiday. Call reversal unanimity on that score and has continued to the present. Today it is impossible to imagine the date of it's really private and voluntary. The most important single civic celebration. American. Commercial. Or our house cayman. You feel like being alone. Call me to try to write down to a lack of time and money. The deeply intertwined the more i spend trying to buy myself time to do things more time i have. The more time i have to commit to dealing with the stuff i own. Cycle gear. Time is money time specially with compound interest. Benjamin franklin. Set time on like money once spent never beat again. I wonder what would happen if. I say over by legacy. I like to hear about it. During this. Holiday season. Don't buy anything you don't need. Go home. Don't watch television or using internet. Talk to you has one. Children. Read a library book. Present in the moment. Seriously. Yes. Beauty song. Hey, help. But. Youtube news. Access my media trainers take don't come italy. Safeway. We would be committing new cell. If you do this intentionally that's great. Refuse assface billboards newspapers magazines and airtime. Because of their net. Violates the commercials. And the idea that the market is more sacred than anything else. And i don't say that. Functionally. Religious values. Little hand of the market. Heels. Spell anything.. Church or others. Far as. Omnipotent. The shopping mall. Only those in french fries. When i originally wrote this line in 1996. I wasn't thinking about. That ashley. It legal for corporations to spend as much money as they wanted to. In a public sphere. Especially important. That's exactly what happen if you don't have money. Hear it now in the financial. Radical things you can do in the prevailing culture. Is any system the ultimate control we have is not over the other that is over our self. He controls. And that has the greatest impact on everything else. That is where we can drive. Any social personal transformation. Relationship. Perfectionism does not exist. You always have pain and suffering in our lives. And he will still have personal issue. Deal with what we must do it. And we'll hopefully in that we give ourselves. The encounter our joint hazard. And that we are we are doing this for my company of each other here. And in other places as friends lovers family members of his beloved community. Transcendentalist forebears at cicero and whitman and emerson. Other. Escrow says i should be leaving such a hurry. We are determined to be starved before we are hungry. I wished to live deliberately. Front only the essential facts of life. I wish to learn what life has the key and not when i come to die discover that i have not lived. I do not want you to live what is not life. Living is so dear. Husband gender goodwill in domestic intimacy. Princeton everyday of our relationship. Exchange another said. Any everyday activities are producing and consuming and buying and selling. According to islam. Put the result was one of the most basic internal contradictions of a modern world. Marketplace commodities is given the job of generating intense. Kris henson that no one and no gifts. Rarely can a gift or even moved yet. Create more hair the intimacy. We are called to the new religion of domesticity and. Wrapping paper we put on it. Santa claus barbie have. Still. Just. Things are not good or bad. Cannot create. And our life. Instant intimacy. Just at present. Is it true. Artificial me no wonder we're so often. House always wins. Perhaps we should create music. Let me know what you come up with. I would encourage. Define decree in your life and the lives of people you know. Perhaps finally peeling away from a relationship. Between family life community in the commercial with honey. Happy to no longer for the indulgence of the protection. Sanctified commercialized. Any understanding of the history. How we got where we are. Reinforces my understanding. Creative. It had exactly. We are in this together. I'm out of it. There's an alternative. Any occupy movement actually there are some websites out there. Occupy texas.org. Skinny general what. Occupy christmas.com. And if you just you do these things up until december 26th and then midnight december 26th. So that there can be a real impact. In the behavior. But it's not just always a slow time correctly. Credit card. Or debit card. Cast on. It's got to have credit probably can't afford it anyway. How you doing skeeting tonight. I take money out of hands emergency. The deception of medicine or emergency line nothing. Market. Mom-and-pop businesses locally owned. $25 more safe mode. So if you buy a corporate level at walmart. 55mm local operations. So. Shop online. King restaurant. Giraffe. To a smaller. Credit union. Let people know what you're doing. We caught media sponsors of groups that misrepresents. Midnight because. Christmas card. You can send it to minutes message. So there's all sorts of opportunities. Confined. Mydayis. Mowgli. Buy things that are made locally. This is not a commercial message. We are ultimately all in this together. Advocating for this. Epic music. What we're talking about this whole commercial. He should not. Carson i haven't. Encino. Parking new york. Eraser consciousness. Right. You can also influence other people by encouraging. So. We're all in this together. They understood. Conjugate. Unless.

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Reading_090609.mp3

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Reading_120912.mp3

John murray who is universalism. Minnie street inn. Boston. Preaching. And proprietors of the truth. The ministry. Sew in. Any priest one sunday evening and then he christian on wednesday and on wednesday evening someone threw water all over the audience. And the next day john the newspaper about maria. That was about the last. No more secret plotting. The two of them. The debate started. Mr crosswell said many nasty things. What was true but while john was trying to explain universal. Children saying over and over again. Newspaper. The congregation notice how rude. And when he got there he was almost overwhelmed. Summer spring collapse. The smell was so bad. No one was injured although everyone was so alarmed possible. Someone threw a large rugged stone weigh about a pound. He bent down and picked up the rock and showed it to people who gather to hear him speak. He said this argument. Waiting to walk around. Is solid and waiting. Neither rational. Are the people in the church saw the rock they ordered him to give up. That may be so.. Stop me from testifying that i believed to be what i believe to be true. And he did continue to pray. His truth and understanding throughout the rest of his life. Despite threats of violence. I love that line. About. Seminary. So you know. This argument. Is solid and weighty but is neither rational nor convincing. There's another one about a guy named bacon arranging to have eggs thrown at him and he said he's never been treated the bacon and eggs so well. But therefore ends are real. About john murray.

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20150830-Reading.mp3

And i'm glad that kathy gave us the reminder of. Our ancient church history and the fact we come out of a jewish christian background because what i want to do today in the reading. Is read to you from a new new testament and i want to read. Words from a manuscript. That was only. Discover that nagamati and i'll talk about that later. In 1945. No other fragments no other mention of the name of this. Particular manuscript exist except in that collection. But a word of introduction then i want to read. A couple of chapters a few verses. The thunder perfect mind. With the exception of the gospel of thomas no other nagamati document has received with as much excitement has been received with as much excitement in the twentieth and twenty-first century as the thunder. Perfectmind. The artistic community has been most active in receiving thunder know about nobel prize-winning novelist toni morrison. Has used fender citations as he epigraph to her novels jazz. And parade. Umberto eco. Discussed in his novel. Colts pendulum. Julie dash's award-winning feature film daughters of the dust. Opens with a long citation from thunder. Accompanied by beautiful and haunting images. And thunders text anchors at 2005 film by academy award-winning director ridley scott and his daughter. Joan jordan scott. Numerous music groups and composers have set it to music. Only one manuscript of the thunder perfect mind exist. And as i said it was found at mark amati. With 51 other documents. There's no mention of thunder. Anyplace else. And the ancient. Literature. Here's some of the words from. The fund. I was sent out from power. I came to those who pondering me. And i was found among those seeking me. Look at me all you who contemplate me audience hear me. Those expecting me receive me. Don't chase me away from your site. Don't let your voice or your hearing hate me. Don't ignore me anyplace anytime. Be careful. Do not ignore me. I am the first and the last. I am she who was honored and she who was mocked. I am. i am the horror and the holy woman i am the wife. And the virgin. I am he the mother and the daughter. I am the limbs of my mother i am a sterile woman and she has many children. I am she who is wedding is extravagant. And i didn't have a husband. I am the midwife and she who hasn't given birth. I am the comfort of my labor pains. I am the bride and the bridegroom. And it is my husband. Who gave birth to me. I am my father's mother. My husband sister. And he is my child. I am the slave woman of him who served me. I am she the lord of my child. But it is he who gave birth to me at the wrong time. And she is my child born at the right time. And my power is from within him. I am the staff of his youthful power and he is the baton of my old womanhood. Whatever he wants. Happens to me. I am the silence never found. And the idea infinitely we call. I am the voice with countless sounds. And the thousand guys's of the word. I am the speaking of my name. You lost me why do you love me and love the ones who love me. You deny me confess me. Yoo-hoo confess me. Deny me. You speak the truth about me lie about me and you who lie about me speak the truth about me. You who know me ignore me. Yoo-hoo ignore me. Noemi. I am both awareness and obliviousness. I am humiliation and pride i am without shame i am ashamed. I am security and i am fear. I am war and peace. Pay attention to me. I am she who is disgraced and she who is important. Pay attention to me to my impoverishment. And my extravagance. Don't be arrogant to me when i am thrown to the ground. You will find me among the expected. Do not stare at me in the shift pile. Leaving me discarded. You will find me in the kingdom's. Do not stare at me when i'm throwing out among the condemned. Do not laugh at me in the lowest places. Do not throw me down among those slaughtered viciously. I myself am compassionate. And i am cruel. Watch out. Do not hate my compliance and do not love my restraint. In my whip whip whip. In my weakness do not strip me bare. Do not be afraid of my power. Why do you desire my fear and curse my pride. I am she who exists in all fear and then trembling bonus. I am she who is timid. I am safe in a comfortable place i am with lettuce and i am lie. The thunder. Perfectmind.

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Sermon_032512.mp3

Last week we had the chance to talk about. Worship and spiritual practice in a communal setting. This week we're going to talking about it in a more personal. When we talked about personal spiritual practices. There really are two different things that often come about in the discussion. First there are spiritual practices will to take for ourselves. That are practicing with others such as settings. Singing critical reading movement. Because we are part of a group. These experiences channel support our awareness of interconnection. And there are also practices that can be either solitary or whatever. Dancing any number of things. Done that way. Difference. Quality. But the primary second type of person alone. Solitude. Either the absence of others or regardless of their prey. What we do in the second type of personal spiritual practice. These usually bring to my various forms of contemplatively medication. Prayer. Various contemplatively prayer and meditation practices have. Different coke high more intense. The techniques used are markedly similar across practices and traditions. Across time. It's a human activity. Porcelain in. And i would like to hear some of the immediate thoughts about those. What words. Request your thoughts and feelings about. Personal prayer or meditation practice. Popcorn. Quiet. She also really talk up. He's out loud. Connected. Century. Very nice. Another time i hit a similar kind of question. I got things like selfish. Self-absorbed. Cut off. Narcissistic. Yeah. So i feel really good about your response thank you. Hot dog. Happiness. Yes. Well. So there is a variety of. And if the title of determined beyond navel-gazing. About a solitary contempt. That the people being extremely intersecting or existential. Is the term contemplating theory. Actually contemplating your navel you ever wonder about that. I love google. Work navel-gazing. He show up in the english language only in the 1930s for a contemplating your navel and 1950s for navel-gazing. Interesting lie to me anyway meditating on one's own navel actually is a define practice. Did you know that. There's actually a name for this. Omphalocele. If that means looking into it. Home federal in. Your navel. I'm not sure what meditating with someone else. America's next top model. Anyway i offer that. someone's practice is being self-absorbed. And us. And not about the practice. I find that one of the crucial misconceptions about contemplatively solitary prayer super practice. Is that it is not a lonely experience. 20th century writer and political observer hannah arendt. Right. Alone. Fresno shows itself more sharply in company with others. The lonely man. For whose hostility he is exposed. The solitary man on the contrary is alone and therefore can be together with himself. Intellichild is a dialogue between me and myself but this dialogue of the two and one does not lose contact with the world of my fellows because they are presented in the selfie. Describing this way seems. An experience similar to the popular and popular. Remember no matter where you go there you are. It is an experience of being aware of oneself in place and time. That you cannot get away from yourself so you might as well engage with it. In contrast loneliness is more like getting a postcard from you. During my 6 weeks. Interview. Send air force basic training at lackland air force base. In late july and august. Ice. probably would look around. Gary's isolation loneliness in my life. I was separated from loved ones and the culture i was emerging was utterly alien to anything i have yet encountered. Drink a basic the efforts to destroy individual did not know how was going to get today. Fortunately do the summer heat of san antonio we did our physical training at 4 a.m.. Bogart. It was only 80. Fortunately because due to the darkness i could still see the moon. In the sky. And it's someone who is still very deeply engaged in the community as well as unitarian universalism. The moon is a symbol of the goddess as presents reminded me that i was not alone. And not cut off. After a while as i struggled. Gasping petitions to other names. I was not alone. We're not alone. There is a hasidic story. Tales of an old widow named rachel. Sitting out on the outskirts of. A small village on the edge of a tiny european country. She is poor very very very poor but she lives her life as well as she can. One night she has a dream in which a boy tells her to go travel to the capital city to go to the bridge that leads to the palace and look under the bridge. Where she will find. Morning rachel sisters. She had the same dream again. And on the third night. She had the dream again. And after all she says herself. So she closes up her home and gathered up some belongings. Very quickly she makes her way to the bridge that leads to the palace. Is jordan underneath. Rachel sits down by the side of the road and prices. She sits there for so long. Ross detention. Comes over to see what this woman is doing. Old woman. What are you doing sitting here for so long. Call rachel. Don't be such a fool. And they're in a tiny hut on the outskirts of the village i found a widow named rachel and drinking vinegar hearthstone. I would have found a treasure. But women don't bother listening to your dreams. Thank you for your story and your advice rachel says. She travels the same forest and hills and sometimes. Rachel those two things with this goal first she takes a fortune and sends it to the captain of the guard of the note that read. With the rest she build the temple. And high above the entrance replaces a plaque that reads sometime you have to travel far to discover what is near. So often we imagine that lifesteps are out there. 4 in there. Somewhere. Carway. And that the distance is immeasurable. Life is not out there. That's only where we've corrected the altars to it. Life is right here. Close as your breathing. As close as a pulsing pain in your neck. Ralph waldo emerson. Transcendentalism. There is guidance for each of us. Listening. He shall hear the right word certainly there is a right for you. That needs no choice on your part. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which flows into your life. You are entitled to food. Dementia. Walker wickstrom. Britain wonderful book called simply pray. He says there is a zen thing that no one else can eat your food for you no one else can go to the bathroom. And of course no one else can do yours. Understanding. You have the courage of their convictions. And to carry their suits. For them. Let me know. this is only a. Here it goes on to say that when the subject of personal spiritual practices come up one word seems to rise above all the rest. And prayers. In temple terrace and mystics have always argues the real purpose of prayer is to quiet the chatter and distractions. That boy some called various things god's wisdom higher self. But many of us live in such a noise that is such a voice were speaking to it. We can barely hear it. He goes on to say that prayer can be understood as quiet. What are we listening for. 420. Probably telling people what they should be listening for. Had some institutional religions do. Is that when we don't hear what we're saying to hear we may give up listing all together. Ironically. Unexpected. I mean. Hello. San antonio sky. The first thing to lose learn is to listen he says i'd only been to discover to whom or what. We are listening. Our better selves are higher wisdom out here annoying. The collective unconsciousness the spirit of life. Whatever we call it. It is forever speaking to us. Encouraging us to make. Healthy choices to live up to your ideals to take the way of the greatest good. Cactuses that are human. Who discovered this voice. That we might benefit from what you have. Wisdom share the story about the great. Pablo casals. Morning angel spain to aquarion mother he. He stopped by the greatest cellist have ever lived. His recordings of the bach cello suites their maiden the 36 and 39 are considered unsurpassed. Saul's prodigious musical talent became evident early on in the play the violin. Having been taught by the church organist. Kirk white record. 21st decided to dedicate himself to. And he had already been given a solo recital in barcelona. 3 years later the age of 14. 5 years later he's on the faculty of a renowned. Barcelona opera house. He gained international acclaim in a career that he performed in the united states. We're both presidents theodore roosevelt and john f kennedy. Get even having attained such uncrushable mastery of his instrument throughout his entire life to self maintain a disciplined regimen of practicing five or six hours. A few years earlier when he was 93 after all. Making progress. Focus essential. To our experience. Integra time. In worship we seek to bring to conscious focus those things switch on a daily basis or often relegated. Earnest. In the process of living our lives we all can put aside the emotions and memories concern but you're actually the most important. Urgent. The practice of mindfulness. Is an attempt to hold before i said all-time important to say and stay focused in the reality of the secret time. And it is the realm of sacred time where we may see and experiencing nature things. Buddhist monk and zen master tech nahan right. In mindfulness one is not only restful and happy but alert. And awake. Prescription spiritual practice somehow it. It's actually about being more focused and more awake. He goes on saying meditation is no evasion. It is a serene and haunter. The person who practices mindfulness. Is a practitioner isn't awake he will be possessed. Dispersion and forgetfulness just like us drowsy driver is likely to have. But as awake. Is a person walking on high stilts. Any misstep caused the walker to call. Only this kind of vigilance can you realize total awakening. The personal spiritual practice. He's not about escape. Is not being lonely it is being present to with ourselves. He alone. That's the source of most addiction. Whatever. Alcohol. Video game. Pornography. Avoiding ourselves. The solitude. Prayer or meditation. This practice is called into a deeper voice. And that which is. Good. Eric wikstrom offers. He says his established for your. Try your best to stick to. Make an appointment with yourself. Calendar. On your day book. Treated like any other appointments. He tried to find time for spiritual practice somewhere in your day you're likely to find this you're busy. Remember that making a decision to spend time with your spirit. Is the first step of every practice. You're making a date with yourself. And if your spiritual life. Important. The second one who offers used to create a special place for your practice. If you're lucky enough to have a free room that you can go to prayer meditating painting whatever you're doing great. But you can also free of a corner of a room corner shelf. Pretty time on the appointed time, then you move in your sacred space. You'll already be on your way. Set a time limit. Deciding to dance how much time you spend on your practice. This way you don't have any excuse for giving it up too easily if it's boring or difficult. And also you don't have to worry about your going to lose yourself in the experience. How many people are. I have never heard of anybody being rushed to the er because they're lost in their experience. Remember this is no one who is serious about exercise we go to the gym intending to work at a. The same principle. Stressful. Gentle with yourself. Sportsman lodge. Recognize that being distracted from your practice is similar to being distracted. Simply notice that you falling out of habit and without any recriminations. Funeral saying i heard. Crunch that when you forget about these things or call away from them. Remember to remember when you remember. With no. Remember to remember when you remember. No eating. Prairie wagon whatever. Remember to be grateful. The christian mystic meister eckhart. And it is thank you. Gratitude. He is one of the key elements. In any kind of worship.. Can i find this a good one. Ndawn. Attitude. Opportunity to be here. Sheridan.

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Sermon_022612.mp3

The slogan for our. Stewardship campaign this year. Future is in our hands. Richards. Over here. Restaurant sayings on the wall. George burns comedian says. Or. Or the traditional if you want to make. Plans. For this one i like because now that i have children i deal a lot with toys and stumbling thing. The future some assembly required. Jon richardson says when it comes to the future there are three kinds of people those who let it happen those who make it happen and those who wonder what happened. Additional no one plans to fail at it sometime everyone sales plan. Erase. Roman writer seneca says. If one does not know to support. And william jennings bryan. Power of. Destiny is not a matter of chance. Matter of choice. It is not a thing to be wasted for. Is a thing to be achieved. Peter drucker better-known. John wilkinson reisinger article of his a few years ago called a better world is possible. He says the future is in our hands. We are not hapless bystanders. He can influence whether we have a plan. Social justice equity and growth. Where planet of unbridgeable differences between people. Wasted resources corruption. Now. Oh that leads up to the idea that we actually have. And once we have accepted that we have. How are. We know. We need to. Danielle. Universalist. We know we need to. Good. But we are afraid of the consequences. What if we do manage to change the world. You know. Changing the world. Comedian brett butler thumbs up this way she says i'm all for the revolution happening now i'm just afraid i won't be able to find good moisturizer afterwards. Family systems theory has recognized that we usually cannot affect change in the world around us without first being able and willing to change ourselves. Purse. Powerful things you can do in changing our relationships with other people but it is our family or community or overall. Curse. You must be the change that you want to see in the world. You may never know what results come from your action but if you do nothing there will be no results. So if we exercise our power. And howard. I like the definition power is the ability to create or did it change. In ourselves in the world then we and the world will be different because of it. The future that is in our hands. We open kitchen you. Self-destructive behavior. Better for us. This is all that i'm talking about. Scarred. Ralph stair. Overestimate the value of what they have. Underestimate the value. By giving that. Feminist writer carole crist. Set screws that she'd learn then people would change. This sounds very familiar. He just give him the facts. He died in our wonkiness. Conversation. Overtime. Frustrated when she realized that not only were other people not changing. It was just plain hard work to change some things are alive. However change is possible and she found. Gilchrist found. Taking baby steps. Present moving towards a future. But often appear at first blush as major changes or shifts. In retrospect. We have to walk to the corner before we can turn. Any loot work in organizations. It's many many small meetings. Finally. Information. Eschew. Gracepoint. And she says. Everything we do. Everything we do. Because it is accumulation of overtime that create the present. And the potential. Future. University of missouri. Back in the eighties. Figure out what party 80s. Sometime. Version of a brief one-page essay in large scholarly looking letters. It was one of the best. It's message was this there is no long-term substitute for thoughtful. As i spent time in academia. Is 1. Two kids to work. Many times in the wee hours i looked up at that page opposite my study desk. Help me to resist the temptation to drive shortcut or to give into frustration. Over the years i lost that piece of paper i'm recently rediscovered. Messages. It shows that truth. A persistent in our actions. Now. Renaissance sculpture. Sculpture in haverhill. The greater danger for most of us lies. And falling short. But in setting our aim too low. A cheating heart. Training for ministry. .. Is that. We were persistent. Alright amen. Even the shape society and power. Or not. How to change the power to make the change. And because we are powerful. We have responsibility. How many of you have seen the spider-man movies of the last few years or so. Pokemon you guys. Beach movie 2. What is. Tomorrow. That you hear coming out of the spider-man. Straight. With great power comes great responsibility. Okay. With great power comes great responsibility. Probably a voice inside your head right now streaming. Something perhaps even very colorful. About what more responsibility. I'm up to here with responsibilities. Write etcetera etcetera etcetera. I really do. I have a new baby. He's not sure that he really wants. When i hold them i know that. The future is in my hands. Heater is in. Our. Is as a congregation we are a unique laboratory visual aid if you will for the living out of our principals in the world. If we can be together as a community that practices are principles with each other. Send me demonstrate. To work in the rest of the world. We're living demonstration. Are there resources to support the common good then we have to do so by example ourselves starting with our own immediate responsibility. Seems to the common good of our congregation its mission. In our faith. Slipknot. We're being hypocrisy finger pointers. So i know that it sounds like taking commandment to call me in the morning. But it's true. It sounds trite. There's a reason why. The quality of our lives is measured in the quality of a relationship. Had a relationship we create and sustain. It almost ironically quality relationships take a larger quantity of our time and attention and energy. Future. And yet it is quality of our relationship. This seems to be especially true with regard to our relationships with. Religious community. I'm always interested in why we do the things that we do. And as a parish ministry is part of my calling to explore that with you. Part of what i gleaned from my sabbatical last year was that participation in religious community is a response. Four basic human relational yearnings for you. Boys were complicated in that is a model and models are always wrong. We need to be understood. And feel understood. Please remind me of the social justice axiom they don't care what you know until they know that you care. Understand. We do understand ourselves. Probably first. And then each other. Center place in the universe. Purse. We also need to understand and feel that we belong in. Into a religious community. Henry pilgrim soul. Human beings are social creatures. And we need. And accepting and embracing to unity. Finally we yearn. Urine for cope. Urine for hope especially in our current days of fear and turmoil we need to know the light at the end of the tunnel is not another train coming at us. We're going down the tunnel. That there is actually room in our lives for more and greater possibilities for a fuller and more successful life. Understood understand. Ballora. Know that we are powerful precious holy. And not alone. I believe he's my offer us some insight to what our lives can be they may give us away to know how our world. Not if. We are successful. That's we are empowered and. Power is the ability crater hit a change. This is a concentration in caring for the power by institutions that we created. If there had been. And its predecessors congregation would not be here. Now. If some of our founding members. Desire to have the same for their families here. The people never know. Did not serve on boards and committees and financing building. We would not be here in this place now. It sounds terribly obvious but we often forget the amazing amount of time and energy and money and other resources that people have given over the years. One meeting at a time. Set a time to check or dollar in the plate at a time. It all. We do make a difference. Please take it with me. The future is in our hands. Future is in our hands. Generally change natural system. Only happens when there is enough discomfort or a disequilibrium. In my life. I have two diapers right now. I can clearly say that the only person. The old saying that there is only one person who likes change and that's wet baby is very true. We are all here seeking something. In our lives. We are all at. Or discontent. With something or we would likely not here looking for something different. He'd be home maybe someplace else. A more traditional religious language what we are looking for is called salvation. The grand celebration that is talked about. My wife says they are for something. Better. Lemoore. Even showed the ability to make change relies greatly on our willingness to make changes and to live with the often unforeseen consequences. Of those changes. However as mahatma gandhi put it in the never know the results. What results come of your action. But if you do nothing there will be no results. 15 years before. The issue is how much attention separate are we going to put into shaping the changes that are in fact coming our way. Writer and philosopher albert camus offers that real generosity towards the future lies in giving all to the presents. And universalist reverend olympia brown who was the first woman for the states by the nomination. The second woman ordained at all in this country. She said stand by this faith. Workforit sacrifice for it there is nothing in all the world so important to be loyal to this place before us. The luckiest of ideals. Put this comforter essence r03. Chernobyl duty and made the world beautiful. That you are strong enough to work for a great trip and without. Olympia brown knew from experience. That in this way. Stay with me. The future is in our hands. Very incremental nature of life means two things one is that changing the world takes longer than we realize or what. Open happening in ways we cannot predict. And secondly fortunately because of incremental nature of things everything we do. In contrast to most religious groups were pretty small in numbers. Our congregation here is around 197. We hover between 190 and. 210. Our association is one of only about 250,000 people men women and children. And yet they're probably more methodist. So what are we regularly invited as equal. Dallas area interfaith. Plano plano multicultural roundtable the king day and gay pride parades etcetera it is not for anyone single. Should be committed. Fortunately don't get away. The reality is we're committed he show up. Consistent. Amore sheer numbers.. In one of our. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has. And dorothy daisy leigh founder of the grassroots catholic worker movement challenges. People say that what is the center of our small effort. A pebble cast is waupun causes ripples. The spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts words and deeds. It's like that. So it is an accumulation of small transpire. Will refrain from doing shapes the world not only in the present but for the future as well. We are all architects of the beloved community creating a cradle of our common. Because we are engaged and present. Everything we do ultimately count. Say it with me. Future is in our hands. Changing the world does not mean instantly transforming everything into a totally different state if it does not mean total control. Not total control. That would be a little delusional. And actuality england you do in the world changes it. Everything counts. Even if we take it down to level of prayer. Even if we don't believe in existence of a supreme being answered prayers the very act of praying itself is shown to lower our blood pressure. Heart rate. Improve your self-awareness and awareness of those around us. Am i changing ourselves. He changed the world. We have those change the world for the better. Part of the world. If it is ourselves change changes the world as a whole vehicle. Existence of which we are. Changing. Let me do this on a collective level. Applying to larger systems. Houston station. It is synergistically. Powerful. The result is more than the sum of the parts. When we walk and talk and act. In our principles our ability to affect change. When we embrace our role as change agents as well as being affected by changes vr empowered. We are committed and constantly become worthy. To ourselves and others as well. Let me embrace patience and knowledge that everything we do cows we can be present and optimistic about the future. Only embracing apply that truth to the best way to bring our principles to refrigeration in the world just to leave them out in our own lives. Starline. Dancing along the resonating singing harmonies of integrity. Hope. Hope. For a world made. Fair. All. And he will know that. Future is in our hands. Let the congregation say amen.

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Reading1_040311.mp3

My first reading this morning is from. God a biography. Is it actually a pulitzer prize-winning book by. Diligent. Professor jack miles. And i highly recommend it. Do x-rays from what he talks about from a chapter. Beginning he calls image and origin and original. Many in the west no longer believe in god. But lost belief like a lost fortune. Has effects that linger. A young man raised in wealth may when he comes of age give his fortune away and live in poverty. His character however will remain that of a man raised in well. We cannot. Give his history away. A similar fashion centuries of rigorous. Godly character building have created an ideal of human character that stands. Fast even for many. Is foundation has been removed. Or non-westerners knowledge of the god whom the west has worship openly. Opens a unique direct path to the core. An origin of the western ideal of character. For westerners themselves a deeper knowledge of this guy conserve to render conscious. And sophisticated what is otherwise typically unconscious and naive. We are all in a way immigrants. From the past. And just as an immigrant returning after many years to the land of his birth stacy his own face in the faces of strangers. So the modern western secular reader may feel a tremor of self-recognition. In the presence of the ancient protagonist of the bible. Philosophers of religion have sometimes claim that all gods are protection projection. Human personality. And so it may be. But if we must at least recognize the empirical fact that many human beings rather than project their own personalities upon god. Holy of their own creation. Have chosen it to introject. Take into themselves the religious projections of other human personalities. Just being the writers of the god of the bible. No character. However onstage page or screen has ever had the reception. That god has had. God is more than household word in the west. He is welcome or not a virtual member of the western family. Parents would be done with him cannot keep their children from him. For not only has everyone heard of him everyone even now and tell you something about him. Reality is that we make matters so difficult for ourselves because our forbearers understood themselves to be in the image of god. Other god who in the fact you had many matters similar and difficult for himself. Monotheism recognizes only one god hear o israel the lord is our god the lord is one. The bible insist on nothing about god more than his unity. God is the rock of ages integrity in person. And yet the same being combined several personalities. Either near unity character alone or mirror multiplicity personality alone would have been so much easier to deal with. But he is bo. I saw the image of the human that derives from him. Requires. Both. Personality and character. God is no saint. Strange to say. There is much to inject you and him and many attempts have been made to improve on him. Mass at the bible says about him is really preaching from the pulpit because examined it closely it becomes a scandal. Only some of the bible is actively preached none of the bible is quite denied. On the improbability. Unexpurgated on the improbably unexpurgated bible page god remains as he has been. Original who was the faith of our fathers and whose image is still living. Still within us. As difficult. The dynamic secular ideals.

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Reading_040509.mp3

A reading this morning is. By william ellery channing. Considered to be the father if not founder of american unitarianism. He says that the great end in religious instruction. Is not a stamp our minds upon the young but the stir up. Their own. Not to make them see with our eyes but to look inquiring lie and steadily with their own. Not to give them a definite amount of knowledge but to inspire a fervent love of truth. Not to form an outward regularity but your touch inward springs. Not to bind them to eradicable prejudices. To our particular sect or particular notion. A peculiar notions. But repair them. For impartial. Conscientious. Judging of whatever subjects may be offered. To their decision. Not to burden their memory but to quicken and strengthen the power of thought. Not to impose religion upon them in the form of arbitrary rules. But to awaken the conscience. The moral discernment. In a word. The great end in. Indian religious instruction. Is to awaken. The soul. To excite. And cherish. Spiritual life. Bus ends are reading.

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Reading_042510.mp3

A reading this morning is a selection. From. Piece of. Navajo tradition. Call the night chant. This description is an excerpt by johnson dennison a navajo healer. He says the navajo night chant is a healing ceremony you treat a patient who is experiencing problems with his or her vision hearing and mind it is used to treat prolonged illness. It is considered a distinctive and popular ceremony. The ceremony is complicated attractive and expensive. Needing months. A preparation. It attracts many people during the nine nights it is done. It takes a lot of commitment cooperation and support. Family members relatives and community members. Sponsor. The night show. One section of the night chance some of which we are familiar with. Says. No talkin god with your feet i walk i walk with your limbs i carry forth your body for me your mind thinks. Your voice speaks for me beauty is before me beauty is behind me and above and below me hovers the beautiful. I am surrounded by it i am immersed in it in my youth i am aware of it and in old age i shall walk quietly. The beautiful trail. The mountains i become part of it. The herbs the fir tree i become part of it the morning mist the clouds the gathering waters. I become part of it. The wilderness the dewdrops the pollen. I become part of it. May it be delightful my house. From my head may it be delightful to my feet may it be delightful mayile i may it be delightful. Above all may it be delightful. All around me may it be. Delightful. So ends our.

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20140727-Ritual.mp3

Please rise if you're able and willing. Oh yes i called to you. Be here now. I called you you be here now. Nauseous i called you be here now. Suffer i called you you be here now. As above. So below. I was sent forth. From the power of come to those. Reflect on me. Look upon me. You reflect upon me. And you here. Hear me. You. Who are waiting for me. Take me to yourself. Enter not banish me from your site. And do not make your voices hate me. Nor your hearing. Do not be ignorant to me anywhere or anytime. Beyond your car. For i am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the scorned one. I'm the horror and the holy one. I'm the wife and the virgin. I am the mother and the daughter. I am the baron one. And many are her son. I am chief whose wedding is great. And i have not taken a husband. I am the midwife and she who does not fair. I am the saudis. Of my labor pain. I am silence that's in comprehensible and idea whose remembrance is free. I am the voice. Who sound does manifold. And the word whose appearance is multiple i am the utterance of mine. Why you hate me do you love me. And hate those who love me. You who deny me confess me and you who confessed me 290. Fram knowledge and ignorance i am shane. I am shameless. And i am ashamed. I am strength. I am war and peace. Give heed to me. I'm the one who is disgraced. And the great one. Give heed to my poverty and i will. Do not be arrogant to me when i am passed out upon the earth. And you will find me and those that are to come. And do not look upon me on the dung heap norco and leave me cast out. And you will find me in the kingdom's. And do not look upon me when i am cast out among those were disgraced. And in the least places. My laugh at me. I do not cast me out among those were slaying and violence. I am compassionate. Do not hate my obedience. Do not love my. My self-control. Then my weakness do not forsake me. I do not be afraid of my power. For why do you despise me and fear me and curse my pride. But i am she who exists and all fears. And strengthen. I am she who is weak. And i am well and pleasant place. I am senseless and i am wise. Why have you hated me and your council's. But shall be silent. Among those who are silent and i shall appear and speak. I am the one who has been loved everywhere. I am the one. From they called life and you've called death. I'm the one. Whom they have called law and your called lawlessness. I am the one. Tell me what pursued and i'm the one ufc. I'm the one who made scattered. Gathered together. I am the one before whom you've been ashamed. And you've been shameless to me. I have the one selected upon. And you've going to me. I am unlearned. And i've learned. I'm the one you despise and reflect upon me. I am the one who you kiddin phone and you appear to me. But whenever you hide yourself. I myself pull up here. For whenever you appear i misspelled fluoride for me. Take me to yourself. From understanding and. And take me to yourselves from places. That are ugly and in ruin. And rob from those. Which are good even though in ugliness. Out of shame. Take me to yourself shamelessly. And out of shamelessness and shame upgrade my members in yourself. And come forward to me. You know me. And you know my numbers. And establish the great ones among the small first. Come forward to childhood. I do not despise it. Because it is small and it is little. And do not turn away greatness is in grape parts from smallest. For the smallness is arno from the greatness. Why do you curse me in anime. You have wounded and you've had mercy. Do not separate me from the first one to review. You have known. And do not cast anyone out or turn anyone away north turn you away and know me not. I know the first one. And those after them know me. I am the knowledge of my inquiry. I'm the one who is honored. And who is praised and who is despised scornfully i am peace and wars, because of me. I am an alien and a citizen. I am the substance and the one who has no substance. On the day when i'm close to you. You are far away from me and all the day. When i am far away from you i am close to. I am within i am of the natures. And the creatures. I am. Of the nature's i am the creation of the spirits. I am the request of the souls. I am control in the uncontrollable i am the union and the dissolution. I am the one below and they come up to me. I am the judgment in the acquittal. I am sinless and the root of sin. Derives from me. I am lost in outward appearance. An interior self-control exist within me. I am hearing. Which is attained. Which is attainable to everyone. And a speech which cannot be grasped. I am on mute. Who does not speak. And great is the most. Multitude of my words. Hear me inches wellness. Unlearn me in roughness. I am she who cries out. And i am test forth upon the face of the earth. I prepare the bread and my mind within. I am knowledge of my name. I am the one who cries out and i listen. I am the defense of the defenseless. And the one who is called true. Zephyr. Largest pecan. Furious pecan. So above.

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Reading_082210.mp3

Our reading is one that we. Just shared a few minutes ago. James luther adams suicide. A great figure in the last half of the twentieth century for us. Encapsulated so much of what we understand to be the liberal religious tradition. In his. Reading that we did as a responsive reading. I call that church free which enters into covenant with the ultimate source of existence. That sustaining and transforming power not made with human hands. It binds together families and generations protecting against the idolatry of any human claim to absolute truth or authority. This covenant. Is the charter and responsibilities. Enjoy of worship in the face of death as well as life. I called at church free which brings individuals into caring. Entrusting fellowship. That protects and nourishes their integrity and spiritual freedom. That yearns to belong to the church universal. It is open to inside and conscience from every source it bursts through rigid tradition giving rise to new and living language. Can you and broader fellowship. It is a pilgrim church. A servant church. On adventure of the spirit. The goal is the prophet hood and priesthood of all believers the one for the liberty of prophesying. The other for the ministry of healing. It aims to find unity in diversity. Under the promptings of the spirit. Step louis louis where it listeth. And mega all things. So ends are we.

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20131222-Sermon_3.mp3

No one knows. For sure. But it's a good guess that the advent wreath had its beginnings. And a pagan firewheel. The closed circle wheel or wreath. Is symbolic of eternity and was used by christians to symbolize the everlasting flow of time. Or world without end. The use of an advent wreath originated. A few hundred years ago among the lutherans in germany. Many may were made of evergreens. It is either suspended from a ceiling or placed on a table. Fashion to the advent wreath are holders for for candles. Representing four weeks of advent. On the first sunday of advent when candle is lighted and allowed to burn during a ceremony of readings prayers and songs. And on each succeeding sunday in additional candle is light at the beginning of service until the fourth sunday. How tall are santa glow. On that day some families light a large candle in the center of the wreath. Assemble eyes christ the light of the world and we will be lighting that on christmas eve. Ourselves.

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Sermon_042212.mp3

The late david eaton. Roads are responsive reading earlier. Common destiny. He said all living substance all substance of energy being and purpose are united and share the same destiny. And he then asked us at the end may we have faith we accept this mystery and build upon its everlasting. I think this is a very good statement of what we understand. At least in our seventh principle. The interconnected web of all existence of which we are apart. A larger understanding is that we are all. Interdependence. Interdependent is not just to be in relationship but that it is a necessary relationship. To rely on the interrelatedness for the very. Continuing of our existence. Humans are far more interdependent. Call the other beings in systems of this world they are. In his book the world without us alan weisman offers. He asked us to envision our earth without us. I believe there's also been a couple of tv series on. Some of the channels are running channels about. The earth after human beings. Very interesting. In his book. How just days after humans disappear floods in new york subways would start eroding the city's foundation. And how has the world cities crumble asphalt jungle giveaway to real ones. He describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild how billions more birds with flourish and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. You know the only reason they're there is cuz it's heated. Drawing on the expertise of engineers and atmospheric scientist art conservator zoologist oil refiners marine biologist astrophysicists religious leaders and from rabbis to the dalai lama and paleontologists. Mr. weissman illustrates that the planet might be like. But it might be like today if not for us. Replaces already devoid of human beings last fragment of primeval forest in europe. The korean demilitarized zone. Chernobyl. Weisman reveals earth tremendous capacity for healing. And as he shows with human devastations are indelible and which examples of our highest art and culture would enjoy the longest. His narrative ultimately drive toward a radical but. Persuasive solution that doesn't. Depend. He deeply looks at our effects. On this planet. And how we may want to change. I think for a visual of of what wise men maybe talking about you think about the popular movie from 2 years ago. The i am legend. So it's it's an update of the omega man that was made by charlton heston back in the 60s. Science fiction fans out there. So basically the world. Suffers an ecological or biological disaster that wiped out humanity or transforms it into an alien and aggressive species. Essentially no one is an island. In our interdependence on each other we reveal reveal and experience the presence of that which is within and beyond ourselves. We know this presents by many names to call a guy. Spirit of life. However it is that we know it and understand you encounter it in particular places. For the desire and a fear and a fascination. It is this encounter with the holy the reawakening to the ultimate in which we live and breathe and have our being as it exists in the concrete world. The here. Which determines our experiences of sacred space. It is this encounter with our awareness of the holy at particular places that makes them seem special plus. Sacred space of the holy as the concrete. Has the manifest body of the sacred. It is the place where we need god. It is places in which we encounter the infinite within the mantle of the physical. It is a place we come face-to-face with that which we call most important. In our lives. With the gods. For the ultimate. At the center of our universe. What is sacred spaces are those places in between counter the holy then it is possible that everywhere is holy ground. We meet the ultimate the holy in many places at many times. Getting shape to and being shaped by our lives. Consequently sacredspace media cathedral. 4 family kitchen table. An old chair. A river a mountain. A pastor. Etcetera. All ground is holy ground. All places are holy places. Page and all with the potential to be sacred to us in our experience of the ultimate. As we find or experiences. In the lakota sioux cosmology. Native america it is harney peak or pasa. Tallest point in the black hills in the dakotas. It is here that the lakota holy man nicholas blacko. Related to his vision. He says then i was standing on the highest mountain of them all and round beneath me was the whole roof of the world and while i stood there i saw more than i can tell and i understood more than i saw. And i saw that the hoop of my people was one of many hoops that make one circle. Why does daylight and starlight 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. Your sacred space is everywhere then we are obliged to act accordingly. My sense is that all of these calls for a return to civility in our society. Will be more than adequately addressed by remembering that we all stand on sacred ground before them whether or not we have our shoes on. Sociologist madonna kolbenschlag in her book lost in the land of oz the search for identity community in america. She writes that americans are struggling looking for a place in which to have a sense of rootedness and connection for something larger than ourselves. Previously provided by geographic or ethnic communities to wish we had close family ties and loyalties. With the history of most americans being more and more divorce from such ruse and most of us being more and more mobile and transient this desire and need for connection. Hernia. Our society. Pullmantur poses that not only are we feeling cut off from our external support by circumstances that we. Keep them cut off or loose because we think we have to. Your first two are particularly anglo-american myth of the self-made man or person before yourself up by your bootstraps mentality that says if you can't do it alone you're a failure even if you succeed. Right. He don't if you don't see things the way they say you should just. One level we recognize the absurdity. We have also absorbed into our being. We often act as if we must be the long-suffering at triumphant lone ranger. He's a lone ranger hedgehog and silver okay. Alright. This notion is also bound up with our love of hero worship. Image of a solitary individual was credited with achievement of many. Oh really is it's a lie. For example the civil rights movement did not happen because a handful of great men. Did they. This would be a surprise to the great women who often. And who organized and organized and organized. It happened due to the ongoing efforts 1004 have millions of people over many many many many many years. One of the great lessons of the post-cold war era is that the day of the lone ranger out to save the world is over. And i would hope.. Because all of that denies our interdependence. And the reality that we must do it together. We must do it together or perish. Together. The very fact that people congregate in sacred communities like this one. Flies the myth of self-sufficiency. If we could do it alone. We probably would. Right. I know i would it's often much easier to do it by myself without somebody else and then usually i find out the hard way. Play my friends in college. An economics major named wayne serial used to talk about. Well my daddy say if you don't use your head you got to use your feet again. Do it again. If we wanted to be alone we wouldn't be here we wouldn't be speaking questions and answers. And doing good works in the company of others. The religious community is essential for a loan our vision is too narrow to see all the must be seen and a strength. Together. Is renewed. Edge were willing and able i'd like you to reach out to those around you and take. Unless you for coughing and sneezing. So look around you. Findom. This is a very real and physical manifestation. Within this sacred space and the sacred. This secret community we seek is present not only in words and ideas of us basically in the very real touch of our hand reading or a shared work for the. We are not only connected but interconnected at an atomic level we are not only dependent on each other. Only for who and what we are. But to grow the divine seeds of who we may well be all. You can let go now. Had some of your hands start to sweat right. Sanitizer in my purse. This is the reality we live in. As unitarian universalist we uphold relationships. With each other and the world and this includes. As the great john donne wrote about death becomes equally to us all it makes us all equal. Is the ultimate act of democracy. In this universe. Now while no one is. Required. That we all have the same face. Ever. Maycomb will come to all of us. We have. The same common destiny. Are universalists forbearers affirmed the universal salvation of all and therefore heaven for everyone. Eventually. In our day we are more likely to affirm the nickname that universalist were given by their more off of doc's detractors as no heller's. Hell no. Probably not. We affirm that there is no hell or eternal punishment. I believe i can say with certainty that nearly every you you today would probably affirm this. More riley. Nineteenth-century universalist unitarian minister thomas starr king of the universe. The unitarians believe they are too good to be damned. This was a man who grew up in one denomination and serve the other so he knew them quite well. Biblical scholar marcus borg points out that jesus. The light in the natural world as the creation of god. Food and drink and was known for outkast. You had a. Pretty. Though he spoke of abandoning the family as the center of one's loyalty and security and apparently married himself. There is no reason to think that jesus was opposed to sexuality. Indeed he sanctified the family more than his tradition. Half the time. Challenge the conventional wisdom was a challenge won't my be called enculturated. Religion. Religion accommodated to conventional wisdom and increasingly shaped by those were the beneficiaries. Of that conventional wisdom. The sound familiar to you guys. When this happens religion becomes a legitimate of a way of life rather than. Invitation to a new way of life. In short it was the world of conventional wisdom as the center of identity and security. The jesus was interested in negating. According to board what jesus is doing is challenging idea that religion. Justifies the status quo. Rather religions to be about the revealing of our crummy relationships. Being not to kissin kin but to the holy as we each other and every other person as expression of the holy. I mean this is for the basis of the whole story of the good samaritan isn't it. The outcasts. Hey deshawn marginalized person is. The one who actually. As well supposed to act. And taking care of each other. Is unitarian universalist. We affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person and our common interdependence. That all of us are powerful precious holy and not alone. I'd like you to repeat that with me. I am powerful precious holy and not alone. I am powerful precious holy and not alone. He said. Present in your thoughts. Earworm from some stupid commercial use that one. I am powerful precious holy. To love our neighbor is a recognized our cell. Can the holy. In them and to respond in. It is to see their inherent worth of dignity as unique manifestations of the holy just like you and me. And to see the intimate and intricate interconnections we all have with each other and finally to respect those relationships also as sacred. It is about our intimate and necessary relationship to the other. In the here and the now. Does unitarian and universalist we reject the misconceptions of humanity and existence as being fallen or depraved and some basic nature. Instead we embraced the idea and have faith in the ultimately optimistic universe. We have reflected that in the first principle of our covenants inherent worth and dignity of every person. And why are we often. Interpret that phrase as highly individualistic statements. Historically. Statement. Was seen by our universalist forbearers. Is not being about an individual. In here where the dignity of every person is not about the individual. As much as it is about. Individual. So if we are all worthy. Then the fate of one. He's the fate of all. Is rev dr martin luther king said we are caught. In an inescapable network of mutuality. In a single garment. Destiny. So in this. Common destiny. That we share. The choices are. Suv. That destiny may ultimately be. We the people. The animals the plants. Whole life and existence are entire planets in the universe. We're all in this together. Dennis common destiny. So. Maybe we should probably try and make it. Happy birthday.

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20131006-Sermon.mp3

One of the toughest things to do is to talk about. God. Where the holy. Because like god's hat. We see so many different things from different perspectives. One of the great challenges that i encountered. My explorations and kind of clarified when i was in seminary. Is this issue between a call first order experience which is that immediate based experience the stuff the transcendentalist talked about and their writings. And the second-order experience which is the reflection. On that experience. I think sometimes people talk about this now in terms of spirituality and religion they think spiritual at the spirituality tends to be that first order experience we want that experience. People crave that experience. But then how do we make sense of it. How do we talk about it. And that's the ology. That's religion. Is trying to make sense of and then figure out what we do with. Those experiences that we have individually and that we share collectively. When i was in the air force. 20 years ago i guess. It was common wisdom. But you did not discuss politics or religion. But anybody. Not to mention don't-ask-don't-tell. And all of this was ostensibly to. Prevent conflict or just gordon if i laid in a mission cohesion. Unfortunately i have often found to often that many of us feel that we have to behave the same way in our personal lives. 2. Now the holidays coming up a lot of us are gruening are loins. For those family and counters. You know what i'm not going to. Right. We're so you know. And in what were often left with is a consequence that is a sort of feel logical equivalent to don't-ask-don't-tell where we do not engage with each other on things that we usually matter the most to us. Presumably to preserve the tranquility of our illusion of oneness with each other. For the sake of maintaining the certainty of oneness we deny our differences. We refuse risks and lose our opportunity to deepen our encounters with each other. And the holy. And the more profound connections that may lie beneath our civility and our anxiety and fear. Now the word or concept of god is difficult for many people. It's probably difficult for many of us gathered here this morning. For some of us it has very harsh emotional connections were memories for others. It is too much to encompass or it makes no sense at all. For still others of us it creates joy or sense of strength or a certainty. And while i use gone and everyday language it is a placeholder. For that which is beyond our comprehension and of immediate intimacy with our souls. Other less baggage laden terms include the holy. The ground of being. The holy is what i often use in order to have a conversation with with less reactivity then you get with the word god. So what allows communication. Fortunately as unitarian universalist we know there are many windows open to the sky of the eternal. Sometimes we forget ours are not the only windows. Our religious community is one place where we can share in journeys together even if we are carrying. Different. Pictures of god's hat. That we found in different streets in different villages. Many people contend that god or gods are simply projections of human qualities and desires. And it's probably true to a degree but it is also true that humans introject or take into ourselves many of the qualities of goddess and god that we perceive. On an eastern proverb warned be careful but gods you worship lest you become a like them. So what we think of god has an impact on us whether or not we even believe in god. Even if we're atheists. No matter how. Monotheistic and iconoclastic religions may claim to be they all use a multiplicity of names for the holy. This is because the names we use for the holy cannot exhaust the reality. Of the holy. The hindu philosopher. Radhakrishnan. Said we cannot think of god without using our imaginations. These different representations do not show god in himself but only what he is to us. At harvard scholar diane at goes on to say that we must not claim however the god as we know god exhaust the reality of god. It is human language she says which construct approaches and apprehend but never exhaust or comprehend. The divine. As many words as we may throw at our understandings of god we must recognize inherent limitations of words themselves. Words are language. And language are symbols. These are human constructs. As such they are human creations and therefore they are finite. Because words and human beings are particular and finite they cannot express or encompass the totality of existence. The holy whether it is finite or infinite. Therefore any human claims you have complete understanding of the holy or to know the mind of god. Are impossible. And a mistake. So any human experiences are claims about the holy goddess god or only partial and finite. This is important. Any human experience or claims about god is god the holy are only partial. And finite. This leads us to another issue do what you two of idolatry and this will be a fun one around the dinner table at thanksgiving christmas. You can run with this as far as you want don't blame me. Contrary to the popular notion that it requires a stone idol or an image to commit idolatry any claim to know the whole mine or reality of god is an act of idolatry. The whole idea of stone idols things just at this one particular thing supposedly encompasses. All of. What is god. And that can't be. The same thing goes. When idolatry occurs when we confuse the non ultimate with the ultimate. The part for the whole. It occurs when we confuse human language and symbols about the holy. With the holy itself. The map is not the terrain as they say in anthropology. And the finger pointing to the moon is not the same as the moon itself. Our language about god is not about god but about our language about god. Therefore any attempt to make absolute claims about god or the holy is an act of idolatry. Hang on here. This has some interesting implications. Think about the response you might get the next time someone is trying to impress you with the inerrancy of some holy scripture. And you lay this little bit of logic on them. Very frankly any kind of scriptural literalism is an act of idolatry. Some of you were having these lovely conversations in your head right now. I can see it some of your smiling and summer trying not to cry. Any kind of scriptural literalism. Is an act of idolatry. So here we are. Limited beings with limited tools trying to understand that which by definition is beyond understanding. Trying to describe what life is very nature is beyond description. And yet it is our attempts to adequately describe the holy the ultimate one that we encounter that many faces. Of holy. Do encounter these many faces. Of holy. This is a challenge to our western culturally ingrained monotheism which underlies many of our assumptions in our lives such as one god one saved people one truth one normality. Even. Within the traditions of monotheism. There are multiple ways to understand god as parent lover spirit creator redeemer sunwarrior. Daughters destroyer shepherd. Etc. A metaphor. That occurred to me while i was still essentially a christian teenager. Was that a god or the holy as an infinitely faceted infinite gem. And that each facet we look at was a particular facet or revelation about the holy distinct. What entered liep art of the hole. Now later in seminary i learned that this was considered to be a heresy in orthodox trinitarian christianity. Called modalism. That we see the made many aspects and faces of the holy as modes of a larger hole. In retrospect this was an early indicator of my spiritual journey to come leading me here and now is a unitarian. As human beings. We have this profound. Need. For connection with the holy this hunger for the spiritual for the holy. Ecstatic communion. And we have been attempts to two name that experience the name that which we are in relationship with. And there are than tensions between. The first order experience the immediacy of that and trying to communicate it with somebody else. This is the origins of poetry and music. Try to recreate the experience. At the same time they're trying to describe the experience. So the central pension for us arises between not being able to describe her name it. And its expansive totality. And then this needs to be able to approach it and engage it in the particular of our daily existence. We tried to explain or describe our non rational and irrational difference. Irrational and non-rational are not the same. Non-rational is simply not rational irrational is the opposite of rational. To make sense. Good thank you. Take me longer to get in. So we try to describe our non-rational experiences of our all and our delight. Of the holy. With reason dunder standing. Family systems theory one of the terms we've learned is it is that you can't inject. Rationality into emotional systems. This is why i trying to reason with teenagers doesn't work. And why sometimes people trying to reason with us doesn't work. Or even try to reason with ourselves. Doesn't work. I know i shouldn't have that other piece of cake. I really really shouldn't i'm going to have it anyway. Cuz i really want. I'm doing it right now with small children who i want. Now they say i need. I say no you don't need it you want it okay i want it. Glad you clarified that dad. But it is this attempt. To give understanding and meaning. To that which is. Only able to be experienced. I find it interesting in the history of religion. The eleusinian mysteries. In greece which were celebrated for 5,000 years. Had a prohibition on teaching what they called the lesser mysteries of a death sentence. If you thought somebody to lesser mysteries which were basically. The sort of logistical do's and don'ts of the experience you know don't describe the experience to somebody don't tell them what's going to happen that's worth. But there was no prohibition on describing is what they called the greater mysteries. And the reason for that is that you can't describe the greater mysteries. The greater mysteries are purely experiential. Until. But we often end up with in our own lives and in our understanding of religion is this just trying to describe the greater mysteries and all the end of talking about are the lesser mysteries. Well that's all we have language to. Approach it with. And because of the inadequacies of inadequacies of language. We required to multiply names and descriptions by which we can identify. And identify with the ultimate. As we become more personal and less abstract in describing our experience of the ultimate in our lives the language becomes more specific and graphic graphic and intimate. In our own hymnal there are several hymns which illustrate this we sang a couple of them. Number 23 bring many names. Which descriptions like strong mother god old aching god. The number 31 the name unnamed with names like. Spinner of chaos. Nudging discomfort. Midwife of changes. Daredevil gambler. Or the muslim poet and reading number 607 in our hymnal beloved presents. Who speaks of god. As a lover. Poke yourself in a thousand ways i shall still know you my beloved. For those of you with red song of solomon. Pretty racy stuff. It's about god. Ostensibly. And then there's in contrast rock musician tom waits who says there is no devil. It's just god when he drinks. Interesting lee if he is right. Then we truly are then made in the image of god this would explain a lot. The other major factors contributing do to our experiences of this menace of god is that of a point-of-view by different people and even the same people at different times. Yeah that was in the story of god's hat by chris by so you know the red hat in the blue hat. On different sides of the street. Even within any one of us at any one time there are different voices. Not the 12 medication treats. Just the different voices of our personalities and our perspective. Like a proverbial blind man. Any elephant we are differently experiencing different parts of the same thing sometimes simultaneously. And some describing trunks another describing tales and the other of other parts of a larger unseen hole. I feel the real importance of all of this is in the fact that the ways we experience and describe the underlying reality of our lives. Intern affect our lives and the lives of those around us. If we experience god or the holy as harsh demanding jealous. And then that we hold certain implications about the world. And how we should live in it. Get our experience and image of the holy is all loving and bracing and forgiving. That understanding will have a different set of applications for us and the lives that we live. Be careful what god you worship lest you become like them. Or as unitarian minister and transcendentalist ralph waldo emerson wrote. He says a person will worship something have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts. It will out. He says that which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives and our character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship. For what we are worshipping we are becoming. And one of the interesting things. And reading recent years i've been reading the words work of george like off. Somebody may be familiar with his work he written books like don't think of a pink elephant. And moral politics more politics as when i was most familiar with robot 20 years ago it's still a standard. Can you talk about this issue of framing of how we frame our reality. And the language you use to frame our conversation. Any talks about why you have these radically different polarizing. Ways of looking at the world. Then he tried to make understanding of this and he found that the best thing he found to describe why these collections of. Beliefs and feelings and identities exist in our modern western culture. Is because of two different views of the family system. One of those is called the strict father model. And the gender-specific term is. Father. Nsu's intentionally. And the other is the nurturing parent model. And that the reality is we're all somewhere along a continuum in between these. This applies also to our understanding of theology. Because we often do a mutual thing of where we take in our understanding of what the holiest supposed to because idea. A religion is to be in harmony with this larger reality. And if we see this larger reality as strict. Punishing it's a dangerous world out there there for you have to be cautious all the time in a caveat emptor all of those things. Then. You have a different understanding what it means to be in harmony or in line with that reality and therefore the consequences of that are played out in our lives are politics. Economics all of those things. And the reverse is true. If we believe in a. Infinitely generous universe. That is constantly unfolding. Where the arc of justice. Islam. The arc of the universe is long and bends towards justice. If we believe those things. That has a different set of applications. If we believe is our universalist forbearers doing this with some of the distinctions between universalist in the calvinist. Universalist believed in universal salvation. That all would be reunited with god there was no separation between the ghost in the sheets and all that fun stuff. Callus on your hand felt turner burn. Doesn't matter if you're going to burn anyway but maybe probably. So what we believe. Affects our lives it's real is not a philosophical exercise. It affects who we are. Even if we reject some idea of the holy we have rejected probably out-of-hand something that might be useful to us. And we also then maybe reject all understandings of god when it's only one particular view of god that we're rejecting. Jesus scholar marcus board talks about this is being. About relative atheism which is atheism. Relative to a particular view of god. Total atheism or absolute atheism which is complete rejection of any idea of god. And a lot of people who think that they're totally 80s really are simply relative atheist they just don't know if there's something else out there. So even believing something. Alone does not make it concrete or influential in our lives with elijah others. As unitarian thomas jefferson wrote it is in fact our lives not in our words that our religion will be demonstrated. So it's how we believe and then how we put those things into action. Reality. Now keep in mind that's. Not as big a jump as we think it is because the reality would we react to and that we engage with is the one in our heads. Neuroscience. All the studying i did 10 years or so ago on in hypnosis work. Reality in our minds is a reality that determines our lives. Amina determine the external factors. In the objective reality. Bet they determine how we behave in relationship to them. And what choices we make. In a world increasing and it's a complexity in multiplicity rigid. Singly focused ways of understanding life the holy the ultimate goddess god to come. More fragile more brittle. And it ever increasingly necessary to be able to see the reflection of the spirit of life in the eyes of different people. From us. To see it in somebody else's face. 3 open to understanding is that the underlying significance of everything different from our own. The interconnected web of all existence is woven of many many strands. And it is a great web of delight. As unitarian universalist we should not have cannot abandon god language. We have to reimburse it. Continue to embrace it. Because if we abandon god language to those who would. Two others there are those who would just as soon beat us to death with it. Literally. We need to acknowledge our own responsibility for the image of god that we are content to believe in or not. As unitarian universalist we are already divorced but we need to use the various languages we have to share together the profoundness of our lives at the view new ways for us. To experience each other as a part of the holy breathing web of existence of this. Holy world. This holy creation. Intern. We can offer our lives. To the world as examples of more open more loving and more caring ways of being. In relationship. Today's many faces. This many. Names. Oh god. And the holy. It's meaningless and oneness. That embraces. Fussball.

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Sermon_040713.mp3

Annie dillard reminds us. We are here to abet creation and to witness to it. To notice each other's beautiful face and complex nature so that creation need not play to an empty house. In the themes. They're taking the themes in this car gation this month begins that of transformation. Information can mean any number of things but i think you short. It is. That radical conversion. From one stage to another. Never able to fully reverse or return again. 2 once what once was. And seems to me. That one way to kind of enter into such a thing such as. Transformation. Would be to talk about something specific. Such as one person. And so i like to offer is. A bit of a story about one of our most excellent religious educators. Safai align5. No. Yoshi's happens to be one of those people. Who not only merits this treatment of celebration lifting up. But she also has a surprisingly profound and lasting legacy but implications for all of our efforts and education for all ages. As well as how we go about being good stewards. Of the future. A liberal religion. So i realize this is a set-up and we only have a few minutes so you know. Let's talk about saint sophia. If you take away anything else nothing else i hope you will appreciate. How what she offered remains in the very air we breathe and the pulse of life that shows up everytime we bring together. Science and religion. Such as the beekeeping in church. Every time we prepare for class of people of all ages every time we locate our theology in the world and realize there is no separation. When human beings and the rest of existence. Now but i assure you that sofia line did not enter into the world with that ambition. She appeared in the very usual way. Born in china to presbyterian missionary parents in 1876. And i want to know. About the pronunciation yes indeed it is so fire not sophia. Her granddaughter took the time to emphasize this with my spouse when she visited the seminary he attended. And since one of the easiest ways to remember people is through the names this is an important point. Now sapphire. Was born into a very conservative christian home and at first share their aspirations to also become a missionary. The family moved to ohio when she was very young and she graduated from the college of wooster. Now while a freshman. She taught sunday school from the bible as every christian church did. Well that teaching started as a slippery slope. For as she engaged with the children and wanted to know more about the lessons and what to teach. She went to find other resources beyond the bible. And in order to engage the students now you know anybody who's hot. Children. Maybe adele. It's always wise to have more than one way to enter the same lesson. For all ages. So she was trying to do everything she could. For their sake. Now after graduation cheap she still wanted to do the missionary work with her church. But ended up working part-time. At university of chicago. And there. I know these universities they are dangerous places there she encountered these new methods of biblical criticism. The base to study in the context of the time and the history of the culture of the source. Not just to make the scripture fit the doctrine. That was being taught this was a radical idea of the time that you actually look at what was happening in israel or in the middle east in the time when these things were supposed to have been created. This was a new idea. In its depth and its attention. Historical accuracy. The natalie was she in countering that she also was encountering this movement. A progressive education. So by 1904 she had found a lifelong partner in the methodist missionary. Charles harvey foss. And she completed a degree at columbia university's teachers college. Who studies included becoming more familiar with developments in education and working with this experimental sunday school. Now they fully intended to travel and to be missionaries. But harvey's health never let them do that. Instead they raised their family in new york and sapphire continued her work in religious education. Having taken her church membership to her husband's messages. And her studies took on a very personal context as they welcomed five children into their family. Three of whom survived. She said her children. The children who joined our family circle would not merely the object of my educational efforts. They were the most. Potent source of my own education. We get an amen there they were the most potent source of my own education in a vital sense the children were unwittingly my major teachers. Now supported by that training she said about observing her children to deepen her understanding of how they learned and interacted with the world. So this study resulted in a whole foundation of her approach to religion in education. And you might not be surprised to know that by that time she was no longer maybe the methodist. But she characterized her face. As a natural humanism. By the time she finished her degree at union theological seminary. And then went on to work at the church of church school of the riverside church in new york. She became known as an outstanding experimenter. I'm really sick acacian. She brought her study and her confidence in that education to the american unitarian association. In 1970 1937. Someone's there she began to reorganize and pushed farther into the education program beyond the traditional focus on the christian scripture. For the purpose of what became called the new beacon series. Was we wish children to come to know god directly through original approaches. To their own universe. We wish children to come to know god. Directly through original approaches. To their own universe. Didn't have to focus on any one tradition. Did many sources for welcome and encouraged. So this was her part. And contributing to the renaissance and unitarianism in the 1940s. I want to say a little bit more. About how she approached this what was her. What was her basic belief. Because they inform our conversation. About how to approach. Transformation. There are five basic needs. And she describes them. In what she calls her natural humanism. There's first that instinctive urge to keep alive and avoid death. Sam trumbore mentioned that in his ancestors saying you must survive. The second is wondered. Second is wonderment. Being amazed being in all being willing to be. Washed over. With what we experience. And the third. The third is love. The third is love and the dread of being alone. That desire to be connected. The 4th. Is. The emotional need. To resolve conflicting emotional impulses in an ordered way. But even the most. Tell. View disorganized of us. Want to get things sorted out. Want to help take care of ourselves so that we can figure out. Even going from chaos to. Resolution. And then the fifth and final. Is the basic emotional need for idealized cells as heroes or as divinity. As heroes or as divinity. I'm encountering this right now with our son who is watching star wars. And wants to know more about luke skywalker. In short she was much more interested in the impulses and the question. Around human belief. How do we sort ourselves out. I think the questions of king melinda is one of those good stories that goes along with this. Wonder. Inquiry. Wanting. Real connection with one another. And just sort out all of it so that we can kind of find our path. And make sense. How to simply put she put her life into the big questions not the big answers. She puts it in the great religions especially those of western of the western world. The accent has been upon beliefs and convictions. Rather than question. In fact the distinguishing marks between different religious sects have been for the most part the differences in their beliefs. And although beliefs are important we need to remind ourselves that they are the fruits of experience. And that in the natural world each new life begins with its own. See. As parents of children as educators. We need to practice looking beneath the convictions. Define the earlier experiences that awakened the question. Which intern call forth the answers. That are given as conviction. Geissele just had this conversation along these lines of the coming-of-age class where i serve and 1st jefferson and fort worth. Weird conversation about the seven principles and about the role that they play in unitarian universalism. And i put it out. That. Say the first principle that we share. Inherent worth and dignity. Belief in the inheritance and dignity of every person. One could say this and have absolutely no religious conviction. This could be simply an ethical state. The distinction. The distinction about weight makes it a theological statement. Is why we believe that. Why we would have fur. The inherent worth and dignity. Of every person. Why would we say that. There's the big question. That each of us has to answer. Before we can say. This is a principle. Upon which i can believe. Or not. Just as example of how we entertain that now. And in this time. Now sapphire was at the center. The general move from the bible centered faith to one that begins with big questions inspired by traumatic moments. Perhaps one of the better ways was to have a relevant faith. Utah versus world. Article about her saying that in the late 1920s. As the debate about fundamentalism raged in protestant circles foz sided with the liberal. She said to build the beginnings of faith in god on a conception of the universe that are generation no longer regards is true. She later wrote is to prepare the way for a loss of respect for the bible. And what is worse to court a cynical atheism. When a child is old enough to learn for himself. Modern faith she argued must make science and modern attitudes taken seriously. Faith she believe. Is rooted firmly and ultimately in a person's own experiences. Now the implications here are kind of funny if you think about it how can we possibly begin. With teaching something that sets up the children for a fall in a crisis of faith. And religions all over do this even now that we have such a changing view. Ivar basic scriptures. And the what is truth. And how to recognize that what is called the word of god. When very few people and somebody. Can say this is the absolute final declaration in the world. That we would begin to teach them. As a society or in any of our faith. Is a deep do service to our children. It sets them up to leave. Set them up to leave. And toulouse. What could be an enormously strong foundation. In their lives their ability to wonder. And to belief. You know the core of universalism includes. The inspiration of many perspectives and to do so requires a deep respect. For many face. At the same time it is our responsibility. Wondrous and the existential implications of any tradition. In this moment with 5 is part of our society's move away movement away from the bible and how to account for multiple pads. Of understanding. Sometimes will not be what they once were and that is okay. They can't have the same. Place we are here as creatures we are made to evolve. Revelation is not going to be fixed. Speaking revelation. No she talked about. That ultimate relationship with the universe. She said the universe. Has been struggling through a long evolution. We are the fruits of her millions of years of labor. Our flesh is the evolved dust of the stars are very life is dependent on the continuing life and death of other creatures. And without the common green world of grasses and grains we would quickly parish. Our indebtedness. Is a heritage that links us to all living and nonliving things from the beginning of time. The living universe does not ask us to accept things as they are. She challenges us to join and creating better things. She asks us to help her improve. In our pride of human superiority we have sometimes been just a handful of the values and things called a lower order. We've talked about subduing the forces of nature to serve our end the living universe. Call the few understand to appreciate to cooperate rather than conquer. An exclusively human ethic is nair. There's the natural in her humanism. She had an understanding of god as that's creative power within that creative power outside. The ultimate goal. The personal religious questions was not only for the individual existential concern. But also for being in service being radically connected and acutely aware. And again not superior one to another. Safaya was modeling. A willingness to transform and to be transformed. In the course of her life. She kept following her beliefs and her discoveries. I'm finding and willing to go down whatever path they offered. Eventually she found membership in the unitarian congregation. And was ordained by what is now river road church in maryland. In 1959. At age 82. She was ordained at age 82. And while usual practice. For the sermon in an ordination is offered by a colleague. With some kind of grand message about unitarian universalism. So if i offered her own sermon. Certainly no one would dispute. Her credentials. And she died in 1978 at the age of 101. Saint sophia. Indeed. Her work. Her willing to journey her willing to go where she felt call. Is still so much living with us today. You're growing up in the church where i was i saw the boxes of curriculum what was written by her. I knew that they were of decades ago. Even if only a few pieces were still being. Used in our lesson. In the sunday school. But she was willing to risk her entire life. Invest her hunt higher self. In observing her children. Being fearless in her study of question. Questions and fears and responses. She broadened. The content. Religious education to include anthropology archaeology biology nature study. And those modern methods of biblical criticism. It is also her poetry. That we use at christmas. Where each night. A child is born is a holy night. I was wondering what this child will bring to the world. What will come.

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blacklivesmatter1.mp3

Template. And i wanted to give before we start the discussion with all of you i want to give a little bit of historical context for the book. Looking specifically dealing with. The debate. Over the 19 what becomes the 1964 civil rights act. Outlawed segregation. Public accommodation. And at the same time. The debate starts while kennedy is still alive john kennedy. Still alive. Until kennedy's assassinated in lyndon johnson becomes president. But i think i need to just briefly go over. What segregation is about and how it happened. Because i don't know if everyone has an information. Uses the term in the book jim crow. You probably heard that before. Does anyone know where the term jim crow come from. I find it that's pretty common that is not widely known. Jim crow. What's a character. In. A form of entertainment. Call minstrel show. It's very much part of american pop culture the first. Sound film famously the jazz singer al jolson blackface. These were live stage performances and they were variety shows. He would have white actors in blackface. Who would sing and they would imitate. Yeah in a faction i guess black music they would imitate black dialect they would. Cover their faces with burnt cork. They would wear outlandish clothing they kind of ridiculous black dialect. A lot of. A lot of grease. Stephen foster you know that. You know that just gives. Songbook is. Largely derived from. Minstrel shows. We're not sure how it happened. But the term jim crow came to be associated with segregation. So that's one thing. Secondly. So rude minstrels. Well you know. Well it was sort of like the kind of perverse weird. Racist version of saturday night live and they would talk about their talk about. Contemporary issues i talk about contemporary slate again today they'll make fun of what was going on in the world. But they would describe himself as black people and they would pose as black people. And. It's really interesting cuz if you came. Hugely popular. And i did a book on dallas race relations in dallas and i would go through these issues of the dallas morning news and i found. Club notice in the early 1960. That the elks club fundraiser was going to have a minstrel show. So this last for a very long time there's actually an african-american. Performer who realizes there's money to be made in minstrel shows. And he actually. Put on. Blackface. He's a black man putting on black face. Any perform so he's a. Black man pretending to be a white man pretending to be a black man. If you call anyone. Here's something that a lot of people don't realize. When did segregation debates were going on. Many white southerners said this is a southern boca this is ancient this goes back for the very beginning of southern states. But of course in slavery. The slaves lived. On the grounds of the plantation. Ever they work side-by-side with white people. And you have poor whites were hired as laborers. Who worked alongside african-americans in the fact they produce a lot of mixed-race children by the way. Racial separation is something that happens after. Slavery. And really only begins to rise legally in the 1880s. Almost 20 years after. What happened was. Poor whites. Before the civil war. Were politically powerless. Economically powerless. But they had one status than one. Privilege. That african-americans. By the time indentured servitude disappears. In the early 1800s. White people can be bought and sold. Their children can't be sold away from. They are not property of anyone else. And that was one thing that distinguish the poor whites who her. Again you know they were ignored they were shut out of the system but they have status based on their skin color. That black people did not have. When when the civil war ends. And i passed the 13th amendment abolishing slavery. The fourteenth amendment that recognizes african-americans as citizens. And then the 15th amendment which at least on the surface. Seems to guarantee voting rights although they found a way around it. Officer knows that white privilege vanishes. And that becomes a very perilous times you have people are not benefiting. From the status quo. They're not gaining anything. From. Get out of the their white skin. And they become discontent. Loziers in 1870s 1890s. Is when you have a big political result. I can really irritated. Turn political seas. Because. They use the term populist. And. It can be associated with some very unpleasant people. Not to reveal bias but you don't like donald trump. And. It's easy to be a synonym that use for any inarticulate rage that fuels a political movement. Populism is a reveal a radical movement that forms in late 19th century. Made up of farmers mostly bedspreads to the cities. And they are challenging the economic system. And they propose all sorts of ideas mini which are frankly socialist they call for government ownership of the. Telegraph frontlines government ownership of the railroads they're calling for. More equal distribution of wealth. Yeah it's kind of a bernie sanders cancel. 1880s 1890s. And your. There is. There are three different farmers alliances that make up the populist movement. That's called the northwest farmers alliance and those are states north of the mason-dixon line in the plains states kansas-nebraska place like that. There's a southern farmers alliance. Dwight farmer. But there's also a colored farmers alliance. And this turned out to be something that. Democrats. It was a party of slave owners. Parting transforms in the roosevelt. They see this even though these. Farmers alliances that are part of the populist. Segregated. They're working together for the same goal. And they cooperate. And there's this one famous moment there's a. A georgia populist. It becomes our candidate for vice president in 1896. And. Tom watson he's a white man. He's a newspaper editor and he gets elected to congress is a populist he used to be a democrat because the democrats are robbing us the republicans are robbing us we need a third-party that's what the populist become a third-party. And there's an african-american preacher who is recruiting african americans into the populist movement. And they. The white folks running that townsend we got stopped this black man. And they're going to lynch him. And so tom watson sends out the word. And. 2000. Redneck. White. Georgia farmer shell at this black preachers house. Not to mention but to save his life. That is potentially revolutionary right. At the populist movement it's exceeded. The next 70 years of history or completely rewritten. You might not have had the second. Klux klan. 15. Lynching may have not been a weekly spectacle in america. You may not have had the battles i can got to go. This is when the segregation laws begin to pass. And you're probably aware that it's not just schools. And it's not just housing in king talks about this. Facebook. Everything got segregated. Yes seating in theaters. Hospitals. Even the blood supply. They literally would take blood. From black-and-white donors and storage separately. And guess what they ran out of black blood in your black person you're bleeding to death. Hospitals would have maybe one block hospital in the city. Anyway on the other side of town you had to wait for the black ambulance to. There was a man. I had speaker on college who was a civil rights leader in dallas names and holmes. And. He was in dallas in the fifties and sixties and he became. A student. At the perkins school of theology at smu which i don't know if you know this it's actually integrated in the 1950s. Any adjustment to dallas. And. He was told that he be provided provided housing on campus. I guess we don't have any. Play the live off campus. Is living near central expressway. And here's the screeching of tyres. Breaking glass whatever. And so. He rushes out. He rushes out to see what happened to goes down the embankment. Pcs. 2. Dallas police officers. An ambulance driver. Standing there looking at a black man who's bleeding to death. And they're waiting. And then he finds out there waiting for the black ambulance. Did the black ambulances the only one that can pick him up and he has to be taken to the black hospital. And so what happens. Is the man bleeds to death. That's right beginning of this time in dallas and he said that changed his life forever. It lived in african-american community. Keep throwing up first in waco and then austin and nose. Communities had not. Get out of that then there was such separation. Really. Direct. Conversation with. Like i said he got so ridiculous in mississippi. You may know those sad. Usually they didn't allow black people to testify against white people it wouldn't do that right. We're in black witnesses if there was a black defendant. In mississippi by law they had separate bible. Chihuahua segregation last. What's wrong. Now we're going to talk about that okay. Here's what happened. The segregation laws get passed. While the populist movement is rising. And through its collapse in 1896 when they they failed populist movie. Yeah well that's what they're what they were afraid of is the populist movement represented. A bi-racial effort to change the political system. Blacks and whites were working together politically. And the white power structure in the south had. Thrive depended on divide and conquer. Right. Arena said pretty basic strategy. Stop. You begin to have. The spread of segregation now it's important to realize. That there too. Types of segregation on the very first page of this book page one not the introduction. Main part of the book. He illustrates how many of you have read part of the book yet. I don't know if you remember he talks about a black child new york. And a black child in the south right. And this illustrates what i'm about to talk about. Two types of segregation. The one we're more familiar with. Is the version of the pipe we have in the south which is dangerous. Segregation. Which means. Enlighten segregation by law. That's where you pass an ordinance are you past like in the texas constitution. Adopting 1876 it mandates that there will be separate schools for black and white. City pass a law that they will be separate seating. On street cars. In this in this town etcetera this neighborhood has designated as a black neighborhood by law. Now. That's one time. But there's another time. And. This is. Actually widespread. Widespread in the north. Segregation by fact. Or in fact. This is segregation by practice. So. Brinson in new york. Or in philadelphia or in chicago. And you know it you know you're segregated first of all because of economics. African americans are payless store that they're discriminated against again job so they end up in poor neighborhoods. And then you learned growing up in that town you don't go there. If you're blocked. And this could be enforced. With what is. Yes really terrorism. 1919. Is the year after. World war. And they're always african-americans who are coming back from europe. Fighting. Yeah for the make the world safe for democracy that's. These soldiers. These black soldiers so many of them are still wearing uniform. Are getting assassinated or getting lynched etc in 1919 becomes known as the red summer. Because of the amount of bloodshed. Whites attacking black people. And in chicago a place that is very segregated segregate it to this day. I just real quickly diversion here. I remember visiting chicago in 1989 and it's going to a wedding. Yeah the sears tower and got all these all these observations you know you can look through the telescopes or whatever they. And there you're there neighbor through that are. As entirely black as if his birmingham in 1963 entirely wise if news. Birmingham 1963. Chicago in 1919. There's an african american youth. Who is swimming in lake michigan. In the summer. And. He's been caused by the waves. He's getting disoriented he's tired and he comes out on the beach. And all said he realizes he's on what's. Considered the white beach. And the white people gather there see him. And they pick up rocks. And they began to throw them at him and hit him with those rocks. And he jumps back in the water inside this great exhaustion and he sinks. He drowns. And there are black people white people gather there to see the drowning than a 19-day riot. Insidious. But that's how segregation in north. David girard de facto segregation segregation even though there's not a law on the books you don't go here. I thought the riots were talking about was in 1970. That's in st. louis. Overton sentence say louisville say that makes sense. Set a typing during world war 1. So. So fundamentally the segregation laws. Or weights. Established there. A separate. Is there suffering in their privilege it is substitute you may both be technically citizens you may both be pouring as black or black or white or both of them but they have. I can ride in the front front of the bus etcetera and so. Perfecto. With more than. I mean it was the. Well we can't lil black. My neighborhood are valuable. Oh yeah that's called redlining real estate agents and that even happens like after wwii when you have the gi bill and you have all these other things. That the programs are aimed at the loan programs home loan programs for veterans. They excluded from neighborhood provide the house loan. It was. Supposed to be. Everybody was. Yep you're right you're right. In texas there's an example of de facto. Segregation a lot. Because. Although the texas laws. Specifically segregate black and white people. They named me no specific reference to mexicans and mexican american. But they were subjected to. De facto segregation. Yeah there's a little mexico in dallas that was a neighbor that was a barrio in dallas. You had mexican schools you have for elementary schools that were the mexican schools. Generally the school system didn't promote them. To high school. Somehow they always fail right. Swimming pool in pike park. In dallas. And. The mexican kids were only allowed a couple of hours on fridays when they clean the pool. Early in the morning they drained the pool the next we kids would be made to. You had to this mexican kid in dallas you had to get served through a window you can sit in the restaurant if you went to an anglo restaurant so. There is defective. The group. To combat. Segregation through much of the twentieth century was the national association for the advancement of colored people. There's a particular man whose essential to the founding of that group. W.e.b. du bois. Do i. Is msaa know a radical american radical. The radicalism. That's really important. He's been kind of neutered. This was a man who was really going to. Shatter a lot of barriers and take sometimes very bold act. They might just want to know something. National association for the advancement of colored people. That phrase is very important. Why do you think. They use the phrase colored people. That actually has political importance. Thing that people white people call black people right beyond that. Right exactly. They're trying to suggest. And this is certainly consistent with the boys. That. The struggles of african-americans. Are related to the struggles of. People in south america and mexico you know in central america against european american economic domination. The liberation struggles of africans. The struggles of the people in indochina against the french domination etc that all these people are victims of the idea of white supremacy. And this is a global struggle and it's are the echoes joaquin says about anyone is oppression against everyone right. Wasn't trying to unite. But the thing is that the n-double-acp is. A multiracial group. In fact several of the earliest. Several the early directors are jewish. You know they got a lot of white liberals white progressive. Because jews weren't considered white. Yeah that's that's the thing is that. That's important you know that. Race has no biological basis. Yeah there's no scientific definition of any racial group really. And none of the other categories are consistent if you try to break down what it means to be black or white they don't make any sense. And so. You makeup categories whoever's white. Yeah and. 2016 might not be white in 1840 the iris warm light. That's labor considered as non-whites. Italian. Consider non-white you know. Used absolutely. So their approach is to file lawsuits and aaa. Add. Segregationist upon a time. Angelic princess texas is really important in that by the way. You know texas has. Couple of important. Desegregation cases there's a delgado versus bastrop the bastrop school district near austin. A mexican-american sue's to end racial segregation there cuz he's being excluded from the. Go-karting, white school mexican restaurant statute that. And then you have a sweat versus painter. When african-american trust tries to get admitted to the ut law school. And he has to fight and that's one of the president's for brown versus board of education. Family so they go through this whole process the brown decision. Is made 1954 you're familiar with that right. That. They they are overturning. The plessy versus ferguson decision. Which had basically said that. Segregation was constitutional and as long as. Please. Facilities provided were equal. And of course they. But they were never equal. Not even close. About. B cool houses in mississippi. Where they didn't have a water fountain. They had a f*** it. And a dipper. And the students acted as janitors. The teachers acted as gender. The books were falling apart this is very intentional. You know it's part of speech. Poor white man is sense of superiority over someone so he's loyal to the system if he backs change you might lose that privilege. Even though symbolic. Now. So. By the time you get to. Nineteen61. You have a new president. John kennedy. I want a real quickly just talk about a miss. Cuz i think lyndon johnson gets a rod. Everyone. General public in susi. John kennedy is a spray civil rights era. Yeah. That john kennedy was the advocate of civil. Old phone. He really didn't want to deal with it. Not to be really honest about. Kia. Woody's campaigning he does do one very important thing that helps him get elected president. And african-americans are very important to his election. What people forget is in 1960. It was competitive between the republicans and the democrats who is going to win. They're both for president. Richard nixon had a pretty good civil rights record in the senate. We found out later he was a rabid racist. The white house tapes came out. But he is in the senate at least had been supportive of civil rights legislation. But nixon didn't want to give the civil rights issue to complicate his run for the white house. Can get arrested at 1. And coretta scott king is very afraid for his safety. And. John kennedy. Makes a call you knows a nominee for president. He makes a call to the sheriff. And do the other elected officials. And says. Yeah i want to make sure he's safe and he's released. Bobby kennedy range that phone call. And. Martin luther king senior who everyone called daddy king. Made it very public kennedy did for me. Yeah actually at one point you have expressed doubts that they do one of those kennedy. But you can. Then. Chuck made the effort to get me out of my son out of prison. That may turn out very heavily for. Mckennedy. Interest was in foreign policy. You know you wanted a tax cut. He had some initiatives you know he was. But but i mean his big thing was the confrontation with the soviet union. And he would get. Terribly terribly irritate. Angry. When. Civil rights protesters. We're disrupting. That is a good deal with cruise ship he was going to face him down. At one point while he's still running for president he's actually driving through wash i you know he has a driver taking through washington dc. Any seas on the street harris wofford who became his. Outreach person with the african-american community. Any has the driver pull over. And he said he said the car. He says now tell me the about the civil rights thing i got 5 minutes. And this is the depth of his research and he just wanted something easy get along i pass get it done with and then move on and confront. Shoprite. In fact one of the things that would happen. During civil rights campaign's is sometimes the protest like the freedom ride. Are you familiar with the freedom rides where black and white people get on the interstate buses because. Ruled that b segregation on the interstate. Highways was unconstitutional. And never less greyhound and other bus companies would not allow black people to sit with white people so these protesters black and white would sit together and they go and they went to birmingham. And. Dave. They. Club congressman who's still in in the us house john lewis gets very severely beaten. During this. These protests would happen. While kennedy was about to negotiate have a summit with crucia. You said you're making the us look bad or young bobby kennedy. People don't realize that. The kennedy brothers didn't like martin luther. They are there their whole thing was that kennedy cool keeping him calm demeanor. Shrugging off things with a job. And i talked to him was too emotional and one time. He's in the church and there's a white mob out there that. It looks like it might. Break any kill people. And he's asking for u.s. marshals. And the kennedy brothers. Nothing much alike we are. That there was a real personal dislike and. Another dynamic that's going on is. The director of the fbi. Jada hoover. Do somehow has a building named after him still. Take that down like a robert e lee statue. Hoover was a. Rabbit races and he was convinced that kings movement was filled with communist. There's a man named stanley levinson knew she was advisor to king who had been. You had basically donated money to. Communist at 1.30 is that king himself. Antojitos slated bobby kennedy to. Wiretap. In fact. Do used john kennedy's. Sexual infidelity is basic. The pressure point. Texas. Birmingham. Campaign. Which is what. Genius writing about here. They shouldn't because i had had that incident where the freedom riders were. Almost beaten to death. In birmingham. Birmingham already had a terrible record. Vineland. Of bombings of civil rights leader. Are there in fact the town had the nickname farmingham. And the course united the governor of. Of alabama is at. Certainly responsible for a lot of evil hero. Smarter than. He nice randy falsely right. He's a very. Smart need devious evolve. So they chose this on purpose. And so i guess what i want to do is i want to talk about the book. He's writing while this intense civil rights campaign is going on play just just mentioned a couple of things about specifically what's going on they. They. Want to. Desegregate the stores in birmingham. And the rooster teaching about when they are going to mount their campaign they're going to do it at easter time. I think it's fair to say easter is. A big time for shopping you know in in the african american community in birmingham shopping for sunday clothes right. You want to look your best on easter sunday. African americans will spend a lot of money there. I don't know. I don't know it do any of you remember segregation. You remember so i can get it stores. Okay. Dallas. In birmingham. An african-american goes into the store. Say a woman she can't try on the dress. If she touches the dress. She has to buy it. Because no one's going to buy a dress a black person tried on. Attached. Get out of snapchat for lunch counter to women or are neiman marcus. Sanger and then all those big downtown stores adults same thing. How is stanley marcus became famous. The dallas version with liberal which means he wasn't very liberal and lawyer. Yeah they can't use the restrooms i can't un.. Add. He says well i'll i'll desegregate when all the other stores. And of course all the stores use that excuse it's are not until everyone else does and. They only started to desegregate dallas in 1961 they worked out token. Desegregation you know they had a group of black and white people show up sit at the lunch counter order dinner then they left. And then get out hardly any african-american shop. So the king movement in april. 1819. In the six. Vista housing. Was that the. Absolutely. And then 65 when i went to college. Nigeria. Professor. So when you talked it was like. It was like listening. No spoilers no no. Anyway. He one day came in frustrated. Segregation. Flaccid. Schools. Oh yeah. I was mentioned by the way. The n-double-acp used to publish travel guides. For black people you know the membership. And they're safe as you travel to america this is where you can go to the bathroom. Yeah people black people would bring. Meals with them. They would have to pack it because they could not. Know for sure that there would be any place i would serve them. And they slept a lot times in their cars. I have stood. Culver's. College. Midnight. Chicago. Who told me about going to the. Commander trip. Takeout. Whatever relative. Noon. They were part of family. Some parts of families has migrated to. Oh yeah family in chicago as part of the great migration probably yeah where they fled to south you know to get away from the clan and everything else right. To travel because there are sundown towns you know that's in downtown. Where if you your black you better leave before the sun sets or your life's in danger. And that's not by the way that's not just in the south it's also. Bray wyatt. The thing is they knew the sheriff. In. Birmingham. Call connor african-americans. Boycott you know they organize a boycott. Of the downtown stores are segregated you know they're targeting easter sunday. And bull connor was a sheriff or birmingham is famous as being a thug who used in the most brutal methods possible. Bull connor actually kind of pulls a trick you. cuz he learns. There's a man in albany georgia where they had had a earlier civil rights campaign named lori prichard. Alert pritchard basically we're not going to be violent. We're not going to 4-player hands you know and what they do is they arrest people but you know they don't want to eat any hoses that you fire or whatever and. King was aware that when you have that kind of street theater. That when you. You have the fire hoses and you have the guard police dogs biting people in there is a confrontation you provoke a crisis. That the rest of the world is watching and they react. And that was a deliberate strategy so lori prichard figure this out and he said okay we're not very respectful. Other protesting for 8 days. A state court. Orders king to stop the campaign he refuses to do it. He's thrown in jail that's when he rides the amazing when the great works of american literature of the letter from birmingham jail which is one of the chapters in the book. And there's quite a story where you asked to have. Asm1 working at black man working in the jail bring him pencil. Bring in paper to write it you know and he writes this beautiful piece he's released. Get out of there they resume. The the boycott they actually at one point run out of adults. To be imprisoned. Yeah that's part of the tactic is they they they try to fill the prison sub becomes very expensive to hold everybody right. And so then they use. Joker. 900. Produced by. And that's one bull connor loses his cool you know there's that there's violence etcetera. And police are going to aim the fire that's when the famous things have you ever seen some of his pictures and by the way when they they use us. The skin peels. You know these are children they're knocked against buildings people can have broken bones from this it's intensely violent billy clubs etc etc well. This makes it a national cause right in this becomes. A great commercial. For the civil rights legislation that is. Being debated by congress you know any and they're probably spencer corrugation is to wish bull connor disappeared. Alright yes. Knowingly. Okay. The children wanted to do this and they were out of adults. And you know he was. He was aware that there was a ruse. I would say very very specifically the civil rights movement in 1964 and this was not organized by king but there was freedom summer in mississippi. Where they were registering black people to love. And they say black people get killed by the police by the forties all the time. And america doesn't react. And they said we want. White college students here. We might get protection. But they will they will know they'll pay attend bell focus if white people are in danger. And that's the famous case i don't know if you've ever heard of swarner cheney and goodman there these three civil rights workers do arsenic has burned down you know they've been registering black people love their white volunteers who are running bar called freedom schools you know alongside with black civil rights protesters. They go to philadelphia mississippi where the church has been burned their arrested by the deputies. Who also happen to be members of the cuckoo. And they're held their the sheriff calls. His clan buddies are going to be near the site and then he releases releases the three there's one black man into. Jewish gentleman from new york. Their release and then. Cars follow them they pull them off they beat them today. And. All of a sudden there's a massive manhunt in the african american. There wasn't it. This. King sometimes provoke a crisis and this is very intentional that. Discount low-grade violence had two going on i mean between 18. 82. And 1939 these are only the known cases. There are 4736. Recorded lynchings. People in the united states. 70. 2% or african-american. Even children. Ar. Women. Disabled people. Adults. Are burned alive their castrated before their hang their their their their tortured to death and. They charter trains to watch the the torture and murder. These are fun and people take photographs they turn the photographs into postcard. And the us postal service delivers them. So this has been going on for a long time so yeah he needs to be and this is the one last thing i want to talk about. I want a real quickly and then i want you guys to talk. I will i trying to i tried to provide context. One thing happened when the. King birthday holiday happened. And. And then i'll shut up. By mentioning. The holiday was important. And i'm very glad the holiday was. Established. But i want to say this but it's happened since those days is. Martin luther king has been. Neutered. Is message has been watered down his. Record as a radical has been erased. He he's been assassinated second time. That live in california you know you have initiative and referendum in california. And they wanted to pass a referendum banning affirmative action. And they use martin luther king's i have a dream speech. Ray says men should be judged by the content of the color not by the color of their skin. That is definitely not with martin luther king meant by that phrase he didn't mean yeah i don't want things like affirmative action cuz he knew that black people face. Discrimination racism all that and that had to be specifically addressed in one of his books he actually calls for reparations. But you usually controversial right. We have in america a tendency to take these people who are threatening. And turn them into teddy bears you know until you were deuce king is the radicalism of his message. It seems really nice hot calling it a revolution right. And the only real quick comparison. You know helen keller is right. What's what's helen keller famous for. Being a deaf dumb and blind girl who learns how to communicate sign language and she speaks guess what she was a socialist. She was a member of the n-double-acp. She said that blindness in the south very often is a result of industrial accidents and the terrible working conditions workers face. She was a human rights activist. You don't know if you see the miracle worker it's the safest thing possible right so they reduce king to nonviolence. The radical king now with. Cornel west colton. Santa claus. Part of the. But there was a time will it was. Well exactly you know when he talks he refers to the black muslims beaver first then nation it is finally touched doesn't mention malcolm he mentions elijah muhammad. And malcolm x would always saying actually i think we should read that. The autobiography of malcolm x it's amazing book. He malcolm x would say look you know if you don't deal with king you got to deal with me right yeah the problem was that the butt butt. Real quickly and then i'll let you guys talk for a while i'll go in another room or something. He stopped at the eruption of black. Protest in 1963 he despises lightning flashes. He calls an america's third revolution the negro revolution he says it's begun explode it has begun explosively compares it to the french revolution. Was the french revolution nonviolent. That's the thing this is a very provocative radical act. 2. Provoke the violence because it shows what's at the heart of american site that play. Unless it comes out in the open. People are not going to see it. When they they see that this is a system that is so sick at its heart. That children can be the target of violence. That they do southern cops will let the guard dog chew on a. 10 year old. This shows what this is the. Real world is segregation. Okay. Get out this came out of the black lives matters discussion and i just want to say. Many of the criticisms of that movie. You know that's a very large room. There's no central leader running it you know never been members of sometimes it just wrapped it flow for rally's or whatever. You know that matters of etiquette versus matters of like police murder. And and so that's why i wanted to pick this cuz i'm the same exact same criticism of kings movement was made of the black lives. Movement today the same thing that they're dangerous these are laws are breaking laws he talks about the difference of. Between violating adjustable on unjustly they doesn't advocate anarchy. But when a law is unjust you have a moral obligation to infect violated right okay. And take the coffee up you get arrested you serve the time. But you have provoked the crisis which is he repeatedly. Credibly. Good. Ryder. The metaphor. Flow of it. I guess. Lips are moving. To read it. Elevated. Well i don't know. and that's the thing is because what words of king do you hear most of the time. And that's been played in played played in some lost its punch you know which is tragic it's a beautiful speech. And that's such a superbly well-crafted united to badin high school and i know about speaking about we were talking before we the whole group was here about how he switches from the language of. Yeah. Yeah. And you can hear his voice i mean. Yes. I don't understand. Thomas really glad to know i was. Oh thank you thank you the sad punchline. At one point in the book. He said that various approaches the black freedom any mentions booker t washington in famously was very accommodationist you know basically except segregation african americans. They're there to bought into their white privilege they will not surrender it's interesting because what was he doing in the last months of his life before he got shot you know what he was doing. Which was part of part of what what larger camping. Dina. Walmart yet another just like the march on washington there was going to be a poor people's. March in occupation washington that was aiming at getting latinos and getting poor whites and and they actually ended up holding. An occupying part of the grounds near the capitol and it was a multiracial think he came to the point where he wanted to address class issues you know beyond just simply race issues that were unique and by the way when he turns towards again and more radical. I did cuz you're beginning to raise questions about capitalism. And also why gunners that are good luck. The mechanics and the strategy. The department store. Boyka. And what. Struck such a parallel for me. Was the people even within the movement. Who advised okay there's a new mayor was it a new mayor. So wait and see because this layer is quite of course but more progressive. Boutwell something good is going to happen. Andrew. But but but i got from a maybe. Maybe i'm wrong but i got from it. Had reached. Where. Peopleready. To act. It was so many things that had come together they were seeing the african. Their freedom. They. There were. Yes the kennedy. Kennedy. John kennedy was in the white house. It's been. Almost ten years since brown versus board and our children still are getting. Grenada. That's that struck a chord. About. Black lives matter. What's happening now. Are saying. Look at all these people in the street why can't they be civil. You know maybe the cops. We're right to shoot someone. The parallels to. You know they're there is there is a pukka sometimes on the form of. Etiquette. And you know just yeah that that's. Get them do that sort of thing in this kind of public place you're not while this savagery is going on behind the scenes that the police murdering a twelve-year-old thing shot to death you know. jumping out of a car in immediately firing his weapon without shutting warring tamir rice and cleveland could be more appalling. For the public-at-large then it is if it's a tamir had been white. I i don't have any question. These. Even when it's on videotape i like i mean rodney king was not a role model. But i remember watching that video and said that guy is lying on the ground and he's surrounded by cops and they're clubbing him like you know they used to club baby seals when they were hunters right. Brain-damaged it's really it's revealing these videos how the white audience the black audience reacts. Struck by the. Cooperation. Because. I just sent over and over the knee. Direct. Nonviolent direct action. And how. Seem to. Be able and willing to see. Getting too far today i was speaking out of. A difference. You know the whole. 60's and everything where. Certain octopus. Petard. The patients with that begins worth in though. Did you begin to have. Younger african-american saying. I'm not going to be non-violent you know that's you know that's where they need the panthers and you know they get tired of being beaten up i mean just imagine. What. Incredible restraint it takes. If you're sitting in a lunch counter and they're pouring ketchup on your head they're pouring flower in your head and there's smacking you on the back of the end there knocking you down. And. Yummy i don't know if i've got that you know i'm going to find something to sharpen jabbing in someone's ankle you know that's why i'm not a civil rights protester. We're treated. Somewhat better. My stepfather was raised in a mexican home. They come 1938 or 39. He went over to join the national guard. And the first guy said we've had enough of you in about that time you're the captain said oh hey george come on but they had quotas. Mexicans that they even took into the guard there. Although i have to say this though okay. Lucky blue know that this episode of texas history cuz. In texas basically the history ends at the alamo you know that's after the mexican revolution 1910 from 1910 to 1920. Basically the texas rangers not the baseball team but the law enforcement agency. Declares war on. Mexicans are mexican american. And there's an estimate that 5,000. Mexicans and mexican americans were murdered by locals and by the texas rangers and by sheriff. In south texas. Between 1910 and 5000. Yeah you know that this became really complex and even it's like how how many of you have been in dallas-fort worth for. Okay. Okay 19 you may if you have grown up here or been here for a long time 1973 santos rodriguez. Was. He was not guilty of the crime he was someone cop said he must be vandalism case or something and he's put in the back of the dallas police car. And. They forced into play russian roulette. And the cop thought the chambers were empty and the kid ends up shooting himself. You know and it became a major. Snow white's on where guns. Public. What's happening. Don't you think there's something to. This obsession with guns now. But with. The awareness that some people have that the country is fundamentally changing in terms of its demographics. You know ed that they they they single. Went well you know 2040 we're not going to be a majority anymore and is panicking. Yeah i mean. Liar i don't think you're afraid necessarily a gunman do you i mean. Yeah but. Yeah. Right right i mean. And that's the thing you know the saying about you know biologically you know whose white i mean that that's that's not a valid scientific category and and if i know in the northeast you know. But the tensions within those groups you know like italians and poles or whatever it is very marked you know and violence between. Was. Is irish-american e grew up in missouri. And near st. louis and he was saying how they. Get out of the. The irish kids at beat up the italian kids all the time invites her first. Yeah right but. But anyway i know but so i really thought that was that was interesting you know what you said that being of that there was is and that's part of the culture though as of the south i think more than you know. I guess i had never realized. 4. To what extent. The bus boycott. Thorough economically. Wasn't just the bus. The business from africa. Airfares. It made all kinds of. Commerce in all kinds of work. Very problematic. Ocean. Being. Hearing with interest when i was alone. Gallagher about how the. The white women. In the city. Who employed domestic workers. Would organize carpool. Maybe inadvertently. No helping. You know they called these campaigns which is a term that comes from. The military right and these were planned you. when they the the successful. Campaigns are often plan very meticulously and very strategically. Determining who would get arrested when there's a passage in the first. Focusing on the first five chapters but you know that where they say well king can't be arrested now because he has to go to new york and raise money you know who did he have arrested first. And i don't think that detract from. No. I mean they're very huge successful. Movements that spring from the earth. But here's the thing that's. Important remember okay like how would you change. Police violence the target is very obvious with jim crow segregation. There's signs up in the building there's a law. And so the store enforces segregation. You don't shop at the store. If you have the facto segregation. Video boyka. Is enforced by fist. Is it the entire community saying you're not welcome in this neighborhood. It's a lot more complicated that's what happened when kingsman it moved north and they tried to attack the other economic inequalities whatever became much more complicated. For leadership sampler. You start at the top. It's a cultural. Did becomes a cultural change. Otherwise it's not. It's not it's not successful so if you have. A police department that is committing. Violence against. African american. You got to start. At the top and you have to change. Change the culture. This video of this circulating on the internet about. Why kids playing in the street i don't know if you. If you saw it and white cop responds. Remember the. Neighbors complain as the kids are in the street making noise. Is before before dark. Teenagers from 13 to 17 or 5. And the cop walks up to them and. Says hey guys be quiet. Give me the ball ends up playing a game of horse with. Right right here most afternoons. Shaq o'neal. Shows up with the police headquarters and the cop who's white men take shack. 2. The victories are won individually but it has to have. Did the cultural support from the. And if that's the top is defective than that needs to be. Do you know that's the thing that happens you know it's really interesting that that's the part of the story that's not talk cuz we like happy endings right because. The kingdom it does and then they have to deal with people like. Chicago's rare me richard daley and a video with frank rizzo in philadelphia you know and it gets much more complicated. I just wanted to say that. Administer. Who haven't had fast. And it got late. And. It was media tips. And as things started to escalate. The. Minister came out. Stop this. But. I was telling. The police chief about it. Cuz we were having a meeting. And he hadn't heard of it he didn't know anything about. It was really really up. Behold all the ministers. Black magic. Community. And said if this thing happens ever. Again. Because he feels he's at the top. Now and he needs to know. When his policemen are out there and the situation is not going the way he thinks it ought to go. You know when he needs to be able to. Talk to the police. You know and pull them in and get that tray. So. You know this whole topic is very sensitive. Because i was. Deeply in civil rights move. As a freshman in high school. And by the time i was a senior they have heard across oh my god. And. It was so much race. Evanston i don't even. But. But a lot and i just i just have to disagree with you on one paw. That is about king you know and his legacy. I don't think you can ever water down cake. You know because. He's probably so much a part of my life. What i have gone through. And if the journey federal created you know that i see going on everyday. You know in so many different ways. It doesn't matter what people. About him. You know i think we all kind of feel. You know a sense of his presence. All the time. You know and when racism comes out. We know know what people have gone through. You know you get to the point that they have. And by the time i saw selma. I don't know many of you have seen. But there's just so many little stories i have. You know that. All i meant if i can clarify all i meant was. Not that king himself you don't mean his theory made the country and powerful for. The only thing i meant was. That people try to steal his legacy. And distort it you know then then and that. They they focus on particular thing that they find on threatening but even his supposedly non-threatening ideas our revolution. You know i mean a non-violent revolutionary concept. But i i guess i get. Upset. When i see people are campaigning against affirmative action using a king speech you know and they're distorting his message completely and when i see people i know are not sympathetic. The african american community. Dr. king it's not his fault at all inside the mall of his legacy it doesn't diminish what he did but i think that there's. Get out. Bet that's just called propaganda there's an attempt to. Till i about king. Youtube mate tube lunches affected. You look at our founding fathers you look at the pilgrims and i'm sure that if i were. Ward well-versed in history i can i can suggest but that's just in in american history they're all sanctified they're all white washed. William dunning. I bring this up only because. William downing was a very important historian who produce the type of history you're talking about. We're better historians by the way because of people like w.e.b. du bois and african-american scholars who are being. Either written out completely history ignored or lied about in history books and the history profession from the time of reconstruction. Until. The civil rights era. Was a total distortion it was pure propaganda anna's pro southern propaganda there was a man named william downing. He was a history professor at columbia university in new york. And columbia was a teaching university that train professors. Who then went on to write history textbooks and i went through all the tickets already hundred twenty years of dallas. Textbooks in new york they were written in new york this was for my my gallus book. And. Dunning said he had all the abolitionists were crazy. They caused the war southerners would have work slavery out on their own you know the slaves were well-treated friedman we're not ready to get the vote they were too ignorant blah blah blah and you know what a terrible thing to south was put upon treated unjustly and here's the insidious thing. The people in power now. That's what they were taught. Hillary clinton. Westside that abraham lincoln at the town hall meeting on cnn the other day and she was by that reconstruction and that was her version of reconstruction reconstruction was the most brilliantly progressive. in southern history until the modern era you know how many other factors were progressing that they they instituted. Did the what you remember is just a bit of what that verse is i mean mother teresa. Is made up of usain but. She had her flaws to. And today. I talked to a lot of people. I really like. Sad about that. They wanted to. Lottery. Disenfranchised. And i think that that would be a very. Dangerous. Connection. Powerball. I wanted to mention. There i have what i consider a very safe face. Where will be reopen. Either. Hurt themselves. By not defending something that i feel like i should have as a whole as almost as if it. Really exist that way trying so hard not to be. That category. Calling a race car. Harder on. But whatever the case. Symphony of my friends. So you're saying there they're reluctant to call out racism because they'll get ridiculed for doing this. Either there's no discussion it's like that where are you where are you. Or number two. Like little boy that got shot. Actually. Well yes of course you would hold on anybody.. Play then you wouldn't. I hear that i hear that more often i hear that more often for white people that i do have to say that i've heard lots of white people. Every. Yaya. They're still a senior and it's not just black as if. Like you said there is brown. Brown people. And very still even in an open environment. Fear. Defending oneself. And being completely open and felix. There's a an african american gentleman name. Peter johnson. Dallas and he. Have you sent here by the southern. Southern christian leadership council. And he was promoting a film. About martin luther king's life after king was assassinated. Auntie said dallas was the only place he couldn't get a group to show it you know theater show it. And he said and the spelling cuz he was involved in the movement for the deep stuff you said dallas was worse than mississippi. And one reason one way down since horses. It was more subtle. You didn't have the bull connors you didn't have people like that. I usually you know it was the structures were invisible in some way. And the racism is so indebted. Like i talked about this we we got a globe here right. Muskegon maps right. That you seen mac in classrooms. You know the. The mercator projection that usually uses matter it shrinks the size of africa. Significantly africa is much larger than isn't there there different projections and plug-in you take us three dimensional object flattening 22 dimension. Object. You distort. Proportion and size. And by the way. North and south or. Made up. Right we humans create that right. Spacer is not a dam. If i love larry wilmore show. What did the end that's every bit as valid. When you put things on the top that's where your attention is working right you are made to think africa's smaller that's at the bottom is out of your you know you're not the. You are being taught racism. By so many. Subtle things are just in the environment that you don't even notice it. And i think sometimes the targets of racism. Absorb some of that. Dementia. Michael and i. Quite a few. Graduate. Historically black colleges. Are some of them. A woman that we interviewed. Now. One of the things she said was. She'd grown up in fort worth. Felt that she was a target. And as we got into talking about her. She said oh yes. The black students. Be better. Just to be accepted. As good. And i said. But you said you were never. Because she didn't. In that moment you realize that that was. You know i read. What issues is called the dallas express is an african-american on a newspaper in dallas you know for much of the twentieth century doesn't exist anymore but. Shrek because this paper was very much. Even. Embrace people like paul robeson. Who is this actor football star movie out. Opera singer setter setter. Who became a communist. And he was basically for. Basically left it went to the soviet union eventually that's where you end up dying. And they would run photos of hall ropes and after that happened this is why the red scare is still going on right. I thought. In the same newspaper. Bad ads. 4. Hair straightener switch but also. Skin bleach. And in the ad it said enjoy the popularity that comes from a lighter complexion. You know there's you know. It's hard to constantly be surrounded by. White supremacy. And it's about its matter real extraordinary strength and character. To reject these messages he's negative messages that happen. And and so. I think you know. Black people human. Resist. And some people says well what's wrong with me if everyone says. There's something wrong with me there might be something wrong. This is not accident. Long hair. Warner brother. But they have a. Lazytown. It's on youtube. You got there today. A very lazy until. Good-looking guy. Now i haven't speculation but you know what's interesting about bugs bunny is. I really think i characters based on for a rabbit. Usa a west african folk. Tail character. I think that's where they got the idea from bugs bunny which is really really. Brer rabbit. Amazing original. Something really. And that is what. And what are we doing. I think it's a very. I mean. Because you're not playing the race card. It dismisses it before the evidence is heard right. Yeah obviously this isn't legitimate. And so you don't have to hear anything else that like people. Close their ears. Activity. Was to create a present. You know of a minority being on the board. And a lot of the. Play. Happy. About you know in school. Quickly evaporate. You know once i got on because they knew. You know i was going to be bringing up. I do bring up a lot of stuff is black. I'm wondering if your friend. And i don't think there's one answer. You know for all you know people who don't. Say what they feel. But i think that's some of it is. They're they're listening more and they're speaking. You know and maybe they're trying to find a place. Where they feel safe and talking to you. About it. And maybe for whatever reason. You know they're just not ready. To express what their dt feelings are. Cuz i can remember being in high. And really really hating life. And hayden. Because of. Circumstances out i was there in the things that would happen. And it took a lot of. Time. You know to come around for me just. Totally sam living room. Black white green orange doesn't matter. Okay. You want stay quiet stay quiet when asked. I don't know if that's true. Enough. Because i found that when i gave up the hate. And i was able to talk to people and be honest. I did a lot of magic. Which people wouldn't have got up gotten otherwise. And i'm thinking. You know that. You know we have a green everybody has a commitment. But we all need to feel. You know and i realize on the board now. You know there are a lot of other board members who was like what what do you think. I only came. If you want to. And i just want to say you know i don't think i owe you anything. But i think that. We owe each other. Okay and so. If i'm communicating. And i'm trying to express it and even if people.. Don't feel the same way i do. That doesn't mean we can't communicate. Good real quick and then i'll get to you if i can make a comparison when i was living in southern california. We were up the hill as they say in california from the simon wiesenthal center. You know what shot. The pain nausea. War criminal pinery. And. I helped arrange with my first wife to have a. Survivor holocaust. And she said she didn't want to talk about it at all. And she was watching tv one day when the stupid afternoon talk shows that used to. Silver airways. And there were the holocaust deniers. I got to do it and it was nothing she embraced with any joy but she's really powerfulest. Take the speaker. When african-americans talk about. Their experiences racism. It's traumatic. And it's like. A ray publicly or it's like disgusting. Being held at gunpoint. It's it's a typo. Mental and physical abuse. And it reignite. The feelings of that experience. When people talk back and. Elizabeth mann was the survivor you know when we were driving around you know we. Terrapin ocala and we talk. And she just said. She. Glycerol is glad to enlighten. The students about this you know. Say don't believe the holocaust deniers but it was. Physically very draining me. Sometimes he'll towing over you know she. She unintentionally sent her brother. To the. Gas station. What line do i go in. And he said well you're you're. Your child to go with your mother. And they were sent straight to the. And then she fell. Guilty. Cost of brothers. And so. I would just suggest that that may be a dynamic going on. Incredible pain. Fire. Create a table of 9. I think that's a good project. I just kind of putting it out there. I think i think it's some very now. Any ideas on how. Go without cuz i think that's what the. Fears being judged. By your peer. Already been judged on your race. And to come out and have any. That's not what. Want to hear. Response. Hear about. This is such a defeat it is funny. I've been teaching. College. We probably should. But i've been teaching college. Since 2001. And i have a lecturer i do. Specifically on lynching. And i actually showed photographs. And i read contemporary newspaper accounts you know all about this together. And it's amazing. How. People react to that. And you can never predict. People there's no i really think that even more than sexuality. That people are more uncomfortable in this country talking about race. And i had since in a lynching lecture you attended. In other semesters i had one student white student. Rob pentagram. Spending our time in this you know what does this have to do with history. Walk out of the classroom and never came back and posted some nasty things about me on ratemyprofessor.com. I taught the class at ut when i'm still a graduate's. Say public. Was desegregated right now mean black. Student classrooms. You know the distance learning i was on the same page with a microphone and. I know this why do i have to hear this again in front of all these white people and he felt it he found it disempowering. That wasn't the intent. I said yeah those other 299 since they don't know anything about. And i had license come into my office and week. Thanks. What can i do in la when they were shot you it's it just say you get such an explosive range reactions and it is so. Utterly unpredictable. But i think the murad. I'm talking specifically about race. Is important even if it's a fictional concept it does shape our hybrid. Reconciliation. I think we still need. The apartment luxury references that he has booked like this with a list of the 4900. Bunchems. And i went up i grew up. Is the minority in a black neighborhood. White friends with jewish. Did nomi dogs in college. We'll make pretend high school union. She says that. Do you know anybody. Michael george. But i took a look at the book to check massachusetts or rhode island. Neither one of them. Yeah but you know. People people yeah i just passed the but i didn't want to put on the screen cousin case. But it's within. The lifetime of my parents. That this is a regular thing. And people are posting there by the body. Holding the lake. Holding up children so they got a better look i am your ear tuntenut hundred or thousands of people participating in there. Publicize in newspapers in advance basically the newspapers acting as publicity agents of lynchings happening newspaper lynching. Plan for tonight. Be there. Stock race. Because i think that. He's the person who. With much more committed to the civil rights legislation. I think that people forget that because of vietnam. Yeah the 60s generation particular annette's illegitimate thing to be worried about but i mean. Johnson was far more liberal than jesus. Get out. The lyndon johnson actually made it by or he could have chose. He could have picked up on anything any part of kennedy's legacy that not been realized. Cuz a lot of candies proposals had basically hit a roadblock. But he chose civil rights and i think it was really something since he could be patronizing. He certainly use the n-word and conversation. But he decided that this was. An issue that and i think the. They having a texan with that. That accent. Actually say in the state of the union address we shall overcome. Wasn't very dramatic moment in the contrast with him and george wallace at the same time. The civil rights act in what i think is far more significant in many ways the voting rights act passed. He knew. That he was jeopardizing the future of the democratic party in the south and he said i've ridden away for generation he he was overly optimistic it was actually it's still as the case right. And by the way they're trying to undo the voting rights act in your nose. I thought so but i did i didn't care for it i thought he was. Get out cuz he has experience. When he was running that new deal agency in central texas. Where he. Really made an effort to set aside jobs for african-americans he taught these mexican-american kids in his classroom and again it's a lot of its paternalistic. You know he's certainly not. A model for today but for his time i thought he was a politician. More progressive than that but i think johnson got a kind of a bum rap in his accomplishments. Kennedy was better-looking. Obj used. Community. Powerful. Get it done kind of guy because. And i mean that in the process. Using the cia. Happy everybody to that that guy. Barry unaffected as a president johnson took it all at. Call adam ocean then made it turn into lost and i don't think without johnson skill as having been the. Majority leader of the senate that this legislation would have gone past. And again leave the great society and he could have just said all over to go to focus on medicare or whatever and not. Ignore that my light and he didn't you know. Students high school students in texas who lyndon johnson as they know that the highway. But then i'll know then. Yeah mine is vietnam he would have used to the left of f.d.r.. Yeah probably probably. Yeah yeah. Alright. I just want to say that i think that. To be honest. Cuz i am really. In all things accomplished. One thing that bothers me is there was so many so will i. Daisy. And. Begets. We get so focused on the people is very top of the movement that we forget that this was an army so we have a tendency to focus on leaders and not on the movement. I am not sure i don't know if there's anyone who fills. That particular spot. Martin luther king and. They were. Remind me every day that there was an issue. Right right and i don't see that. And the dragon. I do think the black lives matter. Thank you know but i'll kind of sitting here. And i just. Very helpful. Would you make be able to do this much better. And that is running into. People in this community. Indifferent. Then. No. Fast. Read. But if you. Approached. You know and let them talk. And try to understand where they're coming from. And not to argue with them or to convince them. Did your way is better than theirs. But just kind of listen to them. And. Even your heart. Really emit a feeling of love. I think that is going to go a lot farther. And we can ever. And i think that i found that you know especially being on the school board. And running and i'm part of the rotary. White males who feel. No but for them to accept me. And they're accepting very small. That's happening all over the whole country. I think that. That concept of the movement had of the beloved community would be nice to bring that back. Definitely. A multiracial. Concept is beloved community. Tear down those barriers we mark side-by-side we now the. Blackheads and whiteheads are both being. Beating up at the lunch counter and we're going to in-n-out. we're going to march together. Freedom for that i think that is missing today. I think that. There's some hope that maybe obama would play that role. But the backlash was so vicious and. I think that we're letting a little bit to what you're saying. That obama sells. A needs to be clear that he wasn't a black. Davis president of the united states. And so sometimes he may have. Shied away from some of these issues. Because he was. You worried about the white reaction cuz they're still the majority right. And he was going to try different criteria you know. I think. You know what. Language. And then when you read is up. Powerful is. Benches beautiful speaker. Do you think but it doesn't. It doesn't involve because he is the president. Can be allowed to be. The focus. Leader of cars. Maybe after he's done. Importance of the. It seems like the only. The only real. Spiritual authority you're here. Politics anymore. The falwell pat robertson. A chance for change in the other direction the interesting. Justdustin. Something i was interesting i found my research is thinking of that that white churches were either hostile or indifferent in king talks about that. The catholic church actually very often was an agent for. And that's why the things that's interesting about how. The catholic church. Was very often aligned with progressive causes then. But the abortion issue really has moved it to the right and he died the character of. Catholic nuns on the bus i don't know you're pretty.. Martin luther. And you're with your people your churches in the south. The church the role of the church is right, faye black-and-white and there were. Get out of my research i found that there were ministers who are. Incredibly brave as brave as any soldier you know cuz they were the black church. Charleston warriors sold out they got payments from the white power structure and they do screws are coming churches were largely silent. And i talked about that with my students that while lynching in the lynching like. I talked about how you have white preachers at the peak of the lynching. The 1910s the 20s and 30s. Who would deliver these fiery sermons about the evils of alcohol the evil of short skirts the movies were too sexy top jazz music lizzy. And they became complicit. And that the white moderates that may expand the definition to include people you just were in silence. During that. And. That's poisonous slavery. That. Oppression. When you oppress you become oppressed do you become a prisoner i thought about the south and i remember i went to. Charleston south carolina. And. You had. Slave rebellion there. And we're riding through the streets and they had these. Gizzie's. Fences around the mansions from before the civil war and its spikes and everything those were put there to make it harder for rebellious slaves to you know to climb over. You know during the rebellion they were. And they became prisoners of the south. Censored mail. In the years leading up to the civil war they said they open people's mail they had slavery trolls rolling about they lynched. Apple people who are suspected of being evolution. In texas in 1860 must have dallas burned to the ground. And they end up. Killing white and black people who were suspected abolitionists and they lynch to r117 lynching. A black-and-white in texas 1960 cuz that fire and out there sure is a slave revolution. They live in fear. The wilder repressing people. And terrorizing people it's not you certainly whites didn't suffer at all. Like black people did but they ended up changing themselves. 40 people killed by a muslim. And i mean so it isn't a logical thing. I do too i do too. Part of it but i don't. You're not most of the muslims in america. But there's a lot of muslims. But i mean best betsy. Betsy went with me i can. I dragged her do dangerously. But we went we went to irving we went to. To counter-protests in with the clowns with the guns. I think that's a great project by the way you know if you wanted cuz i think it is an issue of race i think that this long is a multiracial religion it's 1.5 billion people. But. It is associated with people of color. Is associated with. Arab sewer scene. As non-white even though jews are seen as hot. Begin what race is a logical is associated with. Asian. Associated with people in africa. And so there's a brownness to islam that makes it different than the other abrahamic religions right. And so that's what the guys with the guns are really i really do think that's what the react. It's not just not they were they would have been afraid if it been growing numbers. I think we probably should go yeah okay i want to cover the from chapter 5 on this talk about the letter and move on from there and. There's two copies left in the library i borrow island went out to somebody. But yeah.

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20140511-Consecration-of-the-Flowers.mp3

So let us now begin the presentation of the flowers. As we read together if you have not brought your flowers down. And put them in a basket around the table please feel free to do so. The flower communion service which we are here and park to celebrate is uniquely unitarian universalist ritual. Which is created by the reverend norbert capek. The unitarian bishop of czechoslovakia and the years preceding world war ii. We invite you now to read in unison to where to use to bless the gathering of the flowers at the very first flower communion service. It is number 724 in your hymnal. Together let us say. Infinite spirit of life. We are outside blessing upon he's on messengers fellowship and love. Play they remind us amid diversities of knowledge gifts. One minute fire and affection and devotion july holy will. Hey they also remind us of the value of a combination of doing and sharing a life. Mary cherished friendship as one of my most precious gift. Maybe a weariness of another talent or so leo relationships. You realize that whatever we can do great or small the efforts of all of us to do my work in this world.

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20131222-Sermon_1.mp3

Again. Did the earth shift. And again did the nights grow short. Anna days. Long. And the people of the earth we're glad and celebrated each in their own way. The word yuletide. As we use it today to mean the christmas season. Probably dates back to germano celtic pastoral feast. Beginning of november. Of which halloween is itself a vista joel vestigial reminder. This feast was known by various names. Such as. Julius and greeley and scandinavian was ula. The origin of these words is uncertain. It has been suggested that they are derived from the gothic. Who you love you all. Which meant wheel. In this context it would. Signify the great wheel of the year. And. The animal revolution of the sun. The gothic all or oil. Anderson. Anglo-saxon go also mean. Feast and the liquor. An ale drunk. At the feast. Have also been. Considered as origins of the word yule. As the influence of roman culture too cold. The november festival was moved to the time of the winter solstice. It became christmas with the advent of christianity. And that's the word yuletide. Has been passed down. To us. It is not by accident that religious calendars. Closely match the celestial one. For our very bones and breath are tied to the movements of the. The waxing and waning. Of the season. Seen in this light the winter solstice is the bravest holiday of all. Those of us who live in the northern hemisphere have watched as the sun. Travel farther and farther away. Her light has gone from us and the days. Welchol. Yet even now is the sun all that fails us. We light a candle against the darkness. Symbol of hope. As a symbol of faith. Satellite. Come. Again.

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Sermon_061310.mp3

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. There were changes. In the political and religious landscape that rocked what had been the established way things have been done for 1,500 years. The catholic church at the height of its power and worldly influence was challenged and changed by the efforts of reformers across that continent. At first. These really were just internal reforms like martin luther originally put forth. To actually save the institutional church from its own worst abuses of power such as selling indulgences. Forgiveness of sins in order to make. Money. Eventually even sympathetic reformer so that the entrenched institutions were not going to change so the definition of christendom was expanded. Or refrained. To include those who were at odds with the established order. The protestant reformation was underway. Our own unitarian history is intimately linked. Judas. of challenge. Two existing centers of power. And the establishment of viable alternatives. I didn't raise this because i'm taking i got to get on the catholic church's back. But it is a historical example. At present. We are in the middle of what many feel is a pivotal point. And us and world history. Where are we can continue down. The unsustainable path of consumer economy that is like a snake eating its own tail. Which will eventually destroy itself. Or we can make other choices and travel other pads. To a world more in keeping with our vision of the beloved community. Currently. Probably this moment but. Right around now. Our congress. United states is working out the details of a significant reformation of our financial system. Some people it's not going too far others just streaming it goes too far. At least we hope that they're trying to refer. How many people myself included i feel like it does not go far enough. In changing the business-as-usual practices. Of those who gamble with other people's money to enrich themselves. There is an old saying that nobody likes change except a wet baby. And as a father of a toddler i am not even sure about that. Change happens whether or not though. The question that is constantly before us is what do we want change. Look like. One of the things that often happens in. Congregations or any group of people who get together to try and promote good. Is it they come at odds with each other over how to do that. Or someone may feel upset about something and all they know is they don't want you to be the way it is. That's good to know. But it is helpful for us to ask perhaps. What would it look like to be okay. What would it look like to be the way. You want it to be. Chapter 9 of his book the great prosperity. Author and commentator and financial expert. David courtney. Says that. We should ask what people really want. Because that makes the case. He says that he makes the case for the human brain that is wired to support caring. And sharing and that we human beings. Haflong dreams. Rv world of vital healthy children. Families communities and natural environments. The world we must not create. If we are to have. A teacher. I have found in my research. This is in tune with the work of an economist and professor emeritus jeff jack lessenger. Who has done a tremendous amount of statistical analysis historical study. And looking at trends in economy. They're coming and they're going. And based on his predictions. You said something you consume economy based on what he calls a what's in it for me mentality. Is in fact. Pointy. And being replaced. Buy it and economy based on caring and conservation that asks what's in it. For us. He said historically it probably can be embodied in. Restatement of jack kennedy. Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. I hope. I really truly sincerely hope that. Messenger is right. Because. I believe in free will. And i do not feel that these types of changes are a foregone. Conclusion. Even if they are somehow likely. I think it wise to heed benjamin franklin's advice that god helps those who help themselves. We should do what we can to bring about the changes we see are needed. For a more fair. Just. And even livable world for all of us. To descend. The organization. You use for a drastic anomic community are working to promote the study action item i mentioned earlier. This will be an official program of study reflection on the issues we have encountered. And our dressing regarding our financial and economic issues facing us. Sharita wright. They offer that the economic crisis. Current political responses will continue to destabilize. Our communities and a road our democracy. We cannot return to economics as usual without a deepening economic inequality. Fragmenting community. Resilience. And the exhaust exacerbating ecological crisis. What areas of injustice are connected to the nature of our current economic. Do i find interesting about statements like this is this was written long before. The gulf. Mexico. They came flooded with oil. It was written. Even before we. Found out how many of the excesses that have been. Discovered about the financial system. That we have in this town. These things do go against. Abuse has. E-systems of inequality go against what we is unitarian universalist. Believe should be the way. The world is ordered. Against our understanding of. The beloved community that we try to bring in place. Enterprises. Some of the things that i have been. Troubled by. Starting when i was in. Clinical science students at the university of missouri back in the 1980s. I washed the transition. From the carter administration and. To the reagan administration overnight knows this somebody almost through a light switch. That somehow. It became acceptable to do things that previous generations had said we're not accept. The first year of the reagan administration the number of mergers a corporation's assets. 100 million dollars or more. Quadruple over those of the carter administration and then they went up again another quadrupling the next year. Concentration of wealth. And it is a simple matter to understand that the more concentrated wealth is. It is like one in a body. If you withdraw it from circulation. The body dies. So how do we deal with these inequalities. Communism certainly didn't work. Easy things for us to discuss. Beauty community. Conversation and discussion of this type is a holy act. It is an act of spiritual discipline. Engaged in active. Genuine earnest conversation around these issues of our lives. I know people kids that we talk things to death. But that's only true if we then don't do anything after we talked about. Because educating ourselves. Talking about. Learning about these. Is the first step. Coors and moving on. To doing something about. I feel. Personally that. These efforts and understanding. An advocacy for our faith community another's can be an important part of helping. This country and perhaps the world to engage. Economic reformation. That will have consequences even farther in importance. The religious reformation a 500 years ago. We have the possibility to help bring about. Life for all that is in fact more healthy more creative. More productive and dynamic and sustainable. Then we have known. Before. The choice is truly our hours. I would like now i don't do this often but i would like now to. Open up. Conversation a little bit. Owning that this is not stomp the minister. Nor is this time necessarily for bottles but apparently an opportunity for us to engage in a broader conversation. Or the enrichment of all of us at this time. What do you think. Yes john. Ashley wright. Yeah i think one important thing to keep in mind is there's this idea that if somehow we are doing things the way we're doing them now that we're somehow going to go into a socialist state where profit is going to be removed and then we're not really talking about some form of market economy. That's a false dichotomy. It's a false choice. That people are putting out to us because they want us to maintain the status quo. There are many many possible alternatives. Fish. Allow people to operate with free will in the marketplace to do things that are going to be profitable and profit-making and private-sector. This is not about socialism even. Perhaps a way of creating a better playing field. Set a reminder can compete more equitably. In that market. Yes. I agree and and. According to david court in in his butt. Basically says people who do that or theis. Because what they're doing is there we arranging things so that they can take other people's wealth. Diff true financial instruments that virtually no one understands. And. That it really is a form of. Calculated test. Yes shirley. Well yes and no i mean one of two things. Historical perspective. That jack lessenger offers. Is that there are different types of economies based upon. Collective gestalt of the the people involved whatever we say is a value is how the economy will be structured around to provide. And he goes through fairly. Detailed analysis of how this is involved in different types of economies in our own history since 1790 have evolved have risen. Decline in another economy comes in to take his place. And the consequences of those in-between places. And. So i think the question is. What is it we hold a value. And based on that we will have the economy we ask for. In some ways. As a collective. Body. Yes. The martian series is mackenzie only robinson. Example. What is the weather today. You got the gas station money money i was supposed to be an orange paper opelousas. Nicole way back to. Children. Maria radio. Thank you john. Union. I think one of the questions that is asked any questions was mentioned earlier that the study initiative says. Is this about tweaking the system we've got and you know. Building up better things aspects of it. Or is it that the whole thing is in pretty bad shape and we need to begin moving towards some other model of how we interact with each other on a way or an economy. That serves us and not one that we are serving. I think that might be. Then keep in mind there's no hard-and-fast answers right now i think that's the thing is we're grasping for those answers. My sense is based on what i understand of social theory and transition theory. Is i think we're in that in-between place between when something ends. And something else begins. I think that's why this is such an anxious time for so many of us. In or the country and even for the world right now. My sense is something else has ended we don't even really know it has ended. But we're somehow moving into a place. Not one thing and not another and that's a frightening place to be and it creates uncertainty. I think mason is stan for us to. Take the vision of what it is we want and what shoreline we want to land on. In this boat and how do we get there. You stand up. I'm not an economist and i'm not a policy wonk you know i'm lucky enough to be intrigued by these things and carry on a cocktail conversation with people who really are policy want. My sense is that it's not any one thing. I think the idea that there's going to be one thing there's a magic bullet out there that makes things. Is not. The case we got here through a whole myriad of activities of human beings and. Interacting over decades. And it's going to take something comfortable. You know. And and she's like a relationship of any kind it doesn't just. You know you don't just get out of it you got to work your way out of. Sure. I'm not disagreeing with that i think and i think it was a columnist recently this week when the blog's put out he goes that you a $60,000 a year can't buy happiness. For most people. Considering that's almost double. The average wage in this country. And so that's you know. I think it wants me to meet. Especially our basic needs and wants and a little extra. The rest is way extra. At some point. So it was a hand over here i like to do. Microwave. Well and i think only important things do is for people make those kinds of choices they have to have a choice. They have heaven alternative. And i think it's what i'm seeing you in. What's going on this icy alternatives are evolving. That people are creating alternatives are looking at alternative energy like an alternative forms of market alternative forms of measuring wealth. The gdp is vera the general gross domestic product of a measuring wealth in this country and it really doesn't take into account any of this social issues. Such as health. Family stability any of the things that really affect how we live our lives on a daily basis. So there's a lot of alternatives. Reframing new paradigms open up and i think that as that happens we'll be able to actually make those choices. But i think what we're hearing is we don't want you to have choices we want you to do it our way. I mean the departed problem with the credit card companies. Now. They are not locked locking a sable locks in quite as much and we have choices and it's really not making them happy. Because people in power want to stay in power. This is not about malevolent forces the great satan or anything like that. This is about the way systems tend to work in conjunction with human nature. And i think it's important to remember the biblical injunction. That it is the love of money. That is the root of all evil not the money for the love of money. I'm seeing several hands back here and meal real quick. A will reduce 50% the government takes care of the people say we wanted we will. Is there something else called value-added-tax. 20%. There's a 20% extra above like the. Sneer. Valerie and then back to the front. Weather in space creatures. I agree with you in the short run on the planet b i do i do remember years ago i had the opportunity to have a conversation mary. Before he became unapproachable. It was just before the star trek motion picture movie came out as like the year before he made a visit to the university of missouri where i was at. And a group of about 50 people showed up to hear him speak. I mean you're later you couldn't imagine that. But i got to answer my questions i said don't you think we need to get our act together on this planet before we export our problems. And because i was a big environmentalist that point in time and he said no you know and and i think that there is. Some truth to that i think that we've always looked at expansion as a way of relieving pressures that i still cleave to the idea that we need to get iraq better together before we start exporting our problem. So i think that however we see the world there are no quick fixes nobody's going to come down and save are high knees. From the problems that we have created for ourselves. I think this is an important thing. And we need to do this together with some hands over here. Right. And aristotle says i think. Are a justice is one getting 11 reserve. That in that i cannot do that true. Community what legally everyone missouri. That was what. We all deserve. Well i know what i think i deserve. But yeah i think i think we're talking about you know. Clean air clean water. Safefood good education education i mean. And you know it making sure that people have the basics that not the skimpiest crappiest basics but. Basics of a quality that we can have a quality life and that we're not struggling to put all of our energy into survival. All the time but rather that were able to to move forward to it to mature as people to mature as a community and to be creative and into have some synergistic. You know quantifying that is from culture to culture is different. So and i would say the issue by justice is in in the tradition that we use it from is coming from the abrahamic tradition. And it really is about. Providing for not just what we deserve what we need. And anyways of turning phrases and i surely nissley translate in english very well. But i think it's about talking about what we need is human beings and making sure that those things are addressed. So. When i take one or two more joe and then. Right. Yes. The lack of honesty is is caused his cause of failure of trust. And communities do not survive long where there's no trust. Tom last one. Universalism. How do you create an app. Volume 20.. And if you go on the internet look up tons of materials on things people can individually do that's not why i focus on today because you can find that and hopefully it's the kind of thing that will come out of any kind of conversations and study action items. And how our collective action is also there in. Keep in mind as collective action that has a synergistic effect of multipliers. I just read last night. do you use waze being plotted. Lauded by several major environmental organizations. But for howard energy efficient and ecologically light on the earth its general assembly is. It has one of the best track records amy. What other assembly conferences you go to where they have all the recycling and composting available. You know and require all the hotel providers to use in a green dry cleaners. And in all of those kinds of things and and setting a precedent. Four things in the fact that. We were asking for composting in salt lake city as a part of our effort they didn't have the time that the mayor of salt lake city has now said we're going to do this. So that they're going to be not doing that after conferences in salt lake city. So we have an effect. Collective action has an impact. Sol visual actions important and everything we do counts i think that's an important thing to keep in mind. But it's also when we come together as mark morrison said that our vision is widened and our strength is renewed. On that note let us go to our closing hymn. Number 126 come thou fount of every blessing. Please remember the congregational meeting after the service. We will be meeting with in about 10 to 15 minutes after the service for the congregational meeting so please come sign in and participate in this important decision if you're making today on our financial future.

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20150405-Sermon_1.mp3

Good morning my name is cathy smith it is my pleasure and privilege to your director of religious education. Adopted to be a part of the worship service this morning. It is my task to bring to you the story of the life of jesus. I think it's important sometimes to remember that every great religious leader. Was once a baby sitting in their parents arms listening to the community and growing in love that every great religious leader was once a child whispering in the back of the sanctuary to their parent. Probably asking how much longer. Will there be a snack. And that every religious leader was once a teenager challenge to be the very best that he or she could be so to give credit before we start for this story i drew heavily from books that are published by the usa and available in the ua bookstore. Meet jesus the life and lessons of a beloved teacher and from long ago and then he lands. It's important to remember that these stories about jesus have been written down in many many forms and passed down from many many years. I'm like. Most traditional stories that seem to perfectly meet meet the needs of the time. They've been interpreted and every ever so slightly changed. By every person who has told them. So this is the story of jesus a beloved teacher. He was born more than 2000 years ago in the country that we now call israel. He grew up in the town of nazareth was it with his parents mary and joseph. Joseph and mary raise jesus in the traditions of their jewish faith. As a child jesus worked with joseph as a carpenter someone who works with wood. Jesus learn to read the torah the jewish sacred book. The stories tell us that when he was twelve he slipped away from his family during the jewish holiday of passover. Which is just over this weekend in modern time. And he spent the day discussing the torah with the learned priests in the big temple in jerusalem. Jesus felt a strong connection to god. He began to sense that god had called him to bring people a new message of love and forgiveness so when he grew up he began to travel from village to village and tell people his ideas about living together in peace and harmony. Crowds gathered to hear him speak. And as he went from village to village he reached out to people who were poor. Or sad. Or discouraged. He became known as a healer and a miracle worker someone who can help sick people get well and feed those who are hungry. He treated everyone with the same kindness. Whether they were women or men. Juice or non-jews. Rich or poor. Popular or outkast. He did not do this work alone a group of men and women traveled with him. He chose 12 of them. Called his disciples. To help him teach his new ideas to others. Together they walked from village to village. Sharing those new ideas with anyone who wanted to listen. And one of his favorite ways to teach. What to tell a story. Like this one. Patrick would you like to tell the story 4. One day. A warrior. Came to jesus asked what he needed to do to get to the kingdom of god. Can you imagine this today. Just as then jesus asked him what the jewish law said. The lawyer answered you shall love. God with all of your heart. And with all of your soul and all of your strength. And your neighbor as yourself. Right. Then the lawyer asked but teacher who is my neighbor. In other words. Who do i have to treat lovingly. This is the story that jesus told. To that man. Once a jewish man was walking on a lonely stretch of road between jerusalem and jericho. Suddenly a gang of thieves jumped out from the side of the road and surrounded him. Give it your money they demanded i need my money he cried. I have to buy food with this money and for myself and my whole family. One of the thieves hit the man hard enough to knock him down. Seeing no one around the thieves jumped on the man and took everything that he had. Including his money his clothing and beat him until he was almost dead. Then they hurried away. After a time a priest a jewish preacher. Can walking down the road he saw the man lying on the side of the road and crossed over to the other side as he hurried by. Soon another man a levite. Another name for a kind of leader the jewish synagogues of the time. Appeared. He too saw the wounded man lying in the hot sun naked and bleeding and he scurried on by. A long time past. Flies buzzed around the man. Luckily someone else. Came down that road. He was a samaritan writing on his donkey. No the people of samaria were not friendly with the people of the jewish people at that time in fact they were sworn enemies of each other. Actually was an inside family fight about theology mostly. But the samaritan man did not hesitate. When he saw the jewish man lying by the side of the road. He didn't stop to think about whether he should help him because. Of where he was from or what group the man belong to. He saw that this man needed help and he felt compassion. The samaritan. To healing oil and wine from his bag and clean the man's wounds and bound them up with bandages made from the cloth of his own shirt. He covered him with a robe he gave the man a drink of water and help the man onto his donkey. Slowly. For the man was in great pain and the road was long. And they walked to the next town. They're the samaritan fountain inn. Made the man comfortable and paid the innkeeper enough money so the wounded man can stay is he in until he got better. The samaritan even promise to come back in a few days and pay up the bill. If you hadn't given the innkeeper enough. When jesus finished telling this story. He asked the lawyer. Which of these three men. Acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among the thieves. The lawyer said the one who shows kindness. Yes jesus. Go and do. The same. Descend this reading. So when jesus came into town somebody who knew him would sure to pass the word around. And a plan would be worked out so we would be at a certain place at a certain time when evening came in the day's work was over. The men and women who had to work during the day could gather and listen to what he had to say. Sometimes they were very discouraged sometimes they were so poor that they didn't have enough to eat and some of them had sick children to take care of them and some of them were older or crippled and always in pain some felt like nobody nobody cared about them. They were always given the most menial jobs to do and they were always being scolded because they weren't doing them well enough and there were others who felt it was really not worth it to try to be good at all because no one was ever pleased with them no matter how hard they tried. These people went regularly once a week to the synagogue on the sabbath they heard the torah read to them but they couldn't remember everything that they were told. They didn't always do everything they were told they ought to do. They knew that they were not praying as often as they were told to pray but it was so hard to remember all the words to say. They knew they weren't giving as much as they were told to give to the synagogue but they had so little to live on. How could they possibly give more. They did admit that they did some work on the sabbath when the preachers and teachers told them they should never do any work on the sabbath but the hours in the work we're never long enough to get everything done that had to be done to keep the children from starving and the animals fed. People like these were naturally discouraged. They felt all the time like their teachers their rabbis when not pleased with them. If their teachers were not pleased with them then god probably wasn't pleased with them either and that thought made them even more discouraged. The 11-day one of these discourage men ask jesus a question. I am a shepherd he said i spend long hours in the open fields i cannot always find a stream where i can wash my hand before i eat i know i rule says a man should always wash his hands before eating but am i a bad man because i have to eat my lunch without washing my hands. Certainly not such as with a smile. You are not a bad man simply because you eat without washing your hands when you are in the field and cannot do so. Unwashed hands can't make a person a bad person anyway. Goodness and badness are inside of you. Not in your skin. And then another woman asked another question there are many of us who didn't go to school and never learned how to read we haven't been able to study all of the laws in the bible. There seem to be hundreds of laws the rabbis in the synagogue say we must follow if we are going to please god but we can't remember them all. I went bad because we can't remember all the rules. Our other teachers seem to think we are no good. Because we don't know very much. Jesus answered encouragingly for many years our teachers have been adding more and more laws to the ones we already have. They have meant to help us but what they've really done is made living a good life so hard. But none of us could be counted as good but i'm here to tell you. The being good. Is not just obeying a large number of rule. You could obey every single one of the rules that the teachers have made. And still not be really good whether you are good or not depends on how you feel in your heart. Do you feel hateful. Or do you feel loving. Do you feel angry or patient. With the person who hurt you. Those are the things that count. Sounds good jesus and amanda didn't busy all day hauling stonesboro road but i wish you'd tell us and just one sentence what is so important that we can't forget. And jesus smiled and said your wish reminds me of something someone once said to rabbi hillel. The great teacher that i know you've heard of. A student wants to do him tell me rabbi what all the laws put together me and tell me so simply i can hear it while i'm standing on one foot. And everyone laughed. Hello gave the student a very good answer and a very short ones that jesus. Never do to anyone else the kind of thing that is hateful to you. This is all of the laws put together. All the rest is just an explanation of that one short law i would say this rule a little differently said jesus. I would say do the thing to others that you would have them do to you. So let's try saying it all together. That golden rule. Do the things to others that you would have them do to you. Doesn't take too long to say it. But it might take a very long time to learn to follow it. And when his talk was over the people got up from the ground and walked to their homes. They were relieved because jesus had given them something they can understand and not forget. Something that we. Don't often think about but it's very true people have put a lot of time studying this beta. When he preached and told stories. Do you know what jesus talked about more than anything else. Money. Yes you wouldn't thank you patrick he had more stories and lessons about money than anything else and one of his best known as story. Of the widow's mite. Before i start there is a joke going around on the internet that says. That while the minute the widow's mite you should. It's growing back. The story goes like this. In a little village near jerusalem long time ago there was an old woman who didn't have much money. The stories called her a poor widow which means a woman whose husband had died. In jesus's time woman who didn't have a husband or sons to support her was someone who lived on the very edge. Someone who is very poor and didn't have a lot of hope. One day this poor old woman was walking down the road when she saw two small copper coins on the ground. They look like pennies but they were really small even put together they weren't even worth a fraction of 1 penny. She put them in her pocket. Maybe promising herself a piece of bread or a fresh egg. But later that day she went to a worship service and the nearby temple. Jesus and his disciples were there too. We don't know if he was speaking or if he was just part of the congregation the story does tell us what happened when the part of the service came where people were asked to donate money. Some people there were rich and they donated a lot of money. But the old woman reached into her pocket and found the two copper coins. The only money she had in the world. She walked up to the two donation box and put in one of the pieces. Half. Of all of the money she had. Jesus saw the old woman put her coin in the box and he knew but she had shared. He told his disciples that her gift was more special. Than any of the gifts given by the rich people there because they had only given out of what they had. Because they had only given a little of what they had. But she had given half. All of the money that she had that sounds that store. Jesus encourage encourage people to be generous always not only with sunny but with their heart he taught his followers four ways ways to live together in harmony to learn to forgive and to settle arguments peacefully this was different from what most other rabbis of the time we're saying. Jesus taught that there was a higher authority than earthly law even a higher authority. Then church law. And that being true to that higher moral law was more important than anything else. Some jewish authorities were furious that jesus would presume to offer a new commandment and claimed that it outrank all the other commandments they had lived by and transmitted loyal a year after year. They did not believe jesus was the messiah they considered him dangerous a blasphemer. A charismatic charlatan who condemned the christians at the jewish day they challenged his authority and told him to stop but he would not. He continued preaching and helping people fed them and healed them and encouraged them to be kind. His short sayings and parables made important ideas easy to understand. The endeared him to the people. The jewish and civic league leaders were suspicious of him. Andrea's intentions. But that is another story for a later time.

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Sermon_082111.mp3

It's good to be back in the pulpit. Weeks now but. Not in the pulpit. We do use the word covenant ly. Around here nowadays don't we. We have congregational covenant that we said earlier in the service we will soon launch our new covenant group series for the year. One of our small group ministries. We talked about being in covenant with each other as part of this larger you use face. What does it mean to be in covenant with each other. In the book and film of harry potter and the chamber of secrets. The wise headmaster albus dumbledore enlightens young harry. That. It is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is. Our choices. And covenants. Essentially is about. Choices. My colleague george kimmich pizzas at the word covenant signifies a framework within which intentionality takes effect intentionality another word that you heard me use a great deal. And a former interim minister to this congregation the reverend robert latham. Defines a religious covenant as a compact among a group of people who which state their mission and how that mission will be transformed into reality. By their stewardship. Stewardship. Money. Collections. It's about the whole living. Are fake. This is not the same thing as stating a belief or a purpose. Those believe for purpose may not entail any pledge or commitment. Fulfill or carry them out. Are politicians doing it all the time. I believe this. I couldn't do x y and z. A covenant on the other hand is. Explicit. And its intention to fulfil its. Latham also says while purpose calls for and empowerment of its vision. Oil. Call. Korn empowerment of its vision. Covenant. Empowers its vision with. Commitment. Covenant empowers its vision with commitment. Love the word orthodox. Literally means. Anybody out here. Right word. Great belief. We as religious liberals are more concerned on the other hand with another $5 word orthopraxis. Has nothing to do with keys or your feet. Orthopraxis. Practice. Workrite practice or right relationship. Covenant is something we do in living with each other it is how we live. Together in our daily rounds. Set in fact determine if we are in right relationship with each other. Right. I've been in relationships where people say oh yeah i'll take care of this i'll do that. It doesn't happen. Covenants ask and answer to basic question. 1 why have we come together. And to how are we to be together. What are our purposes in making this tree and mutual agreement. And in that light how do we go about living with each other. Consequently covenantal living confers identity and phyl's. Real unity. Something about pseudo community in real community. Is pseudo communities but often happens when people come together for the first time and everything seems really lovely and wonderful. There's. Call superficial melons really gotten on each others nerves enough yet. Can i have you went to church camp a week of church camp is great. Is it's just long enough to know each other but not long enough to really take each other off. Two weeks of church camp. On the other hand or even three weeks. Is a test of real covenant. Clarity. Is crucial. Anis questions apply and. Call. We come together and. People feel our covenants are commitment. If we do not know why we are together then we will lacks pocus and direction. And if you do people like this. Spouses. Your partners. Your children your parents. And consequently our soul loses its flavor. And we will very likely call back on. Formality and structure and process. As central organizing principles of our collective existence. It isn't communities that have lost their sense of the y. That's get hung up on what we've always done it this way. Even if it's only been for two years. It's not unusual for a new ministers to come into congregations even after only 3 or 4 years and have some. Come up and say but we've always done it this way even if it was just the implementation of the previous minister. Always. Has a flexible meaning. The model of the kind of group. I'm talking about that is lost. The flavor to its soul. Is traditional secret above all else and we have always done it this way. Maintenance of the structure becomes our purpose and our source of identity. This is actually much of what jesus was railing against. The jewish temple system. Of his daddy. It was the. Legalism. Doing that had become more important. Kauai. Because there is no underlying focus her purpose to this. Kind of community the threat of change. The ossifying structures is perceived as a threat. Existence of a community itself. If all the community is a kind of exoskeleton a kind of. Deshell. Yeah that kind of that there's nothing really inside it if you threaten to change the shower to make adjustments were to break it and then you are threatening. That sense of cohesion. That that group health. And the consequence is amylase. Settles over the group and if it comes inward-looking. And narcissistic. Navel gazing. You may have a beautifully made chalice. But we will have no fire. And relatedly. Without clarity on how we on how we will be together. We lack security and trust. With. Each other. Is any of you have been any kind of long-term relationship no. Love is phenomenal it's great. But trust. Is what allows us to remain in those relationships over the long. We do not know how to manifest a purpose we have agreed upon if we don't know how we will live together. Communication is halted and garbled and our energies are diffused. Communities in which there is a lack of clarity by members about how they will be together are usually small ineffectual and just possible. Just have to say that reminds me of a great many of the congregations all you've interacted with over the last. 15 years. Leslie consulting work. Without knowing how. We are doing. We have no gauge for our actions. We become builders without blueprint. Is it off nyuc in churches hours and others he see energies going running amok. Boston great places. I'm reminded of our sainted thomas jefferson as great as he was you know when you go to monticello now and it's all wonderful perfect now you live there the thing was a constant construction project. Never finish one thing before he started another. It was costly shooting energy in different places. He died broke. When people join. A unitarian universalist congregation whose purpose is clear and held high. They understand why they are joining. Without this understanding a non-critical group the religious purpose. Is vulnerable to being reshaped into the images or even being hijacked by personal agendas. And i know some of you have experienced that. Directly. Experience. In the history of this congregation or in other. On the other hand. About why we are together and how we will be so. We know where we want to go and how we will go there together. Visible outworking of our covenants. Or our ministries. Robert latham says that ministry is covenant in action. Not covenant inactions the covenant. In space action. Hideous covenant stewardship. And the only appropriate gauge for measuring the effectiveness of ministry is in the covenant that it seeks to embody. Implicitly or explicitly a covenant expresses our collective understanding of what we hold to be award. What our relationship is to it. Remember the word worship is from the german for sheep. Ascribe worth. Do something. What do we worship puttin describe work too. And what is a relationship. It may be a belief in divine salvation through grace or our inherent worth and dignity and interconnectedness at all levels of existence. Twosome interconnecting. Web of. Existence. In this the purpose of having a community used to call us. Into our commitment to our chosen relationship when we stray away from them. The words of the of the sufi poet rumi. Hongkong whoever-you-are we sing that right. In his writing that can be some of the descant but often we don't sing it. Do you broken your vow 1000 time. Come come. Whoever you are. Wanderer worshipper lover of leaving. Ours is no caravan of despair. Yet again. It is an indication. Invitation. Into. Right relationship. Covenant. With each other. Covenants near very nature and body basics. Your logical understandings that we hold as unitarian universalist. As liberal religionist. The first. We have free will. To make sense of and express our understanding of our relationship. With each other and that which we consider to be a full permission for. Secondly we each have value in and of ourselves which must be recognized and respected by each other. Through our obligations to each other individually and. Collectively. And 3rd. Our emphasis on the ways that we will be with each other as process. And not just as a means to an end. Is a manifestation of our understanding that existence is incremental. And constantly evolving. And consequently we do not know. What will happen in the future. And that revelation and possibly. Possibility are open and ongoing. Revelation and possibility are open and on. Going. We can assume neither damnation or utopian progress. But we have hope and optimism. In the limitless possibilities. Existence. And i do want to say that in the times in which we live is having hope and optimism sometimes very. Any optimism idiocy. And it's not optimism that god will fix our problems. James luther adams unitarian theologian. Has made it quite clear in his statement about liberal. Liberalism that one of them is we do not believe in the immaculate conception of virtue. That means basically. We're the ones who have to be good. It's up to us. But the very incremental nature of lice. Means two things. One is that. Changing the world. Longer than we realize. Or warrant. Often happening in ways that we simply cannot. And secondly. Fortunately. The grace that i find is because of the very incremental nature of things. Everything we do. Through our covenants we call each other into free and responsible commitment. To build our common good. We are being observed by many. Inside our religion man the larger communities see what we will do with our potential to influence the nature and shape. Texas texas religious landscape for the foreseeable future. As my wife is said of her serving in midland 45 years or she is not serving now but. She says yes it is definitely mission country. Progressive for liberal religious. Me to rn mission country. Reality though is everywhere. This time is mission country. Just happens to be a little more explicit. It's some of our lives. If we take seriously our liberal ideals and principles of covenant community as a way of living and being in the world. Then. To make them real and concrete. Ideas in the congregation in the larger community. Is not only desirable but necessary. Station. Ongoing in bonnyman. The beloved community. We aspire to foster in to be in the world. It is often said that the purpose of the church is to be a visual aid for the rest. Seaworld. What kind of visual aid kind of model. Are we being. And we must live out our purposes. The principles of our lives. Of our faith commitments on our covenant. Together. In order to make any kind of claims on others. About why these should be. Part of the larger community center. We can't make it work. Who will. As my colleague uu minister mark morrison reed said in our offertory reading. It is the church that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own that as members of a larger community. The religious community is essential for a loan or vision is too narrow. To see all that must be seen. Our strength is too limited you all that must be done. Together our vision widens. And our strength is renewed. Walk-in act. Together in our principles our ability to effect change in the world. Is amplify. When we embrace our role as change agents as well as being. Affected by chain we are empowered. And empowering to others. When we are committed and constant. We become trustworthy to others. And. Ourselves. When we embrace patience. And the knowledge that everything we do count. Mackenzie presents. And optimistic and less anxious about the future. Should we might be actively. Practice. When we embrace and apply the truth. That. The best way to bring our. Principles to fruition in the world is to live them out in our lives. Then our lives. Dancing in this. Amazing web. Existence. Interconnections. Interdependence. Resume. Nordstrom. The problem with the singing harmonies of integrity. And who. Our world made more fair. And all of. Recipe.

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Reading_110710.mp3

Are reading this morning is from a book called the elegance of the hedgehog and if you haven't read it yet it is marvelous i highly recommend it. And the speaker in this chapter that excerpt from this chapter is an extremely precocious teenage girl i believe she's 11 or 12. I'm in france. Yesterday afternoon was my school's choir performance. So off we headed to the gymnasium at a trot led by madonna fein. Eventually we got to the gym everybody found a place as best they could. I was forced to listen to the most asinine conversations coming at me from below behind every side all around in the bleachers and in stereo. Cell phone fashion cell who's going out with cell dumbass teachers cell canals party. And then finally the choir arrive to thundering applause. Dressed in red and white with bow ties for the boys and long dresses with shoulder straps for the girls. Mister trianon sat down on a high stool his back to the audience. Stingrays disordered vuitton with a little flashing red light at the end. Silence fell and the performance began. Every time it's a miracle. Here are all these people. Full of heartache or hatred or desire. And we all have our troubles. And the school year is filled with vulgarity and triviality and consequence. And there are all these teachers and kids of every shape and size. And if this life were struggling through full of shouting and tears and laughter and fights and breakups and dashed hopes and unexpected luck. It all disappears just like that. When the choir begins to sing. Everyday life vanishes into song. You're suddenly overcome with a feeling of brother. Deep solidarity even love. And it diffuses the ugliness of everyday life into a spirit of perfect communion. Even the singers faces are transformed. It's no longer a kilogram for now that i'm looking at he is a very fine tenor. Or deborah lynn miller recycling rash. I think human beings surrendering to music. Every time it's the same thing. I feel like crying my throat goes all tight. And i do the best i can to control myself. But sometimes it gets close i can hardly keep myself from sobbing. So when they sing a can and i look down at the ground because it's just too much emotion at once. It's too beautiful. Everyone singing together this marvelous sharing. I'm no longer myself. I'm just one part of a sublime hoe. The others also. I always wonder at such moments why does cannot be the rule as everyday life. Instead of being an exceptional moment during a choir. When the music stops everyone applauds their faces all lit up. The choir radio. It's so beautiful. And in the end. I wonder if the true movement of the world. Might not be a voice raised in song.

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20150426-Sermon.mp3

So like to begin with a note of thanks it is lovely to be here. Oh well guess you don't know who i am i'm making a rare appearance i'm is jennifer aniston i'm the consulting minister at first jefferson unitarian universalist church in fort worth so high is nice to be here not make the drive. For one thing but i'm also the spouse of your minister the reverend patrick price so it's certainly a treat to be here and offered the service as a favor to him while he is working on his. Program to become a spiritual director and he's looking forward to bring it all back to you. And i'm kind of feeling we're having a little historical a little historical kind of contests i'm feeling a little retro with my is my ordination kind of robe here near the big the big fancy one. And with the fuzzy stripes and all of that. Very. It's part of being at first church in boston from 1630 church in boston. So you know we're going we're going back. Going back. And i think sometimes you can be really useful. To take kind of that step. Back in a moment when like you like many other carnations at this time of year. Is making plans for the coming here what are your dreams what are your hopes there are installations happening this afternoon and all kinds of conditions including live oak for example in austin so welcoming a new ministers and looking at new possibilities. And taking seriously the question of how do we create the beloved community here on earth here in this moment. And some that spirit i want to offer a story from. Our past. Now before the literary success of little women and before she lived among the radical thinkers and concord in boston. Louisa may alcott survived endor it and survived. The short-lived experiment of her father's heaven on earth. Sew-in 8 in 1843. In 1843 bronson alcott packed up his wife and four daughters to start a new life. The given name for this experiment was fruitlands. And the new life was to be the new eden for that was their intense they wanted to create a community that was self-reliant spiritually focused and perfect. They wanted to return to a time. When that was lost when adam and eve had left the garden. And this is at the height of the transcendentalist movement when they all cocks and a few hundred few other seekers of paradise purchased 100 acres in the rule. Town of harvard massachusetts. And set to their pursuit of all things of the spirit. Now. I'm going to give away the ending it was miserable. It was miserable failure i mean it was wow. But what happens to them their dreams their context and their failures i think. Even speak to us today. Because not only have we inherited their values and priorities. Each of us also has our own hopes and dreams as well as a vision for. This liberal faith. And we must reconcile our vision with the. The stilt and the failings named by denise levertov in the in the poem. So much is still beginning. There are so many castles also to waiting. For their foundations. No. Bronson alcott they aren't they had a good start. And they're in their small band the land they purchased was. And it is beautiful it is one of the most spectacular views. In new england before you get to the mountain. It is a simple expansive screens and filled with a horizon that is 40 mi on a beautiful day. And there's something about it that leaves no doubt as to why the settlers called it the new eden. I went there is part of when i was working with the church at harvard for a little while. Had chance to come see it myself and crawl up to into the dusty reaches of the house and see where louisa and her sisters might have slept. And they've retained much of fruitlands as a as a historical site. For today. No. Their philosophy had promised. All cotton the others as part of the transcendentalist movement. They were taking to that approach of the world as seen through the eyes of. Ralph waldo emerson and henry david thoreau. And the transcendentalist place the primary emphasis on the intuition of the individual. Breaking down the assumptions of what was acceptable putting aside for tichenor wisdom from the past. They were enthusiastic social critic. I was just why so many of them were ardent abolitionists. They thought. Way beyond the box. They sought wisdom from religions other than christian 1843 this is still a radical left. And they read hindu and buddhist texts as well as greek and roman philosophy. And folks such as thoreau southwood so they can remove themselves from the constructs of humanity. An individual's intuition was truth above all form and authority. And they perceived an unseen realm higher than our worldly existence. Their purpose was to transcend the world. And connect. With god. Now bronson alcott was one of the most significant people of this time growing up as he did in a working-class family his resources were his mind and his thirst for reading i mean he truly pulled himself up. Into the world. And before fruitlands. He was an educator and promoted the ideals of the free mind of an individual's intuition. Not one to give much thought to the material world however bronson usually let his family and poverty. In an effort to buy bronson. With one moment of success. Because he didn't have that many obvious one. Ralph waldo emerson gave bronson the gift of a trip to england. And bronson there while there he saw at a school established as his namesake. And modeled in his educational image so he got to see how somebody else really succeeded with what he dreamed. And. I don't think this was expected reaction on emerson's park. Upon seeing the school bronx and decided to give up all his worldly endeavors. And follow his thoughts who is true end. Other words. Krishna fruitlands. Now as a starter fruitlands louisa was a girl at ten going on eleven. And with three other sisters and their mother abigail completing that family. And most of the knowledge of fruitlands comes from her story called transcendental wild oats. Transcendental wild oats. And it's available, count of her life as a child and how how that 6-month cuz it's really don't they lasted six months. Approvement. The story was published in 1873 probably as a. Something about. Far beyond bronson's death i think. And her father is the main father in the story. His name in the story is able lamb. And his wife is hope lamb. And one of the other men is tim in lion and there's a few other men in the story in the group. Delete me off for a little bit of retail and cuz it actually still tells pretty well these days. Okay magic. Does lewis's words. On a rainy day in the 1st of june 1843. A gathering of children and their elders and all their possessions in a wagon. Bumped along the muddy lane on route to their new home. Fishing with their ideal dream of freeing and liberating all things from constraint the land was purchased that it would likewise be free. They farmed not-for-profit but only enough for the basic care of their persons. They wanted to have no ill-used or binding of other creatures so they aspire to use no animal products. Not for plowing. Not for meat or dairy or eggs or close. Nor do they want to use any products the cause of suffering of any creature. So no cotton either lest it should have been produced by human slaves. Decide to make use of the land in the farm by their own hands and they're simple labor combined with a life of purity and reflection would remove the cares and injuries of any life of game. Whoever the parade to the new paradise with a little wet. On the first day. Mr. lamb announced this is our new abode. Well he's dripping under his hat. His wife observed. A little difficult of access. And she was trying to keep all the goods from going over and falling out of the household ark. Like all good things to the muddy philosopher but those who earnestly desire and patiently seek will soon find us. Brother tim and replied truth lies at the bottom of the well sister hope. And she said well that's probably the reason we so seldom seldom get at it. Sister hope. Further held her peace at least the old red house that rose before them was a better shelter than the wet forest that some of the more passionate in the group would have chosen. And so started their new eden. Clyde and garments of linen and tunics and trousers they could make their own industry. They said about their farm in the desired clear all constraint and attain purecontact with the ultimate being. As mr lyons said he's member is to perform the work in which experiences strengthen taste bed fit best fit him. They're in her life was a constant priority there was no l only obedience to the spirits. Able lamb work hard. His wife worked the hardest. Perhaps being the only true beast of burden on the farm. Cleaning gardening preparing meals with only beans grains maple sugar potatoes and fruit. No salt no spices no tea no coffee. Others worked as the spirits move them. Enterprise moved in to leave the fields and travel abroad spreading the word of their new land as they traveled by foot. There were few allowances made standard shoes were allowed if one did not want to go barefoot. And after a few days of tilling the fields by hand. The scholars sore back and hands convince them of the need for cattle if they were going to have food for the winter. However what they plan to do did not have fertilizer. Not any animal products were allowed. Until the earth gave them wild greens instead of lettuces. And accepted what nature gave them if only they could learn to digest it. And then winter makes its regular appearance and a striking one it does in rural northeast. The resources for small compared to the greatness of the season and it looks like they're holy life might end in a pure deaf. Are there tim and sold the land and then join the shakers. He proceeded to have a a farm or deep introduction to hands move by work. With them. And in his fervor. Abel lamb had alienated many friends and members of the family. They knew he had to come to his senses and his own time. Living of his dreams was a failure. But still he had his belief and he said to perish rather than sell his soul. Do you lay down to die. In days past. This family waited. While his head was bowed in his hands tired his heart was still warm. He remembered his family his wife and daughters and their love for him and his duty to them. And slowly he revived. With his hope. In his heart. And so hope his wife became their savior. She arranged for new lodgings and gainful employment. And they left for another future. Able turned. To grieve his lost paradise. Poor fruitlands its name was as great a failure as the rest. But his side changed to a smile and his wife added with equal parts care and schumer. Don't you think apple slump would be a better name for a deer. The true story of fruitlands where the transcendentalist sewed and reach their wild oats was as extreme as lewis is fiction. She embellished little. Imagine how painful it would bid to live through this scene in childhood. I'll cut place himself in his family in one ridiculous situation after another and then he tries to escape by total surrender by giving it up. What is saved from death by his own. Ability to understand and reflect. Now this utopian scene played out. You over 150 years ago when the great aspirations of the transcendentalist feel the impulse to put theory and practice in to see what life was found. And some. Which accepts that was actually a true community that was founded in worked for for several years at brook farm. And others were. Less successful. The most glaring of which. The streetlamp. Why we met sharing this rather embarrassing failure of a story. Well. It still provides some really interesting reflection on. On the nature of history you know one of our sources is the words and deeds of people in the past. And to understand about how they kept trying to live out their ideals. These ideas of. Personal integrity of individual freedom of free spiritual increase they've been lasting throughout the centuries no matter what kind of oppression comes along with them. And here is a moment with people head. A total opportunity to try them out. You know one of those. What are the perspectives and priorities in the religion is to take seriously all perspective not just the ones where we succeed. just the best shiny most excellent looking ones. But the whole tradition and examine it closely. If we pick the ones that just looked the best in sounded the. The sound of the nicest telling there would be no discipline. We could it be as easily without thought or reflection as those who went into this venture of fruitlands. Just the way they sent out about the experiment shows how far i'll cut was from the real world. For example they didn't plant their fields in until june. June in new england. Fairly far removed from all things agricultural know that this is asking for disaster. The alcosta most of the men in the group placed the inner spirit on a pedestal of worship without actually seeking depth or wisdom. And there's a great difference between many individuals all being self-absorbed in the same way. Then that if using self-reflection as an avenue for growing compassion for the person next to us and the world around us. Whether it's. Sitting in the sanctuary. Or enjoying a beautiful day. I really love the story also because it. It helps remind us of our own struggles with our own imperfections. You one of the temptations. Of a liberal faith is a hold ourselves above all others if i do nothing else by the strength of reason and our force of will i board we have some forces of will. There's a temptation to want to perfect. And. And perhaps. Isolate into one single form our understanding of ourselves and others. And rather the truth is that we struggle with an imperfect understanding of what we could be a be good be much more honest with ourselves and try for self-awareness and understand and admit that we don't have to be the center of it all cuz goodness knows. I got enough to do i don't need to be the world. There's also a part of the story. I was thinking about how judges failure or success is not that simple. Now the immediate consequence of fruitland after just six months. Went to further deepen the poverty of the alcotts. And only on living on the generosity of their neighbors and inheritance from abigail's father did they recover. The bronson learn. Especially about the value of his family. Louisa wrote the account about three dick about three decades of perspective after. The event. Perhaps his her father's ability is more of a reflection of later years. Arrived at extreme point of inverted reflection that he finally worked it out of his system. I could appreciate his family and his children. And appreciate. Earthly ties what it means to actually do. And try. He did learn actually because then he went on to become a school superintendent. Which is a certain level of practicality. An orator a conversationalist all the while ever trying to live his ideals in a more realistic world. And the children learn. Louisa gives the most respect. On what. What happened. Her family lives with a great deal of stress in that moment and yet she was able to combine her father's ideals and the realities of human living into that one very popular model of little women. In little men. He's a good wives little man and joe's boys knew those were all the the pictures of her family. And little men louisa presented a more practical step in a world where she created the school for the boys. As jo march. Is louise's personification. She establishes this kind of community of freedom and growth and also practical living. The basic pedagogy of the school is bronson. Freedom of intellect and knowing that young boys need a chance to enjoy their childhood. And her blend makes for a story that is a work of fiction and is familiar. Even to this day. Success for bronson alcott might also be measured by his influence many of the schools he visited in the northeast and england did better than any himself. But himself led. I didn't transcendentalism. Emerson. Put all cops ideas to better use than the same as essay on nature. There is success in transformation. What may happen as we gather here even if all that is learned is to take a moment to see if we're more like bronson. Then sometimes is good for us. I finally the. I think it's a good reflection of the values of a liberal vision. You're given the diet and the other hazards are fruitlands i'm reminded of the passage from the book proverbs. Without vision the people perish. Vision is an active imagination of seeing something that's not there but could be. And even better vision is a unusual power of discernment of to know what would come. Will the presence of vision in an individual such as bronson is very valuable for the purpose of living. I'm struck by the people. Part of the quote from proverbs. Name of the people points to the part of the whole reason for having the vision. The particular insight might be found worthy inspirational attractive. And that would make a real difference. In the lives of the people who hear it. Enough to fight for it enough to endure great frustration. Within a handful of lifetimes. Histories pointed out the word. I'm delivering fish. At all costs time to present dentalis were on this fringe. They were often excluded from membership in the very institutions they challenged well perhaps that's not really. But they were not able to be on the inside of the voice. Bronson was among the first educators to give weight to a child's curiosity and learning. To err on the side of freedom of interest an inquiry to choose a course of study rather than focus on learning just the wrote facts without any understanding. He was willing to follow a line of conversation even into dangerous topics such as sex and the abolition of slavery. One of the schools closed because he accepted a girl who was biracial. Course i sit here actually thinking about this and realizing that the gender roles had no change in the course of that moment so. There was plenty of work to be done. Make no mistake. That his wife. 4. The greatest burden of making the world work and that moment. And probably a great burden and much of their lives. But now. Over 150 years later. You know these priorities are known and valued and have been fought for by people all over the nation. I sure appreciate. Bronson's willingness to put thought into action. And that part of his essential pedagogy was the small difference between theory. In practice. And sure he fully stepped into some gaping hole. Fruitlands with a cold and hungry immersion experience. Of. One way to live his idea. But that luisa and others were inspired by history. And can learn from the painfulness. Stuff to their possibility. So we to have transformed experiences the drawers into religious community. Those of us who come here want to experience the community to have the chance to access the wisdom of others. The quiet inspiration. The touches our own intuition. And the vision offered here a freedom of respect. Of compassion is worth clearing the stilts that gathers while we debate the dreams but we ourselves can be dragged down to wonder if it is worth our lives. And we keep coming back with the answer. And so. Henry david thoreau tells us if you have built castles in your air in the air your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now. Put the foundations under. Perhaps bronson alcott was the dreamer his wife abigail and daughter louisa. Offering the foundation. Louisa sad heart patients us against a dollar tree and extremes. And even today for absent transcendentalism is. I think perhaps a bit romanticized and treated with a bit of nostalgia for a time way back when. You can still walk around the woods at walden. But you have to get through the crowds at the beach first. We need reminders that is good to question authority especially one zone. We have the great potential to forgive as well as be forgiven for our faults. Learn the value of a mistake. And we have so many ways to to judge success. Do we need the vision if we are to more than just survive. We need the dreamers if we are to be different than who we are now. And we need those who will dig and gather the earth. To reach our aspirations. So much is unfolding. So much is in bud the route. And the branch to. We need one another to know how the gesture. Becomes complete.

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Sermon_042510.mp3

Is. Why is it so important for us and why does it exert such a strong influence on our lives. We have a lot of things about beauty. What are some of them that you can think of. Only skin deep. Icd holder. Beauty is as beauty does. Can show you how small is beautiful biggest beautiful youngest beautiful artist beautiful music is beautiful love is beautiful truth is beauty. Beauty's only skin deep. And in response to the last one humorous jean kerr has equipped i'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin deep that's deep enough what do you want and adorable pancreas. And one that would mention up here i'd only heard recently started the forrest gump beauty is as beauty does. Beauty is as beauty does and i like annie difranco singer-songwriter whose claims uses beauty money is beauty i help you tease beauty. So what is beauty. Is beauty just. Physical attractiveness. Well yes and no. We are all subject to the influences of appearance and physical beauty. Starting at birth. Studies now show that pretty or cute babies get picked up first and more often by caregivers. Who have not yet learned to be aware of and look for that bias. On average the parents of cute babies have a greater level and expectation of involvement with their children. And this is a two-way street as well. Additional studies also show that even young infants can consistently distinguish between faces that would traditionally be considered attractive and those that would not. Beauty affects us from the very beginning. There is pleasure in our encounter with beauty whether it is physical or otherwise. In fact i would posit that in many ways the amount of beauty we attributed to seeing or interacting with someone or something is in direct proportion to the amount of pleasure or displeasure we have from the experience. Truly beauty is. Often in the eye of the beholder. Now as beans in this world we want to be seen. We want to be known we want to be recognized and valued for who we are. We want to be recognized by those whom we give recognition to. And therefore value to. If someone we feel is attractive to us gives us attention in return we tend to give it far more weight or value. And respond to it more readily than attention from those that we are more ambivalent about. There seems to be. Ratios or types of balance. Or symmetry elements or features that seem to be consistent and universally attractive. Did human beings. Those that relate to physical beauty seem to have deep biological basis. Studies also recently showed that in body and facial symmetry. They've become quite the pho. And psychologists and biologists study human courtship and relationship. Show that these have a lot of impact. They seem to consistently find that those who are physically symmetrical. Seem to be those that others are more attractive to or that are even considered beautiful. And at least initially more desirable now i think this is become more common parlance now or we talked about people's facial symmetry and people like denzel washington supposedly has proof perfect facial symmetry. And things like that you know so. And that's when the things that plastic surgeons are now being asked to do is to provide more symmetry to people's faces and attractiveness. But those of us who are symmetrically impaired should not despair. I mean abraham lincoln was very symmetrically impaired the same researchers 10 to find that the more symmetrical or physically better put together tend to have higher rates of relationship for jiloty and infidelity and mainly because of the increasing opportunities due to their attractiveness. As most people move beyond initial physical encounters other characteristics begin to define attractiveness and beauty. These include creativity intelligence humor and trustworthiness. Regardless of gender orientation. Some researchers tend to feel that these qualities seem to indicate greater internal balance especially psychologically. This all seems indicated and equating of attractiveness. To health. Whether it is physical or the more profound healthiness. Aussie personality. And mine. Based on this it is reasonable to say. That. That which is in balance or harmony. Is healthy. Is also attractive. And beautiful. Now i'm intrigued by this linkage of beauty to attractiveness which is also based on often based on symmetry balance and healthiness. He's all seem to me to be elements of what we know on a more intuitive level as harmony. The navajo peoples of the american southwest refer to their traditional way of life as the beautiful way. And by beauty they mean a way of being that is in harmony with the universe as they perceive it to be and noah through their traditions. Much of what is called healing in shamanic cultures around the world is an attempt to be more attuned to this concept of healing as a way of creating. Or restoring harmony. Within the person was in the larger cosmic order as much or more as it is with curing heels. Given this then beauty is a way of expressing the qualities and state of being which are attractive to us because they appeal to our sense. And our need for balance. And harmony. The pleasure we feel in relationship to beauty. And which we even may use as a measure of beauty. Is the result of the restoration. Have a sense of harmony. Or at least a temporary filling of a need or longing that we have. Beauty is before me and beauty behind me. Above and below me hover so beautiful. I am surrounded by it. I am emerson. In my youth i am aware of it and an old age i shall walk quietly. The beautiful trail. If ut it is begun. And beauty it is ended. One of my undergraduate professors at the university of missouri guy named theodore farco. There's an interesting and you could invent that name. Tatarko offered me some solace it to disappointment by telling me that there is always hope. For those who love truth and beauty. This is also heard in albert einstein's comment. Quote the ideals which have lightened lighted my way and time after time have given me new courage to face life. Have been kindness. Beauty and truth. And then again from art critic william hazlitt. Who writes the contemplation of truth and beauty. Is the proper subject for which we were created. It calls for the most intense desires of the soul. And of which it never tires. Why should beauty be so consistently put in a company of such important and weighty concepts as truth. We usually assume the great value of truth and in parts the pairing of beauty with truth. Lends a certain comprable value to beauty. That. As it may be i feel that there is a certain basicness abouts. Truth and our need for it. For our own security. Our need for truth is our need to know what really is. But the really real is for us in order to know who we are and where we are and how we fit in the universe. Who we are and where do we stand. Once we know what the relationship is or should be then desire to be in harmony with it to walk quietly the beautiful path to walk humbly with our god. To live a beautiful life is to have a fuller sense. What's the reality of the universe is and to try to live in balance and harmony with her. Yandar biological attractions as powerful as they are. What is ultimately beautiful desirable or attractive is in many ways determined by how we understand the universe to be ordered. And what we need to be in harmony. Nsync with it. In traditional religious language the question may be worded how do we get right with god. As unitarian universalist our theological and cosmological truth are reflected in our first and 7th principles. They're in the front of the hymnal if you need to refresh your memory. The inherent worth and dignity of every person and the interconnected web of all existence of which we are apart. That which is beautiful is that which is in harmony with these or brings us into greater harmony with them. Affirming at promoting all of our principles are a part of the path by which we understand how we can better walk-in beauty. Think about it. How much better how much more beautiful life we have if we treat ourselves and others. In the ways with justice equity compassion and acceptance. These principles of ours are not exhaustive but they're pretty good start. Imagine your life and how it feels when these are really and truly present. Or how it might be. If they were. We all come here because we're looking for something. To save us. From some aspect of our lives which is not as we suppose it should be. We are all lacking. That we hope. We're all lacking something which we hope to find. Here. We do not feel in harmony with how we assume or think or into it we should be living. The truth of our lives is not the truth of the universe as we understand it ultimately to be. Beauty the harmony of our lives is incomplete. It is shallow. And perhaps superficial. We do not feel as full of the beauty of life and the universe as we might. As unitarian-universalist like most people. And people's of faith. We tend to be very good at loving truth. But we do not. Quite a good a job of living in the beauty of it. Of living in harmony with those throughs. Wish we. Say we embrace. Part of the problem is that most of us live in a comfort zone. That is part of a worldview that is entirely different from the one that we may have just been talking about. It is a world of the middle to upper middle-class in a rapidly consumer-based society that tells us we are nothing without it. And the stuff if voiced off on us as solutions to our cravings for beauty truth. Justice harmony and the fulfillment that we see. Rather. Right now i want to be clear that. This is not about blame or shame. Or guilt. Lego. Rather it is a recognition of what holds us back as surely as a fly in amber. It's nice to look at. But it's not what we had in mind. In general we often feel like a deer caught in the headlights unable to sleep or two. To fight quest coming at us. At what point will we be in enough pain perhaps to say enoch. And no. Do all of this with deadens us. In order for us to say yes to that which helps us to be more. Unfortunately no one can really do it for us. Sorry to disturb. It is reasonable for us to expect others. It is not reasonable actually only rephrase this is important, it is not reasonable. Important. It's not reasonable for us to expect others to have the courage of our convictions. Really laughing about this because. We often experience other people wanting us to have the courage of their convictions. Perhaps we can begin by living in conscious awareness. Of our location in and our intimate relationship to. The universe around us. This is a big change from the the sleepwalking most of us. Do in our lives. The dominant consumer culture. Like all totalitarian system. Once asked to be unconscious to our real needs. And responsive to its false projection of our needs. It does not want us to see the true nature and depths of the beauty already presents in ourselves. And in our lives. He wants us to be unconscious so that we will literally by the superficial replaced. It offers. We are told that we need two things that they have in order to be beautiful. To be connected to be wanted to be loved and lovable to have any value. And if we take seriously the trews. We hole. Send they are liars. And not. To be trusted. I offer that as spiritual practice or daily meditation we make. Purchases only asking are asking ourselves if. They are really necessary. And if they will really help or hinder our living out the truth. Avatar face values. Now i know how hard this. Because. I really like jack-in-the-box chocolate shakes. I really do. And one of my disciplines is i only by those things on it. Debit card so my wife can see where i'm shopping. He goes the other way too. Sometimes we need help. Even if we can only remember. To do this splendidly remember as goodest would say. I know that it will only enhance our lives. If we are aware of the hopeful truth of our lives and in that which we truly need. To be in harmony with our life then we will be more readily able to know and walk. Beauty does not exist by itself. Like justice. It lives only as a quality of our relationship. He requires the one experiencing the beautiful and that which is beautiful to be experienced. Even if. Both are so are ourselves. So offensive perceiver and perceived. In fact the pleasure and encounter with the beautiful is most deeply rooted. In our lives. Let me know it. Did experience within ourselves. Self-knowledge is our primary vehicle for knowing the universe. Affirmations have almost become cliche in our self-help culture and still but what a powerful thing they are for us to say about and to ourselves i am beautiful. I am beautiful. Let's do that together. I am beautiful. I am beautiful. And beautiful. High and beautiful. I challenge you to do that in the mirror every morning. If you will. Somebody were nervous i hear nervous laughter out there. They're going to put me away. I might be. Even nurses this can be beautiful. Sure that nervousness. Hear that tension. That speaks to the great discomfort. That we have. With accepting that very. Reality. About our cell. Do not deflect it. If we are aware. The truth. Of our lives in the beauty and the harmony inherit possible in. Then we have a possibility. For being grateful. And it is in our gratitude. Puts puts our feet most firmly on the joyous path. Of the beautiful. It is. Gratitude. Which is our surest passage into the ways which allow us to live in harmony with the world. It is our gratitude which liberates us and makes us truly liberal. Open-handed. In response to that which we have into those whom we are. In it we know the universe to be ultimately to be a place of justice and equity a place of healing a place of peace and reconciliation. A place where everyone and everything is respected and embraced as the precious strands of the holy web of our existence. In a world made fair with all of her people one. Perhaps this is the greatest truth of all. That's a no beauty to walk. Beauty. It should be in conscious gratitude for ourselves. For everyone. For our mother earth. And for all. Beauty. Lettuce.

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20130922-Sermon.mp3

Henry david thoreau has said why should we live in such a hurry and waste of life. I wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life. I wish to learn what life has to teach and not when i come dighton i discover that i have not lived. I do not wish to live what is not life. Living is so dear nor do i wish to practice resignation unless it is quite necessary. I wish to the deep and suck out all the marrow. Of life. We are three weeks past labor day. And most of us have returned to. Post summer routine work lives in school and daily rounds. We settle back into what maybe our work or our vocation and yet as a caution and a calling. Theologian howard thurman tells us he says don't ask yourself what the world needs ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. In our perspective it is our perspective or point of view or mental frame on what is happening. That makes us feel what we feel and behave the way we do. Revelation. That most of our life. And what we do is motivated by things going on in our heads more than what is going on outside of us the greatest influence of our lives is in fact. Ourselves. And the greatest influence over ourselves is our ability to, live. In our mental and emotional perspective on ourselves and our world and our place in it. That is not give us total control over alives. But it gives us the opportunities on the tools to direct our lives in ways that are more compatible with who we are at our deepest level. At our most authentic selves. Struggles for us in our lives and this is probably been going on a long time is. The issue of we make a living maybe doing one thing but our real passion is in doing something else. There's nothing wrong with that the trick is making sure that we have a passion of some sort somewhere. In the process. So if our thoughts and our feelings and behaviors are already focus on what is important than real change and breakthroughs are more likely and with. A point of view that enlivens inspires and empowers and embolden us. Rebel to be the changes we wish to see. And to be more the people we desire to be. To come more alive. We can start by internalizing the reality of our own potentials by embracing ourselves as powerful precious and holy beings. Save this with me. I am. Powerful precious holy and not alone i am powerful precious holy and not alone. When we understand ourselves to be rooted in the midst of a holy reality. And that all others are as well then our perception of the world and those who comprise it is fundamentally changed. When we carry this in our hearts and our mind as an ongoing meditation of our being. We cannot help but be changed and the world be changed with us. In the movie dead poets society. The character that robin williams played. For those of us would like to remember that far back was 1989 his character as a english professor who is all in in the late 1950s in a boys boarding school. Talked about the purpose of poetry specifically but i think this applies to our lives in general he says one because he is a member of the human race. And human race is filled with passion. Medicine law banking these are necessary to sustain life. But poetry romance love beauty these are what we stay alive. 4. And i was going to dazzle you with a quote from ralph waldo emerson. But then i found out he didn't write it. Such as the peril of doing research. But i'm going to give you the reading anyway cuz you think you know one of our emphasis as unitarian universalist is we we emphasize what things say not who said them. Truth or authority not authority for truth. So we kind of got all up to it. This reading was actually started by a woman named bessie a stanley and was then elaborated on by numerous authors over the succeeding hundred years or so. To laugh often and to love much is to win and hold the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of little children. Earn the approbation of honest critics and to endure without flinching the betrayal of false friends. Enterprise she ate beauty always whether a creation or an earth handiwork. You have sought fought for and found the best in others that you have given it oneself. To leave the world better than one found it whether by a healthy child agardenpatch a cheery letter or a redeemed social condition. To have played with enthusiasm laughter exuberance and song with exaltation. To go down to dust and dreams. Knowing that the world is a bit better and that even a single life breeds easier because we have lived. Behold. That is you have lived well. This is to have succeeded. Want a couple that again with. Throws reading from earlier i do not wish to live that which is not life. We are called and compelled to live our lives more deeply. To bring our passions out. Into the world. For our sakes and for the worlds. Living our lives in line with our deepest sense of what is in harmony with the universe and everyone. The navajo and hopi peoples of. The american southwest for frigidaire traditional way of life as the beautiful way. And by beauty they mean a way of being that is in harmony with the universe. Is a perceive it. I see this very much akin to this whole. Call to be in harmony with ourselves and with the universe. Much of what is called healing and shamanic cultures around the world is is to be more in tune to a concept of healing as a way of creating and restoring harmony within the person within the larger cosmic order. As much remora is it about curing any ills. Given this. This beauty this harmony is a way of expressing the qualities in a state of being which are attractive to us because they appeal to our sense of or our need for balance and harmony within ourselves and in our relationship to the world. The pleasure we feel in relation to beauty. And which we. Even they use as a measure of beauty. Is the result of a restoration of a source of harmony. Or at least a temporary filling of a need or a longing that we have. The traditional reading is beauty is before me and beauty behind me. Above and below me hovers the beautiful. I am surrounded by it i am immersed by it in my youth i am aware of it and an old age i shall walk. Quietly the beautiful trail. Beauty it is begun in beauty it is ended. To live a beautiful life to succeed. Is to have a fuller sense of what the reality of the universe is a try to live in harmony with it. Beyond our biological attractions as powerful as they are what is ultimately beautiful desirable or attractive is in many ways determined by how we understand the universe to be ordered. And what we need to be at harmony in sync with it. A traditional religious language the question may be worded how do we get right with god. As unitarian universalist our theological and cosmological truths are reflected in the first and seventh principles. If you look in the front of your head know if you want to. Just inside the front there before him number one. The first principle is the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Again this is an ontological statement about the nature of being. And interconnected web of all existence of which we are apart. Is a cosmological and ontological statement about the nature of the universe. And our relationship to it. That which is beautiful is that which is in harmony with these or other. Bae brings. With these or brings us into greater harmony with them affirming and promoting all of our principles are a part of a path by which we understand how we can better walk in harmony and beauty. Think about it. How much better more beautiful life we could have if we treat ourselves and others. In ways. Like this with justice and equity compassion and acceptance. These principles of ours are not exhaustive. But they are a pretty good start. Imagine your life and how it feels when they are really. And truly present and how it might feel. If. They were. We all come here because we're looking for something. To save us. From some. Part of our life that we feel is lacking. Something is not the way we feel it should be. Things are not in harmony. We are lacking something that we hope to find here. We do not feel in harmony with how we assume or think we're into it. We should be living. The truth of our lives is not the truth of the universe as we understand it ultimately to be. The beauty in the harmony of our lives is incomplete it is shallow and superficial. We do not feel as. Full. Of the beauty of life and the universe. As we might. Is unitarian universalist like most people of faith we tend to be very good at loving truth. But we do not do such a good job of living in the beauty of it. I'm living in harmony with those truths which we embrace. Part of the problem is that most of us live in a comfort zone. That is a part of a view of the world that is entirely different from the one that i just been talkin about. It is a world of the middle topper middle-class for the most part not everybody is in that category. Anna rampantly consumer-based society that tells us we are nothing without it. Anna stop it. on us as solutions to our cravings for the beauty and fulfillment that we seek. So basically tells us we're hungry and here's what you want. When we really really want something else. Or may not want anything. We often give up on making a life. Because we feel we have to in order to make a living. I want to be clear this is not about blame or shame or guilt. Rather is a recognition that of what holds us back as surely as a fly in amber it's nice to look at but it's not what we had in mind. Many of us can relate to their marks of comedian rhett butler who jokes that she would be ready for the revolution today if she knew she can get a good moisturizer afterwards. And this is not necessarily about saying well if i just made my living doing something that i was in sync with. Our lives are bigger than that for example ministers a lot of us become ministers because we want to do something that we love we enjoy that's in sync with our basic philosophy is that the ologies. And we're doing that and then we realize we got to have more of a license that. We can't be church 24/7. So we have our families and then we also say well gee i should probably be doing something else too i should do some volunteer work i should be doing a hobby. We need a fuller life. So even if we manage to do something like before an artist who makes a living at it. We still have more of our life there it's bigger. Then just. That sort of thing. And just what we do. In general. We often feel like a deer in headlights unable to fight and too scared to run. Healthpoint at what point will be we be in enough discomfort or pain to say enough. Diseno. To that which dozens us and say yes to that which helps us. To be home. Perhaps. Gesundheit. Perhaps we can begin by living and conscious awareness of our location in. And our intimate relationship to the universe. Especially our little corner of it. Like the things we're doing for barron elementary. Are paying attention to the lives of those. In our immediate circle. Whether they are neighbors or family. Four friends. And in the community that we are apart of. This is a big change. From the sleepwalking many of us have been doing in our lives. The dominant consumer culture like all totalitarian systems. And that's what it is sociologically it is defined as a totalitarian system. Tells us to be unconscious to our real needs. And responsive to its false projection of our needs. They do not want us to see the true nature and depth of the beauty already present in our lives. Should we will be literally that we will literally by their superficial replacements. We are told that we need their things to be beautiful and successful to be connected to be wanted to be loved to have any value to have a life worth living. If we are. We take seriously the truths we hold. Then they. Are liars. And not to be trusted. Beauty harmony does not exist by itself. Only the quality of our relationships. Acquire stuff the one experiencing the beautiful and that which is beautiful and in harmony to be experienced. Even if both are ourselves. Even if we were both subject and object. In fact the pleasure and encounter with the beautiful is most deeply rooted in our lives when we know it and experience it within ourselves. Hill's whitney houston ballad the greatest love of all. Self-love. In a good way. Self-knowledge is our primary vehicle for knowing the universe. Affirmations have almost become cliche in our self-help culture but still there are powerful thing for us to say about ourselves. I am a child of the universe. We come out of the stars. Like the reading earlier. I am beautiful. You are beautiful. So we are. We are here to change the world and to make it more beautiful. To make it more livable. And we do it by changing ourselves first we have done it before and we are doing it now. And we will do it again and again and again. By growing our souls and living what is life. We will do it by coming alive. And we will do it by sharing our good news that everyone has choices. And is good enough. And as powerful and precious and holy. And not alone. We will do it by committing. Our share of our resources and our talents and our lives with each other for the common good. Cultivating the divine seed within each and everyone of us to come alive. Creating not just a garden or a field or even a fruited plain but a world made more fair. For all. If we are aware of the truth of our lives. And the beauty the harmony inherently possible in it then we have the possibility of being grateful. And it is our gratitude which puts our feet was firmly on the joyous path of the beautiful trail it is gratitude which is our source passage into the ways which allow us to live in harmony with the world. It is our gratitude which liberates us and makes us truly liberal open-handed in response to that which we have and to those whom we are. Unit we know the universe. Ultimately be a place of justice. Equity. A place of healing a place of peace and reconciliation a place where everyone and everything is respected and embraced as the precious strands of the holy web. Of our existence. In a world made fair with all her people. Perhaps this is the greatest truth of all. But to no beauty to walk in beauty. In harmony. To be conscious. In gratitude for ourselves and for everyone and for all that is. But this is to have succeeded. But this is to make a living. So what beauty we begin.

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Sermon_070311.mp3

15 years of age. Play guitar. Beshear. At the time he was not aware that he had a new student. I'm sitting in the living room. Working along with the record title. How playful. What you taught me to move my fingers smooth leaf. The g chord to the g and the a7. About a month. Play honest to goodness.. I've been working on the railroad. I knew which side i was on. Austin moved onto other records lower songs. Remind memory. I'm still here. Busted pete seeger. What are the soundtrack. Mine is not the only life that is dance. Peach call hammer beat. You were a large part of the soundtrack for the 60s. Peter paul and mary singing if i had a hammer. To the birds jacqueline their way through turn turn turn. To the theme song of the civil rights movement. We shall overcome. America marsh. Protista. Creed and green songs of pete had a hand in creating. For decades later. I heard another wannabe songs. Zurcaroh from the bush ranch in crawford texas. Silver hear joan baez family is with lost soldiers in iraq. And they were singing back to her. Where have all the flowers gone. I used to think that song was unbearably corny. Recognize a teenager in the 70s. Vietnam war was finally over. Can i get no conception future generations can make the same tragic mistakes all over again. Knew better. You summed it up. 5 haunting words. When will they ever learn. Sing about flowers. Nearly days sing out magazine. Road column call johnny appleseed junior. His seven decades of musical evangelism is fertilized a wide swath. American culture. His music has been just one strand in an interdependent with. Going together with history. Politics. And spirit. This morning i'd like to draw out for you few of those strands. Ensure with you some things i've learned from here. As a musician. Lives. Stories about pete seeger. I could go on for a long time. As long as one of those. British balance francis child. Collected in the 1880s. Folk music. Was being born. England was a century into its industrial revolution. A traditional songs of the countryside. Beginning to be preserved on paper. Before they can go extinct. The movement soon spread to america. As folklorists like the texan john lomax. When gathering an appalachian hollers. Deep south prison farms. In an old west cowboy keeps. What they discovered. Not just isolated songs. Butter process. Can you be called the full process. Abella's like barbara allen. Across the ocean. Edit evolve into the wilderness area forms. Each mutation the work of many anonymous sponsors. Explains pete. Maybe we should say that folk music. Any particular group of songs or singers. Rather it is a process. An age-old process. Ordinary people making their own music. Reshaping old traditions to fit new situations. Here in america. The nation of immigrants. Soap process went into overdrive. Alien traditions collided to create wonderful new musical hybrids. West african songs evolved into blues. Which crossbred with the offspring of scotch-irish balance. British country music. Beacham self. Straddling two musical traditions. His stepmother. Ruth. What classical composer. His father charles was a musicologist. A song. I want to just dance excursions. Asheville north carolina in 1935. He had a life-changing experience. He heard his first 5-string banjo. Ended up dropping out of harvard. Working in the archive of american folk song at the library of congress. Hopping freight trains list. The folk song writer named woody guthrie. And woody. P-trap the folk process come to life. What he was taking old songs and turning them into new ones. Retrofitting well-worn melodies. With lyrics about current events. His point of view is always from the bottom looking up. Just gold heels of his native oklahoma. Strikes in labor massacres. It's two of them saying it migrant camps in union halls. Music and politics. So process was not just an academic exercise. It was a tool for helping working people organize. Singing together. Good listener spirits. Same time it's different their spines. The art of a sing-along became a trademark of every pete seeger concert. A decade later. After pete came home from world war ii. He found a new mission for folk music. Radio and tv. They began their relentless push to the marginalised american culture. Stop music. Waterway. Douchebag. It was a do-it-yourself ethic that encouraged people to turn off tube. Pull out their guitars and relearn the art of entertaining one another. I like the first friday.. A list conscious level the old songs. Connected suburban heights. With the struggles of their ancestors. Goodshit there blood. Schwinn benefits like the 40-hour week 8 hour day. 1948. What was ronnie gilbert. Lisa hayes fred hellerman. Pete for the quartet called. The weavers. The first time. We were folk classics on the pop charts. The biggest record spent 13 weeks at number one. Goodnight irene. Made famous by the east texas blues singer leadbelly. Unfortunately. The weavers were soon caught up in the witch-hunts of the joe mccarthy era. Beat it song from communist party back in the 30s. He was hauled before the house un-american activities committee. Unlike some of his colleagues. Pete refused to name names. Jetty justified. I am song for americans of every political persuasion. I never refused to sing to an audience no matter what religion or color of their skin or situation in life. Hyosung in hobo jungles. Hyosung for the rockefeller. Committee was unimpressed. He was charged with contempt of congress. You left the weavers. Rest of the 50s he was blacklisted. National tv and radio. Lane college campuses. And he kept scattering seeds. Soil appeared rocky. But in a few short years the folk music scene was looking like springtime in texas. Peter paul and mary. A group inspired by the weavers. Play the top 10 in 1962 with. If i had a hammer. Same here. An appeals court overturned his conviction. Succeeding for decades. Heaven no less given. Pete is jumping young songwriters like bob dylan. Arlo guthrie. He's helped clean up his native hudson river. Sailing sloop clearwater to concerts. And teachings up and down its back. The prophet has finally been honored in his own country winning grammy awards. National medal of arts even being inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. Playmobil. He's kept on before me. When there's peace protest. Civil rights march or environmental rally. Peter's been there soon as park. It was a one of those rallies. Back in 1980. I got sing on stage. Nick home in pennsylvania it was the first anniversary. The nuclear accident at three mile island. I work hard to get pizzarelli. Nextage i wangled an introduction. Is ears perked up when i told him that. Three mile island versus two. This land is your land. It insisted on writing them down. He launched into this land. And then he called me up to lita sing along. 18000 voices joining in. One of those voices was a backup singer named linda ronstadt. 1999. Before i had another run-in. Freddy songs. Jim hightower's political talk show national radio. Every week i was composing a new song. But something in the news. Naturally got me to thinking a lot. But pete. The week of his birthday. I took a break from writing songs about. Bill and monica. And i wrote a ballad called. The weaver. What i didn't know was it. Real friends. And i prepared to sing the song on the air. I suddenly heard pete unmistakable voice coming in over the phones. Yeah. He does always had a streak of the cantankerous yankee and him. He's never been comfortable with the culture those who think of him the saint pete. Reluctantly stayed on the line and he gave us all i listen. Did i guess it ended up being touched. And before i melted into a puddle on the floor threadgill's i promised i would. It was 13 years ago. I'm grateful that in the year 2011. Beet sugar still singing out. He's 14 years older than willie nelson. How do you still climbs on stage several times a year. Repeat. Answer your question about the flowers. Are you going all over this land. Process to hand down. Is alive and well. An cross-pollinating. Not justin stages non cds around campfires. New generations are running fresh lyrics to old tunes. And you're sharing them around the virtual campfires of the internet. I'm sad to say. The young men are still marching off to war. Now. Their young girls marching deciding. They're still. Time for peace. Jeet. And she reminded us. It's never too late.

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Reading_061911.mp3

It's been a lot written about. Gender issues in. In the harry potter books are. Favorite whipping post of every single position on. Moral spectrum. Feminist think they're too conventional traditional a traditionalist. If they're horrible and feminist. No matter where you stand there's something to dislike about it. It's my butt means it's probably something right here. But. Annette wanamaker who is an assistant professor of children's literature at. Michigan university. The following and i think it's capture some of it well. Jk rowling has been accused of perpetuating patriarchal social structures by relying on traditional. Male-centered heroic narrative. Angie has been lauded for creating feminist fairy tales. She has been vilified for champion feminist championing feminist inspired witchcraft. Robin cray's forgetting reluctant boys to read. The characters who populate the fictional world of her novels have been described as texas and stereotypical. Or conversely as feminist role models. Well not always directly stated what is at stake in these debates is not so much the meaning of literary text. Meaning they have on children. Lie detector. And in this case on the gendered being. Today eventually. Assumption offer underlying these debates is one of an innocent childhood a conception of. The child is a blank slate. Andrew which culture is written. Empties the child of its own political agenda so that it may more perfectly fill the symbolic demands that we make up on it. Instead of assuming a top-down relationship. Between j.k. rowling's text her readers. I want to instead read the space between the reader and the tax. Identity. Culture. As one of your tenuous negotiation. Mark by contradiction. And conflicting values goals and expectations. In other words the contradictory readings by critics. Trails of gender in harry potter series. Coexist because as in the case of many better children's text. These complex novels puncture. Innerspace. Between. Clear dominant ideology is simultaneously reinforced. Challenge. Negotiated. Ultimately these books are popular with so many children and adult readers. Not because i didactically advocate either feminist or patriarchal ideals. Because through their complex portrayals of character. Gender and relationship. They depict the anxiety. And uncertainty. About contemporary gender roles. The readers of all ages are continuously working. Define.

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Sermon_102112.mp3

Appreciate reaching into walt whitman's voice he gets so excited. Clearly. He's calling us to more than a passage to india he broke the very essence of existence. Balmoral spiritual fountain affection store sell reservoir. Motive of the stars sons systems without transcendence. And travelers foust of the writer. Uses the metaphor of the butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. To finish through the drawing of its wings. To show how such an entry into this new state. You spell internet. Permanent. Returning to a former existence is no longer possible. I would offer. Marissa understand the nature of transcendence. At this time of year and we are in the days of halloween and salad and also. Where the separation between the worlds is thin. And we are just beginning. Assist beginning of the cooler nights. And the coming of winter those own reminders of our mortality even miss the warmth of the southwest. So what is that place of transcendent. Liberal theology. Very basic perspective. There is a part of us that speaks. Did rebels in new experience new contact. Sid wants to be somewhere other than where we are. Because otherwise what are we doing here in church. Human impulse is to grow. Instinctively recognizing growth as a way to continue life. We brought something larger than ourselves you seek experience that places us in perspective with our world we might go to the grand canyon. Sing with a large choir. Close attention to that. Stunning desert sunset with a massive sky above. Practices prayer. I'm losing myself meditation some of us find that transcendence said he moves to personal growth and larger perspective. In a relationship is a mystery that some of us called off. Would not begin to refer to god and yet our experiences no less significant or transformative. As part of the larger church we are called to face our relationship with one another. On the wonder and mystery of life. Talking about. It is such a subjective experience. Walt whitman uses those words to invoke that nameless. Fiber and breast but not a bonnie. Trail wilbur offers that empty hut. And the dreams of the emotional process that. From. Transcendence in short isabel higher reality not validated by centex.. It's beyond the normal usual experience. Talk about it is peace and universal justice. Human beings are still working towards these ideas even though his. Not. Hardly seen them. But i'll tell you one of the sources for understanding transcendent is in some of our history. Certain. Men and women known as the transcendentalist from the early 80s. William ellery channing. In the early 200 reminds asset. The voice of wisdom. Moral and religious truth from the universe. What a blessing. All he says. Could we really take into the glory of this creation. In which we live. Most human beings are actually asleep he says for their lifetime in this fast and magnificent. They're mighty changes going on around them suited to entrance their souls and wonder and thankfulness and yet and yes he says they're moved to no more than if they were shut up in a mill. Seeing only the clatter of machinery. What is transcendence. Is that wiki. A sense of place beyond all bounds beyond the fetters that we are so far so good. At putting on. One another and i will count myself and that i like my blinders on occasion. It's good stuff i just want to see what's in front of me. We are called to this awakening. Ralph waldo emerson. Points out the many ways this essence of existence appears in our lives. He says we are part of the oversoul. Has the soul of the whole. Why is silence the universal beauty. To which every part and particle is equally related that eternal one. When it reads your intelligence it is genius. When it reads your will is virtue. Flow through our affection it is lost. When it breaks through our intelligence it is genius. It is genius. So in case any of you were wondering about this place of reason in the world of transcended just because transcendence refers to experience and knowledge that. Beyond what can only be known by reason. Does not mean that our connection to the web of existence is not also include our mind as well as our souls. It is all part and parcel. 1. And one. But i can't talk about transcendence without also acknowledging. Religion. Who's one church website i found in the course of things. We do not reach for transcendence. There was a church that said we do not reach for transcendence. Universalist church. So given the pride of place of those transcendentalist emerson and henry. The statement of no transcendence is practically sacrilegious. Maybe not excommunicate sacrilegious. Perhaps cause for such phrasing is that much of the conversation around transcendence places god. As the focus. Aspiration. New york city. And theological terms he said. Religion begins. Transcendence. Which is the part about god. There are so many perspectives about the presence or lack of god in our lives. All the way from total how to. To complete immersion. Most of us are somewhere in the middle. So just as there is one more than one way to talk about the mystery that some people call god. There are many ways to talk about transcendence. Let me look up more of that website. They said we do not reach for transcendence. The warmth and the hand of a friend. Just taking away from this fellowship. Reassurance that we two even in our isolation. Are part of the human community. Which is part. They say one hand at a time. We offer up two piece. And the projection of hope. For a healthier world. Gation is not focused on transcendence per se. They certainly do value what is larger than anyone of us. And knowing that we are within. The great wall. Transcendence is its heart. For the movement. It is something living. Without today. We may or may not speak of transcendence in our everyday language. You know those $3 words it might might or might not show up in our casual conversation. But it is here. In what we value. So we are in service to life and working towards just after the gold sustainable society. So what. Difference does it make. What difference does it make that we talked about this what is that effect on our lives. I think it's actually. With a little bit of irony. Because we are such time-limited creatures. And don't really know what happens after we die we have some interesting ideas. But we really don't know what happened. After we die. I'm reminded of henry david thoreau. Is it all change is a miracle to contemplate. But it is a miracle is taking place in every second. All change is a miracle to contemplate. But it is a miracle which is taking place. Every second. Change is constant. To be sure. We can either try to activate actively participate in it. Or possibly participate. Who is is that it is more present at this time of year in our reflections on death. The changes of the seasons. I know this month theological themes. His death. Chance to reflect on our mortality. How the breath of life touches us. And the reminder of its power and how we are part of that power. I'm reminded. How much does power is present. 12 years ago. Around this time of year one of my grandmothers died after a few years has trouble with lung cancer. She had chosen rather than go for all the medical treatment she could possibly get into she'd made a decision. She was just going to enjoy her life as long as she could. And have as minimal. Care as possible. I'm not saying that summer before that's all it just so happened to be that the patrick and i were married. And that i had danced with my grandmother and her sister. And then a few months later. On the day that was her death. My family's mostly massachusetts. Wishing. That i could see her or communicate with her one more time. And i actually just finished a note. Descendants. I heard that the geographic distance was no obstacle. For love of a family. When i finish that note i received the call. And later i found. In the moment. A mighty wind. Head blown up. On a calm day. And without the trees around facility. Where she had her last breath. Who is the president of presence of breast in one moment. And its absence. In the next. What's the reminder. Might be done with our wild. And precious life. The author of. Read earlier trail wilbur. She died in a similar fashion embraced and cared for by your family. Going into her death with hope. And enthusiasm. She spoke with hairstyles and how about how they would find each other again and how it would be a great adventure. And how it seemed in that moment as well. At the breadth of the earth rosa. Most of us. Have much quieter.. Silversea. Too much of a violin. The rain before i'm the death of bewildering. Nintendo idealize anyone way as better than another. I'm also aware. The coincidence is not relationship. I offer these two stories. Because they remind me of that power and that. That is the spark of life. Who is at the heart of any conversation. About transcendence. Tria. Takes on a new phone. Was talking about steph. Leaving that empty shell. And she was anticipating her own and. And who knows what. For new beginnings. Here's where. He's transcendence aspects. Appear in our. Real life. We're in every moment there is some. Large or small and there's some new life. We have a chance to see ourselves with fresh eyes. In every moment. So that we can become people. Of our jury. A final thought. Nature of the journey for what we seek in the nature. Call tom izzo. Glory. And frightened. He speaks of yeast wrangling problem. Skeletons that never reached. We are bound where mariner has not yet. Dares to go and we will risk ourselves and all. A personal spiritual journey the one in community should be marked with there be monsters there. Human beings in love and in religion at all times of awakening we risk what we are for the sake of what we get. Canby. Trai and walt whitman both show the need to let go of our very lives. So the world. Nerso many form. So many paths. Emerson said in the oversoul. Throw indicated in the world of change. In our intelligence in our will and our affection each path. Location. Emergence. Tendencies about going beyond usual limits. And into undiscovered. This is hazardous stuff this evening and becoming just listening to the universe this blessing of embrace. Also offers a little comfort. At the end he says. Oh my brave song. Old farther farther sale. O'hare enjoy be safe. Are they not all seasons go. Are they not all fees. Of god. Whether or not we speak of god we certainly are in the bath. Place. Gather this is the weather the distance of which we are a part no matter where we go or what we do. We are together in spirit greater than any. One can be alone. These are all ones he said and we are one wisdom is. We let go. Transcendence is that resulting from the human impulse toward growth. Coupled with the desire to be something much greater than one or any number of individual. It is to touch the horses to move the very stars. You stirred by the power and our profound connection to it in our relationship. To work for that which we may never realize. Our ideals that we will trust. Contribute to creating a better existence. Human beings we take on this impulse and these connection. And offer our effort to get some substance. Craft. You are alive and in this car gation. Transcendence is itself not the goal. Federal way. To help us recognize when we are authentically connected. And in that chair directions. We are willing to risk everything for what may come. Part of the world. So let us ride. Set this course over farther. Farther sale.

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20150614-Sermon.mp3

Great picture of you know that the most of the pictures unless i got something specific in mind. Let it go let it go i mean you know those lyrics. Yeah if you got kids under 14 you know that song my kids love that's all. Anyone anyone that refrain now i prefer the lyrics that idina menzel sings rather than the pop thing by demi lovato but my kids like demi lovato better. I mean like seeing long as a top of their lungs. In the backseat. And the rocking chairs. This is something liberating about it i guess. Let it go let it go let it go let it go. Not just about letting go. What about cleaning something more for ourselves perhaps making space for something else. What. Perhaps are we willing and able to have faith in. Faith is not simply about what we believe. But we give a cent to in some way it's not about us out of propositions or creeds or statements. In a much larger sense face. It's about flare or in. What. We feel we can put our trust. What is it that is reliable. In the universe. We are not believers or followers of tummy mutable static truth closed to all time or even closed off for a while. For us in the liberal tradition. The lever revelation is not closed. It is an ongoing process. New truth understanding and grace are constantly being revealed to and flowing to us and through us and all of creation. And this is why we say that we are a living tradition. Not that the others are bunch of zombies wandering around take it where you want. We as human beings are though and as religious liberals. Or about change. Sometimes it's hard to believe. Some of us have been through board meetings and. Congregational meeting two things hard to believe that changes really short of. What we're about. But it's also not change the sake of change. The being able to recognize it and to utilize it for good. Liberal religion is important and relevant precisely because it allows us to live in and be empowered to change the world for the betterment of all and any age. This does not mean there aren't those things that are enduring. But it does mean that are in a relationship. Wisdom. Maybe changing. All the time. In mythology and ritual. Finnerty of this. Chaos this is helen between the trapeze bars. Has dana perry talked about it. Is often seen as another realm. The underground the place to hero-heroine goes into. Try and save things sometimes it's the monster. The account or sometimes it's the belly of the great fish that jonah and counters. It's the minotaur's labyrinth. And these myths and stories and rituals of passage. Then can help us by speaking to our subconscious providing us with vehicles by which we can make our journeys. And maps to help maybe help guide us on the way through these neutral places. Oh yeah 911 between the eyes of a seeker. Behold now comes the changer you're not in chaos this week. She comes to stir us from our lethargy and to blow bright the embers of our souls. So this in-between place. Erik erikson the psychologist cause it's a neutral zone again that makes me think of star trek butt. This place in between the place between the trapeze bars. Is often a place that we enter into with fear. Trepidation and sometimes we go oh my god i'm here. What happened. You know. Thank you sitting on a boat tied up to the dock you think. And the tide goes out and you go with it and you don't realize that's what's happening until you're like. Sometimes we find ourselves in those in-between places. And then we have to figure out what to do. Why were there. It's not a place of. Being or. Ending is not a place of. New beginnings. Place. Text. I've had this experience on a number of occasions in my life some more profound than others and it sometimes these transition stack up on each other like jobs. Marry or divorce. Kids go off to college all the same time. And i know people had these experiences. Simultaneously you shift to a new culture like moved from the northeast to hear from here to california because he has some ways more jarring transition. And. You have all of these other life. Things. It happened at once and your horn away. From all of those moorings. That are up. What we think of as stabilizing that we are thrown off of. We leave off of. Trapeze bar. We know we're going to another one that's good it'll probably be fine once we get it all settled but in between making that transition. He's not. The easiest thing. Extremely painful and disorienting. Is dean perry talked about in the reading he said this. This. In-between place this transition place is often seen as a a no thing. It's something that we raced to get through. That we rush. To get past. That it's that space between our house and our office that we commute through as quickly as we can. It's flyover country. It's unpleasant but necessary. Reality is that if we were to stop or metaphorical car and get out and walk around we don't know mines are treasures we might find in those places. Years ago. When i was finishing up seminary i had a friend who was going to go to seminary in california. And i was in chicago and she wanted to get out there and drive her car out to berkeley but she didn't want to go by yourself. So i drove with her. She's one of these people roses really quirky sense of adventure. And you say are you insane. Do this. But. Island grocery. So. It definitely changed and. We were things we did we took root. 51 which is. Call the loneliest highway in america. A really good reason. Cuz there's about 120 miles of nothing. You think there's no gas stations there's no human habitation. In that span and they're very clear about this with warning signs. This is this is. Torrid nevada. And she decided that we were going to stop exactly in the middle of that no-man's-land and then we were going to step up a little bit. Right across from lake severe which is the dry lake bed that they have a lot of those out there. It was the weirdest thing though. You get out there. Really. Really quiet. Need to turn your head into the wind to get any sound. And we step back from the highway. And it's only for one couple who stopped by to see if we were stranded or something sort of this. Why. To get a better elevation and. So there's like severe up front of us and this is at sunset so the sun is shining beautiful buted mountain. Play severe in front of it. And. Sun shining on the mountain. Ignore the colors come out and all the things you think in the southwest. And coming up over. The mountain. Thunderstorm. Lightning and everything you know you know it's hitting the top of that mountain just beat the heck out of it. Beautiful. Great. Out of the top of that. Thunderstorm. The full moon rose. This is an in-between place. There's nothing here. It was one of the most. Profound and impressive experiences of the natural world i have ever ever can. In the middle of a nowhere place. I understand the daniel perry's talking about when he says these experiences should be safer.. They are. Amazing. When i can scare the heck out. So why we were in those. Nowhere places. He's being between places. We have possibilities inside. Experiences that are beyond. Are pale beyond the common beyond the everyday. These are places of insight. These are places of. Wisdom. Are places of discernment. They're not places we want to lose all the time. Like mountaintops we want to get back down to the valley and lives with. But it is an important place for us so that when we are in the midst of the grief. And the struggle and the headaches and the logistical nightmares of being in one of these places of transition. I just changed. Look for the grace look for the possibility is that the world offers you. Look for those moments. Transformation. When the fear. Being stuck in the desert. Turns into. An epiphany. And if the ophanie. Encounter with that pitches more than we can take him. We're aware of this pattern. Our lives. Of the disintegration of the in-between another reintegration process we have a better chance of being able to be co-creators. With that experience. End of moving ourselves to some place. New. I think one of the things in the metaphor that dana perry didn't lift out is that sometimes we go from one trapeze bar to another and we really haven't changed much of anything. It really isn't place of grudges just a different trapeze bar. If i think. The opportunity for us is to make sure that we're going someplace that's about our growth about the things we need in the things the world needs. It is not just a change word transition. It becomes a transformation. Of ourselves. And the world. We do not know what will happen in the future. But we have faith. You have hope. In the limitless possibilities. Our existence. Even our abilities. Hap's let go and fly.

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Reading_022711.mp3

Our meeting this morning comes from avocado everyday miracles from. The lake. Reverend doctor forest church. He was a very beloved. Unitarian universalist minister and author in our. And it's reading is called the imperfect primer. If you are anything like the rest of us. You probably have developed a sure-fire talent for undermining your confidence. By contrasting your weaknesses. With other people's strengths. Prince into co-worker of yours is enormously creative. Overlook the fact that she has just broken up with her seventh husband. Feed the coke habit. And it's on the edge of a nervous breakdown. Simply measure your creative capacity against hers and field efficient. Rolex that you have a friend who won the lottery. No you haven't seen him smile as of late. And he does seem a bit paranoid at times. But just think what you could do or be if only you had won the lottery. You may not be prone to this little game but most of us are that is because in a perverse sort of way most of us are perfectionist. I just i mean we select the finest traits and talents of everyone we know. Fashion a composite and say say creative rich beautiful funny famous and kind. Measure ourselves against it and come up wanting. All of which leads me to rule number one in doctor churches primer on perfection. Covet thy neighbor's strengths. But overlooked. Either her deficiencies. Test it out. Let's say you're getting along pretty well in most areas of your life. You're pretty good parent. Pretty good friend a pretty good lover you do pretty well in fact quite well at work. Will forget about all that. Think about your failure failures especially your silly little ones how you gain weight when you diet. How every summer you take war and peace on vacation and we robert ludlum instead. How you haven't been back to the gym since that day you let them talk you into that full year membership with everything included. The trick is to forget about all the things you enjoy doing and tend to do well thank instead of something that you have no aptitude for whatsoever. Fixed upon that as your ultimate goal in life. You will never reach perfection if you simply keep building on your strengths. Stop deluding yourself remember of fame love into happiness are just around the corner but to get there you must honor roll number 2 in doctor churches primer on perfection. Overlook by the cheeseman. Instead focus upon one or two prominent wants our weaknesses. At the expense of everything else become obsessed by them and that's not all let's say you drink too much or tend to procrastinate or hold grudges for too long for your own good. You could do something about these things. But how much easier. It is to just give up. Attribute your powerlessness to fate or better yet to the damage inflicted upon you by your parents. On the other hand there are things in our lives that we cannot change. Here's where the tried-and-true if ever frustrated perfectionist really stands out. Headed to say if you are playing aspire2 beauty. If well-educated long for the simple pleasures of a rustic life. And if you have trouble balancing your checkbook dream about running your own business if you work hard at it my guess is that you will manage to jump into both of these pitfalls at once. Hence rule number three in doctor churches primer on perfection. Stoutly remain fatalistic with respect to all flaws. Deficiencies and foibles that might actually be corrected. If only that was put down mind to it. At the same time set impossible goals for thyself. And try to meet them. Talk about choices. You can place yourself on the rack of perfectionism by following but a single one of these three rules. As for myself just to tap i find it most effective to alternate them. But who am i supposed after all try as i might i'm not perfect either. Psy is it. That having failed in our every attempt to achieve perfection. So many of us remain unable to forgive others for their imperfections. Just a question.

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Sermon1_110710.mp3

If you want to win my heart. It is our first language. Older than speech older even than humankind. The first sounds we hear in the womb are the lilt of our mother's voice the rhythm of her heartbeat. And before we grew ears to hear them we could feel their pulsing vibrations. Our very bodies are composed of stardust and radio waves each of us a unique note in the vast orchestra of living things and heavenly bodies that make up the cosmos. If we listen we can hear the celestial song of the universe that connects us all. Human-animal earth and constellation alike. It's sings with countless voices an infant melodies. I communicate in a language so profound if the performers from different cultures. And even different species can make music together. With no translation necessary. When we listen to speech the language centers in the cerebral cortex the midsection of the brain next to the ears. They go to work identifying and decoding the words. Let me listen to music that's a mental machinery lights up. So do hot spots all over the brain from the emotional centers to the complex modern brain's frontal lobes to the ancient survival and coated brainstem. Even the visual cortex gets into the act in the area the scientists call the mind's eye. The imaginations internal view screen. They haven't figured out yet exactly why that is but it may be that the brain creates symbolic pictures to help it decipher changes in pitch. Perhaps that's also the reason so many people find it hearing music causes them to see mental pictures. So from a neurological energetic. Spiritual standpoint. Music literally and lightens the listener. Some scientists say that since music evokes such a powerful response in a primitive part of our brains which we share with all animals. Including other music makers like birds and quail. Music is an essential component for life itself. In fact it is at into our very deepest selves. Is the voice of god. Listening to music is hearing the voice of god. Then making music is our human way of speaking to god. It reaches past the information toting utility of speech. The name the unnameable and communicates the unknowable has composer leonard bernstein said. For the congregation listen to music. Each member shares a common spiritual journey. When the congregation makes music has him singing hymns together. Music build an instant bond of community in a way no other form of communication can. The dalai lama said there is something in music that transcends and unites. This is evident in the sacred music of every community. Music that expresses the universal yearning that is shared by people all over the globe. Return to music when the wrappings of our human bodies just aren't big enough to hold the emotions that spill out from our hearts. Rejoicing. Nurturing. Falling in love. Reeling from a broken heart. And worshipping. There's no question that music intensifies worship. Ancient tribal leaders knew that when they included drums of chance in their ceremony. Some would argue that a divine creator knew it. When designing the sounds of birdsong and the rush wind and water. As well as the human voice. Composer from church leaders know it and today's music and religions are so closely intertwined that some musical works are worship services in themselves. Last month. Pope benedict reflected that music. Great music to stem sisters. Arousal profound emotions of almost naturally invites us to raise our minds and our hearts to god. In all situations of human existence. The joyful and the fan. Best music can become prayer. He doesn't have to be polished professional to hit its mark either. Did anybody see that youtube video after yeah. The choir group versing on a song in macy's hallelujah chorus omahi must look it up music doesn't have to be polished your professional homespun group or a single quavering voice can sometimes bring a soulful message home. I remember the first time i play the violin orchestra. I was 8 years old. And i barely knew how to hold a bow. But every kid in my chances town school music program got to fly twice a year and a citywide student orchestra so there i was. I felt literally blown away at my first concert i had never heard such a wonderful sound in my life. It was a big. Presents in its own right. A single rise up from the center of the earth to swell and swirl around just lifting my spirit right about of my body to float weightless on the magic of the music. Was joy beyond naming. And i can't wait to feel again. I waited a whole semester for the next concert. But ironically my musical ear had matured enough by that signs and instead of fighting myself borne aloft in the sublime cloud. I was assaulted by a heckling garage of have to squaxin scrapes so i had to search for my wonderful sound elsewhere. Sometimes i found it on the radio tv or lp records but i found it more often and deeply while hearing live music. I still find this true today. Something about music provided by actual living humans in the same room with me. Transforms the experience. Difference. Kim edwards road in her book the memory keeper's daughter. Music is like you touch the pulse of the world and when you do. You know that everything is connected to everything else. I'm convinced that the act of producing sound actually amplifies a musician's life force while making music. The listeners be in physical proximity to the sounds the soles of a musician. Allows for an energetic connection that goes beyond mere recognition of musical tones. It unites us. For a brief and verified moment with that great ancient and unfathomable consciousness. That is the true source of us all. I found that living energy and my wonderful found again when i was in high school. And played in an elite all state youth orchestra. We performed respighi pines of rome. It's one of those grand twentieth-century tone poems which create a vivid soundtrack for an imaginary adventure. Add to that scenario 80 hormonal teenage prodigies and you might be able to imagine the intensity of our concert. Together we became one voice. One sol rising to commune with the heavens and taking our audience with us. We sword. We control. We stopped with amanda. And at the finale with arbo shaggy with broken hair and brass players in the balcony blowing a raise the roof and woodwinds trilling has a percussion marching and crushing dinosaur footsteps no one could tell where the echoes of the orchestra left off and the jubilant screams of the audience began. Even now. 30 years later. Anyone who was at their performance has only to hear the words. Have you transported instantly back to that peak experience. Which brought us all closer enough to touch the face of god. On the way to the music. Music doesn't feel the same way they everyone. What's sings my soul streets of heart of the galaxy awesome leaves other schionning. Songs that make my sister weeds make me gag and you know what we're all right that's like language personal and meaningful way. While at the same time. Reminding us how interworld and we truly are. Music can create a sacred space anytime. Anywhere. Chances are you won't remember a sermon word-for-word once you leave the church. But that line from a favorite hymn. Haunting melody from an anthem. Stick with you. Opening a spiritual window for reflection and comfort. Unexpected moments. It's miles away from sunday morning. Imagine a church service for wedding. For a funeral party or even an ordinary day without music. It'll be like watching a movie with the sound turned off. We could get the idea but it would be as exhausting as fulfilling. Put those transcendent sounds included however the meaning source and our souls along with it. Thomas mann said. Music is energy itself. Almost the definition of god. The music i m at 8 the deity. I'm surprised it's not forbidden. For music and sing. Music. Drawing.

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Sermon_011313.mp3

As unitarian universalist we talked about. Justice holland. But i find it interesting like a lot of other words it has a lot of different meanings depending upon context. Who's talking about it who it's being applied to. For somebody else. So that might be useful to do a little reflection on that as this is our theme for the month. And actually kind of figure out what we actually talking about. Can we talk about these things. Great merchant aliotti the great anthropologist and writer. An expert on religion. By the way was how's that are seminary in chicago for new year's. In his book the myth of the eternal return cosmos in history he says. Every new year is resumption of time from the beginning that is a repetition of the cosmogony. At the end of the year and the expectation of the new year there is repetition. The mystical moment. The passage from chaos. Hosmer. The nature of the new year which we are still in the midst of. As a time of transition and repetition of the reordering of the world. He comes at the end of a two-month period that we have every year at the end of halloween or all souls. All the way through thanksgiving and december holidays. To new year's. The endings and beginnings of the new child the new and growing light. The new here. So on this. Sunday here in new year of 2013. How many of us ever thought we'd see 2013. When you're a kid. That's a long way off. And now we remember it because of y2k and also some other salinas. We are now emerging of how out of holidays of school vacations serious award. I'm living. Whatever wisdom was game. In some of those experiences. In the christian tradition last sunday was epiphany. The day when the three kings. He saw the star over bethlehem church of the newborn child. Find the child jesus and venerate the new life manifest. I always love robin williams take on this because it's all star dude. Encapsulated sometimes. Now i doubt mitchell ellioti. To say that we live in an etch-a-sketch world. He's a common parlance. Shake it up a bit and then it reset somehow like a video game hit reset. Bus. Amazon hertz in the wars and justices mistakes. Suffering. Human condition. Should we begin again pain-free. Not hardly. But we have the chance to be reminded of what we would like the world to me. At this time of year we specially in our. Ideas. Are resolutions. Is an attempt to try and create the life that we wish. Nothing we are accompanied by the deep-time as a continuous cycles and the orbits of the star. We have a chance to imagine our lives and lives of people with more balanced and more joy more peace and perhaps even more justice. That is the role of the worshiping community. His to be in some ways a free accident of the beloved community. For a little while for us to try and attain. Quality. Which we wish and hope for. All time. Tubi. The beloved community. So talk about justice a little bit i like the words of. The. Poet denise levertov. This isn't part of our reading with our readings in the hymnal. Ice-cold beginners. He says. We have only begun. To imagine justice and mercy only begun to envision how it might be to live as siblings would be sandflower not as oppressors. We've only begun to know the power that is in us if we would join our solitude. In a communion a struggle. What does the struggling mean desire for justice. There are a lot of different ways to spice and dice what we mean by justice and there's subcategories after subcategories. But the four principal ones that i have come upon the scene to make most relevant another seem to generally fall under. Are distributive. Justice. Procedural. Justice. Restorative. Justice. Retributive. That distributive justice also known as economic injustice is generally about what we consider to be about fairness. Hella people receive from goods. Pretension. Its roots are in social order. The people do not think if they are getting their fair share of something they will first seek to gain what they believe they deserve. And they may well seek other forms of chastise. Now as the father of a four-year-old. He often thinks the world is not being fair to him. When we as parents feel like we are imposing distributive justice or. Some sort of other correct justice hopefully not too much. And then he sees his own form of justice. He will. Flash throws a tantrum. Sulk. Say i don't like you anymore. Or other thing that we as parents. Hugo. The fairness is often one of the things we have to look at what we often think is fair and unfairness are not opposites. What we think is unfair if we were to turn it and apply it. We would not want that that would not be fairness to us. If i win the lottery. If i decide on some scheme of distributing that money to members of my family and others. Inevitably one of them is going to not think that's fair. Now i think the fair. But they don't. And it's not necessarily optimist. But i would have applied to me. Has fairness is not necessarily the same thing as someone else's perception. Give me an example. Welfare okay thank you. White welfare. Okay. That's where it went when we often hear is that. I think it's perfectly fair for me to keep all of the fruits of my labor. Right. Anybody who dares intrude on that. That's not fair. Okay. Fairness is it fair that people go hungry. In a community in which there is so much surplus. So depending upon your perspective. Fairness has a whole lot of different views. And usually as long as they are receiving optimal benefit possible. In the situation right. Yeah it's like if they know it's the only way they're going to get those five marshmallows in their hot chocolate. Is by demanding fairness. That's what they're trying to do so it's a wave offering for getting optimizing your own situation. Spider-man dating equality. Yesterday. Right and that's one of those. You know there's a hole. Is that a divine justice. Kind of thing you know. But that's a whole nother sherman i've done previously and recommend it to you. Yeah the whole issue of what people would call divine justice in the book of jobe itself. Consumed with understanding what is divine. So moving london from distributive justice we have this issue a procedural justice. And this is actually fairly important to us as religious liberal. Because procedural justice is about how we do things. How we go about them. And part of what we hold up as both. Democratic society a liberal. A democracy is a say. Is that the way in which we go about doing something has as much importance. And it's justice as what we achieve as an n. The means is as important as the ends. So yes some guy maybe a total scumbag. Hero and may deserve the sentence that he gets but if the procedural. Procedure by which he is convicted is. Tainted in some way. Then that is thrown out and some people say that's not justice. That's the system getting it it's on the way. But if you're the person being accused of whatever it is. And you want to have. Hey at least the same opportunity. At. Systemic. Process procedure. And it's not unfair. It's not the system. Depending upon your perspective fairness and justice have a lot of different meanings. For us as religious liberals way in which we go about things. The methodology in which we do things. The means by which we do things. He is as important as the ends we achieve with it. This is important because it's one of the distinctions between a radical and a liberal. What are your radical in the left or radical on the right with this religious or secular or political or whatever. A radical will say the end justifies the means. Kilmallock god sort it out. Or. You know we must achieve this ends here we must achieve. Total security in our schools there for us put armed guards in all of our schools. That is the end we are seeking to achieve no matter what the mean. Whereas a liberal small l. From the western tradition both religious and political and secular. Police at the process the way in which we go about achieving those ends. Has. As much import as the ends themselves in fact the ends themselves are not legitimate. For valid without a valid process. This is the whole underpinning the idea of due process in our legal system. So procedural justice is very very important. I have family who are in law enforcement and some of them get kind of cranky about procedural justice at time. Because. It gets in the way of achieving and ends they think is important. And they have to live with those consequences of those ants and so do many of us. So this is a tension in our society. People believe that a process. It's fair. In deciding what was to be distributed or done then they may accept and imbalance in what they receive. In comparison to others. If they see both procedural and distributive justice. Distributive and. Civil justice. And there's a chance they may seek other forms of justice as well. So this is why it's really important have fair election. People often accept the consequences of an election. If we think it was fair. A great many of us look back on the election of 2000. Presidential election day. Or gore was robbed or something else or. Or some people mayfield the voters went out so depends upon what you perceive as festus. And looking at that situation what is procedural justice follow. Plaza procedurally fair. Springport seemed to think so. No part of what happens in. First thing that the betrayed person may seek for my betrayer is some form of restitution. Putting things back as they should be in some fashion. And this is the form of justice probably most closely tied to what we understand is forgiveness. We talk about forgiveness a lot the last couple of months right. So the simplest form of restorative justice. Is what what do you think what's the simplest form of restorative justice. Yeah even before we get there there's a simpler form that we often practice with each other. What. Fine. This is restorative think simpler. Sorry i'm sorry. An apology. An apology my son you hurt me and i'm sorry i didn't mean to do that or he'll hit somebody and you need to say you're sorry now and. So an apology. An amends to make amends as we encountered in a lot of twelve-step programs are the types of thing. Come along. Tangible part of restorative justice. I'm sorry. Did i say i'm sorry to start. Pecorino that doctors don't get sued as often. If they admit mistakes. Push their lawyers. So we know this is statistics valid we know that. The doctors who admit mistakes and are willing to come clean about what's going on and be clear and transparent. Have a lower rate of. Malpractice suits. Restore ation means putting things back as they were and i'm not sure sometimes if that's possible so it may include some sort of contrition demonstrate one is truly sorry. And this may include an action and even a payment to the offended party. Are fines or. Another form of. Compensation. It's also known as corrective justice careful with that about the corrections system cuz that's not the same thing. This is the kind of justice system you often find a lot of. First nation cultures. Where is. I mean classic one that was. Present in. Pre-columbian. Native american culture often was. If someone killed. Someone. That person wasn't killed or necessarily even exile but they were made responsible for the family of the person they killed. And had to then become the financial. Economic provider for them in their materials woods. Essentially it had to take on. Those rolls. There's also there's a scene in the movie gandhi. But some of us saw quite a while ago probably. In which a man. Come sit down and confesses that he has killed. Child in a riots. Indian revolution. Is an indian he was killed. He asked what does he need to do to be whole he said you need to go find a muslim orphan and raisin as a mobile. That will be a form of restorative justice. California justice we often hear about and which. We have to struggle with sometimes is. Retributive. Justice retribution. Punishment. For the sake of. Punishment. The pound of flesh. Is in the guise of. Restorative. Justice. Such as the character of shylock in the merchant of venice. Shakespeare's play. The main purpose of retributive justice. Is usually some sort of satisfaction on the part of an aggrieved party. And then it is also rationalized as a form of. Deterrence. This is the thing is the revenge can be many times more severe than any reparation. Has the her party seeks to make the other person suffer intern. It's the evil twin of empathy. Trying to make somebody else feel what you have felt. Even though that's not possible. And so we have to be careful about how we. Use this kind of. Justice. But i find interesting was that the whole penal system that we currently use in our live in our country and western world. Was quick created by the quakers. Of all people. And also unitarian-universalist prison reformer. Because the point was when you went to prison you were going there. To either pay off debt. And you sat in squalid conditions. And rotted. Hor. You were sent there. To wait some form of severe punishment or execution. Now they said well we can make these conditions better and we can use this as an example as a way to try and help. Help heal people to try and help create. Lumos. We can try and create this sort of restorative justice. But what has happened is that has. Current that whole system that effort to try and create. Wholeness and healing. 4 people. As an as an alternative to some of the more severe punishments of bodily dismemberment teen of maiming. That's where the thing. Has now been turned into. Another type of retributive justice. Who are being prison itself is a punishment. Time to awake. Punishment. And that was not the intention. So if we've been wrong. Consider carefully what kind of justice we are really seeking. If you are the wrong door and others are seeking justice against you seek first to ensure. Distributive justice. Questions may be asked why people are put in prison. If it is to prevent them from re-offending. Then it is restorative justice if it is to punish time. That it is retributive justice. Sadly. Alana. As religious people one of the issues of justice that we are up and face with his the issue of harmony. We talked about that your native american tradition the idea of walking in the beautiful pass. Justice is to try and restore harmony to some way of being with each other. That. We try to make the world more hole. In some way. Justice is essentially. Hey repairing of our wounded world that is the kind of justice that we as religious progressives. And religious people of faith hopefully across-the-board. Are trying to pursue. Sometimes we had slightly different ideas of what that means. Accomplish. Nicholas blackhawk. In his. Famous book talks about healing the hoop of the world. Her helping to heal. All of those things that are broken. In the jewish tradition. The phrase cocoon alarm. Begins with imagining that healing and visualizing that restoration that coming together of edges rant and ragged and live separated from the power of love. Idea of. Creating healing. A balance. I think it's interesting to point out despite the different healing and curing. If our purpose is to create healing try and create balance and restoration. That's one kind of justice. If our purpose is to cure a social ill. That is a different issue. In all the talk about guns and gun violence that we have been faced with recently. Some of the discussion is about curative how do we prevent this from happening again. How do we stop this. And then the other questions are how do we heal the wounds. In our society. That allow this sort of thing to happen over and over again. In december. With all of their tv it was going on my wife jennifer and i. Enjoyed introducing our son to the movie the santa clause. How many of you know that movie. Closet closet in a legal clause. Tim allen's character accidentally stepped into the role of santa claus. And a surprisingly tim allen's character has a hard time accepting the reality that he's actually not changing. He gains weight. He knows his naughty and nice. Again familiar i made the struggle his son remind him amid the struggle his son is not skiing. That is believing. That you in fact must before you. Leave. So you see you must often have faith. Believing is seeing. The faith imagination allows us to see something new and possible. Steel trays that people cannot do things that they have not seen. They cannot enact things that they are not. Somehow familiar with. Justice is not simple. Palace people dream of a world made fair and. Have done so. Will do so and many won't know it in our lives. Beautiful begin this work. If we continue this important work. In this now it's perhaps not only will we. He'll prepare our world a little more we will denver fed. The children of the next year from having to do the work all over again. So we begin. This work of christmas past as the great howard thurman calls it. By exploring justice as our team. We begin with the efforts of our unitarian universalist service committee and our annual guess the table program. For children and youth education. Where we imagine what it'd be like to. Welcome a stranger and learn about their life. In striving for good education or fair voting or clean water or healing from trauma. Play begin the work of justice with an attitude of humility. Knowing that any one person cannot right all the wrongs and sorrows of the world that are open to discover what may come. If one person listens with another. Limes the struggles. And the sources of joy and then ask how. May i help. Has denise levertov reminders. But we have only begun to love the earth. We've only begun to imagine the fullness of our life. So now as we re-enter this. of normal time and space in our year coming into the day today of this new year. Perhaps. We have become wiser. And could retain apply some of these things that we have brought with us. From our own lives. As we together seek to try and understand justice. To be justice. To bring justice to the world. And to allow justice to be a part of our lives. As we move forward into this new year. And it's new opportunity. For us. For our lives. And for.

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Sermon_040311.mp3

Publicly. Is unitarian universalist often declare loudly. 19 lovely. That. We are you use because we can openly talk about our beliefs. And safe. But in practice we rarely make the effort. Nervous laughter out there. It is one of the ironies of belonging to a free faith that we often use our freedom as a form of freedom from. Credit anisette freedom. Dealing with our beliefs one of my colleagues runs through mark that he felt you use a rather publicly discuss discuss. They're g-spots than talk about their experiences with the g word. Referring to god. Sadly this sometimes it's true. As you use. What are our understanding of an. The nature of and the existence of god or the holy or the divine. However we made you find it. What do we mean. What do you mean. My god. Or the holy it really real. Any takers. I know you're shy. The universe. Anderson. Not you. That's true. Nature. Nadia. Just a handful i know there's lots out there never where'd you go. Cuz i know you do that all the time. However we understand it. Because of the finite nature of our world. And our ability to comprehend by definition. We're not able to wrap our heads around the complete understanding of the infinite nature of the divine however we understand. It's god is infinite we are high night. As finite beings any finite world we cannot know god and god's totality. For me this is the surest proof that absolute truth claims about the nature of the holy or god simply cannot be sustained in any credible way. She claimed to know the mind or essence of god as soon as that god is equal to us or that we are equal to god. Some of the snow people in our work lives who are in that category. Sullivan family lives to. To give our. Loyalty to anything which is less. Then the highest or best or most sacred. Is the definition of an act of idolatry. We cannot totally understand or capture that which we call god. But we can point towards it like a finger pointing towards the moon. My colleague ellis blair wesley offers net. No human experience candy crew. It's interpretation no can be tested. For consistency with our experience and with that of others. With rational rigor. We can then say it is reasonable to believe that there is an objective poll. The subjective experience of the holy. The divine life of our life. Theological attempts to explain our encounters with god. Theology attempts to make those explanations but they are within the frame of reference. Of personal is storacle frames of finite. Brain. Our experiences and everything that we are. Chase. And mold our understanding of whom and what god is. What we think of god. Is really a reflection. A consideration of what we have experienced. Experiences. Of that which is transpersonal. Diandas are ultimately indefinable. Tality. One of the different constructs or definitions of god or the god experience he often. Learn more about the people who make them. Or the times in which they originated than we do about god. This is one of the reasons why the search for historical jesus. Contact the people who are doing the searching. Every time you read about a new new search for the historical jesus if you. Look at the ones that have already been done once i've already been done look like the people doing the search. Jefferson bible is a very good example of this. Thomas jefferson sniped all the things that he thought were appropriate from the bible. And it looks like thomas jefferson. Jesus is a very reasonable person. Grace smart. What about those who say they don't have. He's yearning for these experiences. What about noted scholars marcus board uses that perhaps they have a 10-year for the safer. But he also genuinely feels that it is more likely. That they are having experiences for perhaps lack of language to unpack. Articulate. So what do we mean by god we don't believe you. Well i think you're probably really two basic forms of atheism. Chris is what we call absolute atheism. And that is to be respected as a legitimate philosophical theological point of view. Absolute asia atheism reject any and all concepts of god or the sacred. .. This is what most people think. They are practicing when they call themselves atheists but this is often not the case. A more nuanced category of disbelief is relative atheism. Relative atheism is being an atheist relative. Play particular idea or concept of god. Now we are all relative atheist to some degree. There are lots of concepts of god which we don't ascribe to. Marcus borg holds that much of the atheism we encounter in contemporary western culture is actually a form of relative atheism in which the god of traditional supernatural ism. The gods whitebeard on the throne that controls metals and things. Has been rejected. And basically because it just doesn't make sense to people. And those rejecting the god of supernatural theism often are unaware. What other ways of understanding the nature of god so they assumed. That's it. If we raised in one particular tradition and we aren't aware of other percept other ways of understanding. Then we reject the one that we know. And think that's the totality of all there is. To redact and there's a lot more out there to reject. Oregon self-identifies as as as a christian but he himself does not believe in a god of supernatural theism. For him quote god is all around us and within us. He holds a version of occult pantheism or god in the world which he. Bealls is described by the christian scriptures in acts 17:28. A god in which we live and move and have our being. God is life-giving and sustaining. In my own experience. Regina therrien universalist to call themselves atheists. Def definition of relative atheism seems to fit most off. There are some very legitimate. Total absolute atheist and i don't want to deny that. There are a lot of those who call themselves atheists. Who after they kind of hang around and study other things for awhile beginning just kind of lose their atheism and move at least for the agnosticism. Or some other thing. This may explain the presence of so many so. Identified atheist and humanist. Interfaith community who also hold very deep feelings. About transcendence even mystical experiences. It was very interesting for me when i came into the intern versus community over 20 years ago. To have people who identify themselves as active atheist and humaneness that they absolutely love the transcendentalist writers and a date they had he's wonderful transcendental experience has all the time in different places. And is just amazing so. Hawarden iowa nature. All that experience. They weren't using traditional language to identifier. The fact that. Is that language is limited. The problem is not with. He and she gender-based language but with most third person. Language. Third person language implies that the object is not presents. Give a haircut person talking about themselves in the third person. It would be more appropriate. When talking about the sacred to use second person you language. To address the ongoing presence of the holy in our lives if you read the psalms in the old testament and in the hebrew scriptures. It's mostly a new language it doesn't say unisys early but if you. You up there or down here wherever you know it's directly addressed to. God or the holy. Changes in the meanings. We ascribe to the same terms that we have come up with a heretic. Which have been used by others before us. Also affect our ability to use god talk. Sibley's fact words which are symbol change meaning over time. So what may have been meant by god the great. English. In one place and time may not mean the same thing it means in a different place in time. Even though it's the same word. Your logical statements about what people believe. In fact matter. But that such doctrines are what we call second-order language. Which is more removed from originating experience. So you have the originating experience. And then you have reflection on that experience. It is. That is where we come up with things like metaphor and stories and narrative. Our first order language. Which come much closer to expressing the original impulse or experience. I had experienced years ago. Where i had them. Call denisha terry experience. Where. I had some very profound inside. And afterwards i could function. Like a normal person mostly. I found that my conversations. Because i was really immersed in this world of dream and mythology and mathias and. Imagery. That that was something that was clear my internal. Worldwide. I can only really have extended conversations with artist hippies and street people. And and they knew what i was talking about. Because we're all using the same kind of metaphorical symbolic language you know. Ariana kind of rational conversation for very long was frustrating to. You're the person i was talking to and usually to me that i didn't care too much that. Kind of. Sing. Illustrate this issue of first-order and second-order language that was first order language poetry is more first order language. Music is more first order experience. Comes closest to it. Books about. Other people hysterical about one's own experience the second-order looking at somebody else's experience is third or. The farther away you get from the original experience. Blessed connection it has to that original material. Doesn't mean we can't get inside but it's less. Connected to that. When i do spiritual direction work with people who are an existential or spiritual crisis. Questions of what or where is god holy become very important. The lost ones feeling of connection to the universe as we understand it is debilitating and frightening. To reconnect with our sense of relationship with all. Holy. Is reassuring healing and a liberating from a homecoming. Usually when we feel cut off from. God of the universe. House with your cutoff. Call marcel. We are cut off from that aspect of part of ourselves. We understand to be. Olio sacred or in sympathy. Martin luther. Someone who i am not in the habit of putting. Once said. There must be a god because man needs one being whom he can trust. Those of us who have experience with the therapeutic community. We understand that. And i would encourage you if you haven't had that experience it might be when you can have. During my 6 weeks of basic training in the air force. Back in the late 80s. And the following year of job training i had afterward i experienced probably some of the most profound isolation and loneliness. Of my life. I was separated from loved ones and the culture i was immersed in was utterly alien to anything i had yet. Accountant. During basic the effort to destroy individual will. We're such that there were times when the terror was so bad i did not know how i was going to get through the day. Fortunately due to the summer heat in san antonio. We did our physical training at 4 a.m. while it was still dark. Fortunately because. Do the darkness and the hour. I could also see the moon hang low. In the sky. Know someone took that time who identified particularly as as piggin. The moon is a symbol of the goddess and the presence of it reminded me that i was not alone that i was not. Cut off. And after a while as i struggled to keep up with the breakneck pace of our double time runs i could see other lips moving in the darkness. Gasping petitions. Other name. I was not alone. We. We're not alone. You my own theology. I'm glad. It's called an eminence's. The fancy way of saying. It means that i believe that the holy is present and manifest or imminent. As everything and everyone. I have faith that we are immersed. In the holy. That has. Uu singer-songwriter. maher talks about. Yeah. Talk about holy water. We are swimming in a sea of it. I have faith that we are immersed in the holy and that we are integral parts of a larger sacred reality. And here's the important part. Therefore it is not possible. For us to be divorced or cut off from the holy. It's not possible. This is an existential. Understanding. Some are universalist forbearers. He cannot be cut off. Some.. From the holy. No. We can become unaware. And we can act and feel as if we are divorced or cut off from the sacredness the holiness. Our existence. The reality we perceive. He's the one in fact that we react to. You know this from. Neuroscience in psychiatry and psychology now. Reality we perceive our mind is the one that we be engage with or reaction. Religion. On the other hand is about that witch reconnect or reawakens us. Rudy ultimate and the holding. I believe that which seeks to decry. Or distort or disrupt or supersede this. Is in fact the definition. Kehoe. I think about all the things in your life that may supersede or try to disrupt. This understanding of the relationship of ourselves. Within and as a part of the holiness of the universe. And nor can i use my personal experience to make replace. Claims of belief on other people. Early disciples of jesus were in fact hung up on this very issue of who is in and who is out. For us living together now in a pluralistic world. We cannot. We can disagree. But we cannot afford to dismiss. Each other. As tempting. Maybe. You'll have to be called back. Like trying to describe. An elephant in the dark. Our attempts to describe god or at least our experiences of something within. Yet beyond ourselves. Which moves us and chase us and transforms us. Are also limited at fast. Because of the inadequacies of language. We are required to move apply names. And descriptions by which we can identify and identify with the universe. As we become more personal and less abstract in describing our experience of the ultimate in our lives the language becomes even more. Precise and specific. Graphic. An intimate. In our own hymnal are several hymns which illustrates this like the ones are opening him bring many names on the 23 which describes. You know strong mother god old aching god or him never 20:31. In 31 which we will begin singing at some point in future a little difficult. Name a name with names for the holy like spinner of chaos. Nudging discomfort. Midwife of changes. Daredevil gambler. Or the muslim poet. In the reading 607 we did earlier for responsive reading beloved presents. Who speaks of god as a lover. Cloak yourself in a thousand ways and i. She'll still know you my beloved. Stark contrast rock musician tom waits says there is no devil it's just god when he drinks. Interesting lee if he is right we truly are in are truly made in the image of god then this would explain a lot. I personally choose to use the more inclusive phrase goddess god which was coined by harbor theologian harvey cost. For me if i am still down my own understanding is limited as they are of my experiences of the holy goddess god down to a single sentence then it is. That god is god is to be found in the need and the impulse for love and justice. God is god if you found in the need and the impulse for love. And jesse. I feel the real importance to all of this is in the fact that the ways the experience and describe the underlying reality of our lives in turn affects our lives. And the lies of those were around us. If we experience god as harsh demanding and jealous than that. Will hold certain implications about the world and how we should live in it. If our experience on image of the holy is all-embracing loving and forgiving. That understanding will have a different set of implications for us and our lives in the world. Be careful what gods you worship. Lest you become like them. Where's unitarian minister and transcendentalist ralph waldo emerson road. A person will worship something. Have no doubt about that. You may think our tribute is paid in secret. In the dark recesses of our hearts. Three-wheel out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives and character. Therefore yoo-hoos us to be careful what we worship. What we are worshipping. We are becoming. In this world. We are in. Your cousin learn more of those who are different. Then from those who are like us. Come and goes with different beliefs allows us new and more complete insights into the nature of the holy. Like the men in the story of the elephant our encounters of the holy often seem to describe very different things. And they are actually different parts of the same thing. I sharing our different perspectives we gain a better and more comprehensive understanding of the holy. As we understand it. However we noah. Even if the concept of god. Is totally useless to us. We need to be able to articulate. That to other people. Not to convince or to argue that's to be able to share and to enrich our common experience and ultimately for us to get to know each other better. To create loving and brave. Lives. Basically we have to talk to each other. Not just here but. Here would be good place to start. But out there as well. You need to start here and get good at it. When we go out there. To our families our jobs are friends the larger community. We will be comfortable in our own theological skins we will be rooted. And yet eager. Get out and grow them. Some more. The point. A talking about god of the holy or the sacred as we know it. Is not a form doctrine. Butterfield bridges. To weave webs. And go relationships that will create. A greater common good. Beloved community. Are we can more justly and compassionately live and love. And have our being. As unitarian universalist. We should not and cannot abandon god language. It's uncomfortable that may make us feel. Cannot abandon god language to those who would just as soon abused us with it. We need to acknowledge our own responsibility for the image of god that we are content live in. And believe in. Or not. As. Religious liberals as unitarian universalist we are already two verse that we need to use the various languages we have to share together the profoundness of our lives. And to find new ways for us to experience each other as part of the holy breathing of the world. Intern. We can offer our lives. To the world. As example. Of more open. More loving. Caring ways. Of being. With each other in diversity. That embraces. Assault.

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Sermon_062412.mp3

So the conway meditation that we did earlier i learned that actually in meditation class. 10 years ago. What are the things that i really liked about it then and now is. It's very honest. Recognizes. A very human struggle with wanting to help other people that's in getting stuck in our own stuff. Hamish odran who's best known for teaching the technique says this is the core of the crisis breathing in others pain so they can be. And breathing out sending them relaxation or whatever you feel would bring them release and happiness. However we often can't do this practice because we come face-to-face with our own fear or anger or whatever our personal pain and stuff and it happens to be just then. At that point you can change the focus and begin to do tungland for what you are feeling. And for the millions of other people just like you who at that very moment. Are feeling exactly the same misery. Breakfast isn't too critical needs first to feel compassion. Other people. Understand and love the people that we need. The strangers as well as the last one but also the people who are kisses your fire in. He gets into need to allow ourselves the same understanding and healing that we offer to other people. To recognize that when you're in the midst of physical or emotional suffering. It's okay to admit it. Antique healing for yourself. That is not just okay. It's essential. Last week when we had our introduction to this summer's exploration of the second principle that is reaffirm and promote justice equity and compassion in human relations. If you're visiting and you're not familiar with them. Suggest you turn to the oaks at the beginning of your signal and you will find in one of the front pages are the list of all the seven unitarian universalist principles and the six horses. Remember that ty hall talked about having compassion in seeking justice for people with mental illness. I was watching as he has people to raise their hands if they knew someone who had someone who had a family member or loved one with schizophrenia or psychosis. With bipolar disorder manic depression. It was serious clinical. By the time he got depression. Most of the people in this room had a ham. The poem from james kenyon describes a little of what it was like for her to suffer from lifelong depression. Does that sound familiar. I never felt the need to push away from the massive pain and sleeps frail wicker coracle. Or watch someone dragged through his days under blanket of despair. It appears. Whether it's clinical depression or grief or loneliness or despair. And is part of the human condition. Even the things that bring us happiness carry loss and suffering inside. The joy and excitement of finding your beloved soulmate. Is 10 with the knowledge that the relationship may someday be ripped away. Either invest or because one of you falls out of love. Someone else's now unhappy. Perhaps desperate because she did not. Even if you're not the kind of person this would occur to consciously. Your heart knows the potential for suffering is always there. We're happy outgoing power of positive thinking for ourselves up by our bootstraps. So we just try to ignore. Push through it pretend you don't feel it it'll go away. A momentary list but is emily dickinson sad and actual suffering strengthens is sinews food with a. And if you find that you don't have the energy in the resources to reach out with compassion and fight for justice. Maybe it's because you first have to see kingdom for yourself. I had a profound experience with this myself about a year ago is that ground. I have to tell you that i have had far too much experience with clinical depression myself numerous episodes. They last year's. And i've always resisted medication. So finally after the most recent lounge roundhead lasted. For too long i actually accepted drugs. But the pack out of depression for me it's always long and slow. Infatuated with dad days a week. Hale's seems drag on sucking away my energy and concentration and creativity. I'll talk to other people who get stuck in this cycle of self-criticism. I'm going to know how much of it is lingering physical effects and how much of it is this bad habits of thought. I suspect. But you get stuck in that the types of running through your head. Can you get to the point where you can get up deserve to ask for help. I think our culture pushes. Not admit to witness so finally at the end of one particular i remember to meditation that i had learned years before and this was actually from a recording by joan borysenko called the invitation of the angels it combines elements of hebrew angels elements. And a buddhist loving-kindness blessing. Mike tomlin there's a focus on sending love and healing to other people and to yourself. But in this meditation. He specifically asked for a blessing. For yourself. And on this particular day in the moment of asking for this blessing. I felt the transformation something loosened. In my heart. Tears of relief actually rose and physical feeling of being healed. How else to describe it. If he's ever worked with raising moving energy healing. Then you might know what i'm talking about. If you have that maybe you've had other moments during prayer or in a special moment with someone that you love. We're surrounded by wilderness when you felt that tingle that. Static energy running up your spine. Goosebumps divine presence. That's the feeling i'm talking. And this meditation marked a turning point for me not to say there were no more self-critical. Can i come unstuck. Is there something in you. It needs to be released. It's okay. It's necessary to ask for the healing. It's necessary to treat yourself with the same gentleness and compassion that you would offer someone else. Essay on the airplane put on your own oxygen mask first. Because if you pass out. So no matter where you are how happy or healthy or distress or sad you can always use a blessing run. So we're going to try this meditation together right now will get comfortable. His preparation for this don't want you to think. That's two people. Will think of yourself think of what in you if there's anything in particular. Then think of someone that you love. Healing. And then think of someone else. Baby don't love so much. Someone that you're angry with her had a conflict with maybe it's someone you love that you did. And you're ready to forgive it. So we'll begin with a little prayer so get comfortable feet flat on the ground. Can we begin with a prayer. Great spirit help me forgive all those who have hurt or angered me whether they did so willfully or carelessly through speech thought or action in this life or in any line. And then we invoke the east archangel uriel to light breath of god and goddess. We asked you to be with us now. Bring us the clarity and guidance associated with the east and help us to recognize that guidance when it comes archangel in the likeness of god and goddess. Constantine is a pillar of fire. He was now. Bring into our lives love and forgiveness the spirit and passion you represent. Archangel raphael the healer of god and goddess he was as now bring us the soothing waters of your healing physical emotional and spiritual. In the north archangel gabriel the strength of god god is he with us now. Bring us your creative energy the strength of divine mind and the fertility of the earth herself. Feel the loving presence of the divine above your head feel fightlite surrounding you. Killing you. And this room with love. Mercy. Forgiveness and healing field of white light energy entering the top of your head. Hand-washing through your body. The great river of light horse refilling every cell and washing away here. Haines city. Illness out through the bottoms of your feet and into the earth where they are transformed. It's the lighthorse through you it reveals the light that has always been in your heart. Feel that light expand filling your body than expanding above and below into all sides. Feeling join with the energy of your neighbors. The energy in the room. Until the light has formed an egg surrounding us all. And they'll say a blessing for yourself. May i be. Play my heart remain open. May i awaken to the light. Of my own true nature. May i be healed. Play ip a source of healing. For all games. Now bring to mind someone that you love picture that person in as much detail as you can. See the loving light shining down on them through the revealing the light within their heart imagine it growing brighter merging with the divine light and encasing them in an egg of lies and then bless your loved one may you be may your heart remain open may you awaken to the light of your own true nature. May you be healed. May you be a source of healing for all the. Now think of a person that you hold in judgment in your ready to forgive. See the great light shining down on them. Washing away all negativity and illusion just as it did for you and your loved one. Revealing the purity in their heart that is their true nature. See the light in their heart expanding to join the divine light. Until they are surrounded with healing line. And now bless them may you be at peace may your heart remain open. May you awaken to the light of your own true nature. May you be healed. May you be a source of healing for all the. Now imagine our beautiful planet as it appears from outer space. A delicate blue-green jewel spinning in the vastness of the universe imagine the earth surrounded by divine light. Reaching from every mountain peak to the deepest recesses of the ocean to the white polar caps. The light illuminates all the creatures of the earth the two-leggeds in the four-legged. Those that swim and those that fly. Feel the light in your own heart growing large enough to encompass the earth and everything on it. Day and night up and down joy and pain wealth and poverty and we bless the earth may there be peace on earth. May the hearts of all people be open to themselves and others. They all people awaken to the light of their own true nature they all creation be blessed and be a blessing to all that is. And then we thank the angels gabriel thank you for your presence this morning may we carry some of your strength and creative energy with us when we go. Raphael thank you for bringing your healing energy this morning. May we carry that healing with us when we go. Mikhail thank you for your presence here today may we carry your love and forgiveness with us when we go. Eurail. Thank you for your presence here with us. May we take your clarity and wisdom with us when we go. Take a moment to come back to this room to this world. So that's one example of something that's very specific and concrete that you can do to treat yourself with compassion and kindness. And treating yourself with compassion is important that's really just the first step on the path that we are here to walk together. It's necessary. It's not the goal. We need to help each other remember what the goal is. To act with compassion in to seek justice in the world. To live our unitarian universalist faith by actually working together to make the world a better place. That's why we're here. Isn't it. As much as i like being with all of you invest the amount of energy in this place that i do because it's a fun place to hang. I'm here because i believe that unitarian-universalism universalist can be an important voice in the world when we create. We're promising to act. For love injustice. We're promising to speak up for those who are neglected or bullied or harassed. Oregon need help meeting physical. Shelter for healthcare. As people who believed it every human being is important and valuable. We have a responsibility to speak up in defense of those who are treated as less than. By the dominant society. The different skin color or immigrant status. As our colleagues are discussing in general assembly this week. People who are gay bisexual or transgender. People with learning differences. Physical hindi. People who struggle financially unable to afford health insurance or adequate food for their children or even places and all the others who get pushed aside by people who are healthier wealthier and. Ordinary. Albers. We need to be compassionate with ourselves and with each other because it models for our children the kind of world we want to create. We need to be compassionate with ourselves and with each other because compassion is the strong foundation on which justice and equity could be built in this world. None of this is easy. Unitarian universalism isn't about being easy. He calls us to do something much harder than recite the profession of faith it asks us to work for better world we ask. Each other. To work for better world. It's an overwhelming challenge. The knees are overwhelming and it hurts to really see them. How can the few of us make a change that would even be detectable. Where would we find the energy in the time resources to make. That's the challenge that we have to take on together. We can't do that if we're hobbling from our own pain. Or preoccupied by our own feelings of guilt or inadequacy. The world is hurting. We here in this room are hurting too. Hiding and pretending only make it worse we have to admit to our pain so that we can recognize pain and other people. If i hadn't experienced years of unrelenting depression i wouldn't understand and sympathize with others. Perseverate. If i hadn't had my heartbroken i might not try so hard not to break someone else's if i hadn't had times when i struggled to pay bills and buy groceries i might not understand the struggle in this year and the desperation. At the core of movements like occupy wall street. What do you struggle with. Where is her personal pain. Or anger or fear. Are you blaming yourself for not being enough. Not smart enough pretty enough reaching of nice organized. Enough. Letgo. Offer yourself the same compassion that you would offer your own child. You are enough. Every human being has inherent worth and that means everyone of us reverend price is it very well you are powerful. You are precious you are holy. You are not alone. Take a moment to really receive. And feel that true. You are powerful. Holy. It's not alone.

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Sermon_020313.mp3

When i reach my title the sermon someone asked me if we're doing something kinky. What do you mean. Sound like. Just because it's a suffix or prefix using a lot of. In a words doesn't mean that. Loving something. So. It's just greek. So if you come to be titillated you're going to be terribly disappointed that's next week. We talked about arrows a little more. If you think that good luck. Very interesting. Friendship is actually a big area of study now in the social sciences. Because of and in spite of. And despite her a lot of the things until social networking. 12. Doing research. Facebook own data. The average number of people that. Human beings actually still maintain. Significant relationships with doesn't change no matter how many people you have on your facebook. You can have hundreds of people there but you're probably still on target have. Fairly close relationships in about 5 to 10 people. And that doesn't change. For most of us there some people who are always the exception. You are. But. So i find that very interesting. People start talking about how human relationships are being changed. Hi internet such not so much. Are jeans are little more powerful. The friendship is a powerful important issue is specially from here. In our society right now. And. Especially with society dancer transient. People that we may have grown up with. People we may have. Known for a long time and location in developed. Recently separated. My miles and distance and by situation. So. Whoever they may be. I think this is one of the reasons why people value things like religious communities and other types. Or we can try on. Have some semblance of those kinds of relationships. They're very important ralph waldo emerson unitarian. Keep for your friendships in repair. He'll only reward of virtue is virtue and the only way to have a friend is to be one. Teddy's the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. And that is so true. The british lexicographer samuel johnson. If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life he will soon find himself left alone. Amansara should keep his friendship in constant. So it's an important thing to do. And for a lot of us is typical. We contemplate all the different kinds of love. Friendship vlogger ranking. Somehow we don't give it as much. Value. Even though it may be the one we actually put the most time and energy into. Can i take a somewhat societies. The relationships for. Between adults of often and downplayed in favor of quote-unquote the nuclear family. Victorian.. Discipline true. I think that has had a effect on us. And i think it's something we need to consciously. Engaged. Around. I travel a lot. In my life. And so i've had a lot of friends in various places. I still have contact with. Others whom i've lost contact with. Went to work with a church in missouri where i used to live. And i was trying to track an old friend and his facebook page. Going to try to reach him and i ran into a mutual acquaintance. And what about the sky. Facebook page is still acting because yeah that's just the way it is. So i went well that's kind of depressing. He said yeah he had a heart attack. And so the loss of friends make sure you realize and appreciate the ones you got. Summer i was able to go visit friends. Arizona that i hadn't seen since my holiday. Years ago. And. And we find ourselves in different places in our lives and finding that. If we were together the same place now we probably wouldn't be the same kind of friend. I am so many quit in so many places. I think a friendship in many ways. Something that is not necessarily eternal. Michaela. Very jealous. I also find it forces me to be more adaptive. Too high and possibly try to create new relationship. And that's also healthy thing to grow. And. I keep it by the front door. It rain. And like last week. And. This reminded me of. How are my friends because. When i was in dayton ohio. I had a fairly strong group of friends that i was involved with to my church. And and then. I got ready to leave to go to chicago to go to seminary. They got together very nice very expensive umbrella. Because it rains in chicago. So. I think it's a fitting symbol. An umbrella is sort of like. Sometimes it's like a shovel. Is a big ass out. Just remember sometimes everybody would get you out of this is really your friend. Keep in mind is that. I don't have an ongoing relationship with all of these people but i still have them with me. Physical way through this. Umbrella. 20 some-odd years. And. I value. And maybe who they'll be again. Wwe toys. Friendship. That we have his isolated. Kerensky talked about. 4. In order to have the kind of agape friendship. Love. The love that is all-encompassing of humans. We have to be able to have. The kind of. Cecilia. Friendship. I love him and kind of people i can't stand. So how do you love all of humankind if you can't stand. Did i think it was funny my mother growing up was always something about. A skillful strategic it fast driver. And she'd always do things like. I wish these people get out of my way i hope they're okay. Sometimes at our relationship and in the general can have great goodwill because there's no conflict. Necessarily. Where is on the personal level. You know. Are rough edges and they rough it just bump up against each other a lot. And. Opportunities. Another growth opportunity. So in order to be able to engage in the phrase social cause kinds of things that we. We say oh you know we're going to go out and save people if they just get the hell out of my way so i could do it. You know. Damon perry the late peace activist. Mediator. Used to talk about. People in the peace community were some of the most aggressive people you've ever met. Because they were very ends oriented very goal-oriented are going to get peace if it kills everybody. So. It's a place where we really need to work on these intimate relationships. With other people. In order to really be able to do this other stuff and it doesn't have to do one and then the other day he's all happens to same time. Aspect of this friendship relationship. Is that we also have to be in good relationship with ourselves. And we have to like ourselves. Some. And. Sophia. Begins at home. It begins in our own hearts towards ourselves. You know in november we talked a lot about the issue of forgiveness. So i haven't forgotten about it. I might forgive you if you have. This issue of forgiveness. Is an important issue of liking ourselves. And you know and in a world for loneliness and isolation. Often. Are part of our living reality. I mean the whole thing of. Isolation is being cut off from everything including yourself. Prayer solitude is being alone so you can be with yourself. Cachito sings in mind so we're striving for solitude maybe in our lives. Together with ourselves and with whatever. We understand the universe to be. When we have that solid relationship. That relationship with others. And we have that relationship with others on a grander scale. Set more effective more powerful more profound. Her distress but. For the way in which the world is affected by. So all of these things are connected. Part of the same fabric. So working on one relationship will affect how others. Some other great things i learned in my research. Was that there are no scientific. Purely scientific solid evidence now that. The kind of people we surround ourselves with the people we are in intimate relationships with. Affects our health. How we live our lives. Affects the kinds of things we do. Up to the third and sometimes fourth level of relationship. So sometimes people we don't know 23 people away or affected by what we do. If i gain weight. They are actually at a greater propensity for gaining weight. If i lose weight they're actually had a greater propensity. But. You see what i'm saying we're interrelated in levels in ways we just can't really even begin to fathom. I said don't grasp. Probably can't know. So. Work on this relationship. Maintain. You know a person was saying you'll keep them in good repair. Because. Jrn effect. Effects on the world. We want to make the world less obese. You know who you are and. It'll or lessa or maybe more fit. Or more mentally. Exercise. Or. More emotionally compassionate. So these fields of. Emotion in fields of. Living. Are very real thing. And friendship is a part of that whole larger fielder. Existence. Sophelia that friendship love is a very. Robert louis stevenson. Ben franklin said be slow in choosing your friends slower in changing. So as we as a community. Seek ways to be together more. Covenant group. Potlucks. Football parties. Classes. In the work we do in helping to change the world. Keep in mind. Your relationships and the importance they have for your life. Analyzing other. Because. We are all here together. And no one. Plus.

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Cons_flowers_051009.mp3

This is our flower communion sunday. Flower communion services at uniquely unitarian universalist ritual. Which was created by. The late rev norbert chapek. The unitarian bishop of what was then czechoslovakia. In the years preceding the second world war we invite you now. To read in unison. The word to use to bless the gathering of the flowers at the first communion service. It is number 724 in your hymnal. At the conclusion of that we will then greet the holy in our midst. And at that time if you have flowers that you would like to bring forward. To place in the bases or in the baskets here we invite you to do so please remove paper or plastic or anything else like that that may encumber people later. Together let us read the consecration of the flowers. Written as it was spoken as it is now. Together. Infinite spirit of life. We ask thy blessing on these nine messengers of fellowship and love. May they remind us amid diversities of knowledge gifts to be one in desire and affection and devotion to the holy well. Mayday also remind us of the value of comradeship of doing and sharing alike. May we cherish friendship as one of the most precious gifts. Maybe not let awareness of another's talents discourage us. Sully our relationship. Bentley we realize that whatever we can do great or small. The effort of us all. To do that i work in this world.

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Sermon_100409_p2.mp3

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Reading1_041711.mp3

I think you'll recognize this story in this poem it's from e.e. cummings. A man who had fallen among thieves lay by the roadside on his back. Dresden 15th grade ideas wearing around cheer for a hat. B / a somewhat more than last emancipated evening had in return for conscious. Endowed him with a changeless grin. We're on it doesn't staunch and legal citizens did paws grays at saws. Then fired by hyper civic zeal sutton your pastors. Or because swaddled with a frozen brook of pincus vomit out of eyes. Wish notice nobody he looked as if he did not care to rise. One-handed nothing on the vest. It's wide flung friend clenched weekly dirt. Well the mutes trouser fly confessed the button solemnly a nurse. Rushing from whom the stiffened puke i put him all into my arms. And stagger. Things with terror through a million billion. Trillium. Stars.

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Sermon_093012.mp3

The first is good to see so many of you are program. Right here last night like myself i'm sure we missed quite a good show. Mooyah. We have such faith in each other and what we can do together. This philosopher and unitarian minister ralph waldo emerson road worship something. Have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts. But it will out. Which dominates our imagination and. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship. Worshipping. We are becoming. As i mentioned earlier this month one of the often confusing things about discussions. About saying. Is that people often associate different things with the term. I feel that this is off and usually. Illustrates our people talking about different points along a faith continuum. Lines of faith development. Face is not just one. Light waves particles. Waves. This is what is meant when we refer to faith development. There are many different models for faith development but i find that usually the. Come down to three phase. Transition. First faith as affection which we talked about it beginning of the month. Second conviction. We talked about 2 weeks ago. Insert his face as. Commitment. They are affection. Conviction and. Like any model. He's our only maps to help us in our journey. So far we have moved from the initial attraction or discovery of our hunch about god. Play deeper relationship a conviction. Today we move from conviction to come in. Call you. And what is your commitment. How are you returning the embrace. Impart faith is about the window. The lenses through which review at experience our world. This is why religious education for our children and ourselves is so important and why so many of you started coming here to begin with. It's about the mythic narrative the guiding stories and principles which we learn. Either explicitly or implicitly. Which of the lenses through which we experience and interpret our lives. The word credo as i've mentioned before is often translated into english as i believe. Literal latin translation is i give my heart. Are you. Faith is about stealing. And the knowledge a certainty so strong and so deep that we can say. This really changes our conversations. Families gathering that people go to. I went to windows and labor day on weatherford with a lot of family who bring a lot of guns to shoot on the resident gun range. My brother-in-law's house. I know my wife is horrified when that happens. But. Conversation. Conversation. Ucelo gensol razor lifts up he says. Different times in our lives we may sense a disconnection. Between our rational understanding and our emotional needs. This is worth paying attention to both make sense. Feels right. He goes on when we do finally get the intellectual and spiritual dimensions in sink becomes not just a label. A resource a grounding for a spiritual practice. For social critique. Even. For healing. For many of us who. The need to find reconciliation with our heads that are hard. Even our guts is a big reason that we're here. I'm not speaking strictly about a rejection previous. Those things where are we. Have a rational understanding how things are. We also know there are things that we heal that are not rational. Non-rational. They also tell us that they are right. In my own life. I can say it's actually i am probably. It's really strong agnostic. Ultimately i cannot know with absolute certainty. Just about anything. Poor religion. But i know what makes sense i know but feels right. I know but intellectually worked well. I also know in my own personal life. Feel right to me. Those things. Personal healing. Doing. Meditation. Ghosting. Feel-rite. Remove from our experience of relationship. She one of conviction of of greater certainty. To the actions of commitment. As human beings we will have faith in something. Assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things unseen. Has ruffled wilma emerson said. That was dominates our imagination and. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship we are coming. And against the word worship. Keep in mind is from the german for sheep in worshipping. Which means to give worth to ascribe value to. Carsense. It doesn't have to be a deity. Any kind of shape. That we have and find value. It's also important to note that. Emerson was right because science. The more energy the more thoughts he puts your tickler pathway. Thinking. The more we actually build physical trails and pass of neron. That reinforced that way of thinking. Should we have those little are committees. Just like that. So amerson has the right of it. Determine our lives. In our faith journey. It is here that we begin to move from discovering our faith. Two more deeply cleaning our face and we moved from that initial attraction to discovery of our hunch about god. 54 relationships. The cause us to then make commitments. Face at this point is our returning the embrace. That which will not let us go. We want to respond. Four different ways to do so. We come to communities like this or we make choices in our lives and hopefully will put us more in sync with that with the head face in. In traditional or. Religious communities. Praise that which we hold value. Say out loud. Biblical psalms are. Catalog of praises. I'm here talking about praise music. In churches. Some of us have reactions to some of those things because we may not like some of the contents. Mckenzie. Joke about unitarian universalist are terrible singers because otherwise reading ahead to see if they agree with the lyrics. But which is not true. Mostly. But the general impulse to worship to show what it is refining worth in. It really merging our lives in some fashion. Or other. So maybe it's good to be intentional. Story i mention to the first. Of the sermons. Temeka. Second 1990. I went to the milwaukee. Exposition convention conference center in arena. That was my trip to mecca. He was where we held our general assembly. And i was in a process a personal discernment of trying to hear a call.. And i received great support at that time. Experience. And after i return back to dayton ohio where i was living at the time where i was stationed in the air force. I enrolled in classes i began the process which brought me here today i engaged in a process of going from. Play initial. Attraction. Can i move through a process of. Eviction over process of couple of years actually. To point where i was really willing to make. Earlier. So now i was looking for a deeper level. Cuz i knew that was what was right. I had a profound sense of this relationship which was affirmed. Just as we covenant to my route to promote and affirm our principal. Purposes. Professing our faith. To profess. Relationship towards like a professor. To profess. Is this practice. This one's calling. What is it that called. In our fate. And then. Through. Conviction that this yes this is right. We had those relationships we will need somebody and go this could be really good. And by the end of. Nothing much. I'm glad it's just coffee. Or i wish it was just coffee. We've had.. But then once we figure out the relationship is is the right one then. Determine what kind of commitment level of commitment. So to profess our faith is to practice one's calling. To make that commitment and then to. Does unitarian universalist covenant keep our faith with each other through our covenants and our commitment to each other. Congregation store association in poor communities. Has jane porter adams headset basically. 268. Or you can see no individual face and we can do individual things. Carry forward those things with worship or hold up a value. Over the long haul. No matter how worthy. By their fruits you shall know them. Commitment is fundamental to any relation. I've been married going on 10 years this june. And and bring it home. He done that yesterday i was home with 26 children. Something else. In my life but i made that choice. Things we keep everyday. There's things that we renew every single day. It is not something you do want. Often during the day many times. Commitment. His conviction. Enact. Faith without commitment. Bro he said show me your face. Apart from your worst and i will show you my face. My my work. Tell everything he needs by that i'm not quite buying but it's a very good quote in this situation. This is part of the saving nature of religion. Which is not something that we do on this side. Profess. And faith. Are central to who we are. Religions. Activities that we do in our extra hour. He does ellen's a medium in improve which we can live. Our lives more abundantly. Power saving messages of hope. Hard to be heard. Then we have to find a way to pay for the megaphone. And then shout it from the rooftop. This is a part of that emphasis on stewardship that are leadership. This year and will continue to make. Going forward. The beyond that there is an ongoing necessity to make our principles and actions relevant. The spiritual and ethical demands of a changing historical situation. World rain is changing so rapidly. Recognizable. People ask me what is a church going to look like. I have no idea. Anybody who says they do is taken. I guess. 15 years ago you were looking forward to what is now today would you have. I know it wouldn't be for me. I couldn't imagine. Most important happens both in the world and. We may respond with gratitude and a desire for others to know. The affirmation of what we have found. We each have a transformational story. And a message. Any vandal if you will or good news. To share. Really i mean how many of you when you hear it. Right. Because of his patients were some of us. Hit our movement. And if you use evangelism with evan. Different kind of. Christian community. It's all me. Goodness. Evangelize means to share one. Good news. Nothing more. Unfortunately term has been co-op. Tripe. This intern often leads to the practice of what is called proselytizing. That's a lovely. Proselytizing. Proselytizing. Proselytizing assumed not only the ones message but the imperative to convert others to that message. Without respecting other face commitments they may have already made. It's through the difference between argument and conversation. Argument one person is going to win. Conversation assumes. A mutuality by entering into the conversation we both are open to the possibility of change and transformation. So much people wanting to argue with religion with you because their purpose is to convert you to their way yes. We tend to want to go with the conversation effective. Because they think they're having an argument. And we're angry because conversation. Sometimes we have to be careful because sometimes we think we're having a conversation. Relationship. You think you're just having this given taking you're really kind get your way. The kids were talking about. So evangelizing is not. Proselytizing. And you use do not proselytize phillies. Not intentionally. However we can and we should evangelize. Sharing our good news. We know the divine seeds of the kingdom of god the beloved community. Reside within each of us individually and collectively. And collectively they urine for release. Into a springtime. Of the world that hanzi. In her. We feel liberated. Digiland to reconcile with the best. This is what faith is about. Potential for something more. Accepting what is. Embracing it for is. Generousness. We are here at all is a miracle. Candies. Isn't even greater miracle. Can create for ourselves in front world. The best. Zoo. That's part of the purpose. Journey. And he are a face. Not only for ourselves. Separar strangers. At the gates. For our children. For the world. All that resides. And hope. That the world will be more. Handy. Creation.

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20130825-Reading_3-Congregational_Response.mp3

Please join us in the responsive reading blending our water that's in the insert in your order of service. And treat this as a blessing of the waters. We bring our waters which have touched the west and north south and the east. We come from the sky and from the earth. We bring water that is part of the great oceans and the seas that circle the globe. Teeming with life the source of all life. It is. In this water there is. A new water. Formed in the atmosphere daily there is old water water as old as the earth. Water from which life has evolved over the eons. This is the stream of life from which all life. Close. It is the symbol of the cleansing power of forgiveness. And the faithful promise. Of healing. Feeling loved. It is a symbol and the reality of the oneness that unites humankind and all life. Dream of living dolls. So may it be. Amen and blessed be.

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Reading_061310.mp3

For those of you who may not be aware. Our unitarian universalist association of congregations will be having its annual general assembly. In a week or so. In minneapolis the number of us will be attending. One of the things that is being brought forth. Body this year for consideration. Is a study action initiative. By the unitarian universalist for just economically community. Their study action item proposal. Begins this way it says. The issue. The economic crisis. A current political responses. Will continue to destabilize our communities. And a road are democracy. We cannot return to economics as usual without deepening economic and equality. Fragmenting community resilience and exacerbating ecological crisis. Most areas of injustice are connected to the nature of our current economic system. The stories how are financial sector. Came to such a crisis revealed a moral malaise that is chalking. To unitarian universalist. Who treasure the principles of our ethical religion. Guided by our goals of justice equity compassion and a democratic process. We are called to examine into work to reform our financial system. Some of the topics they recommend for congregational study. Over-the-year following. Would be things like. What cause. The collapse. Can be repaired by regulation of the current financial system or is the structure itself. Inherently unjust. Is the federal reserve federal or reserved. What would a caring economic democracy look like. How would address the distribution of resources meaningful work with a living wage. Health of local communities and the locusts. A decision making. If corporations were charger to promote the public good not just maximization of profit how should they be structured reviewed and controlled. Does the personhood of corporations. Affect our democracy. Home does the current tax system serve. What are my responsibilities as an individual consumer shareholder owner investor or employee. Toward a just financial system. What are our responsibilities as religious congregations and as a denomination. What is the ethical balance. Between individual freedom. My community responsibilities. What structures and practices can we promote. To achieve our principles of justice. Equity. Compassion. Democratic process. The interdependent web of all existence. And world. Community. They offer a number of possible actions. Other things which i will not go into detail with you right now. Because hopefully this action item will pass this coming year and we may perhaps be engaged. In this conversation. Play these things. Bring us closer to understanding. This ends already.

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Sermon_010112.mp3

Okay. Against questions. So we will do what we can to answer these and you know. We'll probably go to full length of another 20 minutes or so. You're in a hurry. Feel free. Let's get the last one. I didn't know i was the last one was over four months ago. And i also figured this is a good time of year to do this kind of service. We have people coming with us all the time who are new and. Have not had the opportunity to experience this. And i'm always looking to hear what's going on in people's minds and what's the interest of yours. New year's morning. I'd rather do this and write a sermon. I know some of my colleagues. Not me. Well with any luck saturday. Coming up if you have not signed up for covenant group please feel free to fill out 10 forms in founders hall. And we will have a contact. And the first group meeting will be saturday and others will follow in the coming weeks. So if you're not going to come in at groups are. See one of these people. Ask them for their experiences of becoming a group for life. Alright. What is the significance of the term unitarian. How much are their significance. Unitarian historically referred to the idea of the unity of god in contrast to the construct of the trinity of the father. Christian church. In what. I'm working in a more immediate sense unitarian really. More readily identify. With a sense of oneness of existence the oneness of everything that is. Even as we contemplate. The possibilities of multiverses and multiple dimensions of reality and science we still understand that there is an ultimate wholeness. To the reality. To the existence to which we belong to. And that is probably the best equation right now put unitarian refers to in our tradition at this time. What does the flaming chalice represent. Define chalice. Has a long history. Christian tradition and our own position figure who. Communion allowed the lady dukes to do communion. And was burned at the stake for. Work recently in the 1940s. Use commission the creation of a symbol. For their documents and official papers which helps in those kinds of situations when they're working with refugees during world war ii. And the symbol of the plane. Began to catch on over the last fifty or sixty years. More recently the last 30 years or so it has become. More integrated into our worship fly. Of our tradition. Knowledge. It is the light that brings us understanding. It is also the heat and the flame that burns away the dross. He does all of these things like a symbol symbol. It has multiple meanings. And that's part of it is it has multiple meanings. Even the cross has multiple meanings any christian. Just as the flaming chalice has multiple meanings. On regular basis. In worship it is opportunity to use it as a point of reflection. For meditation. As you will. So there are many things that it becomes. As we encountered as all symbols. I was raised in a fear-based tradition southern baptist what is the most effective way to let go of those in green beliefs in favor of a more inclusive kinder spirituality. I think that. Their number of approaches to. Dealing with past belief of rational understanding things. This stuff is i think the word ingrained is a good one. Because it really gets at the. Psychic emotional. Embodied aspect of some of those fears and anxieties that we have. I have found my own wife. The best way to transform. Quiktrip. Chemical idea. Returning them into something else. The best way to do that is to practice and being in a different frame of mine. Conscious effort. It is a spiritual discipline. It's as simple as may be assigning the idea that when i see a red light. I will always think of text that helps me too. So is that. They're all sorts of ways of sending it to ingin and. Subconscious understandings with yourself. It is about crack. There is no one asked that simply going to wash away these things. The reason why our own ancestors in the unitarian and universalist tradition were kind of leery of conversion experiences. Was because conversion experiences usually a fairly superficial. Understanding of how they interact with the world. What we see is often people who are extreme. In one environment become extreme in the other environment. And. I really don't lose any extremity. Someone who may be in extreme christian in one community. They're absolute in both. The real understanding of how the world works doesn't really change. So these are the kinds of things that we have to be. Skeptical. As we move forward in trying to like elephants. A simple story that for me was interesting. When i was in seminary. And i was going to school in high school. And we are taking new testament old testament classes. And i started finding myself really really anxious. And. Really angry because anger is a response to anxiety. I couldn't figure out why until i realized was that i had a lot of anxiety about the actual physical bible. Those working with and i found this very kind of rationally a very silly thing.. That that somehow this thing had magical imbued. Okay. I had ascribe such totemic. Value to this. And what i had to do was come to a real understanding. In my own heart on a very physical level. This was. Deadwood. Really. And that the physical object was not with a power resided but was in the ideas. Traditions and history. And and i remove the idolatry. From that object. That was very liberating. And i think those are the kinds of things that we can be. Thinking about looking at invested power in things. Maybe holding a live our lives. I am new to texas and went to bill community work on sundays. Cuz obviously you are. The best way to do that is we have a lot of. What age you're at corporate interests you have we have all sorts of evening programs and during the week. Available. He gets no people and interacting those needed a variety of times during the week. Open the evening or saturday. As well. Coming to function social functions service auction at the end of the month. Because i didn't. But i came anyway. It'll pay the cover and had a good time to have a great meal enjoyed myself and this one. Socialize it interactive people. Get to know people. In these various situations. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me. And i will see what i can do to help you and we also have a number of people in the congregation who think her one time. Any of the long-term people who wouldn't mind being. Talk to sleep. Would love to have conversation with you if you're interested. So glad you're here and we hope you stay. Happy new year. How does one deal with disappointment. Well. Whenever i have had disappointments and get me moving. Forward. Was what can i learn from this what can i take from this the house me. Move forward in my life. I use it as fuel for the drink and that's really the best thing i have found. At the same time you also have to understand. And we have to honor that. And give it some space. Or else if we just trying to run over it and i'll forgive and forget or whatever. It's going to come back and pop up like a volleyball in the water. So. Be intentional about grieving it fit also then. When you're done grieving it let it go. Time to move forward. It's a gradual process that if you have a major disappointment for small deployment there still disappointments are there a small death. And a worthy of grease. Recognizing. Will find new holes to stepping down the road but we don't need to step in that one again. What are the origins of our human desires. You guys are bored you must be bored. Well i'm actually reading about this recently and i think. There are many places to lay that. But i really genuinely think that probably the most reasonable want to look at is our human evolution. There's all sorts of things were looking at. In evolutionary biology in psychology. Altruism. And selfishness. You know evil. Is word that has a lot of meaning it cuz we're just symbols and symbols have lots of meanings to them. And. So what we mean by evil. Is evil. Drought is a thing that happened. That maybe we created the conditions for that basse-ville the drought itself is not. Salmon on the other hand. Tell those conditions. Evils about not cheating in march but missing the mark. So i think that we have to. Look at what are the things that drive. Here are they gather far more nuts than they're going to eat. Payday squirrel. We do the similar kinds of things i've been cleaning out my garage and. He'll help get it out of my garage. How to clean a garage part 1 car in there now. Because we acquired. And. Human impulse. But at the same time if we did our ancestors wouldn't have had the things i needed to do things. Support. So we're going to deal with. Certain kinds of behaviors and impulses in new environment. It's like eating you know i love to eat my ancestors were peasants. Put on body fat well. They survived the descendants. Okay we're here because other people didn't die. Or at least didn't die soon enough to not reproduce okay. We're here. So. Keep in mind that you know some of our ancestors. And we have to keep those things in contacts. I would say look at that human behavior and we're trying to understand that. There are moral imperatives in our lives it doesn't mean everything's relativistic and everything is a causal. By biology. We do have free will and choice in the things you do for situation grin. What does the church have author atheists who are skeptical. Okay first of all. Go with symbols here. The word church. Is simply a word for a group of people who gather together it's got his plot of historical baggage. In western tradition because usually the christians have signed that to themself. But. Atheist. We are all atheist to some degree. Hey there is some version of god that we do not believe him. Hey we're all relative atheist wrong constructs of god. Some folks have absolutely no sense whatever. So god. Score of the holy river. For many of us. Is as language is language for those things which we hold most sacred and important. Profound material on. Online symphony of science series. Videos on youtube if you're not familiar with those i really encourage you to look those are really wonderful worship. I need a scientist some of them are quesadillas. Talking about these magnificent soaring concepts and experiences. Of the cosmos. He is a church. We as a community offer a place of coming together to ask questions answers. That are always under construction just like the story said earlier. We have a place where we come together is not just a social club but we are looking. For answers to those existential question to even people who understand the world is being. Not about god. But rather about. More physical determination. We have. Offer ourselves. We have all of the wisdom of humanity. That we are sitting through. Define truth. And meaning. Have you do that together. And. In this place together. Even people who don't believe in god what rituals in their lives. All the time. Twitter it's cocktail hour. 4. And or whether it's. You know how we have. Interactions with our children or grandchildren or. The various. Kinds of. Holiday rituals. That we may have. We all have things we do. That we seek. Meaning. And to create and perpetuate meeting with. Predators not involved. How do we help children see what they should come to church. Bring them. I know that sounds flipping but that's really the best way to do it. They have to be here to see what they need to see. You can't convince them. They need to come. You're not going to have a rational argument with a child. They're not rational. Most of the time. Some of the time yes. Some of the time now. And we're not rational all the time. So they have to come to see what they need to see and you need to see it with them so you can communicate about it. You get to make the decision. There the kid they have to live with it. How do you say a harsh economic times impacting our spiritual lies a lot. That's how i see it alot. I think in some ways there's a benefit. I meant we had hard time so we have really good spiritual experience. But what does happen situation where. Material things. Might become more dire. Commerce cares. It forces us to look at other resources in our lives. And to take a better accounting of. Those resources that we might paper over with money or other kinds of. Until we're forced kind of be more. Naked. In the world is it were and and looking for what we need. To move forward in a lot and so it can be a stripping away process. A candy healthy. In its own way. I think that there is. A lot of things have been. By our current economic. Situation both on a cultural basis. Individual basis. I think a lot of people are looking at simplicity issues. I know that i'm planting a garden. This year at home. Cuz i want to replace here in the community garden. Because i want to grow things i need. So i think the harsh economic times. Can be a blessing. I think. That's not to say that they're desirable. I think that they are. A warning there an opportunity. What can we learn from this and how can we improve. Situation for ourselves and for the world. As a consequence. What is exposed by this. How can we help each other. Move through these times in ways that we had been perhaps a creative about before because we didn't have. Here's a quick one american flag on the stage. Because we do not worship the flag. It's a symbol for dissemble of our secular culture. Universalist. Enamored with history. Participants at thomas jefferson adams presidency. But we have to be careful about where the line there. Turn. Idolatry. Administers in general are suspicious of american flags in sanctuary. Because if you have it there you're either using it as a way of saying look how patriotic and wonderful we are in the flag. Or they're somehow turn it into an idol. Problematic. So that's why it's not in. The flag is in our social hall building it is here for you it's used here in the sanctuary inappropriate times. But it is not. Residing here because. It is a part of our secular life americans. And for other people. Is this one of the reasons we fail to grow. I think there is a lot of historical truth to some of that statement. Not necessarily all of it. Some of them are not that intellectual. Definitely l. The boston boston brahmins define themselves by various demographic. Markers. This is true of all churches in auburn communities. And so their various demographic markers that churches tend to have people coalesce around. And neutering. Issues around education. General classification. Fortunately has been a part of that. I think because of the class intellectual. Culturally diverse. His first of all. All the churches in general are not growing. We're not feeling anything but nobody else is. And failing miserably well. Some of these larger denominations are in a note. Okay we're actually maintaining our numbers. No relation to the growth of population in our area we're not doing that great where the same size generally we were that we were both 20 years ago. And are you here has grown exponentially. So yeah there are areas for us to look at how are we not serving our community are we not sharing the message of hope. Android we have. And those are important things to ask. I don't think that way.. We are feeling any worse anybody else. It doesn't mean we want to go down that path long-term. But at the same time we're struggling with the same issues. So why do people do our culture is mistplay. Informatic. Paradigm shift. And how we understand. He organized information how we organized community. All of those things. Ar. Being changed this is why you see people freaking out. Far-right and the far left because all of the things that. And they don't like the smell of him. So it is really. And we're part of that we're going to have to get up some things that you really think are important. 20 years will not be. Here i don't know what they look like because it's all in process. Do you want to see in this purse this year and why. Having been a veteran of many other congregation. Over the years i can tell you we're doing pretty well. I like to see us do more of many of what we're already doing and do it more and better. Ns process of refinement not. Cracking the feeling. It's not getting better. I know that we put in a grant application or going to be for a possible. Membership coordinator position to see if we can get that we really need it kind of staff support. The big thing right now comes down to a lot of issues around resources. Our volunteers are working very very hard. Older leadership and everybody is telling me. And. And we still see things that need to be done and we're still so we're kind of stretching ourselves. That can feel uncomfortable. Forest but if we stopped doing it. Then we're going to fall backwards. So it's an onward proceso supporting your leadership. It up with followership is important. For stepping up to be leaders. Involved in the. Management of the congregation. That takes a lot of time and energy. We're trying to find ways. To create a more robust. Spiritual life. I think this is one of those things that. I think is really. Terribly important to us some more participatory worship life. I just wish you were here is a part of that. More things coming down the line so that worship is a much more engaging more. Sedentary kind of consumer kind of rhythms. And that's important i think we're going to be seen coming here. So. Just watching things i'd like to see. But are we ready for them. And i think we have a lot of now. Aruba's forward. Great social justice and action program going on. Sewing. It's raising our profile in the community. Question is if your church disappears will anybody miss you. That's a really good question asked. And i think now. Renee. We're trying to move forward in edison. H-e-b moore. Engaged with and more consequential to our immediate physical community. I think we're out of time. So i'm going to. Close out with that. I really appreciate these questions. If you didn't feel your questions. answered please feel free to get in touch with me directly. I think i got through most of them a couple people i think i knew who wrote some of these. So we talk about that later. It's their request. I appreciate. You're being here on this day cuz i know some of us may have drugged ourselves in a little bit red-eyed. Coitus. This is a good place. And this is a good place for. Songs talks about leah one more. Time in all around the sun. Goodyear all the trouble we've had. So let's do it again. Let's move forward. Have another year. As we move around. This son. This world. Do it together. Do it. Spirit of love and support. That we can offer each other and that we can receive from each. Happy new year.

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20140817-Sermon.mp3

So you have to bear with me. Well you all certainly didn't hold back. Let's start with a simple one why do we lock our main doors think they're means he's at 10:25 when we start at 10:30 well that's mainly so we can direct people to seats over here. And we also don't have people coming in at the last minute and hear that is more disruptive to the service this was the way it was before i got here and it may be that way before when i leave so and how many aurora decades that might be so. Any answer is yes and i don't mean that flippantly we are. Aptly describe several ways and play company one is that we are a post-christian protestant denomination. That we assembly we are still within the protestant tradition that we simply protested our way out of. Being a christocentric. It does not mean we have relinquished our daddy as coming out of the protestant tradition and is still part of it in very clearly mainstream cent. But we also as part of that. Claim. We are willing to engage with wisdom and understanding from all. Places not saying that all things are equal to be very clear about that we're not saying that. But we're saying that everything could potentially be. A source of valuable information inside wisdom so yes another another year old jewish reform movement to. What in the world does spirit mean. I know that's like asking what is art it's probably a complex answer but i need to know alright. There are of course multiple ways to anytime you sure i'm packing religious language and and language. We'll start with this all language is symbolic is metaphorical. It stands for something else so given that all language has multiple meanings. And in science essay multivalent. And. With symbols they get their strength and their power and their wisdom at whether they're powerfulest out of the fact that they have all of these different meanings. But it's also can be a source of confusion and conflict. At the same time. Now given all that. I think when people talk about. Something about spirit. If you keep in mind it comes from the latin espiritu to the breath. The breathing is the same route as respiration. And it is about that that numinous. Thing that gives life. That is the source of of. Rving. In a sense that it keeps us going. So it is that which moves within us that spirit. Of that. Energy. That's what a traditionally. Matheson. I think what people mean when they talk about a spiritual that their spiritual not religious that's common hear that a lot. I think what people mean by that one is that. There they have discomfort with institutional religion for a variety of pretty good reasons in the last thirty or forty years especially. But i think also what people mean is they're looking for. The spirit or spiritual things are experiential whereas religion is more the. 1:30 takes in order to have those experiences or it is a community or an institution within which there are ways for us to pursue. Having an engagement with the spiritual or that which is greater than ourselves. Don't that's a shot at it i hope it answers some questions. My friend belongs to a uu congregation out-of-state is there any benefit to calling auu community a congregation rather than a church are there any disadvantages. What is comfortable and appropriate for the members of that congregation church they choose. That name. The congregation i previously served in south carolina was originally a fellowship. And for many decades. Myself in several previous ministers tried to get them to change their names to something else. Besides fellowship. And they eventually settled on congregation. They worshipped they resisted church because they had a number of members of the congregation who came out of judaism and the concept of purse was foreign and i'm comfortable with them whereas the concept of congregation. They can live with that's appropriate. So they chose congregation other communities gather because church just seems like the appropriate or natural thing to do in the bible belt of being a church is little bit of camouflage maybe. Yes i know if we were called the temple of the pinko bunny i don't think you'd be here but church has that aspect to it. That they made then have to try and transcender get pass and hopefully we do a pretty good job of helping with that. I think that the kind of explain to say there might be disadvantages advantages. But really ultimately it's about what the will of the congregation is because we are congregational ebased. So i have to refer what's the approximate cost to fix the roof. You may not know this but i couldn't someone give us an idea. I would say dick could you stand up please dick is our treasurer. I'm not going to even ask him to do that right now. If you like to know go ask him after the service okay. Alright. Trying to stay on track here. I will be mean or participating in more interface activities in the future i would say generally yes we hope to do so. We participate in the end of the national day of prayer event here in plano witches and interface event. We have relationships. With riverside dallas area interfaith we're hoping to help do organizing in this area and collin county because. We have a very different sandbox to play in then they do in dallas. And also of our speaker at the end of this month. Is scheduled to be imam bashar who's been here before from east plano islamic center. Does he like he's really cool he loves that because it's epic. Is the name of it is the acronym. Betso imam bashir should be here we've had many others. So there are a variety of things going on. I know that there may be a group going to be in some of the pride parades in the near future. And the very fact that our community garden itself is an interfaith. Community now because we have members of the saibaba community participating and we have others so and if you don't know we have. After church here are our sundays. About 2 in the afternoon to the early evening we lease our building to a an indian community called saibaba and they have been with us for many years and they are bigger than we are there is huge. And they do a great deal of work in the community and we try to partner with them. A lot of that sir think so you have any more specific questions about interfaith. Let me know when we can talk about that. How many degrees of separation are there between john travolta and kevin bacon. Thanks luke. I don't know that i'm sure that's when ashley the internet would be more useful. If you use do not follow a creed how are religious holidays approached. Well i would say that we don't have to have decreed due to have religious holidays. Are all holidays recognized christmas ramadan halloween. Not to the degree that we get our kids out of school no. We try and honor certain traditions without saying that they are ours like ramadan. Or. You know even even the jewish holidays we aren't celebrating his holidays as jews we are. Respecting them we are. Learning from them we made ink inspiration from them. But we are not. Practicing them as jews. And we would say the same with with hinduism your diwali or anything like that. We are not practicing those. We are taking inspiration from them and trying to do. To be respectful. Towards them. But not. In a way that is. Now it's like the idea of the. Lakota. Pipe ceremony. I might drive derive inspiration from. That work in the work of john neihart and nicholas blackhawk another's. But there is no way on this earth that i or anybody else unless they are lakota pipe bear. Should be doing that. And the same goes for eucharist. You know we can do communion here and in the protestant tradition. Orino in our take on that because of our history. And but we are not going to be doing a high mast because that's not our tradition and it's not appropriate so begin we can take inspiration from we can be enlightened by. Those things. Oh kevin bacon in that range that all right. As a church what do you see is our greatest responsibility toward our teenaged children. I think to give them a community that they can call their own. To help them be oriented to worship. And participation in the community so that when they turn 18 they don't suddenly look at the rest of us and go this isn't what i learned i'm out of here. Which historically has been the case not just for us but i actually read an article on this from a southern baptist bloggers that i i follow. Cuz he's got good demographic information and talking about how. By creating separate children's programming which was a response to boomers. 2830 years ago. We've actually created a separate culture. And that the culture of the youth have is not the same one as the rest of the church and we are busy in that process of trying to. Reverse that. I looking at issues of you no worshiping altogether and. Having the make sure that use understand themselves as an integral part of. Our religious community. So there's a socialization orientation inspected at. Not indoctrination. And i think that's a big part of it but. It's also to create a safe healthy space. That's why we do extensive background checks on all staff and volunteers who work with youth and children. And i think ultimately just to be here for them. To know that there that they have a place they can be. On a regular basis and ask. Those kinds of questions. That they need to ask and to have experiences that they need to have. In a safe and healthy place i'd say i doing lift up the fact that we do an extraordinary job with factbase. Sexuality education within a religious framework we have one of the best programs in the country that we developed with the united church of christ in every years ago. Call our whole lives are owl and it's in a. Lifespan program for is age-appropriate materials all the way through. And i. Just want to let that kind of programming up as a real opportunity. And there are adult programs at which we have had here in the past. And we've done this program so that's an example of something that we offer which we know they're not getting in the general community. So like my friend tony larson my colleague has said religion and sex are two of the things that if we don't help our children with these things they will learn it on the streets. And i'm almost afraid of what to learn religiously on the streets. I'm kind of in the same category of what is it of membership in in issues of ground boundaries and things. One can a you remember be quote excommunicated does unitarian-universalism have an analogous process if so what would trigger that please explain i think i know i just wanted to hear it said. Okay. Membership in the covenant of our movement. Is basically mutual consent. 2. The the. Understanding of what it means to be together in pursuit of the things that we are pursuing as a religious community. And a part of that is our behavioral you know coming up our we going to be together in a very frankly that's the fundation of a covenant. How are we going to walk together. And if there are people within the community. Who are so disruptive. And so negative and so destructive to the process of the covenant. There is there are processes by which. Those actions can be addressed. You know true counseling by members of the congregational leadership. By mediations if those are necessary by setting boundaries. And ultimately if someone simply cannot modify their behavior in order to be within covenant so that they're not physically intimidating or whatever the issue is then they have to be asked to to leave. And that's about being healthy and setting healthy boundaries. It's not about chasing people after what they think it's more what people do just going to get him in trouble. In pretty much any congregation. So. Beliefs are not a problem. About those all day long but if we are behaving in ways which create a. Inhospitable environment. Or an abusive environment. Then those are reasons to either center or ask people to leave. We do have a behavioral covenant. For the congregation and. And behavioral guidelines and those are taking very very seriously. Along the other question is. Where does archer stand on the issue of inviting and accepting released convex into the congregation i've worked with people in. Incarcerate in penitentiaries and stuff in other places. If there are. Person is registered sex offender or something like that then that's a whole level different level of conversation. Then if you would say somebody comes in who. You know had white collar. You know i did financial improprieties or. Things. You have to take into account. What may have happened or what has happened. If someone was in prison for embezzlement you don't put them on the finance committee. Right. You know and i had any previous congregation someone who had been convicted of embezzlement who they put on the finance committee. And then helped cheat several people in the congregation out of substantial funds sums of money. Just because he was a a defrocked methodist minister you didn't mean to. We have congregations where there are members who are. People who are registered sex offenders and there are protocols by which they have to agree to participate in a life of the congregation. In order to maintain appropriate boundaries and safe safety for everybody in the conjuration including themselves. So these are not punitive they're about trying to create. The healthy safe environment paper. So. We really hope to try. And. Practice. Restorative justice. With each other. And. We have to be open to those things. But it does not mean we have to be fools or patsy's either. It doesn't mean we have to be co-dependent with people. Again and so at that point all the same things about our behavioral covenants. And things hold true. Okay these two kind of go together what do you think is the most important issue facing this congregation in the next year and also they talk about another one is about what do you see as the strength of our congregation. Any areas in need of strengthening please elaborate on each. It's hard to say what is the most important issue for a congregation in a depends on what sphere of our activities were talking about. Is it our internal environment. Is there are integrated sarkar interactions with the broader community and it's a part of that. So there's all have differing. Answers. I say that some of the things facing the congregation are. Always it was not always but one that is fairly common is. Who do we want to be in 5 years as a congregation what do we want to be known for in the community. What is our footprint what is our profile vicente are we serving and being. Good neighbors to those who are in our community. I think that's if we can look at that and think about that and it's going to be actually part of the conversation at this the leadership retreat on the 23rd. So i think that we need to kind of think about. Who do we want to be who do we want to become. Our theology says you know you are beautiful and amazing. As you are and we need to look at how we can become even more. Of that most amazing and beautiful and powerful precious. Person. That you are. And i think that we need to ask those kinds of questions of ourselves. As a community. What you see is the strength of our congregation in areas in need of strengthening. I think that our congregation has tremendous strength and leadership. I i really it's one of the strongest leadership cultures i've seen any kind rogation it's amazing. And it just keeps getting better. I think that's a big deal i think we have good worship i think we have excellent music i think our religious education program is extremely good i think we have do we have very good staff. We have. Music director we love and and would like to get more of. So you know we could take him to half-time that would be nice. Areas where we need strengthening oh well we can always there always places you went to build more. Build on your strengths. I think we have champagne taste on a beer budget. And and that's normal for congregation of our size and. Development. That's where we're in between place. And we have a hunger for opportunities to be together to have profound experiences to do good in the world. But that also takes time and money to organize those things for people to be able to do those things. And so the option for us now is. The opportunity for us. As a community is to try and change how we organize those things so it's not. Volunteers getting together to organize. Everything. So that then they can go do things we know what that's like you know i've joined organizations cuz i wanted to go do the activities the organization. I get sucked into the leadership because. It had somebody had to make it happen in the first place and then i don't get to really participating other stuff. We don't want to do that we're trying to move away from. That whole. Idea of how we organize. It doesn't mean there isn't a place for for volunteers and and members to be a part of that. But we're trying to move to where we're creating and providing experiences and opportunities for people to actually make a difference in the world. More consistently. And make it easier and more accessible. Proposed so that's that's kind of i think an area where we're trying to build on. Please discuss your creative process and determining writing a sermon or a message. The question why do bad things happen to good people. And then along these lines we also held the world is a violent place do you have any. Tips for. Managing our coping with these with sadness. And what is the most important question we got that question she asked what we were talking about.. As i mentioned especially in in the the. of time when we were. Are period of reflection earlier. Things right now really seem distinct. And part of the human condition is that things happen. Mad things happen. You know that's just the nature of living in this physical reality by harold kushner has. Talk about this fairly a flea in book called why do bad things happen to good people. If you're not familiar with it excellent book written a long time ago and it's still really really on target and essentially what he is saying is if god does not make bad things happen to people god is not interested in that sort of thing is not a bean counter. Who's keeping track of stuff. God is that presents that is with us that transcendent experience and transcendent presents that is with us in our difficulties it is not god who creates the problems human beings are very capable of doing that ourselves and god doesn't need help in that respect to each other in those situations and how do we. You know manifestos. Angels of our better natures. So i think that's. Hopeful especially if you realize that a lot of us were raised with a god of. But they call the supernatural powers you know god was. You know a lot of us were raised with regard to look what what month more like zeus. You know then a caring and compassionate figure. And. I think we kind of have to get away from that idea that somehow the gods are controlling us like marionettes that is not. A healthy and be physically it really holds up. So again you know. And this is where i think the dressing tragedy and crisis or disasters tragedy is has a human component always. The volcano going off is only tragic to the greed of people ignored the warnings that were given to them but the volcano is a disaster. And it can create crises. Hi the world is a mile place you have any tips for. Managing for coping with this sadness. I would say making sure we don't try and do things by ourselves. To recognize that we are not alone that we are powerful precious and holy that we are not alone. One of the great things that. The evil in this world. And i'm not talking about the devil or some concentrated persona i'm talking about actions that people take. And that we experience. Evil in this world tries to do things like it really wants to destroy the bonds. Between people miss is one of the reasons why to tell attarian systems try to destroy bonds between people to replace them with something else. And anything that does that or tries to do that i think is not desirable i would say on the other hand if we are experiencing those things the opportunity is rusted double down on the things that do provide those bonds of humanity that do help us find. That sense of awareness and connection to that which is greater than ourselves. In that. That that is where we will find our strengths and where we will find our support and our nurturance. Because we can't do it all ourselves. End. We. Also have to recognize i think it's important to say that. We are not. Trying to create some perfect otherworld. You know. The. This is been a conversation in the theology class that we're doing on sunday mornings that. We're not striving to create is not something that's out there and that we're striving for it and will never reach it like the speed of light. Because that's exhausting. And we'll never get there. And after a while it's just disheartening. The thing is we are in the place. That we want i need to be. And the idea is that we are to trying. Address to things that come our way while recognizing we are already in. You know the beloved community. So we are in the beloved community and yet we are always trying to unpack it and build it more in and make it more of what it can be. But we're already here. And that is a thing to rejoice in glad of. That we are in the midst of hope. Impossibility. And that's one of the great saving messages of the progressive theology is that revelation is not closed at the possibilities are always present. That we are not cut off from our source of ultimate being even if we. Think we are we are not. So i think we'll wrap up. And we think anybody who's questions i didn't get to answer if you want to have a conversation about those at some point please let me know we'll do that. Thank you for being present in this. With us this is a conversation and i like having this conversation with you. And it helps me again to see what's on your mind and hopefully helps you understand a little bit about what i'm thinking about and what i understand and. A reminder that one of the important aspects of our tradition is the freedom of the pulpit. Which means that i can talk about things and within reason say things that people may not agree with. And you have the freedom of the few which means you get to tell me if you don't particularly agree with those things. Or if you think they're wonderful or you have ideas about other things that maybe we should be doing a talking about i'm looking at. So we are here together. Thank you very much. And. I look forward to seeing you next week when it is our ingathering of water service. I would people call water communion. So if you want to bring a little wee dram of some water from somewhere you've been. Few months or in a something it may be symbolically representing that. And. Interested be able to talk about what that means to you. It's not just about where i went to summer vacation but about what. That water represents. To you and your family.

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20150517-Homily.mp3

So it's been a busy week for all of us. Friday a federal grand jury or federal jury am sorry sentence boston marathon bomber. Azucar sonora. Whatever. I can hear it i just can't say it. They sentence him to death. Just over two years since the senseless bomb attacks at the finish line of the boston marathon. This is a personal story for my family. As many of you know my wife the reverend jennifer ennis is from massachusetts. And a huge fan of the boston marathon. She's watching it all the time online or whatever she can watch it. And her to slightly younger brothers are very athletic guys. And they were running the marathon in 2013. There was just some considerable calling and messaging back and forth. By jennifer and her parents and in-laws to find out. Where her brothers were and what their condition was. They had crossed the finish line and left of the general area. Only a couple of hours before the bombs detonated. This is a very scary realization that. There but for the grace of god or simple dumb luck. Which could have been. Amor personal tragedy for our family. It gives one a glimpse into. The difficulties that others encounter in these situations. Known reflecting on this particular case is an example. I personally do not agree with the death penalty for a host of reasons. Will my convictions are not as challenged when the crying feels more personal. When frightening events happened much closer to our lived daily reality it is easier for most of us to feel more threatened and intern. Tinsley angrier in and vengeful. At least we clamor for justice to be done as a way to restore some sense of rightness. To our experience of the universe. Put the universe back. Two rights. Sr unitarian-universalist tradition challenges us to love justice and mercy. Into a firm and promote the inherent worth and dignity. That every person. Sometimes these feel like contradictory things. Another x. Not. No just very quickly for those of us. Who don't spend our days studying justice. There four basic types. Distributive justice. This is known as economic justice. Fairness. About the distribution of goods and services. Inattention. They're supposed to have small children are very familiar with this one. Birthday for one but you still have to get a present for the other one. Procedural justice. Principles of fairness. Also the idea of fair play. This is where we isn't universalist lift up the use of the democratic process. In our communities and society. Restorative justice. The first thing that anyone who may be betrayed might request or seek is. From the betrayer is some form of restitution to put things back to write as they should be. In. One of the native american traditions in lakota. The person who kills another person is called a kills home. Because they've essentially destroyed the ability of that household to survive. And their punishments. Was often. Kidmed to take that person's place and support that family. And then the nipple of justice that we're familiar with retributive justice daddy and the restoration me will not be enough for those who have been injured or betrayed. And they may seek revenge of some sort whereby they can feel the satisfaction of seeing the other person suffer in the way that they have suffered. Sometimes people speak that even if they haven't suffered. That was a joke today. That i got to go to heaven. He's being shown all the different groups who are experiencing their version of paradise allistic understanding over here whoever lovely grove having a great time and you have the quakers who are having a really lovely quiet meeting they're having a good time and and really good potlucks and you know and you've got. The way on the back side especially on the backside of the area for the pagans are is this big 12 ft chain link fence and this group of people standing back there shaking the fence and wailing and moaning and just having a horrible time of it. And the person who's the first time. Oh. Them they're just the ones who think that they're in hell because everybody else is doing things differently than they would. Sometimes. Is universalist wee-wee sometimes kind of curse the idea that we don't have a hell we can send somebody to you know the hell we don't believe in sure convenience rhetorically anyway. Justice in its essence is supposed to be about repairing our wounded world about setting things back to rights put lakota holy man of the world. The beginning of healing the world. Healing the world in the in the jewish tradition is tikkun olam. And it begins with imagining that healing and visualizing that restoration that coming together of edges rent and ragged and live separated. From the power of love. You see religious community. And worship in particular are places where we can do that imagining that visioning. But one of my professors what's called play-acting the kingdom of god. Rehearsing it. Should we know. Better how to do it. Another mentor of mine once said that if we can't make it work inside our walls how do we expect society to make it work outside of our walls. The healing that renewal one of the things that is incumbent upon us especially those of us who may be higher on the pyramid in the dominant society straight white male background in the united states of america. Pretty close to the top except for the other 97% and 1% above me. But a lot of us to have positions and conditions in which we have authority and resources and other things that others do not and we take things for granted that we should not. Because within that is our power is our ability. 2. Share to uplift others that also. All of us at times are in places. Are we have authority or power over someone else and it is in those times that we are called. Hopefully to the angels of our better natures. To exercise mercy. Mercy in a number of different translations and languages and greek another's essentially means things like compassion. A loving kindness. Or forgiveness. Shown towards someone who is within one's power. To punish or harm. That's an essential part we can't show mercy to somebody. Who we don't have power over in some fashion. Mercy is also not just some act of arbitrary altruism. Do usually. Is considered and weighed in the same way justice is or at least we hope it is. Much of what we may be called acts of mercy are done because it is perceived to be in the best interest. As the one granting the mercy. I may not step on this bug. Because i know that it will mess with my karma. Coming out of the pagan community one of the rules there is a do what you will harm you none. And understanding that whatever you do in the universe comes back to you three times. Magnified doing good this great if you do bad duck. So the idea that mercy is an altruistic impulse at all times is not true. It is a calculated. It's not rationally calculated. Action. Oftentimes it is simply more convenient. To be merciful. I get approached all the time for people by people for money. Even when i'm not dressed in uniform. And i do not take a shower glowing thing in my chakra somewhere it says. Atm. Sew-in sometimes really it is about. I'm busy with my kids and now i'm in a hurry to get somewhere. I don't want to deal with you i'm i'm just overwhelmed and i'll pay y'all take it away. And other times you know when i have a little more time so i might actually see how good a story they tell and i think that's just the irish. Sometimes the stories are really excellent. And you still know they're a story but other times you don't know. Sometimes you just don't know and that's where we have to trust something larger than ourselves and to our actions generosity and in those cases mercy. Mercy is a form of forgiveness. The forgiveness is in part recognition. Recognition of our foul ability. Weather reasons i am. Opposed to death penalty. Is because of all of the things have been done by the innocence project. And work especially here in dallas. That is. Quite frankly embarrassing a lot of people in high places. For their stance in favor of the death penalty. By releasing improving innocent people who have been wrongly convicted. How to say it scares the bejesus out of me and i'm a straight white guy. I can't imagine what it's like for the people who were in war. Closely scrutinized communities. Forgiveness is that recognition of our fellow ability and not forgiving. Will in reality give away the power of our life. To the past action or person with whom we are in mashed. Forgiveness allows us. Not to condone not to approve anything that is not the purpose of forgiveness and that's not what it does but does allow us. To extricate ourselves from. The energetic and emotional connections. To whatever act. For persons that we are trying to forgive it allows us to let go of those things and not have the energy of our lives. Drained away. My past events over and over again. Forgiveness is there for an act of personal empowerment and liberation. For ourselves. And. Perhaps for some other. If we're giving we choose. Happiness over righteousness. I believe it was rabbi krishna who says that we choose happiness over righteousness. How many of us know people who in our families which is righteousness over happiness any day of the week. It's a muslim be looking in the mirror on a regular basis. Yeah i got a few. Mercy. Mercy grants both. The giver and the receiver. The opportunities to be renewed. Begin again without a burden. Didn't say we may not be scarred we might not have learned things hopefully we become wiser. Mercy better allows us to transform. A relationship. Set martin buber calls and i it. Relationship. Does the other isn't object. Into a transformed into a relationship that is called an eyebrow. Relationship the other is also a person the other is like me where there is mutual recognition of the other as also self. When we do not extend mercy we are diminished. In our capacity to extend that recognition to others not just those who have transgressed against us no matter how different or depraved another maybe they still have inherent worth and dignity this is a fundamental tenets of our faith. It doesn't mean they haven't done something wrong and that they may not have some inherent qualities of evil. But that no matter what. They still have. Inherent worth and dignity. They are still children of the universe as are we. And we are obligated to recognize them as such if we wish to claim the same for ourselves. Choose happiness over righteousness. As unitarian universalist our tradition challenges us to love justice and mercy. Preferment for most inherent worth and dignity of every person in responsible forgiveness we put into practice all of those beliefs. We seek to forgive and to be forgiven we make reconciliation the restoration of a greater harmony and more present possibility. Ourselves. And for the world. Choose justice. Choose mercy. Forgive and be forgiven. Choose happiness over righteousness. So ends our message.

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20140810-Sermon.mp3

Sometimes when i see our children running in the sanctuary. I have a conversation that goes something like this. You know we don't run in the sanctuary do you know why. Sometime cuz you told me not to. Sometimes giggles sometimes a blank look depends on the child and how well they know me. We don't run in the sanctuary because it's sacred space. Do you know what sacred space is pretty much always a blank look on this one the sanctuary is sacred space because of how we act when we are in it sacred mean special or set aside there's nothing intrinsic to a church or cathedral or a graveyard or cave or a grotto or a dojo or anywhere else. That makes its sacred. When people turn their thoughts and their energies towards making a place special when they set that place aside for prayer or meditation or talking about their deepest joys and fears or connecting with the divine however they feel it that place becomes special becomes sacred are you ready to go sit down now. So there is nothing tangible. About shaping the space around us into sacred space it isn't something you can write on a bulletin board or touch with your hands but it is what we do when we live a religious life when we invest our daily acts with intense and thoughtfulness when we come to church as a spiritual practice we shape ourselves to fit this world. And by this world we are shaped the words of the song that we saying earlier sanctuary. Hark back to the words of the tanakh hebrew scriptures which we know is exodus 25:8. Let them the people of god let them make a sanctuary for me so that i may dwell among them. So for those of us who do not take the words of the bible literally but read them for the metaphorical truth or wisdom that we might find in them what could that mean for me it means that when i take. The deliberate act of setting aside space for the spirit of life the spirit of love them it is it has a space to actually thrive. Love agape kind of love changes things it doesn't just happen. We need to pay attention to give it a sanctuary where it can be present i see the same deliberate shaping in the words of the hymns that we sang may nothing evil cross the store though these sheltering walls be thin may they keep out. And keep love in. And when we talk about our church community that is often what we picture a refuge from the world. A place where we are welcome a place where love is in and hate is out and those are good things they are necessary things even we need to have places where we are reminded over and over again and again that we are loved for who we are not in spite of who we are and added fast that is the sort of place a unitarian universalist congregation and they but if that is all that we try to be we are missing out. Building that safe sacred ground allows us to open up. Into radical hospitality website in numerous places but i found this one on the welcoming congregation page reiterated in the companion guide for welcoming people with disabilities. Our faith calls us to live in a spirit of radical hospitality only when we are truly open to the wealth of diversity in our world will the inherent worth and dignity of every person be affirmed monasteries grew up in the 5th century around this world word strangers in need could come there for tear the first primitive hospitals in fact we're in monasteries hospital hospice hospitable hospitality. All from the same root word meaning generous. Caring sustaining the most famous of these monasteries was that of saint benedict. Benedict created a book of rules to live by called the rules of benedict which is used today still in many monasteries and the foundation of this rule is listening listen with the ear of your heart saint benedict right. Hospitality always come down to inclusion and exclusion who do we let in who do we keep out radical hospitality ourselves with the conviction that every life is sacred it is based on listening to and accepting of the other not condoning. Not agreeing. Necessarily. But setting aside our preconceived ideas and truly listening without judgement. With the ear of the heart and probably will challenge our sense of what is normal or acceptable but it is only by opening up into that space. Into that space of spirit where we not only stand on the side of love but actively create a place where love makes a difference that we can move beyond being a gathering of people just like us. And move into being a church that vibrantly lives it's missing in the world. Nurturing spirits creating justice transforming lives. But navigating this balance between radical hospitality. And safe sacred space can be tricky we want to be inclusive and welcome everyone but we want to feel like the church is our special place too so how do we manage to be the accepting humanity we strive to be and make sure that our church is also they safe and nurturing sacred space healthy boundaries good church policies intentionality individual responsibility. Clear healthy communication continual awareness of our mission big concepts. Tough subjects so how does it all play out in reality i'll take one small example that i know rather intimately. From having put together a number of fundraising lunches auction events and special meals for this congregation in the past four year one thing i can say for sure we do not all agree on food choices vegan. Omnivore. Vegetarian gluten-free dairy-free pescatarian sugar-free no junk food sugar at all without breaking bread together in potluck and meals so we work together to provide something for everyone we try to balance it was a wide variety of things that everyone can partake of everyone will find the sustaining but how do we make sure we are being radically hospitable being is exclusionary as possible and creating safe ground drawing boundaries to keep us safe. We talked about how to provide food options nut-free gluten-free dairy-free sugar-free but we often don't talk explicitly about keeping ourselves and our community safe some examples with food or really obvious and one of our churches in the dc area there is a child with a life-threatening peanut allergy if he is in a room where there are peanuts he will go into anaphylactic shock and be rushed to the er that church has chosen to become if you have free zone i am sure that if someone here were to suggest serving say chicken tartare. When someone's health or safety is threatened there are some things you just don't do in church then there's the gray areas those conflicts works harder to balance people's opinions and thoughts staying with food what about the person who feels that gmo food is a moral issue. Or the person whose budget is so tight that buying only organically grown food is an impossibility. There are so many areas where reasonable human beings can differ from each other even when they see the same set of facts. They come to different conclusions religious language i'm sure that there was some of you among among this morning who were surprised to hear a christian praise him some of you who welcomed it and some of you who had mixed emotions parenting styles how old should a child be before he is given an ex filling your controversial topic hear music preferences. These areas take hard thought to navigate in religious community we need to think is it something that keeps us from creating safer sacred space together or something we can accept as a difference between us. Something we could understand better with clearer face-to-face communication not judging but seeking to understand. Something that altimate lee is individual question. Or is it something. Question. The number of years ago that you you a commission on appraisal put out a report entitled engaging our theater theological diversity one of the conclusion was that our differences can seem huge even irreconcilable. The through the development of consensus around. Other issues. We can see those differences as a sort of enrichment rather than as a threat. I would postulate that our consensus around the kind of community that we strive to be. In our covenant in our mission our vision. Can help us look at our differences as a source of enrichment as unitarian feel theologian james loser adam said. Church is a place where you get to practice to be human. And if our churches are rehearsal halls for the world we went to live in. The relationships we have with each other should reflect the highest and the best applications of our principles. We are all individually and collectively. Accountable to each other for how well we live up to our ideals so that is my challenge to you to me. To us. This year as we come together and renewed community are faced challenges us to listen deeply make space for love. Continually work towards the principles that we espouse george is after all the place where we go to practice the best of being human. Compassion and love. Respect for each other and our world so may we in this life trust to those elements we have yet to see or imagine. And look for the true shape of our own self. By forming it well to the great intangibles around us.

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Sermon2_110710.mp3

The poet mary oliver gave us instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell someone. In many ways that's what this music sunday is about. It's what both musicians and listeners do we pay attention. In a way that's both deeper and wider than normal consciousness. We allow ourselves to be astonished to be surprised made joyful saddle reflective. By the strand of the melody and harmony shifting around it. Can we tell someone by sharing the music and singing together. It's no surprise that music so often serves as a metaphor for our whole life. The capacity for engaging with music. As don said we really didn't coordinate. It's built into the human brain. Even in those of us without notable musical talents. Everyone can listen or as my mother says. Someone has to be the audience. Neuroscientist to musician daniel levitan wrote a book called this is your brain on music. In which he explains that the emotions we experience in response to music involves structures deep in the primitive reptilian regions of the cerebellar vermis cerebellar vermis. And the amygdala. The heart of emotional processing in the cortex. Justice there is no single language center. There is news single music center. Rather there are regions that perform component operations. And other regions that coordinate the bringing together of this information and considering how much of the brain and the soul is involved in making music. I really shouldn't have been surprised to realize. Did my piano lessons are a microcosm of my life. My poor piano teacher really. You should get a purple heart or maybe hazard pay. 4 years week after week. He's had to tell me the same things. Stay focused. Look ahead. Relax. Play with quiet hand. Play deep into the keys. Of course we work on a lot of technical things like how to move. And artistic points like how to shape a phrase. But mostly. What we're fighting is my personality. Milo frustration tolerance. My difficulty staying focused the cycle of self-recrimination that i get locked into i think we all do that so i can't do this it's so hard. Really i should be paying him the same hourly rate as a psychiatrist minor epiphany along these lines at a recent lesson. As you may have noticed my hands around. Well it turns out i do the same thing when i'm playing piano. That makes it hard to hit the right. My teacher observe tina was tired of your natural expressiveness. Getting in your own way. All that extra motion makes it harder than it needs to be. All that extra motion makes it harder than it needs to be. Somehow i don't think i'm the only one. Built-in the flail about and get in our own way don't we. One goal of a spiritual practices to help us quiet down. Stop the flailing. Allow ourselves to swim with the flow of the universe. All of that flailing just makes us drown. Luckily for those of us who have trouble praying or doing sitting meditation music offers another path. Remember the reading from the elegance of the hedgehog. Acquire defuses the ugliness of everyday life into a spirit. Perfect communion. It's too beautiful. Everyone singing together this marvelous sharing. I'm no longer myself. I'm just one part of a sublime whole. To which the others also belong. And i always wonder at such moments why this cannot be the rule of everyday. Annie lamont tells a wonderful story and her book traveling mercies. Talking about the church that she attends and a gay man with aids names kenny who belongs to. She writes there's a woman in the choir names ronela who is large and beautiful and jovial and black and as devout as can be. Who's been a little standoffish with ken. She's always looked at him with confusion or she was sitting sideways if. He shouldn't have to quite see him if she can look at him head-on. She was raised in the south by baptist to todd her that did his way of life. Did he. Was an abomination. Hurt her to break through this. But kenny has come to church almost every week for the last year and has won almost everyone over. Define we missed a couple of sundays when he got too weak. And then he was back when almost no pay. His face even more lopsided as if he'd had a stroke. So honest particular sunday we sang jacob's ladder which goes every rung goes higher higher. Call ironically kenny couldn't even stand up. But he's staying away sitting down with the hymnal in his lap. And then it came time for the second time we were just seeing his eye is on the sparrow. The pianist was playing in the whole congregation had risen. Only can remain seated. And we began to sing. Why should i feel discouraged. Flight of the shadows fall. Inferno lawatsch can rather skeptically for a moment. And then her face begin to melt. And contort like his. And she went to his side and she bent down. To pick him up. Lifted up this white ragdoll the scarecrow. She held him next to her. Draped over and against her like a child. I can't imagine anything but music that could have brought about this alchemy. How is it that you have one cord here and then another cord there and then your heart breaks open. Maybe it's because music is about as physical as it gets. Your essential rhythm is your heartbeat. Essential sounds of breath. We're walking temples of noise. And when you add tender hearts to this mix it somehow lets us meet in places we couldn't get to any other way. Like prayer or meditation or yoga or any other daily ritual. Music build up of muscle. A concentrated focus. Open attention. Sometimes after the hard work the first learning a piece is done we're actually making music. I get a visceral sense of being touched by god. Buddy energy of the universe. I'm sure you've heard people use the metaphor of being swept into the stream. This is what it feels like to me. As if i've stepped into the flowing river of the universe. And 10 for a moment. Float. And be carried. I'm sure that's unfortunate people make it through junior high and adult life assassination of dreams and failures of marriages and jobs. Cheerful heart. Michelle i built to make it through another day sometimes feels like the hard crust on a fish baked in salt. Tender on the inside but. Practically requiring a chisel to break through. When we lost behind a shell like that. Music gives us both. Access to our emotions and a way to work through them. I know that you guys. I bet there's not a woman in this room. He hasn't driven around at least once with the radio blasting sobbing her. Maybe you guys too. You can pick music for every mood for me that's james taylor and joni mitchell when i'm feeling nostalgic. Rock music when i'm whelmed up classical when i'm feeling reflective. When i'm angry. I go get the billy joel book and i played us fastest loudest pieces in it. But i'm scattered in a million pieces and can't even focus enough to read or cook. I try playing bach inventions. Which channel all the energies of mind and heart. Quit flailing and making it harder than it needs to be. Keep a relaxed focus. Listen for the melody. Be still. Gaudi. If we let it. Music composer free us from our silly monkey mind's chatter. And find us into a larger community. Singing together. We breathe as one. And steal our voices blend into a new creation. Is it that you have one cord here. And then another court date. And then your heart. That's what music dance. And it's most rare and magical moments. It can melt that hard salt crust into tears. Washout arwen's. And open our hearts.

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Reading_101611.mp3

Amora reading this morning is from. An essay that. Forest church. Ministries wrote. Phone number of years ago and since then has been turned in eternity will cook. Finished early before he died. Earlier. Reading. Form of. Meditation. And if you wish to enter into that state. Guided meditation. Imagine wakening one morning from a deep and dreamless sleep. Define yourself in the nave of avast. Like a child newborn untutored save. Two moisture nurture. Rhythm. Jennifer found comforts at the heart of darkness you open your eyes on a world unseen cindy unimaginable. It is a world of light and dancing shadow stone and glass life-and-death. Second. Once miraculous and natural is in some ways not online. Awakening. Consecrate your life with sacramento. Do not understand. Promise joy will never fully call your own. Such a wakening play half and only once in a lifetime form anytime. When they do. Took for granted before is presented as a gift. No but you know what to do with your gift or even what it really means only how much it matters awakening. Call steering deep within you. The call of life itself. Call ab.. Begin. For you do. Look. Contemplate the mystery in haunted places all. This cathedral is as ancient as humankind is cornerstone the first alter mark the teacher of blood. Search. Which is all. And you shall not know its limits. Visit all its transit worship at its myriad shrine. Norse fan is celestial seasonings ceiling with your games. The builders have work. I'm in memorial destroying and creating. Tearing down and raising up arches in the cathedral buttresses at chapel. Organs and theater gargoyles idols and icons. Not a moment passes without eating. Automotive houses. Eating. The gun. Architect. The building. Traffic. Kraken history. One generation after another has labor lovingly sometimes fearfully. Crafting memorials and consecrating shrine. I told members of these collect dustin longest undisturbed chambers. Others. Centuries or so from. Chard. Ground into powder on the computer floor. Not a moment passes without the dreams of long-dead dreamers being a stripper. Shattered for abandon. Getting ready to do this music. Immortal. In fact. Seadrill of the world. Call paul else. Contemplate the windows. In the cathedral of the world there are windows without number some long-forgotten covered with many facinas of grime others revered by millions. Most sacred shrine. Each has its own way as beautiful. Summer abstract others representational some dark and meditative others bright. East window tells a story about the creation of the world the meaning of history the purpose of life the nature of humankind the mystery of death. The windows of the cathedral or where the light. Shein. Because the cathedral is so vast our time so short r-vision so-dimm over the course of our pilgrimage we are able only to come contemplate a train. Kirk of the cathedral. For a few apps. Reflect on the play of darkness and light through few of us windows. Cfi pondering and acting on a rumination. We discover insights that will invest our days with me. Play 21st century theology. Facetime a concept. Onelife. And many windows. Hoppers. Toast bread. And focus. Honoring multiple religious approaches. It only excludes the truth claims. Absolution. That is because fundamentalist claimed that the light shines through their window. Only. Sceptic draw the opposite conclusion. Seeing the bewildering variety windows and observing the folly of the worshippers they conclude that there is no light. But the worshippers are not the light. They are where the light. The window. Are not polite. They already like. Through. He shall never see the light direct. Only as refracted to the windows of the cathedral. Prompting humility. Life's mysteries lies hidden. Light is vail. Getting halfway in size between. The creation itself and our body's smallest constituent part. That we. Encompassed with our minds the universe that encompasses us is a cause for great one. Awaken. By the light. Hiestand. Cathedral.

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Sermon_081912.mp3

We are here at the beginning of what we called. Ar-15. Thanks.. The calendar year is the program year. So here we have the beginning of this year. And starting up. Here. And they're called that because. Central to the music, dentist people make together in about how they're going to be together. So you're going to hear the word coven. Somebody already have and. We talked about being in covenant with each other as part of our larger faith as unitarian universalist. And it's one of the defining characteristics of. To be a covenant ultradition. Not in the traditional sense. God and noah and the rainbow although that may be also. Since that we are. Part of. Relationships with each other. What does it mean to be. 57. In the book and the film harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets. The headmaster albus dumbledore enlightens young harry that it is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices. My colleague. George kemp speech. Says that the word covenant itself signifies a framework. With within which intentionality takes. Affect. Intentionality is one of those other words a lot of people hear me use a lot. Is the framework within which intentionality takes effect. And a former interim minister of this congregation reverend robert latham. Define religious covenant as a compact among a group of people. Which states their mission and how that mission will be transformed into reality. By their stewardship. Something. This is not the same thing as feeding a belief. For purpose. Mission statement vision statement. Does may not entail any pleasure commitment amount. A covenant on the other hand is explicit to fulfill his purpose. As for an empowerment of its vision. Covenant empowers its vision. With. Commitment. Say that again. Purpose for an empowerment of its vision. Covenant empowers its vision. With commitment. For purpose called for an empowerment. Arbitration. Covenant empower this vision with commitment. The word orthodox. Means literally. Fort wainwright louise. Ortho. Crest. We are religious liberals. And we are therefore more concerned with orthopraxis. Forkright practice or right relationship. Something to do in living with each other. It is how we live together in a rounds that determine if we are in a relationship. Each other. Covenants ask and answer to basic questions. Why have we come together and how are we. Together. Father of a four-year-old i'm so tired of the word why. I think you're great philosophers but after awhile it was she take a break. But it is incumbent upon us. And his wife and then how are we to be together in that. What are our purpose in making this free and mutual agreement. And in light of that how do we go about living with each other. Consequently coming into a living a identity and builds community. Clarity is crucial on these questions apply and how if we do not know who i we are together then we will act locust and direction. Enter salt lose its flavor. And we will very likely fall back on. Formality and structure and habit. As central organizing principles for our collective existence. How many of you have been apart of religious communities. Where it was. We've always done it this way. This is this is what we do. Is why the group got together and there really wasn't any other. More profound understanding. The motto of this kind of group is. Tradition is sacred of all allison dubois. Maintenance maintenance of the structure itself becomes our purpose and our source of identity. We become the guardianship tradition for tradition. Because there is no underlying focus or purpose thread of change to the ossifying structures. He's perceived as a threat to the existence of the community itself amylase settles over the group and it becomes inward-looking and narcissistic. And we may have a beautifully made chalice that there is no fire in. That we don't have it quite as laser pointed as. More conservative or orthodox tradition. And therefore. Sometimes it is more difficult for us. Change outer structure. If you noticed that. The more pointed someone understands why they're doing something to easier it is for them to be. Adroit and making changes that allows them to continue following that qui. Continue addressing that why. But what clear do you have about it. So as a community. We're actually in the b. Going to be changing. In a year's time. This is part of the long-range plan. If you were here and you approve the long-range. And what that means is we're going to dedicated. of religious education. On sunday morning for everybody has religious education available children and adults. And then we all worship together. Find it has been in the newsletter another thing several times. So. Keep this in mind this is part of. Task force. Religious education and worship smitty. Working on working out the details on this and how it's going to. And it can mean some discomfort is going to change the way we do things. Anthony change how we are together physically. In our space. And it's going to denver for attention about why we are together. So. We're doing this so we can pursue the pillai. Supplied is that we are a community. Create a truly holistic experience for our children and youth worship together. And for all of us together. It also creates an opportunity for all of us to worst who has things together. On sunday morning. It also frees up. Those who are doing religious education for not in this room right now because they are teaching our children. Taking care of him. Cannot participate. And worship life to this church. His regular. And sarah mini. Who would volunteer to do that work. If they didn't have to give up there sunday morning. Hey so we know we're going to be liberating energy. And rewarding people for taking risks. How you doing. So now. Clarity about on howard. We lack security and trust with each other. So if we are in common with each other. But i have become anxious because things are changing. For that something is different. We have an understanding of how we are to be together. Why do consulting work for churches. It is not unusual. In congregation. And in families and every other human group. Is that people. What we call anonymous feedback. Somebody. Several people are unhappy with blah blah blah. Did you know that those people over there. Are are really enthusiastic about this over here. The problem is. Communication is not sanctified. It is not. Valuable it does not help us. It just passes the energy around and blows it up. Make it more intense. Create an echo chamber with your bounces. Few forms of energy that actually came. Expand from nothing. Find. You know if we can ever learn how to harness that kind of energy we would solve our energy crisis. Could you take this one little thing and you bounced it off of this wall and that walnut lawn is suddenly grows it's like flubber i think. Keeps getting bigger and bigger. Community. Engage with each other in a way that is authentic. Honest. And hopefully maintains are trusting each other. Religious communities not about finding common agreement. Orthodoxy. Right. How many of you have left this kind of continued because you are no longer orthodox. You did not agree and believe we don't do the orthodox. The downside of that is. Right. Yeah i try to explain your family members what are you doing. Let me get back to you what is this great website you should check out. Right. So. Clarity about how we're going to be together is truly important. And how we practice our lives. Together is. Facebook putting each other. And it is tricky. Sometimes we have to take risks. He sings. We have no gauge. For action. People join our congregations. His purpose is clear and held high they understand why they are joining. Without this understanding annoying people groups religious purposes vulnerable being reshaped into the images. A personal agendas. How many views is in a group square there was. Clear mission and vision mystification all that was essentially ignored. Or somebody else's mission vision agenda whatever. We try to avoid that. Visible out working. His ministry. It is our ministry. River robert latham says that ministry is covenant action. But i would say ministry is covenant in. Space action. It is covenant stewardship so we are stewards of our covenant cuz it is one of our resources. One of our greatest resources. The only appropriate gauge for measuring the effectiveness of our ministry is the covenant it seeks to. What our relationship is. Divine salvation through grace or inherent worth and dignity. And interconnected web of all existence. In this the purpose of covenant community is call us back into commitment to our relationship. What shows a relationship. When we stray away from them. Now this is. Taken from the poem. The great person. And also had turned into a. Indians in rooney's original poem. He's a central part of that poem. Because he's talking to people in his own religious community in this way he's talking to muslims. And he stood and time. Saying. So you've broken your vows a thousand times. Dino thunder and worshippers. Is the apostate person who's left islam. And the worshipper is someone who's idol worshipping. That's what he's referring to. I did study. Cuz you don't think about that. He's really. All of this. Come come. Whoever you are. For we are no caravan of despair. We don't give up. We want you back. What this means is that as me. And covenant one of the beauties of covenant is that we can become. Going back into that relation. That doesn't mean that we don't forget. There is no forgiving and forgetting in it. It doesn't mean we can do. Maybe what someone has done. But it does mean as father the prodigal son does. Subway. There is obvious contrition. And. Inside. We are able to welcome someone back into our community went away. That makes sense. Even if this transgression is a small thing so-and-so did such-and-such to me and i'm going to hold this against him. Holding a grudge feels really good. How many. I love what rabbi pill crusher his head about holding grudges. He said it's like holding onto a white-hot cole. Expectation. Right. Reading it. Really really. And he said but what happened. Cuz we really don't ever get to throw it. That's what forgiveness. Engaging with each other through covenant. Is a profound way to make real the personal and. Pencil. Covenant religion. A part of. Nokomis unitarian universalism. Christmas spiritual growth and acceptance of the. Of one another as we search for truth and meaning. Comments must be allowed. Each and every sunday. Whether we have been hurt by another places other places. Or definition of religion and spirituality in the past were still seats today. Living that promises. I'm willing to meet the other person. Are so different. This promise is not just about those who are already here. Set office sometimes we talk. Those of us who were here. The covenant really is about our agreement. With our community. Hitler. Not just ourselves. As those who have walked in the door. And made a commitment. We need to walk on those who have never really known about. Vibrant. Caring compassionate and committed covenant. Come wanting a good place to be. Different even from their own. The people who recognize the religious impulse in their children who want to have a place for them to learn and explore their beliefs and their connection to the larger mystery. An openness to those people looking for. More than a good potluck friends. Who would like to feed the body and the mind that also the soul and the spirit. Wanting to give something back to the world. This is one of the defining elements. Vibrant. You need to welcome those people who want all of this and more. Did not do not know about how ministry. In covenant. Is action. If well known and well lived. Its purpose was a stannis and those who come after. Canoe revelation. I think it's important for us to keep in mind. Profound. Things that are coming at me call us to do. The prodigal son. Who has transgressed against the family and tradition. We may be called upon to possibly in treats those who have violated some of the most taboo things in our community. Comeback. To be a part of our community and this is a challenge. We're also a safe. Value. Standing part of. Our administrative structure. For example i get letters from prisoners. Identify act. Distance church. 4 years. And they're getting out. And they want to know if they're going to be welcome here. Oh yes. I'm a registered sex offender. What does that mean to us. Now i'm not saying oh we got to do this. I'm saying these are things challenges that are before us. As a religious community. Talk. What is that mean. There's no simple solution. Trust me there are no simple solution to this. If anybody has one is probably wrong. But it does mean that we need to least be willing to engage in these kinds of questions. These kinds of issues because you're not deceptive. Are universalists forbearers. Rehabilitation. Tradition. So many things like this is just one example of the kinds of things. Facebook. Our covenant with each other and our world. Call zesto address. So will be part of a longer conversation. Rainbows and unicorns. Because it's true covenant. Are covenants with each other that we called. Each other into a free and responsible commitment to build. The common good. And we are being observed. Find many other people outside of our religion and the larger community to see what we will do. To influence nature and shape. The north texas religious landscape the foreseeable future. If we take seriously our ir liberal ideals and principles are coming into a community as a way of living and being in the world. To make real and concrete is coming in hawaii deals in this congregation. And the wider community is not only desirable but necessary. For the very manifestation of ongoing embodiment of the beloved community. That we aspire to foster in to be in this world. My colleague mark morrison reed. Has said it is the church that assures us that we are not struggling for justice on our own but as members of a larger community. The latest community is essential for alone our vision is too narrow to see all of us racine. Strength is too limited to do all that must be done. It is together that our vision widens inner strength is renewed. So when we walk and act together in our principles. Our ability to effect change in the world is amplified. When we embrace our role as change agents as well as being affected by change we are empowered. When we are committed and constantly become. Trustworthy to ourselves. How many race patients on the knowledge that everything we do count we can be present. About the future. Only the brave embrace and apply the truth. Bestway. To bring our principal to fruition in the world is to leave them out. In our own lives. Then our lives. Dancing. Will resonate with the sing harmonies. Integrity. For world mayfair with all of her. Come, whoever you are. Wanderer. Loveropa. Ours is no caravan.

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20141116-Sermon.mp3

Covenants a subject that has a love-hate relationship with a lot of people some people just love to hate it a lot and because we deal with it a lot and it is a fundamental tenet of what makes our faith what it is that is truly aniekan many ways. So let me start off by talking about when i work with couples doing weddings. And helping them craft their own ceremony and and specially their vows. I'll make sure to convey them that what they say to each other in those valves is not a contract although some of them try to make it that way i've got some about household chores and stuff. They're more than a simple promise the thing that makes them married i try to convey is not what i or anyone else says or does now this is what you think this is a religious ceremony or civil one but the act of covenant the exchanging of their vows with each other to create a relationship the covenant. To carry them through time the deep end living commitment. They make two and with each other. One of my favorite books is ursula gwen's book. Call the dispossessed commitment is loyalty over time. We can make commitments but it's in the keeping of them in the keeping of our covenants. Now we had the congregational covenant we talked about earlier in the service that elena had talked about what we talked about being in covenant with each other as part of our larger uu faith what does it mean to be in covenant with each other. Now in the book in the film harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets now i have two small children so this is coming. And i have all these so they're working on star wars now. In that book and movie the wise headmaster albus dumbledore enlightens a young harry that it is not our abilities that show what we truly are it is our choices. Being in covenant. He is constantly making the choice to stay committed to it. Whether it is our relationship to another person or to a community. Warface tradition. How have you. Another favorite movie of mine is keeping the face. And is rape scene in it which ed norton as a priest to struggling with some things that happen with him is consulting with his mentor and older check priest and they're sitting around smoking cigars. And he says you know it is not you know that no matter what it is you're doing whether it is having a relationship with a woman or being a priest. These are decisions that we have to make every day and that's just the nature of. No i'm a larger sense my colleague george commit cheats. Beat says that the word covenant signifies a framework. Within which intentionality takes effect. And a former intern interim minister to this congregation reverend robert latham. Defines a religious covenant quote as a compact among a group of people. Which states their mission and how that mission will be transformed into reality by their life. Stewardship. Things interesting for life. Stewardship. And this is not the same thing as stating a belief or a purpose those may not entail. Or commitment. To fulfill or carry them out. Not the same thing as stating a belief or a purpose. Because those don't have implicit in them the statement that we're actually going to do something with them. A covenant on the hand is explicitness intention to fulfill its purpose. Well purpose calls for an empowerment of its vision. He says. Covenant and powers its vision with commitment. Repeat this again while purpose calls for an empowerment of its vision. Covenant empowers its vision with commitment. A lot of times those of us in organizations with other churches rather we have a lot of time spent on developing you know missions and visions and and purposes but then when it comes to okay what do we do with it now. Tennessee shelf or forgotten or the vagaries of everyday the urgent overwhelms important now the word orthodox literally means right belief and we as religious liberals are more concerned with what it's called orthopraxis. Or write practice for relationship. Covenant is something we do in living with each other that is not something you go off and do by yourself except to reflect on what's going on coming back or take a timeout. It is now how we get is how we live together in our daily round that determine if we are in right relationship with each other. Covenant ask and answer to basic questions. We why have we come together. And how are we to be. Together. What are the purposes. In making this tree and mutual agreement and in that light how do we go about living with each other. Consequently. Covenant living confers identity and builds community. A part of our covenant as a living. Unitarian universalism. Is that encouragement to spiritual growth and acceptance is one and one another acceptance of one another as we search for truth and meaning. Send it part of the covenant must be allowed. Each and every sunday. For each and every age. Whether we have been hurt by another places definition of god. Religion or spirituality. In the past or see great harm done in the name of religion today. It is staying at the table. Living that covenant is being willing to meet the other person along the way and to keep living the covenant together even if so many of our beliefs are so different. Some of us have been married a little while. You know we look at this about you. When we were dating. Thought for very long. Because one of the things that we know about covenant. And that i actually talked about when i when i do wedding. Is that the purpose of of this relationship. Is not happiness. She's very clear about that. We do not come to church to be happy. Okay. I said that the search committee's before and it's been a real shocker for them. We do not enter into these relationships. Be happy. And we do not expect the other person to make us happy. Or the other people whoever that is. That's not their job. Their job is that they may be enlarged. And you may be enlarged. In their happiness and they in ours and that we may be together in those times when. That. Despair. Is upon us and we can see no way out. And we finally admit that we are not alone enough by ourselves. To do this. That we have to have. Others. That we have to be part of something more. The purpose. Of a marriage. Of covenant. Churches. Especially in our community. The purpose. Purpose is. To be enlarged. Cher. And to have ultimately a more abundant life. However we decide. To do that. Together. Because that's the only promise of any sacred thing. Half a moribund. So that is what element. Is about. The next week we'll talk a little more about what that about.

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Sermon_091210.mp3

Yesterday was september 11th i forgot about that so about halfway through the day that was kind of nice actually. And it is the ninth anniversary of the four hijackings that traumatize not only the united states but the world. With that horrendous tragedy and since it has become difficult to feel like when to have faith in much of anything. But even before these events many people feel challenged finding anything they trust to hang their face on. Because so many of us come from other religious traditions we are often reluctant. To read anything lest we be wrong again. We are often uncomfortable using words like religion or faith because of old injuries and this is understandable and important. But no matter how we choose to redefine the term the reality is that we all have some sort of faith in something. So what does faith mean and where does it lead us particularly as unitarian universalist. 16th century unitarian founder in pennsylvania francis david. Said there must be knowledge in faith also. Sanctified reason is the lantern of faith. Impart faith is about the window. The lens through which we view the experience of the world this is why religious education for our children is so very important. And why many of you started coming here to begin with. It is about the mythic narrative the guiding stories the principles which we learn either explicitly or implicitly. Which are the lenses through which we experience our lives. The transcendentalist philosopher and unitarian minister ralph waldo emerson road. A person will worship something have note about no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts. But it will out. That which dominates our imagination and our thoughts will determine our lives and our character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful of what we worship for what we are worshiping we are becoming. Or as religious educator syfy afaz said earlier it matters what we believe. Some beliefs are like blinders shutting off the power to choose one's own direction. Other beliefs like gateways opening wide vista. For exploration. The language we use to describe the universe shapes the way in which we experiencing. If you will perhaps choose to look at the principles and purposes in the front of our hymnal. As unitarian universalist we agree to affirm certain things. We do not agree on everything nor do we agree on nothing. We are not a people who pray to whom it may concern. Despite garrison keillor's protestations. Yet even given all of this faith is not simply about what we believe. It's not just about the sets of propositions do which we give conscious. Ultimate sense faith is about where or in what we feel we can put our trust. What is it that is reliable in the universe. We're not believers in some immutable static truth clothes for all time or even close off for a while revelation is not closed. Is john baron says god changes. New truth and understanding and grace are constantly being reveal to and through us. And all creation. This is why we say that we have a living tradition. We as human beings and as religious liberals are about change. Not change for its own sake but being able to recognize it. And utilize it and live with it. For the good. Play surfin away the occasionally wipeout. James luther adams great unitarian social episystem theologian of the 20th century. Pointed to our failures in the early part of the twentieth century through a naive liberalism of constant progress onward upward forever. We had to learn that recognizing and respecting the inherent worth and dignity of others does not mean ignoring and or denying the equally inherent capacity of human beings. Quarryville. There is an ongoing necessity to make our principles at actions relevant. To the spiritual and ethical demands. Are the changing historical situation he says. Liberal religion. Is important. Relevant. Precisely because it allows us to live in and it being power to change the world for the better. Of all. In nea. As our pace of life accelerates the need for a flexible but coherent method of making ethical and moral choices is paramount. Fixed and rigid systems become cages. Because they cannot respond quickly enough to changing conditions. Do they try to be by replacing reflective consideration. With efficiency and management. The power of liberal religion is to see that these are cages and they are just that cages. They're not divine rights. Unbridled wealth or power or rapid individualism or two choices without consequences in a larger setting. They're not the ultimate. The only idols of our own built out of our desires. But mostly bills. Out of our fears. Our fears of inadequacy our fears of not getting enough our fears of being alone. My fears of not being loved. There is as james luther adams asserts neurotic yearning for security which is developed in an age of convolutions. It is clear that yearning is neurotic for a fervently reject patient discussion as tedious and frustrating. Not realized that doctor adams died in. 1992. Well before. The age of convolutions that we have been living through the last 10. 15 years. But he goes on and continues he says the power to break through these cages is a power that is accessible only. Liberalism that surrenders to something more potent than itself it is accessible only to those who know their own sickness who know their claws face are false. At a time when we have dealt with. The tragedies of 9/11. Wars. Some just some unjust. The possible rising security state both by. The government and buy corporate. And by now i recession which affects not only the people in this room but pretty much everyone on the planet. As we deal with all of these. We must face those things which we know. We have had faith in. And we now know are false. For if we become convinced. On the other hand that there is no certain. Nothing to have faith in then we are prone to surrender to despair. We may seek solace in the constancy of meaninglessness. And nihilism. Those who surrender to nihilism then decide the only way to make sense of the world is to destroy it and start over. Does this sound like some of the voices we hear. In our public now. And in that destroying things and starting over they would impose their own internal sense of order on the external world. This is the pattern of cynicism and the mind of totalitarianism. Those who wish to recreate reality in their own image. I say to them they are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts. If we find nothing to have faith in we will seek to destroy the world. And impose our own sense of order. The author j ressembler writes in her readings. She says it is faith to protect doubt. From cynicism. I believe this is what creation theologian matthew fox may have meant when he said two things happen to people in prison. They either become more mystical or they become more criminal. Either find more connection meaning and hope in the universe. Are they despair and seek to take us all with them. This is one reason why things in prison ministries and social outreach are so important. Not only is it that if we do not try to throw people lifelines then they will drown and try to take us with them. It is for us as unitarian universalist that if we do not act. On our stated beliefs. In the inherent worth and dignity of others then we have no face. Only words. So faith is not simply about what we believe. Or give a cent to. It is not just about two sets of propositions. Which we agree to. Faith is also about the nature of our experiences of the universe and our responses to it. Proactively and reactive. Okay so what does faith look like how do we get it and where. Perhaps does it lead us. What are the often confusing things about discussions about faith is that people associate different things with the word. Girl using different definitions the same term. I feel that. What is usually illustrates. Are people in or talking about different parts of faith development or different parts of a journey. This is not just one result. And this is what it meant. When we refer to as faith development or growing in our faith. There are many different models for faith development but i find that usually consists of three cyclic phases. They are first faith as affection. Second face as conviction and third face as commitment. They are affection conviction. Commitment. Fundamental nature religion is that a relationship to the other however we may understand it. Therefore it is logical that the first experience we often associate with faith is our sense of relationship. Or our affection for what and whom we esteem. This can be relationship to people to a place to an idea etc. I feel that this relational quality is why many of us find the joyce concerns in milestones in the past repair and i worship to be so important. To your sunday experience. Increase abridge of relational authenticity which we can better experience each other and perhaps the holy. In our lives. In the book of hebrews in the christian bible or the jewish bible. It says faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things unseen. Information itself is an act of expressing and reinforcing conviction. Conviction the knowing of the rightness of one's experience. Is a crucial second step in faith development. The convictions in knowing alone do not make faith. Commitment is fundamental to any relationship and it is crucial as the third step. In development and unfolding of faith. The institutional answer is can be summarized as acts of commitment. Commitment is conviction in action. Faith without commitment is a dead faith. Conversely the christian apostle paul wrote show me your faith apart from your works. And i will show you my face by my works. The word credo. Which is very popular among unitarian universalist of especially when we find a void the word belief. Is usually translated into english as i believe. What's a literal the literal latin meaning is i give my heart. Little different feeling there. It's not about our minds. But about. Perhaps what we give our souls are our hearts. Faith is about a feeling. A knowledge a certainty so strong and so deep that we can say. Give my heart to this. Many of us who come from other conditions. We often found ourselves saying words we could no longer give our hearts. We no longer felt the conviction or the commitment and we hungered for something to say. Yes. Two as strongly with our lives as with our lips. We were looking for a faith so deep and sweet and renewing that commitment pours from us and a torrent of joy and gratitude. Many of us. This place. This tradition is where we have learned. Or have found that face. It's not unusual during our annual pledge drives over the years but i have occasionally heard some people have jokingly the mowing our lack of guilt. Citing it as a hindrance to fundraising. But i think we can all agree that that is the wrong cast to generosity. I would much rather plumb the depths and heights of our face. Of our love and our commitment. Which are so joyful. So powerful. And so compassionate. Next sunday we will have the opportunity to formally recognize a welcome new members. I asked you to think back to your journey and what that is meant for you. For us for unitarian universalism. This is an opportunity for us to meet and to hear from those who have recently joined our beloved community as well as to share our faith with others who may benefit from knowing us more fully. Membership is an expression of our religious commitment. Any spiritual discipline for us to be together in this way. As a community of faith. In faith we move from our experience of relationship. True conviction. Actions of commitment. As human beings we will have faith in something. The assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things unseen. And as ralph waldo emerson said that which dominates our imaginations and uncle lots will determine our lives and our character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship. For what we are worshipping we are becoming. As unitarian universalist. Liberal religionists as people. We covenant to keep our faith with each other through our covenants and our commitments to each other. To our congregation. To our association. Communities. Ultimately. To our world.

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20151025-Sermon.mp3

I'm wondering why there's so many of you here today is because i have the zombies in the title. You like zombies. You do know they're fictional. Just checking i didn't approve anything at harmony about it. Trying to put a little lightheartedness into the end of the month talking about gases. Not a bad thing but it's also to bring some very serious things also to bear on. These topics. We talked a lot about death and what it means and that for us is unitarian universalist because. We cannot say with absolute. Knowledge. Didn't say conviction but knowledge. Of what happens beyond that event horizon. We can speculate. We can postulate we can investigate. But we don't know. What we do know is the ways we live our lives. Loves that we have the love that we give away. Can never be taken away from us. And that the measures of our love's. Are measured. In the depths of our brief. The more we grieve more we have love. And more would we have lost. So these are things we can consider the last month. The death is also present to us in many small ways. Metaphorically. Death is the end of. Whatever. Process is the situation is. And for some. There is. Another part of that that is part of a cycle. Do we see death as. One part of a wheel turning either in the seasons or. And the ways in which. Our lives are created. I lived. And died and renewed. Do we go through these little deaths all the time. Transitions. Transitions previously. William bridges the great. Psychologist. Talks about. These transitions about going through this. Process of dying and becoming. Is that we have an opportunity. To truly. Transform our experience. Transform ourselves. In this process. Or we may simply. Transition again. And again. Again. Do i think in terms of serial monogamy. Yeah you seem people family members i know you have family members. Tinari dump team time and it's the same person over and over again it's a different haircut. Yeah probably less money. Kind of. An enemy of the people relationship. You know just a different guys and then people just don't seem to clue in there what's happening there. Our own behaviors. Yes i'm going to go do this and take care of that the other thing is. Go there. So there's no transformation happened. Mystify mean all of us i got a little things we got to. Get ahead of get better at. Prove. Do more of what we can to realize who we can be. And what we can be as a society. So the opportunity is for transition. Typical transformation. Cuz otherwise we're sort of stuck in this. Pattern or in this place of. Inbetweeners. Dying living at living and dying just going to. The idea of. Zombies. Army resonates profoundly. With this whole idea of this stuckness. In between. No i'm going to just touch a couple of the basic things for those of you who are not aficionados. The word zombie is it is actually an african word through haiti and other caribbean nations originally it referred to a person who was supposedly. Raised from the dead and turned into a slave what it really was was. People were given narcotics made. The person who died and then. They were then taken off and turn into a field slave us. And we know that this is case. Is the pharmaceuticals are we using. So this is the zombie a tradition. Going back. But now. We have something else happened. Is what we think of as a zombie what are some of the characteristics of a zombie that you think of now. What. Decaying flesh. Okay. They died. Strange. This one innovation of variation on the play so. Sorry. There's slow there's some people. They're slow shambling. Animated corpses. Living dead is that is that possible or they just animated. Important issues there. This variant on. The zombie or four animated. Corpse or blue or whatever. She broke him up over here i don't even want to know but is. Based on a number of various stories including frankenstein by chalet and others. But it really comes together. With john romero's 1968. Night of the living dead. And in that movie the word zombie is never used. Ever. And only once in the sequel. Is it. But this idea of. That which should be done and settled. And. At rest. Coming back to. Seek some sort of re-engagement. Is terrifying. Is it is against what we understand the laws of nature it is monstrous. Which means that which is against nature by the way. So. We're faced with something that isn't. Alive but it isn't dead either. Edits. Somewhere in between. Now i do want to clarify on something. In some of the more contemporary movies such as 28 days later and 28 weeks later they have what they call fast zombies. They're not giambi's they're infected people. They're human beings were infected they're not zombie okay job he's are dead. Southern knot. It is a fast zombie. I only if they're there faster if they're freshly dead. Other aspects of this whole thing is. One of the variance is that it. Zombie. Disease is passed through contagion. Direct person-to-person zombie the person. And yet there are some others such as in. Where if you die it's atmospheric and therefore anyting. Dead becomes alive again and and. Part of the zombie horde. Which actually scarier. Hard to fight that but. I do tend to see that. So what we have is something that coming back that. Is. Consuming. Is driven to consume. Mindlessly. The greatest sense is in most of the really good zombie movies or or the books particular. Which is a by max brooks which is by the way is mel brooks son. Didn't know that. And it's in the movies terrible. Do not cuz it has fastenal bees because. They got to have action sequences. The book is fabulous. And it's a good read. Zombie. Is a. Wall on which b project. All sorts of. Fears phobias archetypes. Metaphors. You name it. When are merrill made the first movie in 1968 it was a commentary on vietnam everybody said. And then the next one he made me 80s which took place in a shopping mall obviously was a commentary on our modern consumer culture. And so forth and and then others that have been made are commentaries on the pharmaceutical community or military-industrial complex or. You name it there's all sorts of ways and it's nothing that are true. But they are what they call a signifier. 4. A sign. And. Symbols. Bush's what we're talking about. Have. Many many layers of possible meeting which is why they're so powerful. They have so many different ways it can be seen you interpreted. And understood. So the zombie becomes for us. One of these signs. For signifiers. On which we project all sorts of metaphorical understanding. And also our fears. And maybe some of our frustration. One of the things i think about with the zombie as creature. Is that it is not alive it is not dead. It is neither. And it is stuck. I wonder how many times in our lives we actually are. Living being zombies. So we're not exactly. Not doing things. We're not exactly doing since we should were being willing to like we can. We're not really letting go of the stuff it is. Toxic and harmful for us. They're not really letting the positive things come into our lives. So is hannah wander around shuffling from. Day today. Shuffle bastille gym. Shuffle into the shopping mall. Shuffle edgewood garage trying to find a place to put it. And. It can be very dispiriting because i think. To certain degree i want to have hope. But there is some sense of consciousness or awareness. And i think the zombie story that is the one that's actually a remake of romeo and juliet. And no not my boyfriend's back that's a different one. That's 1990s. Luana and basically the zombie young man. Begins to feel. His humanity comes back to him and other people other zombies humanities are coming back to them. And together they. Work with the humans 2. Send off the really bad man. Any ideas that there is recovery. There is hope. She loved. Dying at the end they become more a lot. So that there is the possibility for us. To become. Not stuff. In a place where the only way to stop it is to put a bullet through her head. Cuz some of us end up in those really dark places. But to be. In a place where we can. Embrace the possibility. Is life. Perhaps letting ourselves. The old cells die. Finally let go. Letgo. And she moves forward. Groupon flew into what is possible. What is desirable. Rather than shuffling along. Marley's ghost dragging all the stuff. I think it's also possible. That organizations can be zombies. Baby stuff. That one thing or another neither fish nor fowl with my mom she said. Really weird pictures. L fishman sound like. Show zombies again the artist signifier and there are now being used as metaphors or signifiers in all sorts of professions. And also it's a spheres of our lives now. People online and look up zombie business zombie this zombie that there's somebody selling the workshop. Or book. And the same is true of zombie true. And so i'm going to offer you a little quiz and you can think about this and then. This is a little 10-point quiz offerup by a man and ken howard. He said to discover whether your church is undead. No. What he offers keep in mind some of his languages more traditional. But. Translate you can do that. The first one he says is. To your average congregant the term parish. And church. Being roughly the same thing. Google translation for us cuz the parish has the larger community and the church is the congregation. So a true our average congregation uses parish and church interchangeably they both mean us. Be uncertain i have no idea have you ever turned your head thinks about these terms. And false. The average person in my congregation knows the difference between the terms. To your church's growth rate is lower. The net of the zip code in which it is located. A true the community in which we are located is growing faster than our congregation. Be uncertain. Nf false our congregation is growing faster than. Three our congregations socio-cultural demographic makeup roughly reflects that of the zip code in which we are located. True. Uncertain. 4. The makeup of our church's zip code is changing in our congregation is growing. True uncertain or false. 5. Your congregation has an endowment. True. Your church has an unrestricted nauman true your church has a restriction endowment or false your church has knowing down. 6. The vestry for the governing board has done a demographic study of the church's zip code in the last 5 years. True. They has. Done this study and verified it on foot true they have done this study and end but it is not been verified. And see this false. Vestry has asked itself by your church exist at least once in the last 3 years. True yep i've heard that asked and answered too. No don't know. And three i don't think so why would they do that. For the best tree has asked why a ministry or program exists at least once in the last year. True indeed the vestry regularly asked that question. Uncertain. I don't recall maybe it was one of the vestry meetings i missed. And falls wow that would be awkward i think not. 9. The vestry has purposefully allowed. At least one programmer ministry to end. And reported to the congregation. What they have learned from the experience. Within the last 3 years. Yes true i remember that when they retired were in. Whatever group of committee was. B i couldn't tell. See not on my watch. + 10. The average active participant in the congregation. Can describe in one or two sentences. The congregations vision mission. True i hear it every sunday. I'm certain i'm not sure. False nope don't think i've ever heard it spoken what was that slogan. Do the things we have to consider. Is that ass. In some way. I would say the vast majority of churches probably answer. Positively to probably at least a third if not more. Of those. It is not in one of chastisement but wanted to cern. Just as we do this tournament in our lives am i living the life that i want to live. Am i living the way that i had envisioned. Is that good or bad in my living away that i can sustain. Spring forward. I'm reading it away now that's what you allow me to live. In the future in the way i want to. Maintaining the integrity of the present. There's no law saying that no one. Plans fail that that. It's often that we fail to plan. That's not everything has to be planned and mapped out cuz that often doesn't work either. Got in a mice and men. God laughs at us and the plans we made. So. But we must be intentional about something. As we looked at our world and what it's going through. And again and our individual lies the lies of those we love and around us. Even those we don't care so much for. Music that we love and that we care for and support. This church. And many others. Lettuce. Keep that image of that shambling zombie. Out there. Can we don't want to be. He wants to be alive. And we want to let the things that we need to let go. .. And in that way. You have the opportunity possibility. Of a more abundant life. Possible life for ourselves. Children. For a future. For all people. Furnace timer. So do in love. Enlarge your hearts. Lock the door. Thank you very much.

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Sermon_031509.mp3

What are the reason for all of these extra readings. And the hymns with them is because there's so many different ways in which we in our hymnal and is it tradition already talked about issues of spirituality the life of the spirit religion community. So anytime you feel at loss. For looking for language. Four places to reflect. It's readily available to you. As carl skobel's said in the reading there is a constant call for spiritual experience. In this congregation from individuals and in society at large. Since the last half of the twentieth century interest in spirituality has been on the rise after some decades. Of more rational reason approaches to values and beliefs. At the same time mainstream christian denominations are shrinking. And yet there is a rise in exploring avenues that offer spiritual development. With an emphasis on connecting us to something larger than ourselves. Larger than even the scope of the human spirit in many cases. Hi to wish for more spiritual experiences a better spirituality in my life. Because i know i want to grow as a human being as a body a mind and a spirit and i realize how powerful a spiritual experience can be in renewing. My peace in my life. I want healing in the broken places up my soul and of the world. However the. Term spiritual spirituality or spiritual is so vague. One could hardly know where to begin to offer programs or. Change worship or introduce new practices. If i could be much easier. Do try every permutation variation and still not. Get to a firm definition for which to modify. Current habits unless one asks that what is meant. Buy spirituality or achieving a spiritual experience. This is a common thing for ministers not just unitarian universalist ministers but ministers in general people say yes but i want something more spiritual. Okay. Tell me what you mean by that i don't know i'll just know it when i see it. Her experience that are here at or something. Readings for meditation time you want a chance to meet together in small groups. I don't know i just want something more. I want something else i want something spiritual. Okay. Next time you think about that. Think about what that means for you. And we'll try and do something with it. Take a moment. Yourself. And think of your most recent. Spiritual experience however you might define that. Take a moment to take a deep breath. Really need the kind of connection personal. Need address store when we were at a loss and grieving and sorrow. The presence and or the memory of a spiritual experience is something to fall back on. If it's not there we may find only emptiness. In the definitions of spirituality and religion there's something of a tug-of-war of meaning. If nothing else at least just confusion. For many it is a distinction without a difference. For them a religious and spiritual experience are basically the same thing. In common usage up until about the last fifty years or so. A religious experience was a spiritual experience and vice versa. William james is early 20th century classic work is called the varieties of religious experience. And yet. He goes on to. Detail. Trying to understand the nature of first-person encounters with the ineffable. Apparently what changed was an attempt by many to draw a distinction with a difference. It was and is felt by many. Perhaps some of you. That what they don't know or knew as religion no longer reflects what they desire or find meaningful. They identify as being spiritual-but-not-religious. How many of you are familiar with that. Usually when i ask someone to explain further what they mean by being spiritual-but-not-religious the answer is nearly always. A rejection of the forms of a religion or religions that they knew or thought that they knew. Not me seem odd to you that i have met people raised as unitarian universalist. Who rejected it as a religion based on their experiences growing up in a particular congregation. Thinking that what their specific experiences were encompassed all of what unitarian-universalism is. Perhaps. They later find out in. Later years that they actually were rejecting some narrow and unhealthy interpretation. Of what it means to be a unitarian universalist. Some of this is. Inform of normal self-differentiation and rebellion and some is based on false assumptions about the law the totality of our own knowledge. Upon further investigation it is. Usually not religion per se that is at issue but rather their experiences of a particular belief. And institutions. This often results in a common logical fallacy of generalizing from the specific. Their experience of a particular religion in a particular place and time was not meaningful or even harmful and they're full of religion is bad. This happens in nearly every religious community. So where do we go from here. Having. Common language is usually helpful so we'll have a go at that. But many now call spirituality. Is a direct first person experience of the ineffable the numinous of that which cannot be totally and readily name. Here's an example from history. The eleusinian mysteries of ancient greece which drew people from all over the known ancient world for thousands of years. Had laws against. Revealing the lesser mysteries. Because these could be communicated. The lesser mysteries were the forms of ritual and ceremony the details of logistics and drama. However there were no laws against revealing the greater mysteries. Because it was not humanly possible to share. That those greater mysteries in any fully meaningful way. It's not possible to communicate the essential qualities of the spiritual experience even with those with whom one may have co experienced it. Only a shared sense of knowing where gnosis is possible. But many now cole religion is our attempt to give those spiritual experiences forum. Context and meaning in our daily lives. But i think carla scovill was referring when you talked about focus. Spirituality. Most frequently the word spirituality is derived from the ancient hebrew. Find speaks hebrew better than i do here i apologize. Aruba. Hebrew meanings of rua include spirit. Breath. Wind. That which gives life and animation to something. Think of all the similarities of inspire. Reece tire. Respiration. Espiritu. That which gives life. I found it in my own. Spiritual experience. Even last week in church actually. So what might have made it. Spiritual. What was animated. Pulling to the universal sacred and the universal human experience. Through the use of readings. Genuine care of prayers being asked for in the struggles. And celebrations. Enjoys. The music song and played beautifully. The silence. A common. Breathing. Watch the spirituality. It is one of the more elusive terms in our language such that could all could almost be meaning less. So i went out and sought out the sampling of other people's perspectives. Christian author alister mcgrath postulates of spirituality is that which. Animated person's life of faith. And that which moves a person's face to greater depths and perfection. And his contacts he's talking about christian spirituality so we may need to look more broadly. This idea animation. Is good something that stimulates practice and engagement and reflection. Wonder at the mysterious park. Of life. I question the search for perfection however perfection seems more ends oriented and does not allow for wondering and side steps that can be a rich source of spiritual learning. Let us look at judaism. Institute of jewish spirituality. They recognize spirituality as a buzzword with myriad interpretations. They look at spirituality as a practical view nurturing the human. Chastity to develop. A personal understanding of god. To seek out truth and purpose to find meaning in a personal and communal prayer to develop relationships. With the deepest and most authentic self. And others. Define strength. While maintaining balance in the face of challenges. And to experience. The times of simcha. Rabbi michael. Micah greenstein. Finds that spirituality is where you and god meet. And what you do about it. It is a matter of seeing holy in the everyday finding that deeper connection with what wendy called god and to be part of repairing what needs to be fixed in a broken world. Judaism quickly calls us to an active spirituality that practice that participates. In this world. And is not removed at all. Lawrence kushner. Brother of well-known harold kushner. Agrees with basic understandings that. The world and everything in it is a manifestation of god's presence. Our challenge and goal is to find it and then act in such a way to help others find it. Spirituality is finding the presence of god. And being responsive and responsible. To that knowledge. Many years ago i participated in. What many refer to as the new age community. Where was at least. Tangential to it. And one of the things i encountered was a kind of spiritual tourism. 4 people went out and got experience is collected them almost. They had this experience so they went to machu picchu and they went to this and that. Banana didn't do anything with those experience. They were cocktail party conversation. Spirituality is finding the presence of god and being responsive and responsible to that knowledge. In a more general definition of spirituality comes from the handbook of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence. It says spiritual she can be fined as a search for the sacred a process through which people seek to discourse hold onto and when necessary transform whatever they hold sacred in their lives. The sacred includes. The concept of god divinity transcendence and ultimate reality. And unitarian-universalism respected minister carl scoville who we talked about earlier. Describe spirituality first of all as an individual yearning for and reaching for some experience and some conviction. Of that which is greater than the self. Yet fulfilling of the self. It tends not to use spirituality. Tucker patterns of behavior. Such as lighting candles. Such yearning he says may lead to changes in behavior though. Spirituality is the motive. For the behavior. If a person claimed a spiritual motive. Shows up at a church and does not have a clear reason why. Weather is life family. And job they're all going well. But there remain be something missing. Unitarian universalist speaker ron smith submits that spirituality is the where is the awareness of a meaningful connection. With the sacred hole. It is. Committing of the cell with something. Greater. Further complicated my. There are many different ways that we use the word ken wilber. Offers that in talking about spirituality we are really referring to several different kinds of experiences. First higher levels of. Development second spiritual intelligence third peak experiences and for something similar to warm fuzzies. But he calls again first higher levels of development second spiritual intelligence. Third peak experiences. And for something familiar to the warm fuzzies. Rabbi michael chernick a jewish writer makes an important point about what spirituality is not. Another jewish author describe spirituality as living one's life knowing. That one is in the presence of god. Now we're by trinix says that specifically in order to avoid when he calls warm fuzzy spirituality. Focus on love and feeling good and sweetness. He argues that the kind of spirituality for him is in name. And incomplete. The pagan community. Has some perms for this emma which i'm not going to repeat in public. Some refer to it as rainbow brite spirituality. A general definition that i borrow from my wife the reverend jennifer ennis is. Seeking beyond oneself finding connection with the holy willingness to face that connection whatever it's character and be willing to learn. From it. The father of religious humanism john dietrich says. There is an energy which springs from the heart of humanity. What it is we do not know. The energy is there. Spirituality is the effect. 2b is in effect to be in touch with it. In our society there has been an ever-growing hunger. For contact with this energy. One of the most recent cultural vocabularies comes from star wars and the driving presence of the force. Little surprised we have this language. With you few cultural attachments. In a time when more and more people have little or no religious upbringing. And draw meaning from the books and media and public narratives of our time. In response of reading we did just before the sermon by vincent silliman. He speaks of religion but one could replace the word religion with spirituality and getting very similar meaning. Here is where it gets gets become complicated. The language melds both spirituality and religion. Historically religious and spiritual were almost interchangeable for many people as soon as one starts to talk about religion. This wall descends and conversation stops. I've been some if you were professionals in your own right. And you're sitting on airplane you sitting next to somebody you start talking about things i see what you do you tell them and suddenly they want to talk about what you do. Your doctor they want a diagnosis. Tax account they want tax advice. Okay. Ministers have the same thing. I don't know how many confessions i've heard on planes. And it's generally not a part of our tradition. I don't generally wear this when i'm. Fly. But one of the things that we tend to. Encounter is. This very clear distinction when someone says when you say your religious person. They either assume a kind of. Authority. That. Make some of us uncomfortable. Or they assume hostility. Among other types of hoses. And. One of those is this wall comes down they and it's usually this well i'm a spiritual person i'm not very religious. I'm sorry preacher. Pastor minister reverend. I said was okay by me. I'm not either some days it's been the day of the week. Some of them get the joke some don't. Because for these people religion is often associated with world of abuses and wrongs against humanity and the earth itself. Or it is seen as one more set of rules by which they have to. Keep many people out to feel accepted to ward off those who may be unworthy. And this goes against their normal human inclinations of inclusion. Telling people what to do and how to think perhaps. More benignly it is self-centered on its forms and rituals ignoring the rest of the world. Remind me of. During the russian revolution how the greek word for the russian orthodox church. Was more interested in arguing about the colors of vestments. Then dealing with the starving poor on it. The conversation about spirituality cannot be removed. From. Religion. Religion comes from the word the guy. To bind. That which connects it's the same root word as ligament. It is about connection. Religion is about that which reconnect us or reawakens our awareness of our connection. Religion 2. Is about. Our connection with the holy. It is described as the cradle in which spirituality grows. So one can lose sight of the spirit if one only focuses on the cradle. There used to be that traditional dualism. Would be between the body of spirit and one headed shooting one in the other the practical. Body and the spirit the indefinable in the elusive. Andrea's unitarian. Internal versalus reject. Dualism pretty much in general. What i find interesting is that. We are now engaged in a dualism about religion and spirituality. I suggest rejecting that dualism. It makes the case for war cemetery and interrelationship. To build up each other. Better. Then if we were alone. Refined in this relationship between religions ridgewell anymore continuum. And as such religion is a cradle for spirituality. The human spiritual impulses what started. On the path in the first place. We live in the intersection of spirituality and religion in our time. Ignore that would be just as blind in a self-centered spirituality or the controlling mind of religion. Carl scoville. Later on at same essay. Dreamt of speaking to his colleagues he said. Hundreds of them. And each was sitting on their own small. Hilltop. Spiritual experience put us in contact with prospective if ever known or expected perhaps. However it. If followed simply. Spirituality. Well we might all end up as people on individual hills. That spiritual focus. Is one of the hazards of looking only for spirituality without a context or admitting how our beliefs and values change our direct. Spiritual experience. Unitarian universalism perhaps is uniquely qualified to incorporate both the spiritual and the religious. The challenge of a liberal faith is that we have such diversity such a range of practice. And belief. We spend so much time hashing and rehashing our statement of faith. That we can get wound around the axle and go nowhere. From carnival scoville. He says. Because we are not satisfied with who we are we have a hunger. For something more than platitudes liberal platitudes included. And we have needs for something to feed our souls. More specific than the laudable aims. Of seven principles. No one expect bylaws which are seven principles are to be a statement of faith. And i suggest that we leave the principles alone he says. But we are fed by the language of the heart and the soul. By the unbidden light which shows the way the unbidden warmth which gives a glow to our motivation the unbidden wisdom that comes to our mind the unbidden reverberations beyond all reason and our need to explain. Which gives us the sense that despite every indication to the contrary all will be well and we are all well advised to act as if all will be well. We are still asking not just because we want a better articulation. But because we wanted deeper faith in life. And the universe has good purposes. And when we feel that the articulation will come people like me. Will not be presuming to speak of things which we barely understand. Shall we suck out the marrow of life rather than keep trying to describe the bone. Except the spiritual challenge of articulation. Begin with the unitarian universalist surmise as carla scovill says that. In the heart of all creation lies good intent. To me the real question is not about spirituality or religion. The real question is how. Do we meet the hunger for something more. Deeper. Then what comes before us. Everyday. What catholic shall we take. The personal. Communal. There is something unique in the offering of each part. Shelly be open to all. Both. Go more deeply into your part into our part. Unitarian universalism. And that may help. See others better. Deep. Abiding uncompromising not always easy to know. Is a part of the spiritual life. In a religious context. We need practices. And we need community. We need the whole continuum if 6 or 7 billion people will continue to live and to share the earth. Let us become the ones we were meant. Tubi. To live life that is ours. 2b incarnations of love from which we come. Because no matter what we experience. Or believe. But we do is our witness. And it is our religion.

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20150719-Book_Talk-2.mp3

The martian. By andy weir. Who started out as a series of. Short stories published online. Basically you say. Speak speak. Who said 300 road. What. So you did a whole series of what-if scenario. And then eventually became. The book. I was going to read it to you. Cover to cover but they told me that was a little bit too long. So. I'll do some exercise of here but i have to be careful. In october. This book will appear. As a. Big screen event brought to you by ridley scott. With matt damon. Langley character. No this is also brought up some weird humor out there with people going. This is a pure science kind of storing. No big boobs no big deal it's no big. So how'd they get the budget. Mcmurphy who would do that. Number one this is science fiction. This means no magic. What wizards nor witches. No dragons don't works no klingons. Sorry carl. Very good old carl but no wormholes. No warp engines for you trekkies. Just macgyver clones aka nasa. So what are we got. Again it's a science fiction movie. This is no 1960s robinson crusoe on mars. Where. He's got a monkey. And discovers plants that produce oxygen on the canals. Didn't even show up and spacecraft. Our hero becomes the man on mars. Literally. Okay so with that we have no monsters. No coast because they had movies with monsters on mars. Picosun mars in john carter. But we've got. The only ghost we really do have as the pathfinder. Which is one of our rover types of we sent up there. Which unfortunately passed. Out of service. Some 2,000 days into its 30-day mission. So that was not too successful. Currently we have. Curiosity running around. That is only 5,000 some odd days into its 92 day motion. Vanessa keep screwing up on those things. The girl's name is mark watney. This will be matt damon. What are the characteristic mentions 21 the other crew members. Portent to him. The guy named lewis. And lewis. Has to abandon. Situation forces the crew to abandon mars. And what be through the usual circumstances wines of being left behind. Louis. Is a 1970s tv nut. So a pc that he sadly behind. Is all of 1970s television. So that's our heroes. Breaks during the evening. Who finally the director of nasa. We're one of the nasa directors a gentleman named. Venkat kapoor. So we got an irish guy. Russell l. It starts out with a profane statement. Which i will modify slightly. The girl. Comes to. We don't know this yet we just. Have this passage the startalk. And it goes i'm pretty much wrecked. Okay. That's my considered opinion frat. Receipts from there as he's trying to. Return himself. Normality. What do i do. He's got. Years before the next mission shows up. He's got all the food from six people for a. 60 day mission. So you told me. Thousand plus day short of food. Fortunately for him. The psychology of decided that one of the good things to make everybody happy. Is there going to be there in thanksgiving so they sent along. Potatoes and things like that. So they can cook them for thanksgiving dinner themselves. What are the. Open pouch insert water. Shakewell. It's done. Well he's a size is going to turn mars build a martian farmland inside his habitat. So it begins to bring in soil. Amended was. Certain biological. Products of his. To ed bacteria to. Actually creates well restarting far. So use a typical passage. So you can see. Okay let's say i could clear up. Enough farmland. Seems reasonable. Where do i get the water. Girl from 62 to 126 square metres of farmland. Pet 10cm deep. I'll need 6.4 more of soil. And that dellmead / 250 ml of water. I have is for me to drink at the water reclaimer brakes. Some 250 short. Oh my 250 goal. That's his typical self dialogue that the author got away with no we can't read his mind but he's keeping a walk so we're reading the login. Ongoing walk. Iran. Forest talking to one of his. Assistance. Out the window to the sky beyond the night. Who is adrian. Must be like in ponder. He stuck out there. He thinks he's totally alone. And that we all gave up on him. What kind of. I have on a man's psychology. She has no radio communications that's all freaky. Return back to venice. I wonder what he's thinking now. Log entry saul 61 season. How come aquaman control whales. Are mammals makes no sense and honeymoon. And this is how the story goes then continuous efforts. The scientific mind working holding himself again. With. Unfortunate periodic mentions of 1970s television. Okay and the guys got an incredibly weird sense of humor which is why they think he's going to survive. And for him. It's a continuous issue of mars is going to try to kill me. And it almost. Continuously. And of course when he picks up the pathfinder. He is just finished watching. A bionic man. Worried why should venus probe is landed on earth and starts attacking everybody. And he looks at the pathfinder. Wonders.

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Sermon_052012.mp3

Become difficult to seal like lunch and have faith in much of anything. But even. Before the events of our times many people have felt challenged. And trying to find anything's a. Trust or they can hang their face on. Because so many of us come from other religious traditions. We are reluctant to agree to anything less we be wrong again. I've seen since miles out there. We are often uncomfortable using words like religion or faith because of old injuries and this is understandable important. But no matter how we talked about faith now the reality is that we all have some sort of faith in something. So what does faith mean. Impart faith is about the window the lens through which we view and experience the world. This is why religious education for our children is so important and why many of you. Sure to come here to begin with. It is about the mythic narrative the guide stories. The principles which we learn either explicitly or implicitly. Which are lenses through which we experience our lives. As unitarian universalist we agree. To affirm certain things. We do not agree on everything. Nor do we agree on nothing. Despite some of the better jokes out there about it. We are not people who pray to whom it may concern. Yet even given all of this faith is not simply about what we believe faith is not just about the set of propositions to which we give. Our conscious ascent. An ultimate sense. Faith is about where. And in what. We feel we can put our trust. What is it that is reliable in the universe. We are not believers in some immutable static truth closed for all-time or even close to offer a while revelation is not closed. New truth understanding grace are constantly being. To and through us. And all of creation. And this is why we say that we are a living. Tradition. We as human beings and as religious liberals are about. Not change for its own sake. Goodness. Being able to recognize it. Unitarian universalist the illusion in the social at this is james with her addams's. Used to point to our failures in the early part of the twentieth century. Through a naive liberalism of constant progress onward upward and forever. People actually like that. 100 years ago. We had to learn that recognizing and respecting the inherent worth and dignity of others did not also mean ignoring or denying equally inherent. Capacity for human beings for evil. The reason ongoingness essity to make our principles and actions relevant to the spiritual and ethical demands of the changing historical situation adam says. If we become convinced on the other hand there is no certainty. Nothing to have faith in. Then we are prone to surrender to despair. We may seek solace in the constancy of meaninglessness. Nihilism. Those who surrender denialism then decided the only way to make sense of the world is to actually destroy it to start over again imposing their internal sense of order on the external world. This is the pattern of cynicism and the mind of totalitarianism. We find nothing to have faith in. We will seek to destroy the world as it is and impose our own sense of order on it. Has author j ruth gendler has written. It is faith who protects doubt. From cynicism. The face is not simply about what we believe it's not just about the sets of proposition to which we give a set faith is also about the nature of our experiences of the universe and our responses into it. What is faith look like. How do we get it where does. One of you often confusing things about discussions on faith is that many people associate different things with the word. The words are multivalent they have a lot of different meanings floating around those are like satellites. Northfield what does usual straight people. In or talking about different part. Of the faith development. Experience. Entering into faith. Faith development. Is both a process and result. I need to sweat it is men who faced development we don't just. How many different models usually. Consisting of a couple of three different cycles. Cigarette first. Faith has a faction. Second conviction. And third safe as commitment. Again affection. Conviction. Commitment. Is written in the book of hebrews 11:1 faith. Is the assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things unseen. Information itself is an act of expressing and reinforcing conviction. Addiction to knowing of the rightness of one's experience is a crucial step. Second step in faith development convictions and knowing alone do not make faith. Many people have convictions and knowing. Commitment is fundamental to any relationship and it is crucial. Has the third step in the development and unfolding of faith. The institution. Commitment is conviction. In action. Conviction in action. Conviction in space action. Without commitment is. A dead faith. Conversely the christian apostle paul wrote. Show me your faith apart from your works and i will show you my faith by my work. No recently are coming weight class did their cradle program the edward crater was usually translated into english as i believe. But it doesn't benefit of confusion around that because the literal latin meaning. Is i give my heart. Faith is about stealing. A knowledge a certainty so strong and so deep that we can say i give my heart to this. Inform any of us who come from other traditions. We are often found ourselves saying words we could no longer in fact give our hearts 2 if ever at all. We no longer felt the conviction of the commitment and we hunger for something to say yes. Two as strongly with our lives as with our lips. We are looking for a face so deep and sweet and renewing. That commitment spores from us and a torrent of joy and gratitude. For many of us this place and this tradition is where we have learned that. Sounds that fake. Today we formally recognized new members again. And welcomes more. As i ask you to think back on that journey. Think about what it is meant for you to know us and unitarian universalism. Those of us were visiting. Speculate. This is an opportunity for us to meet. And to hear. Get ourselves. It is. That has brought us to this place. Membership in the expression of a religious commitment and a spiritual discipline. For us to be together in this. Way. A faith community. Never thought about that membership in the church is a spiritual discipline. I think it makes it rather different from joining. Some other organization. Give me a call example rotary club. Very viable great organization. Aarp another one up here. College fraternities. Having not been in one i have no direct experience of them. Yes i heard that yes. In faith we move from our experience of relationship through conviction to actions of commitment. As human beings we will have faith in something the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things unseen. Is transcendentalism unitarian minister ralph waldo emerson said that which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts herman our lives and our character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we worship. For what we are worshipping. We are becoming. Sounds exciting. The comedian george burns says. Look to the future because that's where you'll spend the rest of your life. He should know. Or things happen work we do in the future in the past. Text bruce gardner. So if you think about our commitment future. We are also reminded a little bit of humility. If you want to make god laugh tell god your future plans. For the future some assembly required. This offering when it comes to the future there are three kinds of people those who let it happen. To make it happen and those who wonder what happened. I'm sure i feel involved three of those sometime during the week. And when i always heard when i was. My younger years no one plans to fail but it's sometime everyone fails to plan. The two small children i'm currently feeling that way on. Where am i failing to plan. If one does not know to which port one is sailing no wind is favorable. Seneca. And william jennings bryan says destiny is not a matter of chance but a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for it just seems to be achieved. And peter drucker says that the best way to predict the future is to create it. So where does our faith and our commitment takis. Well in systems theory. Derivative of velineon family systems theory if you feel like looking at up i highly encourage you to text me fairly important. One of the dominant sociological and psychological models being used now in our culture. If you're not familiar with it i advise you. Look it up. In family systems theory just recognized that we usually cannot affect change in the world around us without first being able and willing to change ourselves. Purse. This is probably not new information. Mahatma gandhi said it this way he said you must be the change you want to see in the world you may never know what the results of your actions will be but if you do nothing there will be no result. If we exercise our power at our power is the ability to create an inhibit changed in ourselves and the world then we and the world will be different because of. No changes hard for a lot of us we often continue ineffective and often self-destructive behaviors rather than change. For me a fairly important issue. Dealing with colleagues were blogging on their facebook and sings like this i guess you blocked on facebook. Who are giving face as 20 lb. Like me. I got turned 51 yet next week next month. And. Wing world. We need to lose weight. You know he's got out the brad's we need to cut out the sugars you need cut out most of the stuff we like. And some of them are doing this so i'm feeling kind of like well there and i know these guys. I had a lot of meals with him. And so i'm. Struggling in myself. Chili healthy for a long-term. And if someone is looking at being 68 with children still in the home yeah i better work on that. So. And we'll be trying to do so. If i make no effort there will be no result. One of the feelings that sometimes religious liberals and liberals are. I'm seeing a lot of head nodding out there if we understand it. Right. We think we're done i get it. I think it's a form of. I don't know philosophical add but. You know so we have to be on guard against that. Cuz we're not done we're just starting. What we understand. To simply say yes i understand this or even if i just teach other people about this. If i raise consciousness. Raising consciousness is good. Don't have much. And we need to be aware of our parton at 2. So. But if we don't change there's no result. We are the place where it begins. The change from ocean beans is hard. You know it's our corporate is hard. We often continue ineffective and often self-destructive behaviors rather than change. According to. James belasco and overestimate the value of what they have. And underestimate the value of what they make. I mean how many of you. If somebody would just. Do the work for you would get rid of. I get rid of a lot of stuff. I have got boxes and boxes of crud. You know how many moves you know three moves is like a fire. Except the fire station your garage and takes up shelf space you can't park your car in there anymore. So we often don't give up those. Behaviors. For fear of not having something or for overvaluing. What could happen when we make space in our lives. When we open our hearts to make space in our lives for other people. So when i talk about this in the morning. But it's true that we get out of our lives in a relationship. Quotable i just measured in the quality of our relationships that which we create and sustain. Almost ironically quality relationships take larger quantities of time energy and attention. And yet it is the quality of our relationships in our experiences that many of us rate as a primary sign of a successful life. It seems to be especially true with regards to relationships with and within a religious community. Generally chain. Oil change aside from those natural events. Set occur only happened there is. But there is some discomfort or disequilibrium. His only when there's this. Disequilibrium or. Imbalance or lack of homeostasis biology word. That people then will actually seek. Any brace. Is it saying that the only person who likes change is a wet haiti. I have intimate knowledge of this. We are all here. Seeking something. Peter lives. And for our lives that we want to make. Different. If you work you be satisfied and you be doing something else. Something. We are all at. Disease or his contact with something. Culture without. And in the more traditional language of religion and some of us may have break out in hives. Others may not. Salvation. Is that which we seek in order to be relieved of our disiz. Discomfort. And not to some form of cheap grace but through actual form. Ceiling fan. Ultimately transformation. So. Salvation. We're looking for transformation. And elijah's world. And even so the ability to make change of course relies greatly on our willingness to make changes and to live with you often. Unforeseen consequences of those changes. I'm reminded of rhett butler the comedian who says she cuz i'm all for the revolution happening now. I'm just afraid that couldn't find a good moisturizer after work. So we're all afraid of that unforeseen consequence. Ironically is calling for ministers and district staff. Too often hear conflicting desires from the same individuals in congregation. And they say they want things like growth. And numbers and income and spiritual depth and social mission. But at the same time they don't want things to change. At the same exact same breath. Even if they really don't have any. The truth is that things. Right. This is rational. To know that things. But sometimes we just kind of put it out of her mind because. We try to live in reality we want to create reza's in the one that's present. Things are going to change. Probably wanted to or not. An issue is how much in pension. Are we going to put into shaping the changes that are in fact. Narwhal. Very incremental nature of lightning couple of things. One is that changing the world take longer than we realize or want it. And often happening in ways that we cannot predict. Unforeseen consequence. And secondly fortunately because of the very incremental nature of things everything we do. Count. Device to know when we. Those of us who lived in. A minority. Socially religiously. Politically. Ethically in. The current environment we live in. Know that even the small things we made you. Ultimately. Nothing is for now. In contrast to most religious groups were pretty small. Our conversation here is approaching or around 200. And growing. Our association is some 250,000 men women and children and growing. Can you use on a condom. So why are we invited. In such important activities as the dallas area interfaith. King gay pride days. All sort of outreach programs. It's not because of any one single act. Bus because we show up. Is that commitment. At the end of the faith process. We show up consistently off and in greater numbers. Recently the national day of prayer events. I don't know. 15. Marco's there. Where is there were many other many larger religious communities that had two or three. Common pattern. Commitment. .. Humiliation of smaller. Aspire. We do or we refrain from doing things. Say in fact will shape the world as well. Wheeler all the architects of the beloved community. Creating a cradle for our dreams the workshops over. Because we are engaged and present and everything we do. When we walk. Xanax. In our principles our ability to affect change in the world. Is amplified. Synergistic. Catalytic. When we embrace our role as change agents as well as. We are empowered. When we are committed and constantly become trustworthy. To ourselves and others. Can we have faith in our patients and the knowledge that everything. We can be present and optimistic about our. Can we have faith in embracing apply the truth. The best way to bring our principles to fruition in the world is you actually leave them out. In our lives. Had to teach our families to do that. Dancing resonate. Integrity. Poop. Or will they fare. All of her people on. And to this i ask you. Passe.

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Reading_060709.mp3

All reading this morning is taken from. The book by harvard professor diana eck. Called in conjuring god a spiritual journey from bozeman to banaras. She writes the private ownership of land has become a sacred principle of american life the ownership of god takes but a little more audacity than the ownership of nature. Whatever we may think of god. The referent of that word that symbol. Is a mystery. God is finally beyond our grasp. God is not ours. Even with the grace of god's revealing. There are however christians and people of other faiths who seem to have no trouble with speaking of god's ultimacy with one breath and staking out a private. Territory of god's activity with the next. But what if we presuppose. They god's activity and grace abound. What if we presuppose that as hindus do. The names and forms of the one-armed any. Limited only by our human capacity. To recognize them. What might we learn then. Of the one we call god. Who cannot be owned as we wish to own land and property. The moment we humans grass god with jealousy and possessiveness we lose our hold of god. One might add that the religious point. Here is quite the opposite of god's jealousy of which we hear so much in the old testament it is god's infinite capacity to love. And the problem is human. Jealousy. All of us in almost every religious tradition live our lives with a theology of sorts whether we think. About god as father or mother lover or hero tyrant or 1000 arm protector. Even if we think more abstractly of the ground of being or of depth dimension or ultimate concern as theologian paul tillich would put it. Or think of god as absent meaningless. A foolish idea and outworn name. We still have a theology in the sense that we have made some evaluative decisions. About the meaning of the term. God for ourselves. Even those who are uncomfortable with the term god who quarrel with god who reject god have an idea an image of god. Our concept of god is not simply given. We learn it. So we're better. Or for worse. We develop the operative concept of god with which we live. Inheriting god as it were from our historical religious tradition as it is taught to us. Learning something of god from our families and teachers from personal friends and public figures. We develop an impression of what this word god. Means. Perhaps it becomes more than a concept that we experience god for ourselves. But even within a single religious traditions such as christianity or the image of god is seen in christ people live their lives with vastly different concepts of god. Some live with an angry god and vengeful god just over their shoulder. Some liver the god of forgiveness. Some live with a revolutionary god and others with a god who is a pillar of their status quo. We need to acknowledge our own responsibility. For the image of god. That we are content to believe in. Or not. Sew-ins.